Page 63 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“Very well,” Matthew said. “I understand.”
Dr. Lewis walked past the duke without another word, their shoulders clipping as they passed one another, his mother following behind him after sending a dark glare the duke’s way.
They went not to the ballroom, but to the room where Matthew had seen the young woman alone. They entered, and Lewis went over to speak softly with her. He nodded, then returned to the door and spoke in a low voice to Matthew.
“Would you remain outside the door for privacy? I believe it is not too great of an ailment, but she does require some examination.”
“Very well,” Matthew said, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him, leaning his head back against it. He was inclined to believe Lewis, but then, he was perhaps allowing his own preference for the man to cause a bias. The duke seemed much more convinced that he was in the wrong, and he was the one who paid him for his trouble.
After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door, and Lewis exited, leaving his mother behind with the girl.
“She will be fine,” he said. “As for what has transpired here tonight, I cannot pretend not to be greatly disappointed. It does, however, make one thing clear to me.”
“Which is?”
“It does not matter that we share blood, nor a desire to come to know one another better. I will always be a physician, a bastard, and not worthy of the family’s time. They can say all they want about having a desire to know me better, that they would accept me as part of their family, but that is all it is – words. It is actions that show the true nature of the person, and look how easily I was suspected, simply by my presence here. It is a shame, truly, for I would have liked to have siblings.”
His mother emerged then, her face stony as Lewis nodded at her. “Let us go, Mother.”
Matthew started down the hallway with them, and Lewis turned to him. “There is no need to follow us home. I can assure you that I am not going after the duke, nor his family. In fact, I will have nothing further to do with them.”
Matthew watched him go before realizing there was nothing further for him here. He gathered his horse from the stable and rode to Mayfair, stopping in front of Warwick House. He conversed with the stablemaster, ensured that the entire Remington family had made it home, and then continued on to his own boarding house in Holborn. There, he looked around him, at all of the changes Juliana had made. He could sense her presence, and he yearned for her to be here with him, but he also knew that was simply wishful thinking. She was home in Mayfair, where she belonged. Now he just had to make that clear to her.
For Lewis was right. As much as she said that she loved him, that they would make it work, those were just words. She would never truly be happy with him, as much as she tried to tell herself she would be.
It was all just a dream.
CHAPTER23
Juliana paced the drawing room, waiting for Matthew to arrive. She knew that he would be here soon – she had heard Giles ask Jameson to send a note, asking for him to come meet with him. Giles, apparently, was convinced that their half-brother was behind all of their family’s dangers.
Juliana tried to tell him that he was wrong, that there was no way that Dr. Lewis could have done this, that he likely was truly treating a patient, but Giles told her not to be so naïve, that she was only believing what she wanted to believe.
But she would believe in Matthew. He would know the truth. She was sure of it.
She heard Matthew enter and Jameson lead him into Giles’ study. She raced to the parlor next to his study, pressing her ear against the wall to listen to the exchange as best she could. The walls were sturdy and well-built so she couldn’t hear the entirety of the conversation, but she did hear Giles tell Matthew he was certain that Lewis was behind all of this.
Matthew did not appear to agree, but Giles was convinced. Juliana took a deep breath, hoping that Matthew could make Giles see reason.
But then she heard Giles’ next words very clearly – ones that hurt her deep within her soul – “we will no longer require your services.”
Giles was nice about it, thanking Matthew and telling him that he appreciated all that he had done for the family. Juliana could only imagine what Matthew was thinking, likely allowing the guilt to creep in over what had happened between them. But Juliana refused to allow herself to be affected by that. For this was no passing fling. She loved Matthew Archibald, and she was going to tell him so again, as many times as he needed to hear it to understand that she wasn’t leaving him for anything. She was convinced now – she could accept whatever life awaited her, as long as they were side by side
For the thought of being without him – of him walking out of her life when he left the employ of her family – was too frightful to bear.
She heard the door of Giles’ study open, and she kept to the side as she watched Matthew exit. Fortunately, Giles didn’t walk him out, and once he was out of Giles’ eyesight, she followed him down the hallway.
“Matthew!” she called when she saw no one else about, and the look on his face when he turned was enough to nearly break her heart, although why he would feel such a way, she had no idea. He wasn’t leaving her – just the job.
He stopped, waiting for her, but he didn’t stretch out his arms nor smile nor give any sign that he was particularly pleased to see her.
“Your brother is convinced that Lewis and his mother are behind everything,” he said, his voice flat. “He wants to take action against them.”
“You don’t believe that is true, do you?”
“I do not,” he said, shaking his head. “But His Grace is convinced.”
“I will talk to him,” Juliana said with determination. “He will change his mind. He just so desperately wants this all to be over.”
