“He’ll be informed about it in any event.” Quinby was clearly unruffled by the threat. “It’s my job to tell him when this kind of thing happens.”
“What kind of thing, for heaven’s sake?” she shot back. “Whatever are you implying?”
Anthony looked at Quinby. “Remove your hand from the lady’s arm.”
Quinby’s eyes narrowed. He did not like taking orders, Anthony thought.
“At once,” Anthony added very softly.
Quinby released Louisa.
“I’ll be needing an answer to my question,” he growled, his attention still fixed on Anthony. “Why did you come up here?”
The question was clearly aimed at him, Anthony realized. Quinby was no longer concerned about Louisa.
Anthony captured Louisa’s elbow in a proprietary manner, a lover’s manner. “I should have thought the answer is obvious. The lady and I came up here to find some privacy.”
He could tell that Louisa was not thrilled with the implications of that explanation, but she clearly knew that she had no alternative other than to follow his lead. To her credit, she did not miss a beat.
“Evidently we shall have to go elsewhere, sir,” she said.
“So it appears,” Anthony agreed.
He tightened his grip on her elbow, turned her around, and started toward the main staircase.
“Now, see here,” Quinby said behind them. “I don’t know what you two are about, but—”
“Precisely,” Anthony said over his shoulder. “You have no idea at all what my very good friend and I are doing up here, and that is the way it will remain.”
“I was hired to keep an eye on things around the mansion,” Quinby announced, pursuing them down the hall.
“I understand,” Anthony said. “However, the lady and I were unaware that the upper floors of the house were forbidden territory. We certainly saw no signs to that effect.”
“Of course there aren’t any signs,” Quinby growled. “Folks like Mr. Hastings don’t go around posting signs in fancy houses like this one.”
“Then you can hardly blame us for wandering up here when we concluded that we desired to get away from the crowd downstairs,” Anthony said pleasantly.
“Hold on,” Quinby said.
Anthony ignored him. “I believe my carriage will provide the seclusion that we are looking for,” he said to Louisa in a voice that was loud enough to carry back to Quinby.
She slid him an uncertain look, but mercifully she kept her mouth shut.
They started down the staircase. Quinby stopped at the top. Anthony could feel the guard’s eyes boring into his back.
“We’ll have to leave now,” he said very quietly to Louisa. “If we don’t, he will be even more suspicious.”
“I came here with Lady Ashton,” Louisa said uneasily. Her voice was equally low. “I cannot simply disappear; she’ll be frantic.”
“I’m sure one of the footmen will be happy to convey a message to her informing her that you left with me.”
She stiffened. “I cannot do that, sir.”
“I don’t see why not. The night is young, and we have so much to talk about, do we not?”
“I do not know what you mean. I appreciate your timely intervention back there in the hall, but it was not at all necessary. I could have handled that man. Now I really must insist—”
“I’m afraid I am the one who must insist. You have aroused my curiosity, you see. I will not be able to rest tonight until I obtain some answers.”
She gave him another quick, suspicious look. He smiled, letting her see his resolve. Her expression tightened, but she did not argue further. She was too busy plotting her escape, he thought, timing it, no doubt, to coincide with their arrival back in the ballroom, where the presence of the crowd would discourage a scene.
“You will have to forget any notion you might have of abandoning me, Mrs. Bryce,” he said. “One way or another you will allow me to take you home this evening.”
“You cannot force me to get into your carriage.”
“I wouldn’t dream of using force. Not when calm reason will very likely work just as well.”
“What is the nature of this calm reason?”
“Why don’t we start with the observation that you and I appear to have a mutual interest in our host’s private affairs.”
He felt her take in a quick, startled breath. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“That was Hastings’s bedroom you emerged from a few minutes ago.”
“How do you know that?” she said. “You are guessing.”
“I rarely guess, Mrs. Bryce. Not when I have the facts before me. I know that was Hastings’s bedroom because I obtained a floor plan of the house yesterday.”
“Good heavens, sir.” Sudden comprehension and something that looked a lot like unmitigated relief brightened her face. “You are a professional burglar. I had began to suspect as much.”
A proper, well-bred lady would have been horrified, he reflected. Louisa did not seem the least bit put off by the notion of being escorted by a member of the criminal class. Instead, she was clearly intrigued. Delighted would not be too strong a word. He had been right: She was a most unusual female.
“You can hardly expect me to confirm your suspicions,” he said. “The next thing I know you’ll be summoning the police and having me arrested.”
To his astonishment, she laughed. The sound captivated him.
“Not at all, sir,” she assured him with an airy wave of her fan. “It is nothing to me if you make your living by stealing from the likes of Elwin Hastings. I must say, this news does explain a few things, however.”
It occurred to him that the conversation was veering off in a rather bizarre direction.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I will admit that ever since I met you at the Hammond ball I have been quite curious about you, sir.”
“Should I be flattered or alarmed?”
She did not answer that question. Instead, she smiled, looking as satisfied and smug as a small cat curled in front of the fire.
“I thought from the first that there was something decidedly mysterious about you,” she said.
“What was your clue?”
“Why, you asked for an introduction and actually danced with me, of course.” She flicked her fan open and closed in a small gesture that implied she had proved her point.
“What is so odd about that?”
“Gentlemen never care to make my acquaintance, let alone take me out onto the floor. When you danced with me again at the Wellsworth reception I realized immediately that you were perpetrating some clandestine scheme.”
“I see.”
“I assumed, of course, that you were using me as a cover to conceal your interest in some other lady.” She paused delicately. “A married woman, perhaps.”
“You have obviously spent a great deal of time and energy thinking about me in the past few days.”
As much time as he had spent contemplating her, he thought. He found that satisfying.
“You were a puzzle,” she said simply. “Naturally I felt the need to find an answer. I must say, this is a most fortuitous turn of events.”
They arrived in the front hall before Anthony could come up with a response to that statement. A footman in old-fashioned blue-and-silver livery, a powdered wig on his head, stepped forward.
“Mrs. Bryce’s cloak, please,” Anthony said. “You may summon my carriage and then inform Lady Ashton that the lady has left with me.”
“Yes, sir.” The footman hurried away.
Louisa made no further protest. Anthony got the impression that she was as eager to be away now as he was. Apparently the idea of setting off into the night with a professional thief did not worry her overmuch. He was not sure how to take that.
The footman returned with a dull maroon cloak that matched the dull maroon gown. Anthony took it from him and arranged it around Louisa’s shoulders. The small act of gallantry would send a message that would not go unnoticed. If Hastings questioned him later, the footman could say in all honesty that Mrs. Bryce and Mr. Stalbridge appeared to be on very intimate terms.