He scanned the letter again, and his smile slipped. “He also asks if I know where Geoff is, because he hasn’t heard from him, and he expected him to be there over a week past.”

Daisy’s head went up and she paled. “No word of him?”

“None,” Leland said, scanning the letter again. His jaw tightened. “Don’t worry yet. There are a thousand things that could account for that. He said he was taking your Helena to her mother’s home up north. He could have gone anywhere from there. He may have stopped off at Egremont, to see how things stood at his estate. It’s not good to leave a place without a master for too long. He has tenants there, and he is a responsible landlord. He may have visited with a friend. Sometimes a letter sent from the north can take days to reach London. Let me go through the rest of my mail to see if I can find the answer, and if not, I’ll pay a call on the earl’s house here. Then, if there’s no word, we can be alarmed.”

“We’ll pay a call on Geoff’s house,” she said. “I can’t bear to sit and wait.”

He hesitated, and then when he spoke, there wasn’t a trace of humor in his voice. “No, I think not. If something has happened to the earl, you are the last person who should be out in the streets right now. I can protect you. But I’d rather not have to.”

She took a deep breath and nodded, once.

“We’ll find out, it’s likely nothing,” he said. “Sit tight, and stay cool. It’s murderously hot outside.”

She shivered at his choice of words. And seeing that, he winced.


Viscount Haye returned to his town house at dusk, looking wilted and walking slowly, lost in thought. When he saw he’d arrived at his own house, he straightened and walked faster. That was what alarmed Daisy the most.

“What has happened to Geoff?” she asked him at once when he walked in, rising from where she’d been sitting on a window seat watching the street.

He ran a finger under his neck cloth and sighed. “What fiend made this fashionable? Sooner put a man in manacles and ask him to swim than to wear this torturous thing on a hot day. Ah well, at least there’s no one around Town to notice that I look like a laborer. I didn’t find out anything,” he told her. “There’s no ransom note. There’s no hint of violence, no accident recorded in the past week going up or down the North Road. And no one from his old days in Botany Bay has heard a word of other violence, either. I met with Bow Street as well. No one knows where he is. That’s good. Because wherever he is, it can’t be because anything dire happened to him.”

“But he is wealthy,” she said. “One of the richest men in England. And he’s kind, and trusting.”

“Yes, he’s wealthy. He’s also more experienced with crime and criminals than most men in England. Don’t forget that. He’ll be fine, he is fine, I’m sure of it. We can’t do more than wait on word from him. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for his silence. Even the men I paid to find out about him said that, and they’ve reason to hope for mischief, if only because they’d be better paid if there was any.”

She felt relieved, until she noticed that he stood irresolute, unsmiling.

“But so many ears to the ground can hear anything,” he said. “I learned something else, something that I must resolve.”

“What is it?” she asked fearfully.

“I finally discovered who laid evidence about you. Oh, don’t worry,” he said quickly when he saw her grow paler. “It’s utter nonsense. The powers that be know it. The information is ridiculous, and false. It was given by a fellow named Samuel Starr, recently arrived from Botany Bay.”

“Samuel… Starr?” Her eyes widened. “Old Blister Me?” she cried. “We called him that because he said it all the time. He was an old pirate; I really think he was one. When he couldn’t go to sea anymore, where he could sail away from his crimes, I suppose, he took up stealing in London. He was very bad at it on land. He was a burly, bald old man, with a tattoo on his cheek like a South Sea Islander, and… But he didn’t dislike me! In fact, I thought we were friends. He had such good stories to tell.” She smiled, remembering. “I always enjoyed talking to him. I didn’t know he’d left the colony…”

She sobered. “Why did he do it? Lie about me, I mean? He knew Tanner died of an accident. He was one of the men who brought him home after it. He saw me then, and even tried to console me. He said I was well out of it, and I know he meant it kindly. Why did he change his mind?”

Leland had pulled off his limp damp neck cloth and now held it as though it were a dead rat, dangling from the ends of his fingers. He shrugged, and didn’t look at her. “Why else?” he asked. “For the money. It seems he was starving. He was an exquisitely inept pickpocket. And someone offered him a sum of money he couldn’t resist. Once he’d had a decent dinner, he began to regret his part. He’s very sorry, he says. Never mind that, if you don’t want to, we won’t press charges against him. He is only a poor old fellow, and abjectly sorry to boot.”

