Текст книги "The Counterfeit Lady"

Автор книги: Kate Parker

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By the calculating glint in her eye, I knew I had her interest. “What if this man realizes the drawings are fakes?”

“He won’t. Not until months of work have been done on them. By then, your brother and his money will be long gone. Away from the law and anyone looking for him.” This time I smiled.

“Who’s this bloke and what’s his address?”

“His name’s Stevens. He pretends to be a butler, but he’s really a mastermind. You’ll find him at Blackford House on Park Lane. He’ll be the one who opens the front door. Tell your brother to say the duchess sent him with the plans.” And Stevens would know what to do because Blackford would instruct him.

“How do I know this isn’t a double cross?” She studied my face, disbelieving.

I held her gaze as I walked over and held out my hand. “Rose, if you want to keep your brother alive, you have to trust me. This is his best chance.”

She stared at my hand and then shook it. “You’re the first person who’s seen a way out of his troubles.”

“Your brother needs to get in contact with Mr. Stevens soon. Everyone’s looking for him.”

“Don’tcha think I know that.”

“Stevens will give him more than enough money to stay out of sight. Your brother will just have to find a way to deliver the doctored plans and get the rest of his money without getting caught by the police or murdered by the man who hired him. That’ll be up to him.”

I gave her a curtsy and left, shutting the door behind me. I paused long enough to rub my shoulder, certain I’d have a bruise by later that night. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Sumner and Blackford were in close discussion. I joined them and looked from one man to the other.

“Outside,” the duke said.

We climbed into the carriage and took off. “What happened?”

“Thought we had him cornered in a boardinghouse down the street, but he slipped out the window over the rooftops like he did at the Crown and Anchor. The man’s a cat,” Sumner said with obvious admiration in his voice.

“He definitely took the designs for the warship. I told his sister if he’d take the real designs to Stevens, he’d get a doctored version to give to the man who hired him and some coins to make his escape. Snelling is to say the duchess sent him. I told her Stevens was a mastermind posing as a butler.”

The duke snorted. “Stevens would agree with your assessment. Good thinking, Georgia. I need to put your plan into action.”

“Do you think he’ll fall for it?” Sumner asked.

“I don’t know,” Blackford said, “but if he comes to Blackford House, he’ll find everything just as Georgia described, including a doctored set of plans. I’m sure the Admiralty can produce that quickly for a good reason. And you’ve given them a good reason.” He gave me one of his happy smiles, the ones I saw when the two of us had done well together. A smile that told me he was pleased. A smile that might someday say he loved me.

Except he couldn’t. He was a duke.

“You’ll let him go?” Sumner asked.

“I don’t expect Stevens to capture him, and he won’t see anyone at Blackford House but Stevens. Even if he gets away, we’ll have what we want. The plans to the warship.”

“And evidence Ken Gattenger is telling the truth,” I added. “Will it be enough to let him out of prison?”

“No. Snelling could double-cross Gattenger as easily as the baron. Without Snelling testifying that Gattenger wasn’t involved and the plans were taken by force, Scotland Yard can still say the prisoner is guilty of treason and murder. I’m sorry.”

I leaned toward Blackford, every muscle tensing. “That’s not fair. There must be a way to prove Ken Gattenger innocent.”

“Possibly we’ll catch Snelling handing off the doctored plans. Possibly the Germans will admit Gattenger had no hand in this. We won’t know what evidence we’ll have until we finish the investigation.” Blackford gave me a reassuring smile. “You’ve done well. Shall we take you back to the bookstore now?”

“Yes. I have a lot to take care of today.” Too much. I was grumbling and didn’t care if the duke heard my temper. Before, I’d always been able to keep one eye on the bookshop as I carried out investigations. I didn’t like the direction this case and my shop were headed.

CHAPTER NINE

I scarcely had time to glance at the receipts for the bookshop before it was time to take a stifling omnibus back to Mayfair. The heat wave seemed to have intensified, baking the horse manure almost as soon as it hit the pavement. If it weren’t so hot, I could have walked the distance in less time. While Emma readied my outfit for the afternoon, I ate a light lunch. After Emma dressed Phyllida and me, we left to call on Lady Peters.

Her Mayfair town house was smaller than ours, but better located on one of the attractive squares that dotted that part of London. She rose to greet us when her butler opened the door to her parlor and announced us. “How lovely. I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”

“We were honored by your invitation,” I answered.

