Forsaking the Prize (The Wild Randalls 2)

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sp; “I had an hour free,” Leopold said as he stepped into the chamber.

Tobias drew himself to his full height. “Good. I’m sure you’ll find out something about yourself here. I’m just a ghost.”

He stepped around his brother and disappeared.

Leopold raised a brow. “What was that about?”

Blythe picked up the tome they had been looking at and opened it to the first mention of the Williamstown. “I’ve determined that book is about your brother. However, from this point to the end it is a work of fiction. The duke unknowingly lied to you. He may not have had a clue where Tobias really was during his exile.”

Leopold stared at the book then his lips curled back from his teeth in a snarl. “If that old bastard wasn’t seven feet deep and covered in marble I’d dig him up and scatter his bones to the bloody fishes.”

He spun about, calling out to his brother as he went.

Blythe sighed and returned the book to the shelf. Perhaps Leopold would be able to soothe him and restore his good humor. There was one way that such a feat might be accomplished, but she wouldn’t open her bedchamber window tonight and invite Tobias into her bed just to cheer him up.

Uncertain of what to do next, she chose another journal and closed the sanctuary. But as she faced the room, she jumped out of her skin. Wilcox stood just inside the drawing room, holding the door latch as if he’d intended to leave the next moment.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Wilcox cleared his throat. “Is there anything I can fetch for you, Lady Venables?”

Blythe hugged the journal to her chest. “Nothing, thank you.”

“Very good, my lady. Mrs. Turner has arrived to begin her duties.” He bowed stiffly, glanced over her shoulder to the now hidden doorway before quickly departing. Blythe’s heart raced. The secret was out. She’d have to tell Mercy the butler knew about the duke’s sanctuary.

She hurried along to Edwin’s playroom, nodded to the footmen standing outside the doors, and waited impatiently for them to open the door. When they finally allowed her to pass, she rushed forward to whisper in her sister’s ear. “Wilcox knows about the sanctuary.”

Mercy reared back, eyes wide. “How did that happen?”

“I was careless. Tobias was upset and Leopold went after him. The door was left open and when I went to leave, Wilcox was already in the drawing room, watching me close up the chamber.”

Mercy rubbed her fingers across her brow. “This is terrible.”

“I know.” Blythe took up her sister’s hand. “Mercy, I don’t think Wilcox was surprised by the chamber being there. I feel sure he already knew.”

Mercy shook her head. “He never hinted he knew anything about the secret rooms in the abbey. I trusted him, but if he knew about the chamber all along why didn’t he say something in the first place?”

“I don’t know, but Tobias doesn’t trust him completely. Neither did his mother. I am aware that you and Leopold depend upon Wilcox, but he’s a servant. He was in the old duke’s employ long before you came here,” Blythe said quietly. “He may have always known.”

Mercy rubbed her hands over her arms. “I feel besieged again.”

Blythe drew her sister into an embrace and squeezed. “We’ll muddle through. We always have before.”

Mercy chuckled. “You’ve become optimistic again. I desperately need that right now.”

Blythe glanced at where her nephew played. “You must not let your spirits decline. You have Leopold and Tobias now. You have the family you craved.”

“True. And I have you as well. Perhaps we should not attend the soiree. What do you think?”

Blythe thought it over. “Nothing has ever happened when you have been out making social calls before. These things only occur when you are entertaining friends here. Tobias feels the servants bear investigation.”

“Tobias has had a lot to say to you lately, it seems.” Mercy drew back, frowning. “What was he upset over?”

Mercy was silent while Blythe related the particulars of her discovery, leaving out the particulars of his time aboard the slaver. Unwillingly involved or not, that sort of thing would not sway public opinion in his favor.

“It surprises me that someone could outsmart the old duke so thoroughly,” Mercy mused.

“When Tobias notes arrived someone should have realized he was not where he was reported to be, but perhaps time and distance made seeking confirmation impossible. His Grace would have been furious. He wasn’t a man to take a betrayal calmly and I imagine being the bearer of bad news would not have appealed.” Blythe bit her lip. “Wilcox is the first to see any correspondence that comes into the abbey.”