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“Thank you for understanding, Elinore,” Slayde said firmly. “Good day.”
“Good day.”
Slayde waited only until the viscountess had gathered her skirts and gone. Then he turned to his sister. “We’ll discuss the ramifications of your actions later. For now, where did you say you placed that alleged note you left me?”
“It wasn’t alleged. It was real. And I left it on my pillow.” Aurora headed for the stairs. “I’ll show you.”
Three minutes later, Slayde stood at the foot of Aurora’s bed, arms folded stiffly across his chest. “Well?”
Perplexed, she shuffled her bedcovers about. “I don’t understand. I put it in plain sight. Could a breeze have blown it away?”
“A breeze? From where? Miss Payne hasn’t set foot in here to open a window. She’s been too busy fretting over your absence.”
“Well, I can’t imagine—here it is!” Aurora reached between the mattress and the headboard, retrieving the note and flourishing it for Slayde’s inspection. “Somehow it toppled beneath my bedding. No wonder you didn’t spy it. It was wedged so tightly, not even your keen eye could discern it.”
Slayde snatched the page and scanned it. “Damn,” he muttered, crumpling it into a ball and tossing it across the room. “You’ve been frolicking about London while I’ve been—” He broke off.
“You’ve been…?” Aurora prompted. Pensively, she inclined her head. “Slayde, I’ve never seen you so unnerved. Oh, I know how fervent you are about your role as my protector. I’m sure the ransom notes you received must have been terribly upsetting. Still, they’re not the first threatening letters we’ve received pertaining to the diamond, nor is this the first time someone’s tried to extort it from us. Obviously, just as on those other occasions, these senders were lying. I’m here. I’m fine. So why are you behaving so irrationally?”
Hands clasped behind him, Slayde regarded Aurora with the brooding, self-contained intensity she recognized all too well. “Two of the ransom notes contained locks of what I presumed to be your hair. I believed the letters were valid. I complied with the senders terms.”
“What terms?”
“An exchange—the black diamond for you.”
Undiluted shock registered on Aurora’s face. “So you did have the diamond. All these years—”
“Not all these years,” Slayde interrupted. A heartbeat of a pause. “It was only recently that the stone came into my possession.”
“I see. How did it come into your possession? Did you find it?”
“No. It was presented to me.”
“By whom?”
“That’s irrelevant. The point is, I turned it over to a man I believed was holding you prisoner, a man who obviously went to a great deal of trouble to make me believe he was holding you prisoner,” Slayde amended. Slowly, he shook his head. “There’s more here than meets the eye.”
“I don’t care,” Aurora declared with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m thrilled the diamond is gone. At last we’ll be rid of that horrible curse.”
A dark scowl. “There is no curse, Aurora. There’s only the greed of those who seek the stone, and whatever accompanies its possession. Wealth, acclaim…or vengeance.”
Aurora sighed deeply. “You still think Lawrence Bencroft is involved. Slayde, he’s too drunk to contrive some grand scheme to avenge his family’s downfall. Is it so difficult for you to accept the possibility that the pirate who summoned you acted alone?”
“If he did, he’s remarkably clever and thorough. Not to mention quick-thinking. He’d have to have learned about your excursion to London immediately, leapt at the chance to feign a kidnapping, and found a perfect replica for you all within a day. Quite a feat, wouldn’t you say?”
“I was hardly invisible. Hundreds of people saw me in London. This pirate could have been in or about Town, caught a glimpse of me, and dispatched a missive straightaway.” A flicker of bewilderment flashed in Aurora’s eyes. “What replica?”
“The young woman I believed to be you when I relinquished the stone. The woman who lost her father, her home, and very nearly her life. The woman who’s down the hall now, recovering from extensive injuries and severe shock. The woman who, from a distance, looks much like you and from whom that filthy pirate clearly acquired the locks of hair he sent me. That replica.”
Aurora sank down on the bed. “You’d better explain.” She listened, eyes widening as Slayde relayed the details of what had occurred two nights past. “Who is she?”
“Her name is Courtney Johnston. Her father captained the vessel that was overtaken by that blasted pirate. He was murdered at the same time that his daughter was taken prisoner. That’s all I know. Miss Johnston is awake for only short periods of time. And when she is, she’s still very weak, in a great deal of pain, and—much of the time—incoherent.”
“And all alone,” Aurora murmured. “God knows, I understand how that feels.” Swallowing, she asked, “How old is she?”
“About your age, I should say.”
“Does she really resemble me?”
