Let Me Be The One (40 page)

It was too bad that Elizabeth could not be informed. South considered that she would have made an admirable lookout.

South had little difficulty locating the dowager duchess's suite. It was only a matter of opening and closing a dozen doors on the way to the right one. Finding her jewelry case was an even simpler matter. It was open on her vanity, the dark blue velvet bed almost hidden by the coiled strings of pearls on top. Among the pearls were rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Pear-shaped and square-cut. Necklaces. Rings. Hair ornaments. Earbobs. Her grace's careless regard for even this small portion of her collection took South's breath away. An eddy of cool night air from an open window circled the room and gave it back. South spared a glance for the billowing drapes before he studied the jumble of jewelry again and wondered at it. In light of the recent robberies it was really inexcusable that the duchess would leave such an open invitation to the thief....

Unless it was a trap.

It was on the heels of that thought that Southerton realized he was not alone.

* * *

"You will not credit it," South told his audience, "but the Gentleman Thief is entirely misnamed. I can state unequivocally that he is no gentleman. A gentleman would not have dived through her grace's open window without so much as a by-your-leave."

"Yes, well," Northam said ironically, "that cuts it. He certainly did not attend Hambrick Hall."

Eastlyn and Mr. Marchman nodded in agreement, their own good humor barely kept in check. Only Elizabeth was more subdued. "You might have been run through," she said. "It was very dangerous for you to confront him. Why did you tell me nothing of this plan of yours? I might have stood in the hall and warned you of... of... well, of
something."

"Which is precisely why you were not forewarned," Northam said. "As for South being run through, that is doubtful. No one has ever accused this thief of carrying any weapon, let alone a sword."

South nodded. "But it is very good of you to be concerned."

Elizabeth snorted. "You can rest assured I will not be so again. Go on, finish your tale. It is outside everything that you accompanied me back here without saying a word of this."

"I dislike twice-told tales," South said, perfectly sincere. With a cheerful smile, he picked up his snifter of brandy and sipped. "I wish I had had a better look at the brigand. He is on the smallish side, North. And agile as a monkey. He wore a black frock coat and trousers much like I had on, though I do not think they fit him as well. There could have been no hat else he would have lost it diving through the window as he did. In any event the drapes did much to hide him from my view."

"You ran to the window, didn't you?" East asked.

"Of course. But I expected him to be below me and I spent valuable seconds looking for him in that direction. When I allowed myself to consider another possibility, it was too late. My last glimpse was of a leg dangling from the lip of the hip roof. He pulled it up quickly enough. I could not see anything at all after that. I have to assume he crossed the roof and found another avenue to the street, no doubt across a succession of rooftops."

"At least you had the good sense not to pursue him," said Elizabeth. She moved closer to North on the sofa and slipped her arm through his. It was as if she thought she could ground him, knowing as she did that he would not have been so cautious as Southerton if he had been in his friend's place. "You might have been killed."

"It was not the possibility of dying that kept him from giving chase," Marchman said. "It was the certainty that he would ruin his new coat."

"Just so," South said, unoffended. He brushed an imaginary mote of lint from his sleeve. "I was also thinking that I needed to exit quickly myself, and a door suited my purposes better than a window. I left everything as it was and took my leave. The hall was deserted and I returned to the ballroom by the main stairs. I was not even missed. I can tell you, North, what I learned is how surpassingly simple it has been for this thief." He cleared his throat when he saw the others were very nearly gaping at him. "Er, that is, if one discounts his rather inspired and skillful method of escape. What I mean is that there was virtually no problem moving in the house. The duchess cannot easily close off the upper floors to her guests. Why, Elizabeth herself required some privacy to make repairs to her gown."

Elizabeth felt all eyes on her for a moment. "Lord Everheart stepped on my tunic and tore the embroidered band."

"Clumsy fellow," Eastlyn said. "I would have run him through."

Elizabeth gave him a quelling look. "Go on, South. You were saying that it has been surpassingly simple for this thief."

"A small exaggeration, perhaps," South allowed. "Still, it was easy enough for me, and I have no practice thieving."

"Did you take anything?" asked North.

"No, but not because it wasn't there to be taken. At first I thought the duchess was unconscionably careless with her baubles; then I considered that she had laid some sort of trap. When I understood who was with me in her room I realized that I had interrupted him. He was the one who had found her jewelry and was going through it."

North felt Elizabeth's arm tighten against his. He suspected she was going to take him to task for what South had done tonight, or at least for not telling her of his plan. "Did you know if anything was taken?"

"Not then. Naturally, with no decent explanation for my own presence in her room, I could not go to the duchess myself. I was forced to wait. It was nearing midnight, poor Lady North was making rather pitiful noises about wanting to leave, and I was providing sad excuses as to why we should stay. I was finally witness to a general disturbance in the circle of people around the duchess and in minutes the rumor of a theft reached my ears. I escorted your wife out immediately and came here. I understand it was a sapphire and diamond necklace that was removed from her case. The gossip could have it wrong, the duchess could have mistaken the missing piece, but it was a certainty that the thief did not leave her grace's room without something that belonged to her."

