Elizabeth Kidd by My Lady Mischief Read Free Book Online Page B

meet you as well, my lady, and when I saw you enter the building, I made so bold as to follow you in.”
    “How fortunate that you were passing at that moment,” Kedrington remarked.
    “Not at all. In fact, I—er, own some property in this neighborhood and was consulting with my architect about some little renovations when I observed you from the window.”
    And hurried home to change his clothes, Antonia suspected. She glanced at her husband, but he had assumed the bland air which he wore on occasions of unavoidable tedium—or when he expected his wife to do something outrageous and wished to disassociate himself from her. She wondered which he thought it would be today. Mr. Melville was a trifle fawning, but not quite to the point of tedium. His manners were, indeed, unexceptional; Kedrington would probably tell her that her tendency to informality made her too critical of those who were punctilious to any degree greater than her own.
    They continued their tour, Mr. Melville attaching himself to Lady Kedrington. She cast a reproachful glance at Mr. Campbell for allowing himself to be usurped, but he could only return an apologetic shrug as he fell in with Kedrington. Antonia hoped her husband would think to invite his friend to dinner. She supposed they must invite Mr. Melville as well—but preferably not at the same time.
    Anticipating her wishes, Kedrington extended an invitation to Mr. Campbell for the following evening, while Mr. Melville was distracted by his conversation with Antonia; he would leave it to her to manage Melville, an easy feat for her. Robin gratefully accepted the invitation.
    “Where are you living?” Kedrington asked, half expecting to hear that he was camped out in some corner of Burlington House. Happily, this was not the case.
    “A group of us veterans are making use of the family home of Sergeant Hollister, whom you may recall. It turned out that he’s something of a nob and could have purchased a commission, although he claims he preferred sticking by his mates. The family made a killing in trade with the Indies over the last century, and although the house is in the East End, it’s a bloody great place, where five extra of us are hardly noticed.”
    “Perhaps I should have invited myself to dine there .”
    Robin laughed. “You’re welcome, of course, but it’s pretty much like an army mess—scarcely elegant dining at the best of times. In fact, I’m not at all sure I’ll remember my manners when I come to you, having used them so little of late.”
    “Oh, Antonia won’t mind, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
    “You’re a lucky dog, Kedrington.”
    The viscount smiled. “People do keep pointing out the obvious.”
    He paused just then in his perusal of a huge frieze, having noticed that it was placed on a wheeled platform. Robin following his gaze and explained, “Some of the smaller pieces have already been moved to Montagu House. The larger ones will be taken one by one, most likely at night when their progress will not disrupt traffic between here and there. This frieze will be the next piece to go.”
    “It doesn’t look very secure.”
    “Oh, it won’t be wheeled all the way to Bloomsbury like that. It will be battened down more securely.”
    “I did not mean precisely that…. Are any precautions being taken against thieves?”
    “Not really. The assumption is that the remaining pieces are all too heavy to move even one of them without a great deal of commotion and several men, and there is a round-the-clock watch on them. I am only one of many guards.”
    “There has been no vandalism of any kind?”
    “Not that anyone has noticed.”
    “Are you armed?”
    Robin began to look concerned. “No.”
    “I’ll lend you something suitable when you come to dinner tomorrow.”
    “Look, Duncan, do you really think there’s any danger?”
    Kedrington shrugged. “Very likely not. Put it down to over-caution on my part—or perhaps just a distrustful nature. We