Page 97 of A Deal with the Devil

Chapter Twenty-Four

“That was not as successful as I was hoping it would be,” Kitty muttered to Yelena as they walked back to the carriage with the waiting brothers Winchester.

“Bu now you know for certain that Lady Caroline is more likely to be on the run than killed by Portsmouth.”

“I do?” She hoped so.

“If Lord Portsmouth murdered her, he would not be asking her lady’s maid anything about her whereabouts. And if he thought she saw something she should not have seen, I doubt she would be alive right now.”

Kitty nodded slowly. “That’s true.” It wasn’t much to pin her hopes on, but she would take anything. Both for Evie’s sake and for “Lady Caro.” She was feeling quite protective of the young woman she had never met. “I wish she had gone to the Spinster Society for help.”

“I suppose the society will have to go to her instead.”

“Are you acquainted with Lady Priya?”

Yelena smiled. “Lady Priya knows everyone.”

“Well, she knows everyone’s secrets, at any rate.”

“That too.”

“I wish I could talk to her.” But it was too risky to Evie. Lord Portsmouth would know immediately were Kitty to go anywhere near the Spinster Society house. She was lucky he did not know already, to be honest. “I guess I will settle for talking to Miss Campbell instead. Perhaps she still has some of the Duchess books and I can piece the rest of the letter together. Someone has to know where Lady Caro is if she doesn’t.”

She worried at it as the carriage was expertly handled around street sweepers, carts overfilled with wares, shouting hackney drivers. And when thinking and more thinking did not produce any miraculous results, Kitty let herself think about something else. Just for a moment. She had overheard a customer once say that the best way to solve a puzzle was to let yourself forget about it for just a moment. To walk somewhere new, bake a loaf of bread. Embroider a cushion. Anything.

Kitty was not sure if thinking about Devil counted, since he was a puzzle himself.

“Have you known Devil long?” She probably should not ask personal questions. It would make no difference whatsoever. Devil was Devil and she was…Kitty. None of that had changed, no matter how often she found herself thinking about his forearms, or his thighs, or the way he almost smiled. Mostly at her.

Yelena nodded. She was lovely in her walking dress, the ribbons matching the flowers on her bonnet. Kitty did not have a bonnet. And she knew she was already wrinkled from the day. “Lord Birmingham was friends with my husband,” Yelena replied.

“On the Continent?” Kitty asked tentatively.

“Yes. They saved each other’s lives more than once. But even Devil could not save him from a wound gone to rot. Lord knows he tried.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was a few years ago. At least I was there to hold him.”

“Is that where you learned your hatpin tricks? The army.”

Yelena smiled. “The British Army is not keen on teaching women to fight. Especially women from another country. But my grandfather was as vicious as a cornered dog. He taught me what he could, and then my yaya taught me the rest. She was the only one who could best him. What of your family?”

Kitty snorted. “My grandfather likes to throw wet cabbages at my shop.”

Yelena frowned. “Why?”

“Because I am a disgrace.”

“Is that all?” she scoffed.

“But he’s also scared of my grandmother, and sometimes she writes him very long letters and he magically leaves London for a few weeks.”

“I think I would like your grandmother.”

“She is a termagant. I adore her.”

“And your sister?”