Title Sinful Tales of Desirable Ladies

by Lucinda Nelson

  Solomon tilted his head. “You say ‘little’? While I know you have prospered in our partnership, I also know your profits are considerable. Yet, you live in a house that does not reflect that, and you claim you have not the funds to expand. Why is that, Edward? Do you gamble your money away?”

  Edward shook his head, still not meeting Solomon’s eyes. “No, I do not gamble. I care for my mother, and her expenses are high.”

  “Yes, I can understand that,” Solomon replied, not liking the way Edward refused to meet his eyes. Did that make him guilty or innocent? Wishing he knew how to spot when someone was lying, he studied Edward’s posture and thought his body appeared more tense than the situation warranted.

  Edward’s face continued to appear sorrowed, upset that he had all but been accused of thievery from not just a Duke but also his benefactor, and his friend. Solomon frowned, not at all certain of what that meant. Was he truly innocent?

  Edward finally met his eyes with a small smile. “I suppose I should be grateful you did not have me arrested first while you try to determine who truly is stealing from you.”

  “I did not wish to make accusations without proof,” Solomon answered, still watching him. “Thus I am investigating who it might be.”

  “I trust you will find the thief, and you and I will go on as before.”

  Yet, despite Edward’s smile, Solomon observed the resentment and burning anger deep in Edward’s eyes. He immediately knew that whatever trust he had with the man was now broken, quite possibly beyond repair.

  Nor would he permit himself to feel regret for searching the office, nor voicing his suspicions. No, they would not go on as before.

  “Of course,” he said instead of voicing his thoughts. “I will indeed find this thief, and he will face justice and be sent to prison.”

  “I am sure you will, Sol.”

  Stepping around the desk, Solomon strode toward the door with Edward blocking his way. Meeting Edward’s eyes fully, he said, “We will see each other again soon.”

  Nodding Edward took a step to the side, freeing the way out for Solomon. He dipped his head in a short bow, and did not lift his hand for Solomon to shake as he usually did.

  Leaving the building, Solomon strode down the alley without looking back, yet felt an itch between his shoulders blades as though expecting a lead ball between them.

  His horse, still tied where he had left it, nickered at him in greeting as he untied the reins. Mounting up, he rode at a swift trot through the dark streets toward his mansion, unable to stop wondering if Edward’s behavior marked him guilty or innocent. Without experience in such things, he suspected Thomas might have been able to discern whether Edward lied or not.

  “They both look guilty,” he muttered to himself. “And I hardly think they are in league with one another. So which of them is stealing from me?”

  ***

  After a few hours of restless sleep, Solomon rose from his bed to wash and dress with Jack’s assistance. Striding down the stairs and walking to the dining room, he found Thomas and Mrs. Wolcott there, and to his delight, Teresa. She offered him a quick smile and a curtsey, yet her drawn face informed her she was still in considerable pain.

  “You look wonderful,” he said, observing her freshly cleaned skin and a blue gown laced with silver that accented her eyes, “as though you were never injured at all.”

  “I do not feel it,” she replied, walking at his side with Thomas and Mrs. Wolcott behind them. “I simply cannot abide lying in bed any longer. I need to keep busy.”

  “Then perhaps you and your esteemed brother might offer me your opinions over breakfast.”

  As they dined, Solomon informed the Wolcott’s of how he had been caught by Edward while searching his office. Thomas frowned and Teresa gaped. “What did he do?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Did he threaten you with arrest?”

  “Of course not,” Solomon replied with a grin. “I had every right to be there. He had his blunderbuss with him, and for a moment, I thought he planned to use it.”

  “Do you think him guilty then?” Thomas asked.

  “I cannot say for certain,” he replied with a frustrated shake of his head. “One moment, he seemed guilty and that I caught him out. The next, as innocent as a spring lamb.”

  “Were you able to find any evidence before he caught you?”

  “No, but I also had not looked through everything.”

  Thomas drummed his fingers on the table, still frowning. “If he is in truth the guilty party, he will be busy removing anything that can incriminate him.”

  “He no doubt did it the moment I left.”

  “Without placing blame, Sol,” Thomas ventured. “You could have used your authority to continue looking, even as he stood there.”

  Solomon’s brow rose. “With him holding a rifle?”

  “Ah, no, perhaps not, then. Sorry.”

  “If he had nothing to hide,” Teresa exclaimed, “he should have shown you everything, and put the rifle away.”

  “Good point,” Solomon agreed. “Still, I caught him by surprise and he was naturally defensive.”

  “I agree with Teresa,” Thomas commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “If he was innocent, he should have opened everything up for your inspection. Acting defensive only makes him appear more guilty.”

  “Perhaps. But none of that proves that he is indeed stealing from me,” Solomon replied with a quick nod. “I must give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have had something else to hide that has nothing at all to do with me.”

