Free Realm 03 - A Touch of Cashemere by Regina Jeffers Page A

young lady on each arm. The women were obviously twins; he could discern very little difference between them. Now, he fully understood how the Realm had tricked him. The women bore an uncanny resemblance to Velvet Aldridge, and they both wore dresses of a similar shade. They made him see things that did not exist. A nice illusion–and he had fallen for it. It would not happen again.
    He would change his operation. Mir would not be happy with his lack of success. He had started with the Realm’s leader James Kerrington and then Brantley Fowler. He never really suspected that either man held the emerald. Both possessed a high sense of honor. However, Mir ordered that he start with them; his leader thought Worthing’s and Thornhill’s honor a façade. Mir did not understand how these Englishmen thought, but Jamot did. He had lived among them for the last year. He had felt the chill of their winters and the warmth of their springs. He had seen the hatred for foreigners on their faces. He had recognized their attitudes of superiority. The Realm had fooled him this time. He would not allow it to happen again. He would regroup and find the weaknesses among the others. He would find the missing emerald.

    “To think, Uncle, my sister is to be a duchess,” Satiné said for the third time in an hour.
    Cashé rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Why is that so important?”
    The baron good-naturedly explained, “A duke is the closest to royalty this country offers in the social strata. When Velvet becomes a duchess, your sister will hold great sway in society, which plays well for your own places.”
    “I am so happy that we postponed my Come Out,” Satiné gushed. “To be known as the sister of the Duchess of Thornhill shall open doors left closed otherwise.”
    Cashé sat back into the coach’s soft squabs. She crossed her arms before her chest, symbolically closing herself off from reason. “You make the assumption, Satiné, that Uncle Samuel will allow Thornhill to marry Velvet, and I can assure you that Uncle shan’t agree.”
    “How might Averette prevent the joining?” the baron demanded.
    “As Uncle Samuel has assumed Velvet’s guardianship, he may speak to her choice of husbands until she is of age. That is why Velvet came to stay with us in Edinburgh. Uncle objected to the duke’s attentions to my sister. He actually caught them in an intimate moment,” Cashé shared. Her uncle had tried to hide the reason for their hasty removal from London, but Cashé had overheard Fowler’s servants gossiping about what Samuel Aldridge had said to His Grace.
    Ashton sat forward, as if to hear better. “What do you mean? Averette assumed guardianship of Velvet.”
    “Just as I said,” Cashé smirked. “Uncle Samuel found Velvet and Fowler kissing in the duke’s London library. He demanded that Velvet return with us to Scotland. Thornhill quickly gave up Velvet when Uncle Samuel threatened to expose Eleanor for the truth.”
    “I would like an explanation,” Ashton insisted.
    Cashé told him of the scene at the Prince Regent’s party–of Sir Louis Levering’s charges–of the baronet’s attacking the Prince–and of how the Fowlers had led Prince George to believe that the Averette’s governess was Lady Eleanor’s traveling companion. “Uncle Samuel confronted Thornhill regarding the former duke’s debauchery. He told Fowler how he had chosen to look the other way because Lady Eleanor deserved a better life with an honorable man, but Uncle Samuel could not allow Velvet to return to Kent with His Grace without a chaperone.”
    “And Thornhill refused to make an honest woman of your sister?”
    “No, His Grace made an offer,” Cashé continued, “but Uncle refused.”
    The baron leaned back. “And why would Aldridge refuse to accept a duke’s offer? That is the real question. What is in it for him?” A touch of bitterness laced his words.
    “Uncle just wished to protect Velvet’s name,” Cashé