Page 20 of The Earl's Error
“I understand.” Lord Albury sat down but it was on the edge of his chair, his hands clasped together, his elbows on his knees. “Now, Miss Trentworth, if I am to come directly to the point, I must ask you again about my mother’s necklace.”
“You asked me what I had done with it,” Joceline answered, aware of the way her nerves were jumping at the darkness about his eyes. “But I do not understand your question for you saw what I did, Lord Albury. When it was found, I brought it back to the room and handed it to your mother. You yourself took it from her thereafter.”
Lord Albury shook his head vehemently. “That is not what I am talking about. I am speaking about what you did with the necklacebeforeyou returned it.”
Joceline did not know what to say. The gentleman was speaking in a way that she simply did not understand. “I… I took it from the maid,” she said, slowly, as Lord Albury’s gaze steadied on her face. “She found it.”
“In the parlor.”
Her stomach dipped. “As I told you.”
“And that is all.” Lord Albury tipped his head just a little. “That is all that you did. All that took place.”
“Yes.” Resisting the urge to twist her fingers together, Joceline steadied herself. “Lord Albury, it feels very much as though you want me to say something but I do not know what it is! Please, if there is something that you want me to explain or express, then I beg you to be clearer in your conversation.”
Lord Albury nodded slowly but his eyes darkened all the more, until rather than being as blue as the sky, they were inky pools gazing back at her. The silence that curled around them both made her want to scream with frustration and anxiety, though she resisted the urge to do such a thing. Instead, she set her hands lightly in her lap and kept her shoulders lowered, looking back at him with as much intensity as she could muster.
Finally, he relented.
“This morning, I was to put the necklace into the safe, for it is a family heirloom and will one day belong to my wife,” he told her, his tone steady. “However, it has come to my attention that the necklace isnot, in fact, my heirloom.”
The confusion in Joceline’s mind grew to such dizzying heights that she had to fight the desire to rub at her eyes. “I do not know what you mean.”
“Paste.” The word was practically spat at her, making Joceline’s heart leap up high, her breath snatching inward. “They arepaste,Miss Trentworth!”
Joceline could not help but stare at him, trying to understand how such a thing could have happened. As she gazed back into Lord Albury’s eyes, she slowly began to recognize that the reason he had barrelled into her house, the reason that he spoke now with such upset was because he thought thatshehad something to do with it all!
“I am astonished to hear this,” she said, aware that her breathing was a little shallow. “How could they be paste?”
Lord Albury frowned heavily. “That is what I am come to ask you, Miss Trentworth.”
“Well, I certainly cannot tell you!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “When I was handed the necklace, I brought it directly to you.” Becoming nothing but defensive, she lifted her chin. “You can speak to Miss Sherwood, if you wish. I am sure that she will be able to tell you all.”
Lord Albury shook his head. “Miss Sherwood cannot be relied upon.”
This made Joceline’s eyebrows fly upwards. “Because she is a bluestocking like me?”
“Because she is your friend,” he stated, sharply. “I have already made it clear that I do not think poorly of you because of your love of reading and the like. I am quite sure that, were I tospeak to Miss Sherwood, she would tell me the very same story that you have given to me just now. There would be no whisper of wrongdoing because she is loyal to you.”
“There would be no whisper of wrongdoing because there was none!” Joceline exclaimed, becoming a little angry now. “Lord Albury, it was not I who found the necklace. It was the maid. The servants were busy searching the house and it was one of them who found it! She then told Miss Sherwood, since she was nearby and together, they came to find me.” Seeing his eyebrows knot together, Joceline curled her hand into a fist. “If you wish, I can send for that maid and you can speak withher.”
“I may well do that.”
Oh no.Joceline paled in an instant, realizing that she had, in her foolishness, said something she ought not to have done. The maid hadnotfound the necklace in the parlor, as she had told them all. It had been found in her bedchamber, though if she told him that, then his suspicions towards her would grow even more, she was sure of it!
“Though,” she said quickly, “you will no doubt think that the maid willalsobe loyal to me and therefore, will give you the very same story as myself. Is that not so?”
This made Lord Albury scowl, though Joceline felt herself relieved that he appeared to have taken what she had said seriously.
“I suppose that is true,” he grunted, as Joceline steadied herself, ready now to end this conversation. “I cannot trust anyone, it seems.”
Joceline arched one eyebrow. “Might I ask, Lord Albury, whether or not you were able to ascertain that the necklace was, in fact, the real onebeforeyour mother wore it to the soiree?”
Lord Albury opened his mouth only to pause and then snap it closed again. The dark expression on his face told her that no, he had not done such a thing.
“If you cannot, then I am very surprised indeed that you thought to come to my mother’s townhouse and state, almost unequivocally, that you believe I had something to do with this affair,” she said, speaking firmly and decisively. “You have no real reason to believe that I had anything to do with this necklace. Lord Albury, all I did was arrange for the servants to search the house and, thereafter, to bring the necklace to you.”
A flush of red crept into Lord Albury’s cheeks and he looked away, perhaps now a little less sure of himself.
