She laughed again and gasped once more. “Me? Soft and giving? No one has ever described me as that. I am considered odd and ghoulish. Is this not why all my friends call me Gory? Everything Havers hears about me will convince him that I am bloodthirsty and the likely culprit.”
Julius kept his arms around her. “Adela, Syd, and Marigold adore you. So do Lady Dayne and Lady Withnall, who we all know is a tough, old bat who likes very few people. She is an excellent judge of character, and will not hesitate to give Havers a stern talking to if he ever dares disparage you.”
“He’ll need more than a stern talking to if he means to arrest me for murder.” She burrowed against him. “Julius…”
“What, love?”
“What is the greater risk to me? My marrying Allendale or my not marrying him?”
She felt his muscles tighten. “I cannot answer this yet, Gory.”
His response came as no surprise to her, but she ached so much to hear a confession of love from him. Could he not stop being logical for once? Because right now she needed his love so badly. “Is there nothing else you can say to me?”
“No, Gory. It is too early in the investigation.”
He sounded pained, too.
But any pain he felt arose from his desire to protect her, and not from any wildly passionate stirring of love. Had he not made this clear to her throughout the years of their acquaintance? He’d never offered her more than a dance at any ton affair they both happened to be attending.
Well, every once in a while she had noticed a flicker of heat in his eyes, their cool gray irises turning hot as burning embers. But nothing had ever come of it. He must have been looking at someone else and hiding it well because rakehells knew how to be discreet when arranging assignations. Was this not the mark of an experienced rakehell, this ability to make the lady before him melt at his touch, all the while he silently engaged in a flirtation with another woman across the room?
“I escorted your aunt to the Wallingford Arms earlier this evening,” he said, regaining her attention.
Gory’s eyes widened in surprise.
She had not thought to ask him about her aunt even though they had been discussing her mere moments ago. “How did she respond to the news?”
“Hard to tell.”
“What do you mean?”
He released her and moved off the mattress to settle in the chair that had remained beside the bed. But he then surprised her by taking her hand into his warm and comforting grip. Somehow, he always understood her thoughts and knew she needed his touch. “She assumed the role of grieving widow, but her tears sounded hollow to me.” He shook his head. “I don’t know, Gory. It is possible I am too close to this investigation to regard it with impartiality.”
“You have good instincts, Julius. I’ve never known you to be wrong.”
He chuckled. “Oh, I have made plenty of mistakes.”
“So have I,” she muttered, thinking of him and wondering if things might have been different between them if she had confessed her feelings.
Why be such a coward about this when she was brave about everything else?
“One of Mr. Barrow’s runners will keep watch on her at the hotel,” Julius said. “I’ve arranged to speak to her tomorrow afternoon on the pretext of assisting her with the funeral arrangements. Well, I do aim to help. However, it is likely that your uncle’s burial will be delayed. The magistrate will not authorize the release of his body until he is satisfied all possible tests have been run and any required information has been gathered and recorded.”
“How long does the magistrate think it will take?”
“A couple of days, perhaps.”
“It is not their custom to hold bodies in their morgue for very long,” she mused, knowing from experience when the London constabulary had brought her in on other investigations. “And we have already lost this first day. I’ll need to see the body as soon as possible. Without delay, Julius. We must go first thing tomorrow morning. I should be fine by then.”
Julius snorted. “You don’t get out of this bed until Dr. Farthingale gives the nod.”
Why did he have to be so thickheaded?
Well, was her head not just as thick? “I’ll go on my own if you refuse to escort me.”
“Gory, do not be stubborn about this. Your injury is serious.”
“And has been properly treated, so there is no need to keep me confined. Am I to be forced to heal only to be clapped in irons when they determine I am the killer? A determination that could have been avoided had I obtained access to my uncle’s body to hunt for the clues myself?”
