“Since no husband was visible, I take it that the good people of Craigentinny believe you’re a widow.”

“Indeed they do.” She replaced the ring on her finger. “So, have we hooked Ross well and good?”

“I believe so. By the way, we’re newly married. I wanted him to think he would steal my bride fresh from the altar. I thought it would appeal to his prurient interest.”

“And did it?”

“He was almost panting. I made him think you were only a few days shy of being a virgin.”

“So he likes an innocent, does he?”

“I think the earl’s about the challenge, seducing a man’s beloved wife under his very nose—ordinarily a difficult thing to accomplish. And a newly married woman would be the most difficult to seduce of all.”

“Very true.” Moira pulled her gloves from her pocket and tugged them on. “I was surprised you were so obnoxious to our host.” Robert’s easy slip into the character of a spoiled man of the world had been done to perfection. “I wanted to slap you, even though I knew you were acting.”

“It will sweeten the pot. If Ross enjoys seducing the wife of a man whose company he enjoys, imagine his joy at seducing the wife of a man he cannot stand. I wish to inspire the desire to humiliate me. The combination of desires should have him well primed to make a royal fool of himself.”

“So I’m to charm and you’re to disarm?”

“Well said, ma chère.”

“I like how you think, Mr. Hurst.”

“And I like how you played our host, Mrs. Hurst. He will rue the day he invited us to visit him.”

Her heart warmed. It had been so very long since she’d had someone to work with, someone with whom to talk through her ideas and problems.

Her mind turned through the possibilities. “If we play this right, he will never know we have deceived him, which would keep him from raising an alarm.”

“We’ll do the best we can. It all depends on whether we can locate his secret hiding place without his knowing it.”

“When we arrive at Balnagown, I’ll finagle an early morning ride for tomorrow.”

“Good. Keep him gone at least two hours. I’ll start searching the more obvious locations. Meanwhile, I’ll put my secret weapon to work uncovering information from the servants’ quarters.”

“Secret weapon?”

“Buffon. If anyone can ferret out good gossip, it is a Frenchman with an air of superiority. I don’t know what it is about him, but the other servants fall over themselves to tell him the most inappropriate things.”

She had to laugh. “He seems very disagreeable.”

“He is. But he does much to establish me as a worthless fop, while also obtaining the most valuable bits of information from the servants.”

“Who know everything, regardless what their masters and mistresses think.”

“Exactly.”

“Robert, I actually feel . . . hopeful.” At his surprised look, she said, “I haven’t felt hope in so long. I owe you thanks.”