some other time. I fear we’ve dallied long enough. Aunt Eugenia will start to worry over where we are.”
She held out her hand. “Thank you for your company, sir. Aunt Eugenia will be grateful for the information you imparted.”
He grasped her hand. She was immediately conscious of warmth, of heat, of a prickling awareness that spread from where his fingers closed firmly about hers. Keeping her gaze level and unwavering, she made a mental note to avoid giving him her hand again.
“Restricted though it was?” His eyes held hers. More, he studied her, watched her.
“Indeed.” She drew back on her fingers. He held them for an instant, then let them slide from his…
She sensed the implicit warning, but was uncertain precisely what he was warning her not to do, which line he was warning her not to cross.
Neither her face nor his hinted of deeper meaning. Adelaide glowed as he turned to her; she gaily bade him farewell.
Before Pris could execute a clean parting, he asked, and Adelaide blithely volunteered that they’d driven into town, and that their gig was stabled at the Crown & Quirt on the High Street.
Pris watched him like a hawk, but he gave no indication that the information was of any particular interest to him. Smiling easily, he bowed and wished them a safe journey home.
With a regal inclination of her head, she linked her arm in Adelaide’s and resolutely drew her away. It took effort, but she refused to look back, even though she felt his dark gaze lingering on her, literally, until they passed out of his sight.
I have to find some way to locate Rus.” Pris sat at the luncheon table in the neat manor house Eugenia had rented and absentmindedly picked at a bunch of grapes. “It must be as Caxton said-Cromarty’s rented a stable out on the Heath.”
“How big is this Heath?” Eugenia had pushed back from the table and lifted her tatting into her lap.
Pris wrinkled her nose. “As far as I can tell, it’s enormous, and has no finite boundary. It’s an area spreading out from the town, big enough for all the strings of horses to be exercised there twice a day.”
“So finding one stable isn’t going to be easy.”
“No. But if we ride around during the training sessions-early morning and late afternoon-we might sight Cromarty’s string. Rus said he assisted with the training sessions, or at least he did in Ireland.”
Adelaide spoke from across the table. “Should we go this afternoon?”
Pris wanted to, but shook her head. “Caxton’s suspicious, although I’m sure he doesn’t know what to be suspicious about. We told him we were looking for Irish stables to sate your”-she inclined her head to Eugenia-“avid curiosity. If he sees us out hunting this afternoon, we’ll appear too eager, too urgent to locate the Irish stables. I don’t want to invite his attention any more than I already have.”
Looking up from her tatting, Eugenia bent a very direct look on Pris. “You fear him. Why?”
Pris swallowed the denial that rose to her tongue; Eugenia, she’d learned, was exceedingly clear-sighted. Eventually, she offered, “I think it’s because he’s so very handsome-just like me.” She met Eugenia’s gaze. “And just like me, people look no further than his face and figure, and forget that there’s a very good brain at work behind the mouthwatering facade.”
“He’s certainly handsome,” Adelaide averred, “but he’s rather overwhelming. He’s very dark and hard and sharp. He may be beautiful, but he’s not comfortable.”
Pris found nothing to argue with in that. Drumming her fingers on the tablecloth, she thought over all she’d learned, trying to find some way forward.
“So what are you planning to do next?” Eugenia asked.
Pris looked up and met her eyes. “We can ride out early tomorrow morning and start searching through the strings exercising on the Heath. The ostler at the inn said all strings exercise there every morning, and Caxton won’t expect us to be out at such an hour. If he’s suspicious enough to think to look for us, he’ll look at the afternoon sessions. Meanwhile…”
She frowned, then pushed back her chair. “If I could just get a look at that blasted register, I’d have a better idea what sort of scheme Harkness might be hatching. A better idea of what Rus will think to do.”
Eugenia’s lips curved. “One benefit of being twins.”
Rising to her feet, Pris managed a smile. “Indeed. If you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to take a turn about the gardens.”
I found her at the track midmorning, walking with a friend-a Miss Blake.” Sprawled in the chair behind his office desk, Dillon laced his fingers across his waistcoat. “Miss Dalling tried to learn more about the register, but that wasn’t why she was there. They were searching for someone. She said she was looking for the Irish crews, but I’m not sure if that was the truth or simply the most obvious answer to my question.”
“Did you learn where they were staying?” Barnaby sat slumped in the armchair opposite the bookcase, long legs stretched out before him, ready to share the results of his day’s sleuthing.
Dillon nodded. “I followed them home-she’d driven them into town in a gig. They’re staying at the old Carisbrook place. I asked around. There really is an aunt-a Lady Fowles-and she’s rented the house for several weeks.”
“Hmm.” Barnaby frowned at his boots. “How do you read her-Miss Dalling? Is her interest in the register really because of her eccentric aunt?”
Dillon glanced out of the window at the gathering dusk. “I think she’s a consummate liar, sticking to the truth as far as possible, inventing only where necessary.”
Barnaby’s lips twisted. “The hardest sort to catch.”
“Indeed. So what did you learn about the man interested in the register?”
“An Irishman with dark hair, tallish, lean, and younger than I’d supposed-midtwenties by all accounts. Not much more anyone could tell me, although one ancient described him as ‘gentry down on his luck.’”
Dillon frowned. “I know all the Irish owners and trainers here this season, at least by sight, and that description rings no bells.”
Barnaby waved. “In the same vein as for the lovely Miss Dalling, there’s no need for him to be associated with any stable-his connection to this might be quite otherwise.”
“True. Did you learn anything more about the break-ins?”
“Only that this place is a burglar’s delight. It sits so far back from the road with that avenue of huge trees, and”-Barnaby pointed through the window, beyond the rear of the building-“there’s a nice stand of woodland out there. It’s ridiculously easy to approach this place at night, and no one’s the wiser.”
Leaning back, he looked up at the ceiling. “The first time he came, he didn’t come prepared-he tried the windows, but couldn’t spring the locks, then had to retreat when the night watchman came around. The second time, he gained entry through the kitchen window, but the door into the building proper was bolted, so again he had to retreat. The last time, he forced a window and got into the offices down the corridor. He started searching, going through the shelves, but then knocked over a box, bringing the night watchman running, and had to flee.”
Barnaby looked at Dillon. “Incidentally, the watchman’s description, while hardly detailed, just an impression of height, build, and coloring, and age in how easily he fled, suggests the young Irishman with the questions could indeed be our burglar.”
“That suggests we have only one group we need pursue…” A minute passed, then Dillon met Barnaby’s eyes. “There’s something afoot. You, me, the Committee, we all know it, but all we have are conjecture and suspicion. We need to catch this Irishman-he’s the only person we know of who can shed light on whatever’s going on.”
Barnaby nodded. “I agree-but how?”
“You said this place was a burglar’s delight-now he’s got so close, presumably he’ll come back. What if we make it extra tempting for him to do so, wait until he makes his move…and then step in?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Last time he got into the offices, so, assuming he is indeed after the Breeding Register, he knows this wing is where he needs to concentrate.” With his head, Dillon indicated the side window. “As you pointed out, the woods are close. He’ll use them for cover, to circle the building and learn where the night watchman is, to check whether anyone is working late. This room’s at the corner-that window stands out. What if, assuming he comes to night, he sees it left just a little open?”
