Derrick eyed the older lady standing in his study.
“I came to see Miss Prattley.”
“What’s your name?”
“Baubie. I’m her nurse, sir. Well, I suppose I should say maid, but I’ve been her nurse since she was born.”
“Her name is Middleton now, and she’s sleeping.
The chubby woman wrung her hands and looked about the room.
“Is there a message I can pass on to her?”
“I’m not sure, sir. I’m concerned about something involving her father.”
“Baubie, I want to assure you that I have Claudia’s best interest at heart. I don’t know what kind of loyalty you have to Lord Kennington, but frankly, he’s a bastard, and I would rather my wife cut her ties with him immediately. Seeing as she’s rather devoted to him, I don’t see that happening. But if you have concerns, please rest assured that you can trust me with them.”
Relief washed over her features, and her shoulders relaxed. “You might be the answer to my prayers. I’ve been praying that Claudia would find someone to take her away from him. He’s a horrible man. Mean. I know that’s dreadful of me to say, seeing as he pays my wages and all, but he was awful to Claudia’s sweet mother, and he’s never been anything but hateful to her. But as you say, she’s devoted. Never understood why, except that girl has loyalty running thick in her blood. If she gives you her loyalty, sir, you’d best cherish it, as it will be yours forever.”
Was Claudia loyal to him? He didn’t know. He didn’t think she trusted him yet. Not completely. But last night was a start.
“Do you want to discuss your concerns with me? Or do you want to wait for Claudia?”
“I don’t think it can wait, sir.” She took a few steps closer to him. “I believe Lord Kennington murdered someone.”
He’d known Kennington was a thief and a liar, but a murderer? Nothing was certain yet. He would listen to the entire story, and then decide how to approach Claudia with the news.
“Why don’t you sit down.” He led Baubie to the sofa, then took the chair across from her. “What makes you believe this?”
“He came home late the other night, almost morning. I’m a light sleeper, and I could hear him throwing things around in his study. I couldn’t go back to sleep after that and got an early start on my work. I went down to check the fire in his study, and he was passed out on his sofa. He smelled awful of brandy, and the decanter lay empty at his feet. No telling how much he drank. That’s when I noticed the blood. All over his fingers. Streaks ran down his pants where he’d obviously rubbed his hands.”
“Blood? Was it his?”
“That’s what I thought at first. I looked all over as best I could without disturbing his sleep, and there was no other blood in sight. So I looked around a bit to see if there was blood anywhere else in the room. I found a little more on his cane, but that was it. But I did find these, stuffed into the fireplace.” She reached into her bag and pulled out some paper. Black edged the papers, and smoke had clouded the coloring.
Whatever Kennington had tried to bum that night, he’d failed at doing so. “You pulled these out of the fire?”
“Yes, sir. He’s burned papers before. Important papers. Bills. So I reached in and grabbed them, but this isn’t bills. These are letters. I didn’t read all of them, but it looks like blackmail to me.”
“They’re all addressed to a Chester Edwards.”
Derrick’s heart sped up. Chester Edwards.
“Will you leave them with me?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Will you make certain no harm comes to Claudia?”
“You have my vow.”
She leaned forward and handed him the letters.
“You are welcome to come and work here now. To stay with Claudia.”
“Can’t, sir. She made me promise I’d stay and look after her father. Until she knows he’ll be fine without her.”
“But if what you believe is true, he could be dangerous.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not afraid of him.”
“If you believe he will harm you, leave and come here immediately.”
“Yes, sir.” She worried the material of her faded skirt. “What are you going to tell her?”
“I’m going to do some investigating before I tell her. No need to worry her about this until we know the truth. Her devotion to her father will blind her to his guilt, and we need to protect her. I’m going to take her to my country estate for a few days. See if I can convince her to stay out there for a while. Then I’ll come back and figure out what to do.”
“Oh, sir, you must love her indeed.”
He didn’t want to disillusion the maid, so he ignored her comment. He would not love Claudia. He refused to do so. They would have a successful marriage without love. People did that all the time, and he and Claudia would be no different.
