A Matter of Circumstance and Celludrones (9 page)

 
“Lily, we must be going.”

She nodded, falling in beside him as he skirted the crowds and veered
toward the bottom of the field where the carriages were parked. “Do you truly
think Lady Ostrich will still come? When you
stepped back
yesterday, it
changed the course of events.” Lily glanced up occasionally, searching for
Evelyn amongst the paddlers, relieved each time she couldn’t find her. “I asked
Ana and it seems Lady Ostrich never put in an appearance at my home at all.”

“Assumptions are dangerous.”

“You must have some experience in the matter.”

“When I time-run,” he said, “I usually keep right on running and don’t
look back.”

“My goodness, Lord Adair, that doesn’t sound like you.”

“I finally decided to stop and this is what happens.”

“Me?” she asked, taken aback by the bitterness in his voice. She
surged forward to block his advance.

He shook his head. “Almost getting you killed.”

She looked into his eyes, looked past the impossible rogue who
strained her manners and saw the vulnerability lurking there. He always
asserted himself with such confidence and nonchalance, but now she realised he
wasn’t much older than her. How long had he been running? What had he been
running from? “I’m pleased you stopped and found me, Lord Adair. I wouldn’t
have survived Lady Ostrich without you.”

“How many times do I have to rescue you before you’ll drop the
formalities and call me Grey?”

She turned from him to the crowds with a small smile. “I could perhaps
manage Greyston.”

“That’ll do for now.”

“Damn and blast.” The curse slipped out as her gaze landed on Evelyn’s
husband.

He stood by the white marquee, his feet braced far apart and his head
tilted all the way back. She followed his line of sight to an air-paddler who
must have taken off recently, given the slow ascent. White bloomers billowed
from a tight waist, tucked into some sort of stocking below the knee to prevent
the material tangling in the chain. Her gaze travelled up, to the short, fitted
jacket and up, to the cinnamon curls protruding from a plain white bonnet strapped
firmly beneath the chin.

No wonder she hadn’t seen Evelyn in the skies. She’d been looking for
a velvet green winter coat.

“Is that Lady Harchings?” There was a hint of awe in Greyston’s tone.
“What the devil is she wearing?”

Bloomers,
Lily might have snapped. But one didn’t mention
undergarments in mixed company. One certainly didn’t wear them on the outside
in mixed or any other company. If Devon was in a murderous mood, he had a
choice of valid reasons. “He’s going to have an apoplexy.”

“That’s certainly a sight to overwhelm most men.”

“Do you have to sound so amused?” She shot him a blistering look.

He shrugged. “It’s amusing.”

“Not to her husband,” Lily groaned. “He’s going to throttle her and
then she’s going to throttle me. First you, then Lady Ostrich, and now Lord
Harchings. Does the whole of London know our whereabouts today? It was supposed
to be a secret.”

“Did you share that little fact with Ana?”

“Lord Harchings would never, not in a million years, even think of
asking her.” He had lied to her, after all. “You said neither you nor Ana had
told anyone else.”

“And that’s the truth.” He dropped his gaze. “But the housekeeper may
have been present while I spoke to Ana.”

“You didn’t think to mention that?”

“The woman insisted. God knows what business she thought I’d get up to
if left alone in a room with a celludrone.”

Lily groaned. “I have to fix this.”

“No, you don’t,” he said quickly. “Marital disputes are best confined
to the married parties.”

“The reason I was dragged along here was to intervene, although it
wasn’t meant to be today. I’m the official stamp of approval for Lady
Harchings’ fascination with risqué sports.”

“Correction. You’re the one who considers life too precious to waste
on frivolous risks.”

“Precisely,” Lily said. “If I’m not opposed, it must be harmless.
That’s the plan,” she added somewhat doubtfully. “Now I just have to convince
Lord Harchings.”

“That’s not a plan, it’s a comedy of errors.”

An opinion she unfortunately shared. Everyone knew of the Duke of
Harchings, of course, but she’d only been formally introduced to Devon at
Evelyn’s wedding a few months ago. He’d always been polite to her, never more.
He rarely joined them in the drawing room. On the occasions Lily had dined in
private with them, he’d kept himself rather aloof. More importantly, Devon was
a sharp, serious-minded man with great responsibilities to the Crown and not
the sort to be duped, easily or otherwise.

