Taken to the Grave: A Bow Street Duchess Mystery (Bow Street Duchess Mystery Series Book 7) by Cara Devlin

Author:Cara Devlin [Devlin, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: First Cup Press
Published: 2024-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Twelve

Audrey stood before the mirror in her room, watching Cassie pace in and out of the reflection.

“It is my inheritance. My fortune. If I choose not to marry, the income from it should rightfully be mine, shouldn’t it?”

Behind Audrey, Greer quietly fastened the small buttons that closed the back of the midnight blue evening gown. Audrey had planned to spend the evening in, but after summoning the courage to seclude herself in her study and read the memories imbued in Mr. Comstock’s cuff links, she’d sent a messenger to Bedford Street with an urgent request for Hugh to come to Violet House. The vision had made two things clear: the Sanctuary was located near Vauxhall. And Bethany Silas was in grave danger.

“If he’s so bloody determined to dangle my dowry before any lord who comes salivating, so be it!” Cassie threw up her arms as she paced. “But the annual income from it should be mine to access. To live on. To do with as I please!”

With her sister-in-law burning a circle into the carpet, and the sickening vision Mr. Comstock’s cuff links had left imprinted in her memory, Audrey hadn’t been able to think too deeply on her argument with Hugh. However, what she’d said to him kept echoing in her mind, making her cringe every time. Maybe I am not the right woman for you. She didn’t want that to be true. But how could he ask her to stand aside so she could stay safe, up high on a shelf, when the whole time they’d been falling in love, she’d been right beside him on the ground, doing the things that mattered, even when they were dangerous? Hugh hadn’t fallen in love with a coddled lady. And Audrey didn’t want to be one.

At Cassie’s sudden silence, Audrey looked again into the mirror. Her sister-in-law was watching her with an expectant look.

“Are you listening to anything I’m saying?” she asked.

“Every word,” Audrey said.

Cassie had just left Michael’s study, where another heated exchange had reached through the doors and echoed down the hall. She had attempted to discuss accessing the annual income from her inheritance early next year when she turned twenty-one. Cassie had every intention of still being unwed by then, and to no one’s great surprise, Michael had not been receptive to the idea.

“This was your first discussion,” Audrey said to her as she passed out of the mirror’s reflection. “Give him time to adjust. Michael is a staunch traditionalist, you know that.”

As a practice, unmarried women fell under the rule of their closest male relative. That male relative would legally oversee the dispersal of the lady’s dowry and annual income. Cassie’s inheritance was in a trust, and from what Philip had confided to Audrey, it was a tidy sum. Though she didn’t dare say it aloud, especially with Cassie so incensed, the idea of handing her the entirety of the yearly income gave Audrey pause.

“He thinks he knows what is best for everyone,” Cassie went on, her arms crossed.

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