“Yes, number 12 Woodlawn.”
Disbelief lit his eyes. He pointed toward the back window with his thumb and said, “The next street over?”
“Yes, in fact my house is directly behind yours.” She paused and took in a moment of pleasure at the surprised look on his face.
It was sheer luck that of all the houses for lease in Mayfair, one of them was directly behind Lord Raceworth’s town house. At first she had declined even to consider the house, as she had no desire to be anywhere near the man who held what her mother desperately wanted. In the end, she had decided there might be some advantages to being so close to him and had decided to lease the house.
“My guess is there are less than a hundred yards of gardens and a thick row of tall yew between our two houses,” Susannah continued. “When you change your mind and decide you want to look over the documents I have, you’ll know where to find me.”
He almost smiled. “So you think I’m going to change my mind?”
“There’s always reason to hope,” she said, echoing one of his earlier statements.
The sudden sparkle in his eyes let her know he knew what she was doing.
She gave him a single nod, started to walk away, but suddenly stopped and said, “If for some reason you should decide you want to sell the pearls to one of these three men you mentioned, would you notify me before you call on the gentlemen?”
He stared at her for a long moment, taking stock of the sudden change in her position. “What happened to the lady who said she would never pay for what rightly belonged to her family?”
“My lord, have no doubt that she is standing right in front of you,” she argued. “However, I would pay for the collar before I would see it fall into the hands of someone like Captain Spyglass, the antiquities dealer you mentioned, or the prince.”
The marquis looked at her from guarded eyes. “I’ll give you that much. I will notify you first if I ever have any intention to get rid of the pearls, but, Duchess, don’t count on that happening.”
She glanced down at the papers in her hands and then quickly back up to the marquis. “I must ask before I leave, have you no natural curiosity about what these documents say?”
“None whatsoever, but I do have an interest in you.”
She gave herself time for his words to register, and then she smiled. “Ah, now I remember why I’ve stayed away from London the past twelve years.”
“Has it been that long since you’ve been here?”
“Almost to the day.”
“I have a vague memory of a young lady marrying an older duke shortly after the Season began. That was probably about twelve years ago. Was that you?”
“Possibly. I married and immediately went to Chapel Glade in Blooming. I’ve not kept up with the comings and goings of London Society until recently.”
“When you heard that I have the Talbot pearls.”
“Yes. My mother read about them in the newsprint.”
“I remember when the gossip pages decided everyone should know what my grandmother left to me. But tell me, you say your husband died shortly after you married him?”
He was turning the conversation back to her again, but she didn’t really mind. “We were together a little more than a year before he passed away of fever.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago, my lord. No condolences are necessary.”
“Something tells me you want to avoid more questions about yourself.”
And he had left no doubt he wanted to ask more. People always did when they saw how young she was for a dowager duchess, but she had told him enough.
“You seem more than willing to talk about me but not the pearls. Why is that?”
“Quite frankly, Your Grace, you are a lot more intriguing than five strands of pearls, but something tells me you aren’t about to fill in the answers to any of the questions running around in my head.”
For some ridiculous reason, it thrilled her that he was full of curiosity about her. Perhaps it was good that he was. Maybe she could hold his interest until he became reasonable and decided to look at her documents.
