David lifted a hand in greeting when Billy saw him from across the room. The man looked to be in good spirits, and David cut through the crowd to greet him.
“How is your babe?” he asked, and Billy’s grin stretched even wider.
“Very well. Thank you again for your assistance.”
“There is not much to thank me for,” he said. “Miss Jones is the one who made it possible.”
“That she did,” Billy agreed, then paused for a moment in his work. “This is a rather impudent question, Mr. Redmond, but… is she your woman, Miss Jones?”
David had no idea how to answer that. Every part of him wanted to yell out thatyes, of course she was!But he had made no declaration of such to her — yet — and he wasn’t sure how it would help matters to say such a thing.
“I, ah… why do you ask?”
“Well, I have a friend who has seen her in the marketplace and has been asking about her. We weren’t sure, however, where she stood. Is she to be yours? She’s not from around these parts, as most of us are, so we weren’t entirely sure of her station, either. What do you think, Mr. Redmond? Would she be amenable?”
David’s body felt as though it was burning at the thought of another man interested in Sarah, of the idea of her entertaining thoughts for anyone but him. But he couldn’t very well say that to Billy. The man was only trying to be helpful, and as he continued to look at him earnestly, David knew he must provide an answer.
“I think that’s best a question for Miss Jones,” he finally said quietly. “We are… friends, at the moment anyway.”
Billy nodded, though he looked at David discerningly. “Very well, Mr. Redmond.”
“Say, Billy, do you happen to know Lord Torrington?”
“I know who he is,” Billy said, throwing the rag with which he had been drying a glass over his shoulder. “He’s over there, across the room.”
“Thank you very much,” David said, rapping his knuckles once on the table in front of him before rising to find the Earl.
“Torrington,” David greeted him, and the man looked up from his card game to determine who had been calling to him. “How do you do?”
“Just fine, but give me a moment to finish this hand,” Torrington said, and David nodded. He was well aware that despite his father being an earl, he was below Torrington’s station and had no right to request anything of him. Just a conversation, he reminded himself, though he was becoming slightly worried at what the man’s reaction might be to his potential news.
David took a seat nearby, impatiently tapping his fingers upon the table in front of him — a motion which did not go unnoticed by Torrington, who looked up at him now and then with some exasperation. Finally, his hand finished, though it was quite obviously not the outcome he had been anticipating by the way he flung the cards down upon the table. David swallowed. This conversation likely would have been more palatable were the Earl in a better mood.
The man sat down at the table across from him.
“What is it, Redmond?” he asked as he lifted a hand in the air to signal one of the barmaids for a drink. “Are you here to plan more liaisons with young ladies in my study?”
Ah, yes. David had forgotten about that.
“I apologize for that once more, Lord Torrington. But I actually have a rather… strange question for you,” David began. “You grew up in the Salisbury area of England, did you not?”
“For the most part,” Torrington said, his voice on edge as he was obviously wary of the line of questioning David had embarked upon.
“At what age did you leave there for London?”
“It is still my home.”
“Yes,” David was blundering this. He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “When you were younger, however, was there a time when you left home for London?”
“We all did,” Torrington said, clearly growing impatient. “For school, for the Season, whatever it may have been.”
“Right, right,” David said, attempting not to sigh aloud, deciding to try a different line of questioning. “Did you ever happen to know a woman by the name of Mary Jones?”
The Earl’s entire face lost every bit of color at the mention of Sarah’s mother’s name.
“Why do you ask me such a thing?” he said, his words emotionless, though he couldn’t hide the brief flicker of panic that crossed his face.
David was able to keep himself from smiling in victory.