And his name was on the list.
He sighed. “Well, nothing is out of the ordinary here.”
“Except for the duke.”
He gave her a solemn nod. “Except for the duke.”
She would have preferred to wander the garden where she could have turned her face up to the sun and basked like a cat. But after Bucky’s warning the night before, she didn’t feel quite so capricious. The Green Parlor would do quite well with its emerald silk-papered walls and comfortable cream-colored settees. She should have brought a book, of course, especially since the library was currently occupied. Sitting and waiting were not her best talents.
It turned out, though, she neither sat nor waited. The minute she entered the salon she heard voices. She looked around, but she was the only one in the room. Then she saw that the door into the next room was cracked ever so slightly.
She turned back to check with Higgins, but the butler had silently closed the parlor door behind her. The scapegrace, she thought with a grin. He had been eavesdropping on his master’s conversation with the duke.
She knew she shouldn’t sink so low. She swore she could withstand temptation and take herself to the other side of the room. She would quietly sit and go over the music crumpled in her hands, the list she’d pulled from the notes.
Wrapping the shawl tightly around her shoulders, she quietly stepped across the pink and green Aubusson carpet toward the settee. Now that she had made her mind up that marriage to Flint would benefit both of them, she wanted to get the resolution over with. She wanted him to know. She wanted to see how he received her decision.
She wanted to see his eyes light when he realized what she offered. Clutching the sheets more closely, she smoothed her skirt as she prepared to sit and wait.
“You’re certain she isn’t pulling the wool over?”
Felicity heard the clipped baritone voice and stopped. The duke. It must be. His tones were even plummier than his son’s, and his voice rang with command. Felicity literally held her breath.
“I am,” Flint answered easily.
“Even though she was carrying the fob.”
That stopped even her breathing. Felicity froze, the sheet music crinkling in her suddenly clenched hands.
“I believe her story,” Flint answered.
“The search of her things turned up nothing?”
“Nothing more than the possessions of an impecunious music teacher, just as she said.”
“And you used your considerable talents on her to make absolutely sure.”
There was a long pause. Felicity didn’t breathe.
“Of course, I did.”
She felt as if she’d been kicked.
There was a rather indelicate snort. “Well, your…skillshave never failed you before. I admit I hoped she was as guilty as the rest of them. It would have made it easier all round.”
“For you, maybe.”
“It would have saved us time.”
“Those women you’ve been foisting on my household weren’t any help?”
“They were, actually. Housemaids, mostly, recruited by Diccan Hilliard. But they didn’t have the same access of Miss…Chambers? Is that what she calls herself?”
“Yes. Why? Do you know something she doesn’t?”
“I know quite a few somethings most people don’t. The pertinent fact, though, is that we can send her back to that school of hers.”
There was a small pause. “I’m to break it to her gently?”
