have time for any new projects at this moment. I am fully engaged and likely to be for some time. Good day to you.’
‘I can pay you.’ Clutched between thumb and forefinger she held out a pearl ring.
Annoyance rose in his gorge. Did she think he wasn’t a gentleman? That his refusal was based on monetary concerns? He forced the feeling down. It was a dangerous emotion when dealing with women, especially one who was clearly distraught despite her carefully calm voice. He did not hide his displeasure. ‘A hundred pounds’ deposit. Cash. Before I will so much as consider the project.’ The ring was clearly worth nowhere near that much.
She gasped, her fingers trembling around the ring, the little puff of air again lifting the veil, but still giving no clue as to her age or state of health. Or her looks.
Her shoulders slumped.
He felt...irritated instead of pleased at her defeat. Without a word he waved her towards the door, shepherding her in that direction with an outstretched arm. Now close enough to inhale a light waft of lavender. A floral statement of serenity, grace and calm, but... He frowned. Primarily, the flower symbolised distrust.
She probably did not understand that last. For what cause would this privileged and probably spoiled young woman have for distrusting anyone? Again, he had the urge to peek beneath her heavy veil and see her face. Something about her called strongly to his curiosity.
He shooed her towards the door through which she had arrived.
Thankfully, she did not resist. Or argue. Or try to flatter him. She left, leaving him feeling somehow guilty, perhaps even that he’d been unkind to ask for such an outrageous sum to find her missing person, when he’d done it purely to put her off.
He closed the door firmly behind her and leaned one shoulder against it, listening to Growler’s low sympathetic rumble, though the actual words were now indistinct. In short order, silence descended in the adjoining antechamber.
Jaimie strolled to the window and watched his visitor make for the hackney carriage waiting at the curb. Discreet, then, this woman. Most of them flaunted their identities in the hopes of attracting his attention. She entered into negotiations with the driver. Finally, the jarvey nodded agreement. Suddenly, he had to know who she was.
Jaimie strode across the room and snatched open the door. ‘Have someone follow that woman, Growler. I want to know whom she has lost.’
Growler’s jaw slackened, then he was on his feet and dashing for the door. ‘Yes, me lord.’ A moment later, he was thundering along the hallway outside the office.
Another glance into the street showed a small lad he did not recognise running hell for leather after the hackney and leaping easily on to the back runner. Not something Jaimie would have encouraged, but hitching a ride on hackney carriages was common practice among the street urchins and unlikely to attract attention.
He sighed and repressed his unease. Why was he even bothering? No doubt, despite the lady’s obvious distress, her supposed quest would turn out to be nothing but a hum. Blast it, he had far more important matters on his mind than the vagaries of a strange female. He fought to recapture the memory of his father’s voice, but all he could hear were those cool, clear tones. I require your services to locate a missing person.
The cheek of it. She hadn’t even done him the courtesy of showing her face. But that voice... Blast it, he would not let the woman ruin his day.
He picked up the report. A ring. She’d offered to pay him with a ring. She must indeed be desperate.
* * *
Tess ignored the butler’s frowning look as he took in her outer raiment. Thank goodness she’d remembered to remove the swathe of crepe she had used as a veil before she arrived home, though she had been glad of its concealment during her interview with Lord Sandford. It had certainly hidden her blushes both then and in the jewellers where she had sold the ring his lordship had so disdainfully rejected. While the ring hadn’t been worth a great deal, she could at least pay someone to make some preliminary enquiries on her behalf.
She mounted the stairs heading for her third-floor chamber, thinking back on her meeting with Lord Sandford. He was nothing like what she had expected. A peer of the realm engaged in solving crimes and disappearances? She’d expected some elderly scholarly sort of chap, one of those eccentrics one heard about, not a noble young man in the prime of life who looked like a Greek statue.
How was it possible that so handsome an exterior hid so arrogant a man? My word, he was shockingly handsome. Just thinking about him had her heart beating faster. She’d had trouble even uttering a word when she’d first entered his office. Tall and lean and stylish was her first impression. Handsome as sin in the manner of fair-haired Englishmen, though his eyes had been a velvety brown rather than a bright blue.
On the other hand, his arrogant lack of curiosity had been dreadfully irritating. Talk to her closest male relative, indeed. Ask a footman! Clearly, he’d thought her problem too trivial for his lofty attention. Not that she had intended to provide him with too many details, apart from the name of the person she wanted to find. She wasn’t stupid enough to trust in a man’s ability to do things right.
Take Father. He couldn’t even manage to leave his affairs in proper order. Even though his sudden death had happened more than a year ago, she continued to have trouble believing he had taken his own life without making proper provision for his children. And yet, it was typical of the way the man had lived his life. He’d preferred to gamble on something turning up, rather than setting to and putting time and effort into the land his family had occupied for centuries. She’d done her best to make up for his lackadaisical ways, but each time she thought they were making progress, he’d taken what little bit of money she had managed to save and gambled it on a horse or the turn of a dice in the hopes of doubling his money. Hopeless. No, if she wanted to find her half-brother Grey, she needed to take charge of the search. Yet the pittance she had received for the sale of her ring would not take her very far at all.
Her maid, Mims, looked up from her folding as Tess entered. ‘There you are, my lady. Her ladyship is looking for you. I told her you had stepped out for a breath of air, like you said. You are to go to her drawing room the moment you return.’
Tess nodded. ‘Thank you, Mims. Help me change.’
In short order, Mims had her out of the blacks she’d worn after her father died and into a sprig-muslin morning gown, ready to present herself to Wilhelmina, Lady Rowan, wife of Tess’s cousin Phineas, who had inherited her father’s title, his debts and, as the new head of the household, Tess’s upkeep. The latter they both wished to be rid of as soon as possible.
She took a deep breath, calmed her turmoil and entered the drawing room where Lady Rowan, a faded blonde, reclined on the daybed idly flicking the pages of a copy of La Belle Assemblée. She looked up with a frown. ‘Tess, your maid said you went out?’
‘I needed to return a book to Hatchard’s.’
Wilhelmina’s nose seemed to twitch. ‘If you had told me you were going, I would have asked you to pick up a book for me. You would think after all we do for you...’ She sighed. ‘Never mind, I will ask Carver to release one of the footmen from his duties.’
Tess forced a conciliatory smile. ‘My apologies. I did ask at Hatchard’s if they had anything for you, Cousin. They said they had not.’
Wilhelmina waved a dismissive hand as if she wasn’t
