Chapter Seventeen
With all the loose ends he’d had to tie up, Riley eventually returned home with barely time to change before his family arrived for the dinner that Amelia had so carefully planned. His wife, he knew, was anxious to ensure that her first evening as Riley’s hostess should go without a hitch. If Riley had been any later getting home, the guests would have arrived before him. Yet Amelia didn’t offer a single word of chastisement.
‘Sorry, my love,’ he said, hastily kissing her as Norris opened the door to him, ‘but at least it’s over. We have our man.’
‘The husband?’
He nodded. ‘How did you know?’
‘If you ran away from me, I would kill you before I let another woman anywhere near you.’
Riley smiled and kissed her tenderly. ‘It will never happen,’ he assured her. ‘Especially when you look so ravishing.’ He cast an approving glance over her evening gown. ‘She left her husband because he was violent and because she suspected him of involvement with a wealthy client. She was right to do so, but wrong to underestimate his ambition.’
‘Well, at least Jack Salter’s nephew is in the clear.’ She followed him into his dressing room, where Stout awaited his master with warm water already pouring from the taps. ‘That must have annoyed Danforth.’
Riley chuckled as he dried his face and Stout helped him into a clean shirt. ‘You have no idea. I thought he might choke on the words when he congratulated us on a job efficiently done.’
‘Yet if he’d had his way, Reggie Archer would have hanged for a crime he didn’t commit.’
‘That’s why we don’t allow Danforth out on his own.’
‘Don’t joke.’ Amelia shuddered. ‘How did Jack take the news?’
‘He’s relieved, obviously, and he and Archer are attempting to build bridges.’ Riley took a moment to knot his tie to his satisfaction. ‘I pointed out to Jack that Archer had been attempting to impress him. Jack hadn’t realised it. Archer’s own father died when he was still a boy and he looked up to Jack as a father figure.’
‘But sailed close to the wind.’
‘Quite. And as we both know, my sergeant’s standards are rigid. But still, I think he finally realises that Archer has real talent and is likely to make his mark in the art world, albeit through slightly unscrupulous means.’ Riley slid his arms into the waistcoat that Stout held out for him and buttoned it before repeating the procedure with his evening coat. ‘Anyway, Treadwell is locked in a cell, Miss Bowden is on her way back to America, or soon will be, and Archer can and most likely will capitalise on the publicity.’
Fully clothed, Riley took his wife’s arm, thanked Stout for his efforts, and led her down the stairs.
‘Uncle Riley!’ Sophia skipped into the room, ahead of the rest of his family, smiling broadly. ‘I am so very glad that you are back.’
‘We were only away for a few weeks, Cabbage,’ he replied, kissing the top of her head.
‘Well, it seemed like longer.’
Riley and Amelia greeted the rest of his family; his mother, brother and sister in law, his sister and her husband. When they all had glasses in their hands, Riley made their announcement. Congratulations were heaped upon them both, and Amelia was swept up by his mother and sister, both of whom were effuse in their happiness. He hadn’t known it was possible for his mother to smile quite so broadly or for quite so long.
‘I seem to have done something to gain parental approval for once,’ he remarked to Vincent, his brother-in-law.
‘You certainly don’t let the grass grow under your feet, old chap, I’ll say that for you.’
‘I had an incentive,’ he said, glancing at Amelia, who had never looked lovelier.
‘Uncle Riley, am I really to have a cousin?’ Sophia asked. ‘I adore babies. You must let me help with him or her. I expect it will be a him,’ she added, earning a scowl from her mother who loitered nearby and overheard the remark. ‘That’s because we need another boy in the family and you always seem to do the right thing.’
‘So it seems.’ They both glanced at Celia, Sophia’s mother, who looked as though she had swallowed a lemon. Riley didn’t have the strength to care.
‘Giving up sleuthing now, I suppose,’ Riley’s brother said, walking up to him. ‘You have other responsibilities.’
Riley smiled. ‘We shall see,’ he said, not having the slightest intention of doing any such thing, or seeing why he should need to.
Norris announced that dinner was served. Riley claimed his wife’s arm and led her into the dining room, putting all thoughts of murder, jealousy and revenge from his mind, and devoting his entire attention to the only woman who would ever own his heart.
The End