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Mr. Siddons tried to hold back his laughter, but it burst out of him in a great big rush of air. When he regained control of himself he said, “It’s the quiet ones like you who are the most dangerous and cunning.”
“Me?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief. “I’m not the least bit quiet.”
“Perhaps not, but you do choose your words carefully.”
“Well, yes,” she said with an unconscious tilt of her head. “I’m clumsy enough in body without tossing my mouth into the mixture.”
James decided then and there that she couldn’t possibly be the blackmailer. Oh, he knew that he hadn’t gathered enough facts to make this pronouncement, but his instincts had been telling him for days that she had to be innocent. He just hadn’t been smart enough to listen.
He regarded her for a moment, then asked, “Shall I help
you fetch the tea?”
“Surely you have more important things to do than accompanying a lady’s companion to the kitchen.”
“I have often noticed that ladies’ companions are the ones most in need of companionship.”
Her lips curved into a reluctant smile. “Now, now, Lady Danbury is a good sort.”
James watched her mouth with unabashed interest. He wanted to kiss her, he realized. This wasn’t surprising in and of itself—he’d thought of very little in the past day besides kissing her. What was odd was that he wanted to do it right then and there in the hall. He was usually much more discreet.
“Mr. Siddons?”
He blinked, a touch embarrassed to have been caught staring at her.
“Who is blackmailing Lady Danbury?”
“If I knew that, I’d hardly have been accusing you.”
“Hmmph. Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for that.”
“Good God,” he said, startled. “You’re beginning to sound like her.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened in horror. “Lady Danbury?”
He nodded and hmmphed in a perfect imitation of Elizabeth imitating Lady D.
She gasped. “I didn’t do that, did I?”
He nodded again, his eyes dancing with amusement.
She groaned. “I’m going to get the tea.”
“Then you’ve forgiven me for suspecting you of blackmail?”
“I suppose I must. It’s not as if you knew enough of my character to clear me immediately.”
“Very broad-minded of you.”
She shot him a look that told him she didn’t much appreciate his flip comment. “But what I don’t understand is, what on earth could Lady Danbury have done to warrant blackmail?”
“That is not for me to say,” he said quietly.
Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll get the tea.”
“I’ll come with you.”
She put up a hand. “No. You won’t.”
