Page 12 of Only Pleasure Will Do

“I assumed you wished the truth when you asked, Madam Vestry. I fear I am no good for anything else.” He peered at her from the second step. “Has Redmond not contacted you at all since last August?”

Amorina hung her head. “There was one note, sent to me in October. It wasn’t signed, but I know it was from him. It said only ‘You have jewels to lose also.’”

“And you took this to mean…?”

“A reference, of course, to the wound the marchioness gave him in August.” She couldn’t repress a smile. “The lady had good aim that day.”

“She did indeed.” Matthews winced and Amorina laughed. “But what jewels do you have to lose, Madam Vestry? If that was his message, he wants to rob you of your jewels. You obviously do not have the same ones as he, so to what was he referring?”

With a shrug, Amorina rose and stretched. Sir Reginald had crossed his legs and was avoiding her gaze. A pity she made him so uncomfortable. Forcing herself to focus on his question, she thought again about the note Tommy Redmond had sent on that rainy day.

“I’d been busy arranging another tableaux auction, last October.” Pacing as she spoke, Amorina wound around the table, remembering that awful day. “The one in March, which I’d staged at Mr. Redmond’s request, had turned out to be very profitable for the House of Pleasure.

“I’d been in the middle of writing to request carpenters to reconstruct the four stages for the auction when Toliver, my bodyguard, strode in and handed me a note. He said it had been delivered by a footman in ‘fancy livery.’” She winced, summoning the image of the paper reluctantly.

“I waved him away, staring at the horribly familiar handwriting of Tommy Redmond.” She paused, her heartbeat quickening uncomfortably in her chest. Some of the panic of that day resurfaced within her. As she remembered it, her breath had actually stopped as quickly as if someone had cut her throat. When she’d finally made herself take a breath, she turned the creamy paper over, removed the seal, and unfolded the single sheet.

“I opened it to find one sentence scrawled across the otherwise blank expanse: ‘You have jewels to lose also.’”

“What did you do then, Madam Vestry?”

“Burst out laughing for some minutes.” The terror of the moment had left her giddy as well.

He grunted then nodded for her to continue.

“I have jewels of course, although, as you said, not like the ones the Marchioness of Dalbury all but severed from Redmond’s body. Mine are safely deposited with C. Hoare & Company in London. Mr. Redmond would need an army to get at them.”

Sir Reginald tapped the bannister with one long finger. “If that is true, then I agree. There’s no way for Redmond to retrieve your jewelry from Hoare’s.” He rose and paced over to her, his sapphire blue eyes searing deep into her soul. “Then what else is as precious as a jewel to you?”

That could be another way of looking at Redmond’s meaning. The only truly precious thing of hers was… Her heart stopped beating, as though a phantom hand gripped it. All the strength ran out of her legs and she clutched Sir Reginald’s arm to keep from sinking to the floor.

“No! No, it can’t be that.” In the thrall of a terror unlike any she’d ever experienced before, Amorina dug her fingers into Sir Reginald’s jacket and held him in a vise-grip. “He can’t be after her. Please, please, tell me he’s not after her.”

Sir Reginald grasped her around her shoulders, forcing her to stay standing, peering into her face. “Not after who, Madam Vestry?”

“My Pearl. My daughter.”