Once Upon a Marquess (The Worth Saga 1)

“I’m not making any inquiries,” Christian said. “I’m here as a support to Lady Judith. She’ll direct her questions to you.”

Mr. Ennis let out a slow breath of air—not quite loudly enough to be a sigh—and pasted a false smile on his face. “Lady Judith knows I will answer any of her questions that I am capable of answering. Lord Ashford’s presence is not required. In fact, one might call it downright counterproductive.”

Judith smiled back, a curl of her lips as fake as the solicitor’s. “How lovely to hear that. I’m here to inquire about my sister Camilla’s—”

The solicitor raised a hand. “There we come to a grinding halt, Lady Judith. You are not your sister’s legal guardian. I am not able to impart specific circumstances of her situation to anyone but the lady herself or someone charged with such power by her guardian.”

“You once used to answer such questions.”

“Matters change.” The man looked off into the distance, his nose twitching.

“What matters have changed?”

“Er…” To Christian’s eye, the man looked distinctly uncomfortable—like a fellow unused to telling lies suddenly having to invent a dying uncle on a moment’s notice. “The ones that haven’t stayed the same?”

“So,” Christian said. “If we had Lady Camilla with us, you’d answer Judith’s questions?”

“Assuming the lady was amenable and her guardian was amenable and that it didn’t touch on any of the…other matters that I am unable to discuss? I don’t see why not. I told Lady Judith as much last time.”

Christian turned to Judith. “Why didn’t we bring Camilla?”

He could tell it was absolutely the wrong question to ask the instant it came out of his mouth. The corners of Judith’s mouth turned down. She sniffed, licked her lips, and folded her hands in her lap.

“Talk less,” she whispered to him. “Glower more.”

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Ennis said to the room at large. “He is a dear family friend, indeed. One who knows all the relevant details.”

Christian felt his cheeks heat.

“Did I not mention?” Judith spoke a little too brightly. “Camilla is not living with us at present. I have not precisely heard from her in something over a year.”

Mr. Ennis’s eyebrows rose. “Something?”

“Six and a half years is something,” Judith replied with an overly false smile.

It was a good thing Judith wanted him to be quiet; he had nothing to say. He hadn’t seen Camilla yesterday. But the household had been in an uproar. He could have missed an entire battalion practicing manuevers on the top floor.

He’d assumed that she’d been around somewhere, between the smoke and the strawmen. By the stuffed smile on the solicitor’s face, this was a painful subject.

He winced. He couldn’t imagine the Worth siblings divided any more than they were. No wonder she still hates you, his mind whispered. He brushed this away.

“Let us talk of Theresa,” Judith said. “Theresa, in the past few months, ought to have received some notice—”

“My lady.” The solicitor pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know I cannot talk to you of Lady Theresa.”

“Whyever not? I am her legal guardian. And—”

“You are not her legal guardian,” Mr. Ennis said.

Judith rubbed a gloved fist against her temple. “How can I not be? I’m her next of kin. There’s no reason a female could not be her guardian; we had this out four years ago, you and I, and back then, you agreed. What has happened since? If it’s not me, who is it?”

“This was not my idea,” Mr. Ennis said, shaking his head. “I want you to know that.”

“What was not your idea?”

“The idea that was had by the gentleman who is your sister’s guardian,” Mr. Ennis said slowly. “For reasons of client confidentiality, I cannot disclose his identity. He doesn’t wish it, and under the circumstances, which are…” He searched for a word.

“Unusual?” Christian offered. “Unlikely?”

Judith leaned forward. “Unimaginable, maybe. Perhaps even unbelievable.”

Mr. Ennis just shook his head. “Let us just say they are unforgiving.”

“You’ll pardon me for saying so, but that sounds like balderdash.” Christian tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

The solicitor ignored this. “He has, however, left explicit instructions empowering two other individuals to act in his absence. I am one of those individuals, and I have been directed to take orders from the other person.”

“And that other person is?” Judith asked.

“Ah… That person has given me explicit, recent instructions not to tell you anything.”

No wonder Judith had come to Christian. She absolutely needed someone to glower. He leaned forward.

“This is a sham,” he announced. “It is utterly unreasonable.”

Mr. Ennis made a pained noise. “Yes to the latter; to the former, I honestly have no idea. I’ve scoured the law books and I’ve come up utterly empty.”

Clearly, more glowering was in order. Christian looked the man in the eyes. “How will it look when Lady Judith brings suit against you, claiming that you’ve defrauded her and her sisters? It would be exceedingly damaging to your reputation.”

His glower bounced off the man entirely. Mr. Ennis wrinkled his nose and shrugged. “My lord, you will simply have to trust me on this. Lady Judith does not want to air any of this in public. To be quite frank, I’m not certain what you want. But I urge her, in the strongest terms, to consider other options. There are other ways to resolve this matter. But under the circumstances, which are…”

“Unforgiving?”

“Unbelievable,” Mr. Ennis continued. “In any event, I cannot actually instruct you in any of those resolutions.”

The whole affair was damned odd in the most peculiar possible way. Christian was pretty sure that he was holding onto some kind of a snake. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps he was the proverbial blind man. Perhaps the thing in his hands might be attached to an entire elephant.

Christian tried once again. “We could fetch the person who sent the money in the first place. Surely you would have to answer to him.”

Mr. Ennis frowned, tilting his head as he considered this. “Agh,” he finally opined. “I…do not know if that would serve. You see… Agh.”

“You call yourself a solicitor, whe

n that’s the sum total of the professional, legal opinion that you can offer? Agh?”

“Agh,” the man repeated, more firmly. “I could repeat it, if you like, but for sterling advice such as that, I would have to charge by the quarter-hour. That would be in nobody’s interest.”

“Besides,” Judith said, giving Christian a quelling look, “the funds were to have been sent anonymously. Identifying the individual who sent them might prove difficult.”

“Agh,” Christian said.

Mr. Ennis nodded. “You see? You’re coming around to my point of view.”

They had accomplished nothing, Judith realized on the ride back. Not with Christian’s glowers. Not with her questions. She needed a new idea.

He sat next to her, looking forward, chewing his lip in contemplation. It was late enough in the afternoon that dark stubble dotted his cheeks, lending him even more of a roguish air. It didn’t matter how he looked. She’d survived the encounter.

“I suppose it was pointless to have you along. But tha—”

“Ah, ah.” He shook his head. “Allies, remember? It sounds like you were about to thank me. Don’t. You hate me; we should avoid every mark of civility at all costs.”

Ah. Yes.

He continued. “It also sounds as if you were about to send me off. That wasn’t our agreement. I get the journals when you’ve received the money. We’re not finished until we’re finished.”

“Yes, but—”

“As I see it, there are two possibilities. Number one, your solicitor is telling the truth about agh. Number two, he is lying.”

Judith frowned at him. “Our agreement was that you wouldn’t ask questions.”

“I’m not asking questions,” Christian said. “I’m doing precisely the thing you hate me for: I’m ferreting out the truth.”

“You didn’t—”

“The way I see it,” Christian said, interrupting her again, “either your trusted family solicitor is a liar, and you can hate me for uncovering his perfidy, or some close family friend is a cheat, and you can despise me for demonstrating that he has embezzled funds. It’s perfect. Our alliance is built upon precisely this sort of lose-lose scenario. Nothing could be better designed to foment distrust and dislike between us.”