“Charlotte, I forbid you to subvert my pirate!”

“My lady.” Madelyn put her hand on Gillian’s arm and inserted herself between the two cousins. “Do you not think we should be about your plan? Even now, Lord Weston could be—”

“Dear God, yes, of course! Off you go, the four of you. We shall follow once you’ve had suitable time to seduce the men.” Gillian pulled a watch from her reticule. “About how long do you anticipate that will take? Three minutes? Four?”

Beverly shot her a look of patent disbelief. “To seduce someone? My lady, that could take upwards of an hour—”

“Oh, no,” Gillian argued. “We don’t have that sort of time. I want the quick version.” She looked at the blank faces gawking at her. “You know, the quick seduction. Heavens, I can’t believe I need to tell you four how to do your job. The quick one, the one that makes a man’s eyes bulge out and his breathing stop and his hands clench and unclench spasmodically. It only takes a few minutes for Noble to reach that state, and surely you are ever so much more effective at seduction than I am.”

Madelyn opened and closed her mouth a few times before she got the words out. “We’ll do our best, my lady.”

Gillian beamed at her. “Excellent. We’ll follow you in a few minutes.” She smiled a reassuring smile at Crouch as he shook his head at the sight of the mistresses disappearing through Gentleman Jackson’s door.

Gillian took a firm grip on her cousin’s arm to keep her from wandering. “Crouch, when we go upstairs, you and the footmen may stay out here.”

“Nay, m’lady, yer won’t be doing that. Remember my gut! ’Ere Charles, Dickon, ’Enry—ye three guard ’er ladyship. Frank, ’Arrison, ye take the ’ounds. Thomas, Jim, the two of ye stay with the ’orses, and make sure no one does anythin’ funny-like to either carriage. I’ll stay by Master Nick’s side. And we’ll all be stayin’ out ’ere where it’s safe!”

This last was said directly to Gillian. Charlotte looked over the line of footmen as they leaped down from the two carriages necessary to carry them all, then turned back to Gillian. “If you could get them all on top of horses, you could join Astley’s!”

Gillian rolled her eyes. “Really, Crouch, I appreciate your concern, but my plan is quite sound, I assure you. We’ll be perfectly safe; his lordship will be there, after all.

Crouch crossed his arms over his chest. “Aye, m’lady, but who’ll keep ye safe from ’im once ’e discovers ye there?”

“Testicle!” Charles shouted suddenly, tugging at the pirate’s sleeve. “Testicle, Mr. Crouch. Look, over there, testicle!”

“Why the devil are ye yammerin’ on about yer cods?”

Charles danced up and down before Crouch’s unbelieving eyes. Was the man actually wringing his hands?

“Testicle! Look, coming down the street—testicle!”

Crouch suddenly remembered the watchword and spun around, his eyes narrowed, looking for any threat to his mistress’s safety. A carriage was speedily bearing down on them, the horses lathered and wild-eyed. Immediately footmen began running to and fro, stumbling over each other, over the dogs, and over their own feet. Crouch shouted orders to form a circle around Gillian, but the orders were lost in all the noise and confusion.