Page 21 of Black and Silver

Silence thudded down over the table for a moment, likely both because of Minnie’s outburst and Lawrence’s reminder that Lady Jessica was most definitely familiar with his work.

“Is that so?” Lady Jessica asked, which could have answered both statements, turning from Minnie to Lawrence.

Lawrence cleared his throat, his mouth pulling to one side for a moment. “It is,” he answered at last, meeting and holding Minnie’s eyes across the table. “The highwaymen were most fearsome, but my darling Minerva was attempting to hold them off with a particularly large hat pin.”

Minnie nearly barked with laughter at the gauntlet Lawrence had thrown down for her.

“It was an instrument designed to resemble a hat pin, but it was, in fact, a small dagger,” she said.

“Minerva is a master swordswoman,” Lawrence said, almost as an afterthought. “She trained with the Chevalier d'Éon in Paris as a young woman.”

Minnie nearly snorted. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Lawrence knew of the Chevalier d'Éon, who lived half his life as a man and half as a woman, but was regarded as one of the most brilliant spies of the turn of the last century.

Lord Otho and Lady Jessica didn’t seem to know what they were talking about, and in more ways than just the chevalier.

“You…fought off brigands with…a hat pin?” Lady Jessica asked, her soup spoon suspended over her bowl, dripping greenish soup.

“She tried,” Lawrence said, setting his spoon down as he finished his soup. “She was on the verge of being defeated and subjected to the inappropriate attentions of the brigands when I stumbled across the scene and rescued her.”

It took everything Minnie had not to clap a hand to her mouth to prevent her laughter. To hear the way Lawrence told it, the highwaymen merely wanted to use the wrong fork at supper with her.

“One of them had already run me through,” she said, meeting and holding Lawrence’s gaze, and being as vague about the potential double meaning of her words as she could be, “but Lawrence fought the men off, scooped me into his arms, and carried me off to a nearby gamekeeper’s cottage on a local estate.”

“Would that be Lord Elan Dunbridge’s estate?” Lord Otho asked, absorbed in the story, but for all the wrong reasons.

“Er, no, I was closer to Romsey,” Lawrence said, nearly fumbling.

“It could have been the moon, for all I was aware.” Minnie tugged the story back into her control. “My wounds were grievous, but Lawrence was attentive and quick-minded in my care.”

“Lawrence?” Lady Jessica balked. “Quick-minded?” She let out a peal of sharp laughter and tipped her head back as the footmen served the next course. “Now I am certain you are inventing stories merely for entertainment.”

Lawrence lost his bright, passionate look, but instead of turning to fury, like Minnie’s mien had, he lowered his head far too sheepishly and studied the fish he’d just been served.

“I can assure you, everything I say is the absolute truth,” Minnie said in clipped tones. “Lawrence rescued me from tragedy and certain death. Without him, I do not know what I would do.”

She glanced back across the table to Lawrence, who lifted his head and met her eyes.

The sudden, warm and grateful smile that seemed to encompass Lawrence completely made Minnie’s heart skipwithin her chest. With that came the overwhelming desire to defend him from whatever social brigands attempted to attack him. She was more certain with every minute that passed that Lawrence had been attacked far too frequently in the past.

If it was the last thing she ever did, she would defend Lawrence against anyone who dared to turn their nose up at him or disparage him until her dying day.

Except that in just over a week, she would be on a boat bound for Ireland, then Stockholm to begin a new life.

“Do you not enjoy your fish, Lady Minerva?” Lady Jessica asked once the dish had sat in front of Minnie for a full minute without her touching it. “It is a specialty of our cook. He trained in Paris before the troubles there. It was quite a coup for us to hire him, as he swore he wanted nothing more than to retire.”

The rest of the supper conversation revolved around the improvements Lady Jessica had made to the house upon her marriage to Lord Otho, and around the servants she had hired. Lord Otho spent a fair amount of time lamenting the servants he’d lost in the past, though by the sound of things, they’d all quit due to Lord Otho’s heavy hand and demanding ways.

The food was excellent, though, and by the time supper was over, Lawrence and Lord Otho retired to smoke pipes and drink port, and Lady Jessica brought Minnie into her favorite sitting room for tea, Minnie had calmed down sufficiently to endure the after-supper moment.

“I am deeply appreciative of your hospitality,” she managed to say, scrambling to find ways to help Lawrence in his mission. “I do so admire the way you’ve decorated your home. Do you, perhaps, have any of my dear husband’s work in your collection?”

The speed with which Lady Jessica’s face turned stony and pink flushed her cheeks told Minnie that the woman did, indeed,still have the sculpture she and Lawrence were seeking in her possession.

But Lady Jessica’s answer was, “I do not know if you are aware of the sort of art Lawrence creates, but it is not suitable for public display.”

“It is very nice, though,” Minnie said, sipping her tea coquettishly and leaving the door open for Lady Jessica to giggle and titter and say naughty things to her.

Lady Jessica did the opposite. She sat stiffer and set her tea down. “It is not appropriate,” she repeated.

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