“Broad-shouldered.”Her mother hesitated.“Why?Is he important?”
“Perhaps.”Matthew looked down at his notes and took a deep breath.His voice was tight as he spoke, with controlled emotion that made Johanna’s heart ache for him.“It’s the scar, you see.There was a tenant my father threw off our land—Aaron Heywood.He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a beard, and about five years ago, he was gravely injured by a bull that had gotten loose.When he could not pay his rent, my father threw him and his wife out of the home his family had lived in for five generations.”
Closing his eyes, Matthew swallowed hard.
Releasing her mother’s hand, leaving her to Rose, Johanna got to her feet and went to him.Tears had welled in her eyes in sympathy for the repressed emotion emanating from him.
“What happened to them?”she asked in a low murmur, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Matthew reached up to put his fingers over hers, and she felt the sigh ease out of him.
“I do not know,” he said quietly.“By the time I found out, they were long gone.I looked for them, briefly, once my father died, but…” He shook his head.“There was so much to do, and it had been so long.Perhaps I should have looked harder.”
“Perhaps not, if he had something to do with the plot.He might not have wanted to be found by then.And there was naught you could have done for them before your father died.”
“No.Perhaps.I could have given him some coin, at least.”Matthew squeezed her fingers.“Well.What’s done is done.It might not even be the same man.”
Though it was clear from his tone, he did not believe his words for even a moment.Neither did Johanna.The coincidence was far too great.
A knock on the door made all of them jump, and out of the corner of her eye, Johanna saw her mother clutch Rose’s hand with both of hers.Even though she seemed relieved at having unburdened herself to Matthew, the general fear still remained.
Holt opened the door, stiffly upright as ever, his gaze quickly scanning the room and finding Matthew with Johanna standing behind him.
“Your Graces,” he said, bowing.“I apologize for the interruption, but the Duke of Ormonde has called and is most insistent that he speak to the duke and Lord Falmouth immediately.”
“My brother?”Johanna asked, bewildered.“But why— Oh.”It suddenly struck her that this must have something to do with Mr.Blash.With everything going on with her mother, she had almost forgotten about her brother’s former guardian, especially since Micah’s guardianship had officially been turned over to her husband.
“Put Ormonde in the library and fetch Lord Falmouth, please, Holt,” Matthew told the butler.“I think we are finished here, anyway.”
“I would like to come with you,” Johanna said quickly, and relief rushed through her when Matthew nodded his agreement.He rolled up the paper he’d been writing his notes on and held it in one hand while holding out his other for her to take.She glanced over at Rose and her mother.“I will come join you shortly, I promise.”
“Not to worry, dear.Rose can keep me company.”Her mother looked around the room.She appeared almost ten years younger than she had when Johanna had entered her bedroom this morning, such was the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders.There was a lightness to her expression that did Johanna’s heart good to see.“I think I want to stay in this room for now.It’s very nice.”
“I am glad you like it,” Matthew said, his lips curving up in a genuine smile.“Please feel free to make as much use of it as you like.It does not get used often enough.”
“Thank you.”Her mother’s smile was as genuine as Matthew’s.
They liked each other, then.After such a fraught conversation, Johanna had not known what to expect, but Matthew had handled things perfectly—and without the use of his coin.
“We will speak when you return,” Rose said, giving Johanna a look.
She smiled sheepishly back at her cousin.Whatever tongue-lashing Rose wanted to give her, Rose would feel Johanna deserved for keeping her in the dark, and Johanna rather felt she deserved it, too, even if she would not do anything differently given the chance.Rose tended to play the protector in their relationship, but Johanna could not regret her decisions.Neither would she try to escape the scolding Rose was no doubt already preparing in her mind.
“We will.”
With that, they swept from the room.Johanna might have been grateful for the short reprieve, but anything to do with Mr.Blash was going to get her ire up.The man had stolen from them.Lied to her.Even when she’d told him that her mother was starving, he had not confessed to his crime nor provided the funds to feed the family, convincing Johanna to sell herself instead.If not for Matthew, she could not imagine what straits she and her family might be in now.
She was not certain he would have even given her the money he’d promised from Mr.O’Connell’s payout.
Whatever news the Duke of Ormonde had brought of Mr.Blash, she wanted to know.
ChapterThirty-Nine
Matthew
The surprise that flitted over Drake’s face when he saw Johanna on Matthew’s arm was highly amusing.Matthew was all too aware of the notes clutched in his hand, but one matter at a time.He did not want to derail Drake from whatever news he’d brought about Mr.Blash.
“Duchess.”Drake bowed, glancing at Matthew with a reproving look.Matthew shrugged.Johanna was the one most personally affected by Blash’s deception, and he was going to tell her whatever Drake told him, anyway.This bypassed one step.