He desired Claudia, of that he was positive. Last night had only whetted his appetite for her. He respected her. He genuinely liked her and enjoyed her company. But love? He had learned his lesson about that years ago.
It had nothing to do with love. She was his wife, and he’d protect her. That was his duty. “You can be certain that I will do everything I can to keep her safe.”
He would keep her safe. And that meant getting Claudia out of London until he could uncover the truth behind the blood and the blackmail letters.
He was itching to read them, but they would have to wait. Claudia’s safety was at hand and that needed to take precedence.
There would be time enough to quench his own curiosity. And perhaps ease some of his guilt.
Claudia stretched, arching her back, on the bed. She noted a slight soreness between her legs and felt a blush heat her cheeks. She had been wanton last night. No doubt Derrick thought ill of her. Which might explain why she was in the bed alone.
Thoughts of their lovemaking filled her mind, and she couldn’t help but smile. Without ever having other lovers, she instinctively knew Derrick was perfect. He had taken great patience to bring her pleasure, something she’d heard most men avoided.
There was a knock at the door, and then Derrick appeared, carrying a breakfast tray.
“I thought you might be hungry.”
She allowed her eyes to roam over him. She’d never tire of looking at him. He was simply beautiful.
“Thank you. I apologize for lazing about this morning. I am generally an early riser.”
“I kept you up late last night.”
He brought the tray over to her, so she sat up. When the cool air hit her skin, she remembered she was naked. She snatched the sheets and pulled them up to her neck.
“No need to cover yourself on my account. I would love to see you.”
She shook her head. “Not at breakfast.”
He sat next to her and put the tray on the bed. “What’s so special about breakfast?”
“It’s daylight and morning. It is wrong.”
“Naughty?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
He popped a fig into his mouth. “Precisely the way I like it.”
She stared at him, somehow unable to absorb everything that had happened in the last week. Like the fact that at this very moment she sat naked in a bed with Derrick Middleton in front of her. Or that last night he’d done amazing things to her. With his mouth, with his hands, with his ... Oh, she couldn’t even think it.
“What are you thinking about?”
She met his eyes, and he raised an eyebrow. So she smiled and took a bite of her breakfast.
“Cheater.” He reached out and trailed one finger down her exposed arm. She shivered beneath his touch.
“It’s good,” she said, taking another bite.
“I’m glad you like it.”
It was difficult to eat and hold the sheet up at the same time. She tried to tuck the fabric behind her, but it kept slipping, giving him a peekaboo view of her left breast.
“Can you hand me my nightgown?”
He retrieved it for her, then turned around so she could slip it on.
“I know you think I’m being a goose, but I haven’t quite accepted the idea of someone seeing me without my clothes on.”
He nodded, then climbed back onto the bed. “Eat. I think for our honeymoon, we’ll go into the country for a few days. How does that sound?”
“What about the paper?”
“Mason can handle things while I’m gone.”
She eyed her plate and the figs and bread lying there. She wasn’t accustomed to eating in front of men either. Her father had once told her that a woman who ate as much as she did was disgusting. Women should eat tiny portions. So she’d resigned herself to rising earlier than he and eating breakfast before he came downstairs. The other meals she’d taken in her room or at Poppy’s. And she never ate refreshments at soirees or parties.
But Derrick wasn’t looking at her plate. Instead he focused out the window. He seemed distracted.
“Speaking of the paper”—he turned to face her again—”you can reveal your identity now. It’s your choice. The mystery has served you well. But you shouldn’t feel like you have to hide now.”
“I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”
He eyed her for a few minutes more. “Unless you want me to strip that shift off you and make love to you right now, I suggest you pack your things for a weekend in the country.”
It was a tempting thought, but with the light flooding the room, it was out of the question.
“Be off with you then, so I may dress properly, and we can be on our way.”
He leaned over her plate and gave her a sultry kiss. “Very well, I shall have the carriage ready.”
Derrick stared at Mason. “Are you positive?”
“Yes, sir. I saw it with my own eyes. I walked right past his house on the way to work. They were carrying out a body. I can only assume it was him. There was blood all over the sheet.”
First Baubie’s suspicion that Claudia’s father had murdered someone, and now Richard turned up dead. Or supposedly dead. What didn’t fit was why Lord Kennington would kill Richard. The answer probably lay in those letters Baubie had brought him.
