Quick, Amanda - Slightly Shady.txt Read Online Free PDF

conceal a handwritten diary, she opened the cover and thumbed through a few pages. Disappointment drowned her small burst of hope. The volume was a recently published novel, not a personal journal. She replaced the book on the table and went to the washstand. It took only moments to search the small drawers. They contained the things she would have expected to discover in such a location: a comb and brush, shaving items, and a toothbrush. She tried the wardrobe next. There were a number of expensivelooking linen shirts and three stylish coats inside. Evidently on the occasions when he had done well at the tables, Felix had spent his winnings on fashionable clothing. Perhaps he saw the costly apparel as a business investment. "Have you found anything?" Tobias called softly from the other room. "No," she said. "You?" "Nothing." She heard him shift a large item of furniture in the outer room. The desk, perhaps. He was certainly being thorough in his search. She opened the drawers inside the wardrobe and discovered only a selection of gentlemen's smallclothes and cravats. She slammed the doors and turned around to study the sparsely furnished chamber.
    Desperation grew until she could hardly breathe. What on earth would she do next if they did not find the evidence that had led Felix to attempt to blackmail her? Her gaze fell again on the leather-bound volume on the nightstand. There were no other books in evidence here in Felix's lodgings. If it were not for The Education of a Lady, she would have said he had not been given to amusing himself with literature. Yet he had kept the one novel beside his bed. She went slowly across the room to take another look at the book. Why would a gamester take an interest in a novel that had no doubt been written for young ladies? She picked up the book again and flipped through a few more pages, this time pausing to read a sentence here and there. It did not take long to see that the story had most definitely not been written for the edification of young ladies. ... her elegantly sculpted buttocks quivered in anticipation of my velvet whip ... "Good grief." Hastily she slammed the book closed. A small slip of paper fluttered to the floor. "Did you find something of interest?" Tobias inquired from the other room. "I most certainly did not." She glanced down at the small sheet of paper that had landed on the toe of her half boot. There was handwriting on it. She grimaced. Perhaps Felix had enjoyed the novel to such an extent, he had resorted to making notes on the text. She bent down to retrieve the paper, glancing at the words scrawled on it as she did so. Not notes on The Education of a Lady, but an address. Number Fourteen, Hazelton Square.
    Why would Felix keep an address tucked in this particular novel? She caught the faint but telltale slide of Tobias's boot on the floor of the parlor. On impulse she tucked the note into her reticule and turned toward the door. He appeared in the opening, silhouetted against the dying firelight. "Well?" "I found nothing that even remotely resembles a diary," she said firmly and, she reflected, quite honestly "Neither did I." He swept the bedchamber with a grim expression. "We are too late. It appears that whoever murdered Felix had the presence of mind to take the diary." "Hardly a surprising turn of events. It's certainly what I would have done under the circumstances." "Hmm." She scowled. "What is it?" He looked at her. "It seems we must now bide our time until the new blackmailer makes his move.'' "The new blackmailer?" Shock held her motionless for a few seconds. She had to work to get her jaw closed. "Dear heaven, whatever are you saying, Sir? Do you suppose that Felix's killer intends to set up shop as an extortionist?" "If there is a promise of money in the enterprise, and I'm certain there is, then we must assume the answer to that question is yes." "Bloody hell." "My sentiments exactly, but we must look on the positive side, Mrs. Lake." "I fail to