She emitted a soft breath. “I hate this inability to remember.”
“I know, but dwelling on it will not help matters. Ah, here comes Havers.” He gave a mock shudder as he caught sight of the prison matron who accompanied him. “Gad, she’s a scary one.”
Gory giggled. “Quiet, or she might hear you. However, her dour presence is a good thing. She’ll need to be fierce when dealing with Lady Easton. This could turn into a battle of dragons.”
They waited while Havers walked up to the clerk at the registration desk and requested that her aunt be advised of their arrival. The man was at first dismissive of the request, then noticed Julius was among their party and immediately hopped to attention. “Lord Thorne, it is an honor to have you with us again.”
Gory rolled her eyes at Julius.
Did the man know everyone in London?
Had he used this hotel for his lurid liaisons with paramours? Oddly enough, she did not think so because there were no sly, leering looks exchanged between him and this clerk. Nor was Julius the sort to mix business with illicit pleasures. He would never have settled her aunt here if this is where he brought the women he seduced.
Julius was too careful for that.
She looked on as he and the clerk exchange pleasantries, but Gory was not really listening. Her gaze was drawn to the other guests standing around the hotel’s entryway.
She did not know why they drew her, for none of them looked familiar. Nor did they seem to be standing around suspiciously.
One man was seated on a plump chair reading a newspaper.
Another was lounging on one of the sofas and nursing a drink.
A couple that looked out of place in this elegant establishment appeared to be quietly quarreling with each other. The man was big and looked stern, but it was the woman who appeared to be in charge.
Gory turned away a moment to regard other guests. When she looked back, the arguing couple were nowhere to be found.
In the meanwhile, the eager clerk had scurried up the stairs. He returned a short while later, his cheeks red and his manner contrite. “Lord Thorne, my sincerest apologies. Lady Easton will not see any of you.”
Gory was not surprised, for this is how the woman had treated her ever since Gory’s parents had died. She was only six years old when they had passed away, fatally injured in a carriage accident. Theirs had not started out as a love match, her mother had once told her. But over the years, her parents had grown to care for each other to the point love had blossomed.
The opposite had been true for her aunt and uncle. From what she’d gathered, their marriage had started out with promise and failed soon afterward. Over the years, resentment and disappointment had replaced all traces of love and devotion they might once have felt for each other.
This is what Gory now realized would happen between her and Allendale. At best, they would develop a polite indifference to each other. At worst, misery and resentment.
Theirs was not even starting with the promise of love or devotion. Allendale was already showing his indifference in the weeks leading up to their wedding.
Where was he now?
It gnawed at her that he had been absent this entire week, especially these past few days when he ought to have been constantly by her side, or at least pretending more than superficial interest in her injury or their upcoming wedding.
Was it not odd he had spent no time with her other than a brief visit as she lay injured in Julius’s bed? The argument between him and Julius over the impropriety of her recovering at the Thorne townhouse could have been more for show than any true feelings of concern.
If she and Allendale had argued over something more to cause a rift between them, someone would have told her. Wouldn’t they?
Perhaps this is what was buzzing like an irritating gnat in her head.
She drew Julius aside while Havers was dealing with the clerk. “Julius,” she said in a whisper, “have I said anything to Allendale about calling off the wedding?”
“No yet,” he replied.
But she had to call it off unless he explained to her satisfaction where he had been the night her uncle was killed.
Dear heaven.
Had she made a deadly mistake and betrothed herself to a savage murderer?
She thought herself a good judge of character and could not bring herself to believe Allendale had it in him to kill anyone.
