Banquet of Lies by Diener Michelle

Author:Diener, Michelle [Diener, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2013-10-21T18:30:00+00:00

20

She wanted to trust Lord Aldridge, wanted to go to him and confess everything.

It was the exhaustion talking, she knew.

The idea of handing this mess over to someone else was as appealing as a glazed strawberry tart. Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked them back, angry with herself.

She was alone in the house. It was most of the staff’s half day, and Lord Aldridge had gone out early and wasn’t expected back until this evening.

She had dinner already prepared, lamb marinating in mint, garlic and lemon, and the crème brûlée baking gently in its bain-marie. There was nothing for her to do for the next half hour, and she went back into her room to pull on her grass-stained coat and sneak over to Goldfern to see if Dervish had come to drop off his note and take hers.

She shouldn’t do it. If Dervish had come and gone and been followed by the thug from last night, the drop-off might well be watched. But she couldn’t let it go. She needed to know if Dervish had responded and taken her note.

If he hadn’t, she had to face the fact that he might not be D., and might have no intention of responding to her.

She slipped out the kitchen door. When she reached the alley she heard a shout from the direction of Goldfern, and then another, and then clanging and bashing, as if someone was rolling a metal bin over the cobbles.

She peered around the corner, and though it was difficult to see with the way the alley twisted and turned, she caught sight of a rag-and-bone man in a small cart, having a loud argument with someone standing on a ladder. They were outside the house just before Goldfern.

A maid came out of another back door and joined in the fray, and Gigi rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes.

There was no way she could go now.

She turned back and gave a shiver of relief when she stepped back into the warm, familiar kitchen.

She would miss this job—this place—when it was over.

She hung up her coat and then stood in her sitting room, wondering what to do. She couldn’t sleep, although she desperately wanted to. She had to pull the crème brûlée out of the oven in a bit.

But . . . since the house was empty, she had a chance to see if Dervish had responded to Aldridge’s note. Harry had been sent round early with it, and Edgars had received several notes this morning after Aldridge had left.

She might also learn what kind of man Aldridge was, from a quick look through his papers. Whether, as a last resort, she could trust him to take the letter to the right person and keep quiet about her identity.

She rubbed her forehead.

No.

No man in his position would allow her to continue on her current course, looking for a way to bring down the shadow man. He’d insist on putting her somewhere safe, and sooner or later, the shadow man would hear of it and he would come for her.

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