Recipe for Treason: A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery (Lady Arianna Hadley Mystery) Read Free

alert for any other sign of movement. Where was Henning? she wondered. And what of their coachman? A low groan from the driver’s perch seemed to indicate that José had survived the first attack.
    Questions, questions—but they would have to wait.
    A flurry of wild thrusts had forced Saybrook back several steps, giving her a clearer shot at his assailant.
    “Tírate al suelo,” she called to him in Spanish, ordering him to duck down.
    “Aim for his knee and not his heart,” called her husband. “I want him alive for questioning.”
    “Jem!” cried the assailant, his voice turning shrill.
    A shot rang out from somewhere on the other side of the coach, followed by a scream. One of the horses whinnied in fright, spooked by the flash of fire.
    “Ye’ll be getting no help from Jem.” Henning’s voice rose above a wispy plume of gun smoke.
    “I suggest you throw down your blade,” said Saybrook to his attacker. “The lady is a crack shot.”
    “As if any bloody female could hit the broad side of a barn,” jeered the assailant, but he sounded a little shaky.
    “Oh, I assure you, my wife is no ordinary female.”
    Arianna angled the pistol’s barrel a fraction. “I’ll aim a touch high. If I miss, it will hit his cods rather than his knee. Either way, he won’t be walking very steadily for quite a while.”
    Her sangfroid seemed to spook the man. Cutting a last halfhearted jab at Saybrook, he suddenly turned and bolted for the tangled wildness of the looming moor.
    “Dio Madre!” She was about to pull the trigger and drop him with a shot to the leg when her husband took off after him. Cursing her flapping skirts, she scrabbled up to the top of the ledge and followed as fast as she dared.

2
    From Lady Arianna’s Chocolate Notebooks
    Toasted Pecan–Chocolate Toffee
    1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into chunks
    1 1 / 2 cups sugar
    3 tablespoons corn syrup
    3 tablespoons water
    2 cups well-chopped pecans, toasted
    8 ounces chocolate, cut into chunks, your choice of milk, semi- or bittersweet
    1. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
    2. In a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan over medium to medium-low heat, add the butter. Wait a minute or two until the butter really starts to soften and melt. Stir in the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture is bubbling (lava-style) and a candy thermometer registers 300°F.
    3. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup of the pecans.
    4. Pour the hot toffee out onto the prepared baking sheet. Depending on how thick you like your toffee, spread it out into a round 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Set it aside to cool.
    5. While the toffee is cooling, melt half the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler. Be sure the toffee has set up a bit before you spread the melted chocolate over the top. Immediately sprinkle with 1 / 2 cup of the remaining pecans.
    6. Wait 20 minutes, or until the chocolate has firmed up. Carefully flip the toffee over. Melt the remaining chocolate and spread it on the second side. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 / 2 cup pecans. Let cool.

    H enning quickly caught up with her. “Steady, Lady S,” he wheezed as she slipped on some loose scree. “No need for you to risk your lovely ankles. I’ll handle it from here.”
    Arianna snapped a rude oath and forged ahead. Henning was no aficionado of physical exertion, and his breath was already coming in ragged gasps. “Stubble the manly bravado. My ankles—and my wind—are likely a good deal stronger than yours.”
    “Auch, much as it pains me to admit it, you are probably right.” He climbed up a twist in the footpath and paused to catch his breath. “But it appears that Sandro has no need of us.”
    Up ahead, she saw that her husband’s long, loping stride had narrowed the distance between him and his quarry. As the path narrowed to cut through a cleft in the rocks, Saybrook suddenly picked up his pace and angled through a patch of scrubby heather to cut off