Naughty In Nice (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

out of the way and helped me undress, then she brought me hot milk with brandy in it and handed me a little white pill.
    “What is it?” I asked cautiously.
    “Just a sleeping pill, darling. I use them all the time. Take it and you’ll sleep like a baby.”
    I was too exhausted to resist, even though I had serious misgivings about any pill that my mother took. But she was right. It did work like a charm. I fell asleep and awoke to see Queenie standing over my bed with a tea tray.
    “Your mum said I had better wake you up,” she said, plonking the tray down on the side table so that the tea splashed into the saucer. “That lawyer bloke is here and wanting to talk to you.”
    “Oh, golly.” The full memory of the night before came rushing back to me. “Run me a bath, Queenie, and find me something to wear that looks—” I was about to say “innocent” but I changed it to “girlish. Young.”
    “Bob’s yer uncle, miss,” she said cheerfully and went off. I sat up and drank the rest of the tea. Amazingly I felt remarkably well, considering everything that had happened yesterday. I bathed and came back to find that Queenie had laid out the same white trousers and blue jacket of the day before. That was one outfit I did not want to be seen wearing.
    “No, Queenie. A simple cotton frock. Oh, let me.” I shoved her aside and examined my meager wardrobe. Simple frocks were actually something I owned. I selected a schoolgirlish check, brushed my hair and went downstairs looking, I hoped, young, innocent and demure. As I neared the drawing room I heard low voices and was mortified to find not only Monsieur Balzac sitting on the sofa, but Jean-Paul standing beside him. I was horribly conscious that I looked like a schoolgirl.
    Monsieur Balzac rose to his feet. “Lady Georgiana. I trust that you slept well,” he said in French.
    “Yes, I did. Thank you. And thank you for coming to my rescue last night.”
    He shook his head. “It was the marquis you had to thank. I am just the instrument.”
    “My eternal thanks to both of you,” I said. “If it weren’t for you, I’d have been locked up in a dreadful cell, being gloated over by that horrid man.” I turned to focus my gaze on Jean-Paul. “It was especially nice of you to get up so early for me.”
    Jean-Paul laughed. “But I am an early bird by nature. Ask anyone. Besides, I had to meet the train.” He came across to me and took my hand. “I just wanted to see for myself that you had survived the night and were well. Now, if you will excuse me, I have matters that require my immediate attention. I leave you in the experienced hands of Monsieur Balzac.” And he kissed my hand lightly before departing.
    Monsieur Balzac coughed to draw my attention. “Please be seated, Lady Georgiana, and I want you to tell me everything.”
    He resumed his place on the sofa. I perched on the edge of a chair across from him. “I don’t really know what to tell. I had never met Sir Toby until two days ago at the casino. We exchanged a few words. I admired his yacht because one can see it from our terrace. He invited me to come sailing with him the next day. I went to his house before noon, I think. We went for a short sail. Sir Toby tried to”—I paused, selecting my words carefully—“take advantage of me, knowing that I was all alone on his yacht. Fortunately the marquis happened to pass by in his speedboat and so I left Sir Toby and went off with him.”
    “I see.” He frowned. “Unfortunately this will not come across well in court. I had hoped that we could claim you did not know Sir Toby. But his crew will testify that he made advances to you and you left his yacht in a state of distress.”
    “Yes, but they will also testify that he was still alive when I left, and I never saw him again. I was with the marquis.”
    “So he informs me. You ate a meal together on the beach, I believe.”
    I nodded. “Then it started to pour with rain and he drove me home. He actually saw me go in the front door. My maid met me. I rested for a while, then the rain stopped and I walked out onto the terrace and saw the body floating in the swimming pool.” I looked at him and shrugged. “That’s about it, really.”
    “So someone was with you all the time after you arrived home?”
    “My maid wasn’t actually with me all the time, but she was around. So were other servants.”
    He frowned. “So this gardener, who claims he saw you tiptoeing toward Sir Toby’s