The cat swished her tail.

“Don’t blame me,” Jane went on. “I couldn’t talk her out of it. It seems Cass is madly in love with Julian and some people apparently are meant to be together forever. Lucy seems to think so, too, and Lucy, of course, is a duchess now as a result of falling in love.” The last three words were uttered with a fair bit of mockery.

“But don’t worry,” Jane said. “I’ve asked Anna, the cook’s assistant, to check on you while I’m gone. She’s promised to bring you all the best scraps and—”

“Miss Jane?” Anna’s voice came floating through the rain and fog.

Jane quickly stood and turned toward the sound. “Anna, is that you?”

Anna soon materialized around the side of the mews. She held a newspaper over her head to shield herself from the rain as she squinted through the fog. “Miss Jane?” She stopped when she saw Jane. “There you are. I thought I might find you out here. Your mother is looking for you. She and Eloise are turning up the house searching.”

Eloise was Jane’s lady’s maid. The poor woman was often taken to task if Jane’s mother couldn’t find her only child. “I’d better get back quickly then. Poor Eloise. Good-bye, Mrs. Cat. I’ll see you when I return. And I hope to see your kittens fat and healthy. Anna will take good care of you. Won’t you, Anna?”

Anna’s smile spread across her plump cheeks. “Of course, miss.”

The cat lifted its head and blinked.

Anna readjusted the paper atop her head. “Miss, I heard your mother tell Eloise it’s quite important that she and your father speak with you before you leave for the house party.”

Jane scrunched up her nose. Drat. An audience with her mother was never a good thing and if she was dragging Papa into it, it was serious. “I wonder what she wishes to discuss.”

Anna stooped down and patted the cat on the head. “I heard her say something about Mrs. Bunbury.”

Jane gulped. “Mrs. Bunbury?”

“Yes. She is your new chaperone, isn’t she, miss?”

Jane blinked rapidly. “Yes. Yes, she is.” Jane, the book still cradled under her arm, broke into a decidedly unladylike sprint back toward the house, heedless of the water splashing onto her skirts from the many puddles in the courtyard.

Mrs. Bunbury was indeed her new chaperone. The chaperone who would be accompanying her to Cass’s wedding house party in Surrey. If her mother wanted to discuss Mrs. Bunbury, there might well be trouble.

For Mrs. Bunbury didn’t exist.

CHAPTER TWO

Garrett Upton turned over the letter and stared at it. Hard. He let out a long breath. It contained what it always did, a bank draft, an inadequate message, a hefty dose of guilt.

“Sir, the coach awaits you.”

Garrett glanced at the butler who stood at attention in the doorway to his study. The two roan spaniels lying on either side of his chair lifted their heads and wagged their tails.