What I’m writing in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster

Right now, I’m working on Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster . Here’s a snippet—it’s a little long, but I figured you wouldn’t mind, right?

***

Lady Faine was nearest to the window and turned to look outside. “I do believe I hear a carriage approaching.”

“Another one?” Lena asked. “Or is Mrs. Aldred returning?”

“if she is, you know exactly what to say to her to induce her to scurry away, my lady,” Dorothea said with a smirk.

“Naughty girl,” Lady Faine admonished half-heartedly.

Lena could have wished for better timing of the new visitor. Simply thirty minutes later, and she would have had the information from Lady Faine about possible new neighbors who could be Dinorah Seiles in disguise.

From the deep voice they heard from the entrance hall downstairs, the visitor was a man, but they couldn’t discern his words as he spoke to the butler.

“Oh dear,” Lady Faine said. “Sir Gilbert is out in his fields at the moment with Wilfrid.”

“Perhaps he will return later,” Lena said, hopeful of that outcome. Although knowing her luck, yet another carriage would drive up as soon as she asked Lady Faine about her new neighbors.

Curiously, light footsteps indicated the butler approaching just before he scratched on the door and entered. “My lady, Mr. Clay has arrived. He has said that he is a new neighbor.”

Lena and Dorothea looked at each other, both of them with eyebrows raised. Yet another new resident in Wittenden?

“Sir Gilbert is not here,” Lady Faine said.

“When I informed him of that fact, he indicated he wished to greet the lady of the household and that he is an acquaintance of the Neybridges.”

Lena kept a polite but curious expression on her face, but her entire body grew rigid with tension. She knew only one Mr. Clay, but he was not an acquaintance of the Neybridges—he was an agent of the Ramparts. Lena rather disliked him but had been forced to work with him on several occasions. However, because of the clandestine nature of the Ramparts department, Lena and Mr. Clay treated each other as strangers in public. He had certainly not been formally introduced to Dorothea.

And if this was not the Mr. Clay she knew, then this man claiming to know the Neybridges was lying.

Dorothea looked confused and glanced at Lena with raised eyebrows. To Lady Faine, she said, “I am afraid I am not acquainted with him."

“Perhaps he is known to Mr. Neybridge,” Lena said. “We should greet him, if you would not mind, my lady.”

Dorothea turned to Lena with a face that screamed, Has your brain gone for a stroll?!

Lena turned to her with a too-wide smile and an aggressive twitch of her eyebrow to tell her, Trust me! If this was indeed a stranger, it would be better to see his face. If it was the Mr. Clay she knew, she would find a way to speak privately to him and dress him down for flaunting a public connection with another agent, which was frowned upon in the Ramparts.

Lady Faine nodded to the butler, who withdrew. Soon, they heard the heavy footsteps as the man followed the servant to the first floor drawing room.

“Mr. Clay, my lady,” the butler announced.

The man who entered the living room was tall. He had dark hair with gold highlights, and he was smiling, but the smile somehow did not reach his green eyes, which were hard like emeralds. He had a rugged face, which might have been handsome if his eyes had been warmer. Strangely, he looked to be forcing himself to be charming. Despite his fine dark blue coat and embroidered waistcoat, which indicated him to be a modest but wealthy gentleman of the ton, the man would have looked more in place on a battlefield.

"My lady, thank you for receiving me.” He bowed. "I apologize for this improper introduction. I am Mr. Clay. My sister and I are moving into the area for a few weeks.”

The ladies had risen to their feet as he entered, and Lena had to concentrate to keep her hands softly folded in front of her. Her heartbeat raced in her chest.

This was not Mr. Clay. She had been an agent for the Ramparts for almost eight years, and despite knowing all the other agents, she had never seen this man before.

He was a stranger. Who had somehow known that the Neybridges were here, in Wittenden.

***

Those of you who are caught up with the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series will recognize Mr. Clay … who is apparently not Mr. Clay in this scene. (wink)