We curtsied to each other and then she had us sit on satin-smooth jewel-green chairs. “Your home has a marvelous view, Lady Peters,” Phyllida said.

“Please, call me Rosamond. Yes, we get a little breeze from the trees in the park, and lately, we’re grateful for every breeze we can find.”

Why was this woman going out of her way to befriend us? “I’m Georgina, and I’m grateful for the invitation, since I know practically no one in the city. And now it sounds as if everyone in polite society will be escaping London.”

“When does the Duke of Blackford intend to leave? Or shouldn’t I ask? I’ve heard you and he are old friends, but I suppose I shouldn’t listen to gossip.”

Good. The story we’d concocted was getting around. “Oh, that isn’t gossip. That’s the truth. We were friendly when we were younger, but we haven’t seen each other in years. I have no idea what Ranleigh’s—I mean, the duke’s—plans are. Did he mention them to you last night?”

“No. He didn’t seem to be able to talk about anything but you. He seems quite smitten.”

“As Sir Henry appears to be with you.”

Rosamond laughed a carefree, tinkling sound. “Sir Henry is in love with half the females in London. One of us serves quite as well as another.”

“Oh, dear. A male coquette.” I smiled broadly, and Phyllida, bless her, tittered.

Lady Peters didn’t. “I shouldn’t speak so dismissively of him. He seems quite interested in you. Particularly since the duke hasn’t frightened him off.”

I shook my head. “Neither has more than a passing interest in me. I’m new here, and that makes me exotic for ten minutes. By the time cooler weather comes in, both of them will be on to other pursuits.”

“And you? What will you do then?”

I’ll be back in my bookshop, if my friends haven’t made too many mistakes like this morning’s. “I’m at Lady Phyllida’s disposal. We might travel a little, see the sights of London, I don’t know. This is all so new.”

“You didn’t grow up here?”

“I sailed to join my father in India as soon as I left the schoolroom. Having not lived in London leaves me at a disadvantage when it comes to polite society. So tell me, why has Lady Bennett taken such a special dislike to me?”

Rosamond Peters smiled, but her eyes narrowed. “I’m sure she hasn’t.”

“You don’t believe that.” I decided to strike a blow for my supposed honesty in not knowing important people in Singapore. “She seems quite upset that I wasn’t the social equal of her sister the viscountess in Singapore.”

She shook her head. “It sounded as if you’d never heard of her family, in whom she’s quite proud.”

I’d managed to check some sources at the bookshop, so now I could speak with authority. “I meant I didn’t move in their circles. We’d never been formally introduced. She should be honored rather than insulted. But beyond that, she doesn’t like me.”

“Lady Bennett has had many conquests in society over the years. Both before and after old Lord Bennett’s death. Perhaps she feels guilty when she sees you because the last time your cousin and Kenneth Gattenger broke their engagement, it was because of her.”

“What?” I thought Phyllida would slide off her satin-slick chair.

“He came to regret it quickly enough and strove to make amends with Clara, but Gattenger and Lady Bennett did have an affair immediately after Lord Bennett died.”

Gattenger and Lady Bennett. I shook my head. “I can’t believe that’s the reason for her animosity. Clara’s gone. It can’t make any difference now.”

Lady Peters smiled. “Being more than a few years older than you, perhaps she fears you’ll attract the attention she wants. Especially as she once made an effort to gain the Duke of Blackford’s eye and failed.”

I was glad to hear he had better taste than that.

Glancing around the room, a painting over the fireplace caught my eye. The woman was definitely Rosamond Peters with a toddler on her lap. “Your son?”

“The current Lord Peters. He’s four years old now and growing quickly. He’s spending the summer with his aunt and uncle and their children at their family estate.” She smiled at the portrait.

“You’re brave to share him with the family after losing your husband.” I didn’t think I could bear being separated from my young children if I ever had any.

“I miss him terribly, but it’s better for him. London is so hot and unhealthy.”

“Did your husband get to know the child? He’s been dead that long, hasn’t he?” Phyllida asked.

Good for you, Phyllida. She was turning into a first-rate investigator.

“Sadly, no. His father died a few months before his birth.”

The parlor door opened and the butler announced Lady Bennett. I glanced at Lady Peters as we all rose and curtsied. Rosamond’s eyes flashed with a strong emotion. By the hard set of her lips, I suspected it was hatred.

