“Hubris will also make him want to strike at a grand target, not some obscure official,” mused Arianna.
“I think it’s safe to assume that Renard aims to do something dramatic. So we must consider his motives, and who he is aligned with.” He carefully sharpened a quill with his pen knife and dipped the fresh point into the inkwell. “Talleyrand seems the most likely. He too is an extremely clever man, skilled in dissembling and a master of political manipulations. Together they make a formidable force.”
“So do we,” she said softly.
“Indeed.” The firelight caught the subtle quirk of his lips.
Arianna wasn’t sure how to interpret the response. It seemed shadowed by a hint of hesitation. But then again, the flames were a dancing kaleidoscope of colors and her imagination was already overstimulated.
“Intuition and luck proved stronger than cold-blooded calculation during our previous encounter with Renard,” said Saybrook. “So we were fortunate enough to beat him at his own game. However, we must be mindful that he and his employer are, for lack of a better term, professionals at deception and duplicity. And likely they have a very strong incentive for ensuring that their plan is a success.”
“So do we,” repeated Arianna stubbornly. “They are acting on purely selfish desires, while we believe that thwarting their plans will avoid suffering and bloodshed for a great many people. So, in essence, it is a fight between good and evil.”
Another little movement tugged at his mouth. “I thought you considered yourself far too pragmatic to believe in absolute principles like good and evil.”
“As you see, you are a bad influence on me,” she quipped.
Her husband’s laugh was a low smoky rumble that echoed the crackling of the coals. “Forgive me.” And then, in an instant, the flicker of humor was gone. “Fighting these dirty wars against dangerous adversaries was not part of our bargain, Arianna. I’ve very mixed feelings about involving you—”
“Come, give me a little credit for having the ability to make up my own mind,” Arianna cut in. “I’m not some meek mouse of a wife, who wouldn’t dare display her own teeth and claws.”
“Your abilities, both mental and physical, are most certainly not in question,” he replied tersely.
“So?” she challenged.
Saybrook stretched out his long legs and appeared to be contemplating the tips of his boots. Arianna poured another cup of chocolate, only to find the brew had gone tepid.
“So, very well,” he finally answered. “I will take you at your word.”
Words. Somehow their clarity had become clouded by nuance.
“Thank you,” said Arianna, a little more forcefully than she intended.
Turning away from the light, the earl drew an envelope from the leather portfolio. The ornate seal was, she saw, already broken. “Charles is having a reception later this week for the English delegation going to Vienna. He’s still a bit perplexed by my sudden desire to see the Emperor of Austria’s book collection, but he is used to my odd quirks by now, so I’m sure he doesn’t suspect any ulterior motive.”
If her husband felt any guilt over the deception, he kept it well hidden.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to renew your acquaintance with David Kydd.” He offered her the invitation. “It would be helpful if you whet his appetite for a more intimate friendship.”
Ah, well. I did ask to be fed to the lions.
“What man can resist the flirtations of a beautiful woman?” her husband went on. “That Kydd has a taste for games of betrayal might make the opportunity even more alluring to him. It would also afford a chance for Baz and me to pay a private visit to where he lives and search his rooms.”
“An excellent suggestion,” said Arianna coolly. “I will make every effort to turn him sweet.” She flicked a quick look at the pearl-white card and its elegant engraving, then dropped it casually on the side table. “As Grentham said, I do have the lack of moral scruples to be comfortable dangling myself as bait.”
The earl rose, and crossed the distance between them as swiftly and silently as a stalking predator. “I don’t know what you are thinking, Arianna . . .” His hands grasped her shoulders, his lips feathered against her brow. “But be assured that you are very special to me.” He kissed her, a long, lush embrace that ignited a spark of liquid heat deep in her belly.
Damnation, their bodies were eloquent enough in expressing their physical attraction. Would that their brains communicated half so well.
“I won’t allow any harm to come to you,” he murmured, slowly lifting his mouth from hers.
Noblesse oblige? Or was it some more primitive passion ?
Her mind was too tired, her emotions too tangled to delve any deeper into such questions tonight.
Touching a finger to his lips, she said, “Suffice it to say, we’ll both do our best, Sandro. Other than that, don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
11
From Lady Arianna’s Chocolate Notebooks
Chocolate Angel Food Cake
2 cups sifted superfine sugar (about 1 pound)
1⅓ cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1½ cups egg whites at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup coarsely grated semisweet chocolate
For the glaze
½ pound semisweet chocolate chips
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine ½ cup of the sugar with the flour and sift them together 4 times. Set aside.
3. Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs form medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1½ cups of sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed for a few minutes until thick and shiny. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minute. Scrape the beaten egg whites into a large bowl. Sift ¼ of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it very carefully into the batter with a rubber spatula. Continue adding the flour in 3 equal additions, sifting and folding until it’s all incorporated. Fold in the grated chocolate.
4. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35 to 45 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack. When cool, run a thin, flexible knife around the cake to remove it from the pan.
