by Merry Farmer
They collectively dissolved into shrieks and giggles, then spent a solid five minutes talking over each other about the scandalous things they’d seen their headmistress doing.
“Is it even proper to touch a man’s member like that?” Jo asked breathlessly as they rounded up the discussion. “Let alone two of them at once.”
“It’s not proper,” Caro said, a naughty glint in her eyes, “but it is revelatory. And I must say, as much as I loathe the woman, to have the dexterity to pleasure two men simultaneously is quite an accomplishment.”
Not for the first time, Rebecca wondered what devilish deeds Caro had done to find herself enrolled at Miss Dobson’s school. It had to be more than simply writing salacious novels.
“I think she knows something about the diamond,” Jo blurted just as Rebecca opened her mouth to ask about Caro’s past.
“What?” she and Caro exclaimed at the same time.
“I think she’s involved with the diamond,” Jo went on in a tight whisper, as though Miss Dobson were listening with her ear pressed against the door. She turned bright pink and said, “One of those men said something about—” she swallowed, looking a little sick, “—putting something in her, and she laughed and said he’d better hurry, because someone else had offered to put something far more precious up there.”
Rebecca sat bolt upright.
Caro gaped at Jo. “It can’t be coincidence,” she said. “It’s too close to—”
“—what the thief said the other day about the diamond,” Rebecca finished the sentence for her. “Could Miss Dobson have been the woman we saw….” She let her words die. It was too horrible to think that they’d witnessed their headmistress in such a position. It was bad enough that Rebecca had seen her half undressed. She shook her head. “I have to let Nigel know about this.”
“But how are you going to tell him?” Caro asked.
“He said he would find a way to get me out of the school,” Rebecca went on, her face heating. “He was there, at the party.”
She launched into the story of what had happened to her from the moment their merry band had parted ways…leaving out a few details that she wasn’t quite ready to share yet. She did, however, share Nigel’s suspicions about Lord Herrington and what he’d said to Mr. Khan.
She saw that conversation as a minor detail, until Jo jerked straighter and said, “They mentioned Lord Lichfield?”
“Yes,” Rebecca said, studying her friend, who flushed a darker shade of pink. “Is it important?”
Jo swallowed. “I saw Lord Lichfield in one of those rooms. He had one of the ladies from the party bent over his knees, and he was spanking her soundly.”
“Yes, I’m told that’s what he does,” Caro said with a giggle. “And more. Much more.”
Jo’s eyes went wide. “The woman didn’t seem to mind, in fact—”
“What does this have to do with the diamond?” Rebecca asked, sensing they were about to get lost in the brambles again. She needed to stay focused on what mattered. Between sharing what she’d seen with her friends and her activities with Nigel, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep a wink that night anyhow.
Fortunately, Jo didn’t hesitate before going on with, “He told the woman there would be no diamonds for her, she’d been a very bad girl, and he would give a diamond to someone else.”
“Is he referring to the stolen diamond?” Caro asked.
“There isn’t any other diamond worth mentioning that I know of,” Rebecca said.
“Then Lord Lichfield is the thief,” Jo said, practically hopping on the bed in excitement.
Rebecca shook her head. “Nigel thinks Lord Herrington did it.”
“And I think the thief was Mr. Newman,” Caro added.
“Who?” Rebecca and Jo asked in unison.
“Mr. Newman,” Caro said. “He was wearing a mask with ram’s horns.”
“I saw him.” Rebecca perked up. He had been awfully interested in the naked woman’s jewels.
“I didn’t,” Jo sighed.
“I witnessed him—” she cleared her throat, “—engaged with one of the hired prostitutes.”
“Were they hired, do you think?” Jo asked. “Not guests?”
Caro waved the question away. “Men have been hiring whores for parties exactly like that one for centuries, and that woman was certainly a whore. She looked bored to tears as Mr. Newman—” Again, she cleared her throat. “Regardless, they were in the same position as the other night, and as he—” Caro sighed. “It really is difficult relating this story without using the proper verbiage.”
