Unmasking Sin, page 18
Adam perused the letter and pushed it back across the desk. “Nothing. Sir Theodore arranged it in such a way that it can’t be touched by anyone before his son is eighteen years old.”
“Well, that is a relief.” He sat down, drumming his fingers on the desk.
“Backed the wrong horse, Ludo?”
“I did,” Ludovic admitted.
“Not like you.”
“No, but everyone makes mistakes. I’m trying to rectify mine.”
“Is there anything left?” Adam asked. “Apart from the funds I manage?”
“Yes, but they’re badly depleted.”
“I can help make it grow again if there’s enough to play with.”
“I’ll tell her.” Ludovic hesitated, then said, “I met Dauncy last week.”
Adam was silent, then, “Some things are simply not just, Ludo. And all we can do is wait for him to make a mistake. And then we can pounce.”
Ludovic nodded, and Adam blinked.
“You’re agreeing with me?”
Ludovic smiled faintly. “I believe I am. Life is too short to carry out vendettas. Nothing you or I could ever do would bring Stephen back. So until he makes that mistake, I won’t even think of him.”
Adam sat back. “You’ve found a new cause.”
Ludovic shrugged. “Don’t worry. It’s equally hopeless.” He flashed a smile at his brother and rose to his feet again. “If you will excuse me, I have ledgers to pour over and reports to write.”
He had the feeling his brother was grinning, but he chose to ignore that as he departed and walked back to his own office. His mind was inevitably on Rebecca, and it was hard work to focus on the problems he had discovered rather than on her person. Especially since he planned to see her tomorrow. His conscience would finally be salved, and he would have no reason ever to see her again. Unless she retained his services permanently as her solicitor. Somehow, he didn’t feel good about that either.
Focus on the report.
He had almost reached the front door of his office building when a sudden stone-grinding noise filtered through his preoccupation. It gave him an instant’s warning. He glanced up and leapt backward, knocking over the man behind him, just as a large chunk of masonry crashed onto the ground in front of him and splintered.
“What the…?” He scowled from the fallen stone to the building above. It looked as if part of the chimney had collapsed. But nothing else looked likely to fall. He turned to the middle-aged man he’d knocked over to help him up and apologize.
“In the circumstances, I believe I’m grateful,” the man replied, gazing at the fallen stone with awe while he dusted off his breeches.
Rather than going immediately into the office, Ludovic made his way to the back court to see if he could get a better view of the chimney. It would have to be repaired, of course.
“Here, what was that crash?” Frankie demanded. He and two of his friends stood in the middle of the courtyard, gazing up the roof.
“Some of the chimney by the look of it. Landed inches from my feet.”
“Do you suppose he dropped it deliberately?” Frankie said doubtfully.
“What?” Ludovic’s gaze snapped down to the boys. “Who?”
“There was a man on the roof. Big fellow, fair hair, all wavy like a girl’s. He was looking at the broken chimney, though he don’t look like any mason or brickie I ever seen.”
“Where did he go?” Ludovic asked grimly. “Is he still up there?”
They all scanned the roof once more. There was no way up onto the roof from Ludovic’s part of the building, but there was a door leading there from the rooms to the right. Ludovic bolted to the back door to that side of the building but found it locked. Swearing beneath his breath, he ran back through his own door and back to the street. But there was no sign of any big blond man walking in either direction.
Ludovic had just told his brother he would leave Dauncy alone until the man made a mistake. He rather thought the captain just had, and Ludovic was fiercely, triumphantly glad.
*
On her third day back in London, Rebecca took Tom to Hyde Park to feed the ducks on the Serpentine. It was a pleasant day, with a hint of autumnal cool, and Annie and James were clearly happy to accompany them. Rebecca was certainly glad of the additional help because Tom got so excited that he would dash off in pursuit of swimming ducks, frequently almost falling in the water in the process.
When they had run out of crumbs to give the ducks, Rebecca took his hand for a leisurely stroll to the park gates. However, they had only gone a few steps when two men on the main path swerved suddenly toward them.
Rebecca knew who they were, even before she could make out their features. The very shape of them, the fussy and yet proud gait they both shared, proclaimed them as Theo’s uncles. She knew from Dawson that they had called several times during her stay at Calvert Court and that they had been insistent about seeing her, even when told she was out of town.
She would have preferred not to see them at all until Ludovic had brought her proof of their sins. But she refused to bolt in the opposite direction, as though she feared the men who had stolen from those they should have protected. So she allowed the encounter, even curtseyed in a distant kind of way while keeping firm hold of Tom’s hand.
The uncles barely glanced at Tom, although both looked briefly beyond her shoulder at Annie and James. Once again, she was glad of the servants’ presence.
“You have been away,” Aloitius said in his aggrieved voice. “You might have informed us and saved us a great deal of worry.”
“I might have, but it was a sudden decision, and I really didn’t see the need.”
“We are the guardians of his estate,” Constantine said loftily. “We have a duty to the child.”
“Yes,” she said gently. “You do. Excuse me, the carriage is waiting to take us home.”
She rather enjoyed their matching expressions of outrage, but she had only taken a step before a voice spoke behind her.
