Lady Ellingham and the Theft of the Stansfield Necklace: A Regency Romance Read Online Free

Lady Ellingham and the Theft of the Stansfield Necklace: A Regency Romance
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cupboards, taking care to leave things as she found them. 
After twenty minutes she gave up, she was not going to find the necklace here.  
          As Felicity
was rifling through the study, Alex Sheraton was leaving Whites Club in St
James Street.  It was a damp and crisp night and miracle of miracles it was not
raining. He decided to walk home with his winnings carefully stowed in his
pockets.  People said that he had the devils own luck with cards but the truth
was, that he was just astute and knew when to stop.  He certainly never dipped
too deep at the card tables or played when in his cups.  Many a Jonny raw had
lost a fortune that way and being no greenhorn he had decided to call it a
night.
          Young Lealholme
had held the bank tonight.  He was just a young man but Thorndale had respect
for Lord Richard Ellingham and as he recalled, he had a damned lovely sister, a
diamond of the first water as he recollected.  He had never approached the
chit, he would certainly have to remedy that, he thought to himself as he
sauntered along and turned into Berkeley Square.  Lately he had had other
things on his mind, not least the problem of Emily Entwhistle, but now that he
had dealt with that matter to his satisfaction, he intended to focus his
attention on the lovely Lady Felicity Ellingham.
          Thorndale
had now reached Grosvenor Street and he would soon be home.  He was certainly
not foxed but he had to admit that on the equivalent of a bottle of wine and
two brandies,  he had certainly drank enough to affect his judgement and when
he had made a mistake on his last hand, he decided to call in the chips and
return home.  As he made his way to Green Street, Felicity could not be aware of
the danger she was in.
          She slowly
eased her way back into the hall.  There was nothing else to do but to ascend
the stairs to the upper floors in search of the Marquis’s bedchamber. She
reasoned that he would choose one of the larger rooms at the front of the house
and it did not take her long to find it.  She thanked God that his Valet must
have decided to go to bed for the house was silent.
          She
entered the bedchamber and closed the door.  The room was eerily masculine with
the scent of mixed spice, polish and leather.   She padded across to the
window, opened it and looked out.  The window opened out onto a small balcony
and just beneath it and to the right, was the canopy over the front door.  She tried
to memorise her surroundings in case she needed to make a quick exit. On all accounts,
he would not be home before three in the morning but it would not hurt to take
precautions.
          She
started again to make a systematic search and after ten minutes, she found the
necklace.  It was nestled on top of a large bundle of cash and was encased in a
black velvet pouch in the dresser. ‘Got you,’ she whispered triumphantly to
herself. ‘He does have it, I knew Richard was wrong.’  As she slipped the
necklace into her pocket, she heard a noise as the bedchamber door swung open. 
Felicity twisted around to see the tall, dark figure of the Marquis of Thorndale
standing ominously in the doorframe, with lit candelabra in hand and staring at
her with fury in his eyes.
          It was too
late, he had seen her and she had no time to run to the window. If she ran now
he would easily catch her before she had time to slip through.  As Thorndale
stepped forward to grab her, she suddenly remembered the small pistol in her
pocket and levelled it at him. ‘Stay where you are,’ she demanded as gruffly as
she could.  He stopped in his tracks at the sight of the pistol and placed the
candelabra slowly and deliberately on an occasional table, quickly summing up
the situation and planning his move.
         The split
second gave her time to retreat to the window. Felicity quickly slipped though,
pocketing the pistol as she nimbly swung to the right and out over the balcony.
She
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