Still, she was all graciousness as she invited her guest to come sit with us.

“I’d have thought you’d be packing for your trip to the countryside. Although it’s so much easier now that we don’t have skirts a yard wide, with underskirts and petticoats and hoops and underpetticoats,” Phyllida said.

“I hope we don’t ever go back to those styles,” Rosamond Peters said with a laugh that sounded forced to my ears.

“I leave all my packing to my maid,” Lady Bennett said. Apparently she was smug about everything.

“You trust your maid to decide what you’ll wear to every event while you’re gone? I could never do that,” I said and hoped no one repeated this to Emma. Her taste was much better than mine.

“Well, of course I oversee her work,” Lady Bennett said. “Oh, Rosamond, don’t tell me you plan to stay in London in this heat wave.”

“I’m also going to Lord Harwin’s, Lark. Celeste Harwin was a childhood friend of my husband’s, and she offered to rescue me from this oven.”

“Lark. What an unusual name,” Phyllida said. “I knew a woman who called her daughter Lark. Caused an unholy ruckus when it came time for the bishop to baptize her.”

Lady Bennett turned cherry red. Rosamond Peters had a hand over her mouth, trying to keep the laughter from leaking out between her fingers. And I had my mouth half-open, wishing I could question Phyllida further on this oddly named baby girl.

“Are you Genevieve Hollingsworth’s daughter?” Phyllida asked. “How is your mother?”

“She’s dead,” Lark Bennett snapped.

Phyllida reached out and patted her hand. “I am so sorry. She was a wonderful woman. A determined woman.”

Lady Bennett aimed a calculating look at Phyllida. “How did you not know Mother had died? It created a sensation fifteen years ago.”

Oh, Phyllida, don’t blow our story, I said with my eyes. Phyllida looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, Georgina. I’m sure Edgar didn’t tell you about my brother, who was executed for murdering a score of prostitutes. It happened before you two met, but for years before he was captured, my brother kept me prisoner in my own home. I only received the news and the visitors he allowed.” She turned and faced Lady Bennett. “I heard nothing about Genevieve’s passing. I’m sorry if I brought up a painful memory.”

Lady Peters said, “How terrible, Lady Phyllida. You must have suffered terribly from society gossip.”

“No. I left. It saved me from being pitied. I can’t stand pity.” Then Phyllida gave the ladies a bright smile and said, “Where do you recommend traveling to avoid the heat?”

Lark Bennett gave a relieved sigh and said, “I can’t believe the Duke of Blackford hasn’t arranged a house party to entertain you and Mrs. Monthalf.”

“If he has, he hasn’t told me,” I replied.

“He’s probably just awaiting confirmation from his butler,” Lady Peters said. “I shall miss seeing you while you’re in—Northumberland, isn’t it?”

I’d seen his manor house within the castle walls, and I really didn’t want to go there again. I also doubted he kept the house fully staffed with a butler.

I needed to stay close to Baron von Steubfeld and Lady Bennett. A country house party would be isolated enough to keep out policemen and Archivist Society members and busy enough to hide the passing of the stolen warship plans. How was I going to crash a country house party?

“I wouldn’t think Ranleigh would go there except to administer his estate. He seems more accustomed to life in London,” I said.

“But London won’t cool down, not even for a duke. When they suspended Parliament, most of the peers fled,” Lady Peters said.

Lady Bennett looked me up and down before saying, “Are you and the Duke of Blackford an item? Forgive me for saying so, but you two don’t seem to be well matched.”

“In what way?” I asked, neatly lobbing her remark back at her.

“He’s going to have to marry a highborn young lady to give him an heir.”

“I can assure you neither of us has been discussing marriage. Have you been discussing marriage with von Steubfeld?” I tried to sound interested and hoped she’d tell me more about her relationship with the baron.

She laughed. “We just enjoy each other’s company. He came into London looking for an attractive widow to have on his arm for society affairs, and I like being surrounded by the mighty at diplomatic receptions.”

“Really? Your relationship developed as simply as that?” I said in pretended amazement, trying to get her to continue.

Lady Bennett turned to Lady Peters. “Tell her. I see you at diplomatic social events all the time.”

“I’ve only attended one or two.”

“One or two a month is more accurate.” Lady Bennett raised an expressive eyebrow.

