“Why did you want a description of that man?”
He shrugged uncomfortably, suddenly questioning the wisdom of allowing her to have seen him do that. But he’d always made his notes immediately, while the vision was still fresh in his mind.
“To send to the authorities,” he said in an offhand manner. “Anonymously, of course, so they can identify the blackguard without my being involved.”
“Why do you suppose he’s counterfeiting?”
“To get rich, I imagine.”
“I imagine there’s another reason. Something tied in with his being a Puritan.” Her eyes unfocused, she stared right through him, clearly lost in contemplation. “I don’t think he’s acting alone,” she said.
“What makes you say that?”
“He didn’t seem bright enough.”
Not as bright as she was, Trick thought, that was for sure.
“I’m thinking he’s part of a bigger operation,” she continued, “and if the members are Puritans, perhaps in league with some other Parliamentarians, they might be acting against the king’s interests. Passing worthless currency in an attempt to undermine the economy and the people’s confidence in the monarchy. A plot to regain the power they once had, the power that died along with Cromwell.”
She stole his breath. Both the strength of her reasoning and the fact that she’d hit it on the mark—the very suspicions that Charles had put forth and Trick was attempting to prove. He’d never considered that his beautiful young wife might understand the intricate linkage of economics and political power.
But it was dangerous, this line of reasoning. Kendra might have a sharp head and atypical interests, but he couldn’t allow her to go spreading this idea around, risking the chance the perpetrators might hear and discover someone was on to them.
“Maybe,” he said lightly, keeping his face and tone nonchalant. “But I expect he’s just trying to get rich.”
She studied him, her hands tightening on Pandora’s reins. “How easily you dismiss my ideas. Are you still angry that I followed you earlier?”
“Nay,” he said, relieved to be on a different subject. “No harm was done.” They turned up Amberley’s drive, the trees on either side throwing cool shadows across the pathway. “I think you’ll find me more forgiving than most. The only thing I won’t stand for is infidelity, and I’ve nothing to worry about on that account, have I?”
Yet. Someday soon he would initiate her into the joys of physical love…and then maybe he’d have something to worry about.
“Infidelity?” A challenge in her voice, Kendra jostled Pandora closer to Chaucer’s side. “Most men expect fidelity only from their mistresses.”
Most men hadn’t found their betrothed wife in bed with another man. “You will learn,leannan, that I am not like most men.”
She shot him an arch look. “And what if I’m not like most women? What if I expect the same fidelity from you?”
“Turning the tables, are you?” He risked leaning from the saddle to chuck her under the chin. “You surely know how to try a man’s patience.”
Her green eyes flashed. “That was no sort of answer.”
“I wouldn’t ask something of you if I weren’t willing to offer it myself.”
Her expression said louder than words that she didn’t believe him. But she dropped the topic, her gaze drifting to Amberley’s impressive facade. “My brother Ford will want to go up the tower and see how the clock works.”
“He already has.”
Her pretty brow creased in a puzzled frown.
“The house parties, remember? He seems much taken with clocks. Stayed up there half an afternoon, while we twiddled our thumbs waiting to play cards. Here we are.” Trick slid to the gravel and handed his reins to a groom. With a gentle hand at her back, he urged Kendra up the steps of Amberley House.
“Dinner,” he said as Compton opened the door. “I’m fair starving. And then—”
“A letter, your grace.” The butler proffered a silver tray. “It arrived while you were out.”
Frowning, Trick snatched it up. Wrinkled and grubby, it looked as though it had traveled quite a distance. “Thank you, Compton. We’ll take it to the study. Let us know when dinner is ready.”
“Certainly.” Compton’s jowls wobbled with the nod of his head. He took himself off to the kitchens, and Trick ushered Kendra into the study, tossing the letter on the marquetry table that sat between two leather chairs.
