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Thompson glanced to Richard, but Richard purposely kept his expression blank.

The man known as Titan had said nothing in this particular vein of information last evening.

Was this idea of the culprit removing the coat elsewhere and leaving it to rot in Whitehall before later being placed in its hiding place a new revelation, or did Mrs. Dove-Lyon wish to shine the light of suspicion away from her establishment?

Obviously having a man of Lord Duncan’s standing in society shot outside of the Lyon’s Den’s main doors was not good for the woman’s business.

Perhaps she meant to suggest the attack had begun elsewhere.

Or was based on an old grudge. A political foe?

Duncan was a leading force in the British Parliament.

As a Scot who had inherited an English title, as well as his Scottish one, Duncan assuredly had more than one enemy in the House of Lords, for many thought his loyalty rested more with Scotland than England.

But would any of them go to this extreme?

Not that Richard or any of Duncan’s “sons” could imagine, but perhaps they should have a second look.

Then there was the matter of Duncan’s work for the British government in the matter of sedition and other crimes against the Crown.

The list of suspects and motives was endless.

“And do you possess some knowledge to indicate whether someone hid the coat elsewhere and recently moved it inside the Lyon’s Den?” Thompson asked cautiously.

Mrs. Dove-Lyon pulled herself up royally, though she was still small in stature.

“I have spoken to each of my employees regarding this matter and have instructed them to inform me of even the most insignificant bit regarding this coat having been hidden away. No one has yet to speak his or her qualms to me, to Titan, or any in the higher positions within these walls. Nor has there been a note slipped under my door or a whisper in my ear.”

“We meant no offense, ma’am,” Hartley was quick to say.

“We simply wish to bring this person to justice. Lord Macdonald Duncan holds an esteemed place in the English government, as well as in each of our lives. I have served him for nearly a decade, and he was both father and mentor to both Lord Orson and Lord Thompson. Please pardon any zeal you hear in our voices. This coat is the first major clue we have encountered since Lord Duncan was shot. We wish to see this man—this perpetrator— brought to justice for the sake of all involved, including you. We know how difficult it could be for your business if a resolution is not soon achieved.”

The woman did not respond quickly, a fact Richard appreciated.

She obviously held a sharp mind and a will to make the best of a bad situation, two characteristics he admired in people in general.

“Perhaps it might be helpful if I ask Titan to show you the area where the coat was found.” She stood then to end their meeting.

“Titan!” she called, and the man responded immediately.

“Yes, ma’am?” the man said as he opened the door further. Titan would never be anything less than a well-trained soldier. The loss of his hand had not lessened the power embedded in the man’s stance. “You have a need of me, Mrs. Dove-Lyon?”

“Please show Mr. Hartley and Lord Thompson where you discovered the coat and be honest in your responses to any questions they might have. I would like a private moment with Lord Orson, if his lordship holds no objections?”

Richard met Thompson’s raised eyebrows with a shrug of his shoulders saying, I have no idea what the woman wants .

“No objections, ma’am,” he said aloud.

Mrs. Dove-Lyon and Richard waited until his friends had left the office and the door was closed behind them before the woman sat again.

“This is a bit off,” she admitted, and Richard squirmed in his seat, unable to discover a comfortable position when he sat again.

“Generally,” the woman continued, “I do not become involved in the stratagems of the beau monde . They have always rejected a woman with my history, and so it has been my practice to avoid what occurs behind their closed doors, as long as they ignore what goes on behind those owned by me. Who marries whom does not interest me, except as a business matter.”

“I have heard of your success in arranging several society marriages,” he said while wondering if Mrs. Dove-Lyon meant to suggest a particular woman of the ton as a possible match for him just as Richard had set his heart on Lady Emma Donoghue.

“Sometimes my work is simply a matter of placing an appropriate match in the path of a gentleman. With the right approach, the lady’s wish to marry the man will prevail.

I have been quite successful, for, unlike other so-called matchmakers, I am also a student of the human spirit.

Sometimes we do not know what is good for us until it is standing before our very eyes. Would you not agree, my lord?”

Richard swallowed hard. “I pray you are not thinking of suggesting a match for me,” he ventured.

“Nothing of the sort,” she assured him.

Richard admitted, “Then I do not understand the gist of this conversation.”

She chuckled. “Naturally, for I have approached the subject with a flair for awkwardness. Permit me to clarify my purpose.” She paused to straighten a stack of papers on her desk and reset them at a meticulously straight angle.

Richard suspected the woman’s mind worked thusly.

At length, she continued, “Last evening, Lord Davidson requested a few minutes of my time.” Richard knew he frowned his displeasure, but he could not hide the gesture.

“I assume by your expression you know the subject of my conversation.”

“I fear I do, ma’am, but I would hear it all just the same, if you are willing to speak it,” Richard responded.

“Lord Davidson,” she said, accepting his nod of agreement as his permission to finish her remarks, “has heard of my matchmaking endeavors. His lordship wished to hire me to arrange a marriage to Lady Emma Donoghue, a woman I have come to understand is currently living under your protection, so to speak.”

“‘Under my protection’ sounds as if Lord Davidson insinuated that I have taken on Lady Emma as my mistress,” Richard stated in firm tones. “Nothing of that nature has occurred.”

“Now that is an assumption I did not see coming,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon assured, “though perhaps Lord Davidson wishes to leave that impression. I would not put it past the man.”

