LITMIR.BIZ

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And now that you are safely home, madam, and have no further need of my…services, I shall take my leave.’

      There was some bitter satisfaction in the way her cheeks flamed at the inference. Mortimer frowned and took a step forwards. Jack braced himself for the challenge but it never came. Eloise put out her hand, palm down, saying coolly,

      ‘Yes, thank you, Major, for escorting me tonight. I am very grateful.’

      The shadow of reproach he saw in her eyes flayed his lacerated spirits. He cursed silently. They find Mortimer making himself at home in her house and she expects him to act like a gentleman. Clenching his jaw against further unwary comments, he gave a stiff little bow and retired, reminding himself that the widow’s behaviour really was no concern of his. But this comforting thought did nothing to alleviate the black mood that enveloped him as he strode back to King Street.

      Eloise watched the door close with a snap behind the major and let her breath go in a long and very audible sigh. She untied her cloak and threw it over a chair.

      ‘I am sorry if I have frightened off your lover,’ murmured Alex.

      Eloise swung round.

      ‘Major Clifton is not my lover!’ she retorted, knowing the heat was flooding back into her cheeks.

      ‘Well, I think he would like to be,’ mused Alex, pressing her down into a chair. ‘The look on his face when he saw me here was one of severe disappointment.’

      ‘It was?’ She looked up hopefully.

      Alex grinned.

      ‘Oh, yes. I think he could happily have murdered me. He looked most disapproving.’

      ‘Well, that is no surprise,’ she retorted. ‘It was a shock for me to find you here at this time of night.’

      ‘This time in the morning, actually,’ Alex corrected her, sitting down. ‘I was concerned about you. It is not like you to go off to Vauxhall with only Clifton for company. Unless, of course, you have decided to live up to your wicked reputation.’

      ‘I would never do that!’ she retorted.

      She clasped her hands tightly in her lap, thinking back over the events of the evening. She did not know what to do. About the journal. About Jack. He had been angry when he left, and with good reason. To find Alex waiting for them had been a shock. She was so accustomed to having Alex around that she had thought nothing of it, but a moment’s reflection had shown her how it must look to Jack. It confirmed all the disgraceful things he had already heard about her. She gave an inward shrug. It was too late now to worry about that. She turned her mind instead to the problem of the missing journal. She glanced at Alex. Perhaps, after all, she should take him into her confidence. He had always been her friend and she knew she could trust him. Besides, this matter involved him. It was only right that he should know what was happening. She said slowly, ‘You will remember, after Tony died, we searched for the journal and could not find it?’

      ‘Yes, but I thought Tony had destroyed it.’

      ‘No. It was stolen.’ Eloise looked up. ‘And now someone is using it against me.’

      Alex sat up straight. ‘The devil they are!’

      Briefly, Eloise told him all that had happened since he had left town. When it came to explaining Major Clifton’s role in the affair she said only that he wanted to keep Tony’s name free from scandal and to help her to catch the culprit. When she had finished her recital she reached into her reticule and pulled out the crumpled paper. ‘When I met with the villain he gave me this tonight.’ She shuddered as she handed it to him. ‘Burn it, please, once you have read it.’

      Alex took it, rubbing his chin as he frowned over the writing.

      ‘You will see that you are only mentioned there as “M”,’ she said, ‘but if anyone begins to put together the dates and the places, your identity must be known.’

      He looked up.

      ‘Why did you not tell me?’ he asked. ‘Why did you not write to me? I would have come back to town immediately.’

      She spread her hands, saying miserably, ‘I thought I could deal with this myself. And then…and then Major Clifton became involved.’

      Alex tossed the paper into the fire, a look of distaste marring his fair features. He said, ‘Tony mentioned Clifton to me in one or two of his letters. Thought quite highly of him, so I suppose we can trust him.’ He shot a glance at her. ‘How much does he know, Elle?’

      ‘Only that I am desperate to recover the diary.’ A knot of unhappiness was twisting itself in her stomach. ‘He knows nothing of its contents.’

      She lowered her eyes, unwilling to meet Alex’s keen glance.

      ‘He thinks it is a scandalous record of your affairs,’ he stated baldly.

      Eloise shrugged. ‘Better that than the truth.’

      ‘And you don’t mind that?’

      ‘Of course not. Major Clifton is nothing to me!’ She looked away from his searching gaze. ‘And there is no need for you to look at me like that. You know I have no wish for another husband.’ She managed a scornful laugh. ‘Certainly not the major!’

      Eloise did not think she sounded very convincing, but Alex seemed satisfied. He said, ‘Well, I am here now, and I will help you recover that damned book. You can tell Major Clifton that we no longer require his help.’

      Eloise could not understand herself: she had thought she wanted nothing more than to be free for ever of Jack’s disturbing presence, but Alex’s words gave her pause.

      ‘I am not sure he will be that easy to put off,’ said Eloise slowly. ‘He is very anxious to protect the Allyngham name.’

      ‘Is that all he wishes to protect?’

      Her cheeks grew warm again as she remembered her behaviour in the carriage. She stifled a sigh.

      ‘He has no reason to think well of me.’

      ‘No, it is most likely that Clifton thinks to take you for his mistress.’

      ‘No!’ cried Eloise, tears starting to her eyes. ‘He must know I would never agree to that!’

      ‘Are you sure? When you go off alone with him to Vauxhall, and invite him into your house in the middle of the night?’

      Eloise bit her lip. She had been about to tell Jack the truth, but had he understood that, or had he thought she was offering to take him to her bed?

      ‘Much as I hate to admit it, Jack Clifton could be useful to us,’ mused Alex, rubbing his chin. ‘After all, we cannot involve too many people in this affair. And if we are careful, there is no reason why he should ever discover that the journal is anything other than an account of the Wanton Widow’s scandalous past, is there?’

      Eloise stared into the fire. A short while ago she had been on the verge of telling the major everything. Now she must continue with her role, and abandon any hope of Jack Clifton ever regarding her with respect.

      ‘No,’ she said dully. ‘No reason at all.’

       Chapter Seven

      Lady Chastleton’s rout promised to be a huge success: the elegant salons were so full that it was impossible to move freely and even though the tall windows to the garden had been thrown open, the noise and heat had increased to an uncomfortable level.

      Catching sight of her reflection in the gilded mirror, Eloise thought that no one watching the Glorious Allyngham would think her anything other than a wicked flirt.

      She was in Lady Chastleton’s elegant salon, at the centre of a group of attentive gentlemen.

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