The Conquest of Lady Cassandra (7 page)

“Oh, I missed that part. Goodness, how careless of me. Tell the man to turn this coach around, and we will return it at once.”

Cassandra was hardly going to do that. Nor should she upbraid her aunt, no matter how disgraceful this theft had been. She now held the letter in her hand, instead of it lying in those chambers waiting for Ambury to see it.

She turned it over to break the seal and see if its language was as insulting as her memory insisted. The seal, however, was already broken.

“Aunt Sophie, I wish you had not read it. I understand your curiosity, but now I am embarrassed that you know just how immoderate I was.”

Sophie’s sharp interest snapped to Cassandra’s face, then to the letter in her hand. “I did not open it. I slipped it out of a large stack of mail on a desk in the library and stuck it in my reticule without looking at it much at all.”

That was not good news. The seal was broken. It was unthinkable that Higgins had pried into his master’s mail.

Probably the seal had accidentally broken in transit. Yes, that was what happened.

The alternative did not bear thinking about.

T
he house on Adams Street was a small abode on a lane toward the northern edge of Mayfair. Yates judged from its exterior that it provided comfort for Lady Cassandra and her aunt, but not luxury. It rose only three stories and looked all the more modest due to the two larger, wider houses that flanked it.

There would be servants, but not many. Possibly some sort of carriage was available, but only one, and not a grand coach.

He knew all about the economies such an existence required. His own father’s lack of generosity left him living the masculine equivalent of this house. A man, however, had the option of supplementing his income, although, as the heir to a peer, strict discretion was in order when he sought employment. Fortunately, he had discovered in investigative missions an occupation that not only stimulated his intellect and provided some adventure, but one where the client desired discretion as much as he did.

No butler or footman opened the door, but rather a woman who appeared to be a housekeeper. She took him to a small drawing room upstairs and walked away with his card.

The chamber proved less feminine than he expected. Fabrics the colors of jewels covered the furniture. Dark wood abounded. One wall sported three framed prints by Piranesi. Not views of Rome, such as his father owned. Rather these were the bizarre prison engravings with their skeins of oppressive stairways leading nowhere.

Did they belong to Cassandra or the aunt? The images reflected a deep streak of independent taste and thinking.

In Cassandra’s case, she was not merely independent, he now knew, but irreverent. Irresponsible. Irritating. She was probably guilty of all the bad behavior all the
ir-
words in the language alluded to.

He had cause to believe Cassandra Vernham had crossed the line from bold to brazen, and held no respect for even the basic proprieties and rules. It changed everything, and he no longer felt an obligation to couch his dealings with her in the sort of pleasantries that would save her pride.

“Lord Ambury. How good of you to call.” Lady Cassandra addressed him immediately on entering the chamber. With her tumbling dark curls and ivory skin, and her body draped in a diaphanous, Grecian-inspired pale yellow dress that floated with each step, she appeared both lush and luscious. “I trust all is well with your father.”

“He is better. He is insisting on returning to town, so he will be close to any developments in the war.”

“Even so, it is a sad time for you. I am sorry for that.”

She appeared sincere. For a few moments, he allowed the balm of her sympathy to soothe the ragged emotions that the situation with his father had carved. Then he set that aside. His righteous irritation with her rose again.

“Have you reconsidered allowing me to see your aunt?”

“It is not my decision. She is not some old lady under my
care.” She gestured for the woman who had met him at the door and who now stood near the wall, waiting to serve if called. She handed over his card. “Merriweather, bring this to my aunt. Tell her that Viscount Ambury has called on her.”

It did not take Merriweather more than a minute to return and say that Lady Sophie could not receive today.

Cassandra dismissed the maid. “My aunt is jealous of her privacy now. Please do not take it personally, Lord Ambury.”

She spoke sweetly. Innocently. The sparkle in her eyes could entrance a man who was not careful.

“I do take it personally. According to my man Higgins, she is hardly the recluse you say.”

She batted those thick lashes at him. She widened her blue eyes. “Whatever do you mean?”

Damnation, the woman was treating him like a fool. “He said an old retainer accompanied you to my chambers yesterday. Your aunt, I assume.”

“You assume a great deal, but then you have the reputation for doing so with women.”

“Are you saying your chaperone yesterday was not your aunt?”

“Higgins’s description of her as a servant should settle it for you. Surely your man can spot the difference between a servant and a lady.”

“Not if the lady is working hard to appear as a servant.”

“You give Mr. Higgins too little credit.”

“On the contrary, I give you and your aunt a great deal of it. If the two of you set out to deceive Higgins, he would not have stood a chance.” He moved closer to her. “Did you flirt with him? Were you that bold? That shameless? Did you captivate him with your attention and flatter him by insisting on conversation? Did you press your advantage as his better to throw him off his guard?”

“What peculiar accusations you make, Lord Ambury.
I called to press for a conclusion of our business, not to press my advantage.”

“I doubt that. Having written that letter, you would not want to witness my reaction to it.”

She stilled. She blinked twice. She donned a mask of innocence. “Letter? What letter?”

“You know what letter. The angry, demanding, insulting one in which you accused me of being a scoundrel, a blackguard, a fraud, a—what was it? Oh, yes, a
liar
. The letter you stole from my library yesterday.”

He could see her flush from the edge of her bodice to her hairline. “Oh,” she said. “That letter.”

A
mbury dominated the sitting room’s space and air. His vitality imposed itself on every damned inch of it. A tall dark column of lithe strength, his presence and energy barely left Cassandra room to stand.

Yet stand she did. She had no choice. She had a lot of practice in facing down people like Ambury, and it helped her now.

His eyes smoldered so hotly that their blue color could not be seen. His jaws appeared carved out of rock. The line of his mouth looked almost as hard.

