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  Tobias ignored the barb and swallowed some tea.

  Hudson exhaled heavily and shook his head with a grave air. “Unfortunately, I must admit that there are far too many fraudulent practitioners in our profession.”

  “Only advancements in the science will discourage that sort,” Lavinia declared. “Research and experiments are precisely what is needed.”

  Celeste gave her an inquiring look. “I am curious to know the nature of your new career, Mrs. Lake. There are so few professions open to a lady.”

  “I am in the business of taking commissions from persons who wish to employ me to make private inquiries.” She put her cup down on the saucer. “I believe I have some of my cards around here somewhere.” She leaned across the arm of the sofa and opened a small drawer in a table. “Ah, yes, here we are.”

  She removed two small white cards from the drawer and handed one each to Howard and Celeste.

  Tobias knew exactly what was engraved on the little white rectangles.

  PRIVATE INQUIRIES

  DISCRETION ASSURED

  “Most unusual,” Celeste said, looking rather baffled.

  “Fascinating.” Howard pocketed the card and frowned in evident concern. “But I must tell you that I am sorry to learn that you have given up your practice. You had a great gift for mesmerism, my dear. Your decision to change careers is a loss to the profession.”

  Celeste eyed Lavinia with a considering expression. “Was it only the fear of competition that made you abandon the science?”

  If he had not been watching Lavinia, Tobias thought, he would have missed the shuttered expression that came and went very quickly in her eyes. Nor would he have noticed the tightening of the little muscles in her throat. He could have sworn she swallowed before she answered the question.

  “There was an . . . unpleasant incident involving a client,” Lavinia said neutrally. “And the income was not what one might wish. It is difficult to charge high fees in the country, as I’m sure you know. In addition, I had Emeline’s future to consider. She was out of the schoolroom and I thought it time that she acquired a polish. There is nothing like travel abroad to give one some elegance and refinement, I always say. So, what with one thing and another, when Mrs. Underwood’s offer of a Season in Rome arrived, I thought it best to accept.”

  “I see.” Howard did not take his eyes off her slightly averted face. “I must admit that I did hear rumors of the unpleasantness in that little village in the North. I trust you did not let it affect you unduly?”

  “No, no, of course not,” Lavinia said a bit too quickly. “It is just that by the time Emeline and I returned from Italy, I was inspired to try my hand at this new venture and I have found it very much to my taste.”

  “It is certainly an odd occupation for a lady.” Celeste gave Tobias a speculative look. “I assume that you do not disapprove of Mrs. Lake’s new profession, sir?”

  “I assure you I have moments of extreme doubt and deep uncertainties about it,” Tobias said dryly. “Not to mention any number of sleepless nights.”

  “Mr. March is teasing you.” Lavinia gave Tobias a repressive glare. “He is in no position to disapprove. In fact, upon occasion, he undertakes to act as my assistant.”

  “Your assistant?” Celeste’s eyes widened in genuine shock. “Do you mean to tell me that you employ him?”

  “Not quite,” Tobias said mildly. “I’m more in the way of being her partner.”

  Neither Celeste nor Howard appeared to hear his small correction. They were both staring at him, astonished.

  Howard blinked his eyes. “Assistant, you say?”

  “Partner,” Tobias repeated very deliberately.

  “I engage Tobias’s services on the odd case now and again.” Lavinia moved one hand in an airy gesture. “Whenever I have need of his particular expertise.” She smiled very sweetly at him. “I believe he is only too pleased to have the additional income. Is that not so, sir?”

  He was growing impatient with this conversation. It was time to remind her that she was not the only one with teeth.

  “It is not just the money that attracts me to our partnership,” he assured her. “I must admit that I have discovered several additional, extremely pleasant benefits on the side.”

  She had the grace to blush, but predictably enough, she refused to give ground. She turned back to her guests with a benign smile.

  “Our arrangement affords Mr. March the opportunity to exercise his powers of logic and deductive reasoning. He finds the business of being my assistant quite stimulating. Is that not correct, sir?”

  “Indeed,” Tobias said. “In fact, I think it is safe to say that our association has afforded me some of the most stimulating exercise I’ve had in years, Mrs. Lake.”

  Lavinia slitted her eyes in silent warning. He smiled, satisfied, and ate one of the tiny currant-jam pastries Mrs. Chilton had placed on the tea tray. Mrs. Chilton did wonders with currants, he reflected.

  “This is all quite fascinating.” Celeste examined Tobias over the rim of her teacup. “And just what is the nature of your particular expertise, Mr. March?”

  “Mr. March is very good at ferreting out information from certain sources that are not readily available to me,” Lavinia said before Tobias could respond. “A gentleman is free to make inquiries in certain places where a lady would not be welcomed, if you see what I mean.”

  Understanding lit Howard’s expression. “What an extraordinary arrangement. I take it this new line has proven more lucrative than your old one, Lavinia?”

  “It can be quite profitable.” Lavinia paused delicately. “On occasion. But I must admit that in terms of financial remuneration it is a trifle unpredictable.”

  “I see.” Howard looked concerned again.

