But that would be after they figured out who killed her father. That was her main priority. Noises from the other room told her that Charlotte and her husband were back. It was time to change into whatever dress she’d brought with her, and see where the case took them next.
She felt like Cinderella, only her prince was in the carriage with her, and she was not going to lose a shoe, at least she hoped not. They were almost to the museum and she tried to still her nerves by taking short, shallow breaths.
Charlotte had brought back a dress from a friend of hers after she decided her dresses would be much too short on Carin. This dress was peach colored, and it showed off Carin’s cleavage perfectly. She knew because Tristan had told her the moment she’d come downstairs. Charlotte had also put a matching hairpiece in her hair, a feather and a matching blossom of satin made to look like a flower.
It was unlike anything she’d ever worn, or would wear again, she was sure of that.
“What if I mess up inside?” She whispered the words, but obviously loud enough for everyone to hear. Tristan grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“You’re going to do fine,” he said. “Stay close to me. In your research did you see Peter Flame? Do you think you could recognize him again?”
“Yes.” She should pull away from his touch, but she didn’t. “He’s tall and dark headed.”
“As will be half the men inside,” Dalton said. “Was there anything that might set him off from the others?”
“No,” Carin said.
They pulled up to the front of the museum and alighted. Carin took Tristan’s arm and they entered the building side by side.
“If you see him, just pinch me,” he said.
“Can I pinch you on the bum to pay you back for the other evening?” she asked.
“I’ll accept that,” he said with a laugh.
They were greeted at the wide staircase by people handing out small cards with numbers on it. Tristan gave a man seated at a table his name, and Carin watched as he wrote it on a sheet of parchment.
“What is that for?” she asked as they started up the stairs.
“For the auction,” Tristan said. “You give the person monitoring an item your number if you want to make a bid on it.”
“I see,” she said.
“We’ll look at the items first, and after that we’ll mingle.”
“Mingle,” Carin said with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever mingled.”
“It’s easy. You smile, laugh and say, ‘So good to see you’, when you’re really thinking, when can I get away from these boring people.”
Carin laughed again. He really was quite charming. “Since I don’t know any of these people, I won’t know which one is boring and which is not.”
“Yet another thing I can guide you on,” Tristan said. “Most of them are boring, trust me.”
There was a line of people moving around the room, studying objects that had been laid out on tables. When it was their turn, Carin could see most of them were small, pieces of rocks, little statues and, much to her surprise, a bracelet made of gold that took her breath away.
Before she knew what she was doing she picked it up and turned it in her hand.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Tristan asked.
“Very,” she said.
“It’s Roman,” the clerk behind the table said. “It was found in Bath during a dig a few years ago. It would look beautiful on you, ma’am.”
“It would,” Tristan said. “What is the highest bid?”
The clerk looked around. “I’m not supposed to say, sir.” But he flashed two fingers at Tristan. Carin wondered if that meant two pounds, or twenty pounds. Whichever it was she didn’t have the money to purchase it.
“Put me down for two-fifty,” Tristan said. He held up his card. The clerk jotted down the number. Tristan leaned over to say something to him and the clerk nodded.
As they moved on, Carin said, “Two fifty?” And then it hit her. “Do you mean two hundred and fifty pounds?” Her mouth stayed open in surprise.
“Yes,” Tristan said as he moved her farther down the table.
She wanted to ask how he could afford that, but she knew he had more money than she would ever see in her lifetime. She wanted to ask him if he would give the bracelet to Shelia but then she thought not. That sort of gift would be too personal, and that was something he didn’t want. She wondered if he had a sister, or if his mother might like it.
None of the other objects attracted her attention, and as they turned from the table she scanned the room.
“Do you see him?”
“No,” she said. Truthfully, they all seemed to look alike, the men in their dark suits and the women in their bright colored dresses. It was hard for her to realize she was one of those women but, she reminded herself, in a dress that was not her own.
“Do you know all these people?” she whispered to him.
“Most of them,” Tristan said. “I’ve been to their houses and attended dinners, weddings and various other things with them.”
Tristan nodded at a man, who nodded back. Tristan leaned down to her. “That is George Lynwood, the future Viscount Lynwood. In a strange twist of fate he is quite a bit younger than his wife. They get along beautifully. It was quite shocking to society when he married her. She was a widow and he had never married. I understand his parents were very unhappy at the time, but they have come to love her. They threatened to disown him and make his younger brother the Viscount. When George said he was marrying Sable no matter what, they gave in.”
“That is interesting,” she said. “You seem to know a lot about them. Are they a member of your infamous club?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” he said. He leaned closer to her and his breath tickled her neck as he spoke. “The truth is, that is how they met.”
“How wonderful for them,” Carin said, and found that she really meant it.
“Did you meet your wife through the club?” she asked.
“No, the club had not been established then,” he said.
