Read Online The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt - Free Book Online

leaned back in his desk chair and looked at the ceiling as he waited for the inevitable outburst from James. His study walls were a masculine deep brown, broken at waist height by a cream chair rail. A thick black and crimson carpet lay underfoot, and old-gold velvet curtains muffled the street noise from without. A collection of botanical engravings hung on the walls. He’d started the collection with a small study of a Chrysanthemum parthenium —feverfew—that he’d found in a bookshop over thirty years ago now. The print was not a good one. It had a water stain in the corner, and the engraved Latin name of the plant was smudged, but the composition was pleasant, and he’d bought it at a time when it meant going without proper tea for a month. It hung between two much larger, more expensive prints. A Morus nigra —mulberry—and a rather elegant Cynara cardunculus . Cardoon.
    His wife, children, and servants knew never to disturb him in his study unless it was the most dire of emergencies. Which made it all the more galling to give up his personal domain to James and Lord Walker and the troubles they brought with them.
    “Sure? Of c-c-course I’m sure.” James whirled and tossed something to Walker. It glittered as it flew through the air. “They brought that back to me.”
    Walker, usually a slow, lumbering fellow, could move quickly when he wanted to. He caught the object and examined it, and his eyebrows rose. “Iddesleigh’s signet ring.”
    The hairs on the back of Sir Rupert’s neck stood up. “Dammit, James, what the hell did you keep that for?” He was working with dangerous idiots.
    “Didn’t matter, d-d-did it, with Iddesleigh d-d-dead.” James looked petulant.
    “Except that he’s not dead anymore, is he? Thanks to the incompetence of your men.” Sir Rupert tossed back a healthy swallow of his whiskey. “Give it to me. I’ll get rid of it.”
    “S-s-see here—”
    “He’s right,” Walker interrupted. “It’s evidence we don’t want.” He crossed the room and set the ring on Sir Rupert’s desk.
    Sir Rupert stared at the ring. The Iddesleigh crest was shallow, the gold eroded with age. How many generations of aristocrats had worn this ring? He covered it with his hand and palmed it, transferring it to his waistcoat pocket.
    Covertly, he massaged his right leg under the table. His father had been an import merchant in the city. As a boy, Sir Rupert had worked in the great storehouse his father had maintained, carrying sacks of grain and heavy crates of merchandise. He didn’t remember the accident that had crushed his leg—not entirely, at least. Only the smell of the cod packed in salt that had spilled from the broken barrel. And the pain of the smashed bone. Even now, the smell of salted fish was enough to turn his stomach.
    Sir Rupert looked at his partners and wondered if they’d ever worked a day in their lives.
    “What do you know?” James was facing the bigger man now. “You haven’t done anything to help so far. I was the one who seconded Peller.”
    “And more fool you. Should never have put Peller up to killing Ethan Iddesleigh. I advised against it.” Walker took out his snuffbox again.
    James looked close to weeping. “You d-d-did not!”
    The big man was unperturbed as he ritually measured out the snuff on his hand. “Did. Thought we should do it more covertly.”
    “You liked the plan from the beginning, damn your eyes!”
    “No.” Walker sneezed. He shook his head slowly as he again withdrew his handkerchief from a waistcoat pocket. “Thought it foolish. Too bad you didn’t listen to me.”
    “You ass!” James lunged at Walker.
    The bigger man stepped aside, and James stumbled past comically. His face reddened, and he turned to Walker again.
    “Gentlemen!” Sir Rupert rapped his cane against the desk to draw their attention. “Please. We are wandering from the point. What do we do with Iddesleigh?”
    “Are we certain he is alive?” Walker