She canted her head. “Nothing is impossible in your world, is it?”
“Should it be?” The man had the temerity to look flummoxed. Then the mischief returned to his eye. “We have Nestor all but caught, but it would be good to string him along for a while. We can’t make it too easy.”
“Why not?” she asked, exasperated. “I think he would hand over the money today.”
Lord Archer shook his head. “He needs to work for it a bit longer. Justice isn’t so easily served.” His gaze narrowed on Valentina. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Youmust make him work for it.”
She exhaled a gusty, frustrated breath. He looked utterly unbothered. People must have directed gusty, frustrated breaths in his direction every day of his life. “Why makeit difficult?”
“Haven’t you noticed? People like a little difficulty. If it simply falls into Nestor’s lap, he’ll grow suspicious. The man might be greedy, but he’s not entirely stupid. Leave it to me. Not only will your family and the others get their money, they’ll get a heap of justice, too.”
She didn’t know why she should believe this barmy lord she’d known for fewer than four and twenty hours, but she did.
Still, there was something she needed to say. “I think they would be satisfied simply with the money.”
“Ah, but I wouldn’t.”
And there it was, peeking through his glib words and smile. The depth she’d sensed in him. He wasn’t only a barmy lord, was he?
He rubbed his hands together. “Now we pull a swindle on the swindler.” He thought for a second. “A double swindle, if you will.” Another second of thought. “The swindler becomes the swindled.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “You really like saying that word.”
“It does possess a certain panache.”
Like the man who spoke it.
Soon, they reached Casa Windermere, as Lord Archer called it. Detached from its neighbors, it was a truly spectacular mansion, all red brick and towering white columns and clean lines and imposing elegance. As she stepped inside, she became suddenly awkward. The possessor of allthiswas helping her. “I’ll just change out of these clothes now.”
“We’ll see you at the evening meal?”
She gave a noncommittal nod and made her way toward her room. Once inside, she closed the door and exhaled slowly.
A surprising thought came to her.
She was relieved that Lord Archer was a friend, and not an enemy.
For all his light and charm, something deeper resided within him. A relentlessness. And something else, too… Something more substantive than the blithe façade he presented. Something solid inside him.
It intrigued and pulled her in, though she knew she should resist.
For that look in his eyes—emanating from the part of him that wasdeeper—called to adeeperpart of herself.
A part that longed to respond.
Chapter Six
Night
At first, Valentina resisted opening her eyes. She was so very tired, and this bed was so very comfortable.
But music that held a vague familiarity kept wafting through her dreams on light, buoyant notes…
The piano music from yesterday. The music Lord Archer said had come from a neighboring manse.
Her eyes fluttered open, and her ears strained toward the sound.
This music… It was coming from within this manse.