“Are you ever going to tell me exactly what this club is, other than being a place where you meet others to have sex?”
“Some other time, yes,” he said. He held up a hand. “George.”
The couple came toward them, and Carin was surprised to see there was what she would guess to be at least ten years between them. But they made a handsome couple.
“George, Sable, may I present my friend Carin,” he said. He squeezed her elbow ever so gently and Carin knew it was some sort of sign. She wasn’t sure what it was, but then it hit her. He didn’t have her last name to give them, which was a faux paus in the social world, she was sure.
She thought about making herself a princess from another country. Instead she just decided to be truthful. “Carin Piper,” she said.
“How do you do,” the couple said, almost in unison, which Carin found charming.
“Carin and I are new friends,” Tristan said. “She came by the house to retrieve something she thought I might have. She was wrong, but the two of us hit it off with a big bang.”
She wanted to smack him.
“By the way, George, what can you tell me about Peter Flame. Do you know him?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” George said. “He is marrying the daughter of a friend of my parents, which means we have to attend the wedding. I saw him the other day at the racing track. He wants to own a horse, but I believe it is beyond his means.”
Carin thought that information might help them. She was surprised that George offered the information without asking why. She supposed it was because they were a member of this club, and that meant they were friends and didn’t question when someone else asked them about other people.
“Your dress is beautiful, Carin,” Sable said.
“Thank you, as is yours,” Carin responded. She knew Sable’s dress had been made by Mrs. Marks near Trafalgar Square. She was one of the most fashionable seamstresses
in London and a lot of the ladies used her services.
It was strange how easily she fit into the situation, talking with people far above her station. They all treated her as if she was the same as them. What would they do, she wondered, if they found out Tristan had brought a woman to the party who was far below his station.
“Have you seen him here tonight? I’d like to talk to him about his experience with the burglary.”
“He was here earlier, but I believe he’s left,” George said. “He told me he wasn’t happy about all the events he had to attend that had to do with his impending nuptials.”
“Do you know if he has problems that might make him the target for thieves a second time?” Tristan asked.
“Isn’t it horrible what has been happening?” Sable clasped her husband’s arm tighter. “I worry every night that someone will show up at our house uninvited.”
“It is a terrible thought,” Tristan said.
Carin wanted to smack him once more.
“I hear his house was burglarized last year, but I don’t think he’s been part of the new round of break-ins,” George said. “I know you have been, Tristan. Are the authorities any closer to finding the person responsible?”
“Not that I know of,” Tristan said. “But I am working to keep track of things, in case they resolve the situation.”
“I do hope they recover your things,” Sable said. “Oh, look, there’s your mother, George. We must go pay our respects.”
George’s sigh told Carin what he thought of that idea. She fought back laughter as they said their goodbyes and left.
“He seems put out to have to speak with his parents,” Carin said.
“I think he’s still angry with them because they opposed his marriage,” Tristan said. “Well, the other two men are older, and I don’t think they will be here. I may send a message round to each one and see if they might receive me for tea.”
“Would that be the right thing to do?” she asked.
He looked around the room. It was as if he were searching for something, maybe for the other two men who might help in their investigation.
“Come with me.” He took her hand and they headed toward a doorway. When they passed through he stopped, looked around and then he took her head in his hands and kissed her.
Carin pulled back and glanced around the room. There was no one in there.
“Don’t worry, the crowd is thinning out and there seem to be more people paying attention to the auction items.”
He kissed her again. Carin was starting to enjoy the physical contact. She wasn’t sure that was a good thing, since eventually their relationship would come to an end, and she would not have him around to kiss her anymore.
“Well, well, what an interesting couple.”
Carin froze at the sound of the voice near them. She turned and hoped her shock didn’t show on her face.
“Good evening, Inspector Kelley,” Tristan said. “I’m rather surprised to find you here.”
“Why, because I’m just a police inspector?” the officer asked. “What I’m surprised at, is that I didn’t know the two of you knew each other, much less knew each other well enough to slip into an empty room and kiss, repeatedly.”
“Is it against the law to kiss in public?” Tristan asked.
“Not at all but, as I said, I was unaware the two of you were acquainted,” Kelley said. “When I find two people who are involved in a case I’m investigating, kissing, I tend to think something might have been held back from me. Like the fact that the two knew each other.”
“If you’re asking if I knew that Carin’s father was the thief who broke into my house last year, the answer is yes.”
“May I ask how you discovered that?” Kelley asked.
“The information just dropped in at my doorstep,” Tristan said.
The inspector looked between them and Carin felt the pit of her stomach drop to the floor.
“I never dismiss the opportunity to have a relationship with a beautiful woman,” Tristan said.
“A woman who is a suspect in my investigation,” Kelley said.
“Are you serious?” Tristan snorted in derision, and Carin wanted to kiss him for defending her. “There is no way Carin could be a thief.”
