Page 44 of His Improper Lady

“Not that I ever saw,” Tom replied.

Con went on, “I don’t know any lawyer named Blackstock. Do you, Alex?”

Alex shook his head. “Peculiar thing to steal.”

“But the envelope isn’t the important thing.” Desiree pulled the conversation back to her subject.

“It seems rather pertinent to me,” Con replied mildly. “But go on. What is important?”

“What I did find while I was searching was...a ring with the Moreland coat of arms.”

“Con’s ring?” Alex asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Con replied cheerfully. “But it’s all very intriguing. Go on, Miss Malone. I assume there’s more. Did you take it?”

“No.” She dug into her reticule and her fingers closed around Brock’s ring. Nerves danced in her stomach. “But I recognized it.” She held it out in her open palm. “My brother has one just like it.”

“Good Lord.” Con plucked the ring from her hand and examined it. “It is just like it.” He handed the ring to Alex. Then his eyes narrowed and he said, “Wait. Is this a joke?” He looked suspiciously at Tom, then his brother. “Did you pinch my ring to run a game on me?”

“No, I swear it’s not a joke,” Tom told him.

Alex raised his hands. “Not me.”

Con was already back at his desk, reaching into the top drawer. “It’s still here.” He returned to the others and held up his ring against the one in Alex’s hand. “Alex, do you swear that’s not your ring?”

“No. Mine’s back at the house in Somerset. I never wear it now.” Alex waggled his left ring finger, encircled by a wedding band.

“Then how—” Con looked up at Desiree. “Are you saying that you’re a Moreland?” He handed back her ring. “But whose child are you? We’ve never met, have we?”

“No. I don’t know who my father is. I never knew him. I was, as they say, born on the wrong side of the blanket.”

“I see. Well.” Con cleared his throat. “I apologize. Everyone will tell you, I often open my mouth before I open my mind. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” Desiree assured him even though that wasn’t completely true. She never let anyone see a weakness in her, and it was especially true for these two. They seemed pleasant enough, but she suspected that their friendly attitude would soon change. “I’m not the one who did anything wrong.”

“True.” Con smiled. He had a very winning smile.

“Miss Malone believes that her father must have been a Moreland,” Tom explained. “Because of the ring. But she has no proof.”

Desiree glared at Tom. Con nodded and said, “Yes, you’ll probably need something more than that to be sure.”

“Let’s see if we can figure this out.” Alex pulled over a chair for Desiree, then perched himself on the edge of Tom’s desk. Con brought over his desk chair, and Tom took up a place next to Alex.

Desiree sat down, prepared for an interrogation. But Con said, “Now...who are the possibilities? Not our father, of course.”

Alex let out a laugh and said to Desiree, “I’m sure you’d be an excellent sister, but the duke simply isn’t a possibility. He’s thoroughly devoted to Mother.”

“Nor Uncle Bellard,” Con added, and all three men grinned at that suggestion.

“No. Unless your mother has an exceedingly extensive library, Uncle Bellard would never have met her,” Alex assured her, adding, “He’s also a bit old, I would think.”

“Who else is there?” Tom asked, apparently resigned to the investigation.

“Not Cousin Albert, surely,” Alex said.

“God, no,” Con agreed. “I don’t think he’d be the right age, either. It would have to be someone in the duke’s generation, wouldn’t it? There’s Uncle Richard. I suppose he might be a possibility. He has a couple of children, so he must not be off chasing butterflies all the time.”

Chasing butterflies? Desiree glanced over at Tom and he shrugged.