"You're going to lose anyway," William teased him. "Don't I always win when we play chess?"
There was some truth to that. James thought himself a fairly good chess player, but he was no match for his friend. William spent much of his time in front of the chessboard. It was one of his favorite activities. "I don't know how you have so much timeto perfect your game," he told his friend. "You have your fingers in so many business ventures. I think if I was as busy as you were, I would have no time for things such as chess."
"You never seem to have time for chess anyway," William said. "If you did have time for it, you would likely be better at it, and you would give me more of a competition when we played."
James shook his head. "Truth be told, I haven't had time for idle pastimes lately," he said.
"Your mission to get the Duchess married?"
"Not so much that. Although that does take up a significant portion of my time. But I've been sitting with the ledgers that my late cousin kept before he died, and there seems to be something wrong with them. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be more money than I think there ought to be. I wonder if he was involved in something illegal."
William sat back in his chair and picked up his glass of brandy. He swirled it slowly and then took a measured sip. "Do you think it's possible that he was involved in something like that?"
"Well, I didn't really know the man," James replied. "Anything is possible. I wouldn't like to think so, but the fact remains that I can't make sense of his finances."
"Would you like me to take a look at the ledgers for you?" William asked.
James knew why his friend was asking. It was unspoken between the two of them, but William had business connections to London's underworld. He had never been involved in anything illegal himself, but he was familiar with that side of things. "That might be helpful," he admitted. "If you wouldn't mind."
"I wouldn't mind at all," William told him. "The truth is, it would be rather exciting to see what the late Duke had his fingers in. He was always such a mystery. Even now that he's gone, he remains shrouded in mystery, for nobody knows how he truly died."
"So you don't believe this rumor about the Duchess being responsible for his death?"
"Of course not," William scoffed. "Anyone with any common sense knows that that rumor is ridiculous. She was hardly more than a child when she married him. He died the very night he brought her to his house. She never had time to scheme against him, and I doubt she had the wit to do it either."
"I wouldn't underestimate her there," James said. "She's cleverer than I had expected her to be."
"Really?" William raised his eyebrows. "You're saying you do think she committed the murder?"
"Oh, of course not," James said quickly. "She hasn't the temperament. She's not that sort of lady. I can recognize a murderer when I see one, I think, and she simply isn't the sort. But it's not because she lacks the wit."
"I heard a rumor that she had poisoned him," William said. "I heard that she had snuck something into his evening tea."
"Well, I don't know where she would have gotten such a thing," James said. "Unless you believe it was tucked into the bodice of her wedding gown."
"I thought similarly," William said. "It would take time and resources to acquire a poison powerful enough to kill a man. I don't think she could've had such a thing on her that day. I agree with you — I don't think she had anything to do with his death. But tell me, what is she like? Will it be easy to find a husband for her? Or has the process been more challenging than you anticipated?"
"We've had a few setbacks," James confessed. "But I'm hopeful that things will be smoother from now on."
"What kind of setbacks? Has she been difficult?"
"Well, to tell you the truth she's been nearly impossible." It was a relief to let this out, to admit to the trouble he had been having with Victoria. Even though the two of them had agreed on a new arrangement, James found that it wasn't so easy to let go of her stubbornness and the difficulty she had given him. "If you can believe it, she doesn't even seem to want to marry."
"I suppose she was very happy with her life as it was," William said. "If you think about it, she had all she needed. She had a place to live. She had all the money she required. Everything ayoung lady marries for — she already had it. Why should she focus on marriage now?"
"Because she doesn't truly have those things," James pointed out. "The house, the money… All of it is my inheritance. It may have taken me a couple of years to come back to London and claim it, but she knew that there was always a possibility I would do so. She knew better than to assume that those things were hers forever."
"I see," William said, taking another sip of his brandy. "And so you say she should cast an eye toward finding a husband, knowing that her situation was impermanent."
"I just think it would be sensible of her to be open to the idea." James pondered the board for a moment, and then advanced his bishop.
William laughed. "You walked right into my trap," he said, picking up one of his rooks and moving it to the same square as the bishop. He picked up the bishop and removed it from the board.
"Damn," James cursed.
"You're in check, by the way."
James cursed again. "You're too good at this," he told his friend. "I don't believe I'll ever beat you at chess, no matter how many times we play."
