It would take little more than a smile and the promise of a dance to lure her away from her chaperon. On a starry night, in a pleasure garden full of secret grottos and dark paths, anything might happen to her. Amy knew from experience that not all men who claimed to be were gentlemen and protected herself accordingly. But Belle was as innocent as a babe.
And Amy had wasted the evening sparring with Benjamin Lovell. It was a mere pretence that talking to the man had been about protecting her sister and not the pleasure she felt in a battle of wits. If she had truly been thinking of Belle, she’d have been at her sister’s side and not indulging in distractions. Then she would not have disappeared.
What was she to do now? Miss Watson was frantic and she herself could barely manage to speak, much less to act. She turned to scan the crowd, eyes darting so fast between faces that she could not tell one from another. So many people and so many places to look. What was she to do?
‘We must find her. Before...’
A hundred possibilities flashed through her mind, each more awful than the last. Before she could stop herself, a whimper of desperation escaped her lips.
‘Really, Miss Summoner. We are in Vauxhall Gardens, not Whitechapel. A few moments’ absence is not the end of the world.’
‘But Belle is my responsibility,’ she whispered. ‘If anything happens to her...’
Mr Lovell held up a hand. ‘Say no more.’ He turned to the chaperon, his voice calm but commanding. ‘Where was she when last you saw her?’
‘By the trained dogs.’
‘And where have you been so far this evening? Was there any spot she was loathe to leave that she might have returned to alone?’
‘She likes dancing,’ Amy managed at last.
‘Then, Miss...’ Mr Lovell gave a pointed look to the chaperon.
‘Watson,’ Amy supplied.
‘Then, Miss Watson, please return to the pavilion to check the dancers. If you do not find her there, proceed systematically towards the east. We will search west and enlist any friends we find along the way to help us. We will find her in no time, I am sure.’
His voice was like a soothing balm on Amy’s nerves. On some level, she had always enjoyed the rumbling bass sound of it, as he had argued with her over every small thing. But now it was even and calm. With each word it loosened the grip of the panic that had taken her.
He reached out to take her arm. ‘Come, Miss Summoner. Do not distress yourself. Let us locate your sister and set your mind at rest.’
For a moment, she hesitated. If she accepted his help and they found Belle in some unfortunate or compromising situation, would he use it to his advantage?
He sensed her misgivings and answered the question she hadn’t asked. ‘Let us worry over our previous conversation at a later time. For now, we must locate Miss Arabella. It is probably nothing, you know. In any case, I am the soul of discretion and you are in need of a friend.’
‘Thank you.’ She felt the last of her fear dissipate, replaced by confusion. She had always longed for a friend to share some of the burden of caring for Belle. But she’d never have thought such aid would come from Benjamin Lovell. Now he was leading her deeper into the park, stopping at each attraction to search the people assembled there.
‘How old were you?’
‘I beg your pardon?’ He was looking ahead of them into the crowd and his question had seemed to come from nowhere.
‘How old were you when your mother died?’
‘Five,’ she said, equally distant. She had been so small. But Belle had been even smaller. From the first moment she’d seen her, Amy had known that the tiny baby with the blue-tinged skin was in need of protection.
‘Ten,’ he muttered in response.
She tightened her hand on his arm, waiting for explanation.
‘I was ten when my father died. Old enough to remember what it was like before I was forced to become man of the house.’
‘I am sorry,’ she said, in response to the familiar pain of loss she recognised in the words.
‘But you were not much more than a babe yourself. Where was your father in all this?’
‘At first, he was lost in grief for our mother. But when Parliament was in session he had the business of governance. We were too young to come to London for the Season. We were left in the country.’
‘And you took it upon yourself to be sure that things ran properly while he was gone,’ he finished. ‘You cried yourself to sleep at night, didn’t you? And woke each morning afraid to leave your bed, lest this be the day you failed in your mission and everything fell apart.’
‘How did you know?’ she whispered.
He answered with the sad smile of someone who had spoken from experience. ‘I slept better after I went to live at Cottsmoor. In time, there were new things to disturb my dreams. But when I was removed from their cause, the old fears subsided.’
‘Are you are suggesting that I let her go?’ Amy said slowly. ‘I do not know how.’ Though she wanted to resist, the idea of gaining her own freedom was more seductive than any man had been.