And anyway, Uncle Harold was downstairs in the parlor. If the duke had wanted someone else to hear, surely it would have been his son, his successor, and not his grandson? Surely Crispin had enough misdemeanors and peccadillos to deserve his own talking to?
“I don’t believe you,” I said, although it might not have been quite as staunch as I would have liked it to be.
“Believe what you want, Darling.” He twitched his wrist out of my grip. “Run along now, so I can hear what’s going on.”
“I’ll scream,” I told him, snatching for his arm again. “Your grandfather can’t do anything to me. I’m not his grandchild. He has no control over me. If he kicks me out, I’ll go back to London and be just fine. But if he finds out thatyou’vebeen eavesdropping…”
“He’ll laugh,” Crispin said.
“Are you sure about that? What exactly did you and Flossie Schlomsky do, when you left last night? Where did you take her, and what happened?”
“Nothing,” Crispin said, but he grimaced. “Fine. Let go of me. I’ll come out.”
I dropped his arm and headed down the passage towards the Duchess’s Chamber. Half a second later, Crispin followed. He made sure the secret door had melted back into the paneling before he turned to me. “You’re a horrible cow, Darling. How dare you threaten me?”
“How dare you eavesdrop on your family?” I shot back, sticking both hands on my hips to glare at him. “How terribly ill-bred of you, St George!”
He smirked. “Are you telling me you weren’t planning to do exactly the same, Darling?”
Of course I’d been planning to do the same. But I wasn’t about to admit that to him. So instead I said, poisonously, “I knew you’d be in there, you know. You aren’t subtle at all. When you weren’t downstairs in the parlor, I knew you’d be up here, creeping along in the wainscoting like a cockroach!”
The humor dropped from his face and he flushed, flags of hot pink on both his cheekbones. “You’re awful, Darling. Truly. I can’t imagine what Kit sees in you.”
He saw his best friend, obviously. His pseudo-sister. To suggest anything else was ridiculous.
“And I can’t imagine what your various women see in you,” I fired back, since rumor had it that he had had plenty of them, difficult as that was to believe.
And then I smirked, just as evilly as he’d done a minute ago, as I drove the metaphorical knife in. “Oh, wait. I forgot. It isn’t you at all, is it? It’s the money and the title. Without those, you wouldn’t have a thing to interest a woman!”
He sneered. “Shows what you know, Darling.”
I opened my mouth to retort, something clever and cutting, when I realized I had no stinging comeback. So I tossed my head instead. “You’re deplorable, St George. Truly.”
“Maybe so,” Crispin agreed, a bit too readily. “Although I’ll have you know I don’t have to listen in to know what Kit’s hiding. I was still there when he came outside yesterday evening, you know. And that American gold-digger you saddled me with was happy to tell me all about your ‘friend’ Kitty Dupree.Shemight be stupid enough not to realize that Kit is Kitty, butI’mnot!”
“She’s not a gold-digger,” I said fairly, even as my stomach dropped. “Perhaps she didn’t tell you, but she’s a wealthy heiress. Her father is a businessman in Toledo.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere in America. But that’s not important. What matters is that she’s one of those heiresses from across the pond who’s looking to trade American dollars for a British title. You could do worse, St George. She obviously liked you.”
“Nice try, Darling,” Crispin said dryly, “but you’re not going to make me forget what we were talking about. I’ve known Kit for twenty-three years. I recognize him, even when he’s wearing a wig and a dress.”
I grimaced. “I suppose we have you to thank for this, then?”
Thisbeing the conversation taking place in the other room, of course.
Crispin sniffed. “Don’t be absurd, Darling. I told you yesterday that Kit was expected today. At that point I hadn’t seen him yet.”
“But I’m sure you immediately ran back here and told everyone in the household what you’d discovered, didn’t you?”
He opened his mouth, probably to deny it, but I cut him off. “You’re a sneak, St George. How completely in character for you to be up here, pressing your ear to the wall!”
“Just exactly what you’d be doing right now if I hadn’t been here first,” Crispin retorted.
“That’s different! I’m concerned. You’re just looking for something you can use to cause trouble.”
Crispin’s lips twitched into a smirk. “Oh, indeed. Would you like to know what’s going on with your Cousin Francis and your Aunt Roz?”
