“You should come downstairs immediately.”
Something in the man’s tone seeped through Race’s sleep-clouded mind. He rose up on one elbow and squinted against the harsh light.
“What is it? Is something wrong with Gibby or one of my cousins?”
The man shook his head. “Not that I know of, my lord.”
“Then just tell me what the devil is going on, and be quick about it. I’ll decide if I need to disturb my slumber to go downstairs.”
“You’ve been robbed.”
“Robbed?” Race bolted up in bed and threw the sheet aside. He was wearing only his trousers from the evening before. He’d been too tired from his blissful night with Susannah to step out of them and pull on his nightshirt. “Damnation, Jenkins, what do you mean by robbed?”
“Mrs. Frost went into your book room to dust just minutes ago and found your safe door standing open and empty.”
“Empty!” His grandmother’s pearls were in that safe. Race jumped off the bed and headed for his book room, bare-chested and barefoot. He hurried down the stairs, refusing to let his mind go wild with possibilities. He had first to see for himself what had happened, and then he could think.
When he rushed into the library, Mrs. Frost stood sniffling in a corner, twisting the hem of her apron in trembling hands. His safe was located behind a row of books on the fifth shelf of the bookcase. The volumes had been removed, and the safe door stood open. He felt deep into the recesses of the hole. The safe was as empty as a dry river bed.
“Whoever stole the contents of your safe, my lord, took the time to neatly stack the books on your desk,” Jenkins said in a shaky voice. “Mrs. Frost said she hasn’t touched a thing since she came in here.”
“That’s right, my lord,” Mrs. Frost said in a squeaky voice. “When I saw your safe open, I immediately ran to find Jenkins so he could wake you. I knew something was wrong. The safe wasn’t like that last night. When I came in and turned the lamp out, all was well.”
“The odd thing is that I don’t know how the man got in and out of the house,” Jenkins said, looking bewildered. “I checked all the doors and windows before I went to wake you. They are all bolted from the inside.”
“Then who the devil could have gotten in?” Race mumbled more to himself than to seek an answer from his servants.
“We don’t know. I’ve called all the staff into the kitchen so you can question them,” Mrs. Frost said. “Jenkins and I don’t have a clue as to who might have done this. Everyone has been with you for years, and we can’t believe any of them would ever steal anything from you.”
“I know how loyal my employees are to me, Mrs. Frost.”
“But who else could it be but a servant, if all the doors are locked? Unless maybe it was a ghost that entered and took your valuables,” Mrs. Frost said, looking horrified at that thought.
Clearly not believing that possibility, Jenkins said, “Perhaps there is some explanation as to how he got in. The gardener told me a few days ago that he found a large hole cut in the hedge at the back of your garden. He said it would take months for it to grow back. I didn’t think that much about it at the time, but now I’m wondering if someone was watching the house, waiting for a time they could slip in unnoticed and make off with whatever was in your safe. He must have gotten in and out before we locked up for the night.”
A chill rippled down Race’s spine. Not all of the doors in his house had been locked all night. He had left the back door unlocked when he slipped out to Susannah’s house and relocked it when he came back in. If someone had been watching his house, they would have seen him leave last night.
A sick feeling hit Race’s stomach.
Susannah?
Could she possibly have planned this theft with someone? A knot of denial clogged his throat. No, she couldn’t have known he would leave the door unlocked. And he couldn’t have been deceived that badly by her, could he? She had wanted him in her bed. She had wanted him. She had thrilled to his touch. She had not faked her enjoyment, of that he was convinced.
But who else could have known that his back door might be unlocked last night? Was she, as he had first thought, working with someone in order to steal the pearls, or did someone as yet unknown to him create this mischief?
“Did you have much money in there, my lord?” Jenkins asked.
Money?He didn’t care a damn that the money was gone or the other documents he had in there. His grandmother’s necklace was gone.
His mind whirled with thoughts. Was Susannah in cahoots with Captain Spyglass? Was that why the man was nosing around the Great Hall last night? They acted as if they had never met, but was that just a ruse? It was ridiculous the way the man was decked out with pearls dripping all over him.
But Prinny’s man, Harold Winston, was there, too. Race had caught a glimpse of the sly little man sometime during the evening. Had Susannah conspired with him? Race didn’t trust that man an inch, either. And the one-armed man, Smith, was still being seen all over Town, acquiring jewels for his antiques shop.
Bloody hell, it could have been any of them. It could have been all of them, but the one thing he knew for sure was that Susannah was the only one who could have known there was the possibility his door would be unlocked. She knew he would not decline her invitation and pass up the chance to be with her.
“Susannah,” he growled.
Had she deliberately enticed him into her bed so that she would have an alibi and he wouldn’t think it possible that she was in on the burglary? Had she sent someone prowling his grounds, knowing there was a hole in the yew, knowing his house might be vulnerable?
