Free A Kiss in the Dark by Joan Smith

called,” Dauntry said, turning to Beau. “I wanted to warn you to keep your yacht away from the cottage. There are rocks close to the surface there. They are not visible in the dark water. I have the place marked out with buoys, but really you are better to keep away from it entirely.”
    “I thank you for the warning, sir.”
    Dauntry noticed Cressida’s interest when he mentioned the cottage. He had hoped that subject was at an end, but within two seconds she had begun pestering him again.
    “If you plan to spend most of the week in London, will the cottage be empty?” she asked. “Come now, Dauntry, don’t stare!” she added with a quizzing smile. “It was you who intimated you had a friend installed there. As you so kindly pointed out, I am not a deb. Surely you would have more opportunity to visit your Mend five days a week in London than only two on the weekends.”
    “I am kept pretty busy in London.”
    “The House will be in recess come July, if it is not already.”
    “Most of the members will return to their constituency, but the inner circle still meets to plot strategies and counterstrategies. No rest for the wicked—and no cottage for the baroness, I fear. So you met young Brewster,” he said, quickly changing the subject. “He is the leading bachelor of the parish. I expect he will soon be enlivening your dull evenings. You want to have him show you over his abbey. A very fine building. The east wing ...”
    He spoke on of Brewster’s estate while Cressida half listened, but her mind was on Dauntry’s intransigence. She did not believe he had a chère amie at the cottage. He would have had his gardener tidy up the grounds if the place was occupied. The woman would be seen about the place. Beau spent a good deal of time on the coast, looking out for the Sea Dog’s arrival, and he had reported no sign of life at the cottage.
    Dauntry remained for half an hour, at which time he said he had to leave for London early in the morning and must be off. “No need to send for my mount. I walked down,” he said. He thanked them for the tea, said he looked forward to returning soon, and left.
    “This room is still too warm,” Cressida said, trying to poke the fire out. “Let us go out for a breath of air before retiring.”
    They walked down to the shore, breathing in the fresh, moist air. A new moon cast a sparkling white net on the calm water. About half a mile from shore, a small boat lay nearly becalmed in the still air. Waves washed quietly on the pebble beach. Some other sound was there as well, a sound not loud but regular.
    “What is that?” Beau asked. “It sounds like footsteps. Someone is coming.”
    A delicious shiver scampered up Cressida’s spine as she and Beau took cover under a spreading willow. They waited, peering through the drooping branches into the shadows, but no one appeared. In fact, the footsteps were receding. Beau darted out to see if he could spot the intruder. He was back in an instant.
    “It is Dauntry!” he exclaimed in a low whisper. “He ain’t returning to the castle at all. He is going to the cottage. There is no place else he could be going along this stretch of beach.”
    “So he does have a woman there,” Cressida said, and was aware of an angry heat inside her.
    “Devil a bit of it. It is something else. Let us follow along and see whom he meets.”
    “It is of no interest to me,” she said, and strode back to the house.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    It took Beau two minutes to convince Cressida to accompany him to the chalet, and another five for her to run upstairs and change her pale rose evening gown for a muslin day dress more suitable to rough usage.
    “Dash it, he will be gone by the time we get there,” Beau complained when she reappeared. “If that ain’t just like a lady, having to change her gown at the last minute.”
    “I will not destroy my new rose gown for Lord Dauntry. He is not worth it,” she said haughtily, and stalked into the