Tess stopped at the periphery of the clearing, within the cover of the trees, and waited to see if anyone was lingering near the wooden scenery. She could see no movement, but that didn’t mean that Stockdale wasn’t lurking in the shadows, waiting for her to make an appearance.
“You need the necklace from the queen.”
Daisy reached into her reticule and Tess groaned in dismay as she saw what Queen Charlotte had provided for the exchange.
Justin’s words echoed in her head.
Scarlet would wear rubies. Something huge, and wonderfully vulgar.
The necklace was precisely the kind of thing Scarlet would wear: a brash, glittering statement of wealth and excess. Tess immediately wished for her pearls, and her body heated as memories of her interlude with Justin flooded her.
Not the time to get distracted.
She’d left her neck deliberately unadorned, and she shivered as she fastened the necklace at her throat. In the semidarkness the rubies glittered like dark drops of blood.
“Pretend you can’t undo the clasp,” Daisy reminded her softly. “Stockdale will need to use both hands, which means he won’t be able to hold a gun. That’s when Daisy and I will reveal ourselves.”
Tess nodded. They’d been over the plan several times.
Ellie gave her a brief hug. “It’s almost ten. Good luck. We’ll be here, even if you can’t see us.”
The two of them melted into the shadows, and Tess pressed herself against the trunk of a tree, peering out toward the meeting place. The rough bark beneath her palms reminded her of kissing Justin against the tree at Wansford, before they’d been so rudely interrupted by that poacher.
She forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand.
With a deep breath she pulled herself up tall and strolled toward the wooden structure. Her heart beat against her ribs and her skin pricked in awareness of being watched. Whether it was Daisy and Ellie’s regard she could sense, or Stockdale’s, she couldn’t say.
She waited in the shadows beneath the wooden struts of one of the towers for what seemed like an eternity, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. Her heart leapt when a feminine giggle echoed through the trees, followed by a deeper masculine reply, but the amorous couple quickly disappeared into the woods.
She was about to start pacing when a tall, male figure appeared at the edge of the stage. He sent her a mocking bow.
“Well met, my scarlet lady. Are you enjoying the night air?”
Tess was in no mood for pleasantries. She was chilled and ill at ease, irritated by the seemingly inexhaustible schemes men could devise for their own enrichment. She had no sympathy for this blackmailing vermin.
“I’ll enjoy it a great deal better when our business is done,” she said coldly.
She pushed back her hood, untied the drawstring that secured her cloak, and draped the heavy material over herarm, providing Stockdale with a clear view of the necklace that glittered against her throat.
She had a knife in her pocket, accessible via a slit in the pleats of her skirts, and she used the cloak as cover to retrieve it. The handle felt reassuringly solid against her palm.
“Do you have the letters?”
Stockdale drew closer. “I do.” His eyes lingered greedily on the necklace at her throat. “And I see you have my payment. I’m so glad your employer decided to be sensible. Discretion is such a valuable trait. Young ladies can’t be too careful with their reputation.”
His sly tone made Tess grind her teeth. What an ass.
She held out her hand, palm up. “Hand them over.”
Her fingers tightened on the handle of her knife as he reached into his coat. She half expected him to draw a pistol, but she relaxed a fraction when he merely withdrew three folded sheets of paper.
Tess had studied the one genuine letter he’d already returned. The princess’s script was childishly distinctive, sloping heavily to the right, with large flourishes for the capital letters. As Stockdale watched, she unfolded one of the letters and scanned it in the dim light to confirm he wasn’t trying to dupe them.
“This appears to be genuine,” she conceded curtly.
Stockdale sent her a cheeky smile. “’Course it is. Wouldn’t double-cross you, now would I? Bad for business.”
She almost rolled her eyes. There was no honor among thieves, despite what he claimed. He just wanted the convenience of a single, guaranteed payment, instead of having to expend the effort of publishing and distributing this damaging gossip himself.
