Page 39 of Taken to the Grave
“It ismyinheritance.Myfortune. If I choose not to marry, the income from it should rightfully be mine, shouldn’t it?”
Behind Audrey, Greer quietly fastened the small buttons that closed the back of the midnight blue evening gown. Audrey had planned to spend the evening in, but after summoning the courage to seclude herself in her study and read the memories imbued in Mr. Comstock’s cuff links, she’d sent a messenger to Bedford Street with an urgent request for Hugh to come to Violet House. The vision had made two things clear: the Sanctuary was located near Vauxhall. And Bethany Silas was in grave danger.
“If he’s so bloody determined to dangle my dowry before any lord who comes salivating, so be it!” Cassie threw up her arms as she paced. “But the annual income from it should be mine to access. To live on. To do with as I please!”
With her sister-in-law burning a circle into the carpet, and the sickening vision Mr. Comstock’s cuff links had left imprinted in her memory, Audrey hadn’t been able to think too deeply on her argument with Hugh. However, what she’d said to him keptechoing in her mind, making her cringe every time.Maybe I am not the right woman for you.She didn’t want that to be true. But how could he ask her to stand aside so she could stay safe, up high on a shelf, when the whole time they’d been falling in love, she’d been right beside him on the ground, doing the things that mattered, even when they were dangerous? Hugh hadn’t fallen in love with a coddled lady. And Audrey didn’t want to be one.
At Cassie’s sudden silence, Audrey looked again into the mirror. Her sister-in-law was watching her with an expectant look.
“Are you listening to anything I’m saying?” she asked.
“Every word,” Audrey said.
Cassie had just left Michael’s study, where another heated exchange had reached through the doors and echoed down the hall. She had attempted to discuss accessing the annual income from her inheritance early next year when she turned twenty-one. Cassie had every intention of still being unwed by then, and to no one’s great surprise, Michael had not been receptive to the idea.
“This was your first discussion,” Audrey said to her as she passed out of the mirror’s reflection. “Give him time to adjust. Michael is a staunch traditionalist, you know that.”
As a practice, unmarried women fell under the rule of their closest male relative. That male relative would legally oversee the dispersal of the lady’s dowry and annual income. Cassie’s inheritance was in a trust, and from what Philip had confided to Audrey, it was a tidy sum. Though she didn’t dare say it aloud, especially with Cassie so incensed, the idea of handing her the entirety of the yearly income gave Audrey pause.
“He thinks he knows what is best for everyone,” Cassie went on, her arms crossed. She then threw them out and up again as she exclaimed, “Why can’t he understand that I have my own mind and that I’m capable of using it?”
Audrey bit her tongue. Cassie had always possessed a quick temper, but she’d yet to grasp that taming it would advance her cause far better than allowing it free rein.
“Have you considered a formal proposal for your income?”
Cassie halted and met her eyes in the mirror. “How do you mean?”
“If you know what you would like to do with it, how to employ yourself, perhaps your brother would be more willing to compromise.”
It would also alleviate some of Audrey’s own concerns. Cassie’s only direction this last year had been tonotaccept any offers from suitors. A few had come in, and all were roundly rejected. Cassie would not deign even going for a stroll. Her icy demeanor had deterred many gentlemen, though many more were too tempted by her fortune to care.
She sat upon the chaise at the foot of Audrey’s bed, arms crossed again, eyes distant. “I’ve been trying to think of something, but…all my life, the only thing I was instructed to plan for was my wedding. My marriage. Becoming a mother and running a household.”
Greer placed a last comb in Audrey’s chignon and stepped back and to the side. It was her signal that she was finished, and that Audrey should appraise her work. She nodded and smiled at her maid, who then took her leave.
“You have some months yet before Michael could hand you control of your fortune,” Audrey said as she joined Cassie on the chaise. “Why don’t you take that time to think about what you plan to do? You must have some purpose or else I fear you will be deliriously bored.”
Cassie snorted. “And wives and mothers aren’t deliriously bored too?”
She couldn’t chastise her for the sarcastic remark. Not when she worried over the same thing. The truth was, while Audreyfelt purposeful during an investigation, what gave her the most thrill was being with Hugh, having him as a partner. As her husband, he would be her partner in another sense. But would it be enough if she was made to curtail the other part of her life that gave her such satisfaction? And what if he continued to help at Bow Street? So many marriages she’d seen involved women living separate lives from their husbands. She didn’t want that for herself.
Audrey placed her arm around Cassie’s shoulders. “Michael is stringent, but it’s not coming from a place of superiority or arrogance. It’s because he loves you. Spinsters are simply not as secure in society as married women are. He wants only for your safety and protection.”
Goodness. Now she was beginning to sound like Hugh. It gave her pause when Cassie again huffed and shook her head, as though rejecting the idea. She was blind to Michael’s care. Perhaps Audrey was being blind to Hugh’s point of view too.
The door to her bedchamber opened, and Greer reappeared. “Lord Neatham is in the drawing room, Your Grace.”
Audrey stood, thankful he’d heeded her message and come so swiftly.
“I’ll leave you to your beau,” Cassie said with a flitter of her eyelashes.
Audrey envied her obliviousness to the true purpose of Hugh’s visit. She needed to describe what she’d seen in the vision, and she hardly knew how she was going to eek the words out when she could barely stomach thinking them.
In the drawing room, Audrey found Hugh and Michael standing near the hearth, each with a whisky in hand. Hugh set his down with alacrity as soon as he saw her.
“I apologize for being a few minutes late,” Hugh said loudly, setting his glass down. “We should leave if we want to get there on time.”
“What do you—?” Audrey’s words croaked to silence in her throat when Hugh’s eyes widened in a meaningful way. He crossed in front of Audrey’s view of Michael and continued to glare.
