Recipe for Treason Read Online Free

endearing. But this new razor-sharp note was like steel scraping against flint.
    It was only a matter of time before such friction set off dangerous sparks.
    “Yes, we had better talk now,” replied Saybrook, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air. “For no matter what José says, I intend to relieve him of the reins shortly.”
    She frowned but remained silent, knowing it was useless to argue.
    “Once we reach the inn, there are things that can’t be discussed,” he went on. “We must assume that the walls have ears.”
    The creaking of the paneling seemed to grow louder as the earl’s oblique warning hung heavy in the chill air.
    It was Henning who broke the silence with a brusque cough. “Well, to begin with, we need not fear being taken up by the authorities for murder,” he muttered. “It’s highly unlikely that anyone will stumble over the bodies, even come spring.” He and Saybrook had hidden the other two dead men deep in a crevasse far from the road. “But as for other threats . . .”
    He rubbed a hand along his bristled jaw. “I cannot believe this was a chance attack. Someone knew we were heading to Scotland and must have had men watching the routes north.” The rasp of whiskers was audible against his callused palm as he settled his gaze on the earl. “Yet only a very small circle of high government officials were privy to our mission. What does that say to you, laddie?”
    “It simply repeats a fact that we’ve known for some time, Baz,” pointed out Saybrook. “The French traitor Renard has access to privileged information. That’s why he—”
    “Or she ,” murmured Arianna. “Let’s not forget that a woman can be just as dangerous as a man when it comes to duplicity and deception.” She paused. “I ought to know.”
    The earl’s mouth quirked up at the corners at the reminder of how they had met. She had been masquerading as a male chef in an aristocratic household, hoping to smoke out her father’s murderers and bring them to justice. But when the Prince Regent was poisoned by one of her decadent desserts, the earl had been called in to investigate because of his expertise in chocolate . . .
    A soft laugh recalled her to the present.
    “Point taken, my dear.” The earl’s amusement then died away just as quickly. “Whether a he or a she, Renard has an uncanny ability to uncover government secrets and use them to foment chaos, as well as to destroy lives. That is why we must trap the Fox and put an end to the trail of bloodshed.”
    “A pretty speech, Sandro,” said Henning. “What you’ve left out is the ugly fact that Renard is almost certainly a highborn English aristocrat. And an even more sordid truth is that the ambush may have been ordered by the double-dealing spawn of Satan, Lord Grentham.”
    “ Dio Madre , you are like a terrier who refuses to drop a bone, even though the meat has been chewed off,” growled the earl. This wasn’t the first time Henning had suggested that the Minister of State Security might be in league with the French. “I don’t like Grentham any more than you do. However, in this case I think him innocent of any intrigue. Much as he loathes us, we’re the only ones he trusts to unmask the traitor, regardless of Renard’s power or prestige. So for the moment, we’re worth more to him alive than dead.”
    “Perhaps he’s pulled the wool over your eyes, laddie,” responded Henning. “As far as I’m concerned, what happened in Vienna is no proof of his innocence. Indeed, the fact that the culprit there turned out to be the son of a prominent peer of the realm makes me even more suspicious.”
    “You really think it’s possible that Grentham is Renard?” asked Arianna. “I have perhaps the most reason to hate the bastard, but . . .”
    The surgeon was quick with a reply. “He’s a man who has devoted much of his life to deception and manipulation. Whether it’s by the stroke of a pen or the squeeze of a trigger,