“It’s not my fault the lady in the parlor chose to call upon Mrs. Lake this afternoon,” Mrs. Chilton muttered.

“I do not suppose there is anything you could have done.” Tobias started toward the parlor door. “But I believe I shall just have a word with this new client before Mrs. Lake returns.”

“Hold on there, sir.” Mrs. Chilton hurried after him, alarmed. “I’m not sure Mrs. Lake would want you to be speaking to her client without her being present.”

“What objection can she possibly make?” Tobias smiled his most innocent smile. “We are partners, after all.”

“Only on some cases. And you know very well that if she finds out you’ve cost her a paying client, she’ll be furious.”

“I just want to assure myself that this client is respectable and can afford Mrs. Lake’s fees.”

He opened the door before Mrs. Chilton could do it for him and walked into the parlor.

The lady seated on the sofa turned to look at him.

Bloody hell, Tobias thought. She was a client. So much for his plan to get rid of her before Lavinia returned.

“What are you doing here, Aspasia?” he asked.

“Tobias.” She gave him her cool, knowing smile. What a coincidence. I came here to talk to Mrs. Lake because I assumed you would be busy with your inquiries. I wanted to find out how the investigition was proceeding.”

If this was any other client, he would lie through his teeth and tell her that he had made substantial progress. He always said that sort of thing to whoever was paying the fee for his services. But this was Aspasia, and she was not a typical client.

He went to stand with his back to the window, automatically putting the light behind him, and looked at Aspasia.

“I cannot speak for Mrs. Lake,” he said, “because I have not yet had a chance to compare notes with her this afternoon. But as for myself, I have made damned little progress. I sent our assistants out to make inquiries regarding the rings and the blond wig, however, and I have hopes that they will come back with some useful information.” He glimpsed Lavinia out of the corner of his eye. She was on the front step. “I see my associate has returned. Perhaps she will have news.”

Lavinia was a vision in deep violet. He found himself smiling a little even though his plans for the afternoon appeared to be in ruins. Something inside him always responded to the sight of her, he thought. He was aware of a sense of bone-deep satisfaction whenever he was in her presence.

He heard the muffled sound of the front door opening and closing.

A moment later Lavinia breezed into the parlor. She had removed her bonnet in the front hall. Her face was warm and flushed from her recent exercise. The feminine vitality that she radiated made his ins ides tighten with a familiar hunger. Visions of the bed upstairs tormented him.

“Mrs. Gray.” Lavinia inclined her head a bare half inch. “Forgive me. I wasn’t expecting you.”

Her smile was so polished and professional that only someone who knew her well would notice the acute lack of warmth, Tobias thought.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lake,” Aspasia said. “But I simply could not rest. I returned to London yesterday afternoon. I came here today because I had to find out if you and Tobias had discovered anything useful yet.”

“Yes, indeed.” Lavinia sat down on a chair near the tea tray and arranged her skirts with a flourish. Her smile never dimmed. If anything it actually brightened. “We have made substantial progress.”

Unlike himself, Tobias thought, she had no compunction about lying to this particular client.

“Indeed?” Aspasia raised her brows. Tobias was just telling me that he had not been terribly successful. Isn’t that right, Tobias?”

He clasped his hands behind his back. “I certainly do not have much to offer yet.”

Lavinia gave him a repressive glare. “How fortunate, then, that I do have some useful information.”

She was certainly determined to follow his rules for dealing with a client, even if he was not bothering to do so, he thought.

“Your professional abilities never cease to astound me, madam,”

“he said dryly. What did you learn from your private informant?”

He saw at once that she had caught the slight inflection he had given the last two words. He doubted that Lavinia had had any intention of dragging Mrs. Dove’s name into this affair, but it was best to be cautious.

She turned to Aspasia with a businesslike air. “I have discovered that there may have been at least two other recent deaths in Society that are highly suspicious. Lady Rowland and a certain Mr. Newbold. Both departed this earth quite unexpectedly.”

That got his attention. “I heard the rumor concerning Lady Rowland. An overdose of the medicine she took to help her sleep. No one mentioned Newbold.”

Aspasia’s brows puckered in a delicate frown. “Newbold died in a drunken fall down his own staircase a month and a half ago, I believe. I heard something about it shortly after I returned to Town.

“I did not pay much attention.”

“Most people ignored his death.” Lavinia’s mouth tightened in a manner that emphasized her disgust. “Evidently Newbold was quite dreadful. He was known to patronize the brothels that cater to those creatures who enjoy debauching children. In my opinion the young lady to whom he had recently got engaged had a very close call. Only imagine the horror of being wed to such a man.”

“Indeed.” Aspasia drank tea and made no further comment.

“The thing is,” Lavinia continued, turning toward Tobias, I find the coincidence extremely intriguing, don’t you, sir?”

“Three unanticipated deaths? Yes, I do.”

“Not the deaths,” she said impatiently, “the cancellation of the wedding plans that followed in each instance.”

She was serious, he thought. He could not believe it. Neither could Aspasia, to judge by her expression.

“Lavinia,” he said carefully, “are you implying that the motive behind each of these three murders was a desire to stop a wedding from taking place?”

Lavinia set down the pot. “Have you got a better motive?”

“I’m working on one.” Her certainty irritated him. “All three deaths resulted in the transfer of fortunes. That makes for a lot of suspects among the family members.”

Aspasia’s expression altered from one of stunned disbelief to thoughtful consideration.

“I heard the rumors about Lady Rowland’s obsessive desire to see her eldest granddaughter wed to her old lover’s grandson,” she said slowly. “The woman had a reputation for using her money to manipulate everyone in her family. But what would be the point of murdering her? She was going to endow the girl.”

“Only if she consented to wed Ferring,” Lavinia reminded her. “But now her papa has taken control of the Rowland fortune, and evidently young Ferring’s offer was not accepted. The granddaughter is free to marry someone else. In one way or another, the other two young ladies have also been delivered from the prospect of extremely unhappy marriages.”

“Surely you are not suggesting that these innocent young girls could have concocted a diabolical scheme to hire a professional killer?” Tobias growled. “That defies credibility.”

Aspasia’s mouth tightened. “He’s right, Mrs. Lake. It is an interesting theory, but it is impossible to imagine that three extremely sheltered young ladies with no experience of the world could possibly reason out how to hire, let alone pay, a professional murderer.”

Lavinia set her shoulders in a manner that Tobias had learned to recognize. She was preparing to defend her position.

“I would remind you both,” she said, “that when it comes to alliances at that level of Society, there are many people besides the young ladies involved who might have a strong interest in the marriage contracts.”

“Do you believe that others in the families resorted to murder in order to halt the weddings?” Tobias folded his arms. “That is a crazed conclusion. We are talking about a killer who is attempting to imitate