  “But enough about my new career,” she said briskly. “Tell me, when do you expect to begin giving therapeutic treatments at your new address, Howard?”

  “It will take at least a month or more to make all the final arrangements regarding the furnishings,” he said. “Then, too, I must put the word out in the proper quarters to the effect that I will be accepting clients and that I am interested only in the more unusual afflictions of the nerves. If one is not careful, one can find oneself overwhelmed with ladies seeking therapy for female hysteria, and as I mentioned, I do not want to spend my time treating such a mundane disorder.”

  “I see.” Lavinia fixed him with an expression of surprisingly keen interest. “Will you be placing advertisements in the newspapers? I have been considering doing that myself.”

  Tobias paused in mid-munch and lowered the remains of the currant pastry. “What the devil? You never mentioned any such scheme to me.”

  “Never mind.” She waved away his inquiry with a small sweep of her hand. “I will explain the details later. It is just a notion that I have been toying with lately.”

  “Toy with something else,” he advised. He popped the last bit of pastry into his mouth.

  Lavinia shot him a repressive glare.

  He pretended not to notice.

  Howard cleared his throat. “In truth, I probably will not put notices in the papers because I fear it will only attract the usual assortment of ordinary clients with ordinary nervous problems.”

  “Yes, I suppose there is some risk of that.” Lavinia looked pensive. “Nevertheless, business is business.”

  The conversation veered off into the arcane and the highly technical aspects of mesmerism. Tobias wandered back to the window and listened to the lively discourse, but he took no part in it.

  He had serious misgivings about the entire business of mesmerism. The truth was, until he encountered Lavinia, he had been convinced that the results of the French inquiries into the subject were correct. The investigations had been led by such esteemed scientists as Dr. Franklin and Lavoisier. The conclusions were simple and straightforward: There was no such thing as animal magnetism and therefore mesmerism had no scientific basis. The practice was nothing
short of fraud.

  He had readily accepted the proposition that the ability to induce a deep trance was a charlatan’s act suited only for entertaining the gullible. At most he would have conceded that a skilled mesmerist might possibly be able to exert influence over certain weak-minded individuals, but that only made the business all the more suspect in his opinion.

  Nevertheless, there was no denying that the public interest in mesmerism was strong and showed no signs of abating, in spite of the views of many medical doctors and serious scientists. He sometimes found it disquieting that Lavinia was trained in the art.

  The Hudsons took their leave half an hour later. Lavinia went to the front door to see them off. Tobias remained at his post at the window and watched Howard hand his wife up into a hackney.

  Lavinia waited until the coach had set off before closing the front door. When she walked back into the parlor a moment later, she appeared far more at ease than she had when she had arrived home. The visit with her old family friend had evidently eased some of the tension. Tobias was not certain how he felt about Hudson’s power to elevate her mood.

  “Would you care for another cup of tea, Tobias?” Lavinia reseated herself on the sofa and picked up the pot. “I am going to have some more.”

  “No, thank you.” He clasped his hands behind his back and looked at her. “What the bloody hell happened while you were out this afternoon?”

  She flinched at the question. Tea splashed on the table.

  “Good heavens, see what you made me do.” She seized a small napkin and went to work blotting up the drops. “What on earth makes you think that something happened to me?”

  “You knew that you had guests waiting for you. You had invited them yourself.”

  She concentrated fiercely on wiping up the small spill. “I told you, I lost track of time and the traffic was terrible.”

  “Lavinia, I am not a complete idiot, you know.”

  “Enough, sir.” She tossed the napkin aside and fixed him with a dark look. “I am in no mood to be put through one of your inquisitions. Indeed, you have no right to press me about my private affairs. I vow, lately you have begun to sound altogether too much like a husband.”

  An acute silence fell. The word husband hung in the air between them, written in letters of fire.

  “When, in fact,” Tobias said eventually and very evenly, “I am merely your occasional partner and sometimes lover. Your point, madam?”

  A rosy flush colored her cheeks. “Forgive me, sir, I do not know what came over me. That was uncalled for. My only excuse is that I am somewhat vexed at the moment.”

  “I can see that. Speaking as your concerned, occasional partner, may I ask why?”

  Her mouth tightened. “She was flirting with you.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Celeste. She flirted with you. Do not deny it. I saw her. She was not particularly subtle about it, was she?”

  He was so astonished that it took him a few seconds to comprehend what she was talking about.

  “Celeste Hudson?” he repeated. The implications of the accusation reverberated in his head. “Well, yes, I did notice that she made a few dilatory efforts in that direction, but—”

  She sat very straight, her spine rigid. “It was disgusting.”

  Was Lavinia actually jealous? The dazzling possibility sent a pleasant euphoria through his veins.

  He risked a small smile. “It was rather practiced and therefore not particularly flattering, but I would not call it disgusting.”

  “I would. She is a married woman. She had no business batting those lashes at you the way she did.”

  “It has been my experience that women who are inclined to flirt do so whether or not they happen to be married. Some sort of inborn compulsion, I suspect.”

