“Who was that man?” Elizabeth asked.

No response.

Amelia shifted her gaze to Grace’s face. This was most interesting. She was pretending that she had not heard Elizabeth’s query. It was easy to see through the ruse if one was facing her; the right corner of her mouth had tightened with concern.

“Grace?” Elizabeth said again. “Who was it?”

“No one,” Grace said quickly. “Are we ready to depart?”

“Do you know him, then?” Elizabeth asked, and Amelia wanted to muzzle her. Of course Grace knew him. It had been clear as day.

“I do not,” Grace said sharply.

“What are you talking about?” the dowager asked, all irritation.

“There was a man at the end of the drive,” Elizabeth explained. Amelia wanted desperately to kick her, but there was just no way; she was seated across from the dowager and completely unreachable.

“Who was it?” the dowager demanded.

“I do not know,” Grace answered. “I could not see his face.”

Which wasn’t a lie. Not the second part, at least. He’d stood much too far away for any of them to have seen his face. But Amelia would have bet her dowry that Grace had known exactly who he was.

“Who was it?” the dowager thundered, her voice rising over the sound of the wheels, beginning their rumble down the drive.

“I don’t know,” Grace repeated, but they could all hear the cracks that were forming in her voice.

The dowager turned to Amelia, her eyes as biting as her voice. “Did you see him?”

Amelia’s eyes caught Grace’s. Something passed between them.

Amelia swallowed. “I saw no one, ma’am.”

The dowager dismissed her with a snort, turning the full weight of her fury on Grace. “Was it he?”

Amelia sucked in her breath. Who were they talking about?

Grace shook her head. “I don’t know,” she stammered. “I couldn’t say.”

“Stop the carriage,” the dowager yelled, lurching forward and shoving Grace aside so she could bang on the wall separating the cabin and the driver. “Stop, I tell you!”

The carriage came to a sudden halt, and Amelia, who had been sitting face-front beside the dowager, tumbled forward, landing at Grace’s feet. She tried to get up, but the dowager had reached across the carriage and clamped her hand around Grace’s chin.

“I will give you one more chance, Miss Eversleigh,” she hissed. “Was it he?”

Amelia stopped breathing.

Grace did not move, and then, very slightly, she nodded.

And the dowager went mad.

Amelia had just regained her seat when she had to duck to avoid being decapitated by her walking stick. “Turn the carriage around!” the dowager was yelling. They slowed, then turned sharply when the dowager screeched, “Go! Go!”