Behind the Mask (House of Lords) Read Online Free Page A

name. He knew which twin was which already, of course. It was not difficult to tell them apart, after all. They looked quite alike, but Georgina was the one who never spoke, and Maris was the one who never stopped speaking. Still, the little mouse managed to murmur, “We are dining in Mama’s chamber if you wish to join us, Lord Pierce.”
    “Thank you,” he said, though in truth he would rather have eaten hot coals than endured such an intimate meal with the Chesney women. He could not refuse, though, and so he followed Miss Georgina into Lady Sidney’s spacious room.
    Supper had already been laid out, and he found himself seated between Miss Chesney and Miss Maris, the vivacious twin.
    For a while they grasped at appropriate topics of discourse. Lady Sidney asked about Townsley and the great house. Miss Chesney asked about Brussels and the diplomatic set. Miss Maris asked if Colin had any siblings. He told them about his brother Miles, who was still at Cambridge. After that they ate in uncomfortable silence. He was relieved to finally escape to the taproom when the meal was finished.
    Strathmore was waiting for him. The taproom was growing more crowded, but there was still space to stand at the bar. “No one has seen anything, My Lord,” he said in a tone that implied that it had been a waste of his time to send him on such an errand in the first place.
    Colin ignored his attitude and took a slow sip of his ale. “I didn’t expect it. Things will get far more complex when we reach Sidney Park, Strathmore. Don’t feel as though you’ve left all the excitement behind in London.” Colin remembered his early days working for the Foreign Office, the tedium of being assigned to a job such at this.
    “Oh, no,” Strathmore said, his voice suddenly eager. “I’m happy to be assigned to your detail. You may not realize it, but you’re a bit of an idol to many of us lads.”
    Feeling a hundred years old, Colin said, “Oh?”
    “We’ve heard stories about Vienna,” Strathmore said, his voice low.
    Oh. “Well, I wouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Colin said carefully. Just what had the young recruits at the Foreign Office been told about those events?
    “They say that you killed three Russian spies and broke up an assassination plot.”
    It was almost the truth, at least. “It was only two,” Colin said.
    “Beg pardon?”
    “It was only two Russian spies. The third lived, though I believe he was later executed for espionage. I can hardly take credit for that.”
    “Still, it’s the sort of thing to which we all aspire.”
    Colin stared down into his empty mug. “Don’t be too eager for it, Strathmore. You do what you have to do in the moment, but even for your country, having to kill a man is no blessing.”
    “Of course,” Strathmore said, though it was clear he thought otherwise. He would learn, Colin thought, just as he himself had learned that night in Vienna.
    He tossed a coin on the counter. “I’m going to bed.”
     
    They breakfasted early the next morning before setting off again. It was a long day’s ride to Starling Court. Eleanor was eager to get there and see her friend, Cynthia Bainbridge, The Duchess of Danforth. Her husband Charles was a good friend of Leo’s and sat with him in the Lords, where the two of them had made a goodly stir this year over the new Poor Laws. Eleanor knew that Leo was still not satisfied with the progress that had been made, but she was proud of her brother and his friends. They had worked hard, and Eleanor had been working just as doggedly to get the school up and running before the winter when the news had come that the Chesneys were to expect a royal visit. Most of the work had been handed over to Charles’s sister Imogen and their good friend the Countess of Stowe, who had remained in town expressly to oversee the hiring of teachers and staff.
    “Of course you must go, Eleanor,” Imogen had said when she had paid a call last week to tell her of