Gareth just stood there, his mouth slack, his arms hanging limply at his sides. If his father had yanked down the moon and clocked him on the head with it he couldn’t have been more stunned.
“I’ll see you at the wedding,” the baron called out. “Oh, silly me. Which wedding?” He laughed, taking a few more steps up toward the front door. “Do let me know, once you sort it all out.” He gave a little wave, obviously pleased with himself, and slipped inside the house.
“Dear God,” Gareth said to himself. And then again, because never in his life had the moment more called for blasphemy: “Dear God.”
What sort of mess was he in now? A man couldn’t offer marriage to more than one woman at once. And while he might not have offered it to Mary Winthrop, the baron had done so in his name, and had signed documents to that effect. Gareth had no idea what th
is meant to his plans with Hyacinth, but it couldn’t be good.
Oh, bloody…Hyacinth.
Dear God, indeed. She’d heard every word.
Gareth started to run for the corner, then stopped himself, glancing up at the house to make sure that his father wasn’t watching for him. The windows were still dark, but that didn’t mean…
Oh, hell. Who cared?
He ran around the corner, skidding to a halt in front of the alley, where he’d left her.
She was gone.
Chapter 16
Still in the alley. Gareth is staring at the spot where Hyacinth should have been standing.
He never wants to feel like this again.
Gareth’s heart stopped.
Where the hell was Hyacinth?
Was she in danger? It was late, and even though they were in one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of London, thieves and cutthroats might still be about, and—
No, she couldn’t have fallen prey to foul play. Not here. He would have heard something. A scuffle. A shout. Hyacinth would never be taken without a fight.
A very loud fight.
Which could only mean…
She must have heard his father talking about Mary Winthrop and run off. Damn the woman. She should have had more sense than that.
Gareth let out an aggravated grunt as he planted his hands on his hips and scanned the area. She could have dashed home any one of eight different ways, probably more if one counted all the alleys and mews, which he hoped she was sensible enough to avoid.
He decided to try the most direct route. It would take her right on Berkeley Street, which was a busy enough thoroughfare that there might be carriages rolling home from the Mottram Ball, but Hyacinth was probably just angry enough that her primary aim would have been to get home as quickly as possible.
Which was just fine with Gareth. He would much rather see her caught by a gossip on the main road than by a thief on a side street.
Gareth took off at a run toward Berkeley Square, slowing down at each intersection to glance up and down the cross streets.
Nothing.
Where the hell had she gone? He knew she was uncommonly athletic for a female, but good God, how fast could she run?
He dashed past Charles Street, onto the square proper. A carriage rolled by, but Gareth paid it no mind. Tomorrow’s gossip would probably be filled with tales of his crazed middle-of-the-night run through the streets of Mayfair, but it was nothing his reputation couldn’t withstand.
He ran along the edge of the square, and then finally he was on Bruton Street passing by Number Sixteen, Twelve, Seven…
There she was, running like the wind, heading around the corner so that she could enter the house from the back.