Page 44 of The Duke's Carriage Window
“Did your master pay you to lie for him?” Darius asked.
Dobbs scowled. “How dare you accuse me of lying! I do not care if you are a duke. You will leave this house at once!”
“Gladly.” Darius growled. He met Doyle at the entrance to the house and they left without another word to that foul butler.
Once he and Doyle were on the outside doorstep with the door shut behind them, they put their coats back on and returned to Darius’s home.
“For what it’s worth, I believe you saw something, Tiverton. But without proof or something more than a young girl hearing screams and seeing something in the shadows through a coach window, I cannot make an arrest.”
“Meredith is not some silly young girl,” Darius said with more force than he’d intended.
Doyle shot Darius an amused grin. “She’s Meredith now? Not Miss Montague? I thought this woman was your ward? Have you taken to other nightly activities with her other than digging up your neighbor’s gardens?”
“Careful, Doyle,” Darius warned. “She’s a lady.”
Doyle lifted his hands with a devilish grin. “If you’ll recall, I’m happily married, and you’ll end up that way too if you aren’t careful.”
“We are trying to prove a possible murder, Doyle.”
“All I know is that if anyone discovers you’re digging around in gardens at night with an unwed woman, you’ll end up married. Heed my warning, Your Grace.” Doyle touched the tip of his hat and parted ways with Darius at the turn leading back to Knightley Street.
The investigator was right, of course. He and Meredith shouldn’t be skulking around at night together. There were many things they shouldn’t be doing together, such as private kisses and what had happened last night. He’d…
Christ, he’d had his hand between her legs in his bed. That was enough to drive them to the altar if anyone should learn what had happened. But no one knew, and Darius would have to keep it that way.
He’d done a fine job this morning of briefly forgetting what he and Meredith had shared in his bed a few hours before, but now it had come back to him and it was the only thing he could think about.
The truth was, he’d been dreaming about her in his arms when she’d arrived, which is perhaps why he had not woken when she entered. That and the brandy he had shared with his friends before turning in. Then he had stroked her to climax. Somewhere in all that he had woken, and when she cried out, he’d realized it hadn’t been a dream at all. She really had been beneath him, her lovely eyes dark as the night as she’d gazed up at him with such emotions that made his throat tighten even now just to think about them.
He would give anything to have her. To call her his darling wife and give her the world. But he couldn’t.
When he forced himself to re-enter his home, Meredith and Mrs. Petersham were waiting for him in the entryway.
“What happened? We watched you and Mr. Doyle dig from the window in my room. It didn’t seem like you found anything…” Meredith confessed, her cheeks rosy with excitement. Lord, she was so damn beautiful. It sometimes hurt to look at her, because it reminded him he couldn’t have her.
He let out a slow breath, steeling himself. “Unfortunately, what I found last night was gone.” Darius removed his coat and gave it to Chelsea, who would have his valet clean it of dirt.
Meredith gasped. “How could it be gone? I watched you re-bury it last night.”
“Wait,” Mrs. Petersham said. “You dug the cloth and jewels up and you returned it to the ground back just after midnight, correct?”
“Yes,” Darius said warily.
Meredith’s chaperone tapped her chin thoughtfully. “That wretched butler Dobbs must have seen you climb over the wall and dig the cloth up. He could have waited for you and Meredith to leave, he dug it back up, and probably destroyed it. Did you check the townhouse? He might have tried to burn the cloth in a fireplace in one of the rooms or perhaps the kitchen…He wouldn’t burn the jewels, they’re too hard to destroy and too valuable.”
“We didn’t have a chance to look through the house,” Darius admitted. “I convinced Doyle to go to the Crell house on very little evidence, and it was already questionable to barge into the home on just my word.”
“Doyle doesn’t think you are lying, does he?” Meredith asked. “I thought you worked with him. He should know you would never lie about something like this.”
“He believes I saw what I saw last night, but without proof he cannot arrest anyone.”
“Then Crell will get away with his crime.” Mrs. Petersham’s brows knitted together. “There must be something we can do.”
“At the moment, there is nothing. For now, we must go about our day as we had intended. Meredith, I believe you are supposed to ride in the park this afternoon with Mr. Evers. Please ready yourself, as we must leave soon. Mrs. Petersham and I shall wait for you.” Since they were planning a ride, he wasn’t concerned that he was a bit sweaty. He took his riding coat when Chelsea gave it to him and put it on.
Meredith’s face, which was already crestfallen, now turned bleak.
“Do you not like Mr. Evers?” Darius asked. “We can make an excuse if you wish to cancel your ride.”
