“Ah, yes, that reminds me. Could it be mere happenstance that you managed to infiltrate my household under an assumed name? Simply because Renwick was close at hand? Or did you have another, more devious reason to sneak in here? Do you suspect me of murdering your father and stealing all his money? And then setting it up to look as if he was the embezzler?” He seemed no more than idly curious.
She hesitated, then decided to answer truthfully. “You did get the house, after all.”
“Why should I care about the house? Granted, it’s been in the family for generations until my great-uncle lost it so precipitously to your father in what was most likely a rigged card game, but there are other houses, and I’m hardly a sentimental man.”
“What about the large sum of money you seem to have come into?”
“My, my,” he said. “You are very well informed about my business, aren’t you? In truth, I happen to have one talent in this world, and that seems to be making money.”
“Then why didn’t you display this talent before you took possession of Renwick?”
“Because I didn’t have the money to play with. The only people who can afford to make money are those who can afford to lose it.”
“There shouldn’t have been any money attached to the house.”
He looked at her with a bland expression, but it seemed to her as if his eyes darkened. A moment later that look was gone, and he was entirely affable. “I’m afraid someone else will have to answer your questions. I have no idea where the money came from. So you think I killed your father for his money?”
“Of course not,” she said irritably. “You were always our least likely suspect, despite the fact that you—” Again she halted. What was wrong with her today? The man made her tongue run away with her.
“Despite the fact that I murdered my wife,” he supplied easily. “Well, I’m glad that was good for something. Do you still doubt me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She fumbled for the words, when she had been considered the wittiest beauty to grace the London scene. “Because you’re not that sort of man,” she said.
“I’m gratified. So who are your other suspects?”
“I don’t wish to talk about this.”
“I do. We have a long ride ahead of us and I’ve finished with the paper.”
“May I read it?” She couldn’t hide her eagerness.
“Of course. When I get bored with your conversation.”
“You,” she said, “are a rat bastard.”
He exploded with laughter. “And you, my dear, have spent too much time around the stables. I assume that’s where you heard such insalubrious terms?”
“I learned them from my sisters.”
He chuckled. “And here I thought the Russell sisters were so straitlaced. There are three of you, are there not? Though no one ever saw the eldest one. Where are they now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t like lies, my sweet,” he said.
“I’m not lying. Do you think I’d still be here if I knew where they were?”
“I think you wouldn’t have any choice in the matter. So we have discussed my reasons for marrying you . . . .”
“Not entirely. You could marry someone with money,” she suggested.
“I don’t need it. I told you, I have a gift for making it on my own.”
“You could marry someone with a pure reputation.”