5. For the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate chips and the heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts. Pour the chocolate over the top of the cooled cake to cover the top completely and allow it to drizzle down the sides. If you have chocolate glaze left over, you can serve it on the side with the cake.
The moon hung low, a thin crescent of pale light barely visible through the dark turrets and rooftops looming above the narrow alleyway.
Saybrook chafed his gloved palms together and inched a bit closer to the twines of ivy wreathing the recessed gate. “No sign of movement here,” he whispered, peering out toward the empty street. “How about you?”
“Nothing,” replied Henning. He turned up the collar of his dark coat. “You’re sure Lady S can keep Kydd occupied for the evening?”
“She’s promised to ply him with champagne and feminine flatteries,” replied Saybrook as he set to work on the lock.
“The man would have to lack a pulse if he didn’t respond to yer wife,” said the surgeon. “If anyone is capable of squeezing the most intimate secrets from a man—”
“Thank you, but you may dispense with a detailed description of the process,” snapped the earl.
“Jealous, are ye, laddie?”
“No.” Several faint metallic clicks, barely audible above the rustling of
the leaves, and the gate sprung open. “Now, stubble the talk and stay close. Kydd’s rooms are on the second floor. The live-in servants are quartered up by the attics, and should all be asleep by this hour, so we ought to be safe enough.”
Slipping through the opening, they followed the narrow cart path around to the coal cellar, where a tradesmen’s entrance was set beneath the eaves. It too yielded to the earl’s picklock, allowing them entrance into the back of the lodging house. He led the way through a narrow passageway, which brought them around to the front entrance. From there they climbed quickly to Kydd’s rooms.
Closing the door behind him, Saybrook eased the bolt home. The quarters were small, as befitted a single man of modest means, and neater than one might expect.
“Empty,” announced Henning after taking a peek into the bedchamber. “By the by, how did you know which set of rooms was his?”
“Grentham provided me with the information.” The flare of the candle’s wick caught the earl’s fleeting smile.
“You and the minister are becoming bosom bows, eh?”
“I don’t expect to be suckling at the tit of friendship anytime soon,” quipped Saybrook. “Let’s just say that for now, we both recognize the benefits of sharing information.”
“Have a care that you don’t swallow a swill of his lies.”
“Never fear.” He lifted the light and surveyed the sitting room. Its furnishing were Spartan—a large desk, pushed to one side of the window casement, a round table and four straight-back chairs, a worn leather armchair facing the hearth, a battered sideboard with one door hanging slightly askew.
The only extravagance was the handsome set of bookshelves, filled with various volumes. Most were the usual student’s assortment of cheap, secondhand editions. But among the tattered spines were several sets of fine leather-bound books.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” murmured Henning, making his own survey. “A neat, modest abode, with nothing to excite any suspicions.”
“Indeed.” Saybrook continued his slow pacing around the perimeter of the room. “Let us start with the desk, though I doubt we’ll find anything incriminating there.”
“Not unless Kydd is a complete fool,” answered Henning. “Put yer candle out before it leaves a telltale drip of wax. I’ll light the lanthorn.” He raised the shutter and ran the beam over the blotter.
They worked their way methodically through the papers, taking care to leave no signs of their snooping. No purloined dispatches, no copied correspondence was in the pile, and the locked drawer yielded only a few small banknotes.
“Mr. Kydd seems to lead an exemplary life,” observed the surgeon, after carefully readjusting the angles of the pens on the blotter.
Saybrook made no answer. He was already circling the table, his gaze intent on the bookshelves.
“See something, laddie?”
No answer.
“Hmmm.” Henning joined him in studying the spines. “The expected assortment of French philosophers . . . political theorists . . . American revolutionaries . . . well, well, well. What have we here.”
He pulled out a slim volume and thumbed to the title page. “Pride and Prejudice, a novel in three volumes by the author of Sense and Sensibility.” A fleeting grin. “I wouldn’t have expected our friend to have a taste for such vulgar reading.”
“Actually, Arianna thinks it a most engaging book,” murmured the earl. “As do I.”
“I confess, I enjoyed it immensely too.” Henning flipped through the rest of the pages and then slid it back into its place. “What do you suggest? Shall we search through all of them to see if anything is hidden within the leaves or bindings ?”
Saybrook continued to stare thoughtfully at the shelves. “We don’t have time for a thorough examination of them all. We shall have to make an educated guess . . .”
Tap, tap, tap. He ran his fingers along a row of leather-bound spines. Pausing, he took down a book.
“Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair,” read Henning as Saybrook made a search through the pages. “The Clan-ranald Bard is perhaps the most famous of our Gaelic poets.”
Tap, tap, tap. The earl’s next choice was a volume by William Dunbar.
“Auch, I see your logic,” said the surgeon. He plucked a worn edition of Robert Burns poetry from the center of the top shelf. “Hmmph. Nothing tucked away in here.”
“No, but let us see what we have here.” Reaching into the recess, Saybrook retrieved a small chamois bag that was wedged in behind the Burns book. Untying the drawstring, he carefully emptied the contents into his palm.
