The Bride Wore Pearls by Liz Carlyle Read Free Book Online Page A

Oakdale.”
    At that, Lazonby tried to smile, but it came out as more of a wince, one hand going to shade his eyes. “Could you just draw the damned drapes?” he grumbled.
    “Drink more coffee,” Belkadi suggested. “Or, better yet, stop drinking altogether, and we won’t have this nonsense to deal with.”
    Lazonby eyed him a little nastily across the coffee room table. “Ever the upstart, aren’t you, Sam?”
    Belkadi ignored the remark. “Do you want to know what I think about all this?” he continued, waving a languid hand to indicate the whole of the house.
    “No, but you are bloody well going to tell me,” Lazonby grumbled.
    “ Oui, ” said Belkadi, “for you are the man who had me hauled over here and given the management of it. And what I think is that this is not your home—nor was it ever intended to be.”
    “I bought a house,” said the earl darkly. “Don’t start ragging on again.”
    “You bought a house,” Belkadi agreed. “In Ebury Street. A fine new house with every modern convenience. You even hired a servant or two. Yet you never stay there. But from now on, you must. You will.”
    “You sound very sure of yourself.”
    “Very sure.” Belkadi flipped open the ledger he’d been carrying when he’d run Lazonby to ground. “Safiyah has the footmen upstairs packing you even as we speak.”
    Lazonby looked wounded. “Really? After all I’ve done for you, Samir? This is like a knife to my heart, you know.”
    “Save your breath to cool your porridge,” said Belkadi almost absently. “Isn’t that a Scottish expression?”
    “For a chap who once spoke not a word of the King’s English, you’ve managed to get the sayings down in a hurry,” Lazonby said dryly. “The more mean-spirited ones, at any rate.”
    “I find malice has its uses, oui .” But Belkadi was consulting his baize ledger with total equanimity, ticking off a row of numbers. “Now—do you wish me to resign my position here, Sergent-Chef-Major ?”
    The use of his former rank was done with a purpose, Lazonby knew. “Of course not,” he grumbled. “How can you even ask it?”
    “Then pray let me do my job,” Belkadi returned. “I’ve got Ruthveyn out at last, and you need to follow his good example. Your things will be carted back to Belgravia by dinnertime. Now, I’m to update you on matters in Saxony.”
    Lazonby yawned hugely.
    Belkadi pinned him with his dark, cold eyes. “ Saxony, ” he said again. “It’s serious . The King has allowed Prussian troops into Dresden. There’s been a bloodbath, and the court has withdrawn to Königstein.”
    At this, Lazonby bestirred himself, and sat more upright. “Damned quarrelsome Continentals,” he muttered. “Did Curran get out?”
    “Three days ago,” said Belkadi. “He’s taking Frau Meyer and her children to van de Velde in Rotterdam. He means to leave her there for the time being.”
    Lazonby relaxed. “Then in all seriousness, ” he said pointedly, “there’s nothing for me to do about Saxony, is there?”
    Belkadi shrugged. “With everyone else away, it falls to you to be aware of our goings-on in the greater world,” he said. “And to deal with the annoying day-to-day minutiae as well. So, back to the claret. The ’44 Quinsac can be had more cheaply than—”
    “Ask Sir Greville,” Lazonby interjected.
    Samir lifted his hard eyes from the ledger. “That’s your answer? Ask someone else?”
    “No, ask Sir Greville, ” Lazonby repeated. “If you wish to send me to Saxony to beat back the Prussians, I’ll give it a go and draw their blood doing it. But if you want to know about wine, ask a barrister. To chaps like me there’s just the red kind, the yellow kind, and that watery pinkish swill. Every good field officer must know, however, how to delegate. If I’ve taught you nothing else these many years, Samir, I hope I’ve taught you that.”
    “It sounds like evasion to me.” Belkadi slapped the ledger shut. “ Très bien.