Larcenous Lady by Joan Smith

a cat of a different stripe! And after all her evasionary tactics, she invited him to oversee the purchase of the pearl.
    She didn’t match the rest of that ordinary family. She was better spoken, more sure of herself, more intelligent. He had suspected before that she had been reared separately from Lucy. Perhaps reared in some circumstance that brought her in touch with the Jalberts? Could it be Elvira the man with the pipe was trying to speak to, not Mrs. Sutton?
    As Belami lay in bed thinking, he could see no way to learn the truth but to tackle Elvira himself. He must do it discreetly. Compliments would help—perhaps a mild flirtation. She really was a very handsome woman; making up to her wouldn’t appear unusual. It was well Deirdre was removing from the hotel—though whether moving her into Carlotta’s orbit was a good idea, he had grave doubts.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Deirdre and the duchess had a farewell breakfast with the Suttons the next morning. At eleven Belami and Pronto came, the latter with his luggage to check into the hotel. When Signor Cerboni arrived, the group went to a private parlor to view the pearl. Belami took it and the jeweler’s loupe to the window to examine it in daylight. He saw at a glance that the pearl was genuine and the setting, too, had the rough appearance of fifteenth-century work.
    He remembered his plan to befriend Elvira, and was pleased when she joined him. “Mr. Pilgrim tells me you are an expert, Lord Belami,” she said. The teasing look in her eyes did not denote agreement with this notion. Quite the contrary.
    “You strike me as a young lady who knows her own mind,” he answered with a flirtatious smile. “I never was an oyster and claim no intimacy with pearls, but this certainly looks genuine to me.”
    “I thought so, too,” she said, and reached for the pearl. Their hands brushed. Elvira, who hadn’t a clumsy bone in her body, lost her grip on the pearl. Belami, quick as a cat, reached out and grabbed it before it fell. Their eyes met and held. Some spark of emotion flared between them. Elvira took the pearl and turned away.
    Belami put his hand on her wrist to stop her. “Pronto has been singing your praises to me, Miss Sutton,” he said.
    She lifted her eyes and directed a challenging look at him. “You would know better than I to what extent Mr. Pilgrim’s opinion might be relied on.”
    “I prefer to judge for myself. I judge you to be a young lady of the world.” He said no more but allowed his eyes to admire her a moment before wandering to Lucy and Mrs. Sutton. “Rather more so than your sister,” he added thoughtfully.
    “I have had more advantages than Lucy.”
    “You, I think, have had the advantage of a larger society than...?”
    “We’re from Cornwall. I was sent to a seminary in Bath to be educated. Lucy was a frail child and remained at home.”
    Was it possible the haughty Elvira was uncomfortable in a mild flirtation? She certainly seemed ill at ease.
    “That would account for it.” Belami nodded.
    “And now perhaps you would be kind enough to return my hand,” she said, looking boldly at him with a smile in her eyes. “Miss Gower will think her kindness toward me ill-paid. She might mistake this interlude for a flirtation.”
    “I’m sure we both agree she would be quite mistaken,” Belami said, but ambiguously. His tone hinted at romance. And Elvira was interested. He could see it in her eyes. Interested and—what? Guilty, no doubt, because of Deirdre. He accompanied her to the table, where they sat side by side.
    Deirdre was not such a demon of jealousy that she resented their brief absence. Belami indicated his satisfaction to Cerboni, and they both looked expectantly to Mrs. Sutton for the money. She set on the table a black leather box and unlocked it to reveal one thousand English guineas twinkling in the light from the window. They certainly looked genuine to Belami, but then so did the counterfeit coin in his