“Lady Debenham!” Kitty sat down abruptly at her dressing table. She glanced at the door. “Tell her she can speak to me here and we’ll be private. Make sure no one else interrupts us, Betsy.”
What on earth did Araminta have to say to her that it required such cloak and dagger? Araminta would have recognized Kitty at her birthday celebration at The Grange, and was no doubt horribly uncomfortable at the memory of what she and Kitty had shared when Kitty had taken her to Mrs. Mobbs’s.
“The audience seemed to like you well enough.” Araminta swept in, ostrich feathers waving, her beautiful gown molding her form. “You certainly played a passable nymph. I daresay you can be whomever you choose, and that’s quite a gift.”
Did Lady Debenham know that Kitty was also Lord Partington’s daughter? She knew Lissa was, but judging by the airy way she tossed her fur tippet over one shoulder and seated herself upon the spindly chair Kitty had pulled across from the window, Kitty doubted that she knew Kitty was also her father’s daughter.
“Now,” said Araminta, “you are no doubt wondering why I’m here, and since my husband is waiting at home to take me to Lady Richmond’s ball, I shall be brief. The fact is, Miss Bijou, that I have a problem, and I need you to help me get to the bottom of it. You were in possession—and no doubt still are—of my ruby and diamond necklace.”
So that was it. She wanted it back. Anger bubbled through Kitty’s veins as she said, “I was given that necklace by Lord Nash who paid for it, honestly. When your husband demanded it back, nevertheless, my…friend, Lord Silverton, paid him its value so I could keep it.” Crisply she added, “Therefore, the necklace has been paid for twice over, and I refuse to relinquish it.”
“I’d heard there was quite a story to that necklace. However, I’m more interested in how it came into Lord Nash’s hands than anything else.”
Kitty looked at Araminta askance. “I’m not sure a lady like you would want to know.”
Araminta glanced at the door and then thrust her chin out at Kitty. “I need to know the truth. Where did Lord Nash acquire the necklace?”
Kitty sighed. “He bought it from an unsavory woman called Maggie Montgomery. It was one of the objections I had to marrying Lord Nash. That, and the fact that the necklace had belonged to you first, though I didn’t know that at the time.” When she saw the confusion on Araminta’s face, she explained, “Maggie Montgomery is the madam of a house of ill repute…if you know what that is.”
“A brothel!” Araminta jerked as if stung. She began fanning herself furiously but waved away the drink Kitty offered her. “I need your help, Miss Bijou. You helped me once before, and maybe you think I wasn’t grateful enough, but let me assure you I was.” Stopping abruptly, she bit her lips. “That is, assuming you were discreet.”
“I vouchsafed nothing about assisting you when it looked likely your babe might come early, if that’s what you mean.”
“Just as well for you…” However, Araminta said the words distantly. She seemed more concerned with other thoughts until she refocused her gaze upon Kitty and said suddenly, “I need you to come with me this evening and meet someone. Or rather, someone intends to meet me at midnight, and they want five hundred pounds—which I don’t have.”
“A ransom demand?” She remembered Araminta’s evasiveness during the conversation she’d overheard between Araminta and Ralph. “Over what?”
“I’m not telling you. But I want you to meet this person in my stead, and I’ll be watching to see who it is. It’s twenty minutes before the clock strikes so we’ll need to hurry.”
“You’re asking me to do this dangerous thing out of the goodness of my heart?”
“Of course not. I’ll pay you well, naturally.”
“What if I have other plans? I’m sorry, Lady Debenham.” No, Kitty wasn’t sorry, but furious that Araminta thought she could toss out directions in such a manner.
Araminta looked outraged before she forced a smile. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Have other plans?”
“Well…”
“Your liaison with Lord Silverton has ended, has it not? Very charming man. I remember I met you the first time in his company. But perhaps you have already allied yourself with someone else.”
“No, I have not! But all right, I’ll go with you.” Kitty would have anyway if Araminta had not been so selfishly beastly about assuming she would. A blackmail attempt? Kitty imagined Araminta would be ripe for all manner of blackmail attempts the way she conducted herself; however, since Kitty and Lissa were hoping to discover the identity of an extortionist who was operating amidst the ranks of the ton, this was a good start.
Araminta was quiet as they climbed into a hackney and made the short journey to the cemetery where they were to meet the blackmailer. She was more nervous, perhaps, than she’d first appeared, for when Kitty asked, “Are we here?” she made a strangled noise and indicated for Kitty to lead the way as they left their conveyance and trod a twisting path through a small pine forest.
/> A quiet section near the eastern entrance had been chosen as the meeting place. The moon gave good light, but there were plenty of opportunities to find concealment. Ancient yew trees lent an eerie atmosphere, and Kitty yelped at the sound of an owl hooting in a tree branch just above her head. Araminta hung back near the gate while Kitty took the lead, showing more confidence than she’d expected to feel. Like Araminta, she was now heavily veiled.
Shortly after arriving at the designated meeting place, Kitty heard the soft tread of footsteps upon the gravel. Suddenly, she was terrified. Perhaps Lord Debenham had planned to take his wife to task, and it was, in fact, himself who was going to confront Kitty. He’d be completely unimpressed if he discovered the woman who supposedly had stolen his wife’s necklace was here in Araminta’s place. Oh Lord, she hadn’t considered that. Lord Debenham? Indeed, it was quite possible though she’d discounted him because he’d already received payment from Lord Silverton. Of all London’s gentlemen, he was the one who terrified her most.
But it was a woman, large-busted with ostrich feathers in her brassy hair, and a terrifyingly familiar voice who stepped into a pool of moonlight as if she’d stepped in front of the stage lights. She was veiled, but the gaudy scarlet and black high-waisted gown with its overdone embellishments that accentuated her ample proportions, proclaimed exactly who she was. Kitty had seen Mrs. Montgomery wear this gown on numerous occasions.
“So Lady Debenham, have you the money?”
Kitty could only gasp as she shook her head.