Chapter 242

I am a bloody fool.

Charles sighed heavily as he walked up the steps to his townhouse. He had spent nearly two hours scouring Vauxhall Gardens, hoping to see the woman in the red gown again. It was a silly notion to think he could find her there simply because that was where she had been when those brutes from Lewis Street had taken her, but he had no idea where else to look. He had only her first name to go by, and no one he'd met remembered seeing anyone of her description with that name. She was an enigma he feared he would never unravel.

Was she a gentle-born lady? The conservative cut of her fine red silk gown suggested so, but her defiance and bravery were not traits often found in a gentle-born woman. Certainly, he had known brave women, the wives of his friends were excellent examples, but their bravery had been tempered by their positions in life, even when they dared to reach beyond it.

Lily had been different. When she broke free of her captors, something about her remind