She hesitated. Interesting that she was taking care with the words she chose.
“Oh, one day, perhaps, you will meet this guest, depending upon how long you stay, Captain Hardy. Until then we keep the room tidy and comfortable, the same way we keep yours tidy and comfortable.”
He wasn’t certain she was beingunreasonablydiscreet, but it did sound rather like circumspection.
He would find out, one way or the other, because he always did.
And if he found out while he was lying in bed next to her, naked, so much the better. Whatever sacrifice had to be made.
He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Do you know, on my way up to my rooms late last night I saw Miss Gardner coming down this very hall. Away from the room.”
“Miss Gardner?” She was confused. “But she’s... but they’re... which Miss Gardner?”
“The... big one.” He felt a right fool for saying that.
“You don’t think... Mr. Delacorte... and Miss Gardner... were...” She was pink again, and her hands went up to her face then came down.
She was picturing it, and no one ought to do that for sanity-preserving reasons.
“But there are rules here at The Grand Palace on the Thames about entertaining strange women in one’s room!”
He gave a short laugh. “If rules alone would keep people in line, the way a harness keeps a team of horses neatly trotting along, England would have no need for a navy, Lady Derring.”
Her face was a picture. “I think life has been unkind to Miss Jane and Miss Margaret,” she said, hesitantly. “I’m glad they are here so we can treat them gently and kindly and make them feel safe.”
He felt he was hearing a list of things that Lady Derring wanted from life.
Why did it feel like he was hearing his own true purpose delineated for the first time ever?
“I’m certain Miss Gardner simply took a wrong turn,” he said gently. But he wanted to take the worried, conflicted expression from her face.
He wasn’t at all certain this was the case, but he’d find out.
She looked relieved, and as though, suddenly, his emotions were a mirror of hers, he was relieved, too.
Which troubled him. He frowned faintly, as if desiring her was something uncomfortable she’d compelled him to against his wishes, like sitting in their drawing room at night.
He ought to go. Massey would be awaiting orders.
She noticed his silence and his frown. “Is there anythingIcan help you with, Captain Hardy?”
“Perhaps,” he said tersely. “Delacorte offered me the most vile yet interesting cigar. You wouldn’t happen to know where I might find such a thing?”
She sighed. “Did it smell like... something that had perhaps died inside the walls of a house, then was buried in a variety of herbs and spices in a kitchen garden watered by the contents of a slops jar?”
He struggled not to smile. “It wasn’t quite how Delacorte put it. But your description is equally apt.”
“Derring used to be fond of cigars that were precisely... that unusual. I don’t know where he purchased them, however. I never did see a bill or receipt for them.”
“Did youoftensee his bills and receipts?” He said it lightly, and with some surprise, as though receipts were a comical thing to inflict upon a countess.
She hesitated. “For the running of the household, of course. Not for Derring’s purchases.” She searched his face curiously, as something was clearly troubling her about the question. “If you’re wondering how it is I came to acquire the expertise to run a grand boarding establishment, Captain, I tracked those expenses very carefully, and I am very good at budgeting and managing a staff,” she said proudly. “Derring wasn’t, of course,” she added shortly, dryly.
He believed her. Surely someone who was intelligent, and blushed so very easily, wouldn’t lie as smoothly as that, or volunteer that sort of information.
Then again: one never knew anything about anyone, as he’d told the drunk man lying in front of The Grand Palace on the Thames.
“Your spotless facilities and my comfortable room are a testament to your household management skills, Lady Derring.”