“Go on, then,” Rebecca prompted her.
“As he tupped her,” Caro continued, “he kept slipping her jewels off and pocketing them.”
“Wait!” Rebecca jumped off the bed, arms outstretched. “Did you see his bum? Did you see the birthmark?”
Caro sighed and shook her head. “This time they were facing toward me. Which is how I could see how bored the woman was.”
Rebecca sighed and sank to sit on her bed. “I have to find a way to tell Nigel all of this.”
As it happened, she didn’t have to worry about how to get in touch with Nigel. After a supremely sleepless night—for Jo and Caro too, if all the shifting and frustrated sighs that sounded through the night were any indication—she was treated to a hand-delivered note at breakfast.
“What is it?” Jo asked, leaning over her shoulder as she opened it.
Rebecca scanned the contents, swallowing an excited squeal. It was an invitation to spend the day with Verity, which could only mean one thing—it was actually an invitation to spend the day with Nigel.
Rebecca, Jo, and Caro darted looks down the table, to where Miss Dobson appeared to be falling asleep in her sausages at the head table—which made all three of them giggle for a variety of reasons. When Rebecca got up and sedately made her way to the head table to ask if she had permission to leave the school for the day, Miss Dobson merely shushed her, eyes still closed, and gestured for her to go away.
An hour later, Rebecca alighted from the Landsbury carriage—which had waited at the door for her—and rushed up the steps and into Landsbury House. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she found Nigel waiting in the foyer for her.
“Nigel,” she exclaimed, rushing to him, ready to leap into his arms. “I didn’t expect you to send for me so soon.”
Nigel caught her as she leapt the final few feet toward him, holding her close and spinning in a half circle so that her momentum didn’t knock them both over. He kissed her, but his ardor melted into seriousness far too fast.
“After you left last night,” he said in a rush, taking her hand and leading her right back out the door to the waiting carriage, “I trailed Herrington through the party.”
“Did he confess to stealing the diamond?” she asked as he helped her back into the carriage. The driver seemed to know they would be leaving again the moment they arrived. “Only, Caro thinks—”
“No,” Nigel cut her off with a frown. “But Herrington spent quite a bit of time speaking to Lichfield.”
Rebecca blushed, wondering if that was before or after Lord Lichfield spanked the woman Jo had seen him with. But, of course, it would have been after, otherwise Jo wouldn’t have witnessed the pseudo-punishment.
“Hyde Park Corner,” Nigel told the driver once he and Rebecca were seated. As the carriage lurched into motion, he went on with, “The two of them arranged to meet in Hyde Park this morning.”
“And we’re going to intercept them?” Rebecca caught her breath at the rush of excitement that filled her.
“In a manner of speaking,” Nigel said. “I had Lady Landsbury send for you so that I might have an excuse to be strolling through Hyde Park, so that I won’t look suspicious if either Herrington or Lichfield spot me.”
Rebecca grinned at him, resting her hand on his knee. “Is that truly the reason?”
Nigel’s serious expression turned gruff, and he cl
eared his throat. He was shier in daylight than he was at night, in a secret passage. “That’s what I told Gibbon, my superior,” he said, a spark in his eyes.
Rebecca laughed deep in her throat. Part of her wanted to shift so that she straddled him, then and there, in the carriage. She wanted to finish what they’d started at Landsbury House earlier in the week. The motion of the carriage would be a great help. But another part of her longed to have his promise to her about a bed and privacy and time fulfilled. And yet another part of her wanted to catch the diamond thief.
“Do you still think Lord Herrington is the thief?” she asked, settling uncomfortably in her seat. She deserved a commendation from the king for her restraint.
“If not Herrington, then Lichfield,” Nigel said.
“And Miss Dobson,” Rebecca nearly shouted, forgetting what Caro thought about Mr. Newman and jumping half out of her seat. She turned to him, full of energy in a flash. “I have to tell you what we all saw last night.”
