George appeared confused. “Isn’t she with you?”
“No, she left me a while ago to join you. She cut through the garden to avoid the crowd.”
The smile on George’s face faltered. “We haven’t seen her. She never made it here.”
Meggie rolled her eyes and laughed. “You know how easily Lily can be distracted. Someone must have caught her attention. I’m sure you’ll find her in the music room discussing her theories on baboon colonies with one of Eloise’s professor friends.”
Ewan’s heart began to pound a little faster. Meggie was probably right. Still, Lily was missing and Callie had a smug look on her face. Those hairs at the nape of his neck were iron-hard spikes again. But Callie couldn’t have seen her. She’d gone into the garden long after Lily had been there. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll help you look for her.” Though George kept his tone light, Ewan knew he was worried too. “Perhaps she went home. After all, we live right next door.”
Ewan nodded. “I’ll search the music room, then the rest of Eloise’s house.”
Meggie began to wring her hands. “What’s going on? Do you think something’s happened to Lily?”
He assured her that he didn’t, but he spoke with little conviction. His instincts were on alert. Lily was in trouble. “As you said, she becomes so lost in her thoughts that she forgets what’s going on around her. I’m sure she’s chatting with one of her scholarly acquaintances, or hiding in Eloise’s library reading a musty book.”
However, a quick inspection of every room, including the library, turned up nothing. Dillie hadn’t seen her either. Ewan’s heart was now firmly lodged in his throat.
The garden? He’d already looked out there. But she wasn’t anywhere else. She had to be there. Had Callie encountered her and said something to make Lily run off to a quiet corner in tears? He blamed himself for insisting that Lily attend the party, and fervently hoped George would find her at home.
But he didn’t. “She isn’t there, Ewan. Pruitt hasn’t seen her since she left the house with you. I don’t like this. We all know she occasionally walks with her head in the clouds, but never like this. She wouldn’t simply wander off.”
Ewan ran a hand across the nape of his neck. Lily had a way of perplexing him. If he wasn’t careful, he’d rub his neck raw worrying about the girl. “I think Callie might have seen her.”
He went in search of the cold beauty and found her in the entry hall standing beside her uncle. They had on their capes and were waiting for their carriage to draw up. “Leaving early?”
Callie shot him another smug look.
“Callie wasn’t feeling well,” said Archie MacCorkindale. “In truth, she’s homesick and has decided to join me when I return to Scotland in a few days’ time. I have business to attend to up there, so we’re cutting short our London stay.”
“Awfully sudden, isn’t it, Callie? I thought you’d come down here for the season.”
She tipped her chin up and shot him an indignant glare. “A woman has the right to change her mind. Not that I wouldn’t mind staying around to see you humiliated.”
Archie frowned. “What do you mean? What’s going on here?”
“His precious Lily.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose you’ll find out soon enough, Ewan. She doesn’t love you. You stupid fool. I saw her in the garden in the arms of another man.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“As I said, men are stupid. She’s obviously taken on a lover. They were intimately wrapped in each other’s arms, then he lifted her into his arms and carried her away. She made no protest.”
“Show me.” He grabbed Callie by the arm and led her to the garden, darting and weaving through the crowd, which thankfully paid them little notice. George and Archie followed close behind. The four of them were alone once outdoors since the night had turned chill, and Eloise had sumptuous food and elegant entertainments to keep her guests enjoyably occupied indoors. “Where did you see them, Callie?”
“I don’t recall.”
He was too angry and frustrated to be politely accepting of her lies. “Where! I vow I’ll wring your neck if you don’t tell me now.”
“Ouch! You’re squeezing my arm.”
“I’ll do worse if you continue to play games with me. Tell me!”
“Now, see here Ewan. I—”
“Shut up, Archie.” He turned his glower back on Callie, realizing in that moment just how capable he was of murder.