Free Lady Thief by Kay Hooper Page A

drew up before a fine-looking residence on Berkeley Square, and the double doors were immediately opened by a dignified butler with a forbidding aspect.
    The butler (who informed them regally that his name was Somers) led them to the drawing room and announced their names. Before he could complete the introduction, both girls were engulfed in affectionate hugs from a middle-aged matron with a rather stout figure and mischievous blue eyes. She drew back far enough to smile happily at the girls, and then nodded a dismissal at the patiently waiting butler. “Oh, go away, do, Somers. I know very well who they are.” Without waiting to see if the butler obeyed, she immediately launched on a nonstop dialogue to her guests about the parties and balls they would be attending, the handsome young gentlemen they would be meeting, the sad state of the king’s health, the war with Bonaparte, and a terribly insipid ball she had attended the night before. She jumped from one topic to another in a bewildering manner that was calculated to totally confuse even the most astute of listeners.
    Jenny and Meg listened rather blankly, and followed meekly when Lady Beddington led them upstairs, saying that they would no doubt wish to rest after their long journey.
    “Just as if,” Meg later confided to Jenny, “we had come from India instead of Kent.”
    The two girls were sitting on the bed in Jenny’s room while their maids unpacked the trunks. Their chattering hostess had left them to rest, but since they were both country girls accustomed to plenty of exercise, they preferred to talk.
    Meg laughed softly, saying, “I like Lady Beddington. She seems so cheerful.”
    Jenny laughed in response. “At least we won’t have to worry about holding up our end of the conversation—not while she’s present, at any rate.”
    “Jenny,” said Meg, changing the subject abruptly, “promise me that you won’t tell Lady Beddington that Mama has forbidden me to see Robert.”
    Jenny smiled at her stepsister. “I won’t tell her, Meg. But you must remember what Mama said. Try to enjoy yourself here. It isn’t such a long time until summer, you know.”
    “All right, Jenny,” Meg replied doubtfully, “but it won’t be easy to enjoy myself until I can see Robert again. It won’t be easy at all.”
     
     
    However much Meg may have doubted her ability to enjoy herself in London, Lady Beddington saw to it that she had little time to do anything but enjoy herself. After innumerable shopping trips, dress fittings, and dancing lessons, the girls were ready to make their curtsies to polite society. They had been in London slightly above a week.
    At their first party, the girls were immediately swamped with young men desirous of becoming better acquainted, and matrons had only good things to say about their manners and general deportment.
    Overnight, Jenny became known as the Dark Incomparable, and Meg became so accustomed to hearing herself described as an angel that she decided London was a very nice place after all.
    And when it became known that Jenny was an heiress, her circle of admirers widened even more. She was slightly amused by the fortune hunters, and did nothing at all to discourage them. She preferred to treat all her admirers impartially, secure in the belief that she was well able to take care of herself.
    Within a very few days, however, Jenny found that she was growing slightly jaded with all the attention she had been receiving. She was cynically aware of the fact that at least part of her suitors were interested in her fortune rather than herself, and their flowery compliments soon began to pall.
    She was also aware of a restless urge to continue her search for her father’s killer. Jenny had spent many uneasy nights wondering fatalistically when someone would recognize her as the Cat. She had finally persuaded herself to believe that the best place to hide a tree was in the forest; who would look for the Cat in the midst of