“Mr. Peregrine, a word, please?”
The older man nodded and straightened up, brushing the dirt off his hands and onto his pants. “Is something the matter, Your Grace?”
Isabelle’s laughter rang through the garden, drawing their attention. Felix ground his teeth together and fisted his hands at his sides as he watched the casual brush of Lord Milton’s hand across the small of her back.
“I see.” Mr. Peregrine cleared his throat and nodded to the tool shed. “Perhaps you would like to check the grounds with me?”
Felix followed him over to the toolshed. “I am sure you can see as well as anyone else that Miss Alden is only going to be unhappy with Lord Milton should they marry.”
Mr. Peregrine entered the shed and pulled out a couple of pairs of worn leather gloves. “There is far more than that.”
“What do you know?”
“There are rumors about what he is really searching for from a marriage. I may not spend my time with the young men like I once did, but you know how these things spread around.”
Felix pulled on the gloves and nodded, accepting a shovel and following Mr. Peregrine down an overgrown path at the back of the property.
“What kinds of things?” he asked as they stopped at the foot of a tree with dead bushes beside it.
Mr. Peregrine stuck his shovel into the dirt, starting to loosen the roots. “Some say that his fortune is gone.”
“Gone?” Felix thrust his shovel beneath some of the roots on the other side of the largest bush, trying to loosen them as well.
“Yes.”
“How gone is gone? Is it simply a matter of needing to build back his land and investments, or is this a matter of poverty?”
“He is a horrid gambler. I know men who have seen him at the tables. He doesn’t leave until there’s no money left in his pocket, and he owes at least one person several pounds.”
The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. It was enough to bring clarity to why Lord Milton decided that this was the year he would marry when he had been so adamant about never marrying.
Felix felt sick. He had been the one to introduce Lord Milton to Isabelle. It was his fault that a man he thought was his friend intended to use her solely for his personal gain.
“And are there people who would be willing to provide me with proof if I asked?”
The corner of Mr. Peregrine’s mouth twitched. “There might be, if you were willing to offer them the right incentive. You know how men are and the way they like to do business.”
Felix hauled out several of the roots before crouching down to knock off some of the dirt clumps that remained stuck to them. “Would you be willing to direct me to these men?”
“For Isabelle?” Mr. Peregrine grinned as Lord Milton dodged a bee in the distance. “Anything. I know my wife is worried about seeing her married to that man. Elizabeth talks daily about how insufferable he is.”
“I beseech you to speak of this to no one except your wife.” Felix moved to the back of the bush, stabbing his shovel into the dirt once more. “I want to be sure of what I know before coming forward with the evidence.”
“And if Isabelle wishes to marry Lord Milton in spite of the fact that he’s after her family money?”
“Then that is her choice.”
Felix’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to think about that possibility. Isabelle would be better off alone for the rest of her life than with the likes of the man Felix had once considered his friend.
She would not have to endure this alone. He would give her time to get over the heartbreak of Lord Milton. In time she would move on and she would find someone better suited for her.
Even though she has refused to choose me, I will not allow her to continue down the destructive path she is presently on.
Mr. Peregrine looked quizzically at Felix as they hefted the bush out of the ground and tossed it into the rusted wheelbarrow.
Felix sighed. “I know that she must marry eventually, and as long as it is not to that scoundrel, I will be satisfied.”
“You’re lying to yourself.”
