Part 12 (1/2)

”You sound well suited.”

”We are.” Lady Dunwell thought for a moment. ”I may not love him, but I do rather like him. Perhaps I will love him one day, but it's been my observation that love makes women even more vulnerable than we already are.” She glanced at the biscuit in her hand. ”These are excellent, by the way. I should steal your cook from you.”

”You could certainly try.” Evelyn adopted her most pleasant manner. ”But she has been here for a very long time. Why, we consider her part of the family, and she feels the same about us. Besides.” She smiled. ”We pay her exceptionally well.”

”And loyalty cannot be bought.” Lady Dunwell nodded. ”You would be wise to remember that.”

Evelyn raised a brow.

”He's not a bad sort, you know. My husband, that is.” She shook her head. ”Underneath all that ruthless ambition he's really a good man in his own way. He has limits and a certain code of honor, which is often at odds with what he wants.” Her brow furrowed in thought. ”Adrian is a good man as well.”

”I have always thought so,” Evelyn said under her breath.

”Good men are exceptionally rare. I like your husband. There was a time when I more than liked him. It's not often one finds a man who is as good as well as exciting.” She leaned forward in a confidential manner. ”Aside from politics, Lionel is not particularly exciting.” She paused. ”I had rather planned to keep him, you know. Adrian, that is.”

”So I have heard,” Evelyn said wryly.

Lady Dunwell finished the biscuit and looked at her fingers as if she would like to lick them clean. ”Truly excellent.”

”I shall pa.s.s on your compliments.”

”Well, I've taken up enough of your time.” Lady Dunwell picked up her gloves. ”Now then.” She rose to her feet. ”I think we should be friends.”

”Why?” Evelyn asked without thinking.

”I don't seem to have any female friends. I'm not sure why.” She frowned. ”I have a fair number of female acquaintances but no true friends.”

”Oh, I daresay, Lady Dunwell, that's not-”

She laughed. ”What a proper and polite thing to say, but I fear it is true. And as we are to be friends, you should call me Beryl.” She pinned Evelyn with a firm look. ”I suspect you don't have many friends either.”

Evelyn scoffed. ”I have any number of friends.”

”Not so anyone would notice. Your husband's sisters perhaps, but they are obligatory friends as they are also relations.” She thought for a moment. ”However, if we are to be friends, you should know I have few scruples, my morals are questionable, and I am quite selfish.”

”What a ringing endors.e.m.e.nt for friends.h.i.+p.”

”But I am unfailingly loyal to my friends. I am a friend you can always count on for very nearly anything.”

Evelyn cast her a skeptical look. ”I thought you didn't have any friends?”

”That's why.” Beryl sighed. ”Unfailing loyalty takes a great deal out of me.”

”Friends do not steal their friends' cooks.” Evelyn's eyes narrowed. ”Or their husbands.”

”Yet another argument for friends.h.i.+p because otherwise, make no mistake, I would have your husband in a minute if the opportunity presented itself.”

”We have nothing whatsoever in common,” Evelyn warned.

”Oh, I would never have a friend who is exactly like me.” Beryl shuddered. ”One of me in a friends.h.i.+p is quite enough.”

Evelyn choked back a laugh.

”And I can be most amusing.” She grinned. ”Well?” For the briefest moment something that might have been apprehension flashed in Beryl's eyes.

It struck Evelyn that, in spite of her confident manner and scandalous tendencies, Beryl Dunwell was a lonely woman. And hadn't Evelyn recently decided she needed friends? A friends.h.i.+p with the notorious Lady Dunwell might be something of an adventure. Besides, if Lord Dunwell was involved in the theft of the file, which seemed less and less likely to Evelyn, it wouldn't hurt to be friends with his wife. She'd had no word from Maxwell since she'd picked up The Three Musketeers yesterday and the message it contained had said little more than ”wait.” It was too soon to hope this a.s.signment was at an end yet hope she did.

Even better, Adrian didn't like Lord Dunwell and she doubted that he would approve of her friends.h.i.+p with his wife. A woman he had obviously once had more than a pa.s.sing acquaintance with. It would make him most uncomfortable. Good. At the moment, Adrian's disapproval and discomfort were excellent recommendations.

”Very well then, Beryl,” Evelyn said with a nod. ”You have a new friend.”

”Excellent.” Beryl beamed. ”As your friend, and as someone with far more experience with husbands, might I offer you a word of advice?”

Evelyn's eyes narrowed. ”What?”

”First of all, husbands who are irate and suspicious are frequently, not always mind you, but frequently engaged in infidelity themselves.”

”Adrian would never-”

”I'm not saying he has,” Beryl said quickly. ”I'm just saying it is something to keep in the back of one's mind. Second, this is an enormous opportunity for any wife. Not only did your husband distrust you but he allowed that distrust to be known to others. Why, if I were not your friend, and did not figure prominently, I should be delighted to spread this story far and wide.”

”It's good to have friends,” Evelyn murmured.

”Indeed it is.” Beryl nodded. ”All I am saying is that the magnitude of your husband's actions are such that you should not forgive him too easily. Flowers are not enough in way of apology, and even diamonds had best be of the finest quality.” Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ”You should also spend a great deal of money in a most frivolous manner.”

”I had been thinking of refurbis.h.i.+ng my town house.” She glanced at Beryl. ”My secretary lives there currently.”

”Excellent. Refurbis.h.i.+ng is wonderfully expensive. As are trips to the continent. New carriages.” Beryl paused. ”Portraits.”

Evelyn laughed.

Beryl pinned her with a firm look. ”Make him work for your forgiveness.”

”My goodness, Beryl.” Evelyn cast her new friend a slow, determined smile. ”It appears we have a lot in common after all.”

Chapter 10.

”Why wasn't I informed of this?”

”You are no longer a member of this department.” Max's manner was cool, professional. He sat behind the desk that was once Adrian's, looking for all the world like a proper government official. ”What occurs here is no longer your concern.”

”My wife is my concern.”

”And because of your decision to expunge any mention of her true ident.i.ty from the official records, she is the only one I can trust at the moment.”

Adrian scoffed. ”I find that hard to believe.”