Lord Scoundrel Dies (13 page)

His lordship frowned. ‘Antony de Veer?’

‘Bound to be. Not a prolific family.’

‘What does Miss Honeywood have of his?’

‘Chits to the value of two thousand
guineas.’

The viscount gave a soundless whistle.
‘That’s a lot of money.’

‘Ain’t it?’ Charlie agreed. ‘We rather
thought that was enough to prompt a man to kill.’

His lordship sat up a little straighter in
his chair. ‘Now wait just a minute! Never tell me that the two of
you are going to try and discover who the killer is because that
would be… would be…’

‘Ridiculous. Yes, I know. I told Miss
Honeywood exactly the same thing. No, we should just focus on
returning the items and then leave the rest of this sorry business
alone. I will be perfectly happy to forget that Sutton ever
existed,’ Charlie assured his lordship earnestly.

‘Yes, but will Miss Honeywood?’ his lordship
said dryly. ‘She is a headstrong girl.’

Charlie was silent for a moment, wondering
if he should point out that anybody with a little spirit could
easily turn headstrong if they had somebody telling them what to do
in no uncertain terms every five minutes. He did not think that his
lordship would appreciate such insights, however.

‘I suggested that you might return the chits
to de Veer. On the quiet, you understand. Would be better if you
did it. I don’t want to make a muddle of it.’

Talisker looked him over for a long moment,
then sighed. ‘I will have to see Miss Honeywood. As soon as
possible so I can stop her from throwing herself in front of the
runaway horses.’

‘She’s not as bad as all that,’ Charlie
protested. ‘Got a good head on her shoulders, has Miss
Honeywood.’

‘Don’t be deceived by those innocent green
eyes,’ his lordship said darkly. ‘I knew from the moment I met her
that she was the kind of female that requires rescuing on a regular
basis.’ He rose to his feet. ‘All this is a damned nuisance but I
am glad you came to me. Can’t have the foolish creature landing
into trouble. What would her family say? You can leave de Veer to
me.’

Once again, Charlie watched
one of his co-conspirators stride away and if this one did not have
the sunny temperament of the former, at least he had agreed to lend
his support. The conversation had left him wondering if Miss
Honeywood would be
very
unhappy with his interference. He had not quite
realised it before, but Talisker and Harriet Honeywood were of a
somewhat combustible material when placed together.

‘How bad can it be?’ he said musingly,
before turning his attention to other matters. He had done what he
could. Miss Honeywood would have competent assistance and he would
be able to rest easy once more.

Aubrey was unsurprised to discover that
Harriet Honeywood was set on a path for disaster for he had
predicted as much from the first moment she had expressed her
intentions. His conversation with Lampforth only confirmed what he
already knew; the girl was by way of getting herself in serious
trouble. The thing was, what kind of gentleman would he be if he
did not avert said trouble?

A very poor one, clearly.

The question was, how to
see her so they could speak freely. If he were to return de Veer’s
chits, he needed to get his hands on them first, no easy task in a
society that had one hemmed in with rules and regulations. If he
were a stickler, he wouldn’t have even approached her directly the
night before but would have engineered an introduction. But
they
had
stood
over a body together and that kind of thing rather dispensed with
the formalities. If only there was some female who
would…

Aubrey grimaced at his own stupidity. Of
course there was a female. Celeste would be more than happy to help
him, if he could just get her to forget about marrying him off to
Miss Beauchamp. Celeste might not be eager to lend her assistance
to enabling him to spend time with another female but his
sister-in-law needed to know that he didn’t harbor any aspirations
about the fair Felicity becoming his wife. He needed Celeste to
make an immediate friend of Miss Honeywood and, rather than take on
the exhausting task of trying to convince her that he had no
romantic interest in Harriet Honeywood, it would be easier to smile
and nod at whatever preposterous assumptions Celeste made. One
could not reason with any woman under such circumstances. When it
came to leaping to conclusions most females could leap higher than
a steeple jumper.

He decided that he must broach the matter
immediately.

