Everything I Ever Wanted (9 page)

"What of your own feelings for Mr. Kendall?" he asked. It was appalling, really, that he should put the question so frankly to her, but he did not back away from it. Perhaps he would apologize later.

"My feelings?" she asked, something of her incredulity revealed in her voice. He could not be seriously asking if she had developed a tendre of her own for the man. No, of course not. That Southerton would be interested in such a thing was too absurd to credit. "I had nothing in the way of feeling for him that I do not have for most men of my acquaintance."

One corner of South's lips twitched. "That, Miss Parr, is no answer at all, but I will accept it because your feelings are your own and I have no right to pry."

"Indeed, you do not."

South did not disabuse her of the notion that it would always be thus. He drained his brandy and set the snifter aside. "There is no proof that Kendall's murder is related to his work for the Foreign Office, although that is the suspicion under which we must proceed." He regretted the necessity of further blunt speech. "The condition of his body when it was discovered made it difficult to know certain details about his manner of death. That he was beaten is clear, though whether he faced one or more attackers is not. It cannot be determined if he was restrained at the time of his injuries, either by other assailants or by mechanical means."

India paled a little. "Mechanical means?"

"Ropes."

"Why did you not simply say that he may have been bound?" she asked, a measure of color returning.

"Irons," he continued as if she had not spoken. "Leather straps."

India lowered herself onto the window seat. "You are speaking of torture," she said on a thread of sound."Why?"

"Why do I speak of it to you?" he asked. "Or why must I speak of it at all?"

"Both," she said. "Either."

"Your protection and the necessity of seeing that it is done."

"II think" India fell silent, aware that she had no coherent thoughts of any kind.

"It has happened before," he continued. He cautioned himself against adopting a gentler tone or softening his expression to reassure her. Creating false confidences, especially where none were warranted, would lead to precisely the opposite outcome from the one he wished. "If it is how Mr. Kendall met his end, then he would not be the first."

"But you do not know"

"No," he admitted. "We cannot be certain."

"It may have been footpads."

He nodded slightly, allowing this could have been the case, then added, "It may have been that Mr. Kendall had too much grog at the Keg and Kettle and fell repeatedly on his face, but I do not believe that." South paused. "And neither do you."

"I do not know what to believe." India finished her wine. It was uncharacteristic of her to indulge in a third glass, but she did so now. Standing at the sideboard, she said, "It does not necessarily follow that I am in danger. Or at least no more than I have ever accepted as a reasonable risk."

Southerton doubted she knew how to assess the risk to herself. Her idea that any was reasonable chilled his marrow. Like the sailor he had been, he changed tack in the face of her wind. "Tell me what else you remember from your last conversation with Mr. Kendall."

India did not immediately answer, thinking on the exchange. "As I said, I gently teased him about his manner of dress; then we spoke of a recent musicale to which he had been invited. I asked him several questions. Who played. Who attended. What was his favorite piece. Our discourse was brief because there were others waiting for my attention and those politely listening to our conversation in anticipation of having their own with me."

"Then the musicale was no imagined affair. It truly occurred."

"I've always assumed so. It afforded him the opportunity to speak of Lady Macquey-Howell and allowed me to inquire about the Spanish consul."

"And you gave him the information he was seeking in this fashion?"

"Yes. Always. I can assure you, our exchanges were unexceptional."

Unless the musicale had never occurred and someone overhearing knew that to be so. Would Kendall have been so careless? No, South told himself. He knew little of the man's character, but he knew a great deal of the colonel's. John Blackwood did not suffer fools, and there were precious few he selected to work for himfewer still he entrusted with the diplomatic tinkering that was Kendall's forte. Eastlyn was one such as Kendall. South suspected that solving Kendall's murder and protecting India Parr was ultimately in the service of shielding the Marquess of Eastlyn. East only admitted to being embroiled in one coilwith two women, truebut no one among the Compass Club believed their good friend was not engaged in something requiring his other, less remarked upon talents.

Southerton determined to investigate the musicale. As a starting place it was likely without promise, but he had no other at the ready.

"I take it you have met the colonel, Miss Parr," South said.

"Only once."

It was extraordinary that they would have met at all, though India Parr had no reason to know that. "And how did he impress you upon that occasion?"

She smiled slightly and her answer came without hesitation. "Persuasive," she said. "He impressed me as persuasive." Her eyes widened as South gave an unexpected but appreciative shout of laughter.

"I have not heard him called such before," he said. "Tenacious, yes. Like the veriest starving cur on the scent of a bone long buried. That is our colonel. But persuasive? That is putting too fine a touch on it."

"Perhaps it is because I am not a bone," she said with some dignity.

"What?" Belatedly he collected himself. His eyes, gleaming with an amused silver light now, regarded India most openly. "No," he said at length, pretending not to notice she only suffered his study and was not flattered by it. "Not a bone at all."

India could not help but notice that the gleam in his eyes remained. She could divine the thought even when he did not deign to utter it aloud. "Though not a great deal of meat to recommend me," she said.

It was surprise that touched his expression, though not entirely because she had said it. It was more interesting to South that she appeared to believe he had been thinking it when quite the opposite was true. Her lush mouth suggested to him that all of her was as exquisitely curved, and he could still find no reason to think otherwise. Indeed, tender morsel had immediately come to his mind. Miss India Parr was long of limb, with a slender, creamy neck all that was exposed by her gown, but South had an eye for feminine proportions and had won his fair share of wagers on the same. Until it was proved otherwise, he remained more confident in his own judgment than in Miss Parr's.