Lady Peters shook her head. “I’ve been invited by friends on a few occasions, but hardly with the same frequency as you have.” She looked uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation as she glared at Lark Bennett.

“You’re far too modest,” Lady Bennett said. “The French ambassador is quite fond of you.”

Rosamond Peters blushed. “He’s an old family friend, soon to be recalled to Paris. And I’m sure you’ll be upset when Baron von Steubfeld is sent to another embassy.”

“I won’t have to worry about that until Christmas season. He’s assured me he has to stay here until then.”

“Why?” Phyllida asked. “How can he possibly be sure?”

I was mentally applauding her innocent question when Lark Bennett said, “He said his work won’t be finished until then.”

I suspected her of involvement in the theft of the plans until she looked directly at me and said, “Once he leaves, I’ll look for my fun elsewhere. Next time, I may set my sights on a duke.”

I wanted to laugh. If she knew the real relationship between the duke and me, she wouldn’t feel nearly as envious.

*   *   *

AFTER MY UNINFORMATIVE visit with Lady Bennett at Lady Peters’s, I planned to go to our borrowed quarters and sleep while Phyllida paid calls on a couple of old tabbies. I sent her on in a carriage while I walked in the blazing heat. After such a strenuous occupation, I was sure I could sleep well.

No such luck. Blackford arrived just as I entered the front door into the relative cool of the foyer. He followed me up to the parlor and then said, as I shut the door on the servants, “You look like hell.”

“I walked back from Lady Peters’s.”

“In this heat? Not advisable.”

“I needed to think.” I collapsed onto a sofa and waved him into a chair. “Sit.”

Never one to listen to a mere mortal, he walked over and pulled the bell rope. A maid immediately appeared. “Tea, please, with lots of sugar for your mistress.”

It must have been his ducal tones. The woman didn’t look in my direction. She simply left to do his bidding, shutting the door behind her.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why am I going to need sugared tea?”

“This investigation is entering a new phase. I discovered Sir Henry is attending Lord Harwin’s country house party, along with the baron and Lady Bennett.”

“I think Sir Henry is following Lady Peters to the Harwins’.”

“Or maybe Lady Peters is following him,” Blackford said.

I shrugged. “And Lady Bennett has nothing to do with this investigation. She’s after the invitations and the glamour. In fact, she hinted today that you might be her next conquest.” It might be impolite to repeat her boasts, but Blackford should be warned. I told myself that wasn’t jealousy, but rather a concern for any man subjected to Lady Bennett.

He brushed my words aside. “I won’t be her anything. Now, we need to keep an eye on them. Or rather, you do. I’m too obviously involved in the hunt for the blueprints. So we’ll be leaving Friday morning for a stay at Lord Harwin’s.”

“We will what?”

The maid entered with the tea tray as I shrieked out the last word. She looked from me to the duke with widened eyes, but she set down the tray without spilling and fled the room, shutting the door quietly as she left.

“I suspected you’d need heavily sugared tea,” Blackford said as he fixed a cup and handed it to me.

I took a sip. It was sugary, but it revived me from a state of sputtering disbelief to full-blown fury. “How did you manage to get us invited?”

“I applied economic and social pressure. Lord Harwin enjoys my help in finding the best investments for his dwindling fortune, and Lady Harwin enjoys mentioning the presence of a duke at her home. Then I simply invited the three of us, and your maid and my valet, to stay with the Harwins for a few days. Don’t worry. They have plenty of room.”

Was no one immune to Blackford’s charm and power? “How long are we going to be there?”

“Four or five days. Phyllida will of course go with us, as will your maid, Emma.”

I set down the cup with a clatter. “Who’s going to manage the bookshop?”

“Whoever’s managing it now.”

“Emma and I are spending our mornings there, taking care of problems.” Such as not shelving The Ruined Castle.

“I wondered why you looked so exhausted. Ladies are supposed to sleep all morning.”

“I’m not a lady. Remember?”

“It’s too late to back out now, Georgina.” He stressed my assumed name.

He was right. I was going to have to trust the Archivist Society to take care of the shop. I took another sip of tea and said, “What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to the Royal Albert Hall tonight for a concert. All of society will be there. We will make a show of being surprised when we bump into the baron and Sir Henry, and then I’ll casually mention we’re going to spend a few days with Lord Harwin to get out of London’s heat.”

“We’re not sitting next to them again, are we?”

