Lenore lived. Good sense and propriety said she would live at her fake soon-to-be sister-in-law’s house. Freddy Herrington was known to be living with his sister, Lady O’Shea, and her husband. But Phin was certain that Freddy actually lived with Reese Howsden at his townhome. Considering that Lenore was as thick as thieves with the two men, it was as likely as not that Lenore lived there.
Which was how he found himself in the middle of Mayfair, knocking on Reese Howsden’s front door.
“By any chance is Miss Lenore Garrett home?” he asked Reese’s stone-faced butler when the man opened the door.
The butler stared thoughtfully at Phin for several, anxious seconds before stepping back and saying, “Do come in, Mr. Mercer.”
Phin arched an eyebrow and followed the man’s instructions with a certain degree of foreboding. Not many of the butlers in fine homes across Mayfair knew who he was, and even fewer would have been willing to let him in without an invitation. Particularly when he wasn’t asking to see the person who actually lived in the house.
Without a word, the butler escorted Phin down the hall to a well-appointed parlor that faced a sunny courtyard. It was decorated with the fastidious good taste of someone who knew how to blend fashion with comfort. Phin instantly thought that Lionel would approve.
“Mr. Mercer, my lord,” the butler announced to the room’s occupant, Freddy Herrington.
Phin couldn’t help but grin to himself. He’d guessed right. Freddy sat near the fire with an infant girl in his lap, reading a picture book to her, though she was far too young to appreciate more than the pretty colors the book was likely to contain. Freddy seemed to be in absolute heaven, and glanced up to Phin with a smile as the butler nodded and left the two of them alone.
“Mercer,” Freddy said, shuffling the baby and the book in his arms so that he could put the book down and hold the baby against his shoulder as he stood. “Reese owes me ten pounds.”
Phin blinked at the unusual statement, but he shook Freddy’s hand all the same when the man crossed the room and extended it. “I beg your pardon?” he asked instead of giving the man a proper greeting.
“I bet Reese ten pounds that you’d show up on our doorstep this morning, searching for Lenore,” Freddy explained, his smile victorious and completely nonjudgmental. “Though, since Reese more or less pays for me to exist anyhow, it isn’t much of a victory,” he added.
Phin’s mouth dropped open, but he couldn’t think of a damned thing to say to such a personal admission.
“Oh, come now,” Freddy said with a sardonic look, gesturing for Phin to take a seat in the chair opposite the one where he sat with the baby. “I have it on good authority that you are the sort who has guessed everything already and doesn’t care at all how others live.”
The sharpness in Freddy’s eyes said much more than that. It said that he had asked around about Phin and had gotten more than a few answers that meant Phin had as many secrets to keep as Freddy and Reese did. Paradoxically, it made Phin feel instantly at ease.
Phin didn’t sit. Instead he said, “I’ve come to speak with Lenore, actually.”
“She isn’t here,” Freddy said, repositioning the gurgling baby on his knee.
“Oh. Perhaps I guessed wrong, then. Is she staying with your sister?” Phin asked.
“No, she lives here, with us,” Freddy admitted. “Don’t go alerting the press,” he added with a telling grin.
As cheering as it was to see Freddy in such good spirits, Phin felt more baffled and off-kilter than ever. “I was hoping to speak to Lenore on a matter of some delicacy,” he said.
“She’s gone to Trafalgar Square,” Freddy told him, most of his attention focused on the baby. “The May Flowers are having some sort of a rally in support of women’s suffrage.”
“I see.” Phin nodded slightly. “I guess I’ll take myself there, then.”
He started to go, but Freddy stopped him with, “Not so fast. I have a second bet with Reese about the reason why you would show up on our doorstep this morning.”
Phin turned back to him. Freddy’s smile was not the sort that was intended to make fun of him, so Phin squared his shoulders and faced the man as the friend he was now certain Freddy was. “Tell me what you think my reason is and I’ll tell you whether your lover owes you another ten