Mistress Masquerade by Juliet Landon

Author:Juliet Landon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The talk about cages, Annemarie told herself, was not something to be taken too seriously. Men said that kind of thing and Verne had probably expressed the same sentiment to other women after making love. He would have a stock of such compliments, surely, a man of his obvious experience. Even so, he appeared to be more than satisfied with her limited repertoire, for he had made love to her again almost immediately before joining her in sleep for an hour, after which they had dressed in a state of dreaminess with hardly a word between them, walking shamelessly hand in hand across the Steyne to take tea in her cosy rooms on the corner of South Parade.

The earlier visit to the house by Samson, Verne’s valet, had not been solely for his master’s comfort. As well as delivering his evening dress and travelling valise, he had another more personal mission concerning the lady’s maid Evie, knowing that unless he made his peace with her, he was going to be on the wrong side of the door indefinitely. So with this in mind he made himself as agreeable to Mrs Ash as he knew how, on the basis that she might sway the young lady’s opinion in his favour.

Hoping to satisfy her own curiosity about the cause of the conflict, Mrs Ash lost no time in putting forwards the view that she thought the young man quite charming and what was there about him not to like? She put it to Evie within minutes of the young man’s leaving. Had something happened? she wanted to know.

‘Too forward, that’s all,’ said Evie, recalling the two incidents at Reigate, one of which was only hours old.

As soon as he’d seen the cushion-shaped brown-paper parcel under Evie’s arm, he’d known the time had come for an explanation. Though he’d dodged behind a few of the Swan’s guests to escape, Evie was on the warpath with no intention of letting him avoid her anger. ‘You didn’t mind who you landed in trouble, did you? Thief! And you making up to me all friendly, like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth. Well...that’s for your trouble!’ The smack across his face almost knocked him into the banister and would have been bad enough by itself had not several men made matters worse by turning to watch.

‘Oi!’ he said. ‘Steady on, miss. I can explain...honest,’

‘Honest my foot!’ Evie had snapped. ‘That you’re not!’

Samson held his cheek to cool the sting. ‘Give me a chance, then. Look, come away from this gawping crowd and I’ll tell you.’

‘You can start by telling me what was in that portmanteau that was valuable enough for you to help yourself to, you thieving—’

‘Shh! Cut it out, Miss Evie.’ The accusation hurt. He’d only obeyed orders. ‘I was told it had valuables in, that’s all. And I was curious. So while you were downstairs I took a peep inside.’

‘And?’

‘Nothing much. Only bundles of letters addressed to Lady Something; I couldn’t read the writing in that light.

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