Lady Adventuress 01 - His Wayward Duchess (27 page)

Avonbury lurched forward.

“Coffee? Yes – you’re a marvellous girl, Holly – marvellous.”

The earl stumbled over the threshold and Holly gestured for a sleepy footman to help steer him into the little drawing room.

“Lucy, please stir up the fire a little,” Holly said, as Avonbury settled uncertainly into an armchair.

When the room began to warm
up, Lucy retreated into the background, taking up the sewing that she had left there that evening.

The coffee was brought in, and
Holly poured Avonbury a large cup, carefully handing it over lest he should drop it.

“Now,
Lord Avonbury, what is this about? Why has Sylvester gone to Young’s? And what is all this about a woman destroying you?”

“Woman!
A right harpy she is. To think that I ever wished to make her my countess. But she would have none of me. Lady Charlotte had higher ambitions than that.”

Holly could hardly fault Lady Charlotte for her ambition, but she found that ‘harpy’ was definitely a very apt description of the woman.

But there is was! Strathavon, then, had never been the one entangled with Lady Charlotte – it had been Avonbury all along. Which explained his misery that day at the lake, and the high-handed way the woman had mocked him.

The more Holly considered it, the more sense it made. She wondered that she had not seen it before – only she had been much too blinded by the jealousy that
had threatened to choke her whenever she’d thought of Strathavon with Lady Charlotte.

Holly sat very still a moment as this revela
tion sank in. Strathavon had let her believe all sorts of horrid things, when this whole time it was Avonbury who had been the ghastly woman’s paramour!

Her heart felt as if
it were floating on a cloud of incredulity. But why had the duke not corrected her assumption? He’d known perfectly well that her accusation was off the mark. Had he been trying to make her jealous on purpose?

I
t was long past time she turn the tables on him. She filed away this idea for later analysis.

“But what has all that to do with Strathavon going to Young’s?”

“Everything. You see, I have some trinkets which I would very much like restored. I was hasty in gifting them,” said Avonbury, looking sheepish. “The… er… the family emeralds, to be exact. They are famous. And my sister will wear them for her coming-out, if only Charlotte agrees to return them.”

Holly frowned as she tried to piece together the story.

“I see. It’s quite a tangle. And she won’t give them back to you?”

“No! Nor marry me. She broke with me this summer. First, she said she’d be glad to return them, only deuce knows where they’d got to, but I expect she knew
where they were all along. And now she just means to sell them off, or wager them. A black mark against the Avonbury name!”

“And she has definitely broken with you?
You are certain that this is not some game?”

“Y
es, she is finished with me,” said Avonbury miserably. “Strathavon’s gone to retrieve the jewels, but it won’t do any good, I wouldn’t wonder. He said I was too foxed to go myself. I hoped to catch him when he returned home.”

He gulped some more coffee
and winced at the flavour.

“I shouldn’t have said all that! But you’re a capital girl – you won’t tell. It’s no wonder he married y
ou. Would’ve done so myself, had I spotted you first.” He blinked a moment and Holly had to prompt him in order to return to the topic.

“These
famous emeralds – you must forgive me, but I have never seen them. Will you tell me more about them? Are they easily recognisable?”

“Ah, y
es. Very easily. Well, you see, I gave the lady my grandmother’s emeralds in good faith, not knowing she meant to throw me off! I am…What’s the expression? Utterly beset with sorrow. And now my sister must have them for her coming-out, and my aunt would wear them to the opera next week. She has asked especially since her own are being refitted – she and my mother had identical pieces made on commission by their father. And when I tried to explain, Charlotte said that she will wear them herself before she sells them for good. Tonight, she claimed that she would gamble them! She is doing it out of sheer spite. She never liked my mother, because of some incident involving husbands and snubbings. It would be the most appalling scandal.”

Avonbury
examined the carpet. “Why, what possessed me to do such a thing? I was well over the eight then, too, come to think of it, else I wouldn’t have given those away. And she was always such a pretty, lively thing. Has her eye on a viscount now – a very rich one. But since she won’t listen to me, Strathavon said he’d take care of it, even if he has to bribe her
.
”

Holly had no doubt that the duke would do his best to retrieve the emeralds, but she doubted very much that he’d succeed.

“Oh, I just knew that that was all fudge in the journals!” exclaimed Holly.

“
You mean all the gossip? I had wondered about your dislike of Lady Charlotte. Was that your reason?”

“Lady Charlotte is a barque of frailty, sure enough – but that is not why I despise her,” Holly said. “I care nothing for her morali
ty, not even if she were a lightskirt of the Covent Garden set. Why should I? But she was perfectly odious to me before I even knew her name, and beastly to you at the boating party – though I couldn’t have guessed the cause of it. And the way she is toying with you now is nothing if not cruel.”

Avonbury looked momentarily astonished by this show of loyal sentiment. He had always
expected that any wife of Strathavon’s would be a proper, tiresome, disapproving creature. He hadn’t expected Holly – and he had taken a great liking to this young thing with her frankness of manner “I thank you! I own I did not expect you to champion me, and I will say again that Strathavon has landed himself a diamond of the first water. If only we could all be so fortunate.”

Holly laughed at that. “Better a dia
mond than an emerald, I suppose.”

Avonbury swayed a little, and took a
swig of his coffee.

“
Do you know, I feel as though I am at sea! The room is devilish unsteady. I think I would have made a fine sailor,” he declared.

“Y
es?” said Holly, playing along with the non-sequitur.

