Page 10 of An Honorable Deception
He shook his head. “If she hasn’t turned up by the time he arrives, we’ll set the Coldstream Guard on the task. I’m convinced he’s half bloodhound.”
Marigold grinned at mention of her husband, but it faded. “He’ll think he’s coming home from the office to hear how your meeting went. I don’t dare to imagine his reaction when he realizes there was a gunfight.”
“Hardly a gunfight. More an attempted assassination.”
His sister blinked. “Oh, that’s certain to make him feel better.”
He chuckled, though there was nothing humorous about the situation. “If he wants to take over the introductory meetings...”
Marigold breathed a laugh too. “He may have submitted to a false beard last December, but he is hardly Mr. A material.”
True. But lionfeathers, he might have to agree to let Merritt train him on some weapons as he’d been threatening to do, if their cases kept veering into the dangerous. Acrobatic skills helped them stay out of most such situations, but leotards were far from bulletproof. “I should have been wearing my costume. Then I could have come out, seen the villains.”
Marigold’s expression went fierce. “And taken a few bullets yourself?”
“I’m far too fast for that.” Did his smile look as weak as it felt? Probably. “And even so—it would be an added layer of protection in case a client manages to catch a glimpse of me.”
“Yates, it takes you an hour to powder your hair and apply the lines to your face. Usually you don’t even have that much warning that a meeting is to be set.”
“I could at least leave the clothes and hat at the church.”
“To be put into the poor bin when some parishioner happens upon them?” She shook her head. “No Imposter props stored out of our own houses. It’s a sound rule, and we’re not going to abandon it now after one near exposure.”
“Imposter—what?”
Marigold jumped at the unexpected voice. Yates only jerked, spun in search of Lavinia. Where was she, hiding in a wall?
He was willing to grant the possibility. He’d popped out of a hidden corridor in the walls of her family home, after all, in order to save her father from her mother’s schemes last year. He was fairly certain that Fairfax House had nothing so interesting—Graham, architect extraordinaire that he was, would have discovered it long ago, but one never knew.
But no, it was only from behind the chair in the corner that her head emerged.
“Leopard stripes, Lavinia.” He scowled at the traitorouschair, whose skirted legs had hidden hers so well. “Have you been there all along? It’s been hours!”
She didn’t deign to answer that part. Her wide, accusing eyes moved from Yates to Marigold and back again. “No. That’s ... but then, it makes sense. You weren’t helping Sir Merritt in his investigation of my parents as new friends, were you? He’d ... no. He hired you?” Another shift of that accusing glance. “Youare the Imposters?”
“Lionfeathers.” Marigold planted her hands on her hips, which made her stomach look even more pronounced. “Lavinia—”
“Of course.” Lavinia slid around the chair and sat on it, her gaze distant. “Ofcourse. Your father left you in dire straits—I realized that as soon as I saw the Tower last summer. And why does everyone say the Imposters are actors? Only because of the name, but—oh!” She sent that look to them again. “Wasn’t that what you wanted to call your circus? When we were children. How did I not make that connection ages ago?”
Yates sighed and drew a hand out of his pocket so he could pinch the bridge of his nose. “And now we have to kill you.”
She rolled her eyes at the joke. “I believe you mean that now you have to hire me.”
He stared at her. He was fairly certain Marigold must be giving her the exact same look, because Lavinia straightened her shoulders and raised her chin in the way she’d been doing since they were toddlers and she was determined to get her way. “You are weeks away from giving birth, Marigold.”
“Months, thank you.”
“Months are made of weeks. And you’reexhausted.” She waved a hand at Marigold. “Assuming you are a key part of this operation, your absence will be missed when you needto rest and care for your new baby. Who will do your work then?”
Yates sneaked a glance at his sister. Neither her posture nor her countenance granted the point. But it was a valid one. Ordinarily he’d have said that Gemma could pick up the slack, but she was no less indisposed. And the truth was that they needed a lady moving in ladies’ circles to do half their observations, even if that lady wasn’t trained in acrobatics. And often he needed someone there to assist him. Merritt had been coming along when he could, and Graham. But they both had careers that meant they couldn’t drop everything all the time. Lavinia, on the other hand ...
“It’s not a bad idea,” Yates conceded.
Marigold spun on him, utter incredulity on her face. “Have you gone daft?”
Hurt flashed over Lavinia’s face. “Don’t you think you can trust me?”
His sister’s face twisted into swift apology as she turned it back to Lavinia, hands coming up to make a soothing gesture. “It isn’t a matter of trust, Lavinia. You know well that you’re one of my very dearest friends. It’s only that you’ve been through enough difficult things in the last few years. You don’t need the added stress of our work.”
