Page 62 of Seducing a Stranger
His identity, both his identities, were dedicated to justice.
It was why the truth mattered so much to him. He’d devoted his life to it.
The conversation with his subordinate ended efficiently, and the detective was given his marching orders.
The veritable giant of a man glanced down at where she hovered just beyond the doorway as he left, and his astonishing russet mustache parted in a yellow-toothed smile filled with appreciative charm.
“Can I ‘elp you, miss?”
She smoothed her hand down the front of her cobalt silk gown and touched her glove to the absurd little cap that sat atop her coiffure. “I’m next in line for the Chief Inspector, I believe.”
“Lucky ‘im,” The detective gave a cheeky wink and swept his arm toward the door.
It was in that moment she noticed the floor had become much quieter than before as she felt more than a few speculative gazes following her.
This didn’t exactly surprise her, as she was the only woman in sight.
Bobbing a quick curtsy, she stepped into the doorway.
Morley didn’t seem to register who she was at first glance, but then he started in his chair as he gaped back up at her.
She imagined a ripple of pleasure in the liquid blue of his eyes before a frown furrowed his brow and deepened the grooves beside his mouth.
No. The glaciers of his gaze made it astoundingly clear he was distinctly displeased to find her here.
Both hands splayed on his desk as if he had to keep an eye on them. “Prudence. What are you doing here? Did you come through the front?”
Right.While he was an asset to her, she was only a liability to him. But she worked so hard to change that and had to bring the fruit of her labors straightaway.
Hurrying into his office, she took one of the leather chairs in front of his desk without being offered. “I found something, and I couldn’t wait a moment longer to give it to you,” she revealed, unable to contain her enthusiasm as she handed him the briefcase she’d been clutching. “The registers from my father’s shipping company. Well, one of the triplicate copies on carbon paper. You’re looking for evidence of smuggling, are you not? I believe, if you cross-reference it with the shipping records from the docks you’ll find what you need to condemn or exonerate—”
He held up a hand for her silence, and something in the gesture drove her heart to jump into her stomach as he regarded her as one would a troubling puzzle.
“You realize…” he hesitated. “Prudence, where did you get these?”
“From the safe in his study,” she said. “Felicity came out with me this morning to attend an appointment and then Mercy helped to search—”
“Have you considered what would happen if your father is convicted of a crime?” he flicked a careful look to his office door, but it seemed no one lurked close enough to listen. “If he is guilty, he’ll be thrown in prison. Are you ready to facilitate that?”
Prudence had felt the weight of that since the moment he’d informed her of his suspicions toward her family. “My father is in a position of power, and I’d not have him exploit that at the expense of the health of the people he’s sworn to protect. These documents have the ability to exonerate him just as easily as condemn him. I’m ready to facilitate you finding the truth, as soon as possible.”
She’d the suspicion his silence was more intense than contemplative as he considered the briefcase for a protracted moment before spearing her with a look so full of possible meaning, her heart leapt from her stomach to her throat.
“If he is guilty…” she preempted his response. “Might you have mercy on him for the sake of my sisters?”
His lips compressed into a tight line. “The law is justice, and justice doesn’t often reside with mercy.”
“Yes, but…you have made yourself more than the law, have you not? You conduct half your life in darkness.”
Again, he checked the open door, his jaw tightening as he tilted his head in a warning gesture. “Let’s not discuss that here.”
“I’m not asking you to overlook a crime,” she said with a furtive lean toward him. “Only to allow my sisters and my mother to retain their money and property should he be sent away.” She pressed her hands together in a supplicant gesture. “I’m asking you to show them the mercy you’ve shown me.”
“You’re different,” he said with a terse annunciation.
“Why?”
“You know why.” He shoved back from the desk and stood. “Besides, that sort of decision would be up to a judge.” Pacing the length of the window behind him he glared at the briefcase. “I didn’t know you were going to your father’s house today. You shouldn’t have procured this, it’s too dangerous. What if you’d been caught?”
