Masquerading the Marquess (22 page)

"I’ll let it drop for now, Calliope, but rest assured we’ll discuss it another time."

She gave him a disgruntled look and changed the subject again. "Other than Pettigrew, who do you think was in the room with us?"

"Whoever it was, he didn’t sound particularly adept, wouldn’t you agree?"

There was a slight easing in her tense features, and she nodded.

"We have to assume Pettigrew took whatever he was after, so we are going to have to continue our search later tonight. Together."

She lifted an eyebrow, her features relaxing more.

He continued, "That way we can explain ourselves if we are caught. We’ll just say we weren’t able to reach our own rooms in time."

He held out his arm and felt the slight shiver run through her as they made contact. It caused an equal reaction in him.

This whole debacle was becoming increasingly tangled. Arm in arm, they headed back to the party.

They neared the card room, where most of the male guests were playing high-stakes games. Calliope ran an imaginary hand over her features, smoothing them into her practiced mask. She tried to do the same with her emotions, but had less success.

Fear and trauma after losing her mother had kept her from confronting
Salisbury
. With time, both emotions had lessened and the desire to see him and confront him had grown. The opportunity had been snatched away with his untimely death.

Calliope had mourned his death. She had rationalized that her feelings had sprung from the inability to seek her own small justice, but she had always known that in a locked-up place in her heart she had mourned for the smiling man who’d always read her favorite stories aloud.

Her feelings for her father were as jumbled as her feelings for the man on whose arm she had placed her hand.

Lady Flanders rose from the table that included Roth, Ternberry and Pettigrew. She gave Calliope a superior look and swept out of the room.

Roth smiled at Calliope. "Esmerelda, come join us.
Oh, you too, Angelford."
Roth waved a hand toward James as if to indicate that he was a poor second choice.

They were playing whist.

Roth was partnering Pettigrew. Ternberry gave a snort of disgust and he too rose. "Cheating sons of—"

Roth lifted an eyebrow and Ternberry took himself off quickly.

"Well, then, looks like we have two empty seats," Roth said.

"What do you say to one game, my dear? Would you be willing to be my partner for a quick win before we retire to other pursuits?" James said confidently as he held the seat for Calliope.

Calliope was glad he had committed them for a single game. Whist was addictive and they needed to continue their search.

Roth won the draw. He shuffled the cards expertly, offered James a cut and dealt each player thirteen cards. His thirteenth card, a ten of diamonds, lay face up to indicate trump. Play began and each player tested the others’ skills through subsequent hands.

Calliope was unsurprised to find Angelford an excellent player. He was aggressive at all the appropriate times and had an uncanny knack for correctly assessing her hand. The irritating man was enjoying himself as he scooped up the last trick. He gathered the cards and shuffled.

"Pettigrew, did you find the Egyptian scroll satisfactory?"

Pettigrew grimaced at the score. James and Calliope needed only one more point for game.

"What? Oh, yes. It was exactly what I was looking for. "

James smoothly handed the cards to Pettigrew for a cut. "Are you searching for anything else?"

Pettigrew fumbled nervously but completed the cut. James began dealing without glancing at Pettigrew and Calliope noticed a bead of moisture forming on Pettigrew’s forehead. Roth seemed oblivious to the undercurrents; he merely sat sipping his wine.

"No, at present I am not in the market for anything else." The bead of moisture slipped down the side of Pettigrew’s face.

James picked up his cards. "I heard there are some avid buyers right now. I was wondering if you knew anything. "

Roth lazily scanned his cards and then threw out a spade lead. "Do you have anything for sale, Angelford?
Something of interest?"

"I may."

Calliope watched Pettigrew’s pale face as he scooped up the trick he had played off with a heart. Roth, on the other hand, appeared totally at ease. Pettigrew was out of his league on several counts.

Roth nodded and led another spade. "You may find someone interested at the ministry. I hear there is an inquiry into lost objects."

James played his card and Pettigrew threw a spade.

"Well, I say, I do believe I have accidentally revoked, which gives you two the game. Absent-

minded
of me.
My apologies, Roth.
I do believe I will check on my other guests."

Pettigrew excused himself and quickly exited the room.

Roth idly played with the remaining cards in his hand. "If I may offer some advice, I suggest you—"

Lady Flanders breezed back into the room and ran a finger suggestively down the front of Roth’s tailored coat. "Roth, darling, what are you still doing here? Come join the others."

