The Masquerade of the Marchioness by Claire Delacroix

Author:Claire Delacroix [Delacroix, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-990879-01-2
Publisher: Deborah A. Cooke

Once out of his wife’s presence, Garrett’s mind filled with questions that were long overdue. He had learned to be suspicious as a spy and had known more than one enemy agent adept at distraction. It was too powerful a coincidence that Penelope had surrendered to his touch at the same time as her chamber was ransacked.

Had she deliberately distracted him? He had to admit that he had been readily fooled.

Why had she been in the library? It was the first time he had ever encountered her there at night and that made the decision worthy of closer scrutiny. It was clear that she meant to intercept him upon his return. The question was why.

And how had she obtained the pearls?

It was possible that she had found the pearls in her reticule and wished to consult with him about them. He had to give her that benefit of the doubt. But then, why had she not spoken of them at all?

And why had she accepted his caress on this night of all nights?

Why had she attended the masquerade at all?

The fact that she had deceived him about her identity for years was not a good indication of her character.

Once dressed, he descended to the library. To his dismay, the bottom drawer of his desk was slightly ajar.

He had locked that drawer!

Garrett crossed the room with purpose, noting that the vessel on the mantle had been moved. Heart in his throat, he opened the drawer only to find the reticule cast at the bottom of it.

Empty.

The pearls were gone.

But how could that be? He had secured them there himself, and no one else had known of their location. Penelope could not have confided a detail she did not know in anyone. He had locked them away after she went to his chamber. He had watched her climb the stairs.

Then he realized that one of the windows was slightly ajar. The lock, like that of the window upstairs, had been forced but this window had been pulled closed again. He opened the window and looked into the night. There was a lane immediately outside, one that ran between Arlingview House and the neighboring residence. His neighbours were yet in the country, and their windows were dark, the draperies drawn. The draperies in his own library had been open.

And the marchioness’ chamber was immediately above the library. Had the intruder ransacked her room, found nothing, then stood in the shadows outside the window and watched Garrett secure the pearls? The very idea made the hair prick on the back of Garrett’s neck.

The fiend had been watching him.

If Penelope’s ardor had been a deliberate distraction, he had been fooled by the oldest deceit known to any trickster.

Either she was a thief or the accomplice of one.

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