I turned to look at him, noticing that his eyes were smiling and he was so devilishly handsome. But I was going to be strong this time. I would not be swayed by Irish charm and good looks. “And the DCI thinks you’re involved in drugs and the underworld. What have you got to say about that?”

“Well, he’s not wrong,” he said.

“Aha. I knew it. And he suspects Bobo’s death might be tied to her drug use and to her dealings with drug suppliers.”

“Actually I have been involved,” he said. “But not in the way you think. This is to go no further, Georgie, but I’ve been shadowing people like Bobo because I was assigned to find the kingpin. We know who the small dealers are, but we are still not sure how cocaine is getting into this country in such large quantities.”

“Oh,” I said. “And you suspect that Bobo might have had something to do with it?”

“Possibly,” he said. “She certainly seemed to have an apparently inexhaustible supply of cash, even when she was not with a particular man. It had to come from somewhere. I was hoping to get back into her confidence, when she was killed.”

“So someone killed her to prevent her from giving away secrets to you?”

“I don’t know. The timing was rather coincidental, don’t you think?”

There was a long pause. I still wasn’t ready to forgive him completely. “So how do you think I feel, knowing that you were in London and you didn’t try to contact me, but you were going to clubs with people like Bobo Carrington?” I said. “Or am I too dull for such outings?”

“Contact you?” His voice was sharp now too. “My dear girl, as soon as I returned to England I wrote to Castle Rannoch, asking them to forward the letter. I telephoned several times and each time I was told by your infuriating butler that Lady Georgiana was not in residence and they did not know where she was or when she would be returning home. Then I went to your London house and was told the same thing.”

“Probably Fig being poisonous,” I said. “But then partly my fault. I really didn’t let them know where I was staying when I came back to England.”

“With your mother, I presume?”

“No, I was using Belinda’s mews cottage until she returned and turfed me out. Then fortunately I was invited to Kensington Palace.”

“Quite a step up in the world,” he said. He paused, eyeing me critically. “You look washed out. I’ll get us a taxicab. If you’ll permit me to escort you home, that is?”

I couldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry, Darcy,” I said. “I suppose I jumped to conclusions.”

He looked at me then burst out laughing. “Oh, Georgie, what an idiot you can be sometimes.”