And that was the hell of it. Sudworth had him by the ballocks, and the man knew it. He picked up the letter again. “Just add this to the evidence file?”
Sudworth stood, smiling. “As simple as that.” He plucked a walking stick from the wall by the door and tucked it under his arm. The nob was ivory, carved in the shape of an elephant’s head. Large sapphires formed the eyes, and John had to admit to a tug of cane-envy.
“It is past time for my afternoon stroll,” Sudworth said. “Do I have your agreement?”
John rose, sliding the letter into his pocket. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Placing the letter into the file would be child’s play. Finding out what Sudworth was up to would be more of a challenge. But discover it he would.
He rolled to the balls of his feet. Finally, a job worthy of his skills. And when he learned Sudworth’s scheme, he’d have leverage over the man. Enough so to reclaim the deed, he hoped.
And if that didn’t work, he’d resort to less honorable means. He kept the smile from his face as he brushed past Sudworth and out of his house. The first inklings of an idea were forming in his mind.
Sudworth liked to gamble, and for once, John was eager to indulge the vice.
Chapter Five
Netta peered around the corner, the morning pastry hot in her hand. The hallway remained empty. On the balls of her feet, she stole down the corridor.
What a strange household this was. A longcase clock she’d passed had told her it was twenty past nine in the morning. Not an hour she usually liked to see, but the pangs in her stomach had driven her from bed.
She took a bite of the iced bun. But aside from the cook, who’d been easy enough to sneak past to retrieve her breakfast, no one else seemed to have risen. She could well imagine the earl sleeping until past noon, but were even his servants allowed to luxuriate in their beds? If she—
“There you are,” came a voice from directly behind her.
“Gah!” She jumped, and a wedge of the roll clogged her throat. Bending at the waist, she coughed, a spray of crumbs misting from her mouth with each heave.
A strong hand smacked between her shoulder blades. “Good Lord, must you be putting food in your mouth at all turns?”
She rolled her gaze up to glare, her wheezing slowing. She straightened and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Must you be slinking about at all times? With the size of those ‘eels, you’d think you might make more of a sound.”
Summerset lifted his foot to examine his boot. “They’re only an inch high today.”
And the earl still stood a foot above her. Netta was only a mite over five feet, to be sure, a fact most annoying, especially as her younger sister had already grown taller, but she didn’t appreciate how she had to crane her neck to look at the man.
“Come.” He cupped her elbow and waved her through to his study. “At least sit whilst you break your fast.”
Lifting her chin and the hem of her wrapper, she marched into his private room. She found the seat which looked altogether the most comfortable, the one behind his desk, and sank into it.
Summerset pressed his lips flat and shook his head.
She took another bite of breakfast. “Where are me clothes? Fine as this night dress is, I should be on me way.”
“I didn’t bring you into my home just to throw you out at the first chance.” He cocked a hip on the side of his desk and examined her. “How do you feel? Does your head still ail you?”
“Nup.” Swallowing, she wiped her hands on the sleeves of the wrapper, earning a frown from the earl. She bit the inside of her cheek. It was too easy ruffling the man’s feathers. “I feel fine.”
“I’ll call the doctor back to look at your side, at least.”
Her pulse kicked up a beat. “Where are my clothes?” His eagerness to keep her in his house put her nerves on edge. Yes, he seemed harmless and kind, in his own strange way, but he was a man. She should have been more on guard.
He leaned forwards and placed his finger under her chin. He raised it and turned her face one way then the other. “Without all that muck on your face, you are passably attractive. I wonder….”
She jerked her head back. She knew it. All men were the same. “A large coat will do. I don’t mind walking ‘ome in a night rail.”
“Dramatic as that would be, it’s hardly necessary,” he said. “Your clothes, such as they are, were laundered. You can leave whenever you wish. However, I have a proposition for you.”
The muscles of her back pulled tight. Of course. She should have expected it. Even for a woman who was onlypassably attractive, men like him would see an opportunity to take advantage.
