The Wedding Night Affair--An Historical Mystery L.C. Sharp (i read books .TXT) 📖

“The diagram allows me to see connections I might otherwise miss,” he said. “There are too many spaces in that paper so far. I need to fill them in. For instance, I want to know if your late husband left any traces of his behavior anywhere else. If we can find other witnesses, their testimony will strengthen your case.”

She saw that. “You mean mistresses and the like?”

He nodded.

“Godfrey was popular in society.” She recalled seeing him across a ballroom for the first time, surrounded by friends. “He was a member of a number of clubs. I heard no trace of any bad behavior, at least no worse than anyone else’s.” If she had, she would have used it as a way to escape her engagement. She had never liked him, but she had not heard anything against him. “He had a small independence left him by his grandmother and he had entered Parliament using a rotten borough in his father’s keeping.”

“Ah.” He pursed his lips in thought. “Then I will apply to the prime minister.”

“Godfrey was of a different political persuasion than the Duke of Newcastle and his brother.”

“He supported Pitt and Fox?”

“Not really. Like my father, he leaned toward the Tory viewpoint, but they were trying to create a new faction in government, with the help of the Prince of Wales. Unusual, I grant, but they had ambitions.”

He drew the paper back, dipped the pen in the inkwell and wrote political-Tory on the line between the sets of parents. “So a political union. But the treatment Uppingham subjected you to is nothing to do with politics. If he was keeping his propensities secret, that would indicate the demimonde.”

Juliana thrilled to his words. He was treating her as an adult, someone who understood the ways of the world. Of course she did. She had even read a scurrilous novel set in that world. Not that she would admit to having seen it.

“Sir, please allow me to accompany you on your investigations. I want to help. I want to be part of it, to control my own life, and what I do with it.”

He did not seem surprised. “An admirable ambition, but as I am sure you are aware, there are places you cannot go.”

She would not accept that. “I don’t want to stand by and allow someone else to do all the work.” Or have all the fun. Fear dropped away. “With the shadow of the gallows hanging over me, what worse can I face? Disgrace?” She laughed scornfully. “No. I want to go, too.”

Fixing his gaze on her face, he said nothing for a full minute, until the chime of a church clock outside broke into their silence. “Very well. I see the justice in what you say. But you will agree to obey me at all times if I take you anywhere, and Freeman will accompany us. Until further notice, he will be your shadow. Never leave the house without him, and never go out of his sight. Is that clear?”

She could ask for no more. Ash was her gaoler, in all but name, if an indulgent one. Juliana nodded. “Yes. Since I’m unfamiliar with many things, that makes sense.”

Especially if her father threatened to abduct her and send her abroad. “I understand.” Only too well. “If I survive the trial, I will not be accepted back into society. But it does not matter, not to my father’s dynastic ambitions. I may still provide my father with his heir. He could marry me to anybody he chooses, and if I bear a legitimate boy child, he can petition the Crown to allow this boy to hold his title.”

“You’re a widow. He has no legal jurisdiction over you anymore,” Ash pointed out.

Her reply was a bitter laugh. “What does that matter? He has power of a different kind. He can push me into obeying his will, bully me, force me, put me into the situation that makes marriage inevitable.”

Heiresses were abducted, forced to go through the marriage ceremony, even raped so that they had no choice but to marry their rapist. He knew that, and deplored it, but there was little he could do in most cases. He most certainly could in this one.

“Can he choose another candidate to receive his title?” Ash asked. “Since he is, not to put too fine a point on it, bribing the Crown, why does he have to use you?”

She knew the answer to that. “Two reasons. The Crown needs an excuse, a reason to reinvest the title. They can be venal, but not so openly that it causes questions to be asked. And secondly, I’m the continuance of the bloodline.”

Ash nodded. “I see. Will he give you up if he finds someone else? Is there nobody else?”

“Nobody. I am the sole heir to my father’s unentailed property. Once people knew my father had ‘persuaded’ the officials in the crown office and the king himself to reinvest the title in whoever I married, men flocked to me. I was the price they’d have to pay to obtain a title and estate. If I am found not guilty, he might disown me,” she added brightly. The prospect appealed.

“I doubt it. These arrangements have been made in the past. Titles can be reinvested. The crown will most likely take a slice of the entail as a price, and your father has expended a great deal on his project. It is no secret.” He tapped the neat pile of newspapers and journals on one side of his desk. “His efforts have been well reported.”

The blatant way her father had gone about his task shamed Juliana, but she had borne it, as she had many other things.

“If I survive, I want more independence, more freedom. Is there a way to ensure that?”

He sighed. “I’ll find a way. Legally, you may claim it, but I understand the difficulties. I’ll look into it. Once we have dealt with this case, I could bring another, to obtain your