She flinched slightly, and he congratulated himself. “Were they bad men?”
He hesitated for a moment. “Very bad,” he admitted finally.
“That’s all right then,” she said, sounding much more like herself. “I wouldn’t like it if you killed good men. Were they trying to kill you?”
“Most of the time.” He waited for her to ask how many. He knew the number, and he didn’t like it, and neither would she.
But she didn’t. “Who was that man in the tea shop? Is he a very bad one?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to kill him?”
“Yes.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because I don’t want him to hurt me, and he looked as if he very much wanted to.”
That wasn’t all he wanted to do to her, Rafferty thought. “He won’t lay a hand on you. You’re under my protection.”
Her smile was slightly wobbly, not the usual bright, self-assured one. “I know,” she said. And then, before he could guess what she planned to do, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him, so quickly he didn’t have time to respond. And then she was gone, and he wondered if he’d dreamed it.
No, it had been no dream. Her lips had been so soft, pressed against his mouth for that brief moment, but it had been enough to send a fiery streak of desire straight to his groin, and he’d wanted to put her up against the wall and show her what a real kiss was like. Thank God she’d gone before he could give in to temptation. Miss Georgie Manning was the most dangerous creature he’d met in years, and with Stiles onto her, she just might prove fatal.
The Mannings were at home that evening, gathered around the dinner table once more. The beauty was in fine looks, as always, except for the petulant expression on her perfect face. Neddy was sliding down in his seat, and he’d be under the table before the fifth course, but Georgie looked almost serenely happy, and he wanted to growl. He could still feel the imprint of her mouth against his own, and it was driving him crazy. He should have shoved her away from him, he should have grabbed her and deepened the kiss, he should have...
He should have never run afoul of the bloody Mannings. It didn’t matter how damned much Belding’s cache was—he should have left it strictly alone. He had more than enough money on his own—it was sheer greed that made him search for it. Greed, and the desire to thwart Billy Stiles. He stood as still as a statue beside the sideboard, his face a blank, his eyes alert, his mind a mass of confusion.
“I must say, Sir Elston,” began Lady Manning from the foot of the table, “that Bertha has been outdoing herself in the kitchen recently. I do wonder what has inspired her.”
Manning grunted, basically ignoring her as was his wont, but Georgie spoke up. “That’s because she has good food to cook. It was hard to make a decent dinner without the proper foodstuffs.”
“I suppose we can thank Rafferty for that too,” Norah said in her sinuous voice. “What wonders can we expect next? Oh, yes, something for George. You know, Rafferty, I begin to think you don’t like me, what with your marked preference for my little sister.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Norah!” her mother said with a gay little laugh. “No one could possibly prefer Georgie to you!”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, but there’s no accounting for tastes.” She was looking at him, a challenge in her vivid eyes, but he kept his expression stoic. “I had a question for you, Rafferty.”
This seemed to require a response, and he gave it. “Yes, Miss Manning?”
“What were you doing in my room this afternoon? I didn’t send you to fetch anything.” Her words were sweetly innocent for a python.
He had two choices—deny it, and brand her a liar, or to come up with some flimsy excuse. He chose the latter. “I was merely inspecting your rooms to make sure the maids had done their work.” In truth, he hadn’t been up there at all. He’d already searched the bedroom when the family was out and about, and there’d been nothing to find.
“Then perhaps you might explain to me why my diamonds were missing.”
He knew exactly what she was talking about—the one necklace that still retained its original stones, albeit in a remarkably ugly setting. He’d often wondered why those hadn’t been replaced with paste as well as all her other jewelry.
“What?” Sir Elston thundered.
“Oh, dear,” Lady Manning fluttered. “I’m sure Rafferty had nothing to do with it. What about the maids? We have no idea where they came from.”
“We have no idea where Rafferty came from,” Norah purred. “And besides, the maids had already left by the time I took my jewels out for the evening. It couldn’t have been them.”
“What are you saying?” Georgie asked in a dangerous voice. “Are you accusing Rafferty of taking your trumpery things?”
Norah smiled like a cat with a pitcher of cream. “Why, not at all. Why should I? After all, he’s been in this house for...how long? Five days? But those diamonds are almost priceless. And they’re gone.”
Nothing was priceless, Rafferty thought, his expression blank. But Miss Norah Manning was willing to pay a high price to rid the house of her nemesis.
