Page 26 of Black and Silver

“Yes,” Minerva went on, twisting to face him fully and gripping both his arms. “I thought to ask Prissy, since servants generally know everything about their masters, and I was correct.”

“Oh?”

“Prissy says that there is a wicked, lascivious statue in one of the attic storage rooms in the west wing of the house,” Minerva went on. “The servants think it is delightfully naughty, and it hasbecome something of a jest in the house. I asked her to describe details, and she was quite clear that the female part of the statue is most definitely Lady Jessica in her younger years.”

“That is Primavera in Splendor,” Lawrence said, both embarrassed and elated.

“I knew it,” Minerva said, brimming with victory. “We’ve discovered it’s location. All we need to do now is sneak up there in the dead of night to steal it.”

Chapter Nine

Minnie had to admit that she was not the most accommodating guest for the rest of the day. She lost her patience for Lady Jessica’s drivel, and she found it impossible to smile and listen to Lord Otho’s thinly-veiled attempts to flirt with her at supper. If the weather had been anything other than grey and dreary, she would have suggested that she and Lawrence take a turn around Tidworth Hall’s gardens. But the rain was as relentless as Lady Jessica’s tour, so that was not possible.

In the end, Minnie begged the pardon of her company, especially Lawrence, so that she could take herself up to her and Lawrence’s room for a nap in the afternoon. She needed it after her mostly sleepless night. Sharing a bed with Lawrence had been more of a challenge than she’d thought it would be, mostly because all she wanted to do was flip over and snuggle up against Lawrence’s warm, solid form.

She could not manage to sleep during the afternoon either, but for entirely different reasons. Her mind would not stay still.She followed her thoughts down the west hallway Lady Jessica had showed them briefly in the morning, wondering where the doorway to the attic might be located. Further, she attempted to mentally map out a route from said attic to the mews, where Lawrence’s carriage was being kept during their stay, but seeing as she was not entirely certain where the mews were located, those thoughts were more frustrating than anything else.

“There must be a way to accomplish this feat quickly and without being caught,” she said hours later, after the strained supper, when she and Lawrence returned to their room, presumably to rest after a busy day of touring the house and showering Lady Jessica with false flattery so that she would not grow suspicious of them.

“I was able to speak to Silas earlier,” Lawrence told her as they paced the length of their room on opposing tracks to pass the time until it would be safe to set out on their mission, Clarence positioned on the bed to watch them. “He can only go as far as the servants’ hall without arousing suspicion, but he is certain that if we can bring the statue there once we’ve secured it, he can assist us in concealing it within the carriage.”

Minnie nodded, buzzing with urgency to begin the entire endeavor.

“And assuming we are successful and the statue is secreted in the carriage tonight, we will take our leave from this stifling place in the morning?” she asked.

Lawrence nodded. “And not a moment too soon, if you ask me.”

Their pacing brought them face to face in the center of the room at that point, and Minnie paused to blink at Lawrence.

“You do not wish to spend more time reliving old days with your former lover?” she asked, speaking as if the idea meant nothing to her, when, in fact, it made her skin prickle with jealousy to think Lawrence had ever loved or wanted anyoneelse, particularly the odious Lady Jessica who was no longer Lady Wimpole.

Lawrence huffed a humorless laugh. “I have learned a valuable lesson here at Tidworth Hall,” he said.

“Which is?” Minnie prompted him.

“That one should never revisit the past,” Lawrence said. “Some things should remain in memory so that the shine of what one once thought can remain and not be damaged by the harsh truth.”

Minnie tilted her head to the side, curious about what he meant. “What has led you to this conclusion?” she asked.

The side of Lawrence’s mouth twitched. “Merely the discovery that Jessica is not particularly kind, and the understanding that she never was.”

Minnie smiled despite that not being the appropriate reaction for the revelation at hand. “You are a good judge of character, Lawrence,” she said, stepping forward to rest a hand against his chest, over his heart.

She could feel the furious beating of Lawrence’s heart, smell the salt of his skin, and practically taste the way his cheek had felt against her lips. It was scintillating, but not, perhaps, useful in that moment.

With a short intake of breath, she pulled back and glanced toward the door.

“The household must have settled by now,” she said, then turned slowly back to Lawrence, raking him with a look that was hungrier than it should have been. “Perhaps you should don clothing of a darker color so that we might hide in the shadows more easily, should it come to that.”

“Another brilliant idea,” Lawrence said with a smile, then headed to the dressing room.

Minnie was sorely tempted to watch him change through the keyhole once he’d shut the door. As tense as the air betweenthem had become, and as desperate as she was to do something about it, they could not be distracted by their own wants when there was an infamous statue in the house that could improve Lawrence’s reputation as a serious artist to be purloined.

Fifteen minutes later, Lawrence emerged from the dressing room clothed entirely in black. Minnie noted with a pleased smile that the two of them truly did make a macabre pair when dressed similarly. The silver in Lawrence’s hair seemed to stand out in particularly handsome detail when the rest of him was all inky black and distinguished.

“Do I look the part of a nefarious housebreaker?” Lawrence asked, holding his arms out for Minnie’s approval.

Minnie grinned. “You could not look more nefarious if you tried,” she said in an incongruously tender tone, taking his hand and drawing him toward the door. “Mostly because you simply cannot look nefarious, no matter how you are dressed.”

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