Southerton lifted his brandy snifter in a salute. "It has all been accomplished," he said, supremely satisfied with himself. "North can no longer be entertained as a suspect by anyone with a modicum of intelligence, I can provide a modest description of the thief, and I managed the thing without getting caught." He eyed his three friends shrewdly. "So tell me, who wagered against my success?"

Without a word, the three other members of the Compass Club leaned forward and dropped coins into South's raised glass.

* * *

Elizabeth was brushing out her hair when North entered their bedchamber. "You dismissed your maid?" he asked.

She nodded. "Brill is waiting for you in your dressing room."

Northam crossed to the adjoining room, where his valet helped him out of his coat and boots. He tugged at his stock himself, gave the length of cloth to Brill for laundering, and then sent him on his way. North padded back into the bedroom, his shirt open at the collar and the tails no longer tucked neatly into his trousers. He ran one hand through his hair as he came to stand behind Elizabeth.

She looked up, finding his face above her in the mirror. He looked tired and vaguely disreputable. Neither diminished his extraordinarily handsome features. The tiny lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth only brought her attention to them. "It was wearing for you this evening," she said. "I understood it was difficult for you to let us go to the duchess's home, but I mistook the reason for it. I wish you had told me what South intended."

He took the brush from her hand and began to run it through her hair. Strands of brown and gold spilled over his fingers when he lifted her hair and pulled the brush through on the underside. "What would you have done?" he asked.

"I told you I would have lurked in the upper hall and warned South of imminent discovery, but it was only pique that made me say it. In truth, I don't believe that I would have gone at all."

North waited patiently while Elizabeth rearranged the perfumes and creams on her vanity. He recognized the scents he had chosen for her by their uniquely designed crystal bottles and stoppers. She moved a plain brown bottle he had not seen before from the forefront to the rear, tucking it away so it would not detract from the artisanship of the others; then she lined up several small pots of cream and powders on the opposite side. When everything seemed to be ordered, North felt her draw a breath and prepare to go on.

"I realize it was my idea for us to attend separate functions. I believed that sooner or later the thief would make a call while you were elsewhere. I would not have countenanced South taking matters into his own hands."

"I did not agree to that part either. None of us did. South could not be reasoned out of it."

"Something terrible might have happened." For a moment the brush paused in her hair. Elizabeth was very aware of North's study of her reflection. Her hands were flat on the vanity top, and she pressed her fingers against the wood to still their fine tremor. There was nothing she could do to keep it out of her voice. "It was unfair of you not to tell me. You gave me no choice."

North let the brush make one more slow pass through her hair before he placed it on the vanity. "And you gave me none," he said quietly. "
Do not ever trust me."
He let the words hang a moment between them.

Elizabeth's head bowed and she stared at her hands, unable to look at him any longer.

"Then you have not forgotten," he said.

She shook her head.

"I was only taking you at your word, Elizabeth."

She felt his hands rest lightly on her shoulders. His thumbs brushed the nape of her neck. "I want to go to Hampton Cross," she said on a thread of sound. "I want to leave London."

Chapter 12

North's eyes dropped away from Elizabeth's reflection and stared down at her bowed head. He removed his hands from under her hair and let them fall to his sides. "I should like nothing better than to go to Hampton Cross." Even though he was no longer touching her, her immediate relief was palpable. "But I cannot."

Elizabeth's head came up quickly, her eyes stark. "Of course you can. Have you not been the one saying we should—" She stopped because he was shaking his head, his features implacably set. "Please."

The single word was like a lash striking his skin. It cut him not to be able to do this thing for her, though he little understood her desire or urgency to have it done. "There are matters that keep me here."

"The colonel's matters." When he did not answer immediately it was confirmation enough for Elizabeth."This thief has somehow become his concern and yours." Again North remained silent and let Elizabeth think what she would. Her laughter was brittle. "I thought it was only your Compass Club playing at some game. I didn't understand it was more than..." Her voice trailed off and her hands fell into her lap. "But it is no game at all, is it? This is not four Hambrick boys advancing on the Society of Bishops. God help us all, you are quite serious about apprehending that man."

"Elizabeth."

His calm sounded vaguely patronizing to Elizabeth. Her hands curled into fists. "I am writing to Blackwood in the morning. No, I am going to write to him now."

North stepped back as she stood, but he caught her arm when she would have walked by him.

Elizabeth looked pointedly at the hand on her elbow."Do you really mean to stop me?"

"No, not if you are determined to spend your time on such a futile endeavor. I only wanted to make certain you know that's what it is. You can change nothing."

She lifted one brow. "We shall see."

* * *

Colonel Blackwood's reply arrived in the afternoon post three days later. It was filled with details about his horses and his plans to refurbish his study. He wrote that cooler weather had provided relief for his illness and that he was in anticipation of no further weakness at this time. He recommended books to her from among the ones he'd recently read. There was an amusing account of his foray into painting landscapes and he ended with inquiries into her health and that of North's and a gentle request that she would correspond more often.

Nowhere in the letter was there a reference to London's Gentleman Thief or any of the concerns Elizabeth had raised about her husband's involvement.