Page 30 of Irresistible
“Oh!” Mrs. Chesmore’s blue eyes lit, and she snapped her head toward her husband. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Prospero’s Retreat,” Chesmore said definitively, squeezing his wife’s hand and lifting it slightly from her lap.
Mrs. Chesmore reached across herself with her other hand and clasped his upper arm. “It’s perfect. Let’s commission a sign for the gatehouse right away.”
“Indeed.” Chesmore bussed her cheek and nuzzled his nose against her temple. She leaned her head into him, welcoming his affection. They appeared as cats about to groom each other.
Mrs. Farr reentered with a tray, which she set on a table near their seating arrangement. She served up cake and started toward Mrs. Chesmore with a plate.
“Let’s move over there.” Mrs. Chesmore stood—and Chesmore quickly rose with her—and gestured across the drawing room, where a table was situated near another set of windows, much like the table in the Wordsworth Room.
Chesmore put his arm around his wife and escorted her. Dougal leapt up and helped Jess to her feet.
Jess resisted the urge to thank him profusely and throw her arms around his neck in abject adoration. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“You need to regain your confidence,” he whispered so softly she had to strain to hear. “I’m doing all the work here.”
“I made a mistake.” She clenched her teeth.
Barely moving his lips, he muttered, “Yes, and you need to get past it.” He swept her toward the Chesmores, spreading his lips in a wide smile and clasping her waist.
Perhaps her failure of confidence was also due to his masculine attention. She’d never experienced anything like it before, and it was damnably disturbing. She couldn’t afford to be unfocused.
Why did he have to be so handsome and so likeable? Why couldn’t he be arrogant and rude as he had that first night at Lucien’s? That would have made it so much easier to keep him at arm’s length and to investigate him as she must.
But hewascharming and attractive, and so far, she was enjoying the mission. Perhaps so much so that she’d forgotten she was on a mission, and she’d slipped up. She needed to pull herself together if she wanted to succeed, let alone a chance to do this again.
Now that she’d had a taste of a life on her own, she didn’t want to go back to the way things had been before. She’d do anything to ensure that didn’t happen.
Chapter8
Dougal held the door to their bedchamber as Jess preceded him inside. “I confess I was torn between wanting to join the Chesmores for their walk on the beach and remaining here to search Mrs. Farr’s room.” The Chesmores had invited them while they’d been on their tour of the house.
She went to sit at the table by the windows. “Should I have gone with them?”
“I might have suggested it if I didn’t need you to keep Mrs. Farr occupied.” He joined her at the table. “Can you manage that?”
Jess grimaced. “Are you asking because of my earlier blunder with understanding them speaking French?”
Dougal had been surprised and annoyed, but only for a moment. She was new to this and had thus far performed with extraordinary calm and grace. He could see how much the error had bothered her. After that, she’d barely said anything, which was why he’d told her to regain her confidence. “Everyone makes a mistake now and again, including me.” He couldn’t help thinking of his failed missions last spring. Those hadn’t been his mistakes, however. “The important thing is not to let it affect you. We must continue with our responsibilities. As to the matter at hand, I should have phrased my question differently. Do you have any reservations about detaining Mrs. Farr while I search her room?”
“I do not, thank you. What do you need me to do?”
“Find Mrs. Farr and keep her occupied for at least a quarter hour. You’ll be doing more than just distracting her. Learn all you can so we can determine if she’s trustworthy. We wouldn’t want this to be a trap of some kind.”
Frowning, Jess cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
He lifted a shoulder. “There’s a slim possibility that the Chesmores used Mrs. Farr to orchestrate this investigation.”
“What would be the point of doing that?”
“Interrogating us for information. Planting bad information that we would then report to the Foreign Office. Other things I’m not thinking of at the moment.” He looked up at the ceiling, pondering. “Ask her about the dinner party and the neighbors who will attend. Ask about visitors to Seaview Hou—” He caught himself, leveling his gaze on her. “Prospero’s Retreat.” He couldn’t help rolling his eyes.
Jess laughed. “The look on Mrs. Chesmore’s face when her husband tossed that name out… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It was quite something,” Dougal agreed. “Also, ask Mrs. Farr how long she’s worked here and how many servants there are. After I search her room, I will go to the stable to see how many grooms there are. I’ll also check on the horse and gig.”
“I didn’t realize you would count those who work in the stables. It’s that important to know the number of servants?”
