Duke seemed to inspire in her, needed to get away and rethink her strategies in this endlessly grey and complex land.
‘I will have a footman call up my carriage.’ Asher Wellingham was turning even as Miriam stopped him.
‘It will not be necessary, your Grace. We are quite able to procure a hackney.’
Emerald, however, having suddenly devised a plan, jumped in.
‘We shall be delighted to accept your most generous offer, your Grace, and I trust that the time taken should not inconvenience you.’ She glanced at the ornate clock on the mantelpiece. ‘Twenty past one, sir. You should have your conveyance back easily before the clock strikes two.’
His shadow dark gaze ran across her. Taking in everything she suspected, and finding her lacking. Face. Manners. Dress. Hair.
‘Then I will bid you both good evening.’ As she watched him go, she noticed for the first time that he walked with a limp.
The cane, she thought. The cane with the hidden treasure map that Beau swore concealed a fortune. The cane she had come to London for in a last bid to shake off the debtors from her heels and reclaim at least a little of life as it had been.
Doubt passed across her, but she dismissed it. She had to believe in the story Azziz had heard twelve weeks ago in the taverns of Kingston Town. The story that the Duke of Carisbrook had been seen in London using a distinctive carved ebony cane.
Her father’s cane, encrusted with emeralds and rubies, the secret catch hidden beneath an overhanging rim of ivory.
Lord, it was all so nebulous, but she had to have faith that it was here, because if it wasn’t…? She shook her head. Hard. The alternative didn’t bear thinking of and with the covering of darkness the night was still long.
Long enough to waylay a duke?
Her first real chance?
Dressed as a lad, she might be able to shake some clue from Wellingham as to the whereabouts of the map, and if Azziz accompanied her…? Excitement flushed her cheeks as she threaded her hand through her aunt’s and helped her from the room. All they needed to know was the location of the cane. With this in hand they could find it and be gone from England on the next outgoing tide. Disappearing was easy when you had the promise of enough money to cover your tracks.
Two hours later the carriage she had been waiting for thundered out of the Derrick town house, the heavy velour curtains on each side drawn. Signalling to Azziz to urge the team forward and follow, Emerald searched for a place to cut the conveyance off, though as it turned into the docks on the south side of the river, she bade him to hang back.
‘What is the Duke doing here at this time of night?’
She asked the question of Toro, who sat beside her, and when he shook his head the ring in his left ear gleamed in the moonlight.
‘The tide will be up before morning. Perhaps he means to take ship somewhere.’
Puzzlement was replaced by surprise as a woman she had not seen before climbed down from the now-stationary coach.
No, not a woman, but a girl, she amended, and hardly happy at that. The older man who met with her had his fingers tightly about her forearm and he wasn’t looking pleased as they walked to the porch of a shabby doss-house and stopped. Or at least the girl stopped. Emerald could quite plainly hear her speaking.
‘I do not think this is the place we want, Stephen. You cannot mean to have brought me here.’
‘It is just for tonight, Lucy. Just until I can find ship on the morrow.’
‘Nay. You promised we would be wed first.’ Her distress was increasing. ‘If my brother found out I have come to this place…’ He did not let her finish.
‘I did not force you into the carriage, Lucinda. You came, I thought, of your own free will. An adventure, you said, to spice up the boring routine of your existence. Now come along, for we do not have all night.’ His words were slightly slurred.
‘Are you drunk?’ The young woman’s consternation was becoming more obvious as the driver of the Wellingham coach joined them.
‘The master would be most displeased, my lady. My instructions were to take you straight home.’
‘I shall be with you in a moment, Burton. Please, could you wait in the carriage?’
The servant wavered, plainly uncertain as to what he should do next and his hesitancy fired the younger man into an angry response. Without any warning, his fist shot out and the driver fell dazed onto the pathway.
‘Come, my love, no servant should question a lady’s motives and we have waited long enough for this chance.’
Emerald grimaced. She had heard that tone before and knew what was to come next. A young and inexperienced girl would have no idea how to counter such overt masculine pressure. And would suffer for it.
Breathing out, she pushed forward, signalling to Toro and Azziz to stay behind.
‘Let her go.’ Her voice was as low and rough as she could make it, the glint of her sharpened blade in the moonlight underlining the message.
‘Who the hell are you?’
Ignoring his question, she addressed the girl. ‘Think hard and long before you accompany this gentleman, miss, for I think he is not as reputable as you might hope. If I were you, I would take the safer option and return home.’
Emerald tensed as the one named Stephen came towards her and, slipping her blade into the intricate folds of cravat at his neck, she held him still. ‘I would advise you, sir, to keep very quiet as to the purpose of this night’s excursion. Put it down to folly if you like or to the effects of strong drink, but know that even a small whisper of what has transpired here could be dangerous to your well-being.’
‘You would threaten me?’
‘Most assuredly I would.’
He moved suddenly, the heel of his hand striking Emerald’s cheekbone before she brought the hilt of her knife up hard against the soft part of his temple. He crumpled quite gracefully, she thought, for a tall man and did nothing to cushion his fall. The startled eyes of the girl came upon her and unexpectedly Emerald felt the need to explain away her actions.
‘I’d had enough of his questions.’
‘So you have killed him?’
‘No. Simply wounded his pride. In much the same way as he has wounded yours, I suspect.’
‘He was not the person I thought him to be and I can’t imagine what may have happened if you had not come along, Mr…?’
‘Kingston.’ Emerald’s heart sank as small, cold fingers entwined around hers.
‘Mr Kingston.’ The young voice sounded breathless
