Keeping Faith (Fair Cyprians of London 3)

She passed the letter back to Faith with a brittle laugh. “I’m sorry, but I can’t indulge your wild fancies, Miss Montague. Not tonight, or any other night.” She turned, but Faith turned with her, gripping the sleeve of her expensive evening gown.

“Please, Miss Eaves, you’re the only person I know of with connections that might be able to bring justice to Lady V

ernon and Lord Harkom.”

“How convenient. The very people you claim are the architects of your demise.” Miss Eaves’s smile dripped scepticism.

Stung, Faith dropped her hand. For a long moment, the two women stared at one another. Faith looked away first. She had no more time to waste.

“Then I’ll find Lord Delmore. If you won’t believe me, he will. I should have gone to him in the first place.” Angrily, Faith swept past her, the crowd parting as she made her way to the double doors.

Chapter 29

Crispin’s evening clothes, though damp, were passable enough for him to excite little attention when he entered Lady Ridgeway’s ballroom a little later that evening.

He managed to bow and nod with sufficient politeness, that his anxiety and hurry to find Miss Eaves and, hopefully Faith, were not too apparent.

A year had passed, and he’d given a good account of himself in Germany. Society tended to forget a young man’s transgressions and, in time, regard with amusement the fact he might have been hoodwinked by a beautiful girl in order to paint her. If he’d distinguished himself in his consular post, and besides, was ensconced somewhere on the Continent where out of sight meant out of mind until the matter was more or less forgotten, then all to the good.

So, Crispin found himself nodding and forcing a smile and a greeting to all manner of unexpected past acquaintances of his father and himself as he pushed through the throng.

How long would that last? he wondered with a stab of discomfort, and then was surprised that the depth of his shock over his own possibly lowly origins didn’t overwrite his fears over Faith to the extent he’d have imagined they would.

And wasn’t this because, being on more of an equal footing, so to speak, she’d suddenly become so much more accessible to him?

Of course, it wasn’t as easy to spot her when most people carried a mask on a stick, although in many cases, this was dropped due to the late hour and amount of champagne consumed.

A pink gown. That’s what Charity had said she was wearing, but none of the women in pink gowns were Faith, and none could hold a candle to her, besides.

But there was Miss Eaves, her dark-brown hair and ruddy face instantly recognisable as he closed the distance between them, arriving right before her as she turned away from a group of ladies discussing, he could just make out, hats.

“Mr Westaway!” She seemed to lose her composure for a second before she added, “We have not seen you for some time, though I hear you have distinguished yourself. I hope your father is well.”

“I’m flattered that you have followed my career and take a concern in the family.” He genuinely had not intended it to sound so ironic, but rather than let it rest, Miss Eaves flushed and said, “I told only the facts as they presented themselves, Mr Westaway. I’d imagined you were thankful for your lucky escape. No one wants to be taken for a fool or enter into a lifetime contract against their will.”

“Which is exactly what happened to Faith. Have you seen her, Miss Eaves?”

Miss Eaves sent a longing glance towards the circle in which she’d earlier been ensconced before answering, with a shrug, “She was here earlier.”

“Good lord, then she has given you the letter?” He felt his shoulders slump. “She came here with that express purpose.”

“I heard an outlandish story of women being lured into some kind of unbelievable slavery to the Ottoman sultan. All the product of a disordered mind and only a forgery to substantiate it.”

“Then you saw the letter?” Crispin felt himself come to life. “Faith was going to give you the correspondence between Lady Vernon and Lord Harkom to verify the truth of this. She’s taken an enormous risk to uncover the truth, managing to extract it from Lord Harkom. I’ve just come from there.”

Miss Eaves pressed her lips together. She seemed unable to answer.

Crispin could barely keep still. “Miss Eaves, you must tell me how long ago she left! Miss Montague is in great danger. I’d heard whispers that suggested such a thing was happening, but there was nothing to substantiate it until tonight. The letter is no forgery, Miss Eaves. Surely you could tell that for yourself!”

“Mr Westaway, I…” She bit her lip, her confusion apparent. “I don’t know what to tell you except that she told me she was going to find Lord Delmore.”

Crispin turned on his heel. “If you see her again, detain her,” he said, over his shoulder. “Persuade her not to go anywhere unless she is accompanied.”

He was about to turn when Miss Eaves detained him with a hand on his sleeve. Her skin was very pale and there was a tremor in her voice as she said, “Miss Montague left the room about half an hour ago. I followed her, when my uncle called me over to meet a new arrival just as Miss Montague was descending the front steps.” She pressed her lips together and rolled one shoulder, and Crispin felt a stab of very real terror, justified as Miss Eaves finished, “Lady Vernon seemed to be waiting for her from just inside the carriage that had drawn up. I caught only a glimpse before Miss Montague was inside. And…” she hesitated “… in the glow of the lamplight, I believe I saw Lord Harkom. Certainly, at the time I believed it was Lord Harkom, for I returned thinking with such scepticism of her renewed defence that she’d ever had a willing association with him.”

Crispin was already heading towards the door before he turned. “And nor has she. Miss Eaves, if you see anything or hear anything that could help this case, please send a message directly to my lodgings. Dear God, I just hope and pray I find her in time.”

Chapter 30