“Who are you indulging with?”Delilah asked Lady Astrid, but she just smiled enigmatically.
“Drake is sowing his wild oats,” she replied, bypassing the question entirely.“Why should I not?I have to know about his exploits, and what he does not know will not hurt him.”
“I am not certain of that,” Delilah muttered, shaking her head.She turned to Johanna and Rose.“How go things with St.Albans?I always thought he was the sweetest of the group.Good husband material, if you can tolerate his need to flip that blasted coin for everything.”
“He really flips it foreverything?” Mei asked, appearing intrigued, before Johanna could answer.“I thought it was a gimmick.”
“No gimmick,” Johanna said, shaking her head.“There are some small decisions he makes, but for most things… yes, he did.”
“Did?”Tiffany asked, her hazel eyes widening.
“Did.He lost it the other day.”
Delilah and Lady Astrid both sat up with gasps, which made Mei’s interest even more acute.She was the only one still smiling; even Kalina looked somewhat alarmed, and she did not know Matthew very well at all.
“Lost it?”Delilah said, clearly aghast.“My goodness… is he well?”
“Is he shut up in the house and refusing to come out?”Lady Astrid asked.
“No, he is dealing with it remarkably well, I think,” Johanna said, immediately feeling defensive of her husband, though she internally acknowledged that their reactions were not unwarranted.“In fact, he called a meeting with the other dukes today.”
“He did?Without flipping his coin for it?”Delilah’s usually low voice had gone rather higher than usual with her surprise.
“He did,” Johanna said firmly, then took a deep breath.“My mother was able to give him a clue in regard to their investigation.”
There was no need to say exactly which investigation; all the ladies immediately knew what she was talking about, of course.
Tiffany scowled.
“Oh, so that was the message that came in.Gregory said he was going to White’s while I am at tea.”She huffed.“I wish they would stop leaving us out of things.”
“Drake’s doing, I’ll warrant.”Lady Astrid sniffed.“Lucifer does not want us involved.It’s not ladylike.”
“Well, I have no reason to be involved, but I find I am too curious about what your mother told Matthew to not ask,” Delilah said.“Whatever it was, it must have been quite important for him to decide to call a meeting, especially without his coin.”
“It is.”Johanna took a deep breath and deliberately did not look at Tiffany as she relayed her mother’s possible part in the death of Tiffany’s father.Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kalina reach over to hold Tiffany’s hand as she spoke, but she did not dare look up to see the duchess’ expression.If she did, she might never be able to get through it.She told them about her mother’s part, about Matthew questioning her this morning, and the revelation that he recognized the description her mother gave.
“Wait.”Tiffany’s voice was sorrowful but did not hold the anger Johanna had feared.“A scar through his beard?Here?”
Johanna had to face her now to see where Tiffany was indicating.But, like her voice, there was no anger in Tiffany’s expression.Grief, yes, but nothing of blame or vengefulness.
“Yes, I believe so.”Johanna glanced at Rose, who nodded.“We have only what Matthew had to say about it.”
“You recognize the description as well?”Lady Astrid asked sharply.She had put down her champagne glass, and all the easygoing mischief was gone from her demeanor, her focus entirely on Johanna’s story.
“I believe so.It might not be the same man, but… there isaman who now works in the stables on the estate who does fit that description.My father hired him the year before… the year before.I do not know if I ever got his name; we were not introduced or any such thing.”Tiffany scraped her teeth across her lower lip.“You said the old St.Albans threw him and his wife out of their home?”
“Yes.That is what Matthew said.”
Tiffany shook her head, her eyes filling with tears as her face paled.“The man we have does not have a wife.He is a widower.”
“Which would give him even more of a reason to hate Matthew’s father and be willing to act in revenge,” Lady Astrid murmured.“Bold to find employment and assist in murdering your new employer, though.”
“Unless he did not know what he was getting into,” Kalina pointed out.She looked at Tiffany.“That is what happened with Gregory’s steward, is it not?He said he did not know the full breadth of what he had become involved in.”
“That is true.”Tiffany took a deep breath and shook her head.“I do not know very much about him.It might not be the same man.”
But what a coincidence if it was not.
