Page 59 of A Game of Scandal

The sigh that escaped me was wistful. It sounded wonderful.

“Why did you leave the navy if you loved it so much?” I asked. I’d put this question to him once before, but this time I hoped he would answer.

“Christopher died in a carriage accident,” Ash said. “He and I hadn’t been in contact for years and it was a big shock. Suddenly my father had an heir but no spare, and he found that unacceptable. The risk that I’d be injured or killed while in the navy hadn’t troubled him before, but it did now. It was time for me to come home and start behaving like a gentleman.”

“But you were eighteen,” I said, remembering that he’d said he had been in the navy five years. “It should have been your choice.”

“My father is close friends with several admirals – it was how I got the position in the first place. If they decide you’re not going to sail, then you’re not going to sail. There was nothing I could do about it.” I heard the anger and frustration in his voice. “So I came back, but I refused to go home. I used the money I’d saved and went into business with Joe. I had some helpful connections through my travels and we built the Penny. My father wasn’t happy, but we hardly had anything to do with one another. He’d got his way by yanking me out of the navy and, after all, he had Perry.”

“But then a few months ago your brother was shot?”

“Yes.” Ash narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “In some ways it wasn’t a surprise. Perry had a habit of making friends with unsavoury characters. It was ironic – my father always thought of me as the bad seed, because Perry’s awful friends were all gentlemen. In name, at least, if not in deed.” He said this with a sneer. “My family are notoriously terrible with money – any fortune the Archers once held is long gone, frittered away by generation after generation of gambler or fool. Father lost a fortune through bad investing. Perry had a taste for fine things, and a whole lot of debt. He borrowed from friends, ran up bills all over the place with no hope of paying them. There were rumours he was in deep with some unscrupulous characters. But then, before he died, he seemed to come into some funds. He was flashing his new-found wealth all over town.”

“You think someone killed him over it?”

Another shrug. “It crossed my mind.”

“Was Lord Covington one of his friends?” I asked thoughtfully, remembering the dissolute young man from the poker game and his shock at Perry’s death. “And the others at the game?”

“Covington and Johnson, yes. Peabody, not as far as I know – although he is an acquaintance of my father’s.”

“And Laing?”

“I don’t know.”

I thought about this for a moment. “Does Laing know you’re Perry’s brother? Did anyone else at the game?”

“No,” Ash said firmly. “It’s a secret I’ve kept carefully. It hasn’t been in my father’s interest to broadcast the connection either. He is … displeased with my career choices.”

I digested all this information, and Ash seemed comfortable to sit quietly while I did so, though I felt him watching me with an intensity that felt a little like plunging into the hot water earlier.

“Any other questions?” he asked.

I thought about it.

“What’s your name?”

Ash leaned forward, elbows on the table, and I mirrored his pose. He reached out, gently brushing the hair away from my temple, his eyes lingering solemnly on the bruise there. My skin tingled where he touched me, a feeling that seemed to connect with my stomach, where fluttering sensations erupted. When his eyes met mine it felt as though we had stripped away any pretence between us, as though I was seeing him, really him, exactly as he was. And he was looking right back at me.

“Frederick Ashton Archer,” he said finally, the words almost a whisper, a caress. “A secret few people know, Felicity Vane.”

I felt another golden thread stretch between us, another confidence that tied us closer together, and I wanted to rub my face against his hand like a cat.

“I’ll keep it,” I whispered back instead. “I promise.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“I think it’s best if we continue to Cambridge,” I said later. “I’ll be able to easily arrange a telegram to the Aviary, and I can get a direct train back to London. I don’t think they take too long.”

“Less than two hours,” Ash confirmed.

“So why on earth have you travelled by carriage?”

Ash groaned and slumped in his seat. “I’ve been asking myself the same question. The carriage belonged to Perry. He’d just bought it, though I can’t find any record of the purchase. My parents got wind of the carriage’s existence and insisted I bring it up with me for their use. At the time it seemed like a small concession, given that I’m going to be telling them I have no intention of being involved with the estate or anything the title carries, nor shall I help them out of whatever mess Perry has left them with before the funeral.”

“Well, I’m glad you got roped into delivering it,” I said. “Otherwise I might never have had the opportunity to live out my dream of being a stowaway.” I didn’t say that I might also have found myself caught by Laing’s man, but the thought hung between us anyway.

“Do you mean to go straight back to London?” Ash asked, shifting in his seat.