Page 42 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
“Of course. Lady Carfield says she has proof of the plot.”
“I am incensed,” James said, and he really looked it.
It gave Phineas some relief to see his friend so angry on his behalf. It helped to know he wasn’t alone in this feeling.
“That man is pure evil! And for Lady Carfield to know all these years but not tell you. It’s unconscionable.”
“She wanted something to hold over her husband, in case he tried to harm their daughters,” Phineas explained, unsure why he was defending the Viscountess.
James snorted. “And yet she didn’t come forward with it after Iris married you.”
“I have never harmed Iris!” Phineas said indignantly.
James chuckled. “I know that. But your reputation isn’t exactly spotless.” He grew more somber. “How is this news affecting your relationship with your wife? I know you care for her, but now to find out her father murdered your parents… and her mother kept it from you all these years? I can imagine it is disrupting your marital bliss.”
“I’m trying not to let it affect how I feel,” Phineas said slowly. “Iris means everything to me. I don’t blame her for her father’s actions, and I know she despises him as much as I do. Hermother… well, I suppose she’ll be staying with us now from time to time, and I’ll just have to get used to her presence.”
James shook his head. “That’s very generous of you.”
“I’m trying to think what my mother would have done,” Phineas admitted. “Would she have kept that information secret in order to protect me? I think she might have. And I understand that Lady Carfield was scared and didn’t know what to do. But…”
“I know,” James said. “I would find it hard to forgive her as well.”
Phineas sighed. Truthfully, it felt better to open up to his friend. For the first time since Lady Carfield’s confession this morning, the searing pain in his chest had eased a little.
“I’d do anything for Iris,” he murmured. “Even forgive her mother.”
James was about to reply when a manservant arrived with a letter. “For you, Your Grace,” he announced, holding out the silver tray.
Phineas took the letter. It was from Iris, and he felt as if his heart stopped and restarted at the sight of her name.
He ripped open the letter and stared down at the words. Then, in a moment, he was on his feet.
“Tell my man to prepare my horse at once,” he shouted at the manservant. “I need to return to Eavestone House without delay.”
“What is it?” James asked, aghast. “What’s happened?”
Phineas crumpled the letter in his hand, his heart beating wildly in his chest. “I have been robbed.”
The house had been ransacked. It was the first thing Iris had noticed when she’d returned home from her outing with her mother. There were papers littering the hall, where they had been scattered as the thieves left Phineas’s study, the door to which had been knocked off its hinges.
The parlor was a mess as well. Tables and chairs had been overturned, books had been thrown off the bookshelves, and even the drapes had been pulled down. It was clear from even a cursory glance that whoever had broken into Eavestone House hadn’t just been there to steal valuables—they’d been looking for something specific.
The timing of the robbery couldn’t have been more perfect as well. Iris and her mother had been out visiting Violet and Rosalie, as it was important to Iris that her sisters reconnect with their mother. Because both Iris and Lady Carfield had been banned from Carfield House, they had met at a teahouse Iris used to frequent, then walked along the Serpentine. It had been an emotional reunion, with tears, recriminations, and also hugs,and Iris had been feeling warm and tender when she and her mother had arrived back home.
The shock of finding the house torn apart had been almost too much to bear.
“They came in just ten minutes after you and Lady Carfield left,” a terrified Anna had whispered after Iris finally persuaded her to come out of the broom cupboard, where she and the other maids had been hiding. “It was like they knew you had left. And they just started pulling apart everything. We were able to hide, but Mr. Malloy got the worst of it.”
Iris had found the butler in the dining room, bludgeoned over the head. He was unconscious, but as soon as the doctor arrived, he was revived.
It was only after Iris had started searching Phineas’s study that she realized what exactly was missing.
“They took the evidence you had of Father’s guilt,” she whispered to her mother as they brought Anna some smelling salts and a large cup of sherry. “You put it in the study after he left, to keep it safe. Now it’s gone. Along with the forged document.”
Her mother’s eyes were wide with horror. “But how could they have known it was in there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they guessed you’d brought it to Phineas when you came here last night. Or they suspected he had something in his study they could use…”
