18. Chapter 18

Magical.

In all of the times she had been at Vauxhall Gardens, she'd always loved the fun of it, but it had never been magical. Not until tonight.

Not until Callum.

Her legs still woozy from being thoroughly wrecked by him in the alcove, she leaned against his arm as they worked their way through the crowds in the gardens. Most people were already turned toward the river to where a few errant fireworks had started popping behind them, announcing the show was imminent.

Contrary to the crowds surging toward the river, they were working against the flow of people.

She wanted to get home to make sure Georgette and Jacob were settled and to tell them the good news, that they would be coming back to Scotland with her.

The full fireworks show started with five loud bangs and she jumped, looking up at Callum with a laugh at her lips. "They scare me every time."

Callum grinned and set his arm around her, wrapping his hand around her waist.

"Oh. Charley." She stopped, looking around. "I completely forgot he was here. Should we find him to tell him we're leaving?"

Callum scanned the crowd around them. With his height, he would be able to find Charley far faster than she could. "I can make a quick swoop around the pavilion, but I imagine he is ensconced in a dark corner of the gardens by now."

She shrugged. "That will have to do—then we can at least say we tried to find him, rather than us completely abandoning him."

Callum nodded. "I'll meet you by the entrance next to the proprietor's house." His hand dropped away from her and he moved to the left into the crowd.

Nemity continued on, bumping into people as she made her way toward the main entrance gate of the garden.

"Nemity—Nemity—Nemity."

In between the cracks of the fireworks, she heard her name and spun, looking for the source.

"Nemity." Vanessa Haldren, Countess of Cladwell, ran up to her from the side of the orchestra. Her old friend. One in the group of women she and Susannah had danced through the seasons with when they were younger.

"Vanessa." Nemity grabbed Vanessa's arms and pulled her into a hug with a laugh. She hadn't seen Vanessa in two years.

"Nemity, I'm so glad I caught you—so glad I saw you with Lady Agnes. I waited until you were done talking with her—because who wants to get near that old bat? But then I looked away and you were gone." The booms of the fireworks peppered every third word she spoke.

Nemity waved the fact that she'd disappeared away, Vanessa knew full well where she'd disappeared to. "It is so good to see you. When did you get into town? You must have so much to report on your travels as you've been gone for so long. How was the continent?"

"Grand, and I will delight in telling you all about it, but that's not why I wanted to grab you." Vanessa looked around the crowd. Most people about them had their gazes focused on the bright lights flashing in the sky.

Nemity paused as a cluster of fireworks cracked into the air. "No? Why? You look like something is amiss?"

"There is." Her look jumped from the surrounding crowd to Nemity, and Vanessa leaned close, talking into Nemity's ear. "That man I saw with you earlier—the one talking with you to Lady Agnes."

Nemity's brow furrowed as she looked at her friend. "Yes? Mr. Lonstrick?"

Vanessa's nose wrinkled. "Lonstrick, is that what he is calling himself now?"

Nemity stilled, staring at her friend. "What are you talking about?"

"That man you are here with, I don't know where or how you met him, but do you remember that summer when we were twenty and I had a short affair with our gardener and then he disappeared on me? His name was John."

Nemity's eyes narrowed at her friend. Vanessa was a mess that summer, but that fall was when she'd met her husband.

"Yes, I recall." The words came from her mouth slowly, hesitancy thick in her voice.

"That gardener is your Mr. Lonstrick. The man you were with. I would know him anywhere. He had a beard back then, and not now, but I would recognize him anywhere." Vanessa grabbed her arm. "He's a glib-tonged, fortune-hunting charlatan, that one, Nemity. And he's dangerous."

"What? No. How do you even know that?"

"Days after I had relations with him, that was when my uncle disappeared." Vanessa's words sped as she tried to get them in between the pops of fireworks. "My father never said anything about it, but I know John was arguing with my uncle in the carriage house right before my uncle disappeared, never to be seen again. John disappeared the same day."

Nemity's head started to shake. There had to be a mistake. "No, you cannot possibly think Mr. Lonstrick was your gardener."

"I don't just think, I know." Vanessa's words grew pitched. "I even asked my father once about what happened to John and he just said John had been relieved of his duties with us."

"But that doesn't prove anything—that doesn't even prove that your John is Mr. Lonstrick."

Vanessa muttered something incomprehensible under the booms of fireworks and she grabbed Nemity by both arms, her look panicked. "I am not lying—I have no reason to lie. Please Nemity, just be careful. Whoever he said he was, that man is not. How can I make you believe…"

Vanessa's head dropped, shaking for a long second, then her look whipped up to Nemity. "Does he have a tattoo on his chest? A round one that looks like an emblem or something akin to it?"

Nemity's gut dropped.

No. No. No.

It couldn't possibly be.

Vanessa shook Nemity. "Is he marked like that on his chest?"

The world around her imploding on her, everyone and everything seemed to suddenly move slower. Crawling along.

She had to get out of here. Away.

She yanked her arms out of Vanessa's grip. "You must be mistaken. Mistaken."

Ignoring Vanessa's concerned face and her reaching to stop her, Nemity turned and ran, immediately bumping into a man behind her. The impact bounced her backward, but her feet kept moving forward. Fast. As fast as she could make them when they felt like they'd been encased in solid stone.

There. The entrance.

But hell.

That was where Callum was going to meet her.

Her feet slowed. The lights of the lanterns around her swirling.

Charley. She had to find Charley. He could get her home.

She stopped, spinning in a circle, trying to find direction in the crowd.

Charley.

How was she going to find Charley in this crush?

Hands landed on her shoulders. "Nemity." Callum's voice in her ear. "I couldn't find Charley. Are you ready?"

Her arm swung up to knock his hands away from her shoulders as she spun around to him. "What are you?"

His head snapped back, his face instantly concerned. "What? What are you talking about?"

She stepped into him, her voice a manic growl. "What are you? Are you a gardener? John? Do you remember my friend Vanessa? For she certainly remembers you."

His head whipped up, searching around them. "Va?—"

He stopped himself, looking back down at her, but in that one little movement, she had her answer.

He knew Vanessa. Looked for her.

A layer of panic he was trying to hide simmered in his eyes.

"You lying, rotten, despicable ass. Don't you dare come near me again."

"Nem." His hands lifted to grab her, to stop her, but she jumped to the side, escaping his grasp and broke into a full run, weaving around people in the crowd.

There. Vanessa.

Vanessa and her husband could get her home.

Get her home so she could gather up Georgette and Jacob before Callum could get to them.

They were her only concern now.