Kady Cross - The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

“May I ask you a question?” Finley asked, as she loosened the laces of Phoebe’s damask corset.

“Only if I may ask one of you,” the girl replied, holding on to one of the posters of her bed. “Good lord, Finley, you’re going to lift me clean off the floor!”

“Sorry.” Sheepishly, Finley gentled her actions. Sometimes she forgot her own strength.

Phoebe smiled over her shoulder. “What is it you wished to ask?”

“Why are you marrying Lord Vincent?”

“How is it you can leap from a second-floor window and not even twist an ankle?”

“Usually how this sort of thing works is that you answer my question before asking your own.”

Phoebe shrugged. “I will answer yours after you answer mine.”

Oh, for pity’s sake. Finley sighed. “I don’t know how I’m able to leap out a window and remain unharmed, only that I can.” It was an honest answer, if a poor one.

Dark eyes narrow, Phoebe turned to face her, popping the hooks in the front of her corset, beneath which her chemise was stuck to her skin. “What else can you do?”

“I agreed to one question,” Finley dodged. “Now you must answer mine. Why are you marrying Lord Vincent? You obviously don’t want to, so why?”

Phoebe glanced away, clenching her jaw in an almost petulant manner.

“Are you going back on our agreement?” Finley demanded.

“I agreed that you could ask me a question. I did not promise to answer it.”

“Oh, that’s honorable of you.” She should keep her mouth shut. This girl was not her social equal. One word to her mother and Finley would be out on the street—again. But she was hurt, insulted and a little pissed. “I tell you something I’ve never told anyone else and you won’t extend the same courtesy. That’s just lovely. Good night.”

She made it perhaps two steps before Phoebe reached out and seized her by the wrist. For a second, Finley was in a poor enough temper that she was tempted to catch the girl’s wrist in her own hand and squeeze until the delicate bones rubbed together.

“Finley, wait.” An expression of real distress crossed her face. “Don’t go. Please.”

With a mulish set to her jaw, Finley turned, relaxing her posture enough that Phoebe dropped her arm. “I’ll stay.”

Phoebe’s thin shoulders sagged. “Good. Why don’t we sit down?”

They sat beside one another on the edge of the bed. Phoebe had slipped into a robe to protect her bare arms from the slight spring chill in the air. Finley waited patiently for her to begin.

Licking her lips, Phoebe tangled her fingers in her lap, thumbs rubbing together nervously. “Surely you noticed that Papa did not attend the theater with us this evening?”

“I hadn’t given it much thought to be honest.”

“No,” Phoebe said softly. “I suppose you wouldn’t. And it’s not as though it’s unusual for an engaged girl and her mother to attend the theater with the girl’s fiancé.”

Finley wouldn’t know what was unusual and what wasn’t with the upper classes—not really. “Did your father’s absence upset you?”

Phoebe’s pale cheeks flushed a deep rose. “No. You asked me why I’m marrying Lord Vincent?”

It took a second for Finley to realize that her companion was waiting for her confirmation before she replied. Raising both brows, she gave a small nod. “Yes. I did.”

“My father…” Phoebe frowned, tucking in her lips. “My father prefers to spend his evenings at his club or with his cronies.”

Finley shrugged. “All right.” What the devil did this have to do with Lord Vincent?

“He enjoys horse racing and cards.” Dark eyes darted away from hers. “Perhaps too much.”

She could have smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand. Lord, but she could be dense at times! She should have already made this assumption—because it made the most sense.

“Lord Vincent paid off your father’s debts in return for marrying you.”

More pink flooded Phoebe’s cheeks. She was quite flushed now. “Yes. So you see now why I cannot simply break the engagement to be with Robert.”

Finley nodded. “I assume that Vincent has also agreed to continue covering any debts your father racks up?”

“Yes. It is very good of Lord Vincent to do this.”

Who was she trying to convince? Finley or herself?

“No matter how much your father owes, it’s not what you are worth,” Finley remarked.

The dark-haired girl turned to her. There were tears in her green eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered before dissolving into sobs.

What the devil was she to do now? Finley didn’t have a lot of experience with crying—her own or that of others. Slowly—and a bit awkwardly if she was truthful—she slid her arm around Phoebe’s shoulders and patted her back a bit.

The sobs subsided after a few moments, and Phoebe reared up and off the bed in search of a handkerchief for her eyes and nose. When she turned to face Finley again it was with puffy eyes and a red nose. “Forgive me.”

“Whatever for? For being upset over a situation that rots? I think you have every right.”

“Lord Vincent has been nothing but gentlemanly and kind to me through the entire process, and I know that I am extremely fortunate to make such a match. I’ll be a countess.”

“But?” Finley prodded, sensing there was more.

Twisting the crumpled linen handkerchief in her hands, Phoebe’s shoulders slumped. “Perhaps you’ll think me naive, but I always thought I’d marry for love. Lord Vincent doesn’t love me. In fact, I think he only wants me because I look like his dead wife. I know you saw her portrait.”

So she hadn’t been asleep the entire carriage drive. “So your father makes a mess and you get to clean it up. You’re a better person than I, Phoebe. I don’t think I could do it.”

“I’m not doing it for my father,” came the firm reply. She sounded a little angry, but she didn’t rush to her father’s defense. “I’m doing it for Mama—and for myself—so neither of us has to suffer through the whispers and stares, the social downfall that happens when ones debtors come calling. I would save us both that humiliation. This way if Father ruins himself, I will be in a position to care for my mother.”

Wanting to protect her mother was something Finley could relate to, though she still had no idea what role she was to play in all of this. Had Lady Morton hired her to make certain Phoebe went through with the marriage and didn’t run away with Robert? Or had she been hired because Lady Morton was uncomfortable putting her daughter in the hands of a man old enough to be her father?

One thing for certain, she was beginning to like Phoebe, and she didn’t want to see anything happen to her. That meant she was going to have to find out all she could about Lord Vincent. Lord Morton, as well.

“I should let you get to bed,” she said, rising to her feet. “Thank you for confiding in me. I want you to know that I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

A shaky smile curved Phoebe’s lips. “Thank you, but I’m not sure that there’s anything you can do. Although, you never did tell me just what else you are capable of doing.”

It was meant as a lighthearted comment, and Finley tried to react as such, but it struck just a little too close to home for her find it funny. She turned her head to meet Phoebe’s gaze past the corner of the door. “I’m not sure either of us wants to find out,” she replied. “Good night, Phoebe.” And then closed the door behind her.

Finley woke to utter darkness and a sense of determined purpose, which could mean only one thing, though it never occurred to her—her other self was awake, as well, and in control.