Page 60 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
Lord Carfield’s mouth was open again, but no words were coming out. The look on his face was inscrutable, but if Iris had seen it on anyone else, she might have called it stricken.
“And then Iris came into my life,” Phineas murmured. His eyes were locked on Lord Carfield’s, but Iris still felt his attention on her like a ray of light. “And to say that she saved me is an understatement of the highest magnitude. Because of her, because of your daughter, I finally understand that I don’t need to shut people out. I don’t need to be so distrustful. I don’t need to stay in the cage. Because you were the one who broke my trust. It was never a reflection on me or what I deserve.”
Iris wanted to cry. She wanted to throw herself into her husband’s arms and weep for what felt like days. And she mighthave done that, had her father not still been standing there, gazing up at Phineas with a strangled look on his face.
“And I think,” Phineas continued, “that if my parents were alive today, they would be proud of me for realizing this.”
“Why are you saying all this to me?” Lord Carfield asked after a long moment, and the way his voice cracked sent a chill down Iris’s spine. She had never heard her father sound so defenseless and uncertain before.
“Because you need to know,” Phineas said. “When you are arrested, as you will be, and tried for the murder of my parents, you need to know that you didn’t just kill my parents, but you also almost took away my life—not my physical life, but any chance I had at a full, happy life.” He blinked, then smiled softly again. “And you also need to know one other thing. While I will never forgive you for what you did to my parents, I also have to thank you. Because you brought me the best thing in my life. You brought me Iris. Now…”
The smile slipped from his face, and he drew himself up and pointed at the door. “I want you to leave my solicitor’s office and never come back. From now on, you will never speak to me, Iris, Lady Carfield, Miss Violet, or Miss Rosalie ever again. And when you are arrested in the next few days, I want you to remember that it wasn’t me who brought you down, but the women you have wronged.”
And with that, a defeated Lord Carfield slunk, like a dog with its tails between its legs, out of the office, and out of Iris’s life.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Well, I can’t quite believe that he actually left,” Lady Carfield admitted, breaking the shocked silence in the solicitor’s office. “I was expecting him to put up a fight for a while longer.”
“Even the most vicious predator will know when he’s defeated,” Mr. Hargrove said, although his voice shook slightly as he spoke. “In truth, I thought he would last longer. But something you said to him, Your Grace, seemed to finally beat him into submission…”
The solicitor was looking admiringly at Phineas, who smiled vaguely at him. His own thoughts were muddled, and he felt lightheaded and dizzy. He’d said everything he wanted to say to Lord Carfield, but he still felt thrown from the conversation. After all, he hadn’t expected the Viscount to be here.
He’d come to Mr. Hargrove’s office to try and discover what legal actions he could take against the Viscount without involving hiswife or any other members of her family. He’d been shocked when he’d arrived at the office, only to be told by the secretary that Her GraceandLord Carfield were inside.
It had terrified him, to think of Iris and her father in the same room, and he had rushed inside half-expecting to find Lord Carfield pointing a pistol at her.
But no, Iris was safe, and Lord Carfield was gone. He wasn’t just gone—there had been something in his eyes, when Phineas had begun speaking of his parents, that he hadn’t seen on the Viscount’s face since he was very small and used to watch him and the late Duke and Duchess late at night, laughing together in the drawing room.
Is it possiblethat he feels regret? Or at least remorse?
It wouldn’t stop Phineas from pursuing justice against him, but it was heartening to think that Lord Carfield could feel remorse and that he might have a chance at redemption—at least, redemption of his soul. As far as Phineas was concerned, the Viscount would never earn redemption from him or Iris.
Iris.
The word rushed through Phineas like the first hint of spring. Like dawn after a dark and stormy night. Like music after a lifetime of silence.
Where is she?
Phineas turned, and his eyes fell on his wife. She was still standing where she had been near Mr. Hargrove’s desk, her back pressed against it, a nervous expression on her face. She was watching him, and as he looked at her, she colored slightly.
“Iris,” he murmured, “my beautiful, brilliant wife. How did you figure it all out? How did you find a way to bring your father down?”
Iris blushed even more deeply. “The credit is not all mine…” she began.
Lady Carfield snorted in a most undignified manner. “Don’t listen to my daughter’s attempt at modesty, Your Grace,” she said. “It is all her doing.”
“Well…” Iris smiled. “I did discover who it was who had been passing information to my father about us. It was my lady’s maid, Anna.”
Phineas turned in surprise to look at his wife’s maid. Until that moment, he had barely noticed the girl. She had kept to the corner, her head down during the whole interaction with Lord Carfield. Now, she looked up, and her eyes brimmed with tears.
“I’m s-so sorry, Your Grace,” she whispered, staring at him beseechingly. “I r-regret it ever so much.”
Before Phineas could say anything, or even ascertain his own emotions correctly, Iris cut in. “You mustn’t be cross with her,Phineas. My father had threatened to kill her brother if she didn’t comply. She was scared, and there were many times she almost came to me with the truth.”
Phineas forced himself to take a deep breath. As much as his instinct was to rage at the maid for putting his wife’s life in danger, he respected that Iris knew best in this situation.
“Anyway,” Iris continued, “once I realized who was passing Father the information, I knew we were safe to find a way to get back the evidence he stole. So we decided to steal back the documents…”