Richard knew his hands had formed fists. “I assume Davidson did not explain how Lady Emma has known distress and has taken up residence under Lord Duncan’s roof,” he growled. “Lady Emma is an acquaintance of Lady Theodora Duncan.”

“I was not made aware the lady was temporarily residing with Lord Duncan and his daughter,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon admitted.

“I was told by Lord Davidson that you blocked him from calling upon the lady, though do not misinterpret what I mean to convey: I hold Lord Davidson in contempt from an incident that occurred more than a decade removed. Such is one of the reasons I refused his lordship’s request for me to arrange a marriage with Lady Emma Donoghue. ”

“Arrange a marriage with Lady Emma?” Richard questioned.

“Yesterday, his lordship sent his man of business to Duncan’s house to demand to speak to Davidson’s ‘betrothed,’” Richard explained.

“If Lady Emma was already betrothed to Davidson, as Mr. Nelson asserted, why would it be necessary for his lordship to arrange a marriage through you?”

“Such is a most excellent question,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon observed.

“Perhaps it should be directed to both Lady Emma and Lord Davidson, for I have no knowledge of the situation other than what I shared with you moments prior.” She paused to look upon him with interest. “Would it be appropriate for me to learn how Lady Emma came to stay with the Duncans? If Lord Davidson is spouting his many tales, a word from me could stifle them quickly, but only if I know the truth.”

“The truth cannot be spread afar without ruining the lady,” he warned, “but if it might shift the narrative to something more appropriate, I would be deeply in your debt, ma’am.”

The woman smiled again, though as before the gesture was more of a feeling Richard had rather than a smile he actually viewed.

“I enjoy when a man is in my debt,” she remarked, “and the number of secrets I know regarding members of the haut ton would fill the Tower of London to the top. I would be honored to listen to your tale of Lady Emma.”

Richard nodded his acceptance. “Again, please do not share this with others, for it would ruin Lady Emma completely.” With a deep sigh of resignation, he began.

“I came across Lady Emma a few days ago in Covent Garden. She had been badly beaten by an unknown assailant. I took her to Duncan’s house, for I knew she would be safe there.

I did not know whether someone with whom the lady was acquainted was the culprit or not. ”

“I pray she was not violated,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said in sympathetic tones. “Women found thusly often suffer their whole lives for a misstep in judgment.”

“It appears to have been a robbery. Her reticule was missing; however, if one knows anything of Lady Emma Donoghue’s nature, he knows the lady is not one to back down from an authoritative man barking orders at her, whether he be a lord of the realm or a street thief.

” Richard could not contain his smile, for he likely knew Lady Emma Donoghue’s nature better than any.

“Though she suffered,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said, “it does me well to know I turned Lord Davidson’s request away. That pompous pig would have taken a whip to the girl, thinking what occurred to her was Lady Emma’s fault. He would think of her as someone he must tame.”

Richard smiled easily. “And Lady Emma would have done away with Davidson within a week, and all of society would have congratulated her sensibility.”

“All that being said, what I meant to convey was I wished Lady Emma to know something of Davidson’s determination in this matter.

I explained to his lordship that, customarily, I only take a matchmaker fee from a lady, not from a man unless said ‘gentleman’ is willing to accept a bet of my definition and choosing and then he wins the wager. ”

“What bet had you in mind for Davidson, if I might inquire?” Richard asked.

“I thought the idea of his lordship walking into Parliament stark naked would be a grand idea,” she said with a cackle of laughter.

“Everyone would know how crooked and limp his...” She laid a hand upon the desk and rose rather than finish her description.

“You understand the gesture without my description, my lord. All would know Davidson for what he truly is, not that the dastard would accept.”

“No, ma’am,” Richard said as he stood. “Davidson would not have understood, but society would have. After all, his lordship has been married three times and has no children to account for his efforts.” He bowed briefly.

“I appreciate your candor, ma’am, and your willingness not to speak to Lady Emma’s dilemma; however, I should join Lord Thompson and Mr. Hartley in their investigation. ”

“Naturally.” She reached for a sealed letter on the corner of the desk. “If you would not mind being my courier, please present this note to Lord Duncan.”

Richard looked at the sealed letter oddly, but he made no remark. They all had their secrets.

Though he did not ask, Mrs. Dove-Lyon said, “If you recall, the night he was shot, I asked to speak to Lord Duncan as your party was leaving. In many ways, I blame myself for the results of his shooting. If Lord Duncan had walked out with you and yours, he may not have suffered his attack. All of you would have been around him. Even if the shooter had carried out his plan, one of you would have been close enough to catch his lordship’s assailant. ”

“One of us would have jumped before Duncan to protect him,” Richard declared.

“Though as children we often despised his strict rules, though we assuredly required the structure, at least I did, each of us would have put his life on the line to save his lordship. He is the only father many of us ever knew or respected.”

“Then Lord Duncan is a blessed man,” she said as she came around the desk to see Richard out. “As his lordship is progressing for the good, I still hold an obligation to speak to him.”

Richard chuckled. “Has some woman contracted a match with our Lord Duncan? That would be something indeed. Who would wish to take on a man who is often too stubborn for his own good?”

“That I am not permitted to say, but please relay my message,” she said diplomatically as she crossed to the door to open it.

“I will see it done, ma’am,” he assured as he followed her to the exit. “And if you hear anything else of importance regarding Lord Duncan’s attack, you will send word immediately.”

“Naturally.” With that, the door closed behind him. Conversation at an end.