A Little Bit Scandalous Page 0,63

minutes later they arrived at Belinda’s and he assisted Caroline to the ground. The rest of the members had already arrived, everyone save Mr. Harcourt who evidently was on holiday.

“Thank you all for coming,” Belinda said coming to her feet. She sauntered over to Roe, placed a hand on his arm.

“I shall handle matters from here,” Roe said. He motioned toward a chair and waited for Belinda to sit before continuing. “I asked Lady Fairfax to gather the board because I want to discuss some concerns. I did some investigating and I have discovered some discrepancies in the funds collected for Dover House and the claimed expenditures.”

“What are you suggesting?” Lady Greene asked.

“I inquired about expenses from a certain vendor and they claim to have not provided services to Dover House in nearly six months.”

“Why ever did you look into these matters?” Lady Winguard asked.

Roe leveled his gaze on the older woman. “I had my reasons.”

“You’re suggesting Mr. Lamb is doing something unethical with the funds we provide for the orphanage?” Belinda asked.

“I’m concerned about some inconsistencies and want to see if any of the rest of you have had any similar concerns,” Roe said. He eyed Caroline, but she sat quietly as if merely another bystander at the meeting.

“I’ve never had any reason to be suspicious of Mr. Lamb,” Lady Greene said. “He appears the perfect gentleman.”

“I would have to agree,” Lady Winguard said. “There is no reason to call his actions into question. I’m certain the vendor is mistaken.” She came to her feet. “With all due respect, Your Grace, I find it rather offensive that you would join the board and then readily assume the director of Dover House is being insincere in some fashion. The rest of us have been quite pleased with his performance.” She glanced around the room and one by one, the other board members, save Caroline, nodded in agreement.

Caroline shot to her feet, primed to say something, but Roe held up his hand. “Very well, I shall respect the consensus of the majority. Miss Jellico, shall we?”

She shook her head to protest, but Roe grabbed her arm and led her out of the room. “Nothing we say will convince them. We need to find proof.”

Caroline sat in the study shuffling the cards again and again. It was safe to say she was restless and in a bit of a foul mood. Not only had Roe left her abruptly the night before, but after their meeting with the board members, he’d left again. He had yet to say anything about the time she’d spent in his bed. She still had no notion of what the hell had happened other than he had some misguided attempt to protect her.

Millie sat on the settee embroidering. She had known Caroline long enough to know that silence was sometimes needed, so Millie hadn’t inquired as to what troubled her.

“Millie?”

The woman looked up from her needlework. “Yes, what is it, dear?”

Caroline frowned. “Roe mentioned something and I wondered if perhaps you knew what he might be referring to.”

“I suppose that all depends. My son is quite mysterious at times, but I certainly might be able to shed some light on the situation for you.” She set aside her needle and thread and folded her hands in her lap. “Now then, what is troubling you?”

She wanted to ask more about Penelope, but that seemed a breach of his privacy. Asking about Christopher was acceptable, though, since he was her brother. “Roe somehow believes himself to blame for my brother’s death.” She took a deep breath and waited for Millie to speak.

“Ah, yes, I do know something about this. When he returned from that trip, he was so very sick. Roe’s father had hired a team of doctors to tend to his every need. It was the only decent thing that man ever did. Roe was so weak, so frail and thin, he didn’t even look like himself. His fever ran high and he was in and out of consciousness. But every lucid moment he had, he begged his father to return and save Christopher.”

Millie paused there and seemed to be collecting her thoughts. Caroline could just picture Roe begging his father. She’d only met the Duke a handful of times, but by all accounts, he had been a most formidable man. The servants still gossiped about his vile moods and evil temperament. And Millie herself had occasionally made a comment about her deceased husband. But surely Roe blamed his