South chose not to make a gallant reply to her comment, and permit her to think as she would. He imagined he had not much time left with her. He sensed her impatience and suspected she would be asking him to quit himself from her house soon.

Returning to matters of importance, South said, "The colonel remains desirous of your assistance, Miss Parr. I take it you have been of no small help to him."

India shrugged. "It was little enough that was asked of me."

"Your continued well-being is of the uppermost concern to him."

Her smile did not quite touch her eyes. "I doubt that," she said softly. India placed her unfinished wine on the sideboard and let her arms fall to her sides. "There is no need to puff the thing up. What happens to me cannot be of so great a consequence. I can accept that the colonel feels some sense of responsibility for me, but it is largely misplaced. He owes me nothing, nor I him. My arrangement with the colonel was never quid pro quo, and I would not have him make it such now."

South wondered what manner of persuasion Blackwood had used to engage India Parr's help in the first place. She was not easily moved from a position once taken. Bloody intractable was what she was. "Then you are refusing his protection."

India hesitated, but only the space of a heartbeat. "Yes," she said. "There is no need for it."

"Mr. Kendall's murder is not proof to the contrary?"

"No. You said as much yourself. You may suspect his death is linked to his association with the colonel, but you have not the facts of the matter yet. In the event the evidence is presented to you, I believe there is infinitely more risk to others than to me."

South's neutral tone belied his concern. "What others?"

"Well you, for one. And the colonel, of course." She stopped. "What? Did you think I might know of any others? I hope you are disabused of that notion. Until you spoke plainly this evening, I could not be certain you were sent by the colonel. I could not even be certain he would send someone. It did not necessarily follow that Mr. Kendall's long absence meant he was dead, only that the colonel had no need of me. No, my lord, I pose no threat to anyone seeking information, because I have little enough to offer."

"It can take as long to discover someone has nothing useful to give as it does to discover they do," South said. "Do you take my meaning, Miss Parr?"

She did. He was saying that in the end it could be the same. She might well be dead for what she didn't know as for the things she did. Sighing, India returned to her chair by the hearth and sat on the edge, her hands folded quietly in her lap. "I hope you will relate my appreciation to the colonel for his concern, but frankly it surprises me. I had not expected this consideration, nor even to come to his notice. If he insists on pressing me in this manner, then perhaps it is time for me to put a period to our arrangement."

Southerton's expression gave nothing of his thoughts away. In any event, they had little to do with Miss India Parr. The colonel, he was thinking, could begin doing his own negotiations when females were involved. "You are quite set on this matter, then," South said.

"I am."

He nodded. "I will make your wishes known to him."

"I would have you convince him, my lord."

"I would have to be convinced myself, Miss Parr, and I assure you, I am not. What the colonel proposes is not an unreasonable precaution."

The line of India's mouth, while not precisely mutinous, remained unwavering. She continued to regard Southerton calmly, giving not a fraction of an inch.

"Very well," he said at length. He stood slowly and thanked her for the supper and the pleasure of her company. "There is no need to see me out. I can find my way."

India stood, watching his progress to the door. His movements were accompanied by only a whisper of sound. He stopped for his coat, folding it over his arm; then he picked up his hat and gloves. Her eyes followed the lift of his arm as his fingers went to rest on the brass handle. She felt a small tug inside her that began as he lifted the handle. This feeling was at odds with the urgency she felt for him to be gone.

Southerton's hand paused and his grip loosened fractionally. He turned a few degrees toward India, so that he was not addressing her over his shoulder but neither was he confronting her directly. "There is someone, is there not?"

There were so many possible responses she could have given that at first India could say nothing at all. Finally, she gave the one that would cause her the least explanation for the nonce. "Yes," she said. "There is someone."

South merely nodded, thoughtful. His fingers renewed their grip on the handle, and this time he twisted it fully. "Good evening."

Then he was gone.

"That's my trick, I believe," Northam said, pulling the cards toward him. "You haven't been attending the play tonight, South."

Frowning at the mention of his name, South looked up distractedly. "Haven't been to the theatre for a fortnight. What's that to do with anything?" His expression became one of annoyance when his friends exchanged telling looks and brief chuckles that he knew were at his expense. He was aware of heads turning in their direction from other corners of the gentlemen's club. "What did I say?"

Mr. Marchman shook his head. "It is of no consequence as long as you continue to entertain us in this fashion."

Eastlyn nodded. "It's just as West indicates. You are vastly entertaining tonight."

Northam's amusement was slightly less than the others by virtue of the fact that South was his partner in the card game. He felt compelled to point this out to everyone as there was a hefty wager at stake on the outcome. If South did not become more agreeable and attentive, they would both be out an entire quid. He tapped the edges of the cards he had collected into place. "I was speaking of the card play," he told Southerton. "You apparently were not."

"Still at Drury Lane?" Marchman asked. His green eyes narrowed faintly as he looked askance at Southerton. "No sign of new bruises. Nor any cuts. You have not been in the company of Miss Parr of late, have you?"

"Or at least he has not offended her," Eastlyn said.

South lifted his chin in Northam's direction, indicating he should lead his next card. He did not respond to the gentle gibes of West and East. They were correct in their assumptions, after a fashion. The truth was that he had seen a great deal of India Parr of late but that she was unaware of it. Her ignorance was all that kept her from taking offense, and saved South from physically having to defend himself.