5. 5 September, 1826

Lady Camilla"s Drawing Room

Derek, normally confident and comfortable in his own skin as the Earl of Framlingwood, now tried to shrivel back into the chair cushions. He was in the midst of a tongue-lashing from Aunt Camilla so severe, he feared to utter a word in his own defense.

"You must stop living in the past and grow up. It"s long past time you quit simpering around town with one vapid diamond after another on your arm, season after season."

When she took a deep breath, he feared the verbal beating would go on endlessly. He was never so happy to see a butler intrude into a conversation in his life when after a brief tap at the door, Lady Camilla"s eternally fit butler Raines appeared in the doorway and announced the arrival of Lady Honoria Atherton.

She swept into the sitting room, pushing past Raines who deftly stepped out of her way, and conveyed her considerably pregnant person to the comfortably cushioned chair where Derek now struggled to shrink away from the fury of Lady Camilla, C.B."s cantankerous aunt.

"I require your chair," Honoria insisted without preamble. "Get out." She pointed toward a hard-backed settee against the wall. As soon as Derek hastily vacated the chair he"d been using as a refuge from Aunt Camilla"s punishing lecture, a footman rushed to Lady Honoria"s side with a small footstool.

With a deep sigh, she sank into the chair and raised her feet onto the stool. "Continue the inquisition, Aunt Camilla, if you please," she ordered, whilst at the same time giving the footman an imperious wave. "I"m famished. Please bring three of everything from that tea tray...and, ooh, have Cook make some of her cinnamon-infused cocoa for me."

All of the men in the room seemed transfixed and struck dumb by the entrance of another strong woman into the room.

Lady Camilla broke the silence and moved her assault to the seat next to Derek on the rigid settee. She swept her arm around the room, encompassing the men therein. "You lot are utterly useless. Have none of you ever seen a pregnant woman before?" She paused, as if suddenly realizing with whom she was dealing. "Never mind. What was I thinking? You reprobates are perhaps responsible for more pregnancies in England than all the royal princes put together."

As one, the three men made as if to protest, only to stop at the glares from Honoria and Camilla. Sythe had the good grace to duck his flushed face from view, considering how his most recent runaway lust had turned out for the woman he loved.

September 5,1826

Somewhere along the Strand

Obadiah fell in step with the agitated click of Adrienne"s heels on the cobblestones along the Strand on the way back to Grosvenor Street.

"Why are you following me?"

"It"s my job now."

She slowed and then stopped, gazing into his eyes as if seeking the truth. "What do mean, it"s your job?"

"It"s my job to make sure you stay alive until we find out who these ruffians are who"ve threatened to hurt you to extort money from the earl."

She poked a slender finger against his solid chest. "What aren"t you telling me? If every aristocrat who kept a mistress was the target of blackmailers, Bow Street would run out of investigators."

"All right, so there may be more to their threats than I first told you."

Her eyes widened, and she placed her hands on her hips. "Obadiah Lassen, you"d better tell me everything you know about these blackmailers. Now."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything, you big, lying hulk."

"This blackmailer claims one of you is a murderess." He paused, uncertainty in his eyes. "It isn"t you, is it?"

Her mouth dropped open and she turned on her heel, walking quickly away from him and the comforts of Mayfair, back toward the bowels of the city.

Although Obadiah was taller, not to mention stronger, he"d never been able to best Adrienne in a foot race, even when they"d been children on Martinique.

Weighed down with fripperies, full skirts, and the huge, silk flower-and-fruit-embellished hat she wore, Adrienne nonetheless flew off down the street, disappearing into a side alley toward the mews. By the time he"d rounded the corner she"d disappeared, like a fragile wraith in the evening shadows.

Obadiah threw his walking cane in a fit of anger only to have his favorite concealed weapon break in two after bouncing off a street lamp. By the gods, that woman could make him angry like no other. He tried not to examine too closely what that meant. He picked up the pieces of his cane and his heart before slowly heading back toward Grosvenor Street.

Adrienne Godet was like no other woman he"d ever known. She was more than able to take care of herself on the dangerous streets of London, but he hated that it wouldn"t be him watching over her all the while. He wasn"t truly worried, though. She"d be back. The skills they"d learned together in the alleyways of Martinique as well as the bonds of love that had been born there meant she"d always come back to him.

5 September,1826

St. James Square Townhouse

Lady Camilla"s Drawing Room

Lady Camilla suddenly snapped her fingers again. She glared at Derek next to her on the settee. "Why don"t you get rid of all of your mistresses and marry? You can afford to set them up handsomely in their own establishments..." She stopped, lost in thought and then immediately continued. "Their own establishments...far from your current harem on Grosvenor Street."

She smiled inwardly at the crimson flush that started at Framlingwood"s already receding hairline down into the neatly tied cravat at his neck.