“As much as I’d love to see this one play out,” Greyston went on, “we
don’t have the time.”

Time.
She gave him a sweet smile. “We have all the time we
need. You have to do your thing and take us back a couple of hours. Around
about noon should be fine.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why ever not? Just focus on whatever you were doing at noon and—Oh!”
She grabbed his arm and held on tight. “I’ll need to step back with you if I’m
to prevent this catastrophe.”

“There are rules, Lily.”

She glared at him. “Since when do you care about breaking rules?”

“I’ve tried, and for a worthier cause than marital harmony.”

“How about our lives?” She searched his eyes and found only
scepticism. “Lord Harchings is the Secretary for Alternative and New Threats.
He has an entire war department at his disposal to deal with life-threatening
nuisances.”

“Lady Ostrich defies any explanation you might attempt, including new
and alternative. No man in his right mind will hear you out.”

“Not right now, he won’t,” she agreed. “His wife is peddling thin air
and supposedly with my full support. You need to bend your rules so I can fix
this mess first.”

“These are more like laws of nature.”

“There’s nothing natural
about rewinding time.” She pulled her
hand from his arm. “Very well, what are these rules, then? If we put our heads
together, perhaps we can work around them.”

“We’re leaving,” Greyston growled. “Now.”

Lily danced out of reach and stormed ahead, thoroughly disgruntled
with his lack of cooperation.

Soothe the ruffled feathers of an austere duke, enthuse over the
redeeming qualities of risqué sports, save Evelyn’s marriage and enlist the war
department in her aid.
What could possibly go wrong?

Devon’s gaze landed on her as she approached, black thunder written on
his face. Lily put on a dazzling smile and took her cue from Mrs. Browning.

“It’s simply lovely to see you here, Devon,” she gushed. “Were you
thinking of paddling with us?”

“Lily,” he barked, more reprimand than greeting. “When Mrs. Heckle
said you’d come with Evelyn, I presumed you were here to dissuade her from this
madness.” His ice-blue gaze scorched her. “I presumed you had more sense than
to allow my wife to do this to herself.”

Lily shifted so they were standing shoulder to shoulder. She spotted
William in conversation with another man and, nearby, Mrs. Browning had her
face turned up to the sky. She, too, wore a pair of those outrageous
full-length bloomers with a short jacket. Lily wasn’t happy to see she’d
accurately guessed the stockings pulled up to the knee over the lower part of
the bloomers. “Apparently they’re calling it
Practical Fashion
in New
York and, well, it is practical.”

“I don’t give a damn about that silly costume. I wouldn’t care if
Evelyn had taken to running around naked, so long as she did it on the ground.”

“Ah, yes, about that…” Lily glanced up again. “It’s harmless fun,
really.”

“Is that so?”

She ignored the frosty undercurrent in his voice. “If a timid little
soul like me can enjoy it, Devon, then it must be.”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

“Oh, look, Evelyn’s bringing the paddler around,” she exclaimed,
silently cheering her friend for the convenient diversion. She raised her arm
to wave. “Do you think she’ll see us?”

“My wife is dangling like a bloody puppet in mid-air.” Devon caught
her hand and all but threw it down at her side. “Do you honestly think
distracting her is a good idea?”

“Evelyn’s not dangling,” she said brightly. “She’s floating. It’s not
so very different from your dirigibles, only smaller. All she has to do is
pedal and hold on.”

“I’m doing my damned best to rein in my fury until my foolish wife is
safely on the ground and you, my dearest lady, are not helping.”

 
“I did try to warn you,”
Greyston murmured, emerging at her side. He tipped his hat at Devon, then
placed a proprietary hand on her back. “If you’d be so kind as to excuse us and
inform Lady Harchings that Lily has been escorted home, we’ll be on our way.”

“And who in the blazes are you?”

Greyston stiffened beside her, making no effort to correct his
oversight in addressing a duke without formal introduction. He obviously
disapproved of Devon’s tone and, right now, Devon disapproved of absolutely
everything. Another second and they’d be at each other’s throats.

