“Here and there!” Alexander thudded his cane against the ground to punctuate each word. “You were like a legendary warrior in a folktale! You don’t just pick up those skills like collecting pieces of lint on your coat.”
“I’m extremely good at woolgathering.” Matthew accompanied his attempt at a joke with a small smile.
“Your puns need to improve if you expect to distract me with them.” Alexander crossed his arms. “Tell me—”
“Oh, look!” Matthew jumped to his feet. “Tavish’s other coach and the wagon for Richard are arriving. While I see to my patient, you and your sister should return to London posthaste. It’s getting late, and highway robberies along the major thoroughfares leading into the city are getting worse. You don’t want to be ambushed twice in one day.”
“That’s another thing,” Alexander called after his friend who was racing toward the arriving conveyances. “What were those men after? They didn’t operate like typical brigands.”
Matthew ignored Alexander and began barking orders to Tavish’s servants. Charlotte rose and wandered over to her brother. “You noticed how unusual the situation was too? It didn’t seem like a holdup to me.”
Alexander’s expression smoothed into a smile as he avoided her inquiries. “Matthew is right. We better head back to the city now that the second coach is here. We’re in luck that Mr. Stewart has more than one.”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “You do realize that I am more astute than you at detecting deliberate shifts in the conversation? What are you trying to protect me from? Do you think that this attack has anything to do with Hawley?”
Alexander sighed. “I’m honestly not sure, but we can talk in the carriage.”
“You promise?”
Alexander rubbed his fingers across the Nemean lion’s mane on his cane and dipped his chin in consent. “Yes.”
“Then let’s be off.”
As they walked to the unmarked coach, Matthew turned in their direction. A now-familiar warm smile stretched across his features as he waved goodbye. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he hollered, “Thank you both for assisting with Richard’s surgery.”
“You’re welcome,” Charlotte called back.
For a moment, the heaviness that had begun to resettle on her chest lifted again. But as soon as she climbed into the carriage and leaned against the squabs, the sense of darkness returned. She needed to confront what she’d witnessed, not bury it in hopes that Matthew was a good man.
“Alexander, do you think Matthew is covering up his brother’s sins?” Charlotte asked, her tone soft, as if voicing the inquiry loudly would have somehow made it true.
Her brother jerked. He couldn’t be feigning his utter astonishment as he stared at her in palpable disbelief. “Whatever caused you to consider such a thing? You know how Hawley treated Matthew and me whilst we were boys.”
Charlotte swallowed, the old stories striking another blow against her heart, especially now that she’d begun to spend time with the adult Matthew. Yet they weren’t dealing with the past but the all-too-dangerous present.
“I spoke with the sister of the second Lady Hawley,” Charlotte began.
Worry flashed in her brother’s hazel eyes. Immediately, he opened his mouth to speak.
Charlotte held up her hand to stay him. “Let me impart what I need to, Alexander, without interruption. It is important.”
Thankfully, Alexander listened. He sat quietly, his hands gripping the head of his cane, as she told him everything she knew about the choker, including how she’d spied it in Matthew’s pocket.
“I believe that’s what those men were after,” Charlotte finished. “That’s why we were attacked.”
“If that’s the case, then Matthew probably liberated the choker from Hawley after he’d learned of its existence from Lady Greenvale.” Alexander was gripping Hercules so tightly that his knuckles had gone white. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but Matthew and I have been discreetly looking into the deaths of Hawley’s wives—even before you were betrothed to him.”
Relief should have flooded Charlotte, but she only felt a trickle. Alexander’s explanation didn’t completely address all the odd factors she’d noticed about Matthew. “But why did he keep the necklace a secret from you? Are you certain he’s not just telling you that he’s investigating his brother, but in reality, he’s only fooling you and thwarting your inquiries?”
“Perhaps he said nothing about the choker because he wished to protect me—the same way that I want to keep you safe, Charlotte,” Alexander said. “I’ve told you not to go sniffing after Hawley’s sins. I am making discreet inquiries like we discussed. There is no need for us both to endanger ourselves.”
“I don’t want you hurt either, Alexander,” Charlotte said, as a mixture of pain and worry pierced her. “This is my predicament.”
“Not one of your own making.” Alexander stabbed the end of his walking stick against the carriage floor as if it were the villain instead of Hawley. “It is more my fault than yours. Father would not be so keen on seeing you married to an heir of a dukedom if he thought me suitable of carrying on his family’s legacy.”
“Father’s ridiculousness is hardly your fault.” Charlotte reached for her brother’s hand again, trying to make him understand he was not to blame—he was never to blame. “The reason for the betrothal does not matter. Only stopping it does.”
Alexander bobbed his head curtly and swallowed before he began speaking again. “If you think Matthew would have anything to do with helping Hawley commit crimes, then you’re wrong. He’s not that sort, and he detests his brother more than anyone.”
