The constable nodded before handing it over. Asher scanned it quickly. There was no letterhead, no way to determine where it originated. It was black scrawl on a piece of rather generic paper.
“When did you receive this?” He demanded.
“This morning.”
“And your first instinct was to immediately rush here, without investigating its validity?”
“I thought it was best to speak with you first, before word got out.”
“If you must be so concerned about word getting out, that tells me that you are not doing your job correctly, Constable. You have spoken to me, and now I will tell you what we are going to do. Listen carefully, Constable Peters. My wife’s father has nothing to do with this. Nor do I, nor does my wife. The only investigation you need to be doing is determining who has decided our families are to be blamed for this, do you understand me?”
“But I?—"
“Do you understand me, Constable Peters?”
The constable paused, looked around him as though remembering where he was, whose home he was in, and then finally gave a quick nod.
“I understand.”
“Good,” Asher said, and then took the letter, held it up between them, and very deliberately ripped it in half.
Peters blanched, but seemed to understand the message, and slowly backed out of the room.
When Asher turned to face Evelyn, she was staring at him wide-eyed.
“Are you certain that was a good idea?” she asked.
“A man cannot walk into a duke’s home and accuse his family of theft,” Asher said, holding his head high. “It is one advantage I will gladly take.”
“If that was so, then why did you go to all the trouble of marrying me?” she asked, throwing her hands up. “You could have used your authority much earlier, absolved your name, and been done with the entire thing.”
“I could have, yes,” he agreed, before staring at her, not wanting to tell her but knowing that she wouldn’t let this go until she understood his intentions. “But then just where would that have left you? Your father is a viscount, but that doesn’t hold quite the same weight. He might not have been prosecuted by the law, but he would have lost everything that mattered to him.Youwould have lost everything.”
Her expression changed, then softened, and Asher cursed inwardly. He never should have said that. For now, she would assume things about him, feel things for him that he just couldn’t return. Without knowing what to say and not wanting to wait and hear her response, he took the coward’s way out.
He turned around and walked away.
Evelyn usually enjoyed a salon evening,especially when the host actually featured someone of intelligence.
Lady Lancaster’s salons were almost always sure successes, and Evelyn had always been held in high esteem despite the fact that she was a woman.
Yet tonight, she would rather be anywhere else.
Since yesterday’s dismissal of Constable Peters, she had only seen Asher when also in the company of his mother and sister. The dowager duchess had somewhat warmed to Evelyn since she had asked for her assistance, seeming to enjoy being back at the helm of various aspects of the household, a situation which suited Evelyn just fine, for it left her free for her other pursuits.
Evelyn had waited for Asher in her bedchamber last night, hoping he might visit and she could show him how much she wanted to thank him for his defence of her father, but he was obviously avoiding her.
She had yet to ascertain whether he was avoiding her because he didn’t want her affection as a consequence of his actions, or because he was embarrassed after admitting the truth of the origin of their marriage, but she could admit that it hurt all the same.
Evelyn would, one way or another, get to the bottom of it.
She had learned that becoming a duchess brought with it responsibility, power, and a great many invitations.
She declined most of them, but Verity was attending tonight, so she thought it would be a worthwhile event. Not only that, but Lady Lancaster, a widow, had a particular fondness for intelligent young women and often invited Evelyn, along with other bluestockings, artists, and thinkers, in addition to titled society. Unlike other invitations, which were for her title as duchess. Asher hadn’t commented on her decision to attend, but he had agreed to accompany her.
Whether he would actually pay her any attention or not remained to be seen.
20
