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‘Very good, my lord.’ The butler closed the door.
Not instant rejection then. He returned to his phaeton.
A few moments later Lady Tess tripped down the steps followed by an elderly maid. Last night she’d looked like a tasty morsel in her figure-hugging Greek robe. Today she almost looked like any other young lady of the nobility. Her pale green-and-white-striped carriage dress came up high at the throat, with several tiers of ruffles up to her chin. The gown fell to the ground with a festoon of flounces around the hem. A leghorn bonnet decorated with flowers and ribbons the colour of the dress perched on her head—but a few chestnut curls framed her astonishingly lovely face, perfect in shape and proportion, except perhaps for that stubborn little chin.
It would be easy to dismiss her as an empty-headed beauty if one did not see the underlying determination in her expression and the intelligence in those amber eyes. Had she arrived at his chambers without her veil, he might have dismissed her as a pretty little schemer out for his title. Had it been cleverness on her part, or a lack of artifice?
She raised an eyebrow and he realised he’d been staring. He came forward to escort her to the carriage.
She tutted. ‘How are we to fit three people?’
‘One at the back and two on the seat.’
He grinned at the horror on the maid’s face.
‘He means his tiger, Mims,’ Lady Tess said, frowning. ‘It is an open carriage. You are not needed.’
The maid curtsied and scurried back indoors. Lady Tess, meanwhile, wandered a little way along the path.
‘Changed your mind?’ he drawled. He certainly didn’t care if she drove with him or not. Well, not much at least.
‘Not at all. I was admiring your horses. It is not often one sees a pair so perfectly matched, although the offside one is a little heavier in build, I believe.’
His jaw dropped. No one but his own very expert groom had noted the slight discrepancy in the horses’ bone structure. ‘Got an eye for a bit of blood and bone, have you, my lady?’ Damn it, that was not the smoothest thing he could have said.
‘I like to see a nicely matched pair. My father had a pair of beautiful steppers. I would love to drive them.’ She leaned towards them, stretching out a hand as if to pat Romulus. The brute showed the whites of his eyes.
Jaimie started forward. ‘Be careful.’
She stopped before she got too close. ‘Testy, is he?’
‘Always. And, no, you may not drive them.’ Never again would any woman drive his horses.
The expected pout did not make an appearance. Instead, she cast him an expressive look. ‘We’ll leave that discussion for later.’
That discussion was closed. He assisted her up on to the phaeton and, on the way around to climb into the driver’s seat, he spoke to his tiger in a low voice. ‘When we reach the park you can take yourself off. I’ll pick you up at the gate for the drive back.’
The lad touched his cap. ‘Yes, me lord. But stir yer stumps, would ya? His fussiness would like to be orf.’
Jaimie stroked ‘his fussiness’ along his neck and down his wither and the horse settled before he sprang into the carriage and took up the reins. The boy leaped up behind.
The animals weren’t quite as energetic as they had been on the drive over, but they were still feeling their bits. He urged them into a spanking trot, feathering between a couple of slower carriages and into a break in the traffic. Lady Tess sat calmly with her hands in her lap, clearly trusting him not to tip her into the road.
Most normal ladies were notoriously nervous about anything that looked the least bit hazardous. Then there were the reckless ones, like his first wife, who took ridiculous risks. Clearly, Lady Tess fell into the latter camp. And he was a twice-born fool to get involved with her nonsense.
‘We are fortunate the weather is clear today,’ he said as they turned the corner at the end of the street. Weather being the safest topic of conversation.
‘After the rain of the past few days, we are fortunate indeed,’ she replied coolly.
As they entered Hyde Park, many heads turned in their direction. Open mouths and wide eyes abounded. News of his driving Lady Tess would be all around town by the end of the evening. His teeth gritted at the thought, but it couldn’t be helped. There were only so many respectable ways to talk to a lady in relative private and this was one of them.
The gossips would be jumping to all kinds of conclusions. Did she know that? The horses slowed to a funereal pace as they joined the traffic mincing down Rotten Row.
His tiger jumped down and hared off.
Lady Tess frowned.
He was getting quite a few frowns today. ‘I told him to go, because I do not want our conversation overheard.’
The frown cleared. ‘Where better to be alone than in plain view of the world.’ She chuckled. ‘I can see why you are good at what you do.’
‘What I do?’ He quirked a brow.
‘Finding people. Investigating things.’
Damn that article, though few knew the real depth of his ‘investigations’ as she had called them. And it was as good a time as any to get to the point of this drive, even if he was enjoying her company more than he would have imagined. ‘Who is it you want me to find?’
She hesitated. ‘May I have your assurance you will keep my confidence, no matter what?’
He probably ought to be insulted by her question. Indeed, on one level he was insulted. On another, the fact that she was even considering giving him her trust felt like an incredible compliment. Why would that be?
‘Why are you smiling in that mocking way?’ she asked. ‘Did I say something you find foolish?’
Prickly little thing. ‘I didn’t realise I was smiling.’ But if he was mocking anyone, it was himself. At the way she kept surprising him. ‘And, yes, you can be assured that anything you tell me will remain confidential.’
She drew in a deep breath, drawing his attention to the snug fit of her carriage dress. To the way it moulded to the soft curves and hollows of her petite form. He turned his eyes resolutely to his horses. He was not here to flirt with the woman. He was here because she needed his help, despite that she irritated him beyond endurance.
‘I am trying to locate my father’s bailiff, Mr Freeps. He left for another position shortly after my father died.’
Not what he had expected at all. He had been waiting for something along the lines of the boy she had spoken of, or another sold or pawned item she wanted back.
