by Heather Boyd
Rebecca shook her head, smiling. “Try to remember your promise to me.”
The warmth of her indulgent smile captivated Adam. Rebecca may not openly encourage him, but she charmed without even trying. He longed to pull her against him and kiss that mouth into temporary submission. “What are we doing here?”
She frowned. “The page that fell from my ledger was a bill for purchases in my name.”
“How recent?”
“The very day I followed my family to Suffolk. I left very early that day so the purchases could not be mine.”
“You arrived at Stapleton Manor earlier than usual.”
“Exactly. I wrote to tell Barclay I had left, after I reached my father’s estate. A woman could not be in two places at once unless there was some sort of pretense involved,” she noted.
Adam studied the shop façade through narrowed eyes, not liking the implications. “Please allow me to go in first and get a look at the place. Give me a few minutes before you both follow. Pretend we do not know each other at first so I can gauge the shopkeeper’s reaction to your identity.”
“Very well.”
Adam exited the carriage. As he’d ordered earlier, the carriage had stopped some distance from the business. Adam ambled down the footpath to Mr. Garrick’s Emporium of Fine Wares. The outside did not impress him still, but he went in and looked around. He found himself in a tidy little shop that belied the mean exterior.
A rotund man wearing wire spectacles stood behind the counter and beamed. “Welcome to the emporium, sir.”
Adam nodded and then looked about some more. It seemed a place where a man could buy almost anything he needed to make a good impression. He moved to one side and inspected a selection of walking canes. These were good quality items and reasonably priced, too.
But before he could investigate further, a movement at the window caught his eye. Rebecca had arrived—almost too soon.
She marched straight to the counter and the shopkeeper. “Good morning. Mr. Garrick, I assume?”
“Indeed I am.” The fellow beamed.
“I believe you have billed me for purchases recently. My name is Mrs. Rebecca Warner, and I assure you we have never met before.”
Garrick squinted at her, and Rebecca looked back at him in the most unfriendly fashion possible.
“You are not Mrs. Rebecca Warner,” the shopkeeper corrected.
“I am the one you billed. My card.
The fellow squinted at the writing on the card, and then Adam noticed he tested the quality of the paper with his thumb. A frown appeared between his eyes but then it cleared, and he returned the card to her. “How can I help you today?”
“As you can see, my residence is on Upper Brook Street. It is the address to which you supposedly sent a gentleman’s pocket watch. Do you expect me to pay for an item that was not delivered?” she demanded impatiently.
Adam winced at her tone. Rebecca had every right to be angry but her temper would interfere with the inquiry.
Adam strolled to the counter and stopped when he reached Rebecca’s side. “Is there a problem?”
Garrick glanced between them. “Who are you?”
Adam presented his card too. “Adam Croft, sixth Earl of Rafferty. Perhaps you could help the lady with her inquiry?”
The poor man fairly trembled. “Perhaps.”
“Well, the lady and I are good friends.” He gestured to Rebecca. “This is the honorable Mrs. Rebecca Warner, daughter of the Duke of Stapleton. We have come to ensure that you never bill her again for purchases she does not make.”
Garrick squeaked and rushed around the counter. Thinking the man meant to escape, Adam hurried to block his path. But Garrick only reached the latch and locked them inside together. He turned slowly, face pale. “There must be some mistake.”
“No mistake. I was not even in London on the day that pocket watch was purchased.”
Garrick glanced at Adam and then back at Rebecca. “I don’t want any trouble?”
“There will be none if you answer my questions honestly,” Rebecca told him.
“Anything.” He scurried around the shop and found two chairs. He offered Rebecca one and then one to Adam. Adam declined, and gestured for the older man to sit down instead. “Anything at all.”
“The pocket watch. Do you remember who gave you my name?”
“A woman.”
“Can you describe her?”
Garrick did. “I had no reason to believe she was lying,” he told her. “She presented her card and seemed quite genuine.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I’m sorry. The lady took it back I think.”
Adam caught Rebecca’s eye. “Any shopkeeper might believe she was you if they dressed the part and the shopkeeper did not to dig too deeply.”
“That does not make me feel any better, Rafferty,” she grumbled.
Adam set his hand on her shoulder to soothe her as he addressed the shopkeeper again. “What else do you remember about her? Anything at all is important.”
“Not much really. The woman was elegantly dressed. Softly spoken. I’ve seen them come and go from a neighboring establishment many times now I think about it.”
“Them?”
“Yes, she said she was to be married.” The fellow suddenly grinned. “Would it be better if you could meet them?”
“You can arrange that? You know where they really live?”
The fellow shook his head. “No, I do not have their proper address, unfortunately, but on her last visit to my shop, the lady asked me if I could procure a special item I do not usually carry. A little something to sweeten her husband’s mood, she said. It is for the anniversary of their first meeting I believe. I promised her I could and would have the item tomorrow. I expect her before I close at noon.”
Adam grinned. “That is very good news. We can lie in wait and hopefully identify the woman and then we will follow her back to her own home to meet her husband.”
Rebecca leaned forward. “What is it you were to procure for her?”
“A snuffbox.”
Rebecca visibly flinched.
“Is that important?”