They sat in his coat pocket even now, waiting to be read. He would have taken time to read them this morning, but he’d wanted to ensure the paper was properly cared for before he took Claudia to the country.
“Do you have any idea who did it?” Mason asked, then without waiting for an answer, he added, “or do you suppose he offed himself?”
“I have a suspicion. And I don’t believe he did it himself. Richard was far too vain to kill himself. Not to mention too stupid.”
“Are you going to tell your new bride? She knew him, didn’t she?”
“Yes, she knew him. I don’t know if I’ll tell her. She has a right to know, but I want to confirm it was Richard before I tell her. Send Blakey down to see if he can’t get some information for us.”
Blakey had been a wood carver for Derrick since he’d opened the paper. He was the largest man at the paper, possibly in all of London, and he often worked for extra money helping Derrick investigate when the necessity arose. His size alone usually made even the most secretive person spill his secrets. But on occasion he used money to buy the information.
“Mason, I’m going to take Claudia into the country for the weekend. Have a honeymoon of sorts. Can you take care of things here?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you. Send me a post whenever Blakey gets back. With or without news, I want to be informed. I’ll be within riding distance if there are any problems.”
“Yes, sir.” Mason turned to leave, then paused. “Oh and Mr. Middleton, despite the current situation, enjoy your honeymoon and your new bride.”
Derrick waited until Mason had disappeared before pulling out the stack of letters and tossing them onto his desk. He picked up one and fingered the envelope, then stood and walked to the window. Whatever lay in these letters had been the real story behind Chester Edwards’s suicide. The story he’d printed all those years ago had implicated a man on charges that he may or may not have been guilty of, and then that man had taken his own life.
Reading those letters, Derrick realized, might release him of all the guilt he’d felt for the last ten years. Or they might confirm he was partly at fault.
He looked back at the desk and eyed the tempting letters. Now another man was dead, and Claudia’s father might be at fault.
Walking back to his desk, he picked up the first letter and unfolded it. Burned paper flaked off the edges, and the smell of smoke lingered on the parchment.
One letter after another, the story became more and more clear. Ten years ago the Conservatives had been in the majority, and Kennington had been the chancellor of finance, the man in charge of all the queen’s finances, including the patent office. Claudia’s father had blackmailed the patent officer, Edwards, into skimming funds. Somehow Kennington had discovered the truth of a rather sensitive situation with Edwards’s daughter. He’d threatened to go public, threatened to ruin her reputation and with it any real chance of her to secure a reputable marriage. Then when he’d tired of the man, or more likely when Edwards threatened to go public with the truth, Kennington had beat him to it by having Richard sell the false story to Derrick.
A story where Kennington had blamed the embezzled funds completely on Edwards. Apparently Edwards hadn’t been strong enough to fight Kennington. He’d died, taking the full blame for a scheme much larger than himself, all to protect his daughter’s virtue.
How had Derrick been so blind to the connection? Surely there had been clues. He should have realized all this once he discovered Richard’s connection with Claudia’s father. He’d known there had to have been someone pulling Richard’s strings like a puppet. Kennington.
It must have been easy for Kennington to get his snares in Richard at the time. He’d been starved for power and wealth. Richard had probably banked on Kennington’s status aiding him in advancing politically.
Everything made sense now. Everything was more complicated now. How was Derrick supposed to explain to his wife that her father was the man responsible for all these crimes?
He couldn’t. She wouldn’t believe him. Her loyalty to her father was too strong. Derrick needed to wait until he knew Claudia’s loyalty to him was secure. To see her father for what he was, she needed some distance. But before she could do that, she needed to learn to trust herself.
Taking Claudia to the country to keep her mind off her father and on her new husband was the only solution. Teaching her to trust him would be easy, Derrick realized. It was teaching her to trust herself that would prove his greatest challenge.
She’d had it practically beaten into her that she was always wrong, no matter the circumstances.
She needed to let herself go, to give in to her feelings and her desires. Once she learned to do that, she would learn to trust herself.
Then he could risk sharing the truth about her father.