I wanted to tell him that I wouldn’t want his advice if he was the last person on the planet, but I didn’t dare open my mouth, afraid I’d let myself down. There was no way I was going to let the obnoxious chief inspector know how much Darcy had meant to me. This time I did not stride out ahead of my escorting policeman. I stumbled blindly behind him because I had realized that DCI Pelham had said something that made sense. Links to the underworld, possible drug trafficking. So that was how Darcy managed to survive. That was how Darcy was so thick with Bobo Carrington—the girl with the silver syringe. That was why he popped off so frequently to South America. He was involved in the buying and selling of drugs.

I felt physically sick. My mother and Belinda were always telling me how naïve I was. And it was true. Brought up sheltered in the wilds of Scotland, how could I possibly know how to be aware of things like drugs? It seemed that Darcy had deceived me on every possible level. Perhaps he even had killed Bobo Carrington because she was becoming a nuisance or had threatened to tell the police about his activities. As DCI Pelham had said, I was well out of it. A lucky escape. I could have been married to a dangerous criminal—a dangerous criminal who would be unfaithful to me and break my heart. I would do as Fig had suggested and try to meet a suitable member of European royalty at the wedding. Then I would live as my family expected me to, doing the right thing, producing the heir . . . but with a great empty hole in my heart.

Chapter 23

NOVEMBER 7

Going to a gambling club this evening. Any other time I would have been excited.

I was not conscious of being driven home. I wanted to creep straight up to my room, but as I came into Kensington Palace the door to the sitting room was open and Marina and the countess were having tea.

“Lovely hot crumpets,” Marina called, waving at me. “Come and get warm. It’s horribly cold today, isn’t it?”

So of course I had no option but to join them. I saw Irmtraut studying me with a smug look on her face.

“Ah, you return at last, Georgiana. Her Highness wondered where you had gone. I hope you have had a pleasant day?” she said.

“About as pleasant as yours, I should think,” I said.

“Mine has been disagreeable,” she said. “Somebody in this place has been spying on me. What do you think of that? And saying bad things about me.”

“Surely not.” I leaned over and poured myself a cup of tea.