  “An illicit love affair?” Thomas grinned.

  “Perhaps. I did see letters in a drawer that appeared to have been written by a lady.” Solomon frowned. “The hand writing almost seemed familiar somehow. But at the moment I cannot place it.”

  “I saw them as well,” Thomas said. “I did not read any of them, however.”

  “And with the Oakshire mark on that letter you brought me implicates Aldric.”

  “Though it goes against your sense of honor, Sol,” Thomas ventured, “you perhaps should pay a call on His Lordship. Ask him without accusations if he has been fraudulently writing these letters and promissory notes.”

  Solomon glanced away, thinking. “You may be right,” he replied slowly. “I can compare his reaction to Edward’s, judge which one may be more genuine.”

  “Pity neither of them will have an attack of bad conscience and confess to you,” Teresa commented dryly.

  “That would certainly be fortunate,” Solomon agreed with a faint grin. “However, that would also be too easy. I fear we will be forced to discover the culprit the hard way.”

  “As you have requested,” Thomas said, “I will continue to look for warehouses that either suspect may have used to store the illicitly gotten goods.”

  “And I will speak to Aldric. Then I will meet with Mr. Simms at the Beaulieu mansion and hope he has the proof we need that the Baron has been behind these attempts to kill both myself and Teresa.”

  Teresa gazed at him, worry clear in her blue eyes and drawn expression. “I fear you are walking into a wolves’ den, Sol,” she said, her voice lowered. “If Lord Oakshire is guilty and you confront him, he may have you killed immediately.”

  “Not with his wife, his son and all his servants as witnesses.” Solomon smiled without mocking her concern. “He might try if we were alone, but not even he would order me killed in his house openly.”

  “Beaulieu did.”

  “Aldric is not Beaulieu. However, in order to ease your worry, I will bring Mr. Walters with me as a guard.”

  Teresa nodded, yet still did not smile. “Just be careful, Sol.”

  ***

  Upon reaching Aldric’s huge mansion, Solomon was immediately conducted to Aldric’s huge private chambers. Aldric’s valet bowed him through to his master’s bedroom, where Aldric sat in a chair wearing his ruffled shirt, trousers and coat, but lacked a waistcoat and cravat.

  Like Teresa’s, his fa
ce held lines of pain around his mouth and eyes, but he stood slowly with a warm smile to shake Solomon’s hand.

  “I was hoping you would stop by,” Aldric said, gesturing for Solomon to sit in another chair near the window. “Do you wish for tea? Or perhaps something stronger?”

  “Tea is fine,” Solomon replied, seating himself in the comfortable armchair. “How are you?”

  “Jacob, please order tea brought up.”

  The valet bowed. “Right away, My Lord.”

  Aldric drew a sigh. “In pain, I will admit. The surgeon sewed most of my wounds, and I have been quite sore all over.”

  Watching his friend’s face closely, Solomon said, “That fall was no accident, Aldric.”

  Aldric frowned, startled. From what Solomon could tell, the reaction was truthful, one of complete surprise. “How do you know?”

  “I went back with Thomas Wolcott yesterday,” Solomon explained. “We inspected it, and discovered a supporting beam under the floor had been removed.”

  Aldric leaned forward, his eyes intent. “To kill you,” he said, his voice flat.

  “Indeed, yes.”

  “So Beaulieu has a long arm. Reaching out from his sick bed to still try and murder you.”

  “Or,” Solomon replied easily, “his henchmen have standing orders to do whatever it takes to kill me.”

  “Another theory comes to mind, Sol,” Aldric went on, his eyes still intent. “He has someone working with him.”

  Bracing himself for the outrage he knew would come, Solomon asked calmly. “Are you the one working with him?”

  Aldric’s expression froze in disbelief, then stunned Solomon by laughing. He winced, grimacing, yet continued to laugh with snorts and chuckles. He shook his head, grinning from ear to ear. “You are amusing sometimes, Sol.”

  “I did not wish to be.”

  Aldric gazed full into his eyes, still smiling. “Now you should know better than to ask me such a question and not expect me to find humor in it. But pray tell, why would you even think it?”

  With a sigh, wishing he could read minds, Solomon replied, “Someone is stealing from me, Aldric. I have narrowed the potential culprits down to two – you and Edward.”

  Aldric’s smile faded at last. His gaze sharpened on Solomon’s, and did not leave. “Now that is ridiculous. Why on earth would I need to steal from my best friend? Answer me that and I will say yes or no.”

  “Greed,” Solomon answered simply. “What you have is not enough.”

  Aldric snorted. “Not good enough. I have all the wealth and influence I need.”

  Solomon smiled. “You secretly hate me?”

