The Counterfeit Lady

“I’d have thought you’d be packing for your trip to the countryside. Although it’s so much easier now that we don’t have skirts a yard wide, with underskirts and petticoats and hoops and underpetticoats,” Phyllida said.

“I hope we don’t ever go back to those styles,” Rosamond Peters said with a laugh that sounded forced to my ears.

“I leave all my packing to my maid,” Lady Be

“You trust your maid to decide what you’ll wear to every event while you’re gone? I could never do that,” I said and hoped no one repeated this to Emma. Her taste was much better than mine.

“Well, of course I oversee her work,” Lady Be

“I’m also going to Lord Harwin’s, Lark. Celeste Harwin was a childhood friend of my husband’s, and she offered to rescue me from this oven.”

“Lark. What an unusual name,” Phyllida said. “I knew a woman who called her daughter Lark. Caused an unholy ruckus when it came time for the bishop to baptize her.”

Lady Be

“Are you Genevieve Hollingsworth’s daughter?” Phyllida asked. “How is your mother?”

“She’s dead,” Lark Be

Phyllida reached out and patted her hand. “I am so sorry. She was a wonderful woman. A determined woman.”

Lady Be

Oh, Phyllida, don’t blow our story, I said with my eyes. Phyllida looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, Georgina. I’m sure Edgar didn’t tell you about my brother, who was executed for murdering a score of prostitutes. It happened before you two met, but for years before he was captured, my brother kept me prisoner in my own home. I only received the news and the visitors he allowed.” She turned and faced Lady Be

Lady Peters said, “How terrible, Lady Phyllida. You must have suffered terribly from society gossip.”

“No. I left. It saved me from being pitied. I can’t stand pity.” Then Phyllida gave the ladies a bright smile and said, “Where do you recommend traveling to avoid the heat?”

Lark Be

“If he has, he hasn’t told me,” I replied.

“He’s probably just awaiting confirmation from his butler,” Lady Peters said. “I shall miss seeing you while you’re in—Northumberland, isn’t it?”

I’d seen his manor house within the castle walls, and I really didn’t want to go there again. I also doubted he kept the house fully staffed with a butler.

I needed to stay close to Baron von Steubfeld and Lady Be

“I wouldn’t think Ranleigh would go there except to administer his estate. He seems more accustomed to life in London,” I said.

“But London won’t cool down, not even for a duke. When they suspended Parliament, most of the peers fled,” Lady Peters said.

Lady Be

“In what way?” I asked, neatly lobbing her remark back at her.

“He’s going to have to marry a highborn young lady to give him an heir.”

“I can assure you neither of us has been discussing marriage. Have you been discussing marriage with von Steubfeld?” I tried to sound interested and hoped she’d tell me more about her relationship with the baron.

She laughed. “We just enjoy each other’s company. He came into London looking for an attractive widow to have on his arm for society affairs, and I like being surrounded by the mighty at diplomatic receptions.”

“Really? Your relationship developed as simply as that?” I said in pretended amazement, trying to get her to continue.

Lady Be

“I’ve only attended one or two.”

“One or two a month is more accurate.” Lady Be

Lady Peters shook her head. “I’ve been invited by friends on a few occasions, but hardly with the same frequency as you have.” She looked uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation as she glared at Lark Be

“You’re far too modest,” Lady Be

Rosamond Peters blushed. “He’s an old family friend, soon to be recalled to Paris. And I’m sure you’ll be upset when Baron von Steubfeld is sent to another embassy.”

“I won’t have to worry about that until Christmas season. He’s assured me he has to stay here until then.”

“Why?” Phyllida asked. “How can he possibly be sure?”

I was mentally applauding her i

I suspected her of involvement in the theft of the plans until she looked directly at me and said, “Once he leaves, I’ll look for my fun elsewhere. Next time, I may set my sights on a duke.”

I wanted to laugh. If she knew the real relationship between the duke and me, she wouldn’t feel nearly as envious.

*   *   *

AFTER MY UNINFORMATIVE visit with Lady Be

No such luck. Blackford arrived just as I entered the front door into the relative cool of the foyer. He followed me up to the parlor and then said, as I shut the door on the servants, “You look like hell.”

“I walked back from Lady Peters’s.”

“In this heat? Not advisable.”

“I needed to think.” I collapsed onto a sofa and waved him into a chair. “Sit.”

Never one to listen to a mere mortal, he walked over and pulled the bell rope. A maid immediately appeared. “Tea, please, with lots of sugar for your mistress.”

It must have been his ducal tones. The woman didn’t look in my direction. She simply left to do his bidding, shutting the door behind her.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why am I going to need sugared tea?”

“This investigation is entering a new phase. I discovered Sir Henry is attending Lord Harwin’s country house party, along with the baron and Lady Be

“I think Sir Henry is following Lady Peters to the Harwins’.”

“Or maybe Lady Peters is following him,” Blackford said.

I shrugged. “And Lady Be

He brushed my words aside. “I won’t be her anything. Now, we need to keep an eye on them. Or rather, you do. I’m too obviously involved in the hunt for the blueprints. So we’ll be leaving Friday morning for a stay at Lord Harwin’s.”

“We will what?”

The maid entered with the tea tray as I shrieked out the last word. She looked from me to the duke with widened eyes, but she set down the tray without spilling and fled the room, shutting the door quietly as she left.