Free Brenda Hiatt by A Christmas Bride Page A

her.
    “Lady Vandover! What a pleasant surprise.” Though his voice and demeanour were casual, Holly thought she detected a question in his inflection.
    Glancing surreptitiously about, she opened her reticule and pulled the list from it. “Indeed, Mr. Teasdale,” she replied gaily, “I did not expect to see you here tonight.”
    He raised the hand with the list to his lips, palming the paper as he did so. “You grace the theatre with your presence, my lady,” he said gallantly. “Perhaps we may speak again later. The curtain will rise in a moment.” With an elegant bow, during which the paper somehow disappeared, he took his leave of her.
    Holly returned to the duchess and the Mountheaths, feeling both relieved and strangely uncomfortable. Teasdale had behaved as though he had much practice at secretingnotes given him in public. Yet she had not particularly thought of him as a ladies’ man.
    Returning to the box with the others, she attempted to ignore whatever it was that bothered her by telling herself that she was one step closer to discovering the traitor’s identity, and proving her abilities to Hunt. He was due back in two weeks’ time, if all went well in Lisbon. Surely she and Teasdale would have the answer by then, if not from that list, then from Noel’s reply to her queries. She hoped he would not delay in responding.
    I N FACT , Noel’s letter did not arrive until only three days before Hunt and the duke were expected to return. Several times Holly had to restrain herself from going round to the Grey Goose Inn herself to ask Peter whether something had come for her. She so wanted to surprise Hunt with the traitor’s identity!
    Teasdale had told her nothing else, though they had encountered each other twice since she gave him the list, so she assumed he had not been able to make use of it. Small wonder, as she had by now convinced herself that those names were likely common knowledge about the Foreign Office. Noel’s letter was her last hope. She paid Peter twice what she had last time and hurried directly up to her room to read it, heedless of what the duchess might think.
    “I strongly urge you not to pursue this matter alone,” Noel began. “Vandover is the man to handle it, and the danger to a woman too great.”
    Holly nearly crumpled the letter in her frustration, but calmed herself sufficiently to decode the remainder first. She was rewarded for her forbearance.
    “Begging you to keep this in mind, I have sought the information you requested, at no small risk to myself, I may add. I hope you find it useful. The traitor is a clerk, as I wrote before, who has but recently obtained his position with the Foreign Office—within the past two months, infact. I was unable to discover his name, but this clue may enable Vandover to discover who the man is, for he has doubtless launched an investigation already.”
    Holly’s hands shook as she deciphered these lines. There was only one clerk who had come to the Foreign Office since the beginning of the year, she knew. Teasdale.
    As her amazement subsided, she was seized with a thrill of elation. She had done it! She had discovered the identity of the traitor, and without Hunt’s assistance. When he returned in three days’ time she would tell him—how proud he would be! Perhaps he would even tell his superiors what she had done. She and Noel would be heroes when it all came out!
    Then, gradually, doubts began to assail her. Could she reveal Noel’s part in this? She had faithfully promised her brother that she would tell no one of his whereabouts. But without this letter, would Hunt even believe her? Teasdale would deny it of course, and she had no idea if any tangible proof might exist…
    The list!
    For a moment, Holly thought she might swoon. She had given Teasdale that list of names, copied from a document on Hunt’s own desk! How could she have been so stupid? But if he still had it, would that not be evidence of his guilt, apart from