thing she is so deucedly clever and capable, you young rapscallion. Had you allowed any harm to come to her, I would have sliced your guts into garters.”
Charlotte patted his arm. “Now, Cluyne, there is no cause to raise your voice. Unlike most mortals, none of us is intimidated by the ducal bellow.”
“Hmmph.” Her grandfather tried to maintain a stern visage, but his mouth tweaked up at the corners. “Least of all you.”
The peal of Charlotte’s laugh had Kate wondering whether yet another set of wedding bells might soon be ringing for the Circle of Sin. The bantering exchanges between her eccentric friend and her starchy grandfather were becoming increasingly intimate. For all their outward differences, they seemed to be very much at home in each other’s company.
Home.
Strange how the word had suddenly taken on a new resonance. For the first time in her life, Kate felt anchored in the world. Friends. Family. Love. She no longer felt like a vagabond soul, adrift on an ocean of uncertainty.
As her grandfather and Charlotte continued their verbal sparring, she looked down the table. The reflections of the massive silver epergne, its bowl filled with hothouse flowers, cast a pattern of cheery color on the polished pearwood. Her grandfather’s London townhouse no longer seemed so forbidding. Laughter had softened the sharp edges of the carved marble and gilded wood. Happiness had infused the ornate furnishings with life.
Kate smiled as the champagne bubbled down her tongue, filling her with its sweet effervescence.
“Come, come, my dear. We are all anxious to hear the details of how you vanquished a dastardly enemy,” said Charlotte, waving the duke to silence. “Not to speak of getting a full report on the Viennese pastries and the waltz.”
She forced her thoughts back to the last few harrowing weeks and shook her head. “I don’t deserve all the credit. I would say that the mission was a joint effort.”
Marco swallowed a snort.
“All of us were instrumental in seeing that the plot was foiled,” went on Kate, ignoring the risqué waggle of his brow. “If Cluyne had not consented to host the house party in the first place, if Charlotte had not spotted the missing plant, if Lord Lynsley had not marshaled his network of agents to arrange our stay in Vienna…”
It all still seemed a little unreal. “Tappan was right,” she went on. “His plan was diabolically clever. Had I been a normal young lady of the ton, it would have worked to perfection.”
“I, for one, am extremely grateful that you are… yourself,” said Marco, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Tappan certainly did not count on you or Lady Fenimore being so knowledgeable about botany,” said Lynsley. “Like most people, he underestimated the intelligence of a lady.”
“And paid for his hubris,” declared Charlotte.
“Indeed,” agreed Lynsley. “Because of your information, we were able to apprehend him before his ship sailed from Dover. After intensive interrogation, he has revealed all the names of those who hired him. Coupled with the information we were able to extract from Grunwald, the whole group of conspirators has been exposed. Whitehall has passed the information to the King of Saxony—without revealing how we learned of the plot. Thanks to you, the volatile situation in the Baltic will be settled through diplomatic channels, not violence.”
“And Von Seilig’s murder?” asked Kate.
“Tappan confessed to that as well.” Lynsley ran a hand over his brow. “The truth is, he was up to his neck in sordid schemes. He was working with Allenham, trying to bribe certain members of the Prussian ministry to grant the Northern Mercantile Exchange Company exclusive rights to the Baltic trade in shipbuilding materials. It would have been an extremely lucrative deal, and would have made Tappan a very rich man.”
“No doubt that explained his affair with Lady Duxbury,” said Marco cynically.
“Yes,” agreed the marquess. “She was unaware of his involvement in treason and murder, but was a willing participant in trying to further the Baltic deal. She has expensive tastes, and having a wealthy lover and brother was to her advantage. Her role was to try to seduce Von Seilig….”
Lynsley looked to Kate, his expression turning grim. “But when he rejected her advances in favor of spending time with you, she was only too happy to help set you up for the crime. It was she who spread the stories of your past to her brother and the Spaniards. Tappan had done research on all the guests, just in case any old scandal could prove useful