Now he looked at her. “More to the point, he told me who paid him to do it.” Leland’s eyes were stark and dark, haunted by some misery she’d never seen there before. “I’m going to change my clothes, and then go to speak with that someone. This time, if you like, you may come with me. I don’t like it, but you’ll be safe enough, and I do think it would be for the best for all concerned. Especially you. There’s no need for you to be afraid of ghosts. Will you come?”

“Of course,” she said.

He studied her with an unreadable expression. “Very well. Dress in something cool,” he finally said, “… and beautiful.”


* * *

Daisy’s eyes grew huge when she saw where Leland stopped his carriage. She looked at him. “Here?” she asked.

In that moment, he looked infinitely weary. “Yes,” he said. “I believe here is where it started, and I know here is where it will end. Nothing to feel bad about,” he added in a soft voice. “Nothing to fear. That I promise. But you should see this, and relieve your mind. I am the one who should be upset,” he said. “If I refuse to be, then so should you. Come, let’s get it over with.”

He gave the reins to his tiger, the boy in livery who rode on the back of the curricle, and stepped down. He took his wife’s hand to help her down from the driver’s seat. “You look lovely,” he said, admiring her new peach-colored muslin gown and matching bonnet. “And wasn’t it delicious to feel the breeze as we drove? It’s the only way to get one today. Let’s drive ’round the park after we’re done here, shall we? I want to show you off, as well as cool you off.”

She smiled, but her hand shook in his, and not from fear of getting down from the high driver’s seat. When she reached the pavement, she breathed a shuddery sigh. “Lead on,” she whispered.

“What a pleasure to see you, sir,” the butler who admitted them at the door said.

“A pleasure to see you again so soon, Fitch,” Leland said. “You’re looking in fine fettle, I must say. You don’t change, someday you must tell me your secret. And here is my lady, Deidre, the new Viscountess Haye. We were married a month past in the West Country, at a church near my country house. I’m planning to have a reception for the villagers and everyone at Haye Hall later this summer, so I can introduce my lady to everyone properly, as well as introducing my home to her.”

The imperturbable butler blinked. “My lady,” he said, when he recovered. He bowed. “A great honor to meet you. I had heard of your nuptials; it was in the papers. May I offer you my very best wishes?”

Daisy nodded. “Thank you,” she said. She shot a puzzled look to Leland where he stood, his lips thinned, his expression impassive.

When the butler straightened, he looked at Leland, and much that wasn’t said seemed to pass between them in that moment. “I will inform your mother that you are here, my lord,” the butler said. “Please come sit in the garden. I’d ask you into the salon, but the heat is perishing there today.”

“Thank you,” Leland said. “Come, Daisy, Fitch is right. We will be cooler in the garden. My mother’s salon is a welter of heavy furniture and heavier fabric. The furniture is priceless, and the fabric, museum quality. Fine for December, but not for today.”

But Daisy only stood, white-faced, looking up at him.

“Yes,” he said, putting his hand over hers where it lay on his arm. “Unpleasant for me, but not out of character for her. At least the nonsense will end, here and now. I want you to hear it from her own lips.”

He looked at the butler. “Fitch, please send to my mother. And there’s no need to mention that my wife accompanies me.”

“Certainly, my lord,” the butler said, and led them through the stifling house to the garden in back. “I’ll tell the viscountess at once,” he said, and left Leland and Daisy on a terrace overlooking a neat square of a garden shaded by ancient lacy leafed elms.

Daisy couldn’t sit. She stood by the stone balustrade and watched Leland prowl, pacing back and forth. She didn’t try to speak to him. He seemed too preoccupied by his own thoughts to listen. Then she saw his head go up and his nostrils become pinched, as though he smelled something distasteful.

“Haye,” the viscountess said as she came out on to the terrace. “How good to see you.” She wore a white gown, and with her fair hair and skin, the only color she had was in her deep blue eyes, so like her son’s. Except they were devoid of expression. That searching blue gaze found Daisy. “How charming. You’ve brought me a guest. Have we met before? You do look familiar. Forgive me for not remembering,” she said to Daisy, “but at my age, one does tend to forget the names of new acquaintances.”