Page 31 of A Stolen Heart

They appeared to take a second to think, but once again, they shook their heads in the negative.

Alexandra and Thorpe gave up and left the kitchen. Behind them, a buzz of noise broke out among the servants.

Alexandra sighed as they walked along the hall and into the formal drawing room. “Adding another bit of gossip to their lore about the mad American.”

Thorpe smiled. “I doubt they think you’re mad.”

No, it was her mother they thought mad. But she could not say that to him.

“Near enough,” was all she replied. “They think I am decidedly unusual to begin with. Then last night I came running home screaming, and today I find a dead rat on the doorsill.”

“Probably not the typical events of this household,” he agreed.

Alexandra cast him a look. “You probably think I am equally strange. Worse than strange—Countesses faint at the sight of me.”

Thorpe chuckled. “Being with you is never dull, I must admit.”

He looked at her, admiring the way she did not break down, did not cry, but straightforwardly faced the problem and sought to find out what had happened. There were some, he knew, who would find her cool-headedness quite unfeminine, but Thorpe found the contrast of her no-nonsense demeanor with her lush figure and beautiful face appealing—indeed, downright erotic. It made a man long to find out exactly what it would take to shake her composure.

“I can assure you that my life is usually much duller than this,” Alexandra told him. “I’ve never had such things happen to me before. It is only since I came to England. Indeed, it is only since I met you.”

His eyebrows rose lazily. “Are you saying that I am to blame?”

Alexandra laughed. “No. All I am saying is that it is the last two days. Since I’ve mingled in London Society.”

Thorpe stared at her. “Are you suggesting that someone from the Duchess’s party is doing these things to you?”

Alexandra hesitated. “I’m not sure what I’m saying. It sounds absurd. It is absurd, I’m sure. It is just—well, they seem to have fallen one upon another. Someone wants me to leave England. But I cannot think why—other than Lady Ursula, of course,” she added dryly.

Thorpe let out a bark of laughter. “Somehow I think we can acquit Ursula of sneaking around leaving dead rats at your door. Or attacking you. After all, I was with her last night when that happened. And we were with her this afternoon, as well. Of course, I guess she could have spurred on the Honorable Augustus to do it, like Lady Macbeth.”

Alexandra had to giggle at the idea of the Lady Ursula’s portly, blank-faced husband committing either crime. “No, you’re right. I think we have to acquit them both. I suppose it could be one of the servants. Some of them resent me. On the other hand, if I were to leave, they would lose their jobs—and they could simply quit, after all, if they dislike me enough to be willing to lose their income.”

“We don’t know that the attack last night and this afternoon’s present are related.”

Alexandra cast him a disbelieving look. “More coincidence? I think it highly unlikely. My attacker told me to leave last night, and now he is giving me a reminder.” She set her jaw. “He obviously doesn’t know me if he thinks a rat on my doorstep will make me turn tail and run. I confess, I’m growing more and more curious by the moment. I may stay here even longer now.”

“No doubt you would.”

Alexandra cocked one eyebrow at him. “You would prefer that I left?”

“No.” He smiled. “I would not prefer that at all.” Heat flooded him as he thought of exactly how much he wanted her to stay. Any other woman he knew would have been in tears, leaning on him and asking him to solve her problem. The fact that she was not somehow made her all the more desirable to him. It also, perversely, made him want to help her. “But I do want you to take precautions.”

“I will. All the doors and windows are locked at night. And I think that, after today, I may just keep a footman posted outside.”

“I’ll send you my valet.”

“Why? What would I do with your valet?”

“He’s not your ordinary sort of valet,” Thorpe assured her. “He was an officer’s batman earlier in his life. That’s the only reason he has any qualifications as a valet. I hired him in India after he had been cashiered out.”

“Cashiered! That hardly sounds like a recommendation.”

“He was insubordinate to an officer, which does not lower him in my opinion. Many of the officers I met in India were idiots. He’s completely loyal to me and a very good fighter. He and Punwati helped me in some tight situations in India. Perhaps you would rather have Punwati. He is a trifle smoother than Murdock.”

“I need neither of them,” Alexandra said firmly. “My aunt and I are quite capable of handling the situation. Once they see that I cannot be frightened off, whoever they are, I imagine that they will cease this nonsense. In the meantime, nothing serious has occurred. Just a few annoying things.”

“I would say that your being attacked goes beyond annoying.”