acquainted with the man.” And he had no wish to be if he ran with Fenwick and the last Earl of Trentham.
“The parties stopped after Trentham’s death and I didn’t see Fenwick for some time. We encountered each other quite by accident in Truro several months after Henry died.”
“And you knew his older brother as well?”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Er, no. I shouldn’t say that. I knew of him, of course.”
Jago had no patience for such verbal fencing. “I found some letters that you wrote to Cadan, Ria.”
Her lips parted and Jago saw a flash of fear in her eyes. For a moment he thought she’d deny authorship of the unsigned missives.
She bit her lower lip. “I was hoping that he’d destroyed them.”
“He didn’t—at least not these four. Are there more?”
“Did you—that is, er, you won’t have read them, of course.”
Jago noticed that she didn’t answer his question. “Actually, I did. That is why I’m asking about Fenwick. The letters are old, so I gather you were referring to the current viscount’s elder brother.”
The look on her face was the first genuine expression he could recall seeing: shock, with no small amount of fury. “How dare you read private correspondence?”
“There was nothing to indicate that it was private, Ria; the letters were in with the rest of Cadan’s business correspondence. Besides,” he added, “there was no signature.”
“Then how can you be sure they are from me?”
“I could guess based on the content.” He smiled. “And now I know because you confirmed it.”
“I should like to see what you are talking about. In fact, if they are mine, I want them back.”
“I have a few questions, Ria.
He could see that she was struggling to hold her temper. “About what?”
“About the content of those letters.”
“It was all a long time ago. I don’t recall what—”
“What deal did you make with Cadan?”
“I don’t remember.”
Jago stared.
She scowled. “If you’ve read the letters then I’m sure you can guess.”
“He gave you money to what—discourage my suit? Or perhaps to encourage others?”
“Why should that surprise you? You know how proud Cadan was—how little he liked the thought of you marrying me.”
Those might have been the first truthful words that she’d spoken.
Jago gave a mirthless chuckle. “To be honest, I’m fairly sure—with the clarity of hindsight—that you were merely toying with me and never had any notion of marrying me. You wanted money and status and I could give you neither.”
“Cadan should have been able to see as much, but he wanted to be certain,” she retorted, not bothering to deny his accusation. “Had he not been so obsessed with the notion of marrying you to—what was that wretched girl’s name, again?”
He ignored the question. “So, Cadan paid you to do something that you’d already planned to do—jilt me.”
She shrugged.
“And what about Brian? Because it struck me there was something else in those letters aside from Cadan paying you to keep away. Just what were you two up to?”
“I threatened to tell Brian’s parents about Cadan’s part in the duel.”
“His part? What do you mean his part? Cadan ordered me to stand down that day.”
She glanced down at her hands, which were clenched in her lap. “Oh, that was all just an act. Cadan encouraged Brian—it didn’t take much; you know what a short temper he had.” She raised her face to him, her expression defiant, but Jago saw shame beneath it. “Neither of us imagined that he’d be so humiliated as to take his own life.”
Jago could only stare in amazement. “You expect me to believe that Cadan stirred the coals so that we would fight?”
“Think what you like, but you asked me for the truth.”
Jago gave a bitter laugh; Ria and the truth, he suspected, had always been strangers.
She was lying—or at least not giving him the whole story.
“Don’t you recall how you were back then—I daresay how you still are, Jago?”
“What do you mean, how I was?”
“Oh come,” she scoffed. “You have always been such a pattern card of honor and nobility.”
He flinched at the scathing disdain in her voice. “I wasn’t aware that behaving honorably was so contemptible, Ria.”
“Oh, I daresay you weren’t—honorable people never realize just how difficult it is for the rest of us mortal beings to measure up to their standards. But Cadan knew it well enough—he knew that giving me up must derive from your own elevated notions of honor or you would turn marriage to me into a holy crusade. Poor Cadan.” She gave a bitter laugh. “His