Page 23 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“I was about to eat,” Lewis said. “Would you like to join me?”
“Why not?” Matthew said, eager to take whatever opportunity he could to get to know the man better. His mother wouldn’t be pleased when he showed up to family dinner with a full stomach, but sometimes a man had to do what he had to do.
He saw Lady Juliana begin to shake her head desperately, and he wondered what was bothering her, but he couldn’t help her. She was the one who had wanted to join him.
Matthew signaled to the barmaid, telling her that they wanted the luncheon special. She nodded and soon returned with three plates.
Which was when Matthew realized why Lady Juliana hadn’t wanted to stay. She looked down at the food, her face now green. Interesting, how practically a rainbow of colors had crossed it today.
He followed her gaze to her plate, where a leg of mutton sat staring up at her. She looked at Matthew and he wondered if she was about to be sick.
“I cannot eat this,” she said in a loud whisper to him. Matthew opened his mouth to encourage her, but Lewis spoke first.
“Another sign you are with child,” he said kindly. “Food that is typically appetizing suddenly loses all of its appeal.”
Juliana nodded before looking over at Matthew, her face still twisted in sickness. “Please take it away.”
He nodded, moving it to his side of the table. He picked up his spoon and transferred all of the peas in sauce from his plate to hers while he took her meat. “How do the peas appeal to you, darling?” he asked, and she nodded gratefully.
“Much better.”
“There you are, then,” he said, passing her the plate, feeling nearly like a true husband at his ability to take care of her, even in something so minute.
Which was quite frightening indeed.
CHAPTER9
They passed the rest of the meal conversing in relative ease, and Matthew was surprised at how much he actually liked Lewis. By the end of it, he was feeling rather disquieted for deceiving him, although he reminded himself that he was doing a job, not making a friend – even though it would be simple to do so with Lewis.
He also noted that while Lewis spoke easily and without any malice, he also didn’t provide them much information as to his background, although he did tell them that he went to school at St. Bart’s, which wouldn’t have been possible without a fair bit of financial backing – which took him back to the very reason they knew of Lewis’ existence. The duke had found payments in his father’s ledgers to a Mrs. Lewis that had been made regularly for years – payments which she had obviously saved for her son’s education. He wondered how much Lewis knew about them.
“Well, we best be going,” Matthew finally said, standing and holding his arm out to Lady Juliana. He insisted on paying for the meal, telling Lewis that he hoped to see him again. Lewis smiled and nodded, wished them luck once again, and bid them farewell.
As Matthew walked out of the pub with Lady Juliana on his arm, he became rather worried. For all of this – a meal with a wife and a friend – seemed much preferable to the truth.
Lady Juliana clutched Matthew’s arm as they left the pub and started down the road back toward Mayfair. She was so awash in emotion that it seemed to take her a moment to realize where they were.
“Do you live close to here?”
“I do.”
“Were you planning on returning to Warwick House?”
“No.”
“So I am taking you far out of your way,” she stated, and he shrugged.
“Think nothing of it.”
Of course, that didn’t seem to help as she pursed her lips.
“Dr. Lewis was a lovely man, wasn’t he?”
Matthew looked down at her, at the way her eyes were glowing, and she returned his stare.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, obviously catching the conflict in his eyes, and Matthew tightened his lips together as his gaze left her and fixated on the road in front of them.
“What is wrong is that you are right. He did seem like a good man. If that is the case, it means I am no closer to determining who is threatening your family.”