Rebecca said no, but Adam was not convinced it wasn’t. A frown had formed on Rebecca’s face again and she asked to go home.
Adam said their goodbyes and herded Rebecca and the silent maid back to the safety of the carriage. But he watched Rebecca closely the whole way back to Upper Brook Street. When they arrived at her townhouse, Adam was truly worried. “I’ll escort you inside,” he murmured.
Rebecca did not even try to stop him.
Adam handed her out, and she rushed up the stairs ahead of her maid. Once inside Rebecca dismissed her maid and turned to a nearby parlor.
Adam followed Rebecca inside.
“Could you close the door please,” she asked. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Adam did and turned back to find Rebecca flipping through the pages of a small book.
“What are you looking for?”
She held up one hand, continuing to run her finger down each page. “There.”
“What?”
She lifted her eyes to his. “I must be the worst judge of character of anyone that has ever lived.”
He shook his head in denial. “That is simply not true.”
Rebecca crossed the room and dropped into the seat next to him. “I always seem to place my faith in the wrong people only to be burned later.”
“You are a kind woman,” Adam promised. “If there is any fault in you is that you give too much of yourself.”
“Or they try to take what is mine.”
Adam slipped his arm around her back. “You know who visited that shop, don’t you?”
Rebecca nodded, and then her face twisted with unbearable pain. She uttered a little wail and threw herself into Adam’s arms. She sobbed, quite bitterly for a good long while as Adam tried his best to comfort her. After a while, he picked her up and sat her
on his lap. With Rebecca secure in his arms, Adam let her cry as hard as she liked against his coat and then brought out his handkerchief. He pushed it under her nose. “Here, take this.”
She took it from him but turned her face into his shoulder rather than looking at him.
“Did you know that the first rule of my family is that a good cry is allowed, nay even encouraged. Sob away.”
She spluttered. “You’re trying to make me feel better?”
“Is it working?”
“Yes it is.” She sat up on his knees, dabbing at her tear stained face. “You’re a better man than I gave you credit for. I was so cold to you for so long. How did you stand me?”
He took the handkerchief and soaked up her tears with it. “I’m an acquired taste. So are you. You’re a good influence on me. Will you tell me now whom you suspect? I swear, I’ll draw his cork if you want me to.”
“No violence will be required from you, Adam,” she warned.
Adam grinned because Rebecca had used his given name at last. Now they were really getting somewhere. “Tell me? No more stalling.”
She tilted her head to the side and her expression grew pensive. “I might need your help proving the matter.”
“That’s what I’m here for. To help you.”
“I might also need your help finding a new solicitor soon too.”
Adam cursed at length.
“Language, Adam,” Rebecca chided when he finished venting, but she was smiling at him fondly. “You are in the presence of a lady.”
“Damn right I am.” He kissed Rebecca soundly and they quickly made plans for the next day.
Chapter 16
“This is cozy,” Adam whispered, nuzzling Rebecca’s neck.
Rebecca was standing in his arms in the storeroom of Garrick’s Emporium of Fine Wares the next day. They had been hiding here an hour, and her feet were already starting to ache. That was the only reason she’d allowed Adam to embrace her.
He seemed very good at holding her up. “What if they don’t come?”
“Then we’ll catch him tomorrow. Garrick won’t complain.”
“Of course not. Not with you spending your money in his shop.”
“I’m planning for the future. When Ava is older, I’ll need those walking canes to drive off her would be suitors. When this is over, you should buy something from the shop too. There is a pretty lady's cane over there I’ve been admiring this past hour. I think it would suit you very well.”
“Ridiculous. A frown is as good a deterrent as any and I certainly don’t need a cane.”
“Scowling works for you, not me. I like to be more hands-on with my conversations.” His big hands rose and cupped her breasts.
To her mortification, Rebecca’s nipples hardened under his palms. She had missed his touch these past few days but now was not the time for lovemaking. “Adam, not now.”
“But why? You were just starting to enjoy it,” he kissed her cheek but lowered his hands obediently. “When?”
She’d sent him home last night unsatisfied to be with his daughter. But tonight might be another matter. She had needs too, and he was very good at paying attention to those. “That depends?”
The shop door bell tinkled, and they both peered through the crack in the door. A woman entered the establishment, but she had blonde hair and walked unevenly. It wasn’t her.
Rebecca leaned back against Adam and sighed. “She’s not coming.”
“Patience, Becca” he urged. “People will do almost anything for money when they care only for themselves,” Rafferty warned just as the bell tinkled again and the blonde woman left.
When the bell rang again, Rebecca put her eye to the gap and saw a pretty India muslin on a woman entering the shop. When Rebecca saw the woman’s face, her breath caught because she knew her very well indeed. She had hoped to be wrong about this.
Rafferty’s grip tightened on her waist. “Wait. Is that who I think it is?”
“Indeed it is,” Rebecca agreed quietly. Charlotte Benning. A woman Rebecca had considered a good friend until recent times. Charlotte had met Barclay a year ago today in his offices.
“Don’t let her see you yet,” Adam warned drawing Rebecca back a little more from the gap in the door.
