Mischief in Regency Society. Amanda McCabe

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      “But not us,” he said teasingly. “We are above all that. We care only for the benefit of art.”

      Calliope laughed. “I am not so high in the instep as all that, I hope! I confess I do indulge in a spot of, shall we say, speculative conversation now and then.”

      “Never! Not Miss Calliope Chase.”

      “Sad, I know, but I must be honest.” Calliope sighed.

      “And what do you speculate about?”

      You, she almost said. She bit her lip, turning away again to peer at the passing pedestrians on the walkways. They were in a more sparsely populated part of the park now, most of the stylish gawkers behind them. Here were mostly serious strollers, nurses with their charges, footmen with dogs on leads. The phaeton rolled past them slowly, at a snail’s pace. “Oh, this and that. Bonnets, of course. Parisian fashion papers. Fans and plumes. Don’t ladies always interest themselves in the latest styles?”

      Cameron shook his head. “Some ladies perhaps, Miss Chase. Not you, nor, I dare say, your sisters, or your friends in that Ladies Society of yours all the females of the ton are so anxious to join. You can’t fool me.”

      She hoped she could fool him, at least some of the time. He couldn’t know how much they really did talk about him at Ladies Society meetings, how most of her acquaintances were half in love with him, called him their “Greek god”. He couldn’t know why she needed his help so much now. Why she had to keep an eye on him.

      And he really couldn’t know that she was beginning to like him.

      There. She said it, at least to herself. She was beginning to like him, to look forward to his conversation, his smiles. It surely wouldn’t last, though. Such silliness rarely did. She knew this from watching ladies like Lotty, who were infatuated with a different gentleman every week.

      It was like one of Lotty’s beloved novels, turned farce rather than Gothic tragedy. The Folly of Calliope. At least it was folly with a purpose.

      “Very well,” she admitted. “Sometimes we do talk about hats, and sometimes suitors. Mostly we talk about art and history. And books.” No need to mention that once in a while the books were things like Lady Rosamund’s Tragedy.

      “I knew it. Did I not say you cared only for the benefit of art?”

      “You did. And that, Lord Westwood—Cameron—is why I need your help.”

      He glanced at her, his brow arched. “My help? Dear me, Miss Chase, I fear I shall swoon!”

      Calliope lightly slapped his arm. “Don’t tease! I’m serious.”

      “As am I. Who would have thought this day would come? I’m quite dizzy with surprise.”

      “Hmph.” She snapped her parasol closed, just in case she was required to rap him over the head with it. “Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”

      “Always.”

      “Very well, then. I think we both agree the duke is an odious man, yes?”

      His smile melted, the corners of his beautiful, Greek god-ish lips turning down. “Of course.”

      “You know that better than I, I’m sure. You went to university with him. I only have his behaviour towards my sister to judge by. And his rapacious collecting habits. Those are quite vile enough.”

      “Believe me, my dear Miss Chase, you don’t want to see what the man is like outside of polite society,” he said darkly.

      My dear? Calliope peered closer at him, trying to read his face under the shadowed brim of his hat. It was as smooth as a statue, as Hermes. Only an obsidian glint in his eyes betrayed the depths of emotion roiling inside.

      “No, I don’t,” she said softly. “But I will, if that’s what it takes.”

      “If that is what what takes?”

      “To protect my sister. And the Alabaster Goddess.”

      “The Alabaster Goddess?”

      “Of course. It is too much to think I could protect all those objects in that dreadful house. The lioness, the sarcophagus, Daphne. But I think Artemis is in the most immediate danger. Both from the duke and from whoever might think to take her from him.”

      “The Lily Thief again?”

      “Perhaps. He is not the only petty criminal about, you know. She could be in danger from any number of people.”

      “You think some pickpocket from Whitechapel is likely to break into Acropolis House and steal a Greek statue? Maybe some of those cat mummies while he’s at it?”

      Calliope sighed. “Put like that, it does sound silly. No, I don’t think some cutpurse is going to haul the goddess away. There are plenty of criminals with more sophistication who could carry off such a crime, though. She is a prime target. Not too large, in beautiful condition…”

      “Too famous to sell on the open market.”

      “That wouldn’t stop a collector who wants only to gloat over her in private.”

      “As the duke has done?”

      “Yes, just so.”

      He turned the phaeton on to yet another lane, this one more crowded. Their progress slowed even further, caught in a knot of vehicles. “Say the Lily Thief—or someone else—does steal the Alabaster Goddess. How is she worse off than she was in Averton’s possession?”

      “At least with him we know where she is. There is a chance she could pass to a museum or a respectable scholar one day. If she is stolen, she would likely never see the light again. Never be studied properly.”

      Cameron shook his head. “Calliope, she has been studied, as much as can be. Taken from her original context, most of her lessons are lost for ever anyway. The duke does not deserve her.”

      “I won’t argue with you about that. He doesn’t deserve any of those antiquities in his house! But he does own them, for good or ill, at least for now.”

      “And so you think that gives him the right…”

      Calliope reached out and pressed her fingers to his tense arm, stilling his angry growl. This was that old quarrel of theirs, and there was just no time for it now. She needed him. “Please, Cameron. I need your help. Let’s not argue.”

      He stared down at her intently, perfectly still under her touch. “My help with what exactly?”

      “I told you—to keep Artemis safe. No matter what our disagreements are, we both want that, yes?”

      “Yes, of course.”

      “Then can we declare a truce? A new alliance, to save the Alabaster Goddess?”

      He was silent for a long moment, until Calliope half-feared he meant to reject her truce, to set her down here in the park and drive СКАЧАТЬ