‘Surely your cousin’s man of business would have this information?’
‘Yes, and he would immediately report my request to my cousin.’
‘I see.’
‘What do you see?’
The defiance in her voice, her wariness of his motives, struck him on the raw.
He gave her an impatient glance. ‘I see why you do not wish to go to your cousin’s man of business. Why exactly do you wish to find this man Freeps?’
‘Why is that any of your concern?’
‘And when I find him, what then?’
‘If you find him, you will provide me with his address. That is all.’ She pressed her lips together.
‘Lady Tess, I realise you and I are not well acquainted and I am sure I have no interest in your secrets, but I do not work for anyone unless I know the full story. For example, should you wish to accuse this servant of theft, I would need to know this, so he is not forewarned.’
She stiffened at the word theft. He pretended not to notice.
‘If, however, it is simply your intention to reassure yourself of this person’s wellbeing, I can include that sort of information in my report.’
Her hands clenched in her lap.
‘It isn’t either of those things, is it?’
‘No.’ Her voice was low and being held under tight control. ‘I need to ask him something. In person.’
He frowned. ‘Something of a private nature, then?’
‘Yes.’
Damn the woman. What on earth was she hiding?
* * *
Lord Sandford was the most annoying creature Tess had ever met. Why couldn’t he simply do as she asked? ‘There is no reason for you to know anything apart from the name of the person I would like found and their last-known address. I would have known this had I not been absent from home at the time of his departure.’
She had been prostrate after her father had died and Cousin Phin had packed her off to an aunt in Bath to recover her wits.
‘Are you implying there is some sort of injustice you hope to redress?’
The surprise in his voice irritated her beyond rational thought. ‘Is that so impossible to believe?’ Unfortunately, it was far more selfish than that. She ignored a pang of guilt. After all, he might be more likely to help her if he thought her reason altruistic rather than self-serving.
A sudden urge to tell him the whole truth, to tell him about Greydon, took her aback. She couldn’t. What if he told Rowan? She dared not take the chance.
His voice dropped to a low seductive murmur. ‘You have not yet heard my price for undertaking this service.’
Her stomach gave a little hop. She risked a glance at his face to find him looking at her with a small smile on his lips as if he was once more amused.
She swallowed. It was the one thing that had kept her awake all night. What on earth would he demand as payment? He had said at the masquerade that he didn’t want money. Heat scalded her cheeks. ‘Tell me.’
‘Before I impart this person’s whereabouts to you, you will tell me the real reason you wish to find him. The full truth. I will have your word on that.’
‘You would trust my word?’
‘Why would I not? I trust until a person proves unworthy.’
‘And if they do prove untrustworthy?’
‘Then I seek retribution.’
A shiver passed over her skin at the hint of menace in his words. She glanced over at him, trying to read his expression, but he seemed completely focused on guiding the horses out through the gate and there was no way of guessing what might be on his mind.
‘Well?’ he asked when they had moved into the traffic on Park Lane.
‘I accept.’ She would simply have to tell him a truth that did not lead to Grey and if he didn’t like it, too bad. She handed him a piece of paper with Freeps’s full name on it and some other bits of information about his family she had remembered that might come in useful. ‘This should help you find him.’
He tucked the note into his waistcoat pocket without even so much as a glance. No doubt he’d be handing it off to one of his minions since it was likely he had far more important clients requiring his services.
Resentment tightened her chest. She took a deep breath. She could not afford resentment. His offer was what she had wanted all along.
Life was becoming exceedingly complex. What with Cousin Rowan and now Lord Sandford, she felt as if she was walking through a meadow full of cows. One misstep would cause no end of mess.
A new topic of conversation was needed. ‘Where is the Sandford estate?’
He stiffened. ‘Why do you want to know?’
Hah! What an interesting reaction. ‘No reason. I am simply making polite conversation. It is something I can easily look up in Debrett’s should I be interested enough. Which I really am not.’
He made an odd sound, like a laugh being turned into a cough. ‘Touché, Lady Tess.’
‘We are not engaged in a battle, Lord Sandford.’
‘Merely a war of words.’ Again that disdainfully amused tone in his voice.
They neared the corner of Piccadilly. He slowed just enough to let his tiger leap up behind them. She glanced over her shoulder. ‘Isn’t that a little dangerous?’
‘Na, miss. I does it all the time. Saves getting the horses all of a bother.’
She blinked, surprised the tiger had answered her directly. The Earl said nothing when she had expected him to issue an admonition to the lad for impertinence. She was surprised yet glad when he did not.
‘Sandford is in Derbyshire.’
So he had decided to be civil after all. ‘I have never been there. I grew up in Kent.’ She gave a little shiver. ‘I hear it is cold and rainy in the north.’
‘It can be rather bleak in winter, can it not, Remmy?’
‘Yes, me lord. Proper chilly.’
‘But it has a stark beauty that grows on one.’ He sounded almost wistful.
The north must have some redeeming qualities, she supposed. ‘Do you go there in the summer?’
‘I never go there if I can help it.’ The words were spoken in a flat tone of voice.
She bit her tongue to stop herself from asking why. Theirs was a business relationship, nothing more. He didn’t seem to be the sort of man who would take kindly to someone prying into his personal life.
‘I would miss not visiting my home.’ Her chest squeezed painfully. Unless she could get her bracelet back, it was likely she would never see it again.
Lord Sandford cast her a sideways glance. ‘Is something wrong?’
She realised she was gripping the side of the carriage for all she was worth. She dropped her hand into her lap. ‘Not a thing.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Come now, Lady Tess, your expression was one of pure horror.’
