Only Lila had dark hair. The game was on.
“Thank you,” Thea said, almost relishing the challenge. She knew which room was Lyon’s. Mirabel would place him in her best suite.
She knocked on his door.
There was no answer.
Boldly, she entered. A lamp burned on a side table. The sheets on the bed had been turned down. There was no one in it.
That was a relief, although Thea had been looking forward to snatching Lady Lila up by the scruff of her neck and escorting her out of the room.
Thea walked over to a chair beside the cold hearth and sat, her arms and ankles crossed. Lady Lila was going to be in for a surprise when she put her little plan in motion.
The clock on the mantel ticked away the minutes. Thea waited, impatient.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen—
The door opened.
Thea rose slowly to her feet as Lady Lila backed into the room. The girl was trying to be very quiet and had her attention on not being seen by someone in the hallway, so she didn’t realize she wasn’t aloneinsidethe room until Thea said, “Hello, my lady.”
Lady Lila jumped straight into the air. Her dark, curling hair was down around her shoulders, and Thea doubted that she had anything on beneath the dressing gown she wore. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” Thea informed her smartly. “And now I’m going to escort you back to your bed.”
“I’m not going,” Lady Lila announced. “The Lyon asked me here. We’ve been meetingeverynight.”
“AndIknow that you haven’t,” Thea responded. “I have servants who will corroborate my story if you should be so unwise as to persist with your lies.”
Anger flared in Lady Lila’s eyes at the mention of the servants.
“Now,” Thea said, advancing on the girl, “if you are wise, you will return to your room and say nothing of this to anyone, because if you do, I shall put the word out about your schemes and you will beruined. Do you understand—?”
She wasn’t able to finish her sentence because Lady Lila doubled a fist and smacked her against the side of the head. Thea’s world spun. She couldn’t think, could barely see. She went to her knees and reached for the floor for balance.
“No one tells me what to do. Especially if she is some ratty nobody who threw away her pride. No one cares about you.No one.”
From the corner of her eye, Thea caught the movement of Lady Lila raising her hand to strike her again. Thea lifted an arm to protect herself.
But the second blow never came.
Thea turned to see Neal holding onto the hand Lady Lila would have struck her with. “What do you think you are doing?” he demanded in a low voice.
Lady Lila started to shout, a sound that turned into a whimper when she saw who had her. She shook her hand free from him, backed up and charged out of the room as fast as her bare feet could take her.
Thea wanted to tell Neal to stop her. The others should know how uncontrollable the girl could be, but her world was still spinning from the blow.
Neal closed the door and knelt beside her. “Thea, are you all right?”
She wanted to tell him that was the silliest question she’d ever heard.Of courseshe wasn’t all right. But she was so shaken that she couldn’t make her mouth work.
He put his arms around her and she gratefully leaned against him for support. “Easy, easy,” he whispered. “Take deep breaths and relax.”
Thea did as he said. She leaned her head against the strength of his shoulder and felt her whole body collapse against him. Her breathing became more normal, but she had a new terror to contend with—she’d started to cry, and she couldn’t stopit. All she had the energy to do was bury her face in the folds of his evening jacket and release all the pent-up doubts, fears and frustrations in huge, ugly-sounding sobs.
And it felt good.