Page 22 of A Slight Problem with the Wedding
“Is it? I do not find it so.” He cast Mayfield a pointed look. “Shall we start over? Let us get serious now. No more lies or bluster, for you do not help yourself by putting me off. Confirm the details of her inheritance for me now. Let me see the relevant documents. Any evasiveness on your part will put you at the top of the investigator’s suspect list…and rest assured, I’ll make certain it does.”
“But I did not do anything!”
Julius arched an eyebrow. “Then you need have no fear of being honest with me, should you?”
CHAPTER 4
JULIUS HAD GOTTEN a good deal of information out of Reginald Mayfield, enough of interest that he ought to have been in better humor by the time he returned home in the early afternoon. But he had also gotten enough attitude from Havers earlier in the day that he was in a bearish temper by the time he alighted from his carriage.
The clock chimed to mark the two o’clock hour just as he mounted the stairs to look in on Gory. He had hoped to find her asleep or otherwise comfortably resting in his bedchamber, and was not pleased to see Allendale seated in the chair beside her bed…his bed…and holding Gory’s hand.
He wanted to haul the man to his feet and toss him out the window.
So what if he was behaving like an angry ape?
Allendale rose and turned toward him, appearing equally ill-tempered. “Did you not think to send word to me, Thorne? I had to hear the news from Lady Withnall.”
Where had the viscount encountered that snoopy termagant?
In truth, he liked the old dowager and her constant companion, Lady Dayne, but there was no denying Lady Withnall was a meddlesome, old bat who often took amusement in stirring up trouble. “I sent a messenger to your home at the crack of dawn to advise you of what happened. I also happened to stop by there afterward to do you the courtesy of a personal visit, but you were still not at home. I suggest you not take off again because the magistrate’s man is going to want answers as to your whereabouts last night.”
“You condescending arse. How dare you suggest I spent the night elsewhere.” He curled his hands into fists. “And what is Lady Gregoria doing in your bed?”
“She was almost killed last night, and this is what concerns you?” His hands were also curled into fists as he took a step toward Allendale. “If you think I am–”
Mrs. Quinn gasped to capture his attention.
Right, he’d instructed her to remain with Gory if ever Allendale came to see her.
“Please, my lords. Lady Gregoria is not well. Your raised voices can only be distressing her. She is quite fragile at the moment.”
Gory?
Fragile?
He noted the blaze of fury in Gory’s eyes.
She was about to climb out of bed and box them both about the ears for behaving like puffed up arses.
Julius sighed and held his hands up in a sign of surrender. He did not want her climbing out of bed. She was still too weak and he did not trust her to stand on her own. The blow had left her with a concussion, stitches in her head, and possibly vertigo since she could not walk without weaving.
“Sorry, Gory,” Julius said, running a hand through his hair in consternation. “I’m finding the progress of the investigation to be quite frustrating.”
“At least you are participating in it,” she replied, obviously exasperated. “All I have been doing is sitting like a useless vegetable in this bed.”
And yet, she looked exhausted.
Quite pale, too.
“I meant to rest,” she explained when he remarked on it, “but Lady Dayne and Lady Withnall showed up shortly after you left. Then Marigold and Leo came by while they were still here. All of them had no sooner left than Lord Allendale arrived.”
“Then you have not had a moment to close your eyes?” He frowned as he turned to Allendale. “Come into the study and we shall talk. Gory desperately needs her rest. Is it not obvious she is unwell?”
Nor was she in any condition to marry that oaf within a week’s time.
Nor would she ever marry him, if Julius had his way.
Had Allendale brought up the possibility of postponing the wedding? Had Gory? Or were the two determined to move ahead with their nuptials?
