Page 107 of The Duke's Indecent Match
Once they were done assuring themselves that Zachary was unharmed, all the attention in the room turned to Nathanial.The dukes were arrayed around the room, allowing the ladies to sit.Only Gregory had a space on the couch, beside his wife, of course, but Nathanial hovered beside where Kalina was sitting, one hand behind her on the back of the chair.Drake was several feet away from Lady Astrid’s chair.The rust-orange pocket square in his jacket matched the color of her morning gown almost exactly, Kalina noted with some amusement.
Very much the way her gown matched Nathanial’s pocket square today.
“So, what is this new clue you have for us?”Sebastian asked, getting right to the heart of the matter.Pacing back and forth behind the couches, he seemed more agitated than some of the other dukes.Tiffany twisted in her seat and held her hand out to him.
With a deep sigh, he walked over and put his hand in hers, using his other to smooth down his emerald-green waistcoat.A useless gesture as, unlike Zachary, his was completely unwrinkled.
“The Marquess of Carmathen visited me this morning,” Nathanial said, ignoring the quick indrawn breaths of several of the other dukes.Lady Astrid sat up a little straighter.“Unbeknownst to me, and I do not know where my father’s record of the vowels went, my father owed the marquess and two others gambling debts.Trent and Cornwall.Cornwall is the one who invited my father to the hunting lodge, but he did not attend himself… according to Carmathen, he fell sick before the trip.”
Everyone in the room was silent, working through it in their heads.
“If he did not attend, then he has never been questioned,” Lady Astrid said in a low voice.
Nathanial nodded.
“What would be the point if he was not there?But I did not know.As far as I know, no one looking into the matter would know that my father owed him money.Money that he could not possibly ever repay.”
It was motive.Slim, but it was there.Kalina felt sick at the thought.On the other hand, from everything she’d learned about Nathanial’s father, it might have been for the best for his children.However, she knew Tiffany and Sebastian truly grieved their father’s death, as did Zachary.His mother was distraught over it.Kalina was not certain of the others, but surely almost all the dukes had someone who mourned them.
“Do we know if he actually fell sick?”Drake asked.“Or was that just an excuse?”
“I had that thought as well.”Nathanial made a face.
“Are you going to question him when you pay him?”Christian asked from where he was leaning on the mantle.His arms were crossed over his chest, his expression inscrutable.Whatever he was feeling, it was not apparent on his face.
“I can try, but I do not think I am the best person to.”Nathanial looked around.“I was thinking one of you might approach him.Even if he did not have anything to do with my father’s death, even if he knows nothing, he may be loath to speak with me about it.And if he does know something, he might be more forthcoming with someone whose father he did not send to their death.”
“I can speak with him,” Matthew offered.“We run in the same circles sometimes.He’s a heavy gambler.I believe he’s at a house party at the moment, but there’s a tournament this Saturday at the Tramp’s Den that I do not believe he’d miss.”
“At where?”Tiffany asked, frowning as she turned her head to look at Matthew.Gregory shot the other man a dark look.
“Nowhere you need to concern yourself with,” Gregory assured his wife, patting the hand he held.On her other side, Sebastian’s expression made it clear he was in full agreement with his brother-in-law.
“It is no place for ladies,” Drake said firmly.
Only because Kalina was sitting beside her did she see the way Lady Astrid’s fingers twitched in her lap.
Though the conversation wound around, after a bit, the gentlemen decided to decamp to Nathanial’s study and excused themselves from the ladies.Kalina did not mind because she wanted to speak with Tiffany and Lady Astrid privately.Though she was also curious about what the gentlemen wanted to speak of without them, and she was sure the other two were as well, both of them were just as eager to have their own discussion.
As soon as the door was closed behind the gentlemen, Tiffany leaned in toward Lady Astrid.
“What is the Tramp’s Den?”she demanded to know.
“A gambling hell, down in the Warrens,” Lady Astrid answered calmly, taking a sip of her tea as if it was normal for a young debutante to know about a gambling hell in the most dissolute part of London.No proper young lady shouldeverbe in that part of the city, much less know what businesses were located there.Kalina stared at Lady Astrid.
She was becoming accustomed to Lady Astrid knowing all sorts of things she should not, but this was a step further than she would have guessed.Determined not to show her shock on her face, because she was not going to judge Lady Astrid’s myriad of connections, she was at least comforted that Tiffany was as surprised as she was.
“I am not going to ask how you know that,” Tiffany said, shaking her head and sitting back.“Well, what do you think?”
“I think I am going to speak to Mei and see what she can find out about Carmathen, Trent, and Cornwall,” Lady Astrid replied immediately.
“All three of them?”
“Of course.”Lady Astrid lifted her teacup to her lips and took a sip.“The gentlemen might be focused on Cornwall, but Carmathen knew enough to drop the hint, and who knows what Trent might know.At the very least, I want information on them, as I know very little about all three of them.Mei is uniquely placed to gather the basics without kicking up a fuss.”
Which was very true.Kalina hardly had the contacts to ask.Lady Astrid and Tiffany might, but of course, then questions would be asked about why they wanted to know.As Mei was assisting her matchmaker grandmother, her queries would be assumed to be part of their trade.
“We should also see what Delilah knows of them,” Tiffany offered.“She hears things we do not.”
