Page 97 of The Paid Companion

“What are you talking about?”

Arthur carefully replaced the snuffboxes inside the velvet bag. “I believe that someone intended for me to kill you tonight, Burnley. Or, at the very least, have you taken up on charges of murder.”

The carriage rumbled into motion before Arthur had got the door closed. Elenora restrained herself until both men were settled on the seat across from her. She tried to read their faces in the shadows.

“What is going on here?” she asked, trying to ignore the anxiety coursing through her veins.

“Allow me to introduce you to Roland Burnley.” Arthur shut the door and pulled down the shades to cover the windows. “Burnley, my fiancée, Miss Elenora Lodge.”

Roland, slouched uneasily in the corner, slanted him an uncertain glance and then eyed Elenora. She saw both disapproval and curiosity in his gaze.

Roland had heard the rumors that were circulating in the clubs about her, she thought, and did not know what to make of this business. Obviously he wondered if he was being introduced to a respectable lady or a courtesan. Such a situation was bound to plunge any properly bred gentleman into a quandary.

She gave him her warmest smile and extended her hand toward him with cool expectation. “A pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Roland hesitated, but confronted with a lady’s gloved fingers and a formal introduction, his early training in manners took over.

“Miss Lodge.” He inclined his head over her hand in perfunctory acknowledgment.

He dropped her fingers almost immediately, but not before Elenora had taken the measure of his grip. She looked at Arthur.

“He is not the one you are searching for, sir,” she said quietly.

“I came to the same conclusion myself, a short time ago.” Arthur tossed a black velvet sack lightly into her lap and turned up one of the carriage lamps “But it would appear someone intended for me to believe otherwise. Take a look.”

She felt the weight and shapes of the objects inside. “Never say you found the snuffboxes?”

“Yes.”

“Good heavens.” Quickly she loosened the cord and removed the small objects wrapped in cloth. She uncovered the first one and held the object up to the carriage lamp. The light gleamed on the enamel decorations and sparkled on the large red stone in the lid. “What can this mean?”

“I have been asking St. Merryn just that question for the past several minutes,” Roland grumbled. “He has not yet seen fit to respond.”

“It is a complicated tale, sir,” Elenora assured him. “I’m certain St. Merryn will explain things to you now that you are both safe.”

Arthur shifted slightly and stretched out one leg. “The long and the short of it, Burnley, is that I am hunting the villain who murdered my great-uncle and at least two other men.”

Roland stared. “What the devil?”

“I was led to believe that the killer is a frequent patron of the Green Lyon, so Miss Lodge and I kept watch tonight. Imagine my astonishment when I noticed you leaving the club and walking off alone down a dark street.”

“I told you, I had reason to think that—” Roland stopped in mid-sentence and glanced at Elenora. He flushed a dark red.

Arthur looked at Elenora. “Someone told him that his wife had betrayed him with me, and that if he went to a certain address, he would find proof.”

Elenora was shocked. “What monstrous nonsense.”

Arthur shrugged.

She rounded on Roland. “Allow me to tell you, sir, that St. Merryn is a gentleman possessed of the most elevated notions of honor and the most refined sense of integrity. If you knew anything about him at all, you would know that it is inconceivable that he would have seduced your wife.”

Roland shot Arthur a ferocious glare. “I’m not so sure of that.”

Amusement gleamed in Arthur’s eyes, but he said nothing.

“Well, Iamcertain of it, sir,” Elenora declared. “And if you continue to believe such rubbish, you are worse than a fool. Furthermore, I must tell you that you do your wife an equally great wrong by allowing yourself to think for even one moment that she would betray you.”

“You know nothing about this matter,” Roland muttered. But he was starting to look somewhat hunted.

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