His head snapped toward the river. There was hardly a ripple left from the boat; it had receded into the fog.
He swung back around to Sunderland.
The duke lifted his spyglass as proof of his accusation. “Now why would one of the richest women in Great Britain need to steal the Holt emeralds?” Sunderland mused. “She might know some of the legend, but does she know what’s attached to them?”
Blood beat loudly in Ian’s ears, and he expelled a string of curses in every language he spoke.
With that searing kiss, Diana had betrayed him. And put herself in more danger.
Sunderland, damn him, was standing in the middle of the dock, watching intently. Ian brushed past him, but the duke halted him with a commanding grip on his arm.
“Your show is over for the evening, Your Grace. Let me go.” He had no time to clean up a puddle of aristocratic blood tonight. He had to find out what course they were charting before Diana was halfway to France or Flanders, or God help him, the Antipodes.
“Easy, old man. The tug she boarded is bound to Bristol.” Sunderland lifted a battered silver pocket watch from his pocket. “If you hurry, you can catch the nine o’clock out of King’s Cross. You might beat her there.”
This helpful suggestion was insipidly convenient, which gave Ian pause. He evaluated the duke and his sly spyglass before he reached into his pocket to palm his pistol. “Why have you made this your business, Duke?”
“I enjoy amassing favors. And make no mistake, Holt, I will collect on it. Your Miss Rives is part of something that could threaten the Crown and its allies abroad. She’s put herself in the crosshairs of some nasty people who are looking for that necklace. You know how to reclaim it and keep her safe. And I need to know whose side she’s playing for.”
So did Ian.
Diana had entwined him in her escape to prevent him from stealing the emeralds himself. The kiss they’d shared was the perfect distraction; he couldn’t have concocted a better ruse himself to cover her theft of the necklace.
And yet…
The way she’d kissed him hadn’t felt like a goodbye kiss. On the contrary.
It had felt like an invitation.
Perhaps he was deluding himself, but the only way he could make sense of her actions was to believe that she wanted him to follow her.
She was practically daring him to.
“Any of thefamigliecould have targeted Diana and coerced her to take the necklace,” Ian said.
“The alternative is that Miss Rives could be as dangerous as the other scoundrels vying for the necklace,” Sunderland replied. “You can either leave it for us to find out…or you can go after her.”
Chapter Ten
Asthesunsetover Bristol Harbor the next evening, Diana stared out the window of Rives Shipping’s wharf-side offices and tried to appreciate the small joy of a beautiful view.
The plush chair she sat on and the bitter hot coffee she sipped at were temporary comforts. She hadn’t slept on the journey from London, and there had been too much to do when she’d arrived in Bristol to stop for rest. Widow’s new orders compelled them to depart two days earlier than planned. Diana couldn’t sleep until her crew was ready to make sail.
Birdie knocked on the open door. “Miss Hunter and Captain Virgil are here, ma’am.”
Diana motioned for them to come through and rose from her desk. “Will we be ready to leave by midnight?”
“All-a-taunto. The crew has signed on to the special conditions,” Amelia confirmed. They were paying the sailors handsomely for their silence about the first voyage of the company’s newest ship, theEver Hart.
“Her Majesty’s Navy is keen to understand how the ship will maneuver along the Channel Islands,” the captain added. “They’re giving us a long leash on our navigation plans. And paying a generous incentive if we can proveEver Hartwill surpass fifteen knots.”
Diana nodded. She’d written the contract herself. Payment from the navy offset the costs of the Stags’s operations and would make the ship more attractiveto potential commercial buyers. “Well done, sorting this out so quickly. How are we on cargo?”
“Ready to load after sundown,” Birdie said. She managed a crew of women trained as sailors and deckhands, but their first duty was guarding the precious shipment theEver Hartcarried.
Diana massaged the back of her neck so her head would stop throbbing. Normally she was clearheaded before departure, but following her tumultuous escape from London, she found herself vacillating between hypervigilance and feeling completely dazed. “Make sure there’s enough light at the pier so no one trips over the gangway, but don’t blaze the place up. We don’t want to draw unnecessary notice. I’ll meet you on deck within the hour.”
Virgil ducked out quickly, but Birdie lingered in the office. She observed Amelia for a long moment before addressing Diana.