Page 68 of Rules for Heiresses
“Maybe it’s the wrong one,” Ravenna said. “Maybe your maid got confused.”
“The maid was not confused and she’s not my maid. She knew exactly who Sommers was because he’s a cur with all the female servants. This is the right room.”
With one hard jostle of the key, the door opened.
The room was a mess, Sommers’s belongings strewn everywhere. Now that they were inside, she had no idea what to do, but obviously Waterstone did because he instantly headed for the desk and started sifting through the papers. Wrinkling her nose, Ravenna stepped around some discarded smallclothes.Horrid.
“What are we looking for?” she asked, her voice loud in the silence.
“Anything. Documents. Plans. Contacts.”
Ravenna peered into a trunk at the base of the bed. “Opiates?”
“What?” Waterstone hurried over to her side, eyes widening at the sight of a dozen or so small tincture bottles packed neatly into a case. Some were empty, others tightly corked.
“Who has need of this much laudanum?”
Waterstone lifted a shoulder. “An addict.”
He moved back to resume his search, and Ravenna wandered the room over to a small table near the small hearth. A crumpled-up piece of parchment caught her attention and she bent to retrieve it. Unrolling it, the first thing that caught her attention washername. Ravenna frowned, an oily sensation crawling over her skin.
Beside it was Stinson’s name with a question mark. Then mention of a ball, underlined twice, which she realized was the date of her own official wedding ball being hosted by her mother at Embry House. She was certain that Mr. Sommers had not been invited, so did he intend to be there? Andwhy? What was he planning? She pocketed the paper without showing it to Waterstone, who swore under his breath.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“There’s nothing of note here. The man’s careful, I’ll give him that. Or he keeps his documents with him, which is what I would do.” His eyes fell on her as though seeing her for the first time. “Come, we should get you home.”
Once they’d slipped out through the servants’ entrance and were ensconced in a coach, Waterstone narrowed his eyes at her disheveled curls. “How did Sommers not recognize you?”
“My earlier ensemble included a hat.” She grinned, sketching her infamous bow and feigning another accent. “Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, sir. Mr. Raven Hunt of Kettering, ne’er-do-well and happiest of chaps. Always up for a laugh, a chit, and a pint of ale.”
Ravenna lifted a brow at his slightly bemused, openly admiring expression. “I might have underestimated you.”
“Most do,” she said.
In short order, they arrived back at the ducal residence. As the coach rolled to a stop, something danced up Ravenna’s spine and she froze. It was the sensation she always got whenever her husband was near…that raw awareness, the elementalconnectionthat existed only between them.
She blinked. No, she had to be imagining it because of nerves. The duke would be enjoying a cigar after luncheon, not that he smoked but Sommers did. Still, her instincts were firing like fireworks over Cremorne Gardens.
And for good reason.
Because the forbidding Duke of Ashvale stood waiting at the top of the stairs, and he looked beyond furious. Ravenna gulped and met Waterstone’s gaze. “Stay put. I dragged you into this. No need for both of us to get into trouble.”
“Your Grace—”
“Don’t you underestimate me now, Waterstone.Go, before I tell him it was your idea.” When he paled, she gave him a small grin. “A jest, you silly man.”
With that, Ravenna hopped from the coach to face her fate.
She watched as it pulled away before turning to her husband who hadn’t moved from his perch, staring down at her like a falcon about to pounce on its meal. She fought back a shiver and mounted the stairs with false cheer. “Good day to you, Your Grace!”
“Get inside, lest you cause me to make a scene in the middle of Mayfair,” he commanded.
Ravenna peered up at him. His face could be carved from granite, though the muscle flexing in that jaw proved that he was indeed human. Eyes the color of an inky lake met hers as she walked past him and into the house.
The servants were mysteriously absent, which only added to her unease. Had he dismissed them because he intended to take her to task? The door snicked shut behind her and she jumped, his intimidating presence crowding her.
“Go into the study, please.”
