Page 16 of Schemes & Scandals

Now I get the eye roll. Deservedly.

“Also, you’re joining in a volunteer capacity,” I say. “All the money is mine.”

He sobers. “As it should be. However, if you are taking the case for the money, I can always increase?—”

“I said I’m taking the case on principle. I’m just letting her pay because she can afford it. My salary is more than sufficient. So we’ll drop that.” I rearrange my skirts as the December chill creeps up from the carriage floor. “On an equally serious note, though, the reason I didn’t take the job right away is that I do want to discuss it with you.”

“All right.”

“And if discussing it with you touches on any personal matters that make you uncomfortable, you need to acknowledge that I’m asking because of the case. I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable or pry into your personal life.”

He shifts, and I inwardly sigh. This is exactly what I’m afraid of. That every time the case brushes up against his past with Lady Inglis, there’s going to be resistance and friction.

“This first question is actually not about the case directly, but I have to bring it up.” I clear my throat. “I know Lady Inglis sent you a letter after you ended things. Did she send others before that?”

“No. We did not... That is to say...” He plucks at his collar. “If this is a habit of hers, she must have decided I was not the properly receptive audience for it.”

“Or, more likely, she only does it with this one longtime friend. The reason I’m asking is to be sure you’re not at risk yourself.”

“I am not. Any other correspondence I received was not of that nature, and I destroyed it shortly after receipt. I realize that may seem cold, not keeping such letters for sentimental reasons, but I do it out of an abundance of caution. As you said at lunch, I would not be faulted for such entanglements, but the women would be. Destroying their letters seems wise.”

“Agreed,” I say. “And I was going to say that if she did send you any more intimate ones, you should destroy them.”

He glances over. “The one she did send, you burned, yes?”

“I did.” I adjust the muff keeping my hands warm. “You said you think you know the man involved. The one whose letters were stolen.”

I expect his tone to chill—or at least his gaze to—but he only nods. “I am certain I know him. They have been longtime friends, as Lady Inglis said, and I knew they’d been lovers. Because you will likely not ask, yes, he is the one I discovered she’d been seeing while we were together.”

“Is that going to be a problem?” I hear myself and rephrase. “I’m sure that’ll make the interview uncomfortable. I can conduct that part.”

“Hmm?” He looks genuinely surprised. “No, it isn’t... That is to say, it’s not like that. I have no issue with Lord— With the person involved. The mistake was honestly mine. I knew they had been involved, and I did not necessarily think the affair had ended, but he was living abroad while I was seeing Lady Inglis. When he returned, I heard that she had gone to see him. I did not want to presume anything, so I asked and...”

He gives a rueful smile. “I discovered that their relationship was ongoing. That was it. I did not walk in on them together. Even her visit to his house was purely platonic, a luncheon with others. But she made it clear that he was still intimately part of her life, and I took it poorly and left. No dramatic encounter. Merely a misunderstanding.”

“Still upsetting.”

He looks out the window a moment before turning to me. “And still a misunderstanding for which no one else is to blame. If I do blame him for anything, it is onlythisunfortunate incident with the letter. Even then, I doubt that he was careless with them. It is understandable to keep them, and he seems to have locked them away.”

“How well do you know him?”

“Not terribly well,” Gray says. “I did meet Lady Inglis through him, though. We attend the same club, and he has an interest in medical science and asked me to accompany him to the surgical theater. We did that a few times, and I met Lady Inglis at a party he hosted before he went to Europe on an extended trip. I have seen him since, at the club, and we have been cordial.”

“Cordial but cool?”

The corners of Gray’s mouth twitch upward. “I am always cool, Mallory. It is my natural demeanor. If you are asking whether I was cooler because of the misunderstanding, I do not think so. I am not even certain he knew I was seeing Lady Inglis in his absence.”

I tap my fingers inside my muff as I think. “Whoever stole the letters had access to this man’s home.”

“Yes.”

“What kind of home does he keep? He’s a lord, which might mean he has multiple residences.”

“As I understand it, he has only one. A town house perhaps a mile from ours, where he lives with his younger brother. As for Lord...” He trails off.

“Joe,” I say. “Until Lady Inglis releases his name, let’s go with Lord Joe.”

Another twitch of the lips. “All right. Lord Joe is a widower himself. Only a few years older than Lady Inglis. He lost his wife a year before Lady Inglis lost her husband.”

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