Free The Conquest of Lady Cassandra by Madeline Hunter

what you want to know.”
    “Father thinks they were stolen. He charged me with finding out what happened to them.”
    That surprised her.
    “What a lot of bother over some ugly earrings. I have never even worn them.”
    “They are worth hundreds, mother. He has tracts of land not as valuable. The diamonds are of good size.”
    Yates remembered the dismay in his father’s tired eyes when he learned of the missing earrings.
    Yates had thought that buying the jewels at the auction would take care of it. They would return to the estate, after all. His father had expressed anger at the solution, andsurprise that they had found their way into Cassandra Vernham’s possession.
Damnation, someone has betrayed this family. Find out from the chit how she got them.
    “Did you by any chance pawn them?” he asked.
    His mother leveled a gaze at him such as he had not been subjected to in years. Not since gossip about his first mistress had circulated ten years ago, and she had learned that the woman was the married daughter of one of her friends.
    Her demeanor turned imperious. “I have no reason to pawn jewels, or anything else. A Countess of Highburton does not gamble. She does not spend more than her pin money, and she certainly does not sell family jewels that are not hers to sell. She honors the family traditions of abstemious and moral behavior that her position has inherited, even if her son does not do the same regarding his more exalted expectations.”
    There was much he could say in response, unpleasant things mostly, but he would not. She had been a good countess, and even now she sat with the earl for hours on end. There may have never been a great passion between them, but few could surpass her when it came to performing her duties.
    “Do not dare accuse my maid of theft, if that is your next intention, Yates. She has been with me for decades, and I will not have you browbeat her. I have heard about your secret avocation of turning over rocks, looking for dirt, and I will not tolerate your playing that sordid role with this family.”
    “I will not accuse her of anything, merely talk to her. Father has asked me to find out what happened. I don’t give a damn myself, but I will give him this if he wants it.”
    It was not really true that he did not give a damn. The matter seemed most peculiar. Then again, perhaps he had become too much the investigator, and could not resist untangling the knot to see how the earrings in that portrait ended up at Fairbourne’s auction.
    The weariness of the last six months could be heard in her next words. “Do what you must, of course.” She stood, and he rose as well. “Before he slept, he again spoke of returning to town. I could not dissuade him from the notion. Perhaps this evening you will try instead.”
    He would try, but it would do no good. Word had just come this morning that French forces had landed in Ireland. In the morning, he and his father would pack up all those documents and remove to London. Now that his father felt a little better, he would not be kept from the discussions taking place in the government about this disastrous development. He was Highburton.

Chapter 5
     
    L ondon emptied of society in August. Even the theater people and other members of artistic circles who might hold parties were scarce. Last August, Cassandra had been able to visit with Emma at least, but now Emma was in the country too.
    All of this left her with too much time to ponder Ambury’s unspoken insinuations. She was all too tempted to sell the earrings to someone else and to hell with Ambury. Unfortunately, it was unlikely she would get the same price from someone else, and she badly needed every penny those earrings would bring.
    That Sunday Cassandra pondered her dilemma while she drank lemonade on the terrace where she sat with Aunt Sophie.
    “The weather is too hot even for August,” Aunt Sophie said. She looked up from her book and gazed out at the riot of color in the