Lily rattled off a quick introduction, finishing with, “I completely
forgot a prior engagement in town and Lord Adair offered to drive me. Nothing
so urgent, however, that it cannot
wait
a while longer.”

“Are you not yet done?” Greyston asked.

“No,” she said under her breath.

“Maybe I can be of assistance and speed things up.” The hand at her
back scraped into a fist, the tension streaming off him in direct contrast to
his docile tone.

“Please don’t.”

“What’s going on here?” demanded Devon.

“Your wife anticipated you’d be less than happy about her bobbing up
there in the air,” Greyston obliged, “and recruited Lily as her personal
ambassador in the event of you finding out.”

Lily almost choked. She took one look at Devon’s strained jaw and
shrank into the circle of Greyston’s arm instead of beating him away. “Devon,
that’s not…”
Not what?

He wasn’t listening anyway. His gaze went to the sky and stayed there.

“Now we’re done.” Greyston steered her toward his carriage, identified
by the massive Neco perched on the high box, and Lily numbly let him.

“Before you claw my eyes out,” he said, “you should know that you were
digging a hole deep enough to bury both you and Lady Harchings.”

Lily was too upset to argue. “I’ve ruined Evelyn’s marriage.”

His hand fell from her waist to open the carriage door. “You take too
much responsibility on yourself.”

“I’m willing to share with you,” she muttered. “Lord knows you’re half
to blame.”

“I’ll take the whole lot, so long as we can get the hell away from
here.” He gave his man the order to drive them to Harchings House, then climbed
inside after her.

The carriage jerked back and forth as the horses executed a tight turn
in the confined space before setting out on the perimeter drive.

Greyston settled on the opposite bench and stretched his legs. “I’ve
been thinking.”

“I’m surprised you took the time, considering what a rush you’re in.”
She gave him a pointed look. “You didn’t even give me a chance to mention our
troubles with Lady Ostrich.”

“You speak of troubles and nuisances as if she’s nothing more than an
irritant to be swatted by some pompous government official.”

Lily flinched. “The Duke of Harchings is hardly—”

“My mistake,” he cut in, “I meant some
titled
pompous
government official.”

“I was going to say,” she said, pronouncing each word slowly in an
effort to contain her building anger, “that the Duke of Harchings is incredibly
capable and powerful. If anyone can help us, it’s him.”

“In this instance,
we’re
the only ones that can help us. Which
is why,” he drawled, “I’m leaving for Scotland tonight on the Northern Line.”

“Oh.” She raised her chin high to counter the sagging feeling inside
her chest and turned her gaze from him to outside the window.
I should be
delighted. I’m finally getting rid of him.

“The mystery of Lady Ostrich and what she wants with us must all have
started at Castle Cragloden, the common point where our pasts collide.”

In the long silence that followed, Lily rallied her wits back and
forth. That she had anything in common with a man such as him, past or present,
should in itself be alarming. As for any attraction she felt for Greyston, that
was silly and shallow. She honestly didn’t like him. Not at all…apart from the
odd moment, which was far too fleeting to count.

The sooner he left, the sooner some measure of decorum could return to
her life. His only redeeming quality was his ability to step back in time and
that alone was an argument to recoil from the man’s company, not embrace it.

She folded her hands on her lap, twisting her fingers as the recent
events rose like a lump of bile in her throat. Lady Ostrich wasn’t a problem
that would disappear from her world when Greyston did. She no longer believed
that. Their lives had connected at Castle Cragloden before she’d even met
Greyston. Their celludrones connected them long before that. They were
embroiled in a nightmare that had originated years ago and that was another
thing. She may not be an adventurous spirit such as Evelyn, but she had as much
of a natural curiosity as the next person and her mother’s history was becoming
impossible to ignore.

“You should come with me,” Greyston said softly. “I can’t protect you
from Lady Ostrich at a distance.”

Her gaze snapped to him.
Impossible.
“My reputation would be
shredded if I travelled unaccompanied with a gentleman, let alone a rogue.”

But Lady Ostrich had annihilated Halver without any provocation.
Wasn’t she putting everyone at Harchings House at risk, and that without
Greyston around anymore to intervene?