What a Spinster Wants - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,92

options and resources. Tony had suggested they bring Andrews into the discussion, but no one thought he needed to be brought in at that time.

He had only just come back from assignment, and he and Amelia were never seen apart.

But eventually, they had brought him in, and Graham was ever so grateful they had. The man’s mind was beyond impressive, and his strategic agility was unmatched by anyone of Graham’s acquaintance. He’d left almost immediately, Amelia accompanying him, to return to London to start working on the matter, as well as letting Amelia, and by extension, her mother, begin their work on the plans for the wedding.

Graham had wanted to shut down the house party and send the lot of his guests home, given that there was no reason for any of them to be there now. But every one of his friends had advised against it, suggested that such an action would do more harm to Edith than good, as it was. They could spread her own story, that her cousin had come to fetch her on urgent family business, and that her belongings would be sent for.

The truth would come out eventually, but they would have time to put various pieces in motion before that.

Henshaw had argued, alongside Graham, that Edith could suffer considerably at the hands of the weasel while the lot of them moved their chess pieces into position. What, he had countered, would be left to save of her if they waited so long?

For a man not in love with Edith, Henshaw did a fine job of behaving like one. His scowl could have matched Graham’s. His surly nature from the moment she had gone was Graham’s. His desire for revenge actually rivalled Graham’s. And no one was on Graham’s side with the same passion, drive, and fierceness as Henshaw.

What a pair they would have made had they nothing to risk and time enough to give Sir Reginald what he deserved.

Both of them were reminded of Owen, Edith’s brooding and hulking servant, as well as Edith’s brother, who had remained in London.

Word was sent to both immediately as to the situation at hand.

Then, one by one, his guests had left, assignments all around, and there was nothing more to be done but finish out his hosting duties. The remainder of the guests had left at the scheduled time, and Merrifield seemed darker and more hollow when no one else was left.

He wasn’t naïve enough to think that it was due to his guests that this was the case. They had only been a distraction; sights, sounds, and smells to occupy him while he avoided curling up in his study to give in to the howling creature of despair within him.

Agony called to him, and he could not let himself answer.

Edith had been the one to make the place glow and come alive, and it was her absence that darkened it. He’d never thought Merrifield lacking in any respect until she had gone from it.

She made everything and anything better simply by her presence.

He was the chief example of that.

“Graham?”

He looked up from where he sat behind his desk to see Eloise entering the room. “Aunt.”

She smiled gently, though her complexion was nearly gaunt in its pallor.

Edith’s departure had affected her as much as anybody else, and she hadn’t left her room more than a handful of times in the days following. She’d insisted that she wasn’t taking ill, forbade him from sending for a doctor, and kept to her bed to rest, though she never appeared particularly well rested.

“Eloise…” he murmured, seeing how weak she looked as she struggled to sit in the nearest chair.

She glared, which was the liveliest she had seemed in some time. “I will not crumble, nephew. I may not be strong, but I will not be pitied.”

He held his hands up in a show of surrender, then rested his elbows on the desk surface, exhaling slowly.

“Have you heard anything?” Eloise asked in a much softer voice.

Graham shook his head. “Not in days.” He rubbed his hands over his face, groaning low. “Every other man in this operation has a task to perform. Why should I be the one designated to wait?”

“Because you feel the most.”

He moved his hands just enough to look at her with a frown. “Shouldn’t that give me leave to do the most?”

Eloise lifted a dainty shoulder, folding her shawl tightly about her. “I don’t know. But I would worry that you would lose your head in