A silver badge.
“There are some papers as well,” he said, handing the bag to Henning. “Have a look.”
The surgeon fished out several crudely printed pamphlets. “They are in Gaelic.” He took a moment to read them over. “The usual blather—arise ye Celtic warriors. Now is the time to seize your freedom.” His mouth pinched to a grimace. “Both are signed ‘the Dragons of St. Andrew.’ Which is a secret society much favored by the more radical-thinking university students.”
“Bring the light closer, Baz.” Saybrook ran a fingertip over the silver badge, tracing the carved details. “An odd sort of Celtic cross . . .”
“Look closely,” said the surgeon. “It’s fashioned from a claymore—a traditional Highland sword.” He slashed a finger across his throat. “Which is designed for naught but war and killing.”
“An Italian poniard would be a more appropriate weapon for Kydd, given his current propensity for stabbing his friends in the back.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t see himself as a duplicitous monster, but rather as a noble patriot.” Henning’s scarred knuckles tightened on the lanthorn. “ ‘Ah, freedom is a noble thing!’ ” he read from the radical pamphlet. “ ‘Freedom all solace to man gives’ . . .” Looking up, he sighed. “That John Barbour poem is inscribed on the stone marking where Robert the Bruce’s heart is buried.”
“I fear your countryman is as naive as he is idealistic. Treachery is a dirty business, no matter how poetically it is phrased. But no doubt he would march happily to the gallows, thinking himself a martyr to a glorious cause, rather than a dupe to a clever demagogue.”
Henning shook his head. “Daft bugger, to keep such incriminating stuff in his own rooms.”
Taking a pencil and small notebook from his coat pocket, Saybrook quickly made a detailed sketch of the badge. “Let me refold the pamphlets and put everything back in its place,” he said, after tucking the two other items inside the bag.
The rough newsprint crackled in reply.
Saybrook fixed his friend with a searching look. “Baz, I know your feelings on democracy and the rights of every man, but this Dragons of St. Andrew Society is dangerous. Preaching treason and armed rebellion will only result in the deaths of many young Scotsmen, whose intellect and passion could be put to far more effective political use.”
The surgeon responded by reciting a few stanzas from a Robert Burns sonnet.
Undaunted, the earl pressed on. “We need to know specifics—the ringleader’s identity, and whether, as I suspect, he is working with any foreigners. I would handle it through my own channels, but you know how clannish the Scots are. An outsider hasn’t a prayer of getting answers to any questions.”
“Auch, I know that,” said Henning unhappily. “I’ll send another messenger north. My cousin is in a position to know this sort of information, and he’ll trust that I’m asking for a good reason.” His voice tightened a notch. “Lies, manipulations, betrayals—why is it that I feel as slimy as Kydd?”
“Don’t,” counseled Saybrook. “There is a right way and a wrong way to achieve worthy goals.”
“Right and wrong,” growled the surgeon. “Is what we do for the higher good? God knows.” An oath rumbled under his breath. “I bloody well don’t.”
“I don’t claim to be a deity, Baz. But I’ve made a choice and can live with it. Can you?”
Henning swore anothe
r oath. “Would that the damnable matter didn’t cut so close to home. I have friends and family who wuddna agree with what I’m doing—especially my young nephew, who’s just begun his university studies. But ye know my sentiments on violence, so I really don’t have a choice, do I, laddie?”
“We all have choices, and most of the time they are damnably difficult ones.”
Henning grunted and turned for the bedchamber. “Let us finish our search, in case Kydd chooses to leave the party early.”
Repressing a flutter of nerves, Arianna ascended the stairs and entered the drawing room. Steady, steady. Deception was in her blood, she reminded herself. It would soon uncoil and come to life, like a sleeping serpent suddenly roused by the heat of a freshly kindled flame.
“Lady Saybrook, I appreciate your coming, despite Sandro’s indisposition.” Ever the attentive host, Mellon quickly approached and bowed politely over her hand. “I hope that his war wound is not giving him trouble?”
“No, no, it’s simply a stomach discomfort,” she replied. “I expect him to be fully recovered by morning.”
“Perhaps you ought to reconsider traveling to Vienna,” he suggested softly. “The trip will be a long, grueling one, and the city itself will be aswirl in the pomp and pageantry of the Peace Conference.”
Meaning that I will stick out like a square peg trying to squeeze into a round hole?
Keeping her thoughts to herself, Arianna responded with a smile. “Sandro is quite set on seeing the Emperor’s private library. You know how serious he is about his work.”
“Ah, yes—his chocolate book.” Mellon looked faintly bemused. “I was, of course, happy that the subject provided him with sustenance during the dark days of his recovery.” Saybrook had, for a time, sunk into a state of deep melancholy after being wounded in the Peninsular War. Chocolate had helped wean him from a dependence on opium.
“But perhaps he ought not push himself too hard,” he continued, after a fraction of a pause. “Given all he—and you—have been through in the past year, it might be wise to wait until things are calmer on the Continent before undertaking such a journey.”
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