He looked larger than she remembered, larger than he’d ever looked in any ballroom.
“How do you do, Lady Emma? Not toocold, I hope?”
Emma said nothing.
He sauntered down the steps, and offered her a mocking bow. “I regret you were obliged to miss tea, my lady. It did occur to me to take you from the ballroom last night, but it isn’t much of a ball without abelle, is it?”
A belle. That was what Lord Dunn saw when he looked at her. For all his cleverness, he’d never seen anything beyond her face. Blue eyes, a charming smile. It was enough, for somany gentlemen.
But not for Samuel. He’d seen past it. He was the only man who’dever bothered.
The thought made a sob rise in her throat. She choked it back, but Lord Dunn heard it, and let out a heavy sigh “We’re not going to have histrionics, I hope. It’s nothing personal, Lady Emma. It’s just that I fear Caroline Francis has told you some unflattering stories about me, and I can’t have the gossip getting out, can I?”
“I’ve never spoken a word to Caroline Francis in my life.”
“No? Helena Reeves, then. Imagine my surprise when Caroline told me you and Helena were such intimate friends. Curious, that a fine lady like yourself would be friends with a whore.” Lord Dunn advanced on her, backed her up against the wall behind her, and grabbed her upper arms. It took every bit of courage Emma possessed, but she managed not to jerk out of his grasp.
“Ah, now there’s a good girl. No sense in struggling. Now then, let’s get to it, shall we? You have something that belongs to me, Lady Emma, and Iwant it back.”
His breath on the side of her face made Emma flinch, but she managed a smile, hoping to put him off his guard. “It’s a fine pendant, my lord. Who is the little boy inthe portrait?”
Lord Dunn smirked. “Ever charming, aren’t you, Lady Emma? He’s my eldest nephew, James. I had the pendant made as a Christmas gift for my sister, but unfortunately I was prevented from visiting Cornwall this year.”
His nephew. It was as Emma had thought, then. Caroline had realized she was in danger, and had stolen the pendant, hoping it would serve as proof of a connection between herselfand Lord Dunn.
And so it had. If Caroline had never been in his company, as Lord Dunn would likely claim, there was no possible way she could have that pendant. “That’s a pity, my lord. I daresay that didn’t please you.”
He gave a curt laugh. “No, it didn’t, but I’m afraid that was always the way with Caroline. Nothing about her pleased me, aside from her death.”
Emma shuddered at his callousness. He spoke as if strangling a lady and leaving her body in a London alleyway was a trifling matter, of no more significance than a bit of mud on his boots. “Did Amy Townshend displeaseyou, as well?”
That gave him pause. “Amy? Well, it seems you know a great deal more than I realized. You are the clever one, Lady Emma. Amy pleased me very well, indeed, right up until she didn’t. It was bad of me to lose my temper with her. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but so it goes.”
“Yes, murder does have a way of defying expectations,” Emma said, unable to hide her disgust.
“Ah, I see I’ve offended you. I beg your pardon, Lady Emma. You’re right, of course. Amy put me in rather a bind. It was lucky Lovell happened to be sent down at just that time, but then I’ve always been alucky fellow.”
“Not quite as lucky as you might have been, if only Lord Lovell had been sent down a fewdays earlier.”
Lord Dunn shrugged. “It’s a matter of a few days, and no one at Lymington House knows precisely when Amywent missing.”
It was, unfortunately, the truth. Lady Lymington had said the same thing herself. Lord Lovell’s alibi wasn’t quite as sturdy as Emma might have wished, given the inexact timing of her disappearance. It seemed Lord Dunn had thoughtof everything.
Nearly everything.
“What of Kitty Yardley, my lord?”
Lord Dunn gave her a blank look. “Kitty? Was that her name? I didn’t have anything against her, butsomeonehad to vanish after Lovell returned to Lymington House, and the girl happened along at just the right time. Pity, really. Such a quiet, meek little mouse. She hardly made a sound when Istrangled her.”
Bile crawled up Emma’s throat, burning her. “Clever as you are, Lord Dunn, I can’t imagine you intended for Caroline to end up at the Pink Pearl.”
“No. She was meant to go the way of Amy and Kitty, but then Lovell ran off to London just when I was about finish the business. Disgraceful of him, dashing off like that when he’s meant to be in mourning for his father, but you see, it all worked out in the end.”
Emma stared up at him, appalled at his disdain when he said Lord Lovell’s name. The man dared to judge Lord Lovell’s behavior, after the despicable acts he’d committed? “Did it really work out in the end, my lord? I don’t deny you did an admirable job covering your tracks, but there’s one thing you didn’t anticipate.”
“Oh?” Lord Dunn chuckled, as if Emma were an amusing child. “What would thatbe, Lady Emma?”
“Lord Lovell fought a duel in London soon after he left Lymington House in January. He was badly injured by a pistol ball to the leg, and obliged to keep to his bed for weeks. He couldn’t have seduced Caroline, or brought her to the Pink Pearl.”