He was in luck in that he found Celeste
sitting with his brother, Edward, on the terrace, enjoying a high
tea of delectable proportions. Celeste looked very good in such a
setting, pouring Oolong into delicate china cups with exquisite
grace while she made eyes at Edward over the tea tray. While she
could be a complete ninny, Aubrey found that he could forgive her
anything, for she had turned his dour, somewhat prickly brother
into a happy man. Edward, although the younger of the two, should
really have been the older for he had been a grave child who had
grown into an even graver man. Aubrey had never been able to
understand his brother’s rather glum outlook on life but until
Celeste breezed into Edward’s life, Aubrey had always been made to
feel decidedly frivolous.

‘You can stop making eyes at each other,’ he
told them indulgently, pulling out a chair and sitting down. ‘It
may be a pleasant pastime for the two of you but for others it is
rather sickening.’

‘Nobody invited you to join us,’ Edward
pointed out. He was very much like Aubrey, but his eyes were blue,
not brown and his hair was a few shades lighter, unlike his spirit,
which had always weighed rather heavily.

‘I sensed that you missed me.’ Aubrey snared
a slice of buttered toast. It was still warm, just the way he liked
it. ‘I have come to beg a great favor of Celeste.’

‘Of me?’ Celeste turned her angelic blue
eyes towards him with wide-eyed curiosity. He did not often ask
favors of her.

‘Indeed. I want you to pay a call on Harriet
Honeywood. This afternoon, if you would.’

‘Harriet… who?’ his sister-in-law repeated
blankly.

‘Harriet Honeywood. Some sort of cousin of
the Astleys, I believe.’

‘Margaret Astley?’ Edward repeated,
puzzled.

‘They’re the ones I had in mind. I’ll come
with you, of course.’

‘But why?’ Celeste demanded. ‘I don’t know
her.’

‘No, but I’d like you to. Or better yet…
it’s getting a little late to pay her a call. Invite her round to
that thing you’re having tonight.’

‘She can’t do that,’ Edward protested. ‘Not
at this late hour. It would look devilishly odd.’

‘Oh nonsense. Send an invitation to all of
them. It’s a dance, isn’t it? I want Miss Honeywood to be
here.’

‘But why?’ Celeste said again, looking
bewildered. As well she might. He never asked her to procure the
company of females. ‘Are you interested in her?’

Aubrey hesitated, unsure what to say. If he
said yes, then Celeste would spring into matchmaking overdrive. If
he said no, she would want to know why he wanted to see Harriet
Honeywood in particular. ‘I am interested in her,’ he allowed
cautiously. ‘That is to say, I might be. I’m not sure. Want to meet
her again and… and be sure of my feelings.’ Even to his ears this
sounded patently absurd.

Edward was eyeing him as if
he had taken leave of his senses. ‘Who
is
Harriet Honeywood? Have we met
her?’

‘No. New in town. Very…
very nice girl.’ Well she
could
be nice, he supposed. When she wasn’t being
completely unreasonable. Both Celeste and Edward were staring at
him as if he had grown another limb. ‘What? Is it so bizarre that I
ask you to invite somebody of particular interest to
me?’

‘Yes.’ Husband and wife spoke in unison.

Too late, Aubrey realised that this might
not have been the best way of going about the matter, but he had
honestly not perceived any difficulties.

‘Well if you don’t feel inclined to indulge
me –’

‘What about Felicity?’ Celeste demanded.

‘A very nice girl. Delightful. But I’m not
in the least bit interested in marrying her so I don’t see the
point in pursuing it, do you? I mean, why get her hopes up
needlessly?’

‘Honestly Aubrey,’ Celeste sighed. ‘You can
be so very difficult. It would do you good to settle down. It has
made Edward happy. Has it not, my love?’

Edward reached across the table and took his
wife’s hand. ‘Blissfully.’

‘Dear God. Kindly spare me the hearts and
flowers. Try to focus,’ Aubrey begged. ‘Is it really too late to
invite the Astleys?’

Celeste sighed. ‘Do you really want this…
this Honeywood girl to come?’

‘I do. Most fervently.’

‘Then I suppose it can be managed.’ His
sister-in-law rose to her feet. Both men looked at her.

‘Where are you going?’ Edward demanded.

