‘You gave away our secret to strangers,’ she said, dazed.
He shrugged. ‘The ones I deal with tend to have a certain flexibility of morality. I know far too much about them for them to speak of what they know of me.’
‘Dealers in stolen goods,’ she said.
‘And those skilled at the duplication of entailed family jewellery,’ he said. ‘Many families come forward at some time or other with a need for paste copies to thwart highwaymen. My friends do not care whether the reasons they give are true or not.’
‘It is not just Comstock?’ she said, still stunned.
‘Lord, no. Half the families in London are lying to the other half about how much money they have.’
He should not have told her this way, without any warning at all. Her eyes had grown round and her brow was furrowed in confusion. She looked like a child on an unmoored boat, watching the world she knew slipping away, with no idea how to save herself.
‘But back to the matter of the diamonds,’ he reminded her. ‘When we returned to London, I set about tracing them. The shop I visited has been in business for generations and makes almost as much money for their forgeries as they do with real gems.’ He tapped the letter again and pressed it into her hand. ‘They also keep excellent records.’
She stared down at the paper in front of her. ‘Someone requested stones exactly like the ones in the family jewels.’
‘And you can see, from the date referenced that it was during the Civil War.’
‘They have been gone since 1645,’ she said, staring at the paper.
‘Perhaps they hid the real stones from the government. Or perhaps from the rebels. Or they sold them to cover some age-old debt. I am sorry I cannot produce them for you.’ He reached out to take her hand. ‘But this should be sufficient documentation to prove to anyone who cares that the loss of them was an old family secret and not improper management by your grandparents.’
‘I have been worrying about a problem that did not exist,’ she said.
‘You have done what you have done because of lies that have been told to you for your entire life,’ he said, trying to keep the anger from his voice, lest she think it was directed at her. ‘If you had told me the truth earlier, I could have saved you much pain. Now that you know it, you must see that you cannot bring back the past, as you remember it. It is gone.’
‘But if there is no money, what is to become of us?’ she said, still stunned.
‘That is up to you,’ he said. ‘I have no title. But I have money and a house, and on my worst day I can provide a better future than Comstock ever will. Let me do that for you, Hope. Let me care for you. Let me love you.’
After all her talk earlier in the day about starting anew, now that the moment had come, she said nothing.
They had arrived at the town house and it seemed foolish to wait in the carriage once the servants had opened the door. He hopped out and helped her to the ground. But today, she seemed as broken as the Chinese vase. As her feet touched the pavement she stumbled, unable to support herself.
And as he had before, he caught her before she could fall, putting a hand under her elbow to help her keep her feet. For a moment, things were as they had been, when she had trusted him with her life and her love.
But when she looked up at him, she still seemed as confused as she’d been in the carriage. There was no sign that she had heard the offer he’d made.
With his free hand, he signalled for a footman to take the box of broken china. He helped her into the house, not releasing her until he was sure she was able to stand on her own. ‘Shall I call for a servant to bring you a restorative?’ he asked. ‘Tea, perhaps? Or brandy?’
‘No. That will not be necessary,’ she said. She was still deathly pale, but she raised her head in a fair imitation of the proud beauty he had met just a week ago.
‘You do not have to worry,’ he said. ‘No matter what happens, you will not be alone.’
‘Of course not,’ she said, with a faltering smile. ‘I have my family and they have me as well. I cannot abandon them when life is at its most difficult, you must see that, Mr Drake.’
‘Of course,’ he parroted back, fighting the desire to shout the truth back into her white face. Perhaps it was because he had no family, but he did not understand at all.
‘I must speak to Grandmama about what you have told me.’ She was glancing absently about the room, as if the Dowager were nothing more than another misplaced item to be found and put in the correct spot. ‘And Charity, of course. I do not know if there is anything we might do to ease the burden on our American cousin. But we must try, mustn’t we?’
‘Of course,’ he said again. It should be some comfort that, if she held him to blame for the night at the manor, she had forgiven him as he’d hoped. But she had forgotten him as well. Though he’d offered her the new start she had wanted, only a few streets from where they stood, she could not imagine a life outside this house any more than she could imagine that a trip to China might be more interesting than playing with a vase in the manor hallway.
She had made her choice and it was not him.
Now, it was as it had been on the first day they’d searched. His job was complete and it was time for him to leave. Yet though she had just dismissed him, he was standing there like an idiot, waiting for some signal that he was still welcome. Did he honestly expect her to thank him for turning her life upside down?
So, just as he had on that day, he fell back into his expected role of consummate professional. ‘And now, Miss Strickland, we have come to a parting of the ways. As Mr Leggett requested, all the items on your grandmother’s list have been found and returned to the estate. I have encouraged you to think of a future that does not include a marriage to your cousin, but I am under no obligation to stand in the way of a match, should the two of you wish to make one. At least, with my research into the history of the Comstock diamonds, I have proved that it is not necessary to offer yourself as some sort of matrimonial sacrifice to appease his anger. Take him the letter and explain all. I am sure he will be as interested in the matter as you are.’
