Page 125 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
Chapter 31
Color rosein her new father-in-law’s cheeks, and she noticed how palpably white his complexion had been without it, as if he had long ago opened his own vein to drain off his feelings. The return of blood was upsetting him, she could see that.
His fist hit the table. “Absolutely not. Never. Nor would any of my men.”
“Did Llewellyn tell you that?” Charley asked.
Moisture clogged her throat. She nodded.
He flipped a chair around and sat, resting his forearms on the chair back. “That’s rather sloppy of him. Quite lacking in subtlety. I’d say the man is desperate, and it’s time he came in for that chat. I shall head over to Kirkham’s this afternoon.”
“He won’t be there,” she said.
A nerve ticked at the corner of Charley’s eye.
“He is moving to an inn called the Talbot in Southwark.”
“The Talbot.” Lord Farnsworth spit out the word.
“Yes. He is sailing earlier than expected. I told you that.”
“Muchearlier than expected.” Farnsworth sat back thoughtfully.
They were on the trail of something.
“What have you discovered in my father’s cipher?”
Lord Shaldon nodded at Kincaid. “Tell her.”
Kincaid reviewed the system her father had used in the past. The numbers should refer to pages, lines, and words on the page. But that code hadn’t worked. They’d learned nothing.
Shaldon nodded again and Kincaid shared that for the last years of the English war, her father had been tracing a ring with branches in Kingston, Cadiz, Calais, and Scarborough. They surmised that the group had access to a highly placed lord who knew the movement of both naval ships and merchant ships.
“Lord Kingsley?” She held her breath at their answer while the question gnawed at her—if her father had suspected his cousin, why had he left her in his care?
“Kingsley was not highly placed in the government,” Lord Shaldon said.
“It could have been you then, Lord Shaldon.”
“No. I knew the movements of our operatives but not of our ships.”
“You could have obtained it.”
“Yes, if I needed it. But I am not that source.”
“And neither was Kingsley?”
Shaldon rapped his fingertips on the table. “Who was his circle?” He stared off at the fireplace.
“Kingsley had a wide circle,” Farnsworth said. “No particular fast friends. He and Lady Kingsley socialized with the usual members of theton.”
Charley stood. “Lady Kingsley.” He began to pace. “Connected to Carvelle. I wonder, did she have any particular friends among the wives?”
“Would they have known anything? Would they have shared?” Kincaid asked thoughtfully.
“Lady Perry could make inquiries,” Graciela said.
Shaldon held her in a steady gaze and shook his head. “She was far too young.”
