“Even if it’s true,” Arthur said, “why would it lead to anyone killing my mother? Surely, she had no part in all this.”
“I don’t know,” Taylor admitted. “You’re right that that part doesn’t make much sense. I struggle to see what her involvementcould have been. All I know is that I think we’re on the right track.”
Arthur sighed heavily.
Taylor watched him. “Was it a mistake to tell you?” he asked. “I did wonder whether maybe I ought to keep the whole thing a secret from you.”
“I asked you to tell me if you were able to discover anything about what might have happened to my family,” Arthur said. “And that’s what you did.”
“I know, but I can’t help wondering if you would be happier not knowing.”
“I don’t think so,” Arthur said. “This news doesn’t make me happy to learn, of course, but I was already unhappy, so I don’t suppose it makes any difference that I’ve had to learn one more thing that makes me unhappy. I hate that this was done to my parents. To learn that my father may have been complicit in this way…well, whatever he may have done, he didn’t deserve to die for it. That’s not a crime that deserves a penalty of death.”
“What will you do with this information?” Taylor asked him.
“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll try to learn more about the Countess of Reeves, whoever she is. Maybe if I can speak to her, she can answer some of my burning questions.”
“You would just ask her directly?”
“I don’t have any reason not to ask her outright. I’m not afraid of her.”
“No, I suppose you’re not,” Taylor said slowly. “But do remember that there’s something in the secret you’re trying to learn that got your father killed. I don’t know whether Lady Reeves herself would have had anything to do with that, but…you should be cautious.”
“I’ll be cautious,” Arthur agreed absently, but caution was the furthest thing from his mind. He felt suddenly alight with excitement. This was the secret he had wanted to learn as long as he could remember. This was the answer. He was closer to it than he had ever been, and maybe soon, he would actually know why his parents had been killed. If he could find that out, he would be able to set down a burden he had carried for his entire life. He would finally be able to move on.
Taylor was watching him. “Don’t forget,” he said, “whatever this is, it’s the thing that destroyed your family. The thing that left you alone in the world.”
“As though I could ever forget about that.”
“No, perhaps you couldn’t. But what you might not be thinking about is the fact that you have a wife of your own now,” Taylor said. “What do you suppose happens to her if you get yourself killed in search of these answers?”
“She would be provided for,” Arthur replied.
“And don’t you think she would be hurt the way you were hurt all those years ago? Could you do that to her?”
Arthur opened his mouth to say that it wasn’t the same, that Isabella wouldn’t be hurt like that because she simply didn’t have her heart on the line the way he had, but then he stopped.
Was that the truth? Or was it only what he would have liked to believe?
He wasn’t sure. And if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t even really want to believe that she would be undamaged by his death if something were to happen to him.
Because if something happens to her, it’ll destroy me.
That thought came to him unbidden. But the moment it passed through his head, he knew it was the truth. He would be crushed if anything were to happen to Isabella. He had never meant for it to happen, but he was beginning to have real feelings for her. After the night he’d visited her in her bedroom, he had suspected it, and the night she had come upon him in the library had confirmed it.
In spite of his best efforts, he was falling in love with his wife.
That was not a part of the plan.
Taylor was watching him closely now. “Have you thought about how all this affects her?”
“I’m thinking about it now,” Arthur said.
“You didn’t imagine you were going to care about someone else’s feelings in all this, did you?” Taylor asked.
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m sure it is. You should let me meet her,” Taylor suggested. “It seems she’s becoming rather an important part of your life.”
