Letters to a Lady Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room. She had not often seen her country neighbor rigged out in city evening wear. He was an impressive sight. A tall gentleman, well built, with a crown of dark hair and dark eyes. Diana had no objection to a rugged face and weathered complexion. Were it not for the sardonic set of his mouth and the arrogant stride, one would have called him handsome.
    Harrup looked as if he wanted to wring her neck, but he made the effort to appear civil. “Good evening, missie. What brings you to London?” he asked.
    “Harrup.” She nodded. “Pray join me and have some coffee. And don’t feel obliged to apologize for not realizing I was still at the table,” she added, meeting his glare with one of her own.
    He strolled in and sat across from her. Lamplight flickered on his swarthy cheeks. “I didn’t even realize you were in London. How should I have known you did me the honor of visiting me?” he asked.
    Diana read the glint of anger in his eyes and prepared to set him down. “No doubt you are a little curious to learn why Peabody and I are here,” she said.
    “I am extremely curious.”
    “Curiosity has always been associated with cats—it seems it afflicts tomcats as well as females. Our visit has to do with your chère amie , Mrs. Whitby.”
    A spasm quivered at the back of his jaw. “I beg your pardon?” he asked haughtily.
    “Well you might, when you hear what Peabody and I have been through this day. As if wandering into your ladybird’s nest were not bad enough!”
    Harrup jumped up from his seat. His eyes wore the look of a man who is guilty all right, but hopes he might wiggle out unscathed. “What, if anything, are you talking about?” he demanded.
    “Mrs. Whitby. It is for you to decide what, if anything, the name denotes.”
    Harrup stuck out his chin, straightened his cravat, and finally fell into a pelter, despite these delaying tactics. “Good God, you shouldn’t have gone yourselves! I expressly told Peabody to send a footman.”
    “Yes,” Diana snapped back. “And you expressly told us it was important documents that were to be picked up as well. What were we to think? We thought it had something to do with your work, and here it was only love letters to a lightskirt.”
    Harrup eased back onto his chair, considering whether he ought to be angry or apologetic. “A regrettable incident,” he said, but his tone was not apologetic. “May I have the letters, please?”
    “No, Harrup, you may not,” Diana said, and stared at him with an expression he couldn’t read, though he detected a trace of satisfaction in those bold, slanted eyes.
    “Now see here, missie! I want those letters, and I want them now, with no tricks, or I’ll turn you over my knee and give you a thrashing.”
    “Is that how a privy councillor treats a forward wench?” She smiled boldly. “I made sure more forceful measures were at your disposal—arrest, incarceration, deportation.”
    “Eavesdropping on top of it all! A thrashing is no more than you deserve, missie.” Yet he felt foolish. The young lady before him, speaking adult English and looking at him with a woman’s knowing eyes, was obviously too old to thrash.
    “Very likely, but it wouldn’t do you a bit of good. I don’t have the letters.”
    Harrup frowned in confusion. “But I’ve already discussed it with Laura. She agreed that five hundred pounds—” He came to a self-conscious halt.
    Diana’s lips formed a mocking smile. “The wages of sin, though high, are not high enough to suit Mrs. Whitby. She wants more, it seems.”
    A quick frown furrowed his brow and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Not another penny do I give. Did she actually have the gall to demand more money?”
    “Not at all. She was charming—and very pretty, by the bye. I compliment you on your taste.”
    Harrup batted the compliment aside. “Then what happened? Where are the letters?”
    “Peabody’s reticule was stolen at the inn at Welwyn where we stopped for