Chapter 31
“Not a chance, no, it must be the Qintby lot.”
“Qintby? Really?” The low voices still carried well in the parlor as the three people stood in the corner. “The Hamhearsts said it couldn’t be. They told me earlier that it doesn’t match up. The timing, you see. It must have been Mr. Ashbourne. After all, he worked at a bank. Surely––”
“The Ashbournes! You don’t mean… Oh, but what about…?”
Dominic felt a nudge at his elbow. It jarred him more than it should have, as he realized too late how tense he was carrying himself.
“For a duke carrying such a fine glass of brandy, you should be smiling,” Lucien Ashbourne commented. He sniffed and nodded at the glass Dominic carried before raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing standing here? Picked a book yet?”
After passing a glance at his untouched drink, he looked up to his brother-in-law. “I have an idea. And to what do I owe your appearance?”
“Not sure. My sister merely suggested I might find it interesting to rise by noon and be about town. Naturally, I came here. And I must say, these are the least possibly interesting books at the moment.”
Dominic furrowed his brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, I must note my interest and very evident bewilderment that my sister, Verity Ashbourne of all people, is suggesting I carouse about town. We may address that later. For now, I am seeing my family’s name appear in the betting books.
” Lucien nodded toward the other side of the room before swallowing the rest of his glass that smelled like a rich and possibly illegal whisky.
“Verity doesn’t like gossip but she knows something.
I am assuming there is some form of partnership in a marriage, so you must know something as well.
What is it? What do you know, Your Grace?
” He added the honorific in a drawl, his eyes sparking with amusement and curiosity.
It didn’t make much sense why he was here, Dominic decided. The club didn’t require them both to be in attendance to learn today’s gossip since Verity’s latest journal came out.
All of her hard work was going to nought. He didn’t understand it. He’d reviewed her notes and ideas. There had been few recommendations he made before her next edition had to be taken to her printer.
We had a reasonable plan. Everyone should be following the train of the new piece. People accepted the first article as truth but now they are ignoring the second. What I wouldn’t give for a chance to shake someone right now.
Their entire goal was to redirect attention from her uncle and her family in general. And it wasn’t working.
Instead of answering the question, Dominic had one of his own. “What sort of bets?”
The light-hearted expression on Lucien faded into something sterner. “Something I certainly won’t be repeating within hearing distance of any of my sisters. I don’t even believe Cassian could stand to hear it.”
He sensed the dread settling heavy on his shoulders.
“It’s about your uncle.”
“Yes,” Lucien enunciated slowly. “It is about our dear Uncle William Ashbourne, a modest banker who was a second father to all of us. I’m awfully glad to hear you say it, because that means you do know more than you’re attempting to reveal on that regal, regal face of yours.”
Dominic set aside his annoyance to frown. “Are you drunk?”
“No, I’m irritated. It’s early, I’m drinking to cure my hangover, and my brother-in-law is evading everything I am wondering about. Are you drunk?”
“Not at all.”
Nodding, Lucien set his glass down on the bookshelf and took Dominic’s glass from him. “Great. So, while I continue drinking, please enlighten me as to whatever is going and why everyone thinks my uncle was stealing money from half of London.”
“It isn’t as simple as that,” Dominic started before realizing the last line from what Lucien said. He stilled. “Wait. Who said he stole money?”
“I don’t know. People. They’re everywhere.”
As he slowly turned to look around the room, Dominic studied the faces one by one. He recognized most of them. Had spoken with quite a few of them at one time or another. No one looked particularly suspicious.
But that doesn’t necessary mean it wasn’t one of them.
He focused on Lucien. “Someone said it, didn’t they? That wasn’t in the journal.”
“Do you mean the gossip rag? I only skimmed it.”
Trying another tactic, Dominic inquired, “Who have you talked to today?”
“Only a few people. Lord Hamhearst. Henry Williams.” Lucien screwed up his face a moment before draining the brandy. “And Lord Roberts, who said my family was never to step foot under his roof again. What is a multiple for roof?”
Roberts could have been one of the notable victims of Will Ashbourne’s schemes. I’ll need to see what else Cassian knows about the others. There must be some accounts or documents.
“Roofs. Lord Roberts? The Earl?” Dominic looked away again, trying to focus. The fear was set aside for anger. “What else did he mention?”
