Loving The Lost Duke (Dangerous Deceptions #1)(37)
The office was like a solicitor’s too, which was calming. Sophie left Mary sitting in the hallway and kept her veil in place. ‘I am being harassed by a man to whom I was once unofficially engaged. When we broke it off he vanished from London, and my life. I am now betrothed to another gentleman. Meanwhile the first man has returned to Town and is attempting to extract money from me with threats of plausible lies told to my fiancé.’
Mr Tanner merely nodded encouragingly. Presumably he was used to hearing this sort of tale day in, day out.
‘I have no intention of paying him and have heard recently that there were rumours in the past of rather shady dealings on his part, although I have no idea what they concerned.’
‘No, people do not tell young ladies such things,’ he murmured. ‘A pity. If they did a lot of unpleasantness might be avoided.’
‘I thought that if I could establish the facts about this past history it might be possible to… deal with him.’
‘Apply counter-pressure. Quite. We have a name for the gentleman?’
Sophie opened her reticule and handed over the notes she had made. ‘His name, where he was living when he was in London before, a description. He said he has been rusticating in Cornwall on his father’s estate, but I have no details of exactly where it might be or whether that is the truth.’
‘This is an excellent. I must congratulate you, ma’am, on your organised approach. It is always so easy to panic under these circumstances. Now, how much time do we have?’
‘I think I can stall him until the wedding, and perhaps a little beyond if he thinks I have no access to money yet. Two months, I suppose. But sooner if at all possible.’
‘Of course, one does not want such unpleasantness to persist for a moment longer than necessary. Now, do not worry. I do not know of this gentleman but I will put an investigation in hand immediately.’ He drummed his fingertips on the sheet of notes. ‘Even if there is nothing in his past, it may be possible for one of my larger associates to have a quiet word with him.’
‘Violence? Oh no, I couldn’t agree to that.’
‘No, no. Just the suggestion that someone is taking an interest, shall we say, is usually quite enough for a man of this stamp to decide there are easier pickings elsewhere,’ he said soothingly.
‘And your fee?’
‘Let me see.’ Mr Tanner jotted some figures down, added them up and passed the paper to Sophie. ‘Unless we become involved in excessive travel costs that should cover it. With a ten percent advance if that is possible?’
‘Yes, of course.’ It was better than she had feared. ‘I brought some cash with me.’ She handed it over, received a receipt and then saw the flaw in her careful anonymity. ‘How do you report to me?’
‘Do you have access to The Morning Post?’ Sophie nodded. Mama read it and virtually every household she knew took it along with The Times for its more relaxed style and coverage of social events. ‘If there is something to report I will place an advertisement signed Green Door and addressed to Miss X. If you are in Town you can visit me, or if not, write with instructions on where I may send a report, or a representative if that would be safer.’
It all seemed so organised and ordinary, Sophie thought, as she and Mary climbed into a hackney carriage and drove back towards the Strand. She had experienced more embarrassing interviews with her doctor. Then she shifted uncomfortably on the lumpy seat as a cold trickle seemed to track down her spine. This was nothing like a visit to Doctor Felbrigg – he never suggested sending a “large associate” round to deal with a rash or an earache.
‘Sir?’
Cal focused on the man who stood before him, his expression decidedly nervous. Had he been frowning? He made himself smile and saw the assistant relax too. ‘I am Calderbrook.’
The assistant snapped to attention. ‘Your Grace.’ Another man appeared with a chair which he set reverentially next to the counter before effacing himself. ‘How may we assist you?’
‘A present for a lady. A betrothal gift.’ He had no difficulty interpreting the beatific smile on the man’s face. A duke, a duke about to marry, a duke about to spend a lot of money. Jeweller’s Heaven.
Cal sat and discussed his ideas and looked at one piece after another while the wary, suspicious, instinct that had kept him alive as he circled the globe kept nudging for his attention. Sophie close up, deliciously flustered, earnestly explaining about buying him a present on a budget, had disarmed the immediate flare of mistrust. Now he wondered just how well he knew the woman who was about to become his wife in a few weeks. She was clever, he knew that. Clever enough to throw him off the scent if she was up to something. Her story about finding a present at a good price was plausible, yet there was something in the way she had reacted in the second that she recognised him… For a moment, veiled as she was, he thought her recoil was one of fear.
The days before the house party passed with uncanny speed and smoothness. Responses flooded back, several people took up the offer to add another guest and two bridesmaids would be accompanied by their sisters, while Cal invited another three gentlemen. ‘We’ll be about thirty, I imagine,’ he said casually. ‘Jared’s gone down to make sure everything is in order.’
Sophie was not sure she liked the silent Mr Hunt with his unfathomable brown eyes and swordsman’s grace. He saw too much and he looked as though he had a short, sharp method of dealing with problems. Given that the advertising columns of The Morning Post remained stubbornly free of notices from Green Door she could only hope that she was not going to prove a problem for him to deal with.