The Vanishing Viscountess. Diane Gaston

leave you now,” the older woman said. “Mr Lear, when you wish to go to the shop, either my husband or I can direct you.”

      “I will be down very soon,” he said.

      After the innkeeper’s wife left, Marlena walked over to the tub and dipped her fingers into the warm water.

      “Am I sounding like a marquess?” Tanner asked.

      She smiled at him. “You are doing very well.”

      He blew out a breath and walked towards her. “That is good. I confess, I am uncertain how not to sound like a marquess, but if I am accomplishing it, I am content.” His eyes rested on her. “I should leave, so you can have your bath.”

      She lifted her hand and touched him lightly on the arm. “Thank you for this, Lord Tannerton.”

      “Adam,” he reminded her, his name sounding like a caress.

      “Adam,” she whispered.

      His eyes darkened and he seemed to breathe more deeply. He glanced away from her. “What ought I to purchase for you?”

      She thought the bath more than enough. “A comb, perhaps? A brush? Hairpins?”

      He smiled. “I shall pretend I am an old married man who often is sent to the shop for hairpins. Anything else?”

      She ought not to ask him for another thing. “Gloves?”

      “Gloves.” He nodded.

      There was a knock on the door and he crossed the room to open it. It was the maid bringing more water.

      She poured it into the tub. “I’ll bring more.” She curtsied and left.

      “I will leave now, as well.” Tanner opened the door and turned back to her. “Save me the water.”

      Marlena crossed the room to him. “Forgive me. I did not think. You must have the water first. I will wait.”

      He reached up and touched her cheek. “You first, Mrs Lear.”

      By the time she could breathe again, he was gone.

      Arlan Rapp trudged down the Llanfwrog road to the blacksmith shop. A huge barrel-chested man, twice the Bow Street Runner’s size and weight, hammered an ingot against his anvil. The clang of the hammer only added to the pain throbbing in Rapp’s ears. He’d walked from one side of Llanfwrog to the other, but few villagers were even willing to admit to knowing of the shipwreck. He’d recognised plenty of them from when what was left of his boat washed up to shore. The villagers had grabbed crates and barrels. A few had been good enough to aid the survivors. He’d been whisked off to the inn, he and the others who had washed up with him.

      He waited to speak until the smithy plunged the piece of metal into water. “Good day to you, smithy,” Rapp said.

      The man looked up. “Do you require something?”

      Rapp smiled, although his fatigue made him feel anything but cordial. “Only a bit of information.”

      The blacksmith just stared at him.

      Rapp cleared his throat. “I am from the packet ship that was wrecked last night.”

      No understanding showed on the smithy’s face, but Rapp doubted anyone in Llanfwrog was ignorant of the previous night’s bounty.

      He went on. “I am searching for survivors, specifically a woman who had been my companion.”

      “I know nothing of it,” the man said.

      “Perhaps you have heard talk,” he persisted. “Perhaps someone told you of survivors. I am most eager to learn her fate.”

      The blacksmith shook his head. He took another piece of glowing metal from the fire.

      “I would pay for information,” Rapp added, although he much preferred not to part with his still-damp money.

      The smith placed the hot metal on the anvil and picked up his hammer. “Bodies wash ashore sometimes.”

      That was a grisly thought, but if the Viscountess’s body washed up on shore, he could cease his search and go home to his wife.

      “Where would bodies be taken?” Rapp asked, but the smithy’s hammer started again and its din drowned out his words. He gave up.

      No sooner had he walked out of the blacksmith shop than a smudged-face boy tugged on his coat. “I can show you bodies, if you want to see ’em.”

      Rapp squatted down to eye level with the little eavesdropper. “Can you now?”

      The boy nodded energetically. “About ten or so.”

      Rapp took a breath and stood, squaring his shoulders. “Excellent, my good fellow. Take me there now.” A few minutes of unpleasantness might mean he could be in London within a few days and still receive his reward.

      “It’ll cost you tuppence,” the boy said.

      Smart little cur, Rapp thought sourly. He fished the coin from his pocket and showed it to the boy. “Take me to the bodies and a tuppence you shall have.”

      Chapter Four

      Tanner’s shopping expedition proved to be a novel experience. He’d never shopped for ladies’ hairpins before, nor any of his own necessities, for that matter. He typically sent his valet to procure things like razors and shaving brushes and polish for shoes and combs and toothbrushes. He dawdled in the shop for as long as he could to give Miss Brown time for her bath. The shopkeepers and two other customers were full of questions about the shipwreck, unknown to this village before Davies brought news of it. He practised being Mr Lear, although he could answer few questions about how much salvage had washed ashore.

      When he left the shop and stopped for another tankard of ale in the taproom, the patrons there had more questions. The extra alcohol made him mellow and, while he talked, a part of his mind wandered to how Miss Brown might appear in the bath, how slick her skin would be, how scented with soap.

      Because he had little information about the shipwreck, interest in him waned quickly. He drank more ale in solitude, if not peace. There was nothing peaceful about imagining Miss Brown in the bath. When he eventually carried the packages up the flight of stairs to the room he would share with her, his eagerness to see her made it difficult for him to keep from taking the steps two at a time. He walked down the hall to the door and, balancing the packages in one arm, knocked.

      “Come in,” she said.

      He paused, took a breath, and opened the door.

      She was dressed and seated in a chair by the fireplace, pressing a white towel to her long mahogany brown hair. He inhaled the scent of soap and wanted nothing more than to embrace her, soft and warm and clean.

      “You are back,” she said in a breathless voice.

      He felt equally as robbed of air. “I tried to give you ample time.”

      She twisted the towel around her hair. “I fear you have waited too long. The water has gone quite cold.”

      He smiled at her. “It cannot be as cold as what we’ve already experienced.”

      She shuddered. “No, it cannot.” Her eyes lifted to his and held him there.

      He mentally shook himself loose from her. It was either do that or do something foolish. “The packages,” he said, carrying them over to the table in the corner. He unwrapped one and brought it to her. “I suspect you would like these now.” He handed her the brush and comb he had purchased.

      They were crafted from simple tortoiseshell. Tanner thought of how many sets of silver brushes and combs he’d had his former secretary, Flynn, purchase for his mistresses. There was nothing so fine in the Cemaes shop, but Miss Brown’s eyes glowed with excitement when she took the items from his hands.

      “Oh,