He rallied, however, and fired back. "My relationships with these beautiful women are nothing like the tawdry situation you paint."

At that pronouncement, Honoria smiled openly, like an aggressive tomcat who"s finally cornered a terrified mouse in a corner of the pantry. "Well then, Framlingwood, you appear to be at Aunt Camilla"s mercy to go along with whatever alternative she decides is necessary."

He paled and looked to Sythe and Col to save him. His so-called friend Sythe steadied his gaze on the carpet as if there were a spill he needed to call to the attention of Raines. Col splayed his hands out in front of him as if were counting his freckled blemishes.

In spite of her steely reserve, Camilla couldn"t resist a full-throated chuckle at his plight. "Lord Framlingwood, since you have gotten yourself into this deadly kerfuffle, the solution and cure to the situation has to come from you."

She wondered if she"d gone too far when the normally dignified earl"s chin trembled as if he were going to break down and sob in her drawing room. That would not do, so she hurried to explain. "What are these ladies" interests?"

His eyes widened. "Their interests?"

"Yes...they must occupy themselves with something whilst you"re not there for them to coddle and please."

"I...I have no idea," he finally managed to stammer. And then his eyes lit and and he gave a broad smile. "I"m sure Mrs. Collins knows. I"ll meet with her straightaway."

"And just who is this Mrs. Collins?"

"She"s my housekeeper." His tone was so proprietary that she looked to both Col and Sythe who both raised eyebrows implying they had no idea who this mysterious woman was either.

"I"m confused," Camilla said. "Why are you obviously so comfortable confiding in a servant, and, come to that, why are you communicating directly with your housekeeper? Surely you have a steward for such simple tasks?"

Framlingwood swallowed hard. "She"s the reason I"m able to keep all of my mistresses in adjoining townhouses. She manages everything with a central kitchen and staff which she assigns to the various houses as needed."

Sythe interrupted. "Did you actually purchase that huge row of Grosvenor Street townhouses just to accommodate all of your mistresses?" The tone of his voice intimated that this was probably the most absurd part of the whole Banbury tale. Before Framlingwood could answer, Sythe forged ahead. "And there are five more townhouses in that edifice...good heavens...you"re not planning to fill all of them with mistresses, are you?"

Framlingwood hung his head. "I don"t know. I inherited the lot from my father"s bachelor brother."

His voice was so soft and muffled that Camilla let out a snort. She pointed a heavily be-ringed finger at him and ordered, "You will set up an appointment for me with this paragon of a housekeeper. From the way your face lights up when you talk about her, I don"t want you distracted by the possibility of ensconcing her as your next mistress in a sixth townhouse.

"Once she and I talk, and I determine where these poor women"s interests lie, then we"ll find men to infiltrate each house on the pretense of tutoring, or assisting them in some way with their interests. But the men"s prime directives will be to discover which of your mistresses is the murderess. I believe this is the best and possibly only solution to your dilemma, but naturally, setting up such a scheme will take time."

"How much time?" Now, Framlingwood"s voice shook. "What am I supposed to do about the blackmailer in the meantime?"

"For heaven"s sakes, Derek, pay him, and ask for more time. He can"t possibly object as long as you keep paying him."

"Keep paying him?" His voice rose an octave. "How much and for how long?"

"The amount I leave up to you. Talking about blackmail is so vulgar. How long depends on how quickly I can find men who will appeal to your mistresses" interests and are willing to spy for you. The longer you keep the blackmailer on the string, the more easily Mr. Colwyn will be able to track him down and eliminate him. Am I correct in my thinking, Mr. Colwyn?"

Col gave her a solemn nod.

"But they need protection right now," Derek whined. "I won"t have anyone endangering my angels, my pearls."

Lady Camilla gave him a withering look.

The earl leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "This is a nightmare."

Camilla was suddenly tired of the spoiled nobleman who"d invaded her drawing room with his inane complaints, so she snapped at him in her most imperious voice: "You should have found husbands for them long ago. No man needs five mistresses."

"Don"t be ridiculous, milady. No man can find men willing to marry one of his former mistresses, let alone five."

"As you say." Camilla"s tone brooked no further argument.

Col raised a hand. "I"ve already had Captain El dispatch her main guard at Goodrum"s, Obadiah, to watch over all the townhouses."

Derek lowered his head into his hands. "But won"t that enrage the blackmailer?"

"No one will know he"s there. Obadiah"s in disguise as one of your footmen. The man"s an expert at subterfuge. He"s followed El all over the Mediterranean, and no one has taken him down yet."

Honoria gave a loud sigh and rolled her eyes. "With a bodyguard who looks like Obadiah, you"ll be lucky if your "angels" don"t fly away into his strong, muscled arms."