She noticed that he didn’t say there was no way she could break into someone’s house because, obviously, she could and she did.
“So you say,” Kelley responded.
“I think it is time for me to return home,” she said. “Inspector Kelley, you know where to find me if you need me. Tristan, thank you for a wonderful evening.”
“Carin, wait,” Tristan said. She ignored his words and hurried through the room where they’d just come out, then rushed down the stairs.
As she exited she couldn’t help but think that Cinderella had run down the stairs at midnight, just as she was doing now.
She prayed she didn’t lose her slipper, as well as her dignity, as she exited the building.
Chapter 7
Carin, bring me that bolt of lavender fabric, and don’t forget the buttons that match.”
Carin cringed as Mrs. Thompson issued her sharp orders and then disappeared into the main part of the shop. Her boss was not happy that Carin had not brought back the dress she’d borrowed. She’d made an excuse that she’d been late this morning and had forgotten to bring it with her. She apologized and promised to bring it back tomorrow, which meant that she had to go see Tristan again tonight.
Every few minutes Carin looked out the shop window, worried that somehow Tristan had found her, worried that Inspector Kelley would come to visit her at the shop and further question her about her relationship with Tristan. That was another reason she needed to go to Tristan’s tonight, to ask him what had happened after she’d hurried out of the museum like a frightened rabbit.
What was wrong with her? Why hadn’t she had the backbone to stay there and answer his questions? She had done nothing wrong. If she continued to run from Kelley, he would think she was guilty and he would bother her more.
Perhaps she should go see him. Would that make him question her more, or would it ease his suspicions? Maybe she should ask Tristan tonight. She hated the idea that she was thinking about him more and more, that she was relying on his opinion for what she should do.
She hated that. She tried to tell herself it would be best if she spent less time in his presence and didn’t think about him so much. But she knew that wasn’t the truth. She wanted to spend more time with him, spend more time with his lips locked to hers.
Carin closed her eyes and imagined him kissing her again, then she imagined him spanking her again and somehow, it didn’t seem so bad this time. She shivered and moaned softly.
“Carin, dear, the fabric if you please,” Margaret’s voice floated to the back room and Carin jerked back to reality. Her boss was calling her dear. Something was up.
Carin parted the curtains and moved into the other room, stopping dead in her tracks. Charlotte stood there with two women Carin didn’t know. The newcomers were looking over patterns. Charlotte stood near a table that held bolts of red, blue and green fabric.
Mrs. Thompson glared at Carin when her back was turned to the newcomers. “Please put it on the table,” the seamstress said in a sweet voice.
Carin followed her orders and kept her gaze turned away from Charlotte.
“Lady Essex is here to have us make her a dress,” Mrs. Thompson said.
“That’s wonderful,” Carin said. “You’ll love Mrs. Thompson’s creations. She’s very talented, Lady Essex.”
This happenstance could only mean that Tristan had found her, and with it coming on the heels of her defection from their mission at the museum, Carin was sure he’d found her before today, but had only sent Charlotte to check on her. In a way, that made Carin feel for him even more. It was obvious he was concerned about her.
“I believe, Lady Essex, that this fabric will look quite stunning on you,” Margaret said. �
��Of course, I have others that Carin can fetch. Would you prefer a different color? We also have an absolutely dazzling green satin that would look beautiful with your skin tones.”
Lady Essex cleared her throat. “No, thank you, Mrs. Thompson, I believe the lavender will work well for the walking dress I selected. But, if you don’t mind, I do need to make use of your facilities.”
Margaret nodded quickly, eager to do the bidding of her newest, and richest, customer. “Of course, milady, this way.”
But Charlotte shook her head. “No, please stay with Mrs. McCoy and Lady Thomas to discuss the dresses she has selected. Your assistant can help me. Carin is it?”
Carin smiled and nodded. Carin held the curtain open, then glanced to make sure Mrs. Thompson was with the other ladies. When they were behind the curtain, Carin whispered, “Why didn’t he just come in himself?”
“Oh, I guess you need the water closet,” Carin said louder, as she pointed to the room Charlotte had asked about.
In return Charlotte sat down in a chair near a worktable. “He was afraid that you would run.”
Carin couldn’t help but giggle. “Yes, I suppose I did act like a child last night. Did he say what happened after I left, with Inspector Kelley?”
“I’m not sure what was said between them, but I know Tristan was not happy. He didn’t say why. He did ask me to have you come to his house at nine tonight. Dalton and I have other plans, so we won’t be there. But we will all meet tomorrow and discuss things. Please bring the dress I loaned you and leave it at Tristan’s house.”
“Sorry about that,” she said. “The other dress belongs to my employer, and she wants it back, also. She’s not happy I didn’t bring it back today.”
His Disobedient Thief (Rakes of Mayfair Book 2) Page 8