She sent a coolly appraising look to Calliope and assumed a lofty stance.
"Leave Angelford to his pursuits, odd as they may be."

It was obvious she would not leave until Roth followed. Roth sent Calliope an amused glance. "As you can see, everyone has a motive.
Until later."

He placed Lady Flanders’s wandering hand on his arm and followed in the footsteps of Pettigrew.

James looked thoughtfully at the retreating couple.

"Where is her husband?" Calliope muttered.

James smiled. His eyes lit with mischief and her breath caught. He was devastating when he smiled.

"Penelope and
Flanders
don’t keep a tight rein on each other. He no doubt is enjoying the company of his latest peccadillo. Each has an insatiable appetite for variety and numbers, much like the Pettigrews. I must say she has damnable timing, however. "

"
l
wonder what Roth was going to say. "

"I don’t know, but maybe we should begin our search in his room."

Curdle crept silently down the long hall, hesitating every so often as he heard voices.

Things were becoming increasingly more difficult. And he didn’t like this latest turn of events.

Someone had spilled his guts and now Angelford’s hellhound was nipping closely at his heels. It had taken all of Curdle’s considerable talent to elude the man these past few nights.

He would have a long talk with his employer about this inconvenience.

Curdle cracked his knuckles menacingly and proceeded to his employer’s room.

Task accomplished.

Confirmation given.

At last his reward was close at hand.

"I never expected Roth to be so fastidious. Appearance is one thing, one’s personal space another."

James closed the door silently behind them and they returned to Calliope’s room to fetch her wrap. During the search of Roth’s room, they had gained nothing but confirmation that the man was single-minded in all of his habits.

Calliope opened her door. "He is very mysterious, is he not?"

James frowned. "I don’t think Roth is all tha—"

He bumped into her back. She had stopped dead in the doorway.

"James, something is wrong. Someone has been here."

He moved around her and searched the armoire and under the bed, the only two available hiding places in the room. "Are you certain it was not just your maid tidying things?"

"No, it’s not that."

"Is anything missing?"

Calliope was already looking through her things. "No, I don’t believe so, it’s more a feeling."

She was staring anxiously at the door and window.

"We’ll both stay here or in my room."

Relief and alarm warred on her face. "Perhaps I’m just a bit edgy because of Pettigrew’s study
. "

"If anyone sees me leaving your room in the morning, it will lend credence to our relationship. As long as no one sees me on the sofa, that is. Now, here’s your shawl, let’s try Pettigrew’s chambers."

The suite was as far away from their rooms as one could get in the huge manor. For the first time James grudgingly found himself admitting he was glad Calliope had accompanied him. If they were caught, their presence in any part of the house could be easily explained away as a lovers’ game.

They were in and out of his rooms quickly. Pettigrew’s rooms proved as fruitless as Roth’s. By the time they left his suite it was
three o’clock
in the morning. Because it was necessary to keep track of the guests, James and Calliope kept making appearances downstairs. The party was still in swing, but they noted several of the guests had retired.

"It’s going to be more difficult to conduct a search when we don’t know which rooms contain guests," James said.

They passed the card room, where a heated game was being played. Mr. Ternberry was wiping his brow. He appeared to be losing heavily.

"Ternberry is well known for his tenacity at trying to win his money back.
Usually an unwise decision.
So let’s search his room next. He will be preoccupied for at least an hour or two."

Calliope nodded and they headed toward the west wing where Ternberry’s room was located.

A laughing couple came down the hall and James put an arm around Calliope, pulling her close. He tipped her chin up and their lips met. A soft sound of surprise was swallowed as her body melted against his. The couple passed, but James didn’t stop. He couldn’t.

Calliope’s hands snaked their way around his neck and she was leaning against him. He didn’t know who was hungrier, or why were they standing in the hallway when their rooms were just down the hall.

She tasted just like she
smelled.
. . a hint of lavender.

A door slammed closed and reality intruded. The thought was like a cold bucket of water.

James broke the kiss and looked down at Calliope. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open. Hell, he wanted to kiss her again, but they had dallied too long and time was running short.

"One of these times we won’t be interrupted, I promise."

James pulled her along in her slightly dazed state. Ternberry’s door was locked.

He withdrew a thin piece of metal from his pocket and worked on the mechanism. It clicked and a remarkably composed Calliope looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

They entered the room and found a mess. It was the opposite of Roth’s spartan and well-organized room. There was a certain irony in the situation, since the two men’s attitudes garnered contradictory impressions.

"This is going to take a while."