About an Earl by Diana Lloyd

Author:Diana Lloyd
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2019-12-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Hiding in Hanover Square wasn’t as easy as Jewel had thought it would be. Rather than darkness and silence, the streets were full of carriages, people, and even late-night hawkers selling flowers to gentlemen for their lady loves.

Dressed in Oliver’s best castoffs, Jewel strolled the square as Jules, trying to look like she belonged. Oliver’s silver domino, from the night they’d met, was stuffed into her pocket ready to be employed. While she’d taken it as a memento, she’d no idea it would so soon be used in this fashion. Candlelight still flickered through the window of her uncle’s office. She could make no move until the flame was snuffed out.

Slowly, the crowds cleared as people parted for late night entertainments. Even her uncle’s coach ambled by, too dark and too fast for her to get a good look at the occupants. Surely her aunt and cousins were inside, but a candle still glowed in the only room in which she was interested.

When the room went dark and stayed that way, she slipped from the street to the side of the house. The gods favored her with a half-moon that cast the space in inky shadow. Confident she’d not be seen, Jewel slipped on the silver mask and approached the window to the morning room. Giving the window a gentle push, encouragement flooded her veins when the frame moved beneath her hand.

Flopping inside from her precarious perch like a fish, Jewel lay on the floor, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. When none arrived, she crawled to the hallway, peeked around the corner, and started toward her uncle’s office.

She kept herself stock-still, listening for sounds from within. Hearing nothing but the tick of the mantel clock, she dropped to the floor and looked for any sign of light or movement from the other side of the door. Convincing herself the flicker of shadows was nothing more than a breeze rustling the leaves outside the office window, she reached up and tried the latch.

Slowly, the latch gave way in her hand. She crawled inside and closed the door behind her. Keeping to the floor and muttering every curse word she’d ever heard as she crashed first into the chair and then the desk, she reached up for the drawer pull only to find it locked.

Jewel slipped Elvy’s small knife from her coat pocket and silently worked at the lock until it gave way. She’d have to rely on memory of her father’s handwriting to find the letter in such poor light. Beads of nervous sweat broke out across her forehead and threatened her vision further until, at last, she knew she held her father’s words. Stuffing the letter inside her shirt, Jewel turned and crept back out to the hallway.

Making her escape by crawling back to the morning room as noiselessly as a snake, she threw herself out the window without bothering to shut it behind her. She had to get away with the letter. All she could think to do was run.

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