Temptress in Disguise by Clee Adele

Author:Clee, Adele
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Tuttle’s Silversmith

Villiers Street

When Naomi entered the silversmith’s, she found Mr Tuttle sitting behind the counter, polishing the plates he’d removed from the bow window.

The white-haired man looked up from the tedious task, saw her and blinked in shock. “Miss Grant? I thought you were visiting relatives in Northwood. That’s what I told the gentleman who called last night. Evidently, I spoke in error.”

“What gentleman?” Though her heart galloped, she pasted a smile and avoided drawing attention to the landlord’s frequent lapse in memory. “I know few people here in town. Perhaps he meant to ask for my sister.”

Or Edwin Budworth heard she was a suspect in his brother’s murder and wished to know why she wasn’t locked in a dank cell in Newgate. Worse still, was her devious uncle on the prowl?

“He asked for you by name and wished to speak to you urgently. I told him you had joined your sister in Northwood. Forgive me. When you didn’t return home, I presumed my memory had failed me.”

She was at fault for lying about Lydia’s whereabouts.

“Did this gentleman leave a name or calling card?” Aramis moved to stand beside her, his broad frame casting the ageing man in shadow. “I shall need a detailed description.”

Mr Tuttle’s brows knitted in concentration. “He didn’t give a name, but he was tall, forty and of medium build. I’m certain he had brown hair, though he wore his hat pulled so low I could barely see his face.”

“Did he say what he wanted with my wife?”

“Your wife?” Mr Tuttle almost slipped off his rickety stool.

“Mr Chance is my husband.” She gestured to the intimidating figure of the man she had married. The dangerous man who’d cradled her in his arms last night and stroked her hair. The troubled man who’d woken twice before dawn, begging his father to take him to fight instead of his badly beaten brother. “Ours was a relatively quick engagement.”

So quick she was still catching her breath.

Mr Tuttle dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief and offered a beaming smile. “Then I wish you well, my dear. I trust you no longer need the apartment and have come to give notice.”

“No. I⁠—”

“Yes,” Aramis interjected. “I shall pay you two months’ notice, by which time we should know whether my wife’s sister wishes to continue renting the rooms or live with us.”

Naomi nudged his arm covertly. “Let us not be hasty.” What if they failed to prove fraud and secure her inheritance? It was almost impossible to find a decent place to stay in London. “My sister is extremely independent and will want to reside close to the Belldrake.”

Mr Tuttle scratched his head. “Forgive me, my dear. It doesn’t take much to confuse me these days, but your sister is upstairs packing her things. She said her betrothed wants her to live in a grand house in Mayfair, though she made no mention of your wedding.”

“Lydia is here?” Her pulse thumped in her throat.

“Yes. She said it was up to you to give notice.

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