The rest of the way to Hyde Park, Rebecca related the story of everything she, Caro, and Jo had seen in their various adventures through the secret passageways of the East India Company’s house. Nigel seemed to share her distaste at everything having to do with Miss Dobson behaving badly, but he was interested in her comments about diamonds—both from Miss Dobson and Lord Lichfield.
“Miss Dobson wasn’t in the house when the diamond went missing,” Nigel said as they reached the park and alighted from the carriage. They kept their voices down as they strolled into the busy gardens. “But she could still be an accessory to the theft.”
“I think so too,” Rebecca agreed.
It was a pleasant, early-autumn day, and Hyde Park was crowded. Fine ladies and gentlemen with nothing better to do than take the air strolled along the park’s many paths. Several nannies with small children or prams paraded through the gardens. A handful of working-class men and men who appeared to be clerks were enjoying their luncheon on the sloping greens around the Serpentine. There were vendors selling everything from tea to sweets to roasted nuts, and even a few performers in search of a day’s wage for their entertainments. In short, it was the perfect place to see and be seen, or to blend in so as not to be seen at all.
“How will we find them?” Rebecca asked as Nigel escorted her along the north bank of the Serpentine. “Hyde Park is quite large.”
“They’ll stick to the shadows for their nefarious deeds,” Nigel growled, seeming so sure of himself that Rebecca’s insides grew warm.
“Then shouldn’t we as well?” she asked.
He paused and studied her. Rebecca suddenly wished her one and only non-uniform gown had a lower neckline. Or that she wasn’t wearing a gown at all. Although that would have been a bit beyond the pale in the middle of Hyde Park.
Nigel seemed to know where her thoughts were heading. “Perhaps if we found a suitable cluster of bushes in a spot the gentlemen in question would be likely to transact their business.”
He started forward once more, picking up his pace and searching out a likely spot for spying. Or for other things. She noted a few close-growing stands of trees. There were even small structures at the extreme far end of the park, closer to Kensington Palace, although that did seem like an excessive distance to walk.
“What about over there?” Rebecca pointed to a cluster of bushes nearer the Serpentine.
Nigel stopped in his tracks. At first she thought it was because he agreed with her choice of concealing spots. A moment later, she realized he had spied something. She turned to look, only to see Lord Lichfield and Lord Herrington riding slowly and in close quarters along one of the outermost paths of the park.
“Damn,” Nigel muttered.
Rebecca wasn’t certain if his oath was because the two men were far away or because they were on horseback, or because they’d had the misfortune to find exactly what they were supposedly looking for when it would have been much nicer simply to conceal themselves out of sight and let nature take its course between them.
A moment later, they had an even greater problem.
“My word. Miss Rebecca Burgess, is that you?”
Rebecca gasped and whipped around in time to see Mrs. Philomena Hodges—Jo’s mother—and Jo’s married sister, Mrs. Wilma Everett, walking toward them.
“Damn,” Nigel muttered again, still focused on Lord Lichfield and Lord Herrington. “Herrington is handing something off to him.”
“Whatever are you doing here?” Mrs. Hodges asked, a good deal of censure mingled with her look of surprise. “And who is this sturdy gentleman and why are you without a chaperone?”
Rebecca’s jaw dropped, and she scrambled to find words—any words—to explain herself. Nigel noticed something was wrong and pivoted to frown at Mrs. Hodges and Mrs. Everett. “Who are you?” he asked, sounding more like the Runner he was than any sort of gentleman.
“Mr. Kent, this is Mrs. Hodges and Mrs. Everett,” Rebecca rushed to introduce them. “My friend Josephine’s mother and sister.”
“Oh.” Nigel moved into a surprisingly elegant bow a little too belatedly. “Forgive my manners, madam, madam.” He nodded to each woman in turn.
“Why aren’t you in school?” Mrs. Hodges asked without any attempt to engage Rebecca in polite conversation. “That school is supposed to keep a sharp eye and a firm grip on its pupils. Why else do you think we sent Josephine there?”
