Who Wants to Marry a Duke - Sabrina Jeffries Page 0,33
Your Grace . . . I mean, Grey,” Olivia said in ill-disguised awe. “Are those carvings of sandstone?”
“You have a good eye.” Grey smiled. “The walls are of red brick, but the cornices and other decorative elements are sandstone. As soon as you finish setting up your laboratory, I’d be happy to give you a tour.”
“That would be lovely, thank you.”
As they climbed down from the coach, a wide-eyed Olivia continued to scan her surroundings.
But before Thorn could do more than disembark, Grey pulled him aside. “I need a word with you.” As Olivia began explaining to the footmen which of her trunks should be taken inside and which taken to the laboratory, Grey lowered his voice. “What are you up to now? You practically accused Olivia’s stepmother of killing my father.”
“You don’t know that she didn’t. That might be why her stepdaughter readily agreed to your proposition, because she knows her mother had something to do with his murder, and she wants to hide that fact by having control over the tests.”
“Except she didn’t even know her mother might have done anything until we proposed it just now.”
Thorn gritted his teeth. Grey had a point.
“Nor do we have any evidence whatsoever,” Grey said, “that Mother and Lady Norley were close friends back then.”
“That’s not true, actually. I couldn’t say this in front of Miss Norley, but I happen to know for a fact that they were. Lady Norley told me that herself when I offered for Miss Norley.”
“Still, it doesn’t prove that Lady Norley could have killed my father. Or that she was even interested in him.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And none of this explains why you insist on viewing Olivia’s laboratory.”
“Has it occurred to you that left to her own devices, Olivia—Miss Norley, I mean—could very well twist the results of her tests in order to get what she wants out of this?”
Grey thrust his hands in his greatcoat pockets. “And what, pray tell, do you assume that is? Her mother exonerated of a crime we don’t even know was committed?”
“Don’t be an arse. Miss Norley wants to publish her results. To make a name for herself as a chemist. You didn’t know that was her goal, did you?”
“No, but it makes sense. That’s the goal of every man or woman of science. To be known. To discover new ideas, new tests. I have no issue with it.”
“Well, I do,” Thorn said. “It makes her methods suspect. How can we be sure she won’t doctor the results so she can gain her credentials as a chemist?”
“By that score, you would find every chemist’s methods suspect, since all of them wish to publish their results.” Grey stared him down. “At some point, Thorn, you simply have to trust a person to do what they promise.”
That brought him up short. “I don’t have to trust anyone. And I don’t plan to, either. Beyond my family, I mean.”
His brother shook his head. “So that’s why you wish to help her with her laboratory. To make sure she isn’t up to anything suspicious.”
“Exactly. I can fathom a great deal about her knowledge of chemistry from watching how she sets up her laboratory.”
Grey laughed outright. “The way you fathomed her methods after she started reciting formulas you could no more comprehend than I?”
“That’s the point. She knows we’re ill-educated when it comes to her field, so she can fob anything off on us, and we’ll be impressed. But it’s hard to hide that one knows little about chemicals when faced with a laboratory full of them.”
“True. I’m sure you’ll prove your ignorance the moment you step inside.”
“I meant her.” Thorn hadn’t forgotten her wary expression when he’d said he’d be helping her.
“I knew what you meant.” Grey shook his head. “You’re a hopeless case. If I were her, I’d find your constant suspicion wearing, especially when it’s borne of a blow to your pride years ago. So I tell you what. I won’t insist upon sending a footman with you if you promise this will be your last test of her.”
“Fine,” Thorn said. “I promise.”
With any luck, this would tell him once and for all whether she knew what she was doing, whether her goal was deception, and whether he was right about the sort of person she was.
And if she was? If she proved to be everything she seemed? Then what did he mean to do with her?