Penance for the Dead by Devlin Cara

Author:Devlin, Cara
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: First Cup Press
Published: 2023-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“I should have canceled,” Genie whispered as she took Audrey’s arm and pulled her toward a potted lemon tree. Glossy green leaves and b right yellow fruits hung from the branches, which, in contrast to the frigid, bleak weather outdoors, put Audrey in mind of a tropical island. That had been Genie’s intent, and she’d purchased the shrubs from a hothouse just for this ball, the first she and Michael had hosted since Charlie’s birth last November. Limes and lemons and oranges brightened the ballroom in Lord and Lady Herrick’s Grosvenor Square home, and to play upon the theme, the women had been invited to wear gowns in all shades of bright colors. But there was nothing cheery about the crowd that had turned out.

Lady Reed’s death was being attributed to the stress and shock of the murder of Eloisa Neatham, but the whispers of the ton suggested that doubts remained. Audrey held reservations about it too, but she’d bit her tongue. In fact, she hadn’t done a whole lot of speaking all day. The previous afternoon, instead of rushing from her study to find Philip after the horrid intruder had fled, she’d poured herself a brandy and downed it to stop the quivering of her limbs. The spirits had worked. However, they had also seemed to fuel a simmering fury within her.

She’d been bested. The intruder had followed her to and from Gloucester Street, known what she was taking from Mr. Potridge’s office, and with a show of force, had ripped away something that might have helped Hugh’s case. It left her stunned and furious for the rest of the day. But she hadn’t been able to bring herself to confess to Philip about any of it. Each time she considered trying, she would think of Freddie Walker’s visit, and her tongue would suddenly turn to lead. The wrath she felt over the intruder and the loss of the folio would temper under a kinking sensation in her belly.

Philip’s first love had returned. If he took back up with Freddie, began a clandestine affair, she would undoubtedly see him less. Time with the man he loved would hold more significance than time spent with her, his best friend. Would she become a duty to him? Would their time together be something he simply needed to endure, while he warmed with anticipation of his moments with Freddie?

The twisting of her stomach wasn’t jealousy in the traditional sense; it was something else, and it was utterly confusing. So, she avoided it. Avoided Philip and the whole topic. He’d gone out the previous night, presumably with Mr. Walker, and Audrey had entertained another nighttime caller knocking upon her bedchamber window. This one, however, was much scrawnier.

“Got them papers, duchess?” Sir had asked as he perched in the open window frame.

Hugh’s associate turned out to be satisfying company for her surly complaints, and the boy even taught her a few new insults—though she wasn’t entirely sure what a “fat-skulled bag of cobbler’s awls” was.

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