Read Deadly Engagement: A Georgian Historical Mystery (Alec Halsey Crimance) for Free Online

over the past week without the need to worry herself sick over the likes of you! Her granddaughter up and gets engaged to Delvin and in the next breath Delvin fights a duel—”
    “Delvin?” Alec interrupted, greatly surprised, “in a duel ?”
    “Aye, and he managed to skewer his opponent.”
    Alec blinked at his uncle. “Good Lord! I can’t imagine Delvin risking his own fine neck, least of all in a fight of honor. How utterly unlike him.”
    “Well, Delvin says the fight was forced on him,” Plantagenet Halsey said without conviction. “He says his opponent called him out on account of also being in love with Emily St. Neots. Jealousy. Pah! Delvin can say what he likes, can’t he, when there were no seconds, no witnesses, no attendin’ physician and his opponent’s dead. The newssheets have been full of nothin’ else for a week and with Emily St. Neots squarely at the center of a duel between two peers of the realm, you can imagine how the Duchess is feelin’ at present.”
    Alec’s brow furrowed. “If the encounter is as you say, then it was hardly an affair of honor, was it?”
    The old man put up his brows. “Just as you say, m’boy.”
    “Delvin’s opponent?”
    “Lord Belsay.”
    Alec half rose out of his chair. “Belsay? Jack Belsay?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Jack’s dead ?”
    The old man nodded and watched his nephew go to the window. “Her Grace said you knew Belsay.”
    Alec leaned a shoulder against the wall and stared out at the lush sweep of the Green Park. “Quite well. Not of late. We were at Harrow together. When I went into the Foreign Department we lost contact. He did write occasionally, but he was a shockingly lax correspondent. He and Sel—Mrs. Jamison-Lewis are first cousins. Lord! I can’t believe the poor fellow is dead.”
    The old man joined his nephew at the window. “Alec. Somethin’ don’t smell right about the whole business.”
    “I agree. The Jack I remember was never one to cast caution to the winds. He certainly wouldn’t do anything so outrageous as fight a duel. Certainly not without the proper formalities. He was a stickler for that sort of thing. Besides, he was a very mellow soul. He carried a sword for protection but I can’t imagine him using it. As for forcing a fight on Delvin over Emily…? Yes, Wantage?” Alec asked as the butler trod quietly into the room.
    “Excuse me, sir. There is a lady to see you. She wouldn’t give her name.”
    Alec’s jaw set hard. “You must be mistaken.”
    “No, sir.”
    Uncle and nephew looked at one another. The butler saw it as a sign to continue.
    “I showed her the salon, sir. She said it is most urgent.”
    Plantagenet Halsey patted his nephew’s arm. “I’ve got some business of my own in the city; I’ll meet you at the club after y’dinner. And mind you eat it!”
     
    Alec was still smiling at his uncle’s concerned pronouncement that he eat his dinner—just as he was used to doing when Alec was a boy—when Wantage announced him to the visitor.
    It was indeed a lady, but not one but two and both dressed in deep mourning. The sight of them brought Alec up short. Gloves covered their hands and black netting concealed their faces. Agitation and distress showed in the mannerisms of the shorter woman. She could not be still. She kept clenching and unclenching her fingers in the folds of her petticoats. It was not until the taller one touched her arm and said a quiet word that Alec was noticed standing alone by the door. The shorter lady then carefully lifted her veil. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
    Alec had no idea who she was.
    “I don’t suppose you remember me, Mr. Halsey?” the lady said in a clipped voice.
    Alec came away from the door, none the wiser. On closer inspection, the woman was much older than she first appeared. Possibly she was in her late fifties. Although she looked fragile, her voice was strong and held a note of bitterness. He glanced at her companion who had not yet