Was she truly so desperate that she’d risk her reputation—even her very safety—to sneak over here and blackmail a duke? Not that he’d ever hurt her, of course. He was a scoundrel and a cad, not a savage, but she didn’t know that. What if he’d been another sort of man? The sort who’d stop at nothing to get his property back? Really, someone needed to teach her a lesson about threatening powerful aristocrats.
If she was so desperate for money, then why not simply steal the earrings?
And if shewasdesperate for money, he wasn’t such a fool as to imagine it had nothing to do with her father’s wager. What lengths had Major Thorne resorted to, to pay off the initial thousand pounds?
Just like that, the fatal fascination he had for Miss Thorne once again reared its ugly head, not twenty-four hours after he’d been certain her lies had cured him of it forever. “Tell me, Miss Thorne. Does Basingstoke know you’re here?”
“No!” Her chin shot up, her hazel eyes sparking. “Neither does the duchess, and I prefer to keep it that way. Once you and I have concluded our business, I will return to Wiltshire at once, and you may believe me when I say I won’t trouble you again.”
Ah, so she intended to beg off from the shooting party, and scamper back off to the country, did she? Blackmail a duke, pocket her ill-gotten gains, and bury herself somewhere in the wilds of Wiltshire. Then what? What would become of her then?
It shouldn’t matter. Itdidn’tmatter. Miss Thorne was nothing to him, only . . .
This mad scheme of hers must be connected to his regrettable wager with Major Thorne. For all his flaws, he wasn’t in the habit of reducing elderly gentlemen to penury, or letting their fool-headed daughters endanger themselves by trifling with cold-hearted rakes.
“You forget I haven’t agreed to your terms yet. Threatening a gentleman is an ugly business, Miss Thorne, particularly for an innocent young lady like yourself. You’re quite sure you wish to go through with it?”
“I don’t have any other choice, Your Grace. I can’t simply stand by and watch you ruin my father.”
“Your father ruined himself when he engaged in a wager he shouldn’t have. The first rule of wagering, Miss Thorne, is never to risk anything you can’t afford to lose. Your father finds himself in these difficulties because he broke that rule.”
Her chin shot up. “I don’t deny it, but that’s between myself and my father, Your Grace. The only business that should concern you is the business you have withme.”
“I beg to differ. I’m on the receiving end of your blackmail scheme, Miss Thorne, and thus every part of this business can rightly be said to be my concern.”
“Blackmail, Your Grace? I prefer to think of it as a trade.”
“Think of it however you like, but the facts are what they are, Miss Thorne. You’re demanding money in exchange for returning my own property to me—property that if revealed to the public could prove hazardous to my reputation. Forgive me, but that is the very definition of blackmail. May I see the earrings?”
She blinked. “See them? I didn’t bring them with me, Your Grace.”
“No? Whyever not? They’re rather an integral part of your blackmail plot.”
“It’snota . . .” She trailed off, drawing in a deep breath. “If I’d brought them, what would have stopped you from simply taking them from me?”
“What stops me from doing whatever I like with you now? It’s a question you might better have asked yourself before you left Park Lane this morning. But I’m a gentleman, Miss Thorne. I don’t manhandle young ladies, even when they’re attempting to extort money from me.”
“I thought it best to err on the side of caution, Your Grace, and leave the earrings at home.”
“Are you under the impression you’re beingcautious, Miss Thorne? Very well, then. I congratulate you for going about your blackmail so judiciously. But you’ve made a grave error, I’m afraid.” He leaned closer to her. “Why should I believe you have the earrings in your possession at all, if you can’t show them to me?”
“Do you imagine I’d risk coming here at all, if I didn’t have them?”
“I’ve no idea what you’d risk or not, Miss Thorne.” He was beginning to get an idea, however, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit.
She bit her lip. “I can describe the earrings to you.”
“Very well.” He took a seat on a settee near the fireplace and waved a hand at her to proceed.
“They’re gold, with large, teardrop-shaped rubies, each stone surrounded by a dozen small diamonds, with a single small pearl dangling from the ends.”
“Is that all?”
Her brow furrowed. “Is that all? What more do you want?”
“Thepaintings, Miss Thorne. I can only assume you’ve seen them. Perhaps if you could describe those to me, in detail, I might be persuaded that you do indeed have the earrings in your possession.”
“Describethem? You can’t be serious.”
