Once Upon a Temptingly Ruinous Kiss - Bree Wolf Page 0,30
been one to communicate easily with others. I assure you I would not be of much help.” His gaze narrowed. “Is that truly why you’re here?”
Now, Phineas did shift a little uncomfortably in his seat. “I came to ask about Leonora.” His dark gaze remained on Drake’s, a question there that Drake could not help but consider a personal insult. “The day of our wedding, Louisa and I saw her sneak through the hedge.” His brows rose in question.
Leaning back in his seat, Drake did his utmost to appear calm. “Whether you believe me or not, I myself was surprised to see her.”
Still watching him most carefully, Phineas nodded. “Why did she come to see you? Did anything…happen between the two of you?”
At the suspicion in his friend’s tone, Drake almost cringed away. “I would never dare lay a hand on her,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. “I am not such a man.” Indeed, he was not. He was merely one who had looked away for far too long.
His friend’s gaze narrowed. “Do you…know?”
Of course, Phineas could not be any more specific in his questioning; however, he did not need to be.
Drake nodded.
Surprise lit up Phineas’ eyes. “She told you?”
Drake inhaled a deep breath, not certain how much to share without betraying her trust. “She did.”
Clearly, Drake’s answer did not satisfy his friend. “Why?”
“Perhaps you should ask her that.”
For a long moment, the two men sat across from one another, each assessing the other’s position in this. “Louisa is very worried about her sister,” Phineas finally said, his voice having lost its sharper edge. “She’s particularly worried about your intentions.” The ghost of the smile danced across Phineas’ face.
“My intentions,” Drake began, “are simply to offer my assistance.”
Phineas frowned. “Your assistance with what?”
“With finding her attacker, of course.”
His friend’s eyes grew round. “Why? How?”
Drake steepled his fingers, his elbows braced on the armrests of his chair. “I’ve hired an investigator to compile a guest list of the night at Hamilton house.” His gaze narrowed as it swept over Phineas. “Is there any information you could contribute?”
For a moment, his friend’s eyes closed. Then he shook his head. “I never saw him. When we found her, he had already disappeared.”
Drake sighed, although, in truth, he had not expected a different answer. Phineas was not wrong to doubt him. It would be most difficult to unmask Lady Leonora’s attacker. However, Drake could not even imagine not trying. It was the least he could do.
“When we found her, she was in shock,” Phineas mumbled, his dark gaze distant as he returned to the night of the masquerade. “I had never seen her like that before. She was always so calm and collected, so rational and observant. It was always easy to overlook her because she always tended to stand off to the side, not interested in dancing or conversing or anything else. The only thing that had ever mattered to her was to observe and to understand.” He ran a hand over his face, a dark chuckle leaving his throat. “I never quite knew her before. Lately, however, Louisa and I have been talking a lot about what happened, about what we wish we could do for her. Louisa has tried everything, and yet, that person Leonora once was seems to be gone for good.”
Drake was relieved to hear that Lady Leonora’s family cared for her in such a profound way. His own family had never shown any such emotions.
Exhaling a deep breath, Phineas pushed to his feet. He turned to go, but then stopped at the door and turned back to look at Drake. “Louisa needed to find the strength to stand up for herself about her inability to read. It did not matter what I said to her, what anyone else said to her. She needed to be the one to take that step and realize that she was every bit as worthy as the rest of us.”
Rising to his feet, Drake rounded the desk. “What are you saying?” he asked, sensing that his friend’s words were not truly about his wife.
“It simply occurred to me that it might not be enough for you to unmask her attacker,” Phineas stated outright. “Perhaps she needs to be the one to unmask him, to confront him. Perhaps she won’t be able to reclaim her old self until she finds a way to stand up for herself.”
Drake frowned. “How?”
Phineas merely shrugged, then bid Drake farewell and left.