Page 41 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
She swallowed. “Yes?”
“You should have found a way to tell me this before now. I deserved to know the truth, and I could have helped you, protected you. But now… I only despise you.”
And without even looking at Iris, Phineas stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
“Good God, man, what happened to you?”
Phineas looked up to see James standing over him. His old friend’s brow was furrowed in concern, and his eyes were probing.
It was such an unusual expression for James that Phineas almost didn’t recognize him. James was usually so determined to be cheerful that he never let anything bother him. But now, he looked more worried than Phineas had seen him in a long time.
Grunting, Phineas motioned for his friend to join him. He was at his club, where he’d been all morning and afternoon, sitting in one of his favorite wingback chairs in a dark corner, drinking heavily and smoking cigar after cigar. It was the kind of behavior he hadn’t exhibited since his parents died—since his parentsweremurdered, he had to remind himself—and he wasn’t altogether unsurprised that James seemed so shocked.
“What, no jokes?” Phineas snarled as James continued to stare at him with a mix of pity and alarm. “No quip about how my marriage has turned sour so soon, or how my wife has driven me out of my home with her incessant nagging?”
“I would never speak about Her Grace so ungenerously,” James said gently. “She has been nothing but the most gracious hostess to me, and I have seen the way you two look at each other. You have something special, and I wouldn’t mock that.”
Phineas didn’t reply. He twirled his cigar in his fingers and stared off into the distance. He didn’t want to think about anything right now, and certainly not the ‘something special’ between himself and his wife. The anger and pain that the revelation about his parents had brought him was so all-consuming that he was afraid to think too much about Iris, in case it tainted her by association.
“Phineas,” James called.
Phineas looked back at his friend. James rarely called him by his Christian name. Usually, he referred to him as Eavestone, or mockingly asYour Grace. It must mean something serious if James was calling him Phineas.
“What?” Phineas grunted.
James sat down on the chair opposite him and looked at him pensively. “Tell me what’s wrong. Did you and Her Grace have a fight?”
“No.”
“Is it Carfield, then? Did he try to harm his daughters again?”
“No.” Phineas snorted. “He wouldn’t dare.”
James frowned. “Then what is it, old friend?”
“I don’t want to get into it,” Phineas snapped.
He knew he was being rude and hurtful, but everything felt so twisted up inside of him that it was hard to care.
James sighed, stretched, motioned for the waiter to bring brandy, and then looked at Phineas with the most serious expression he had ever displayed.
“I understand you don’t want to talk about whatever’s wrong,” he began. “I know you’re a private person who holds his cards close to his chest. But if you push me away, someone who has known you your whole life, then what is to stop you from pushing Iris away next? And I know you love her, Phineas. Don’t try to deny it. But if you stay on this path, the one of vengeance, silence, and resentment, then you will lose her. You do understand that, right?”
Phineas fidgeted. He knew James was right, but he didn’t know how to untangle all the spiteful feelings inside of him.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he retorted. “Iris’s mother came to see us. And she told us…”
He wasn’t sure if he could get the words out. James had been there for him after everything that had happened to his parents. He’d seen him in his darkest place. And now, for the wound to be reopened… Part of Phineas feared James wouldn’t stick around for this. It was just so heavy and dark.
“She said that my parents weren’t killed in a robbery gone bad,” Phineas finally choked out, not looking at his friend. “She said that Carfield had them murdered so he could take their land.”
James’s reaction was swift and earnest. His mouth fell open, then his face flushed with anger, and his hands clenched into fists.
“What?! Phineas, I can hardly even believe it! We should call the Bow Street Runners, have him arrested at once!”
“Keep your voice down,” Phineas hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “We’re talking about a member of the peerage. It will be difficult to bring him down, and we will need evidence. We will need to be strategic.”
“But you are going to bring him down, aren’t you?” James asked.
