“Know?What could we possibly know?”Lady Astrid looked around at the other ladies, her eyes wide.“We are but mere women.Surely, we could not have anything useful for such all-knowing and powerful men.You do not need us at all.”
Tiffany covered her lips with her hands, but a giggle still escaped her mouth.Drake looked as though he wanted to throw himself across the room and throttle his betrothed, who smiled sweetly at him.
“Ladies.”Christian smiled, his most charming smile, and Johanna felt her own tension ease as he swept his gaze around the room to include everyone… well, everyone except Rose, who refused to turn to look up at him.No wonder he was known as the Adonis of theton.When he flashed that smile, he must send ladies’ hearts fluttering.Even she was not entirely unaffected, despite her preference for Matthew’s joyful grin.“Please, we would be in your debt if you have any information you can share with us.”
“Yes, you will,” Lady Astrid replied tartly, though her words and the tartness were directed at Drake.He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to glare at his betrothed.“Tiffany?”
“I think I recognize the description of Mr.Heywood,” Tiffany said hesitantly.“There is a man in the stables, at home, who matches it, down to the scar on his face.”
“Our home?”
“Which home?”
Gregory and Sebastian spoke at the same time and then glanced at each other.Tiffany twisted around in her seat to look up at her brother.
“At Somersham Hall.”She looked apologetically at Gregory.“My old home.Father hired him.”
“I… do not know if I have seen him,” Sebastian said, shaking his head.
“Well, you were in London at the time, I believe.”Tiffany faced front again.“And you did not spend as much time on the estate as I did.As far as I know, he is still there.I only noticed him because of the scar on his beard and because he works well with the animals.”
“Well.That is good news,” Sebastian said.“That means we have a place to start.I will leave for the Hall immediately.”
“You cannot.You will miss the Manchester Ball tomorrow,” Tiffany said immediately.“You cannot miss such an important event—and it will cause a great deal of talk if you rush back to the estate for no good reason, especially after… after sending Mother to the countryside.”
“She is right,” Delilah said, breaking into the conversation with her throaty voice.“There has already been some talk among the ladies about your mother leaving the Season so soon and so suddenly.No one believes it is for her health, by the by.If you do not wish to focus attention on her absence, you cannot miss major events that you were already planning to attend.”
“Could you send for him to come to London?”Kalina asked, looking around.
“No.”Nathanial shook his head.“We are trying not to draw attention to our investigation.If Sebastian sends for him, it would be completely out of character, and it might even cause him to flee.The same with leaving abruptly.He has already been working in your stables for years.He will keep for a while longer until you can leave for a few days without suspicion.”
“Not just you,” Drake said.“One of us should go with you.Zachary, perhaps.”
“You are just trying to get me out of London.”The Duke of Grafton’s voice was harsher than Johanna had ever heard before, without any of its usual elegance.
“If that is what you need to cool your temper, yes.”
“Yes, of course,Iam the problem.Not the person who wasactuallyinvolved in our fathers’ murders.Not the person who provided the murderers with the means to ensure our fathers burned to death.”
Johanna shrank back in her seat as Lady Astrid stood up in front of her, blocking Johanna from Grafton’s view with her skirts.Matthew came round the couch as well, to stand at its side where he could hold Johanna’s hand, glaring at Grafton from over Lady Astrid’s shoulder.
“You are not seriously blaming Johanna,” Rose said, obviously aghast.
“Why?Was it you who provided the sleeping potions?”The sharpness in Grafton’s voice was quick and cutting.
Frozen in her seat, unsure of what to do or say, heart pounding in her chest, Johanna was relieved to see Christian step forward, blocking Rose from Grafton’s view the same way Lady Astrid and Matthew were guarding her.
“You are bang out of line, Zachary,” Christian said sharply.“Again.”
She could hear the soft chitter of the monkey on the man’s shoulder, almost like it was trying to soothe the irate duke.
“I… apologize.”The strain in his voice made Johanna’s heart go out to him.“I am not myself.I need… I need to go.I cannot be here right now.I need to go.”
The pain he felt was clear in his words, and more tears sprang up in Johanna’s eyes in sympathy.
The sound of his footsteps on the marble floor of the hall echoed in the silence of the room.The front door opened and closed.Johanna looked away and caught a glimpse of Delilah’s face, agony in every line of her expression, as she watched her former lover go.
Then the other woman blinked, and her polite social mask descended once again.
