Dangerous Dalliance by Joan Smith Read Free Book Online

intruded.”
    “On the contrary! It is I who feel an intruder. You must have this suite. We shall exchange.”
    “Oh no! Really, that is not at all necessary. We only wanted to see it.”
    “I insist!”
    Mrs. Lovatt advanced to introduce herself and Mr. Smythe, as I had lost all sense of propriety. “Very kind of you, sir, but we do not require such a lavish set of rooms.”
    “Nor do I!” he insisted.
    “But we don’t want it, milord!” I assured him.
    “We cannot afford it,” Mrs. Lovatt added bluntly, as her concern for the gentleman’s good opinion did not quite match mine.
    “I shall arrange the matter to your satisfaction,” he said, and left, his ears still ringing with denials.
    “What a pickle!” I complained. “You need not have told him we couldn’t afford it, Auntie. He was just trying to be civil.”
    “Daresay he didn’t want it himself, once he got a look at it,” Bunny said.
    We were still discussing the vexing situation a moment later when our bags were brought up by a hotel page, accompanied by the pompous little clerk. I used the word “little” in the sense of insignificant. Soames was tall as a bean pole, and of roughly similar width.
    “Lord Fairfield insists you have his suite. There will be no change in the price of your accommodation,” Soames said discreetly.
    “We don’t want him to pay for us,” I exclaimed.
    “The hotel is happy to defray the cost, madam, as a token of our esteem for your late father’s patronage.”
    “In that case, I hope you will thank Lord Fairfield for us. And thank you, sir,” Mrs. Lovatt said.
    Satisfied smiles were exchanged all around. Even Mrs. Lovatt was content with the arrangement. We were both fully alive to the glories of the suite, and particularly to the benefit of getting it at a nominal cost. She allowed it was “very handsome” of both Lord Fairfield and the hotel to take this generous stand. Bunny Smythe went to his room, promising to return shortly.
    “We shall write up some notices for the Brighton journals, Heather, inquiring for information of your father, and have them delivered at once,” Mrs. Lovatt said. “I’ll include the word ‘urgent.’ If they appear in tomorrow’s papers, we shall not have to stay longer than two days.”
    “I wonder how long Lord Fairfield is remaining in town,” I said, smiling vaguely at the doorway that had taken my hero away.
    “He didn’t say. I wonder if we ought to write him a note and thank him,” Auntie said, striding purposefully to the desk. She drew out the cream vellum paper. “This stationery looks almost too good to use for the notices.”
    I helped myself to a sheet. “It will do nicely for my note to Lord Fairfield.”
    While I struggled over making a three-line note to Lord Fairfield a thing of beauty, Mrs. Lovatt wrote and sealed notices to the three Brighton journals. Mr. Smythe returned as we were sealing our respective missives.
    “No need for us to deliver them. The hotel will have them taken around,” he informed us.
    “Excellent, then that leaves us free to have a nice cup of tea,” Mrs. Lovatt said. “My head is splitting after our long drive. We’ll have it in the saloon. That saloon will come in handy if we actually get any replies to those notices. We cannot interview strangers in the bedroom, and the lobby would not give us any privacy.”
    She pulled the bell chord, sent off the various letters, and ordered tea. When we were comfortable in the saloon with tea poured and a plate of sandwiches before us, we got down to discussing our unhappy business.
    “The next step is to visit a constable and show him the bullet holes in Papa’s jacket,” I said.
    “I’ll handle that,” Bunny said. “No need for you ladies to be put upon. I’ll find out which officer handled the case and give him a stiff quizzing. Seems to me there ought to have been some clues. Mean to say, you don’t shoot a fellow in a high-class hotel like this without attracting