Page 56 of Kiss Me Lady One More Time
He wanted to get her alone, to tease her again and kiss her senseless.Do it again. She’d whispered it to him, and it had driven them both a little mad. He wanted that madness. He wanted to spend his life touching her. Easing her way. Creating his own happiness by ensuring hers.
But she’d met his mother. Heard enough to understand his circumstances. Surely, she understood now, why he did his best to stay away?
Groaning, he turned to restoring order and getting the whole story. Mrs. Caradec helped. She saw to it that the countess took some tea and toast, and as Lady Tensford’s color returned, the earl calmed, and the new findings were shared. In the end, Mrs. Caradec agreed to stay for a coze with the countess, while Sterne, Tensford and Penelope went to the house in Wells Street.
In the carriage, he watched Penelope shift and jiggle in her seat. Real anguish showed in her face. “It has to be him,” she said, her voice strained. “I’m so sorry.”
“Who?” Sterne asked. “Who do you expect to find at your father’s house?”
“My cousin, Mr. James Lycett. Don’t you see? He might be the one who stole the fossil!” She dropped her face into her hands. “I am so sorry!”
“Miss Munroe, calm yourself,” the earl said soothingly. “Even if you are correct, it’s no fault of yours.”
“Tell us why you think he’s involved?” Sterne urged her.
She drew a deep breath. “The girl who has been following us, I first saw her with him. They looked to be arguing. We saw them together when we arrived at Lady Tresham’s old address. I saw her twice more the same day. Today, she followed us to the dressmaker’s, then left and went to my father’s townhouse and went in the back door.”
“Could she be part of a small staff your father leaves at the house?”
“No. We scarcely use the house. Mother despises London. Father comes up when business requires it, or to meet with his group of agricultural-improvement-minded friends. He keeps it closed when he’s not here, though he hired an agency to look in on the place every month. The same agency prepares the house when he sends word that he’s coming up, and staffs it for his visits. It should be empty now.”
She frowned. “The girl was wearing a maid’s uniform, though. Perhaps she works for Lady Tresham? Or more likely, she might have worked for her when she was still staying in Cheapside. We know James and Lady Tresham have some sort of relationship. They visited Stillwater together back in Gloucestershire—some of the only visitors he’s allowed for years.”
“Lady Tresham admitted to stealing fossils from Stillwater,” Sterne mused.
“But they were stolen from her!” Penelope suddenly sounded certain. “James could have been the one to take them—with the help of this young maid. If he did, and if he also stole your fossil, Lord Tensford, he would want to keep track of us, to see if we were looking into the matter, and perhaps getting close. Having used her once as an accomplice, he might have used her again.”
“But . . . why?” Tensford asked. “Why would he take it?”
“I don’t know.” Her shoulders drooped. “Perhaps he needed funds?”
“There was a great deal of rumor flying about the house party and in the village—that you would get a nice sum for the thing,” Sterne told his friend.
Penelope straightened. “James asked me if I meant to open the townhouse. It was one of the first things he said to me. Could he be staying there? If he’s low on funds and the place is meant to be shut up . . .” She looked between them. “Perhaps he’s keeping the fossil there, until he can sell it!”
Sterne began to feel the effect of her words, stirring up hope. They might solve this mystery at last. He held his excitement in check, though. “It’s all conjecture until we get there and see what’s what.”
He had to make a conscious effort, though, to keep his knee from bouncing in sympathetic impatience with hers.
“We need to plan this carefully,” Tensford insisted. “I won’t have anyone harmed trying to get that damned fish back.”
“We should leave the carriage away from the house and walk the rest of the way,” Sterne mused. If he’s there, we should surprise him, if we can.”
“We can.” Penelope held up a ring of keys. “I have the keys to the house.”
“How?” Tensford asked. “Why?”
“My father sent them with me. He thought it entirely possible that my mother would decide she needed something from her studio here and would bid me to fetch it home.” Her tone turned wry. “He’s learned to be very good at predicting my mother’s fits and starts—and preparing for them.”
“A trick I’ll have to remember,” Tensford muttered.
“Hope has nothing on my mother,” she laughed.
“You have keys for both front and back?” Sterne asked. They were drawing close.
They debated their approach. In the end, they reasoned that Lycett might be more attuned to someone entering from the back. Penelope and Sterne would go in the front, while Tensford waited at the back door to make sure no one slipped out.
They paused to let Tensford out, first. He slipped into the lane that ran behind the row of houses and the mews. Sterne and Penelope climbed out just before the carriage turned onto Wells Street.
