The Mayfair Affair by Tracy Grant Read Free Book Online

Trenchard's liaisons?"
    "Duchess—" Suzanne looked into the hard shell of Mary Trenchard's eyes. "It's intolerable that you're having to go through this."
    Mary handed a cup of coffee to Suzanne. "I don't know you well, Mrs. Rannoch, but for all Father's efforts to keep us out of his world, I've glimpsed enough to have some sense of what you and Malcolm must have seen. David's given me a glimmering of what you saw at Waterloo. I know about Tatiana Kirsanova's murder and what you went through in Paris. I can't imagine my situation is so very horrifying, given what you've seen."
    Heat shot through the porcelain handle as Suzanne gripped her cup. "There are different types of horror." And the desolation in those dark eyes was somehow even more horrifying than the stark circumstances.
    The duchess shrugged her straight shoulders. "There's nothing more intolerable than being an object of pity. What did they want you to ask me?"
    "Merely if you recognize this earring." Suzanne pulled the gold and rubies from her reticule.
    Mary stretched out a hand. "Where did you find it?"
    "Beneath the Boulle cabinet in his study."
    Mary's mouth curved. "I never thought he used the secret entrance merely for business."
    "Are there any ladies you know have been in the study when visiting the house?"
    "Not that I know of. Trenchard would hardly take dinner guests into the study. We scarcely use the ground floor rooms when we entertain unless the gentlemen drink in the library." She turned the earring between her fingers. "Whoever she is, she has good taste." She handed it back to Mary. "I assume you'll investigate."
    "We'll be discreet."
    "Trenchard is no longer here to be embarrassed, and I'm rather beyond it. I think the children are too young to notice."
    "Duchess—"
    "We're very different, Mrs. Rannoch, but I've always respected you. Don't ruin it by offering a sympathy that discredits us both."

    Malcolm paused on the pavement in front of Trenchard House in St. James's Square, Suzanne and Roth beside him. A faint pre-dawn glow had begun to brighten the gray sky. He and Suzanne had sent their coachman home when he let them off at Trenchard House. Mary had offered to send them home in one of the family carriages and had seemed surprised when they all said they preferred to walk.
    "Mary Trenchard says the earring isn't hers. She suggested we look for her husband's latest mistress, though she thought it entirely likely he was keeping more than one." Suzanne did up the top clasp on her pelisse. "Odd how an investigation makes acquaintances into confidantes."
    Roth turned up the collar of his greatcoat. "You're all right getting home?"
    "It's not far," Malcolm said. "And we can look after ourselves."
    "An understatement if I ever heard one." Roth gave a faint smile and tipped his hat to Suzanne. "I'll send word once we move Miss Dudley to Newgate." He took two steps down the street, then hesitated and turned back. The lamplight fell across his face, catching the conflict in his gaze. "I know this can't help but be awkward. But for all that, I'm glad to be working with you."
    Malcolm found himself smiling, on a night when smiles seemed an impossible stretch. "The feeling is mutual."
    "And though I hate to be the sort of wife who says my husband speaks for me, I quite agree," Suzanne said.
    Roth returned their smiles and set off towards Pall Mall.
    Malcolm tucked Suzanne's hand more securely through his arm as they turned in the opposite direction. "What haven't you told me?" she asked.
    "Am I that transparent?"
    "No, it took me years to learn to read you."
    Malcolm saw the realization of what she had just said flash in his wife's eyes in almost the same instant it dawned on him. So much between them was unchanged and so much would never be the same. She swallowed but didn't look away. Suzanne was tougher than that. "If you prefer not to tell me, I quite understand."
    "Good of you. Though of course that never stopped you from uncovering things in the