“
Undeniably. Why, I have now experienced the cruel dregs of heartbreak: the very thing to drive a man to the high seas. And besides that, I’ve a fine pair of lungs for seafaring ditties.” He frowned in exaggerated concentration, before bursting into a very wobbly song.

“Fair Sally
lov'd a bonny seaman, with tears she sent him out to roam…”

Holly never found out what happened to either Sally or the seaman, because at that point his lordship trailed off sadly, no doubt thinking of his
former lover.

Holly glanced
hopelessly up at Lucy, who seemed to be fighting an expression of amusement.

“I think, Avonbury, that you had better drink up that coffee. I shall call for another pot. And something to eat would not go amiss either.”

“Anoth
er? By Jove, you are merciless!” declared the earl approvingly. He accepted more of the vile concoction that Holly offered him and gulped it down, proclaiming afterwards that he should never again care for coffee so long as he lived.

It took a while before the gentleman regained his head
, but eventually, the bleariness began to drain out of his eyes and the pinkness from his face.

“Your pardon, Holly, did I say anything I ought
not have done, while I was on the mop?” Avonbury asked somewhat unsteadily.

“
Not in the least, but I am glad that you seem to me somewhat better now. I need to know exactly what those emeralds look like. My husband said you were very good with charcoal.”

“Why, yes, I am. But what the deuce has that to do with anything? My future will unquestionably fall apart if Strathavon does not come through. Now is hardly the time to draw pictures.”

“That is not
true. I think you had much better make me a sketch of the emeralds, as accurate as you can. You remember them, don’t you?”

“’Course I do.
They were in my mother’s portrait in the grand dining room. I think I shall remember the damned things till I am in the ground, regardless.”

“Well we needn’t go so far as that,” said Holly briskly. “But a picture would be very helpful.”

She twined a strand of hair about her finger absently as she contemplated what promised to be the beginnings of a plan, but Avonbury was too preoccupied with his own troubles to notice this deeply ominous sign.

Taking advantage of the earl’s
increasing sobriety, Holly produced charcoal and some paper and waited. Once the sketch was done, she folded it carefully into her journal for safe keeping.

The earl looked resigned.
“I suppose I shan’t get an explanation and so needn’t bother to ask for one. It is said in the clubs, my dear, that in the wake of the Duchess of Strathavon there lies a delightful sea of scandal and chaos. I can think of no better lady and more perfect match for Strathavon. You even scold like he: and Strathavon gives such a dreadful scold that it is enough to shrivel the ears.”

“Now
, really, Avonbury, you sound as if you thought that I should now deliver you the cut direct merely because you turned up here a trifle disguised!”

“I should not have been surprised if you would
. Ladies tend to have a certain animosity towards such things. Ah, the cut direct, indeed. Do you know that it was very
de rigueur
at Cambridge when I was there?” laughed Avonbury. “Why, daily there would be gentlemen passing their former chums with not a sign of acknowledgement. And over such paltry things as tennis, conkers and capricious ladies. ”

“You make Cambridge sound a very silly place.”

“Rather than the great cold tomb the scholars would have it be? Life is all about location and perspective, my dear.”

With these words of wisdom
, and a somewhat steadier gait than he had exhibited on arrival, Avonbury took his leave, returning to his own lodgings in Maddox Street.

Holly looked after him a moment
. It was really a shame she liked him as much as she did, for now she was obliged to solve his bit of trouble also. She produced the sketch of the emeralds again, and looked at it.

“Lucy?”

“Yes, your ladyship?”

“Do you happen to know
of anyone obliging in Lady Charlotte Holland’s household? It would be such a tremendous help if you did.”

That was how Holly found herself in another new tangle. She had somehow to save Avonbury, and she even had an idea of how she would go about doing that – but
even Holly had to admit that it was her most daring plan by far.

Head buzzing with plans, s
he hurried off to bed, and woke up especially early, ordering her Phaeton to be ready for her at eight o’clock sharp.

With Lucy at her side, she set off to
Rundell and Bridge at 32 Ludgate Hill. The elegant establishment catered to the likes of the Duke of York and the Prince of Wales, and Holly knew she needed the very best and most discreet paragon of the profession to undertake her singular commission.

*

When he was informed that the illustrious Duchess of Strathavon herself had decided to pay his humble establishment a visit, Mr Rundell decided to attend to the lady in person. The gentleman had a ruthlessly sharp business acumen which perfectly matched the beauty of the objects he produced.

Holly was welcomed into his private office, and offered a cup of tea, which she refused politely, eager to get to business.

“And in what way can I be of service to you today, Your Grace?” the jeweller asked, peering at Holly over his glasses, his blue eyes keen and assessing. “Would you care to look at our newest offerings in gold? They are very fine and at the cutting edge of fashion this autumn, I can assure you.”

Holly shook her head and
unfurled her ebony and silver fan, the better to play her part. “Thank you, no, though I am certain your craftsmanship is very fine. That is precisely why I have come here, you see. I have an unusual order today, and only the very best and most discreet jeweller in all of London will do.”

Mr
Rundell appeared to be calculating the possible cost of a unique order from the wife of one of the wealthiest men in England. And he had heard some unusual orders in his time. He was curious to know more.

“I should be honoured to be of assistance in this matter, Lady Strathavon.”

Pleased, Holly produced the sketch. Avonbury was certainly very clever with charcoal, even in his cups. The Avonbury emeralds were nothing short of magnificent. She folded out the sketch and showed it to the jeweller, who took the page and examined it at length.

“It is a very remarkable piece.
Made sometime early in the previous century, I believe, and the craftsmanship is impeccable. French. Why, my dear Lady Strathavon, I do believe these are the famous Avonbury emeralds.”