"This isn't a police matter. The commissioner can't do anything."
"He can sweep all sorts of things under the carpet."
"It's not a criminal matter."
"Then you must find another way to end this in favor of Patience and Lord Cox. After all, you owe them."
"We didn't inform the half-brother!" I said again.
"I meant it's your fault my sister married him in the first place. If not for your blackmail, he would never have proposed a second time. She wouldn't be tangled up in this mess."
I bit my tongue despite wanting to spit back a thousand retorts. It would serve no purpose to show her how angry I was. I'd helped Patience. She'd wanted to marry Lord Cox, and I suspected he loved her too. Besides, Hope had never cared about her sister's happiness. She wasn't pursuing this because she cared, she was doing it for her own selfish reasons. By being connected to an upstanding, influential peer like Lord Cox through her sister, Hope's own marriage prospects had brightened. His fall from such lofty heights could bring Hope down too.
"Did you tell any of this to Patience?" Matt asked.
"No," Hope said. "She's not aware that she shouldn't be styled Lady Cox." Her smile returned, as if she were picturing the moment she revealed the secret to her sister. "I think it's time she learned the truth." She rose. "Good day. I'll see myself out."
Even so, Matt rang for Bristow and the doors opened immediately.
Hope didn't leave, however. She stood there, frowning. "You didn't answer me earlier. If you didn't tell the half-brother, who did?"
"How would we know such a thing?" I said.
"Could it have been the person who gave you the information?" The silence that followed was so deep that I swore I heard the clock's mechanisms whir. "Where did you get the information, India? Someone must have given it to you. Matt doesn't have the contacts in England to find out this sort of thing, and you have never moved in the right circles."
Matt rose and indicated the open door. "Bristow will see you out."
She didn't move. The cogs of her mind turned behind her unblinking stare as she sifted through what she knew of us, who our contacts were. It didn't take long for her to settle on the answer.
"Lord Coyle," she murmured.
I offered neither confirmation nor denial, but she didn't seem to need it.
"How did he learn the secret?" she asked.
"Coyle is very well connected," was all Matt said.
Hope's gaze turned pensive.
"Speaking of Lord Coyle." I did not go on. I couldn't decide whether I should try to convince her to marry him or not. She was loathsome, but he was worse, and I wasn't sure I could bring myself to push her toward him.
"Speaking of Coyle," Matt said, picking up where I left off, "perhaps you should accept his marriage proposal. Once the situation with Cox becomes public knowledge, your other prospects will withdraw. Coyle won't care, however."
"I have no other suitable prospects," she said with a tilt of her chin. "As to Lord Coyle, I'm capable of making up my own mind without my dear cousin telling me what to do."
"I'm merely advising."
"I get quite enough advice from my parents, thank you. If I do accept Coyle's offer, it will not be because you or anyone else wishes it." She strode out, her skirts swishing around her ankles.
"It wasn't a refusal," Matt said, sitting again. "But we need her to accept him within two weeks."
I rubbed my forehead, unable to focus on the prospect of their marriage. I was too consumed with wild ideas for helping Lord Cox keep his title. "Is she right, Matt? Is there something we can do to make the half-brother give up his claim?"
He settled beside me on the sofa with a deep sigh. "We could try reasoning with him, and tell him Cox is a good man who doesn't deserve to suffer for his father's sins. We can point out how it will affect Cox's four children."
I could tell from his deflated tone that he didn't think it would work. It would be a very generous, selfless man to give up the prospect of wealth and privilege for someone he didn't know.
"Cox should offer to give his half-brother an allowance in return for giving up all rights to the title," Matt said. "That's what I'd do if I were in his shoes."
I suspected Matt would give up the title to the rightful heir, no matter the consequences to himself, but he was a different man to Lord Cox.
"Hope will tell Patience, and she'll hate me for the part I played in her engagement," I said with a groan.
Matt put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "She loves him. She should thank you."
I gave him an arched look. "That's not how she'll see it."
"You don't know that. Besides, it's Cox she should be angry with. He knew he wasn't the legitimate heir and yet he proposed to her anyway. The first time, I mean. He had no right to do that when it could all come tumbling down at any moment. "
"But that's the thing," I said. "He never expected his half-brother to find out."
"Still…" He kissed the top of my head again.
I pulled away and clasped his hand in both of mine. "I want Lord Cox to know that it wasn't me who informed the half-brother. I hate him thinking I've betrayed him."
He nodded. "We'll visit tomorrow."
Chapter 3
We drove to Lord Cox's townhouse immediately after Sunday morning’s church service in the hopes we would catch them before they left to make calls. Being recently arrived in London, I expected them to be busy seeing friends. It would be important to keep up appearances, in case word had got out.
I was worried we wouldn't be received, but the butler showed us into the drawing room after checking that his master and mistress were home. We were greeted with stony faces. Lord and Lady Cox sat at opposite sides of the drawing room, not at all how a newlywed couple should be in one another's company.
Patience knew. It was a relief to know that they’d had the awkward conversation. I didn’t want to be the one to inform her.
"I'm glad you're here," Lord Cox said without so much as a “good morning.” "It saves me a visit." He waved at the sofa and we sat.
"We'll have tea now," Patience said to the butler.
"No tea." Lord Cox dismissed the butler with a lift of his finger. "They won't be staying long."
I swallowed heavily.
Patience's glance flicked to mine then away, as if she couldn't bear to look at me. She seemed worn out. Her eyes were puffy and her nose red. Her husband looked just as exhausted, and there was none of the soft, amiability in his face that I'd seen before.
I swallowed again. "It wasn't me," I said quietly. "I didn't tell your half-brother. I don't even know his name."
"I don't believe you," he said without looking at me.
"My wife isn't a liar," Matt growled. "She didn't inform him. Nor did I. If I were still a betting man, I'd put money on Coyle."
Lord Cox's gaze finally snapped to mine. "Coyle?"