Page 11 of An Unbending Lady for the Desperate Earl
“Miss McCarthy and Admiral Thomson.” She smiled sweetly.
“Are you expected?”
My goodness, even I do not interrogate without due reason…“Perhaps. You will have to ask him if he is willing to meet with us.”
The butler made a curt harrumph and vanished inside, leaving Victoria and Benedict out on the step.
“Let us hope you were nottooabrupt with him,” Benedict murmured.
A minute or so later, the butler returned. “He has acquiesced to meeting with you. Please, come inside.” He opened the door wider to allow them entry, and immediately showed them to a parlor on the ground floor.
Victoria took a moment to drink in her surroundings. Being an investigator, she could not help but observe every detail when in a new place. Lord Galbury possessed one of the finer townhouses she had seen, in an endless array. Stylishly furnished with velvet chaises, and landscape watercolors that adorned the walls, the entrance hall made an excellent impression. It had been painted in creams and golds, giving enough of a baroque sensibility without appearing gaudy. And even the chandelier that hung from the ceiling was understated, with gold and brass vines intertwining like a woven basket that even Dionysus would have approved of.
The parlor impressed her equally. No mean feat, considering the multitude of parlors she had seen. It followed the same aesthetic as the entrance hall, with neutral cream and golden-toned Fleur-de-Lys paper on the walls, and comfortable-looking leather armchairs that sat at the end of two large, cream-and-gold jacquard settees. The centerpiece was provided by the fireplace; a beautiful creation of white marble, with warming flames licking up and filling the room with a soothing aura.
Lord Galbury awaited them, perched upon the far settee. He stood and gave a genteel bow. “Miss McCarthy, Admiral Thomson. It is a pleasure to welcome you into my home, though, I confess, I had not expected to see you again, Miss.”
Victoria’s cheeks reddened under his watchful gaze. A strange occurrence, as rarely did her cheeks flush. “Yes, I can imagine why you would not. Indeed, I must… uh… apologize for my behavior toward you. You did not deserve it, and I should have been more thoughtful in my choice of words.”
Lord Galbury’s eyebrow arched in surprise. “I hadn’t expected an apology, either. But I am grateful for it. It was a trying day for all of us, and I imagine you had a great deal on your mind.” He gestured for them to sit. “What do you say we let bygones be bygones?”
“I say, those bys are already gone, My Lord.” Victoria breathed a faint sigh of relief and sank down onto the comfortable settee opposite His Lordship.
He looked very different in the setting of his own home. Less tense, and more at ease. He had even loosened his cravat somewhat, giving the air of a cavalier Earl who hadn’t been anticipating any sort of company this day. Now that she had the opportunity to observe him more closely, she found that there was much pleasantry to be found in his features. He had russet-colored hair that reminded Victoria of the falling autumn leaves outside, and a set of vivid blue eyes that held a direct intensity. Even sitting, she recalled his build—tall and broad-shouldered, but lacking any suggestion of brute strength.
His is a quieter sort of power,she mused.I did not notice it before, but then he must not have felt as if he could be himself at the Pelsley residence.One’s own home revealed the true nature of a person. Seeing him now, she wondered if she had been too quick to judge, the last time they met. But maybe that was simply because she needed his help now.
“May I ask why you have come here today?” Lord Galbury rang a bell as he spoke.
“We came to speak to you about the offer you graciously made the other day to my colleague here,” Benedict answered first, no doubt fearing Victoria might become defensive. “We have the same missive, My Lord, and we have reason to believe that you may be able to give some useful insight.”
Lord Galbury frowned. “Insight?”
Victoria and Benedict exchanged a conspiratorial look, though Victoria was the one to speak. “By searching through the evidence that I have collected from the Pelsley household, we have uncovered a startling possibility surrounding the disappearance of Lady Helena and the other kidnapped ladies.”
“You have? Pray, tell me, what might that be?” Lord Galbury leaned forward, positively bristling with anxious anticipation.
Victoria paused, letting the tension build. “Whomever this villain may be. He is one of your own—we are almost certain of it.”
Chapter 6
Christian blinked in disbelief. “What do you mean, Miss McCarthy? You believe him to be a military man?”
“No, not a military man. One of your own, as in a gentleman of high society.” Miss McCarthy stared at him intently. “And, please, you ought to call me McCarthy if we are to proceed. I am an investigator first, a woman second.”
This day has become even stranger than I might have imagined.Christian reeled at the revelation that the criminal who stole Helena away might be a member of the upper echelons. Outlandish did not even begin to explain his view upon the idea. As for calling a woman by such a casual name… well, that felt equally outlandish.
“I cannot do that, Miss.”
“Then call me Victoria,” she insisted, leaving no room for negotiation.
He shuffled in his seat. “Very well, Victoria.” The name caressed his tongue, alien and new. The informality didn’t sit well with him, but he knew he could not lose the assistance of these two investigators. In truth, during the day or so since he had last encountered Victoria, he had taken pains to dwell upon her character, trying to decipher her nature. He had come to admire her tenacity, no matter how rudely she had dismissed him. After all, she had gained entry into the house when no man could. That suggested a fire in her belly that he had never witnessed in a woman before.
“Now, before we continue, I ought to tell you what we have found thus far,” Victoria said, before launching into the tale of what she had discovered in Helena’s bedchamber. Christian listened with horrified intrigue, trying not to picture Helena in the moments before she was kidnapped.
You must have been so frightened, sweet girl. I am sorry for that. I am sorry you were targeted by this creature…
“He had to have employed the use of a carriage,” Victoria went on. “That means he has to be a man of means, for if it had been a cart or a lesser mode of transportation, then someone would have noticed it. Especially in Mayfair.”