  “Ah, right. I despise your company and your presence so much that I torture myself by making sure I spend as much time with you as possible.”

  Now Solomon laughed. “Perhaps you have gambling problems. You must pay off your creditors and do not wish to use your own money to do so.”

  Aldric rolled his eyes. “Do you believe for even a minute that my wife would permit me to gamble? Solomon, really?”

  “And you are not playing dice at some club behind her back?”

  Leaning forward again, Aldric said, “First, I have too much love and respect for my wife to do that. Secondly, you frequent the same clubs and gaming halls. Have you ever seen me gambling?”

  Solomon shook his head. “No. I always see you enjoying a few drinks, then going home.”

  “So have you asked Edward these same questions? I would assume that you have or that you will.”

  “I did indeed ask him directly,” Solomon confessed. “In the middle of the night while searching his office for evidence.”

  “And he caught you? I suppose he denied it.”

  “He did. And, of course, yes, he denied it.”

  Wondering if he was making a terrible mistake, Solomon went on. “Thomas Wolcott found a forged letter to Edward asking him to import more goods.”

  “Then he is your thief, Sol.”

  “The Royal Mail mark came from here.”

  Aldric pursed his lips. “Those cannot be forged, I do not think. But how easy is it for Edward to stroll over here, linger, and pop the letter on the coach when it is stopped at my home?”

  Solomon gaped. “I never thought of that.”

  “No, it was easier to believe that I would be working against you, or in a league with your enemies.”

  Solomon blushed. “Aldric, I am sorry.”

  “Do not be. Were I in your shoes, I would think ill of me as well. At least wonder if I were the guilty party. And you did the honorable thing by coming here to chat with me about it rather than challenge me to a duel.”

  “Well, my first thought was to wring your neck.”

  Aldric laughed. “In my state, that would not be hard.”

  “As you were the one to have fallen into the trap, it seemed difficult for me to believe you wanted me dead.”

  “If I wanted you dead, I would simply kill you without all this subterfuge. But you are worth more to me alive.”

  Solomon stared. “How so?”

  “No, not by stealing, you old rogue. By your friendship and the money we make together. Honorably. The truth is, your business sense is far greater than mine, and if I am stealing from you, I am only taking your knowledge.”

  “Which is something I am willing to offer you,” Solomon replied. “I always have been.”

  “Then there we are.” Aldric smiled. “Still friends.”

  The tea arrived, and Aldric’s valet served them, bowed low, then vanished into the other room. Solomon picked up his tea and sipped. “I still cannot find evidence it was Edward, either.”

  “Perhaps it is not him at all. You have other associates, do you not?”

  “Yes, I do. However, none of them are smart enough to accomplish this so thoroughly.”

  “That means little, Sol,” Aldric advised, taking his own cup to drink from. “Anyone can hide their true selves from view. Seem honorable, and not be, feign stupidity and be a genius. You cannot go on that premise alone.”

  “Perhaps not.” Solomon nibbled thoughtfully on his lip. “Anyone I deal with might learn to forge my signature, and some know the import business. It could be one of the others. I will certainly be looking into them as well.”

  “Good. You do realize that if one of your associates, me for instance, were to kill you, all deals would end. The money flow would cease.”

  Solomon nodded. “That is why I did not believe the thief also wanted me dead. Until we considered Beaulieu was working with someone.”

  “Perhaps the thief wants you dead for other reasons and aligned with Beaulieu.”

  “I already dismissed the notion of a jealous husband,” Solomon replied dryly.

  “I was not thinking that,” Aldric said. “Something that would benefit them after you are dead.”

  “None of them can inherit anything,” Solomon retorted. “My heir is a child, and my sister is happily married. At least, I think she is, even though my father arranged her marriage to the Count of Eban.”

  “It may not be that either,” Aldric argued. “It could be something you are blocking in Parliament. With you gone, a bill passes and Beaulieu and whoever he is working with benefits enormously.”

  “I cannot think of anything like that going on in Parliament.”

  “As I said, you do not even know what might be beneficial to them. It is not necessarily money. Perhaps just by having you gone and with no heir is enough.”

  Solomon shook his head. “And here I thought this was a simple matter of one of you pilfering money.”

  “Nothing is ever simple in life, Sol.”

  Chapter 22

  Solomon Eli Dunn, the Duke of Thornehill

  His horse hidden, once again garbed in the clothes of a working man, Solomon waited in the same doorway, watching the Beaulieu residence. He leaned indolently, his cloth cap pulled low over his brow, occasionally glancing around. As before, no one paid him any heed at all. Jon
as Simms came out of the grand house and walked toward the street.

  He, too, leaned casually against the wall as if pausing to gossip. “I learned where the Baroness’s maid’s village is.”

  “What is it called?”