But she saw Charlotte approach the shopkeeper, smiling warmly. “Has my order come in?”
The bell chimed again and a gentleman of means entered the shop.
“That’s Sir John,” Adam whispered. “I’ll introduce him to you later.”
“Your order? Oh, forgive me,” Mr. Garrick begged. “My memory is atrocious today. Could you remind me what your name is again?”
The woman beamed. “It is Mrs. Rebecca Warner of Upper Brook Street.”
The magistrate, in the act of inspecting walking canes, clearly heard the woman because he turned to look at Charlotte frowning.
“Ah, yes. The snuffbox,” Garrick said aloud. “I have it right here. Just a moment.”
Rebecca was so devastated she turned away. She’d know Charlotte had no qualms in asking for trinkets when they were shopping. She’d never imagined she’d try to impersonate her.
“Oh, it is just what I hoped for,” Charlotte exclaimed as she examined the tiny box. “Do send the bill to my solicitor for settlement as usual.”
Rebecca was distraught. Charlotte clearly knew what she was doing.
“Not yet,” Adam whispered holding her back as the door chimes rang out again.
Rebecca froze. It was her solicitor, Mr. Barclay.
Barclay strode straight to Charlotte’s side. “My dear, what are you doing in this shop again,” he demanded. “The carriage is waiting to take us home.”
Charlotte turned, smiling. “Oh no, you’ll spoil my surprise, my love.”
“My love?” Adam asked quietly. “Are they in this together?”
Rebecca squinted at the pair and couldn’t miss the look of love on their faces. “It seems so.”
Charlotte darted back to the counter and collected her ill-gotten gains as other customers entered the shop. She took her present to Barclay, the snuffbox sitting proudly on the palm of her hand. “For you. To celebrate the anniversary of meeting each other.”
Barclay’s eyes twinkled. “You shouldn’t have spent your pin money on me.”
“I didn’t,” she said with a sly wink to him. “It is a gift from the woman who brought us together.”
Barclay sighed and Rebecca seethed.
She was betrayed yet again by people she trusted. She had considered Barclay an upstanding gentleman but clearly marriage had changed him and not for the better.
Sir John jerked his head toward the couple urgently.
Rebecca closed her eyes briefly and then pushed open the door, aware that Adam followed close behind. She stepped out into the shop and glared.
Mr. Barclay was paid well enough not to need to steal from his clients. She was furious and did not bother to hide her feelings from anyone in the establishment.
Barclay paled when he noticed Rebecca and made a grab for Charlotte’s hand. He started to pull the woman toward the door, but the magistrate’s men were there to block his path.
Rebecca approached the pair and shook her head. “What did I ever do to either of you to treat me so poorly? I introduced you.”
Charlotte was the first to recover her composure. “Becca, dear. It is not what you think.”
“I heard you assume my identity to buy this man, your husband I presume, a pretty trinket to add to his collection of ugly snuffboxes.”
Barclay colored. “I have never encouraged her.”
“You never stopped her, though, did you?” She shook her head. “Shame on you both for stealing from me.”
“But you have so much,” Charlotte protested. “We were desperate to marry but without a fortune of my own I had no choice.”
“By my calculation I had just enough to last my life time,” Rebecca argued. “But there was never any room for extravagance.”<
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The magistrate stepped between them and Rebecca was glad. Charlotte couldn’t be allowed the chance to talk Rebecca out of having her prosecuted.
“You are both under arrest for the wrongful impersonation of the Duke of Stapleton’s daughter, thievery by deception, knowingly misappropriating funds belonging to Mrs. Rebecca Warner, and others and for bringing the legal profession into disrepute,” Sir John warned. “Take them into custody.”
Barclay struggled but he was no match for the men Sir John had brought with him. Charlotte went more quietly.
The shopkeeper joined Rebecca. “It is hard to pretend innocence when caught in the act.” “Indeed.” Rebecca hugged herself. “This will be hardest for Charlotte’s family.”
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for anyone,” Adam warned, putting his arm around her shoulders. “They deserve every embarrassment for the pain they’ve put you through.”
“They do indeed,” she said as she drew Rafferty even closer.
Rebecca sighed but looked to the grinning magistrate. “I heard Barclay say they’ve been shopping today. Would your men please try to find their carriage and question the driver about where their journey today has taken them? Those bills will need to be paid—but from the appropriate accounts this time.”
“I had planned to do just that,” Sir John said before bowing. “It will take time to assess the depths of their thievery but I will let you know the outcome. By all accounts so far, Barclay has been skimming from a number of accounts.”
Adam cleared his throat. “I paid a call to Peter Warner after I left you last night and encouraged him to call upon Sir John as early as possible and share his concerns too.”
“I’m grateful you did because he was not the only one.” Sir John bowed to her. “It’s been a pleasure, madam, and I hope to see much more of you soon. I’m not sure Rafferty deserves you though.”
“Go away, man,” Adam said as he gestured to the door. “You’ve more criminals to catch out there.”
Rebecca watched the magistrate go. Mr. Garrick hurried back behind his counter as soon as they were gone. Rebecca turned in Adam’s arms slowly. He’d kept his word and hadn’t taken over. “Thank you,” she whispered.