“Higgins said you were not in residence,” she said. “It was my hope to retrieve the letter before you read it.”

“I stopped here for a day only before going to Essex. I have not taken up residence of a public nature. Nor does it matter. Whether you took it before I read it, or after, it was not
retrieved
. It was
stolen
.”

“I was most distraught when I wrote that, and I regretted it almost at once. It was very wrong to write those things. However—”

“However?”

“My apology about taking the letter stands, but I will not
apologize at all for insisting that you pay me what is owed. I have waited months for you to settle up on those earrings. I consigned them and the other jewels to that auction because I needed the funds. I am not some tradesman who can extend credit indefinitely, and due to circumstances that I cannot explain, my frustration got the better of me. So I apologize for the letter’s worst insults, but I do not regret making sure that you attend to this matter now instead of months from now.”

He glared at her. She steeled her spine so she would not flinch.

“So have you come to settle today, or only to berate me about my behavior?” she finally asked. “If I must still wait until next week, so be it, but that is the extent of my patience.”

He shook his head in exasperation. “You are too bold by half.”

“Bold enough to sell the earrings elsewhere if I must, along with the ring you left with me after the auction as surety.”

“Even if you sell all of it, you will never get what I bid.”

“That is why I have waited. But I can wait no longer and must do what is necessary.”

A scowl still marred his brow, but it furrowed more in thought than anger now. “I simply want to know how your aunt came to own the earrings. Once I document the jewels’ history, I will settle everything immediately.”

“I never said those earrings came from my aunt.”

“You never said they did not, so I assumed—”

“Too much, once again. However, I will admit to that part of their history now.”

“Then establishing their provenance should not take long at all. Since she will not see me, I ask that you raise the matter with her.”

“And if I refuse?”

“In bidding on those earrings, I was buying information as well as jewels. Without the information, I have received only half a loaf.”

“My consignment at the auction was
jewelry
, not information. You are too much trouble. I will sell them elsewhere and—”

“I have been told that the earrings may have been stolen, you see. I am sure that you do not want to trade in stolen goods. The law frowns on that.” He tossed out that accusation ever so calmly.

It took her a few moments to realize she had heard correctly. “
Stolen?
Who told you something so outrageous?”

“I cannot say. I am sure you see my problem, however. I would not want to give them to someone, only to have a claim made by someone else.”

“I think I see a man putting me off again and finding a new game to do so.”

He was right in front of her with four long strides. To her shock, he took her chin in his hand and tilted her head so he could look right into her eyes. “Do not insult me again. You may not be a man, and I cannot call you out, but there are other duels besides those of arms, and you are within a hairsbreadth of requiring one.”

“Do your worst, Ambury. See what short work I make of whatever weapons you think you have. I have battled better than you.”

It was a big risk to double back his own dare at him. Sophie would probably scold, and say bedazzlement would have been the better choice. Only she did not want to dazzle Ambury. She just wanted her damned money.

They stood locked in a mutual challenge. Slowly, she turned her head, demanding that he release his hold on her chin. Belatedly, he did so. It felt as if she had to yank herself out of his fingers. Free, she stepped away, then turned to face him squarely.

Ambury hardly appeared friendly, but he retreated enough to speak with firm calm. “You need only have your aunt tell you what she knows of the earrings’ history to end any game.”

She tried to see into his mind. Would it really be that simple?

More to the point, did he think
her aunt
had stolen the earrings? Aunt Sophie had purloined the letter right out of his library, after all. He had to be wondering if she had experience in such things.

First Gerald and now Ambury. Poor Aunt Sophie. The only person protecting her was Cassandra herself, and every plan for doing so required more money than she had, until Ambury paid for those jewels.

Rather suddenly the air of danger left him. He became the amiable Ambury that the world knew. He gave her a charming smile.

“I know you have waited too long, and are suspicious about ever seeing a conclusion to this. To reassure you, I suggest giving the price of the earrings to a solicitor to hold, along with the earrings, until this is resolved. It should not take long. You have only to put a few questions to your aunt, and all will be settled. That is fair, don’t you agree?”

It was fair. Suspiciously so. There was more to this. She sensed that, mostly due to the intensity with which Ambury looked at her.

“Why do I feel as though you have backed me into the corner of a chamber?”

“I only do that with women in very private chambers, and for very different purposes.”

“Yet I am feeling importuned all the same, Ambury.”

“It is in both of our interests for this to be settled well, don’t you think?”

She debated it. “I will do what I can, but I will not press the question if she chooses not to answer.”

“I only ask that you try. I will arrange for us to meet with a solicitor when I return to town Monday, and write to you with the time. You bring the earrings, and I will bring the payment, and he will hold both until you learn what I need to know, or until I learn it another way if you cannot.”

“That could take forever. I cannot wait too long.”

“Shall we say a month from today? If I know no more than I do now, you will receive the earrings back.”

It seemed a big delay, but it would probably take at least that long to make travel arrangements to get Sophie away from Gerald.

She reluctantly agreed to his proposal.

“I cannot promise that my aunt can satisfy your curiosity, Ambury,” she said as he began to take his leave of her. “You may have to give up on the earrings if you require so many details before you make a gift of them to your future bride. The person who filled your ear with gossip about their being stolen is probably waiting to buy them from me on the cheap.”

He cocked his head. “Why do you say that I bought them for a future bride?”

“It is past time for you to marry. Considering their price, I assume that you have found your future countess. But do not worry. I promise to start no gossip.”

Y
ates perused the documents on the desk in front of him. Another stack waited on a nearby table. He judged that he would be lucky to finish with all of them before Christmas.

Scents of the late country summer blew in through the window on a breeze that tickled the edges of several pages. He moved a weight to ensure the careful arrangement would not be disturbed. He felt a bit like those documents himself, weighted in place by responsibility.