‘To perform miracles. One does not just
fling a last minute invitation at the recipient,’ Celeste said
severely. ‘I need to do this properly. And now if you will both
excuse me, I have work to do.’ She disappeared into the house.

Edward and Aubrey looked at each other.

‘Clearly there is more to this than I
imagined,’ Aubrey observed ruefully. ‘I am sorry Ned. I appear to
have ruined your afternoon.’

Edward shook his head and picked up a cream
cake. ‘You are forgiven, just this once. Who is this Harriet
Honeywood anyway? Should I know her? Are you interested in her? I
must say, I’ve never known you to go running after a woman. Well…
not a respectable one.’

‘I’m not that bad, thank you very much. And
there is no reason for you to know Miss Honeywood. As I said, she
has not been in town long,’ Aubrey returned, deliberately vague. He
rose to his feet and stretched, knowing that his quest had enjoyed
only mixed success. Yes, he had acquired the presence of Miss
Honeywood tonight, which would give him the much needed opportunity
to talk to her. But the other side of the coin was that he had made
his sister-in-law sit up and take notice. If he wasn’t careful,
Celeste would have him married and ensconced in wedded bliss in no
time. To Harriet Honeywood. He shuddered at the thought for, while
she might be an attractive enough young female, she wasn’t his type
at all. Not only that, she was the sort of girl who caused no end
of trouble and trouble was the last thing Aubrey needed. The sooner
he could wrap up this business, the sooner he could persuade
Celeste that Harriet Honeywood was of no interest to him.

And life could settle into its comfortably
placid rhythm once again.

Chapter Six

‘Well I think it most peculiar,’ Aunt
Margaret reiterated, having just bade their very delightful guest
goodbye. ‘A late morning call followed by an invitation to a dance
tonight. We are supposed to be going to the theatre.’

‘We can go to the theatre tomorrow night,’
Sarah pointed out. ‘Being invited to an intimate soiree by Mrs.
Finch is far more important.’

‘Yes,’ Aunt Margaret agreed thoughtfully,
her eyes going to Harry, who had so far remained remarkably silent.
‘She seemed particularly interested in you, my dear.’

It was a reasonable
observation. Mrs. Finch was considered
de
la mode
by everyone, possessing those
attributes that were so popular with the
ton
; she was beautiful, she was rich
and she was extraordinarily well connected.
Three’s the charm,
Harry thought
wryly, and wondered what Lord Talisker was up to and how he had
dared to involve his lovely sister-in-law. For there had been no
doubt that Celeste Finch had been peculiarly fixated on Harry. She
had examined her closely and with considerable interest, asking all
manner of questions about her family and general state of
health.
Rather
,
Harry reflected,
as if I am a prize heifer
in the marketplace and she is sizing me up for breeding
purposes
. Not that Mrs. Finch had been that
obvious. She had, in fact, been charm itself.

‘It’s true,’ Sarah agreed, voice puzzled.
‘But she clearly didn’t know you. What have you done to attract the
lady’s interest?’

Harry had her suspicions but she was not
about to voice them. It was obvious, however, that the viscount had
been involved in the visit in some way. She wondered why, when he
had made it dazzlingly clear the night before that he was done
trying to help her, he should now want to speak to her. For she
could not think of another reason for the late, unexpected
invitation to a small dance that was happening that very
evening.

‘I have no idea,’ she returned with perfect
truth. ‘I have never met Mrs. Finch before.’

‘Oh well,’ Aunt Margaret said, shrugging the
mystery aside. ‘It will be most pleasant, I am sure. Mrs. Finch’s
dances are extremely popular and there are sure to be some very
eligible men there.’

‘Lord Talisker being one of them,’ Sarah
pointed out. She looked at Harry, blue eyes gleaming. Sarah might
be a trifle self focused but she was not silly. ‘But you are
acquainted with him, are you not? Did I not see you talking
together last night?’

‘We have met,’ Harry agreed cautiously.

‘You’ve met Talisker?’ Aunt Margaret looked
surprised. ‘But why did you not tell me, child? The viscount, of
all people. Surely such a meeting was worthy of comment.’

‘I did not think about it. There was a great
deal going on at the time.’ This, at least, was the truth.

‘But where did you meet him?’