Stephanie Laurens - The Edge of Desire

He grimaced. “Barton’s right-the most obvious suspect is Justin.”

“Perhaps,” Letitia grimly conceded. “But he didn’t do it.”

“The key,” Hermione said. “Don’t forget that. You said it yourself.” She fixed Christian with large eyes. “Why would Justin do such a thing? It makes no sense, not if he were the murderer. So he can’t be the murderer.”

Christian looked into her eyes, and wondered, not if but what she was hiding; that wasn’t the first time she’d spoken in Justin’s defense.

He glanced at Letitia; after spending a few hours in her and Hermione’s company, he felt increasingly certain that the Vaux temperament was as he remembered it. They hadn’t changed. Letitia’s betrayal of him aside, loyalty, especially of the familial variety, was ingrained. Letitia had-he felt certain with no real thought for herself-walked across the gulf between them, braving whatever wrath he might seek to visit on her-whatever price he might ask-to gain his help in clearing Justin. Hermione demonstrably felt the same. The question in Christian’s mind was whether she’d acted on that feeling, and if so, how.

He fixed Hermione with a direct look. “Do you know anything more about what happened last night?”

She blinked, slowly, then shook her head. “No. Only what I told you.”

He didn’t believe her. From the corner of his eye he noticed Letitia was also now regarding her sister with a slight frown. But she said nothing.

Both, he felt perfectly certain, would lie through their teeth if that’s what was needed to protect Justin, even though the Vaux rarely lied…and family loyalty worked both ways.

It was very possible Justin was acting to protect…

He looked at Letitia, waited until she felt his gaze and raised her eyes to his. He studied those eyes, eyes he knew very well in all their green and gold splendor, eyes he’d in the past always been able to read. “Tell me you didn’t kill Randall.”

She blinked, but continued to return his steady regard. He saw her make the connection, her mind following the path his had trod. Her brows rose fractionally. “I didn’t kill Randall.” An instant passed, then she grimaced and added, “I often felt like killing him, but no, I didn’t. I wouldn’t. No more than Justin would.”

And that, Christian reflected, was the right answer. In contrast to Hermione, he had no doubt whatever that Letitia was telling the truth.

He nodded. “Very well. That leaves us with one large and immediate question. Where is Justin?”

A fter dining alone and reviewing and digesting the conversations and interactions of that afternoon, Christian-much to the disgust of his more vengeful side-felt compelled to call again at Randall’s house.

Not that he had any interest in the house; it was its mistress who drew him.

He’d thought he’d understood where he and she now were vis-à-vis each other, yet there were undercurrents between them he couldn’t explain. When he’d taken his leave of her that afternoon and she’d given him her hand, he’d grasped it-and felt her pulse leap, her breathing tighten.

Felt everything in him respond.

She reacted to him as she always had, if anything even more intensely-just as he was affected by her. He hadn’t expected either to be so, had assumed she’d loved Randall with all her considerable heart and soul, and that her attraction to him and his to her would consequently have faded, if not died.

Not so.

As he strode briskly down South Audley Street, his more vengeful side-the side her betrayal and marriage to Randall had brought into being-sneered. Contemptuously reminded him how he’d felt when Barton had so distressed her with Justin’s coat, how helpless he’d been to suppress the primitive response to protect and defend her-one that, at that intensity, only made sense if he loved her. If, in his heart of hearts, he still, despite all, saw her as his.

His to protect, even if she was no longer his to possess.

His position, he cynically admitted, was pathetic.

Inwardly frowning, he neared Randall’s house, a block south of Grosvenor Square-and saw, to his considerable surprise, every window ablaze with light, much as if a ball were taking place. Mystified, he went up the steps and rapped sharply on the black crepe-draped door.

Mellon looked flustered when he opened it; leaving his cane with the man, Christian strolled into the drawing room-and discovered the reason why.

The large room was packed with women. Ladies. A swift survey informed him they were all Vaux-those of the main line together with innumerable connections.

The Vaux were one of the very oldest ton families. They were all but legendary, one of those families everyone knew of and kept track of, a recognized cornerstone of society. Christian noted a few males among the crowd, all more senior than he, but the company was predominantly female-and all were talking.

Luckily in whispers and the soft tones considered appropriate to a house in mourning; he could hear himself think. Because of the crowd, many of whom were standing, and being Vaux were of the tall, commanding type of female, he was only seen by those in the groups nearest him. And while those ladies stopped talking long enough to take due note of him, to bob curtsies or nod as appropriate to his rank, they quickly returned to their hushed conversations.

Randall might not have been a Vaux, but he’d married one of their leading lights. His death therefore was of considerable note to the wider family, something to be acknowledged by attendance at this gathering, not a wake for the departed but a show of support for the bereaved.

Locating Letitia on a chaise by the hearth, Christian made his way toward her. Cleaving a path through the crowd, most of whom knew him, wasn’t easy; charm to the fore, he progressed by slow stages.

Which gave him time to study his target.

Seated between her paternal aunts-Lady Amarantha Ffyfe, Countess of Ffyfe, and Lady Constance Bickerdale, Viscountess Manningham-Letitia presided over the assembly with a calm, composed air.

Her expression clearly stated she knew this gathering had to be, and she was perfectly ready to host it and play her part…

Except she didn’t look bereft.

She hadn’t earlier, either, but he’d put that down to her concern for Justin, something that, in her, might be strong enough to override grief. Temporarily. But as he neared the chaise, he could see no evidence that she’d shed so much as a single tear for Randall.

In another female, he might suspect repressed grief, some emotional blockage that kept the woman in question in a state of emotional denial, barring all expression and the release of grieving. But the Vaux lived for emotion. The only way they knew to survive was firmly in the here and now, immersed in the immediate moment and unashamedly giving their emotions full rein.

Witness Letitia’s storm of the afternoon. That’s what happened with Vaux. They were, as one, single-minded when in the grip of their latest flight.

Letitia’s current flight should have been grief, but there was no sign, not even a hint, of that emotion when she raised her eyes to his face, giving him her hand as he bowed before her.

Her clear-eyed composure unsettled him; to gain time to regroup, he turned to acknowledge her aunts.

Lady Constance arched a brow at him. “Letitia mentioned she’d appealed to you over finding Justin. Not that the Continent might not be the best place for the boy, all things considered, but it would be nice to know where he’s gone.”

“Nonsense!” Lady Amarantha waved that aside. “He should come back and face his trial. It’s not as if anyone would convict him.”