“Yes, yes, I know exactly how the countess is. What happened?” Cole asked.
“It’s missing, my lord. All of it.”
“All of what?”
“All the jewelry.”
“The jewelry is missing? Impossible.” Cole slammed his fist on the table. “Jewelry does not vanish. Someone took it.”
“Have you had any visitors from the king?” Nathaniel asked. “Maybe someone who would try to steal it?”
“I can’t imagine anyone being so bold as to steal from me after I welcomed them into my home.”
“Perhaps one of the servants?” Abby asked.
“Surely not one of my servants. Why, my servants have been with me for years. Not a one of them would stoop so low as to steal from me.”
Daniel appeared beside Sasha and winked.
“I think Julie missed her calling,” Sasha replied, nodding toward her friend. Daniel’s submissive sat in a chair with her arm dramatically thrown over her eyes, murmuring, “Gone. All gone,” while Abby tried to calm her down.
“That’s my girl.” Daniel laughed and after listening to the group in the other room said, “Looks like we’re up.”
Sasha nodded and he took her by the wrist, dragging her into the dining room.
“Look what I found out in the stables, trying to get away.” Daniel pushed her toward Cole.
“Who are you?” Cole asked.
“I was just looking for somewhere to spend the night, my lord,” Sasha said. “And I thought to use your stables.”
“A likely story.” Cole glanced at Daniel. “Did she have anything in her possession?”
“No, my lord.”
Cole slowly walked around her. “Where did you come from, girl?”
“Please don’t ask me that, my lord.”
“You are found on my estate, shortly after some very valuable items go missing and I’m not supposed to ask where you’re from?”
Sasha nodded. “That’s right. And I’d be ever so thankful if you didn’t ask what I was doing.”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I requested that you not ask me that.”
“Yes, which is precisely why I asked.”
Sasha clamped her mouth shut and crossed her arms over her chest.
Cole turned back to Daniel. “How thoroughly did you check to make sure she wasn’t carrying anything?”
“I only checked her hands, my lord.”
“That’s what I thought. Strip her.”
“My lord, there are ladies present,” Nathaniel said.
“Then nothing they’ll see will come as a shock. Now, Covington.”
Daniel walked behind Sasha and lifted the dress over her head. She’d slipped a black tank top under the outfit to cover her back, so she was exposed only from the waist down. Like the day before, when she was late bringing the drinks, she wasn’t uncomfortable. She felt only excitement.
“Hmm.” Cole took his time looking over her body. “Very nice, and she doesn’t seem to be hiding anything. Search the pockets of her dress. Look for hidden ones.”
“A-ha!” Daniel said, holding up a sheet of paper. “A summons from the king.”
Cole jerked it out of his hand and held it up to Sasha. “You come from the king’s court?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?” He narrowed his eyes. “And what does it have to do with my family’s jewelry?”
Sasha said the first thing that came to her head. “I plead the fifth.”
Cole’s eyes danced with amusement. “There is no fifth amendment yet. You can’t plead the fifth.”
“Then I invent it.”
“Wrong country.”
“Damn.”
“Out with it.”
“I’m just looking for a place to sleep, I promise. That’s all.”
Cole cupped her chin and held her face so she had no choice but to look at him. “I have ways to get you to talk.”
“Please, Sir,” she said. “I’ll do anything. Just don’t send me back to the king.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “What happens if I send you back to the king?”
“He’ll see me as a traitor. I’ll be killed.”
“Why would you be a traitor?” Cole began to run his finger over her cotton covered nipple.
She sucked in a breath. “Because I didn’t follow his instructions.”
“Do you have trouble following instructions?” His hand dipped lower, danced across her belly.
“Sometimes, my lord.”
“What instructions were you given by the king that you didn’t follow?”
“I’m supposed to gather information about you and report back to him.”
“And how did you think to go about doing that?” His fingers brushed her upper thigh.
“There are rumors about you in . . . bed.”
“Ah, now we are getting somewhere. What sort of rumors?”
“They say you have peculiar tastes.”
“My lord,” Julie interrupted, “must we sit and listen to these lies about you and your character?”
“I assure you, Ms. Masterson,” Cole said, “they are not lies.”
Julie gave a dramatic gasp.
“Covington?” Cole asked Daniel. “Kindly take Ms. Masterson over your knee and show her what happens when people interrupt me.”
Daniel crooked a finger at a surprised Julie.
“Now,” Cole said, turning his attention back to Sasha. “The jewelry. Where is it?”
“The king is going to take it. I hid it.”
“And why should I believe you? How do I know you didn’t stash it away to use it as a trap?”
“Can I do something to prove it to you?”