Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“I’m not sure about this, milady.” By the light of the carriage’s interior lantern, Cassie’s lady’s maid appeared wan.
Even more so than she’d been when Cassie first informed her of the plan for the evening.
Ruth squirmed. “Limehouse isn’t the finest part of Town, and we’ve only Patrick in the box for protection. ”
“We aren’t going to need protection,” Cassie said. She was beginning to regret bringing Ruth. It had been an attempt to show some propriety, but her maid’s complaints were growing tiresome.
Cassie drew in a breath to calm herself. Her frayed nerves weren’t entirely Ruth’s fault. No, her true annoyance was with Grant. And Hugh if she was being honest. The two of them had shut her out, deciding what wasn’t appropriate for her, when Isabel was her responsibility. Not theirs.
Once Grant had left with Tris in his carriage, her face still hot from his ardent show of kissing her hand, Cassie had fled back to Grosvenor Square, where she’d told Patrick to plan for an outing to Limehouse that night.
He had not been pleased. Her assurance that they would simply wait outside the club and see what they could see had not been enough to put him at ease.
Since she could not enter the club alone, watching from the carriage window would have to suffice.
Staying in at home and twiddling her thumbs while Isabel was out there, in danger, was not an option.
Duke’s was located in a repurposed warehouse near the river, and several minutes after Patrick had parked the carriage on the street outside, Cassie’s spirits lifted.
Men in fashionable suits and top hats were entering the club, and women were in the mix as well.
By all appearances, the attendees were not lower class.
While a few women were unaccompanied, most were on the arms of men.
Cassie slid forward on her seat. “I say we go in.”
Ruth balked. “No, milady, we couldn’t. It wouldn’t be safe—ah!” The maid screamed as a hand pounded on the carriage door, and Cassie practically jumped out of her skin.
“Cassie, is that you in there?”
Her heart re-started when she recognized the voice. “Tobias?”
She reached for the door handle, and Ruth screamed again. Cassie gritted her molars. “It is just my brother,” she told the maid, who didn’t look at all relieved.
“I thought I recognized this carriage. What in Hades are you doing here?” Tobias asked the moment Cassie flung open the door and saw her brother on the pavements. She extended her hand, and he saw her down.
“I’m attending the match, of course,” she said, immediately taking his arm. “With my favorite brother.”
He was more agreeable than Michael, and quite the young blade with his walking stick, skewed top hat, and loose cravat. However, he was no pushover. Tobias peered at her skeptically.
“You had no idea I would be here,” he said.
“Perhaps I did. Maybe I am having you followed,” she replied lightly. “Patrick, stay here with Ruth.”
Her driver bowed his head. “My lady. Lord Tobias.”
“Are you boxing tonight?” she asked him as she tried to begin walking toward the warehouse.
Tobias kept his feet planted. “I don’t box. I bet. And no, you may not come in with me.”
“There are women going inside, Toby. Plenty of them.”
And an increasingly large part of her wanted to be one of them. If Mr. Youngdale was at the boxing match, he might have Isabel with him. If not, it might be possible to follow him afterward. He could very well lead them straight to her.
“These matches are no holds barred,” Tobias said. “They’re quite gruesome at times, and besides, Michael would serve my head on a platter if he found out I’d taken you to one.”
“He won’t find out through me,” she replied. “Though, he might find out how you’re spending your allowance if you do not escort me inside.”
Gracious, now she sounded like Grant Thornton.
Her brother scowled. “Fine. But you will stay right next to me the entire time. Is that clear?”
She promised she would, and at last, they started for the warehouse.
Whatever goods the structure had stored in its previous life had been lost beneath its new incarnation.
A vast space with high ceilings and worn wooden floors housed four sets of staged seating, all surrounding a raised boxing ring.
Lights blazed from lanterns hanging from ceiling beams, and the noise as she and Tobias entered arm in arm stunned her.
Men spoke loudly and in teeming throngs.
Those they threaded through seemed to be placing bets and discussing the odds of the night’s match.
The chaos of the floor brought a smile to Tobias’s lips, and he raised an arm as he caught sight of someone.
He pulled her along while Cassie scanned the lively crowds for the two men who would not be at all pleased to see her there. If they had come, that was.