“Josephine,” Mrs. Everett sighed and shook her head, as though Jo were a trial and a burden rather than one of the most delightful friends Rebecca had ever had.
“You should be at school,” Mrs. Hodges repeated.
“Yes,” Mrs. Everett agreed. “At school.”
“Miss Burgess is not a child,” Nigel told the women, his eyes narrowed.
“It’s not that kind of school,” Mrs. Hodges snapped back, her jaw clenched.
“Mr. Kent is a Bow Street Runner,” Rebecca blurted.
She instantly regretted her statement. Part of her hoped it would intimidate Jo’s mother and sister and shut them up. Instead, they gaped at her as though she were the criminal Nigel had apprehended.
“What have you done now?” Mrs. Hodges asked in a voice full of dread. “You haven’t corrupted my Josephine, have you?”
“I believe that job is already done, Mama,” Mrs. Everett muttered.
Mrs. Hodges shushed her with a scowl, then turned that scowl on Nigel, as though demanding he answer her question.
Fortunately for Rebecca, Nigel thought faster than her.
“Miss Burgess is helping me with an investigation,” he said in a soft but dismissive tone. “So if you will excuse us.”
He tugged on Rebecca’s arm, escorting her away from the two imperious women without taking his leave of them.
“That was a bit rude,” Rebecca whispered as they started back along the path toward Hyde Park Corner, the way Lord Lichfield and Lord Herrington had gone. Then she giggled. “I rather enjoyed being rude to those two. From what Jo says, they make her life miserable.”
Nigel’s only response was to grunt. “It’s never good to run into people you know during an investigation.”
“It’s never good to run into people like that, whether you know them or not,” Rebecca said. She only wanted to forget the encounter. “Can you still see Lord Lichfield and Lord Herrington?” she asked.
Nigel grunted again. “They’re about to leave the park.”
“Oh, dear,” Rebecca sighed. “Now I’m twice as vexed that we were waylaid by Jo’s family. Can we catch up to them?”
“Perhaps,” Nigel said. He glanced to her and his expression softened. “It’s a long-shot, but perhaps there might be a way to ascertain where they are going.”
“Ooh, how?” she asked, brightening again.
Nigel’s expression widened into a smile, and he switched from cradling her hand in his elbow to holding her hand. “We follow them.”
Chapter 7
He’d gone completely mad. He was breaking
every rule of the Runners and of common sense. Inviting Rebecca to be a part of his investigation of Herrington and Lichfield was a flimsy excuse at best to spend time with her. If Gibbon found out, he would likely sack Nigel on the spot. But he had been able to think of little else besides Rebecca for days—months, if he was honest with himself—and at the time, bringing her along with him as he worked had seemed like the best way to kill two birds with one stone.
He was an utter fool.
“There they go,” Rebecca gasped, clinging tighter to his hand and pointing toward the gate at Hyde Park Corner. “They’re leaving the park.”
“I see them.”
Nigel picked up his pace, hoping Rebecca could keep up. She surprised him by scurrying along at his side without any signs of flagging. Perhaps she was made of tougher stuff after all.
Of course, that thought did nothing at all to focus his thoughts on his prey. He glanced to Rebecca, studying her flushed cheeks and determined expression as best he could while dodging startled walkers on the path they jogged down. They were drawing far too much attention—for an investigation and for an unmarried man and woman alone together in public. If anyone recognized Rebecca, it was entirely likely her reputation would be ruined forever.
But she had already been recognized, and as for her reputation….
“Hurry, hurry,” she urged him as they reached Hyde Park Corner. “They’re turning a corner.”
Nigel tugged her out of the path of a man on horseback entering the park, slipping his arm around her waist. A trio of fashionable ladies gasped at his gesture and instantly started whispering behind their hands, their expressions disapproving. Nigel frowned at the reaction, but it wasn’t enough for him to remove his arm from Rebecca’s waist as they rushed around the corner to Park Lane.
“They’ve turned again,” Rebecca said as they hurried on.
“I think I know where they’re going,” Nigel said with a grim smile. “And we’re in luck.”
