Page 57 of The Hidden Heart

He looked at her narrowly, aware of the pounding in his blood, knowning that if he stayed here much longer, his rage would burst its bounds, and then he would grab Jessica and kiss her and God only knows where it would stop. “The devil with it! Keep your bloody bows and twigs!”

He wheeled and marched across the room, flinging open the door. There, without much surprise, he found a cluster of servants. He gave them a grimace and said, “Oh, finish hanging the damned things!”

He strode off down the hallway, leaving the servants babbling excitedly.

CHAPTER 13

It took Jessica a few moments to compose herself enough to leave the study. She knew all the servants would be studying her covertly, and she was determined to look unaffected by her encounter with the duke.

Walking along the corridor into the Great Hall, she nodded to one of the maids dusting a table and continued up the stairs to her room. Once inside her bedchamber, she let out an enormous sigh and sank down on her bed. She thought about the scene that had just taken place, but even as she was remembering just how Cleybourne had looked, her mind was taking in the fact that something was different. Finally the uneasy thought penetrated her consciousness far enough that she stood back up and glanced around the room. Something seemed wrong, but what was it?

Her gaze fell upon the dresser and moved on, then back to the dresser top. Her jewelry box was not there. She scanned the room, turning all the way around and coming back to the dresser. It was still empty of any small boxes.

Jessica strode over to the dresser and began to open all the drawers and look inside to see if perhaps a maid, while cleaning, had put the jewelry box away. But she could not find it in any drawer or behind the dresser or under the bed or wardrobe, or anywhere else she could think to look.

It occurred to her that perhaps Gabriela had taken it into her room to play with her jewelry. She had not done that sort of thing in over a year, but it had been one of her favorite pastimes when she was young. She had liked to take out the locket Jessica had inherited from her mother and read the inscription inside, and she had liked to put on Jessica’s bracelets and necklace and brooch, or fasten one of her hair combs, decorated with mother-of-pearl, in her own hair.

Jessica went across the hall to Gabriela’s room and rapped on the door. When there was no answer, she opened it and looked around. There was no sign of her missing jewelry case. Next she walked down the hall to Lady Westhampton’s room, where she found Gabriela sitting in a chair beside Rachel’s bed, reading to her. Both of them turned and smiled at Jessica as she walked in.

“Good, you are here,” Gabriela said, jumping up. “Lady Westhampton is quite enjoying the book, but I have to go help Miss Pargety with the holly wreaths. I promised her I would come back soon.”

“That’s fine. I will read to Lady Westhampton, if she likes,” Jessica said with a smile at her charge. “It is very good of you to spend some time with Miss Pargety.”

“She’s awfully fussy, isn’t she?” Gabriela said candidly. “But she is all right, as long as you don’t listen very carefully to what she says.”

“Gaby…did you take my jewelry box out of my room for any reason?”

Gabriela looked surprised. “No. Why? Is it missing?”

“Yes. I cannot find it anywhere. I thought perhaps you wanted to try on my locket or something.”

Gabriela shook her head. “No. I’m too old for that sort of thing nowadays, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I just cannot imagine…oh well, I shall look through my room again. Run along and help Miss Pargety. I will sit with Lady Westhampton.”

With a grin, Gabriela left the room. Jessica walked over and sat down in the chair beside Rachel’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

Rachel heaved a sigh. “Aside from the fact that I cannot breathe without opening my mouth, I suppose I am all right.”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry.”

“Miss Brown’s concoctions help some. Hopefully by tomorrow I will feel better.” She paused, frowning a little. “You are certain that your jewelry box is not there?”

Jessica nodded. “Yes. There are not that many places for it to be. I had hoped it was just Gaby borrowing it. But…”

“I cannot imagine any of Richard’s servants taking it. They are all good, honest people, and they have worked for him a long time.”

“I know. I have trouble thinking it was any of the maids, too. But there are a number of other people in the house right now, and I am not so sure about them. One or two of them are, frankly, a little havey-cavey.”

“Really? I met only Miss Pargety, when she came in to pick up the bows I made this afternoon.”

“Well, there is a very rough looking man named Cobb. I could believe him capable of almost anything. And Mr. Goodrich is exceedingly nervous all the time. It makes one wonder exactly why he is so jumpy. Mrs. Woods is something of an enigma. We don’t really know any of them. I suppose one of them could easily be a thief. The thing that is odd, though, is why would anyone have chosen my little box of jewelry? It has a great deal of value to me. It contained a brooch made with my father’s hair, and my mother left me a locket that her mother gave to her. It is a heart, and inside it has my grandmother’s initials. To me these things are priceless, and I cannot bear to think of losing them. But the case is small and not terribly expensive, and my jewelry is worth almost nothing in monetary terms. I feel sure that any of the other women in this house right now would have more and better jewelry than I.”

“It is odd,” Rachel agreed. “You ought to speak to Richard about it.”

“I am not sure the duke would be willing to talk to me about anything right now,” Jessica said wryly.

“He did not take the Christmas decorations well?”