The Countess Page 0,33

easing away. Apparently, she wasn't as hard as she appeared to be and had something of a romantic streak as wel .

"Is this true?" Suzette asked.

Richard cleared his throat, tried for what he hoped was a tragic expression, and murmured, "Guilt can lead a man to act like an ass and do the most foolish of things." Like breaking into his own house and stealing corpses, he thought grimly as it occurred to him that getting the body out of here would not be the end of their problems. What the devil were they going to do with it for the next few days?

Richard hadn't thought of that when Daniel had made his ridiculous suggestion that started al of this. Apparently, Daniel hadn't either. But al they'd managed to do was create more problems. He hoped Christiana was worth al this trouble. He would be extremely annoyed if it turned out she was the murderer, or some waspish shrew.

"Please, Suzette," Lisa said quietly. "Can we not at least hear him out?"

A brief battle took place on her face, and then Suzette threw up her hands with exasperation and turned toward the stairs. "Very wel , but only because Christiana is stuck with him now."

Lisa beamed and caught Richard's hand to drag him after her, saying, "I knew it could not have been al pretense when you were courting Christiana. You were so sweet and romantic, cal ing her Rosebud and showering her with gifts. She fel completely in love with you."

"Rosebud?" Richard muttered, glancing back at the door to Suzette's room and hoping Daniel would manage to get the body out without further problem.

"She loved that endearment most of al ," Lisa assured him as she tugged him down the stairs. "Everyone could see the way she melted every time you cal ed her that. She said you cal ed her that because she was a fragile flower, beautiful and sweet smel ing."

George had obviously had someone to coach him in wooing, Richard decided grimly. The man hadn't a romantic bone in his body and wouldn't have come up with such drivel on his own.

"Is drinking so early in the morning a result of your guilt as wel ?"

Richard blinked at those words from Suzette as Lisa led him into the room George had apparently used as his office. She was standing by the fire beside a smal table with an empty glass and a decanter of amber liquid that he suspected was whiskey. He eyed the decanter, and then glanced back to Suzette, not having any idea what she was talking about. Final y he asked, "Drinking so early?"

Suzette clucked with annoyance and picked up the decanter. Removing the lid, she sniffed at it and wrinkled her nose. "When we found you this morning you'd obviously been drinking this stuff. And it was barely past the breakfast hour." She scowled at him for such debauched tendencies, before splashing some of the liquid into the empty glass. Setting down the decanter then, she raised the glass as if in a toast. "Christiana said it was your best whiskey and you only drank it when celebrating. So what is there for us to celebrate?"

Her expression was chal enging. Richard suspected she thought she knew exactly what he - or real y George - had been celebrating. However, he didn't have a clue what that might have been. Instead, his mind had put together the smel of bitter almonds on George's breath with the knowledge that the amber liquid had been the last thing he'd consumed. Richard was suddenly quite positive that the whiskey Suzette was now holding aloft was how his brother had been poisoned.

"Come tel us what it was so we can al celebrate," Suzette suggested grimly. "We can use some good news about now."

"I wasn't celebrating anything," Richard said final y, starting across the room toward her. "I wasn't feeling wel and my uncle used to always swear by a shot of whiskey every morning doing wonders for your health so I thought I would give it a try."

"Liar," she said sweetly, and then shrugged as if it were of no consequence and lifted the glass toward her lips. "Ah wel , now we can celebrate you turning over a new leaf and making my sister happy for a change."

"No!" Richard sped the last few feet that separated them, desperate to keep her from drinking what might be poison. He managed to knock the glass from her hand, sending