Anne Stuart Read Online Free

hands trembled slightly as she shuffled the pasteboard images back together, and from a seeming distance she heard grumbles of discontent. It was almost two in the morning, and she was exhausted. Most of these gilded creatures seemed eager to socialize all night long, but Jessamine had lost the knack for mindless frivolity. She needed quiet to soothe her aching head, and she needed her bed.
    Lady Plumworthy’s guests had already dismissed her, returning to other amusements, when Jessamine made her way down the wide marble staircase, clinging to the banister, the precious cards wrapped in velvet and tucked inside her reticule. The majordomo awaited her in the hallway, accompanied by two burly footmen, and she wondered if Lady Plumworthy had arranged for her to be escorted home.
    She was shortsighted, and it wasn’t until she reached the bottom step that she recognized the smug hostility in the manservant’s face.
    “ Her ladyship’s emeralds are missing,” he announced in accusing tones.
    “ I’m not surprised,” Jessamine replied with deceptive calm.
    “ No, I’d say you ain’t. And you won’t be surprised that her ladyship has insisted we search you before you get away with the jewels.”
    He had a cruel, thin face with thick lips. Jessamine didn’t move. “It wouldn’t surprise me,” she said. “But you aren’t going to touch me.”
    She’d already noticed that all of Lady Plumworthy’s servants were very large, healthy-looking men, something that filled her with unpleasant misgivings. The majordomo was not much above average height, but his shoulders were wide and hulking, and his hands were huge. “And who’s going to stop me in doing my duty, miss?” he said with a sneer.
    “ I will.”
    She must have been more frightened than she realized. She hadn’t even been aware of his approach. The man from the card room, Glenshiel, he of the elegant disdain, had come to her aid.
    “ Your lordship, this creature...” the majordomo began in a whine.
    “ ... hasn’t left the card room all evening, Hawkins. There’s no way she could filch her ladyship’s jewels. And where do you suggest she’s carrying them?”
    “ There are all sorts of places,” Hawkins muttered, glaring at her. The two footmen had already retreated.
    “ Hawkins, you shock me!” the man said, mocking. “I had no idea such depravity existed.”
    Jessamine allowed herself to look at him, almost wishing she didn’t have to. Up close she could see his eyes—a clear light brown that was almost amber. He had a narrow, slightly beaked nose, high cheekbones, and a wide mouth curved in a mocking smile, as if he found the world both tiresome and amusing. He looked like a man who knew far too much about depravity, and Jessamine would have told him so except that he was, for whatever his reasons, coming to her rescue. It would behoove her to be gracious, at least for the moment.
    Hawkins obviously knew he was defeated. He moved away from the door, grudgingly to be sure. “Very well, my lord. I’ll tell her ladyship you judged it prudent not to interfere with the young lady.”
    “ Tattler,” the man said with a soft laugh. “And what about the money?”
    “ Money, sir?”
    “ Miss Brown was promised remuneration for her efforts tonight, was she not? And I imagine once you’d satisfied yourself that she hadn’t taken Lady Plumworthy’s jewel, you were planning to give it to her. Weren’t you?”
    She must have imagined the faint hint of steel beneath that elegant drawl. “I’m not satisfied...” Hawkins started to say, but something in the man’s face must have stopped him, for he turned, picked up a small bag of coins, and tossed it at Jessamine’s feet.
    She started to stoop down to pick it up, rejoicing in the very heavy chunk of coin as it had landed, but her cynical Galahad moved too quickly. He put his pale, hard, elegant hands on her forearm, holding her still.
    “ The bag must have slipped,” Glenshiel said with