A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby Mystery #8) - Anna Lee Huber Page 0,140

having met any of them besides Sebastian and his father. Lord Gage was the second son of a minor baronet from Cornwall, one with limited resources and connections. Beyond that, he was rather tight-lipped about his family, other than one slip when he’d mentioned that his mother’s family, the Roscarrocks, were rather infamous smugglers and rogues.

“Henry said Lord Gage forbade the two of you from telling Sebastian.”

She nodded. “I told him he needed to do so before his son realized it on his own. That Sebastian was no fool, and he would see it eventually. But he refused.”

“You could have ignored his wishes.”

Her expression turned resigned. “Yes, but as I’m sure you already know, Lord Gage is not above using whatever resources are at his disposal to get what he wants. And I’m afraid he knows rather too many secrets about the Kerr family for me to tempt him into retaliation.”

My lips tightened in commiseration. After all, it was Lord Gage, my own father-in-law, who had leaked a rather distressing excerpt from my late husband’s journals, simply to help turn the tide of society’s opinion in my favor and elicit their sympathy.

Her brown eyes scoured my features. “Are you going to tell him?”

“Henry has asked me to allow him to do it,” I admitted.

She inhaled a tight breath. “Then I’d best be prepared in case Stephen believes I put him up to it.”

Given the serious nature of the criminal charges her son John currently faced, I found her priorities to be muddled. But then, I didn’t know all the secrets the duchess might hold.

* * *

* * *

I lurched upright, blinking my eyes as I searched the firelit confines of my chamber. I must have fallen asleep after the duchess left, but something had woken me. The loud footsteps and terse words coming from the sitting room told me it had come from that direction. Gage had returned, and he was not pleased. I could guess why.

A moment later, he appeared in the doorway, silhouetted by the brighter light of the room beyond.

“I take it the duke is insisting on dealing with matters his way,” I murmured.

He strode closer to stare down at me, his brow furrowed and eyes glittering with residual anger as his gaze swept me from head to toe, lingering over the liberal amount of lace now displayed by the gap in my dressing gown. I surmised his question before he even asked it.

“I’m weary of the duchess and her family. The depths of my empathy have been plumbed. They can send a tray to me here, for I have absolutely no intention of joining them for dinner.”

“In that case . . .” He pulled his loosened neck cloth from the collar of his shirt and dropped it on the chair before urging me to sit forward so that he could slide into the space behind me. I happily obliged, leaning back against his chest as he settled. He draped his arm around me and sank his head back against the cushion as he gave a long sigh.

“Yes, the duke does not see why his son needs to appear at the coroner’s inquest,” he finally said, his voice tinged with mockery.

“He killed a man. Even if they intend to argue it was justified, he still killed a man,” I reiterated. Though in truth, I was not surprised. The duke was, after all, a duke. He would not only expect but demand special dispensation for his son.

“There’s also that little matter of his pushing you down the stairs,” he practically growled. “But let’s set that aside for the larger issue at hand. Your points were exactly my and your brother’s arguments. Allow the justice system to perform as it should, and show good faith by having Lord John testify like any other upstanding citizen. Ultimately, the duke agreed. But I don’t hold much hope Lord John will still be here come dawn. And short of standing guard outside his door all night, I don’t know how I’m going to keep him here. Perhaps not even then, if his brothers take the duke’s part in this.”

I turned my head to the side, lifting my hand so that my fingers could play over the buttons at the top of his shirt. “It’s rather disheartening, isn’t it?”

“Here we are, in pursuit of truth and justice, and yet there is little hope for that when a member of the nobility is found to be the culprit. Unless the victim is of the