The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,4

simply tear the bandage away all at once.”

“Not exactly successful in wound management,” she muttered.

To her surprise, the corner of his mouth tilted in a flash of a smile. He had a dimple, revealed and then concealed just as quickly. But she’d seen it.

“You have asked who I am, and I owe you that courtesy as I start,” he said, glancing at Sir Timothy. “I told you when I arrived that I’m Owen Gregory. I am an investigator.”

Celeste shifted. “An investigator. You are looking into the murder?”

“Now, yes,” he said. “But I was originally hired for another purpose. You see, at the time of his death, Mr. Montgomery was pursuing the marriage of a fourth young woman.”

“Great God,” Celeste breathed as she lifted her hand to cover her mouth. “A villain in every sense!”

“Yes.” Mr. Gregory said, meeting her eyes. “The cruelty of his behavior was unconscionable. This young woman had a family, though, a very important family. A letter was received implying that Mr. Montgomery might already be in possession of more than one wife, and I was hired to investigate the claim and protect the lady in question…and her dowry.”

“Of course!” Lady Hendricks said, her hysterics set aside now that there was a salacious story to be heard. “What family would not wish to protect the money at stake?” Celeste’s cheeks heated as Owen glanced at her. Of course her mother would reveal her priorities in such an obvious way. “Who was the family?”

Celeste gasped at the inappropriate question. “Mama, that is hardly important now.”

Mr. Gregory gave another of those fluttering smiles and said, “Indeed, my lady, I must protect the man’s identity as much as I can, just as I will attempt to protect your daughter.”

Celeste shook her head. There was surely no hope of that now. To keep an intended bride from the public eye was one thing. But she was married…or had thought to be married to Erasmus. The truth of his murder and his bigamy would become public fodder, there was no denying it. She was ruined. And while that terrified her, there were also other thoughts that moved through her at that fact.

Ones she pushed aside.

“So you investigated and discovered the truth of my—of Mr. Montgomery.”

“Yes, and I was with the man who hired me, on our way to confront your husband, but when we arrived we found him dead in the parlor of his London home. Poisoned, it seems. And after some kind of altercation, for his eye was blackened, as well. There was some indication that arsenic was used.”

Celeste squeezed her eyes shut as her stomach turned. She knew little about the poison, but she couldn’t imagine that death in such a manner would be pleasant.

“The gentleman who hired me is acquainted with Montgomery’s brother, the Earl of Leighton. Though the guard did come, the earl wanted the matter to be resolved more privately. So he asked me to continue with the investigation and try to determine who might have killed his brother. As well as help to resolve the mess with the multiple wives.”

Celeste flinched. Multiple wives. That part still made her head spin. She pushed to her feet and paced the room. Already her mother had begun to talk, an endless stream of words that she blocked out. She’d had plenty of practice in doing so over her life, after all.

She stared out the window onto the drive, past it into the countryside. She still had so many questions, but with her parents in the room she would have no chance to ask them. At least not without interruption.

She pivoted back toward the rest of the room. “I need a moment to speak to Mr. Gregory,” she declared loudly enough that she could be heard over the sound of her mother’s voice.

That stopped the talking, and her parents and Mr. Gregory all looked at her at once. She shifted beneath their regard, their pity, their curiosity. If she found those things here in the parlor, it would only be worse out in the world.

“Then speak to him,” her mother said, false consolation in every word.

“Alone,” Celeste said softly.

“Certainly not!” Her mother leapt to her feet, and the understanding was gone from her voice and her body language. “I will not leave you. This is a family matter.”

“It is not,” Celeste said. “Mr. Gregory, am I to assume that you first came to look for me at my home in the village?” He nodded once. She arched a brow at