“Why, Lady Cornish, is it not? What an unexpected pleasure.” Captain Peveril Dauncy, astride a large gray, appeared beside the uncles and bowed from the waist.
She began to feel hunted, hemmed in by her enemies and Ludovic’s. “Captain Dauncy,” she greeted him civilly and performed introductions while the uncles’ eyes gleamed, no doubt at the prospect of fresh gossip. She agreed with Dauncy that the weather was indeed perfect for riding and walking and excused herself. She kept her back straight and her head high as she walked away.
Tom had turned silent as he often did in the uncles’ presence.
“Is everything well?” she asked him lightly.
“We don’t like Uncle Aloshis, do we?” he said anxiously. “Or even Uncle Constan-tine.”
How did one answer that? Except to admire his taste and his perception. “Between you and me, they are not our favorite people. But they look after your inheritance, so we should be civil.” At least for now.
“What’s my heritance?” he asked.
“Everything you own that was Papa’s.”
It was only once they were safely in the carriage that the oddity of the encounter struck her. It was not the fashionable hour and walking in the park was not a usual activity for the uncles in most circumstances. Occasionally, one or the other drove in an open carriage with his wife, but their feet rarely touched the ground of Hyde Park.
“Send Mark to me,” she said to Dawson as soon as they entered the house. She had already spoken to him about loyalty, and he had hung his head, assured her that he had only thought he was helping look after her, and promised he would discuss her with no one ever again. It seemed he had used up his chances.
“Of course, my lady,” Dawson bowed, passing her pelisse and bonnet to the waiting maid. “But you have a visitor. Mr. Dunne is in the reception room.”
Her heart gave a powerful lurch, taking her by surprise. Her hand crept up to her throat before she could stop it. Lowering it determinedly, she said, “Show Mr. Dunne up to the drawing room, if you please. And have them bring tea.”
He bowed, and she walked across the hall and upstairs without glancing at the reception room. The drumming of her heart made it all but impossible to keep up with Tom’s chatter, and for once, she was quite happy to let Annie take him off to the nursery. She was actually glad he hadn’t picked up Ludovic’s name and asked to stay to see him.
He came up too quickly before she had paced off her sudden panic. She had to whirl around from the window to greet him.
“Mr. Dunne, my lady,” Dawson intoned.
She could see that for herself. She only hoped her sudden hunger didn’t show in her eyes. He paused just inside the doorway, looking every inch the perfect gentleman in his unadorned black coat and pantaloons and crisp white cravat. His expression was as neutral as she had ever seen it. He bowed to her and walked toward her, all brisk efficiency and respect.
No less and no more.
This man was my lover.
But she could not afford to remember that now, not in the face of his cool, business-like presence. Instead, summoning her own regality, she stretched out her hand. “Mr. Dunne.”
Ludovic. I called him Ludovic in the throes of passion…
He took her hand and bowed over it with perfect correctness. “My lady.” As he straightened and released her hand, his piercing eyes searched her face. “You are well?”
There, at least, was a trace of genuine care. But perhaps she simply looked haggard.
“Quite well,” she replied civilly. “And you, sir?”
“Indeed.” His lips quirked suddenly, and she remembered them on her mouth, her body, whispering words of delight and pleasure.
She hoped she was not blushing, though she felt as if she were. Fortunately, the arrival of tea provided a distraction, and she invited Ludovic to sit by the table. She sat behind the teapot and poured. By the time she handed him his cup, he had taken a sheaf of paper from his document case. Accepting his tea with a murmur of thanks, he set it on the table and passed the papers to her in return.
“My report into the state of your financial matters and those of your son.”
She took the papers from him slowly. “That was quick.”
“We can delve deeper, request a full audit, but you should decide first how you want to proceed. The evidence is there to prove that Sir Theodore’s mother and her brothers have been embezzling from the estate, taking funds far beyond what they can pretend was for the estate’s good or for Tom’s. In several cases, I have traced the sums of money involved—it is all in my report—to their own, purely personal spending. Jewelry, expensive clothing, horses, gaming, other household items that I am sure can be found in the uncles’ houses or will be taken by the elder Lady Cornish when she vacates Redpath Hall.”
The words almost passed her by. She had been sure they were milking Tom’s inheritance, so his proof came as no surprise. Unseeingly, she flicked through the report and laid it on the table to one side of her tea.
“I will read it properly later. I suppose there is no doubt?”
He shook his head. “None. To be fair, I believe they learned the trick from Sir Theodore, who seemed to be already delving into your funds to boost his own.”
“I can’t imagine there were many such funds left. In fact, I wonder why he married me in the first place.”
“Love, by all accounts.”
Her gaze flew to his in surprise.
“I spoke to many people,” he said steadily, “for your uncles and for you. Sir Theodore may have been a wastrel, a spendthrift of loose morals in many ways, and a shockingly bad husband. But the general opinion is, that in his own way, he loved you. I expect he meant to make everything right in the end.”
“Only he ran out of time,” she said uneasily. “Because he could never resist temptation under his nose. I understand that more now. It is quite a pleasant novelty to be the temptation under someone else’s nose.”
