Page 10 of Fatal By Design
“You don’t need to be sorry for anything.”
As she nodded and straightened her shoulders. “Well, I am sorry,” she said with a thin smile. “For drawing you away from Greenbriar almost as soon as you arrived.”
He could not deny her the change of topic. Urging her to talk about Philip would only push her away. As her smile grew into something more authentic—a hint that she knew how he truly felt about the socializing about to be endured—he could only sigh.
“Ah, yes, the house party. I can’t say I’m distraught to not be settling into my rooms and drinking a brandy with His Grace. I wasn’t entirely looking forward to coming. Though I suppose I had to begin mixing at some point.”
Audrey smoothed the front of her black skirt, then clasped her hands before her. “I was under the impression you already have been.”
Hugh arched a brow. Audrey might have been tucked away in Kent for the last few months, but that wouldn’t have stopped the gossip from reaching her. He thought he knew what she was referring to. Or rather,who.
“I have been to a few of Sir Gabriel’s dinner parties.” The chief magistrate at Bow Street might have cut Hugh from his role as principal officer, but that had not stopped him from seeing the older knight. Sir Gabriel and his wife Lady Rebecca entertained at least twice a month, and now that Hugh sported a shiny new title, he’d been welcomed into their home on Tavistock Street.
He and Sir Gabriel got along well, and the magistrate had kept him informed on the goings on at Bow Street. At first, Hugh had been placed at the table near Sir Gabriel, but their dinner conversation about seedy criminals, murders, and burglaries had not met with Lady Rebecca’s approval. So, Hugh had found himself further from the magistrate the next few times.
But Audrey wasn’t mentioning the dinners at Tavistock Street for that reason.
She licked her lips and swished her palms over the feathered tops of some switchgrass. “I understand Lord and Lady Kettleridge were at your dinners. They will be attending Greenbriar, too, I believe?”
If there was one thing Audrey wasn’t, it was subtle. Hugh bit back his amusement, even though she wasn’t looking directly at him.
“Despite your number of personal investigations, you haven’t improved much in your questioning tactics,” he said, to which he received a sharp glare. He laughed at her expression of annoyance and culpability.
“Let me put your mind at ease,” he went on, still grinning at her agitation. “I am in no danger of finding myself in one of Greenbriar’s library alcoves with Lady Veronica.”
It was hot in the meadow, and Audrey was already flushed, but now, her cheeks stained a deeper pink. “I suggested no such thing.”
She hadn’t needed to.
“I am well aware of the rumors swirling around the lady and myself,” he said.
Henry Langton, the Earl of Kettleridge, had all but made it clear that his goal was to arrange a match between his beautiful and accomplished eldest daughter and Hugh. As Lord Kettleridge was good friends with Sir Gabriel, he and his wife and daughter had attended the same dinners as Hugh, and Veronica had been purposefully seated to Hugh’s right or left each time.
“I hadn’t heard as much,” Audrey said. It was a flat out lie, though anyone not experienced in her mock innocent expressions may not have known it.
“The rumors are just that—rumor.”
She shrugged. “Oh? But she is quite pretty.”
“She is.”
“I read that the queen called her a diamond of the first water after she made her bow.”
“Indeed,” he replied, his enjoyment of seeing Audrey so agitated rising. It was unkind perhaps. She had been through much since the spring, and she had warned him that mamas of the ton would begin to circle him like vultures. But surely, she remembered what he’d said—that he wasn’t in the market for a viscountess.
“Are you endorsing the match, Your Grace?” Hugh teased. Audrey spluttered and gaped, shedding her act of indifference completely.
“Goodness, no!” She gasped at her blurted answer, and now her cheeks appeared beet red rather than pink.
Hugh belted out the laughter that had been bottled up, and not even her scowling reaction could stem it.
“You should not tease me,” she said, looking as cross with him as he deserved.
“Where is the fun in resisting?” he replied before curbing his humor. Or at least trying to. They had been thrust into a serious crime and potential abduction from the moment they laid eyes on each other at Greenbriar. The moment of lightheartedness had dulled the sharp edge of disorder. If only momentarily.
“Audrey, nothing has changed.” He reached for her hand again, this time capturing the tips of her fingers. Their fingers laced, though lightly. They looked down at their joined hands. Then, with a clearing of her throat, she stepped back.
“There is something I must tell you.” Her words rushed out, breathless. Nervous. Hugh’s humor faded.
