The Husband Mission (The Spy Matchmaker #1)(5)

The butler nodded and started for the stairs. Sir Richard ripped the cane from his hands as he passed.

"Never mind! I'll use this one. Mad as I am, I can likely kill him with my bare hands. And you can forget about that carriage. My indignation will carry me."



       
         
       
        

Bixby and Katherine exchanged glances. So much for phase two. Her butler pulled down the front of his brown wool coat in resignation and raised his voice to start the third phase.

"Will that be all then, sir?"

Before Sir Richard could answer, there came a crash from the stair to the kitchen and a blood-curdling scream. Emma burst out the door, large hands wringing before her frilly white apron, white-streaked blond hair flying. Her jowls quivered on either side of her rosebud mouth.

"Oh, mercy on us! Miss Constance be fallen! Help her, Sir Richard, do!"

Her uncle blanched. Leaning heavily on his cane, he hurried down the short corridor for the servant's stair. Katherine and Bixby fell into step behind him. Emma held open the door, and Katherine peered down around her uncle.

As usual, Constance was the weak link in their plan. She either balked at playing a role or played it far beyond the limits of normality. Today, she lay on the landing, skirts tastefully draped about her sprawled limbs, golden curls fanning out behind her head. Unfortunately, her head was cocked at such a convincingly horrid angle that she wrung a gasp from her uncle. Her creamy completion was so pale that if it hadn't been for the rise and fall of her well-molded bosom, Katherine might have thought her gravely injured as well. The fact that Eric had returned from his task for the day and was staring at her wide-eyed only completed the ghastly picture.

Sir Richard scrambled down the stairs. "What happened?"

"I didn't do it," Eric declared, sidling around his uncle, who knelt to touch the girl's cheek.

Constance's eyes fluttered open, and Katherine mouthed a warning behind her uncle's back for her stepsister to behave. Before she could see the effect of her caution, her brother flew up the steps, and she caught him to her.

"Of course you didn't do anything to harm Constance, Eric," she said, giving him a look of warning as well. "You only just returned from the errands I commissioned. Good thing you are home early. We can send you for the carriage so Uncle can visit the office of The Chronicle."

Emma put a plump hand on Katherine's shoulder as if in agreement. The boy's mouth widened in an O, and she knew he understood them. He should have been as relieved as her uncle to hear Constance moan theatrically. Instead, he paled and tugged on her hand to lead her away from Emma and out of the stairwell. She didn't like missing the next act of their little play, but she did want to hear what he had to say. She could only hope her stepsister wouldn't overplay her hand while Katherine was gone.

"I didn't know Uncle would be up so soon," her brother said when they were out of earshot of the drama in the stair. "I thought he'd sleep to all hours after drinking so much last night." 

Katherine shook her head. "Even with the drink his wound troubles him too much to lay abed for long, I fear. He threatened to kill Mr. Perry again. But our latest plan seems to be working. Constance will get him safely upstairs and keep him at her bedside until we are assured the offices are closed for the day."

Eric pulled off the cap and ran a hand back through hair as thick and auburn as her own. "Are you sure this will work?"

She smiled down at him, watching his button nose wrinkle his freckles into a solid mass of cinnamon. "It will work. Do my plans ever fail?"

A sharp rap at the door belied her confidence.

Eric grabbed her hand. "It's him! I knew I could get him to follow me home."

"Him?" A chill ran through her. "Oh, Eric, no! Is that Lord Borin?"

Her brother nodded, tugging her toward the door. "Yes, it must be. You said it was time for him to meet Constance again. I got him here for you."

Katherine resisted him even as the rap sounded again. "I said we were nearly ready. There is still much we do not know about him. And this is the worst possible time. I jolly well can't have him meet Constance when she's supposed to be gravely injured!"

Eric paused. "Oh, yes, there is that. Well, maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away."

The third rap was far too determined to make her think their visitor planned go away any time soon. Katherine frowned. They had worked too hard to identify and attract Viscount Borin to simply let him slip through their fingers now. He might not be able to meet Constance, but she couldn't let him leave without furthering their cause. She grabbed Eric and pushed him toward the servant's stair. "Keep them busy until I send him away. Then tell Bix what's happened."