At least that startled him. The coolness fled from his face. “As I was under yours?”
Her chin lifted. “Something like that.”
His eyes searched hers once more. “And are we friends, Lady Cornish?”
“Yes, Mr. Dunne.” An ache she had scarcely been aware of intensified, causing her to rub faintly at her breast. His gaze followed the gesture, and she forced her hand back into her lap. The ache was not physical. And not so much ache, even, as yearning. She wanted to tempt him again. “So, what do you suggest we do about all this?” She waved one hand at the report.
“What do you want to do?”
“I won’t have them stealing any more from Tom.”
“We can have them removed as his guardians, though the matter could be tied up in court for years, sadly, dragging gossip and scandal in its wake. I am not sure you want that for you or Tom. And in the meantime, while the law takes its course, they would still be in control of the estate.”
She stared at him. “Then why did we begin this if there is nothing practical we can do?”
He smiled faintly. “I did not say there was nothing we could do. We can induce them to resign as guardians in favor of someone of your choosing. After all, you might face scandal—as you have before—but they face prison, transportation, and disgrace that will affect their entire family.”
She thought about that. “It goes against the grain. There is no punishment for their crime beyond living a little more frugally. And they have walked off with chunks of my son’s inheritance.”
“I would suggest we make them pay that back. Or at least as much of it as we can.”
“How? If they are poor enough to steal—”
“People like that do not steal from poverty,” he interrupted. “They steal from greed because they always want more, and it’s easy to acquire. They have many assets that can be sold, not least two townhouses, several carriages, expensive horseflesh, their wives’ jewels.”
Her breath caught. “They will never agree to that.”
“If the inducement is right, they will.”
Blindly, she sipped her tea, then, because she could not be still, she replaced the cup in its saucer and rose to pace the room. He watched her in silence.
“I do not wish to start a feud which will endanger Tom,” she said at last. “Yes, we must make them pay back, make them count the pennies at least. But we should not ruin them.”
“You are generous, considering what they have been doing to you. And I am not talking about the money.”
She dismissed that with an impatient gesture of one hand. “Then there is the matter of who will control the estate during Tom’s minority. There are Cornish cousins, but I scarcely know them.”
“You don’t have to decide right now. I just wanted you to know where you stand.”
Alone. She had been standing alone for so long, without family or friends, that the mild social success of Calvert Court had given her unaccountable hope. But Ludovic’s proof, his possible solutions, only served to prove how delusional she had been. I still stand alone.
Tears prickled at the back of her eyes, and she didn’t even know why. At last, she had the means to defeat the uncles, remove them from Tom’s life one way or another. She should be happier.
“Would you rather have lived on in ignorance?”
Ludovic’s voice, coming from close behind, startled her. She spun around and found herself mere inches from him. Her breath caught. His very scent caused her bones to melt.
It came to her suddenly that she did not feel alone because of the information Ludovic had brought her, but because of Ludovic himself.
“Ignorance?” she said, still distracted. “No. No, of course not. Thank you for doing this so quickly.”
“You are not alone,” he said softly, and she gazed up at him in wonder. How had he guessed her thoughts? Had she spoken aloud? “Take time to think. I can investigate anything further you wish me to, I can discuss options with you, as your solicitor and as your friend.”
He raised one hand, gently touching her cheek with the backs of his fingers, a small, unthreatening caress, and yet it echoed through her like lightning, arousing, exciting, deluging her with the memory of a hundred more intimate caresses.
And then he stepped back, almost making her cry out in bewildered loss. What in God’s name did she want of him? Their one night in Calvert Court was all either of them had wanted, a few hours of comfort and pleasure. And she must not want or expect, let alone ask for, any more than that.
“Friends,” she repeated, just a little wildly. She moved away from him, back to the table with the protective teapot. “As your friend, perhaps I should tell you I met Captain Dauncy in the park just now. He was polite and friendly, but you might like to know he is in London.”
“I thought I saw him yesterday. Thank you for the confirmation.”
“I was almost glad to see him, for the uncles had just accosted us, and his presence made it easier to walk away. Which reminds me. I need to speak to Mark again. He must have told them where to find me.”
Ludovic sat down opposite her once more. “Then why don’t I sit here looking large and threatening while you interview him on the subject.”
She shrugged and rang the bell. After a few moments, Mark appeared, looking slightly alarmed.
“Mr. Dawson said you wanted to see me,” he said, his gaze flickering from Rebecca to Ludovic and back.
“We had an arrangement, you and I,” Rebecca said calmly. “Made when we last spoke on the issue of you passing information about me to other people.”
Mark looked earnest. “And I’ve kept to that, my lady, I promise.”
“Then you did not tell anyone in Mr. Aloitius’s household that Tom and I were in the park this morning?”
“No, my lady, of course not! I haven’t even seen anyone from there in ages. I promised you I wouldn’t, and I didn’t!”
Rebecca frowned, at something of a loss, for she tended to believe him. Was that just naivety on her part?
“He sounds truthful,” Ludovic remarked. “Which makes it luck. Or they have been looking everywhere for you.”