“Not in the Royal Albert Hall. There, the best seats are in the private boxes. I found out what box the baron reserved, and obtained one on the other side. We’ll have a good view of his seats, plus ours is close to the center and therefore more prestigious.”

Of course it is. “How will we run into the baron? He’ll be on the other side of a very large building.”

“Oh, he’ll come to us. Everyone will. I’ve invited Lord and Lady Salisbury to sit in our box. They accepted.”

My gulp of tea lodged painfully halfway down my throat. I managed to swallow without choking and said, “You’ve invited the prime minister and his wife to sit with us? I have to perform as Mrs. Monthalf in front of the prime minister?”

He smiled. “Think of this as playing your role on a larger stage.”

“What’s next? Dining with the queen?”

“No. That wouldn’t help with the investigation.”

Dear heavens. He was serious. My Georgina Monthalf disguise would have to be very good. “How will attending a concert with the prime minister help us find out if Clara Gattenger died in a struggle to save the blueprints and where those warship plans are now?”

“The best way to clear Ken Gattenger’s name is to seize those drawings during the handoff from the burglar. When the baron arrives to greet Salisbury, which he is almost obligated to do, I’ll tell him we’re to join his little country house party and that we’ll travel down to Gloucestershire with him. Start the party early.”

“He’s going to resist it.”

“I know. That’s why you have to convince Lady Bennett it would be great fun.” He gave me a patently false smile.

I raised my eyebrows in response. Spending more time with that lady would not be fun by anyone’s definition. Her sister’s husband could arrive at any time and denounce me, and my supposed late husband, as a fraud. “You’ll be able to do that better than I can. You’re the one she’s after.”

“Perhaps I’ll have to sweeten the offer.”

“How?”

“We’ll see.”

I hated it when he became enigmatic. However, I could understand his strategy. “You’re going to disrupt their plans as much as possible to try to force them to make a mistake.”

“Yes. Left to their own devices, they would have had those drawings in Berlin by now.”

“And the concert with the prime minister is tonight?”

“Yes.”

I was ready to slide down in my seat. “I need to get some sleep first.”

“Too late for that now.” Blackford spun around as the door opened behind him. “Ah, here’s Lady Phyllida. What have you learned?” he asked, kissing her hand.

“No one can quite decide if you’re lovers yet or not. Oh, good. Tea.” She poured more tea from the pot into my empty cup and drank. “Good gracious, the gossip that flows around this town. I’d forgotten how everyone knows everyone else’s business. Genevieve Hollingsworth, Lady Bennett’s mother, went completely bonkers before she died. Ran naked in the snow and caught pneumonia.”

Blackford cleared his throat, but I suspected it was to hide a chuckle.

“Oh, dear. Excuse me, Your Grace. I also heard the last Lord Peters was so paralyzed with a wasting disease for over a year before he died that no one can imagine how he fathered a child when he did. Of course, no one questions the little boy’s paternity out loud. So unfair to the child.”

Blackford huffed out a breath. “But it would be wrong for the child to have the title if there’s any truth to the rumor.”

Phyllida ignored him and continued. “It appears everyone knew about the liaison between Lark Bennett and Ken Gattenger, including Clara. She gave him a very hard time before she took him back. Meanwhile, Lady Bennett had moved on to the first secretary at the Russian embassy.”

“Is she a spy?” She certainly had affairs with the right personalities for espionage.

“Not one of ours. And Whitehall’s been keeping an eye on her,” Blackford told me.

“They’ve been wasting their time. She’s a light skirt with high expectations,” Phyllida said with her nose upraised.

“She may be both,” I suggested. Lady Bennett was having affairs where she could be learning secrets to pass along. I’d have to consider her as part of our current problem as well as a danger to my disguise.

I was growing weary of listening to gossip and being the subject of rumors. “We’re going to Lord Harwin’s country house party on Friday,” I told her.

“That will certainly tip the balance toward the two of you being lovers. Are you staying for dinner, Your Grace?”

“No. I’ll pick you up for the concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Tell her the rest, Georgina,” the duke said as he bowed and walked out of the parlor.

“We’re sharing a box with the prime minister and Lady Salisbury.”

Phyllida leaped up. “Oh, dear. There’s not a minute to lose. Anyone who wasn’t looking at us before will be now. What do you wear to sit in a box at the Royal Albert Hall with a duke and a marquis who happens to be prime minister?”