Not that it mattered.
He didn’t matter.
She looked around the spacious, bizarrely empty space with a feeling of…well, emptiness. It had seemed so different last time she was here and she supposed she’d been looking forward to this moment because she’d thought she’d recapture that sensation.
The exhilaration. The thrill. The novelty of rising to a challenge, of taking her life in her own hands…
She sighed as she shoved the disappointment aside and focused on the task before her. His desk. There was no better place to start, was there?
A little while later, after carefully rifling through drawers and flipping through his diary, she had to admit that this plan was better in theory than in practicality.
For one thing, she had no idea what she was looking for. If anything, she ought to hope to find nothing, for if he were innocent there would be no incriminating evidence to be found, now would there?
The whole endeavor was starting to feel pointless, really. Maybe even silly. When no red flags reared up—and really, what had she expected to find? A confession of murder? A pirate’s flag with Everley’s name stamped upon it?
“So daft, Delilah,” she sighed in irritation as she shut the last drawer, made a point of ensuring everything looked untouched and then headed toward the hallway.
The door had no sooner clicked shut behind her when Everley and her stepmother came around the corner. They stopped at the sight of her there. Her stepmother did not seem surprised to see her, but then again…her stepmother likely did not know where the sun room was.
Or that Delilah was supposed to be in it.
She met Lord Everley’s gaze and it was there and gone in a heartbeat, but she’d seen it. Not anger.
That would imply heat. No, this was something cold as ice.
It was hatred.
Cruelty.
It was…evil.
He covered it quickly, but it left her frozen in place, her mouth dry and her limbs trembling from that brief glance. When his eyes moved away from her, she nearly slumped over in relief, but his gaze merely moved to his office door and then back to her.
He knows.
He knew exactly what she’d been up to. Her mind teemed with too many thoughts to make any sense at all as her tongue seemed to swell to double its size.
She had no excuse. What was her excuse?
“The library!” The words tumbled out of her too quickly, and far too loud for the narrow chamber. “I was looking for the library.”
Her stepmother’s brows hitched up in surprise but Everley was once more the picture of hospitality.
“An avid reader, are you?” he said.
“Umm, yes. That’s right.” She licked her lips. She was lying and they both knew it. She felt ridiculous continuing. But she’d come this far, so she forced herself to add, “I thought it might help me take my mind off the wedding details.”
“Ah, I see.” His brows drew together and he feigned concern so well, she nearly believed it. “Is the impending wedding causing you distress?”
“No,” she said quickly. “It is just…a lot to consider.”
He eyed her as though he expected her to continue.
When she did not, he gestured behind him. “You must have gotten turned around then. The library is in the opposite direction.”
“Oh! How silly of me.” She gave her head a little shake. “It must be this heat.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice dry and flat. “You do seem under the weather today. Perhaps we ought to send you home.”
“That is probably for the best,” her stepmother chimed in. “You can take our carriage home, dear. I will send for a hired hack when we are through here.”
Alarm shot through Delilah, along with relief. She wanted to be gone, but being dismissed so summarily made her uneasy. Any sense of control she’d been feeling since she’d decided to investigate her own fiancé had withered and died.
Truthfully, it had fled the moment she’d stepped foot in Everley’s study and realized…she was alone.
And she had no idea what she was doing.
But here, now, with her mouth gaping as she searched for an excuse to stay. To make this right…
She might as well have been a small child being sent off to bed without supper.
“Nonsense,” Everley said with a sickening smile in her stepmother’s direction. “I shall have my carriage take you home when you are ready.”
She dipped her head in humble thanks, and Delilah had the urge to snap at her. Charlatan. Her stepmother had always been the best actress she knew, but she rarely saw it on such flagrant display.
At Miss Grayson’s school, Delilah was known for the sting of her tongue, for her sharp retorts and withering comebacks. And yet here, now, in the stifling presence of her stepmother and fiancé, all she could manage was a meek nod of assent as she turned toward the sun room and the library.
“Miss Clemmons.” Everley had been calling her Delilah earlier today. She gulped at the change and froze with her back to her future husband. “Do stay in the library until the carriage is brought around, won’t you? We wouldn’t want you to get lost again.”
She nodded quickly, already scurrying away.
7
Rupert tensed in the spot where he hid. She’d been in there forever. What on earth were they doing all day?
Standing guard was never his favorite task when investigating. The long hours of waiting for action, of keeping vigilant watch while hours ticked by…
It was tedious, at best.
But today was worse than most.
She was in there.
His hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically as he fought for calm. It was impossible that Delilah could look any more beautiful in the daylight than she had in the moonlight or the candlelight.
But she had.
Somehow that was infuriating. It wasn’t fair that she be quite so beautiful on
