Page 54 of Crash Landing
“You’ll have to write something in each fake letter before we bundle them up. Frampton might notice if they were left entirely blank,” he suggested.
“Hermia and I can attend to this.”
“Good, but the hardest part comes next. Lady Frampton must somehow switch these fakes with the originals.”
“Or I can do it, assuming she will tell me where he kept them hidden.”
“Oh, gad. Florence, that is out of the question. No.”
“But her surly maid will be watching her too closely.”
“And you think that woman will not notice you suddenly disappearing for twenty minutes? Or others on his staff won’t notice you popping your head into every room? Do you think he is just going to leave those letters sitting atop his desk?”
“No, I know he has them securely hidden.”
“Bloody right,” Trajan muttered. “He’ll have them under lock and key, or in a guarded safe. Even if the safe is unguarded, you wouldn’t be able to open it without the combination. Do you think he will leave those numbers conveniently written down for you to find?”
“Of course not. But if I cannot do it, then who will make the switch?”
“Lady Frampton is the one who must take the risk.”
“While I create a distraction?”
“I am certain you are quite proficient in that,” he teased. “You are the most distracting young lady I have ever met.”
“Is that a compliment or an insult?”
He shook his head. “Frankly, I don’t know. But the point is, no one must ever realize the switch has taken place. I think Lady Frampton must know the combination to the safe, assuming the letters are hidden there. Or she will have the key to any locked drawer or strong box. How else would she be confident enough to get them to you in that carton of cuttings?”
“True.”
“So, she has to be the one to switch those letters. She will be safe enough because no one will think twice if they see her in any particular room of her own house.”
She nodded.
“And one more thing, Florence.”
“Yes?”
“Before you undertake anything, you must be sure that gift she has hidden within the rose cuttings is that packet of letters and not some damn tin of biscuits.”
Her eyes rounded in surprise. She looked so pretty while listening to him with rapt attention. While he hated her involvement in this affair, he very much liked this rapport they had with each other.
“Ugh.It won’t be a tin of biscuits. The greater concern is keeping Lord Frampton from opening any of the fake letters, or he will know at once they have been switched.”
“I don’t think this is in his nature. He’ll see the letters wrapped in pink ribbon and leave it at that. He may not realize he has been duped for days, weeks. Even months from now. Perhaps never.”
“Because we have pulled off the perfect crime,” she said in a reverent whisper.
Bloody blazes.
Could this possibly work?
He hated this entire business, but Florence was going to do this with or without him. Better that she do it with him.
“I shall howl at the moon with joy if we can pull it off,” she said, now smirking. “And won’t he be surprised when the Princess of Wales and her allies slam him to the ground and threatenhimfor all his misdeeds? Hah! I’m sure he will not like that turnabout at all.”
Trajan lolled his head back and sighed. “Do not get ahead of yourself. There are so many variables to be considered.”
