The first thing she heard were curse words. Colorful ones that she hadn’t heard since she was a child. And since every one was spoken in the cultured accent of an aristocrat, the sounds made her smile.
“Slow down. Let me help,” she said.
The lady jolted at the sound of Lilah’s voice as she shrunk back into her domino. “No, no,” she said in a false high tone. “I’m fine.”
“You are definitely not fine unless you mean to rip out half your hair and tear your domino at the same time. Stay still. I’ll have you free in a moment.”
She could tell that the woman in black didn’t want to oblige, but another minute of struggle proved the futility of her efforts. Every time she twisted, she ensnared something else.
“Oh damnation!” she finally huffed.
“Stay still,” Lilah said as she began the work of disentangling the lady.
To her surprise the woman did. She stilled as if listening intently to something. Lilah had no idea what it was. She could hear the orchestra clearly as well as a cheer from the audience around the jugglers. Then as Lilah broke the last offending branch, she heard the woman moan.
“And now I’ve lost him. I’ll never find him again in this crush.”
Crush? This was the emptiest Vauxhall had ever been. It was the one day of the year where the entire park was reserved for the elite party hosted by the Lords of the Masquerade. But rather than comment, she decided to help.
“Whom were you looking for?” Lilah asked. “Perhaps we can find him together.”
“Lord Loughton,” the lady said with a moan. “He was with his friends on the other side of this hedge.”
“And you wish to speak with him?”
The woman actively shuddered. “Heavens no.”
Well, that wasn’t what she expected to hear. “You were following him though.”
“He’s up to something nefarious. I’m sure of it and I need to find out what.”
“Nefarious? Are you sure you mean Lord Loughton?” The Scottish lord had come to London in the middle of last Season. He was accounted as genial, established of a modest fortune, and a jolly good fellow among his friends. There had been nothing even hinting at nefariousness.
“Well, I hope he’s up to something nefarious. He means to marry me and if I don’t do something drastic soon, then I shall be shipped off to Scotland never to be heard from again.”
“Scotland is said to be quite beautiful.”
The lady lifted her chin and scowled fiercely. “I don’t care if it’s heaven on Earth. My life is in London. My friends are in London. My books are in London. I will not be forcibly wed and sent off somewhere that is not London!”
“Well, I can certainly understand that.” Lilah frowned as she looked about her, searching for a nearby servant. “So you are looking for the truth about Lord Loughton?”
“Yes. I want to know what he says to his friends.”
“About you?”
“About anything! Everything. I have the cleverest idea to dissuade him from me, but I can’t accomplish it without more information.”
That certainly piqued Lilah’s curiosity. “There is a better way to do this, you know, than skulking about in the shrubbery.”
“I cannot imagine what.”
“Bribe one of the servants to remain close and report everything Lord Loughton says to you. Pay him only for whatever information you need.”
“That’s true,” the lady said with a nod. “Servants hear everything. But won’t whomever I hire lie and tell me what I want to hear?”
“Perhaps. But you can make it clear you won’t pay for lies.”
The lady looked unconvinced at first, but in the end, she gave a sad nod. “It’s better than what I’ve been doing. I hadn’t realized how terribly difficult it is to overhear things. Very well, will you help me find a servant to bribe?”