A Bride by Moonlight Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I teach grammar at Lady Leeton’s charity school.”
    That took Napier aback. Despite his joke to the constable, there was nothing of the prim schoolmistress in those cool, knowing eyes. And seen up close, her plain gray gown was of an obviously fine quality.
    “Won’t you have a seat, ma’am?” he suggested, waving a hand at the stone bench Lady Leeton had vacated.
    Lord Lazonby, however, did not relinquish her arm, but instead escorted her to the bench and remained standing stiffly beside her like the soldier he’d once been.
    Napier jerked his head toward the path. “Walk with me a moment, Lazonby, if you would be so kind?”
    “I’ve nothing to say that cannot be said in front of Miss Ashton,” said the earl coolly.
    Napier cut the lady another glance. “Very well, then,” he said. “What’s the meaning of all this? Why send for me?”
    Lazonby’s smile was faint. “Your old friend’s corpse isn’t cause enough?”
    “Sir Wilfred was barely an acquaint—”
    “Oh, he was much more than an acquaintance to your late father, the previous assistant commissioner.” Lazonby’s voice had a nasty, warning edge to it now. “In fact, Sir Wilfred was explaining—mere moments before his untimely death—precisely how close they were.”
    “What is your point, Lazonby?” Against his will, Napier felt his ire rising, as it always did in the earl’s presence. “I’m hardly my father.”
    “No, but you have his old job,” Lazonby countered. “His old office. His old files. My old files, in point of fact—the ones documenting my wrongful conviction for murder.”
    Napier felt his lip curl. “I may be a mere civil servant, my lord, but I’ll be damned to hell before I’m accountable to the likes of you ,” he whispered. “Besides, this is Greenwich, not London. I’ve no jurisdiction here.”
    “Jurisdiction, perhaps not,” said Lazonby. “But influence? Aye, and plenty of it.”
    “You’re wasting my time, Lazonby,” said Napier.
    Lazonby’s eyes flashed. “I sent for you because it is to our mutual benefit that Sir Wilfred’s death be handled discreetly.”
    Napier answered his disdainful smile with one of his own. “Is it indeed?” he murmured. “I cannot think of one other occasion, sir, when our best interests have had so much as a nodding acquaintance with one another.”
    “Sir Wilfred lies dead in his own dairy,” said Lazonby again. “Don’t you wish to know how it happened?”
    “Admittedly I might be wrong,” said Napier snidely, “but I was of the impression the gentleman had been shot in the head.”
    “Yes, but it was an accident!” the lady interjected. “Sir Wilfred was—he was a madman! He seized the gun and—”
    “And it went off inadvertently,” Lazonby interjected, settling a hand over the woman’s shoulder.
    “Oh?” Napier’s gaze swung down, pinning the lady’s odd eyes. “Did it indeed?”
    “Really, Miss Ashton,” Lazonby continued. “You are overset. Permit me to explain.”
    “Oh, I don’t know,” said Napier. “I might trust the lady’s opinion over yours. Moreover, she looks about as cool as an ice pick to me.”
    At that, Lazonby leaned very near. “You overstep yourself, Assistant Commissioner,” he whispered, “and at great peril. Now, I will tell you just what happened here today. And you will take down every word of it in your little black book. And then, sir, you will make this business go away . ”
    But this last Napier scarcely heard. Instead he had tugged out his pocket watch and was staring at it.
    “Dear me, old chap,” said Lazonby mockingly. “I do hope we aren’t keeping you from your afternoon constitutional?”
    Napier raised his gaze to meet the earl’s. “By God, you sent for me before Sir Wilfred was shot!” he said accusingly. “You had to have done. That corpse is still warm. The Leetons’ butler says the shot was heard round four o’clock. I was halfway across Westminster Bridge by