Page 52 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
Rhys leaned closer. “Another property?”
“No. One month after the purchase of both the seaside property and the London town house, there are a series of errors in the running total that subtracts nearly a thousand pounds. It’s too obvious.”
“So not errors?”
“I don’t think so. Mr. Radley’s mistakes are strategic. There’s a pattern and the errors are always to the detriment of the dukedom’s accounts. If it was by chance, you’d think he’d accidentally add funds on occasion.”
“You almost sound as if you admire his boldness.” Rhys didn’t know why the prospect made him bristle.
“I could never admire a thief. He certainly isn’t clever. Anyone looking at these ledgers would find his misdeeds.”
Rhys didn’t bother mentioning that he had in fact looked at them and had entirely missed the error she’d pointed out.
“There seems to be a missing ledger too.” She flipped the pages of the one in her hands to show him the initial page. “Those at the corner of the desk are from the first two quarters of the year. This one isfrom the last quarter of the previous year. Where’s the July, August, and September ledger?”
Rhys felt like an ill-informed fool. “I’ve no idea.”
“Where did you get these?”
He pointed to a bookshelf behind her. “There are no others. These were easy enough to spy. They’re overly large volumes and covered in a dark leather.”
Bella scanned the bookshelves, her gaze sharp and intense. She stood up from the desk and made her way to one of the bookcases.
“I’ve searched them all, Bella.”
“Are you certain?”
Rhys felt a flare of irritation. “I’m quite sure.”
“Then what’s that?” She glanced back at him with a triumphant grin.
Rhys followed the direction of her finger and noticed that far at the top of the third bookshelf, there was a dark corner with black-bound books. One was significantly taller and thicker than the others. Before he could admit shemightbe right, Bella was moving the rolling ladder attached to the wall of bookshelves to the spot where she’d noticed the book.
“It’s high,” he said, and approached to retrieve the ledger.
“I can get it,” she told him with one foot already on the first rung of the ladder.
She’d always been stubborn, and she frustrated the hell out of him when she became determined on a course that would risk her own neck.
Her skirts belled out enough to get in her way, andshe swayed on the ladder as she tried to move them aside. Rhys approached and gripped the wooden frame to steady it. Instinctively, he placed a hand on the back of her skirt, pressing until he could feel the outline of her calf.
She inhaled sharply and let out a little gasp of shock. With a tip of her head, she looked back at him, her expression questioning and annoyed.
“This is necessary touching,” he told her.
“I’m steady now. Thank you.”
Rhys lifted his hand and tugged at the fabric of her skirt so it wasn’t tangled around her ankles.
“Very well, but I’m not letting go of the ladder. Be careful, Bella.”
But of course she was already reaching out, holding on to the ladder with one hand and stretching as far with her other arm as she could. Her fingertips grazed the edge of the volume and she hooked her thumb under the spine to nudge it out.
“Got it.”
But she didn’t. The ledger had moved out an inch but remained firmly wedged between its neighbors.
She glanced back at him and huffed out a sigh. He expected she might descend and let him go up and get the book. Most of the time, she was a logical woman and he was taller and his arms were longer.
