Radiance (Diamonds of the First Water #3)

Chapter Forty-One

T o Radiance’s extreme consternation, Edward raised his head and looked into her eyes. His own were filled with disbelief. Then he began to lift each glass, turning it over before putting it back onto the tray.

Together, they stared at the upturned glassware.

“I am desperately hoping you moved the Koh-i-Noor,” she said, glad her parents and sister were remaining silent.

“I didn’t,” he said, his tone choked, as though someone had his fingers around Edward’s neck.

Not caring about propriety, she rose to her feet and placed a hand upon his arm.

“Perhaps you did and you forgot. You know how you can be.”

He muttered something under his breath. When he opened his eyes, Edward’s tawny golden gaze bore into hers.

“I assure you I did not move it. I am also certain I am going to prison for a long time.”

Radiance gasped. “That’s not fair. We were only —”

“ I was only.” He put both his hands upon her shoulders. “You had nothing to do with this. Do you understand me?”

She did. He was sacrificing himself to save her. It was noble but most likely unnecessary.

“As an earl’s daughter, I will be viewed with leniency. In fact, perhaps I should take all the blame. The Queen would never put me in jail.”

“I don’t understand,” Bri’s voice sliced through the growing tension. “Why is Her Majesty going to put anyone in jail?”

Her mother and father rose, too. “Let’s keep cool heads,” the earl said.

“Yes,” her mother agreed. “The Queen is a reasonable woman and a mother. She won’t put my daughter in jail for trying to help.”

“Maybe not,” Edward said, addressing her father. “Nevertheless, she might ruin your family as punishment. She could take your title and lands. I shall not have the Diamonds brought so low that you have wealth only in your name. I cannot let you risk it.”

Her father crossed his arms. “I doubt it shall come to that.” Yet he didn’t sound as unconcerned as Radiance had hoped. And if the Queen could punish her family, she could hardly imagine what Her Majesty might do to Edward.

“I cannot let you take all the blame,” she said, “regardless of the consequences.”

“But I should,” he insisted. “It was my plan that has gone awry.”

“I was the one who created the forgery,” she reminded him.

He barely hesitated. “We cannot announce our engagement.”

Her heart squeezed. “Are you reneging on your proposal of marriage?”

“I most definitely am. We must not be associated at this moment, or I shall not be able to save you. After all, more than a few people know you can cut a gemstone.”

“Then it is foolish to pretend you somehow did it yourself,” she said.

He sighed. “You are being unreasonable.”

“And you are being unrealistic. No one will believe you suddenly became a crack lapidary.”

“Perhaps we should leave Mr. Lockwood to search his home,” her father said.

“Agreed,” Edward said. “I am terribly sorry for how this evening has ended.”

Bri, who’d been lifting the glasses and peering under each one, spoke into the charged atmosphere.

“Why not ask your staff, sir? Whenever I have lost something, that’s what I do. It has proven most fruitful.”

Before anyone could respond to that sage advice, Edward darted from the room. Radiance didn’t think her family would mind if she followed.

“I’ll return directly,” she told them, hastening after him.

Darting through the open drawing room door, she would fight for her engagement and upcoming marriage. Although neither were as important as keeping her heart from splintering into a million shards like a badly cut gemstone — yet if she couldn’t have Edward, she would have no use for it at all.

Following the sound of his footfalls along the passageway into the kitchen, she found him already calling for Mrs. McSabby.

It was his corpulent cook, with her head of gray curls escaping her bleached white cap, who answered, “She’ll be in directly, sir.”

Trundling slowly to the bottom of the backstairs, the woman yelled, “McSabby!” in a voice that would be heard by the neighbors.

Radiance laid her hand on Edward’s arm to let him know she was there. He startled, turned, and met her gaze. Her insides quaked at his look of utter distress. They were in the soup, and she couldn’t set aside the fearful notion that their happy future was slipping away.

Yet hearing footsteps rushing down the servants’ stairs, she let a little hope seep in. Perhaps the housekeeper had come across the diamond while dusting and moved it to what she assumed was a safer spot.

Mrs. McSabby practically fell down the last step in her haste. Rounding upon the cook, she demanded, “Is the house on fire?”