“Forsythe, you’ve met my sister, Lady Cassandra,” Tobias said, and suddenly, she was staring into the face of Mr. Alaric Forsythe. He quickly removed his hat and bowed.
“This is a surprise, my lady. I had no idea you attended boxing matches.”
She gaped, belatedly remembering that he’d sent flowers to her after the opera. And also after Lady Tennenbright’s ball.
“Cassie doesn’t attend boxing matches,” Tobias provided when she continued to stare. “I don’t know why she’s here, but trust me Forsythe, whatever the reason, you likely don’t want to be part of it.”
She longed to tweak her younger brother’s ear but contained herself. Mr. Forsythe ignored Tobias’s advice and animatedly invited them to sit with him. Tobias pounded him on the back, calling him a good chap, and Mr. Forsythe led them toward the far side of the boxing ring.
“I hope you don’t mind the front row,” Mr. Forsythe said as they filed onto the benches.
“I’m not sure what I prefer,” Cassie said honestly. “This is my first match.”
He blinked, his curiosity plain. “What has brought you out?”
She had no ready excuse, and with the crush of viewers near them in the stands, Cassie felt slightly panicked.
It was hot and close, smelling of salty brine from the Thames, smoke, and sweat, and her heartbeat was beginning to pick up speed.
The noise was overwhelming, and though she darted looks all around, she couldn’t see any sign of Isabel. Or of Grant and Hugh.
“Lady Cassandra?”
She faced Mr. Forsythe. “I’m sorry, this is all rather—”
A high roar erupted in the room, and people all around them shot to their feet.
Mr. Forsythe took her elbow, and they stood as well.
Two large, muscled men wearing breeches and nothing else climbed into the boxing ring.
All around her, men and women cheered and clapped, and then just as abruptly, everyone retook their seats.
Cassie was slow to do the same, her ears ringing, her mind still spinning.
A few seconds behind the others, Cassie had started to sit, but then froze.
Across the ring, in the opposite stands, one man remained standing.
He linked eyes with Cassie, his own blazing with pure wrath.
She’d found Grant. Or rather, he’d found her.
Tobias tugged her arm and brought her back onto the bench with a thump.
Across the way, Grant smoothly lowered himself into his seat.
Hugh and Sir were with him. The viscount shook his head after seeing her and leaned over to whisper something in Grant’s ear.
However, the physician didn’t shift his glare from her.
As the two men began to circle one another in the ring and throw jabs with their fists, Grant’s attention slid to the man on Cassie’s left.
“I think I have discovered why you’re here, Lady Cassandra,” Mr. Forsythe said, leaning toward her ear as people all around them cheered on the fighters. He had to practically shout to be heard above the din, and it made her eardrum ache.
She peered at him, confused as to how he could possibly know. But then, when he directed his attention across the ring, into the stands where Grant was seated, she understood his meaning. Embarrassment stained her cheeks.
“Oh, no! Really, that’s not why,” she said, but Mr. Forsythe only laughed.
“I do not read the gossip columns, but even I am aware that the gentleman has set his cap at you. And if the way he is looking at you is any indication at all, he is not pleased to see you here at another man’s side.”
While Sir and Hugh were looking off toward another section of staging, Grant continued to blister her with a glare.
But she wasn’t here with Mr. Forsythe! They’d simply bumped into one another.
No, what Grant was angry about was her being here at all after he’d told her she couldn’t come. Well, that wasn’t up to him, was it?
“His interest is evident,” Mr. Forsythe continued to say as the two men in the ring circled one another. “And dare I say, yours as well?”
She felt a twinge of shock, then an equal one of guilt. “Mr. Forsythe, I don’t think you under—”
He held up a hand again and smiled. “No, no. No need, my lady. You should know that I’ve made arrangements to return to Egypt next month. Not because of a broken heart,” he added with a laugh. “But because it is where I belong, at least for right now.”
The announcement left Cassie speechless. She began to feel silly as she gaped at him.
“Oh. Well, then… I am happy for you.” She genuinely was. Relieved, too. Cassie did feel terribly that he had fallen for the ruse she and Grant were perpetuating, but she could only hope that he was in earnest, and his heart was not injured.
“I only pray the gentleman endeavors to deserve such a treasure,” he added, with a final nod of his head. As if to say, and that is that.