Page 119 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
“That went missing with her as you well know. Now leave.”
“Not without that book of her mother’s, the one with the Spanish twaddle. If you permit me, I’ll have a look at her bedchamber. The shabby one you moved her into after your wife took the one Farnsworth remodeled.”
“Farnsworth?”
“Or should I say, Mr. Cooper. A pity the King needed him elsewhere. It might have spared all of us this trouble. Now, I’ll just have a look—”
“You’ll do no such thing. Leave. Now.”
“Not without the book.”
“I burned the bloody book,” he shouted.
Accompanied by that much emotion, it was the truth, Charley decided.
“Both of them?” he asked.
Kingsley’s gaze narrowed, shifted, and came back to rest on Charley. “Yes. Now, get out.”
“Indeed.” He laughed. “I’ll leave you to manage your retreat from the scandal sheets.” At the door, he turned. “And you’d best hope you can run far enough, fast enough, before Captain Kingsley returns to the living.”
“He is dead.”
“Ah then, until he speaks to you from the dead.”
When he opened the door, Lady Kingsley jumped back. He smiled at her. “You’ll look lovely in Graciela’s white damask and pink ribbons, milady. The matron of the season, a regular diamond of the first water.” He dodged around her and out the door.
“Kingsley, what book was he talking—” The door shut on Lady Kingsley’s voice.
On the pavement, he signaled his carriage and climbed in.
At the next corner, they stopped and one of Kincaid’s men, a tall Scotsman, entered the coach, a package under his arms.
“Well?”
“Stripped bare of clothing and such.”
“You had the right room?”
“Aye. As Juan directed. Left a bloody mess—blood staining the floor an’ all, I mean. An’ I found this in the hearth.” He unwrapped the bundle, revealing the charred remains of a large book. Truly, it would have weighed Gracie down had she tried to balance three stories up with it. The leather bindings were singed, as well as some of the pages. The core of the book was intact. Whether it contained secret messages didn’t matter. Kingsley would look for it and find it gone.
“Excellent. Wrap it up. Kincaid may have a use for it.”
He had one more stop before returning home.
