Naughty In Nice (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

have another little assignment to carry out?”
    “Something along those lines.”
    “Darcy, will I ever find out who you work for?”
    “Whoever’s willing to pay me, my darlin’ , ” he said in a broad Irish brogue. “And you know what your grandfather would say, don’t you? Them that asks no questions don’t get told no lies.”
    He put his finger to his lips, then to mine. Then without warning he drew me into his arms and was kissing me hungrily.
    “Darcy,” I protested feebly as things began to heat up, “I already have enough bruises for now.”
    “Then we’ll save the next installment for when you’re fully recovered,” he said. “So hurry up and get well, or I might have to take a mistress.”
    Then he dodged as I flung a cushion in his direction.

 
    Chapter 35
     
    March 2, 1933
Back to jolly old England. Sad to leave France but actually
keen to be home.
     
    At the beginning of March I took the Blue Train back to England. Belinda came with me. It turned out she hadn’t run off with the marquis that night, but had developed a simple headache. And, being Belinda, she had made the most of her time on the Riviera. She’d struck up a friendship with Chanel and gone to stay at her villa. She’d plucked up the courage to show Chanel her dress designs and Coco had said she had talent and had given her tips on running her own design business in London.
    “She’s helped me to overcome my biggest obstacle,” Belinda confided. “How to make society women pay for the gowns. You know the trouble I had collecting money from them.”
    “And the secret is?”
    “I make myself look absolutely stunning and threaten to go to their husbands to collect the money.” Belinda laughed. “And if that doesn’t work, I make sure I’ve acquired a juicy tidbit or two about them that I might just let slip at the wrong moment.”
    “That’s blackmail.” I laughed.
    “Done very discreetly, of course. But Coco says it works every time.”
    The crossing was smooth. The white cliffs of Dover looked welcoming. There were snowdrops and early primroses growing along the rail embankment and white clouds scudding across a blue sky. Binky and Fig had returned to Rannoch House ahead of me, since Fig wanted to be back in England in good time for the birth of the new little Rannoch.
    “There’s a package waiting for you, my lady,” Hamilton said as he helped me out of my coat and hat. They were, incidentally, a new fur coat and matching hat, courtesy of my mother, and in my cabin trunk were several Chanel gowns. I’d no longer be the worst dressed at any social gathering. Jean-Paul would have been proud of me.
    I went up to my room and opened the brown paper wrapping and out tumbled the queen’s necklace. There was a note with it. I didn’t want you to incur any blame for this, it said. And, yes, it is the real thing. It was signed with a line of kisses, and underneath, in smaller script: And in case you’re wondering—the brandy decanter. I was holding it all the time.
    I stood looking down at the note and smiled in spite of myself. There was no mention of the sticky stuff on the sole of my shoe, I noted. Had Jean-Paul left that part to Jeanine? Or was it possible that I had only imagined the sticky sole and the fall had been simply a result of my usual clumsiness? I supposed I’d never know now.
    I delivered the necklace to the queen the next afternoon, along with the snuffbox. She looked awfully pleased. “I never thought I’d see these again. How strange some people are, to get pleasure from things not rightfully theirs.”
    “Especially when both men already owned so many beautiful things, ma’am,” I replied. “Their houses were full of paintings and antiques.”
    “I gather you put yourself in considerable danger to recover these for me,” she said. “It was wrong of me to have asked you. One should never put things before people.”
    She looked at me appraisingly. “You are a splendid girl, Georgiana,” she said. “A credit to the family. What do you plan to do now? It isn’t good for a girl like you to be idle. I wish we could find you a suitable husband.”
    “I’m sure I’ll find one soon enough, ma’am,” I said hastily. “And in the meantime I’m open to suggestions to keep me busy.”
    I didn’t add that Darcy was due back in town by the end of the week.
     
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Historical Note
     
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