“Something about having enough information to take someone to court.” Lucien paused from fiddling with the glass. “I say, he couldn’t have been talking about me, could he? That would be most irritating. Foul, even.”
None of this is going as I anticipated. Verity and I were so certain… Why is it Society is always determined to make the wrong choice? They cannot make anything easy.
There was a fire growing under his skin that he had to put out before it overwhelmed him. He couldn’t stay here any longer. He had to find Verity, see if she had learned all this as well, and find a better strategy to work with her.
As Lucien was mumbling to himself, Dominic was about to quietly send him away. But he paused. The young man was bleary-eyed and clearly tired. What Lucien was up to was not any of his business. They hardly knew each other.
But he helped the man all the same.
Leading Lucien to a chair, he instructed a waiter to start helping him sober up and to have a carriage prepared for him to return safely and quietly afterward. Only then did he take his leave for home.
Verity had beat him to his study.
“What is going on?” She demanded when he entered the room, her expression strained as she clutched a sheaf of papers. Already she paced about with her chest rising and falling.
Dominic closed the door quickly behind him. “How long have you been here?”
She scoffed and threw her papers on an empty chair.
“For the last hour. When I arrived at the Elmherst House for their afternoon recital, I was no longer on the guest list. It was humiliating. I didn’t even care to attend.
I had almost said no. But they wouldn’t let me in the door even with my invitation. ”
A fierce need to protect swept over Dominic. He moved forward to comfort her, putting a hand on her upper arm. “Lord Elmherst did it?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Verity tried to wrest her limb back but only for a second before slumping.
She dropped her face into her hands. “One small move and yet it ruined everything. I never expected to… Blast it, Dominic. It hurt. I didn’t think I would care should something ever happen.
But this felt like a knife to my spleen. ”
“They had no right to do such a thing,” he growled.
She shook her head. “That’s the worst of it. They do. Lady Elmherst is the stuffiest lady amongst the Ton. She’s cut people like this before, I know, but I didn’t think it could ever happen to me. I just don’t understand what is going on.”
His grip tightened before he forced himself to loosen up on her. The familiar scent of lilacs washed over, calming him. He could breathe. He could think. First, he inhaled deeply and then let go. “I do.”
“You do?”
“Or I have an idea,” Dominic amended. “And you won’t like it.”
A groan escaped her lips. Turning away, Verity crossed the room to the other side and remained facing the wall. “I simply don’t understand. Where did I go wrong?”
“Someone else is talking.”
She whirled around. “What? Who?”
“Worse: they apparently know something. Or more than something.” He raked a hand through his hair in frustration, and sighed. “Whatever we said in the article was enough for a person to come forward and start talking. They have implicated your uncle.”
“But how?”
He gave her a look. “Because they knew your uncle. I believe it may have been Lord Roberts, the Earl of Sunwich. Is he familiar to you or your family?”
“I don’t think… Wait.” Verity paled as she leaned back against the bookcase.
He started forward in concern but paused when she didn’t collapse.
So he waited. She slowly gathered her thoughts to say, “I did know him. He visited once, I think. I was confused because I thought he was coming to pay respects to my family. It was shortly after the passing of my mother, and… then Uncle Will strode in with a smile, escorting him away.”
“You remembered that?”
“Uncle Will rarely had anyone over. I remember thinking that I hoped it meant he was a friend, but that I didn’t particularly care for the lord. He’s never been part of the gossip or talk of the beau monde. Why, I’ve never written about him. He’s…”
Forcing the truth. And if he knows that her uncle was involved in a devious financial plot, then he could say the word to cause harm to her family.
Pressing fingers to her brow, Verity grumbled. “I must do something. Perhaps another article. Or I could speak with him, perhaps.”
But he shook his head. “That won’t do any of us any good right now.”
“You don’t know that. Clearly, neither of us know Roberts very well. It must be worth the attempt at the very least. Surely he can see reason and keep the facts to himself,” Verity reasoned.
Or use his knowledge for blackmail.
“I doubt it.”
“He must not wish to cause any ire. We’ll ask him politely as friends to stay quiet, it’s worth the attempt.”
“No, it will only cause complications; we are not traveling about town to try and quiet everyone in one household at a time,” Dominic said sternly. “That will in no way achieve anything we have desired.”