Chapter Twenty-Five

Harry did not join her for the journey to King & Co. and Ellie couldn't decide if she was relieved, or disappointed. So much had happened in the past twelve hours, but she wasn't quite ready to dissect it all just yet.

Neither Daisy nor Tess had arrived at the office, and she bolted inside with a brief wave to Carson, who gave her a friendly nod from his place on the box. The dress she'd worn the previous day still lay on the single bed in the back office, and she removed the green silk with a little pang of regret. Taking it off felt like the end of a beautiful dream, a return to the drab blue cotton of her normal existence, far removed from the glittering fairyland of diamonds and daring of last night.

With steady hands she brushed out her hair and pinned it into a neat roll at the back of her head, then donned her spectacles, and by the time Daisy and Tess bundled in, she'd made a pot of tea and only thought about Harry No-Name a dozen or so times.

"So, what happened at Willingham's?" Tess demanded eagerly. "Tell me everything."

"Yes, Eleanor," Daisy said, in a teasing singsong voice. "Do tell." She sent Ellie a laughing, knowing glance and Ellie felt her cheeks heat.

"We found the prayer book hidden in a safe in Willingham's private study," Ellie said.

Tess clapped her hands in approval. "Excellent work. Bravo!"

Daisy raised her brows with a smirk. "Was that before, or after, your coconspirator ravished you up against the wall, Signora Pellegrini ?"

Tess turned wide eyes on Ellie. "A ravishing? Double bravo! Did you kiss him? Or did he kiss you?"

Ellie squirmed in her seat. "I'm not exactly sure."

"It looked mutual," Daisy said, with obvious relish, "from where I was standing. And if it was all just for show, then it was extremely convincing."

"We needed a reason to be sneaking about in the back corridor," Ellie said.

"Of course," Tess said soothingly. "But was it nice?"

"Very."

" So nice, she didn't come back to stay at my house last night!" Daisy crowed.

Tess raised her brows at Ellie. "Harry brought you back here?"

"Of course he didn't," Daisy laughed. "Look at her face! She's blushing like a berry. And you should have seen the way he was looking at her. Like he wanted to take her to bed and keep her there for a month. I bet they went to his house."

Ellie took a calming sip of tea. "We did go back to Cobham House, yes."

"Ha!"

"We put Bullock's Book of Hours in a safe place in his library, and then he showed me how to cheat at cards. It was most instructive."

Daisy waggled her eyebrows. "And what else did he instruct you in, dear Eleanor?"

"You sound like William Garrow, cross-examining a witness."

"Answer the question!" Daisy grinned, slamming the flat of her hand against the desktop as if she were a judge demanding order in an unruly court.

Ellie knew her cheeks were scarlet, but she tried to keep the foolish smile off her face. "Well, if you must know, he ruined me quite comprehensively."

Tess gave a delighted squeal.

"I knew it!" Daisy laughed. "How was it? Please tell me he was careful. The first time can be awkward and quite painful."

"It was…" Ellie searched for the right word, and settled on, "… wonderful. Absolutely wonderful."

Tess smiled. "I'm so glad he made it enjoyable for you. There aren't many men who would bother being gentle with a virgin, and it's a rare man indeed who sees to his partner's pleasure as well as his own."

"I trust you took the necessary precautions?" Daisy asked. "It's one thing to keep a tryst secret, but quite another to have to cover up an unplanned pregnancy. Remember all the work we had to do to hide poor Jane Ashford, when she found out she was expecting her lover's child?"

"True," Ellie said. "And don't worry, we were careful."

"Well, it seems we all had a successful night," Daisy said cheerfully. "Because I found this at Willingham's." She tossed a folded letter onto the desk. "It was in the pile of outgoing mail. I expect the servants were all so busy preparing for the party that nobody could be spared to deliver it."

"Who is it for? There's no name or address on the front."

"It's not clear." Daisy unfolded the paper. "But it says, ‘ I must postpone the exchange. We cannot meet on Wednesday. I will be at the drinking well at dawn on Thursday, with the item requested. Have the sum we agreed ready.' "

Tess frowned. "Do you think he's talking about the prayer book?"

"I do," Daisy said. "He'll be handing it over to whoever's been entrusted to deliver it to Bonaparte. And because this letter was never sent, that person doesn't know the plan has changed. They'll presumably still go to the ‘drinking well' on Wednesday ."

"That's tomorrow," Tess said.

Ellie wrinkled her nose. "I know our mission was to retrieve the book and return it to Mr. Bullock, but don't you think we should try and discover who else is involved?"

"We could go and intercept them," Daisy agreed. "And get the money that would have been paid to Willingham too."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"We could give them a different book?"

Ellie shook her head. "The one we recovered is very recognizable. It's got golden covers and is covered in gems. I'm sure they'll know what it's supposed to look like, and I doubt we'll be able to find something similar enough to fool them at such short notice."

"What if we take the real book, then," Tess said, "and hand it over, then get it back at gunpoint as soon as they've paid us?"

"That could work," Daisy mused. "I like the idea of highway robbery. But one has to assume that whoever is making the exchange will be suspicious of being double-crossed. They might even be planning to do exactly the same thing to Willingham, to avoid paying him. There's no honor among thieves."

"The only way to win that situation is to be the side with the most weapons." Tess sighed. "The three of us could go, and we could ask Harry to be the one to meet with the envoy. Four should be enough."

"Won't they be expecting to meet Willingham?"

"Perhaps," Tess conceded. "If they don't know what he looks like, they'll assume Harry is Willingham. If they do know Willingham, Harry can tell them he's Willingham's envoy."

"Where do you suppose this ‘drinking well' is, though?" Ellie frowned. "There's no point in making these plans if we don't know where the meeting is to take place."

"Willingham's a lazy man," Tess said. "And dawn is a very early time to be meeting someone. I bet it's somewhere close to his house, so he won't have to bother with a carriage, or travel a great distance."

"It could be the drinking well in Hyde Park," Daisy said. "The one up in the woods at the northwest corner. There's a little clearing nearby that men use for duels."

"How do you know that?" Tess marveled.

"Because Devlin met Lord Crowley there a few months ago at dawn to fight over which one of them would propose to Lydia Braithwaite. They fought with their fists, instead of with pistols, and Devlin lost, obviously, because Crowley married Lydia last week at St. George's."

"That's an excellent guess," Ellie said. "Willingham regularly walks in Hyde Park, so he'd definitely want to meet somewhere familiar. Let's assume that's the place."

"Will you tell Harry and get him to come? I'm sure he'll do anything you ask," Daisy teased.

"I'm sure he'll do anything that sounds remotely dangerous and exciting," Ellie countered wryly, "whether I ask him or not. But yes, I'll tell him to meet us at the north gate with the book just before dawn tomorrow."

"Do you think he'll lend me his sword stick?" Daisy wondered.

"He might. Although we might do better to be armed with pistols, instead of blades."

"Agreed."