  “How awkward for poor, dear Howard. If she carries on like that with every man in sight, he must be humiliated and unhappy a great deal of the time.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a hunch that poor, dear Howard finds his wife’s gift for flirtation extremely useful.” Tobias crossed to the tea tray and helped himself to another pastry. “In fact, it would not surprise me to learn that he married her precisely for her talents in that line.”

  “Really, Tobias.”

  “I am serious. I have no doubt but that she attracted any number of gentlemen clients to his practice in Bath.”

  Lavinia appeared quite struck by that observation. “I had not thought of that possibility. Do you suppose she was merely attempting to interest you in a series of therapeutic treatments?”

  “I think it’s safe to say that Mrs. Hudson’s eyelash-batting amounted to nothing more than a form of advertisement for Hudson’s mesmeric therapy.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Now that we have settled that matter,” he continued, “let us return to my small inquisition. What the devil happened today while you were out shopping?”

  She hesitated and then gave a small sigh. “Nothing significant. I thought I saw someone in the street I once knew.” She paused to take a sip of tea. “Someone I did not expect to see here in London.”

  “Who?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I vow, I have never met anyone who can manage to return so repeatedly to a subject that a person has made very clear that she does not wish to discuss.”

  “One of my many talents. And no doubt one of the reasons why you continue to employ me as your assistant now and again on the odd case.”

  She said nothing. Not mutinous or stubborn, he thought. She was deeply uneasy and perhaps not certain where to start her story.

  He got to his feet. “Come, my sweet. Let us collect our coats and gloves and take a walk in the park.”

  Two

  “WELL, HOWARD?” CELESTE LOOKED AT HIM across the small space that separated them in the hackney. “You said that you were driven by curiosity to see how your old family friend had done in the world. Are you satisfied?”

  He contemplated the view of the street, his handsome profile at an oblique angle. “I suppose so. But I confess I find it absolutely extraordinary that Lavinia would abandon a career in mesmerism for such an odd business.”

  “Perhaps Mr. March is the lure that drew her into this other career. It is obvious that they are lovers.”

  “Perhaps.” Howard paused. “But it is difficult to credit that she would give up the practice for any reason, including a lover. She truly did have a talent for the art. I suspected for some time that she would make a more accomplished practitioner than either of her parents. And they were both very skilled, indeed.”

  “Passion is a very powerful force.” She gave him a knowing smile. “It can cause a woman to alter the course of her life. Only consider our own connection and how my life has changed because of it.”

  Howard’s expression softened. He reached out to pat her gloved hand with his long, elegant fingers. His brilliant eyes darkened.

  “It is you who changed my life, my dear,” he said in his rich, velvety voice. “I shall be forever grateful that you chose to join your fate with mine.”

  They were both lying through their teeth, she thought. But they each did it very well.

  Howard returned to his study of the busy street. “What do you think of Lavinia’s associate, Mr. March?”

  She gave herself a moment to ponder the subject of Tobias March. She considered herself something of an authority on the male of the species. For most of her life her fortunes had depended on the accuracy with which she could assess men and the skill she could bring to the task of manipulating them.

  She had always possessed an aptitude for the business, but she considered that her serious study of the subject had begun with her first husband. She had been sixteen years old. He had been a widowed shopkeeper in his seventies who had conveniently expired in the middle of an unsuccessful attempt to fulfill his marital duties. She had inherited the shop, but having no intention of spending h
er life behind a counter, she had immediately sold it for a rather nice sum.

  The money from the sale of the small business had enabled her to purchase the gowns and fripperies required to move up a couple of rungs on the social ladder. Her next conquest was a dull-witted son of a member of the local gentry, who had paid her rent for four months before his family discovered the affair and cut off his allowance. There had been others after that, including a man of the cloth who had insisted that she wear the garments of his calling while he made love to her on top of the altar.

  The affair had ended when they were discovered by an elderly member of the congregation. The woman had promptly succumbed to a fit of the vapors at the sight of what was happening on the altar. All had not been lost, Celeste reflected. While her lover waved a vinaigrette under the nose of the stricken member of his flock, Celeste had slipped away through a side door, taking with her a very fine pair of candlesticks that she was certain would never be missed from the church’s large collection of silver.

  The candlesticks had sustained her financially until she met Howard. He had proved to be her greatest triumph to date. She had known the moment she met him that he had unique possibilities. The fact that he was not only personally attracted to her but also appreciated her clever nature had simplified matters. When all was said and done, she was in his debt. He had taught her a great deal.

  She sorted through her impressions of Tobias March. Her first observation was that, although he was endowed with excellent shoulders and a very fine physique, he appeared to have little interest in fashion. His coat and trousers had been cut for comfort and ease of movement, not style. The knot in his cravat had been simple and severe, not fashionably intricate.

  But she considered herself an astute student of men, one who was accustomed to looking past such superficial elements. She had known immediately that March was very different from the other gentlemen she had encountered in her life. It was obvious to her that he possessed a steel core at the center of his being that had nothing to do with physical prowess. She had seen it in the veiled depths of his cool, enigmatic gaze.