The cook simply nodded toward the kitchens’ visitors.

“Oh!” Mrs. McSabby exclaimed. “I would’ve come back to the drawing room, sir, to see if your guests needed anything. I only popped upstairs for a minute. Good evening, again, m’lady.”

“Good evening, again, Mrs. McSabby. Mr. Lockwood is searching for something.”

“When isn’t he, m’lady?” the housekeeper said, as if sharing a joke with her.

Edward stiffened. Radiance feared it was not the right time for teasing.

“You make it sound as if I have misplaced a glove,” he ground out. “Rather than discovering a large diamond has gone missing!” He ended his statement by threading his fingers into the hair on either side of his head and making fists as if he intended to yank it all out right then and there.

Yet when Mrs. McSabby’s expression lightened, Radiance was sure everything would be well.

“Is that what has you in a tweague?” Edward’s housekeeper asked, her hands on her hips.

“Yes. Precisely.” Edward lowered his arms. “Tell me you have seen it.”

“Of course, I’ve seen it, sir. It was one of your stranger misplacements, too.”

Radiance’s stomach twinged, and she watched Edward close his eyes a moment, whispering something — perhaps a message of gratitude.

“I’ve found sapphires in the dining salon,” Mrs. McSabby said, “and giant geodes left for me to trip over in the upstairs hall, but never before have I found a diamond in a drinking glass.”

“How did you find it?” Radiance couldn’t help asking.

Mrs. McSabby stood straighter. “I am a good housekeeper, m’lady. My maids and I clean as we should. Although even for Mr. Lockwood, it was a strange place to forget something.”

“I should have told you,” Edward said, his tone hollow, “and warned you not to touch it. I didn’t misplace it, by the way. I put it there on purpose.”

Mrs. McSabby shook her head. “No need to be nettled and up in the boughs, sir. I have the diamond right here.” She reached into her apron pocket. An expression of doubt came over her flushed face.

Radiance’s stomach fell again. But then the housekeeper reached into her other one and smiled before drawing out the stone and handing it to Edward.

Edward’s expression, as if he were going to laugh and cry at the same time, mirrored Radiance’s turbulent emotions. Stepping forward, she hugged Mrs. McSabby.

“Thank you,” she said, “for keeping it safe.”

“Yes,” Edward agreed. “But why didn’t you tell me what you’d found.”

“You were out, sir, getting the wine,” Mrs. McSabby said, “as I was doing a last sweep of the drawing room. And I went to tell you upon your return, but you were in a hurry to get dressed for your company.” She sent Radiance a kind look. “I admit, ever since I found out you and your family were coming, I’ve been running around like a chicken what’s had its head chopped clean off. Not a usual evening at all, m’lady.”

Then Mrs. McSabby’s mouth dropped as she stared at Edward. “ You are the host, sir. And you’ve gone and left Lord and Lady Diamond and that pretty little miss by themselves all this time. What will they think?”

“They probably think I have been carted off to Newgate. But you are correct. We had best return to them immediately. Please bring some of your fine macaroons. If we haven’t driven our guests out with neglect, then I shall pour them each a glass of port.”

In the hallway, Radiance momentarily sagged against him, taking comfort from his strength, and then pushed herself away.

“I admit to a few minutes of sheer terror. But my parents have been polite long enough.”

With that, they returned to the drawing room to find Monty had been playing host and was now on Bri’s lap.

“Is everything settled?” her mother asked. “Did you find the Koh-i-Noor?”

“Was I correct about the staff being helpful?” Bri asked.

Her father crossed his legs and leaned back. “Are we having brandy or port?”

Radiance answered all the questions on Edward’s behalf while he poured the port. When they each held a glass, half filled with the ruby liquid, he spoke.

“A disaster averted. Soon, the diamond shall be back with its rightful owner.” He placed it on the table in front of her family. “But tonight, we can enjoy it along with this sweet Oporto .”

In turn, her father, then her mother, and finally Bri held the diamond.

“It is much improved from the one we saw at the Great Exhibition,” her mother said. “I remember Ray being disappointed in the extreme. And to think, now you’ve had a hand in saving it.”

Bri handed it to Radiance. She was nearly as thrilled as her family to take a good long look at the Koh-i-Noor. While copying it, she had spent all her time fixated on the white topaz, looking at it through the magnifying spectacles in order to find the best cleavage. All the while, she’d had this marvelous stone set to the side, referencing it only for its angles.

This marvelous stone. This ...

With her heartbeat quickening, she held it up to the light of Edward’s chandelier, a lamp burning with the new paraffin fuel. Radiance’s heart jumped into her throat and stuck there.

“I need your magnifying spectacles,” she said. It came out as a whispery croak. Without waiting, she ran from the room and along the passage to his workroom.

By the time she’d donned a pair and examined the stone closely, she felt him behind her.

“What’s wrong?”

She didn’t want to tell him. But what choice did she have?

“It’s a fake.”

Edward didn’t grab for it or mistrust her. Instead, calmly, he asked, “ A fake or your fake?”

“Not mine.”

“I see,” he said. “Actually, I don’t see at all. But for a moment, I thought we had let Rathmond steal the real one.”

“That would be a blessing,” she said. “Then it would be safely at Scotland Yard.”

“Indeed.” He still sounded too calm, and it was scaring her.

Mrs. McSabby came in. “I took the macaroons to your guests,” she said in a scolding tone, “and they were alone. Again!”

“We seem to be in the suds once more,” Radiance explained when Edward said nothing.

“Sir?” the housekeeper asked. “Was it my fault?”

Managing with great restraint not to snap at her, although Radiance could see the tension etched upon his face, Edward shrugged.

“Not at all,” he said. “Somehow, while the Koh-i-Noor was in my care, it seemed to have been switched for a forgery.”

Mrs. McSabby gasped. “That was the Queen’s Indian diamond,” she said, her voice having dropped to a terrified whisper. “You shall be executed.”

Radiance shook her head. “He won’t, Mrs. McSabby. This isn’t a hanging offense.”

His housekeeper shuddered. “Then he’ll be sent to Australia with all the other convicts, to broil in the sun or be eaten by saber-tooth crocodiles.”

Radiance wondered where Mrs. McSabby got her facts. Before she could soothe her, Edward spoke up.

“Unlikely,” he said, which by the look on the housekeeper’s face did nothing to quell the woman’s fears.

Radiance spoke up. “Mr. Lockwood will set it all right again.”

He eyed her sharply, but she nodded with encouragement. With her upbringing, she believed the staff should always think their employer able to fix any problem to maintain the tranquility of the household. That was how one kept their loyalty and devotion, simply by offering it in return.

“Regardless,” Edward said, “I promise you that the responsibility begins and ends with me. And now, I had best bid my guests good night.”

Radiance watched him turn heel and nearly leave without her. She would get used to his singular focus and not take it personally. At least, she prayed she would have the chance to become accustomed to his ways.

At the last moment, he halted and gestured for her to precede him. Once in the hallway, however, she pressed her hands to his chest to keep him from moving.

“You must let me go with you to the Palace, as before, when we went together to face Mr. Hope.”

Ignoring her, he set her to the side as if she were no more than a reedy twig.

She chased him into the drawing room.

“It will be better if I am there.”

“No,” he said sharply, then glanced at Lord and Lady Diamond, perhaps just recalling they were in his drawing room. He softened his tone. “It would be better if I explained my foolish plan to them by myself.”

“But I think —” she began, desperately wanting to help in case Mrs. McSabby’s dire prediction of jail or deportation came true.

“Radiance,” her father interrupted. “Let Mr. Lockwood deal with this as he sees fit. If your assistance is required, I am sure he will let you know.” Then he lifted his glass in the air, toasted to all their health, and drank down the last drop.

Her mother looked as if she might contend otherwise, although she sipped to the toast as well. And Bri looked utterly unbothered, petting the cat and sending her sister a warm smile before adding, “These things have a way of working out.”

Radiance wanted to argue with all of them, even her sister for her na?vely cheerful attitude. Everything did not have a way of working out. Not at all! Not without help . She had only just got Edward back, and that had been bloody difficult.

Radiance had no intention of losing him again!