James was silent. It made sense, and yet he wanted to find fault. “You covered him in dirt?”
Sir Oliver grimaced. “I don’t remember. It might have been Lilac’s shawl or the jacket I’d been about to put on when I ran down the stairs. Remember, I’d been in a dead sleep myself.”
“How did the other one escape?” James asked, picturing the garden, the slope to the bridge, the impediments, gone now, thanks to Oliver’s intervention.
“He had a small carriage on the bridge. I didn’t see it, but I heard the snap of a whip, the rumble of wheels and hooves.”
“You didn’t think to run after it for at least a look?” Wendover said in a faint reproach.
Sir Oliver answered him with a cold stare. “No. I thought to draw Lilac away from the dead body that had fallen on top of her. Was that wrong of me? Should I have left her there in shock? You were an officer, Your Grace,” he said to James. “You are better trained than me in these matters. What would you have done?”
“No doubt the same thing. But you have killed a man—two men—before, Sir Oliver.”
“On a dueling field. There might have been a woman involved, but she was not being assaulted in my sight.” Oliver’s voice rose. “Am I on trial for protecting a woman’s virtue?”
“Of course not.” James glanced at Wendover for a moment before speaking further. “I don’t think they should return to that house.”
“You will have a job persuading them, I fear.” Sir Oliver came to his feet. “With your permission I will return to Fenwick and leave for London before it is dark. I might even come across a drunken man in a tavern who is lamenting the death of his partner.”
James rose. “Then unless the magistrate requires a formal report from you, we are finished.”
“Perhaps.” Sir Oliver nodded in Wendover’s direction. “Good day.”
James stroked his jaw. He waited to speak to Wendover until the footman in the hall closed the door. “What do you think?”
“From what little I know of Ivy and her sisters, the two ladies won’t leave Fenwick of their own volition.”
“Perhaps we can convince them that a temporary stay in the park is a good idea.” James flipped another coin in the air. “Heads or tails?”
“Heads.”
James caught it in his left hand. “It’s tails. He’s hiding something, and I don’t know what.”
“He’s a cocksure bastard. Perhaps he knows more about the other assailant than he’s willing to tell. He might even be going after him to make himself more the hero.”
James grunted. His arm had started to hurt. He swore it was because he wanted to reach across his desk and throttle the weasel. “This was supposed to be a day of celebration,” he mused.
“Which I interrupted,” Wendover said.
James released a sigh. “I was showing her the library.”
“The hell you were.” Wendover shook his head. “I know the difference between the sound of pages being turned in a book and bedsprings.”
“I’m not the least bit interested in good manners.”
“I’ve noticed.”
They walked toward the door together.
“Come to think of it,” James said, “I’ll need more than good manners to put her back in a receptive mood. I wanted to give her my mother’s diamond and sapphire necklace while we were upstairs. Remind me later to look for it again.”
“Offer her comfort,” Wendover said. “She’ll need it more than jewels. She isn’t like Elora.”
“I’ll have the devil’s time taking her mind off what happened to Lilac. No doubt she will want to comfort her sisters.”
“Allow me to assist.”
James grinned. “They are beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Why did you hide them from me for so long? You could have invited them to dinner or a picnic at the lake.”
“They hide themselves from the world.”
Wendover frowned. “Four women of reduced circumstances couldn’t keep up a manor that grand forever. What sustained them through the years?”
“Wits, a strong heritage, the revenues from Rosemary’s writing, plus a bountiful supply of fruits and vegetables from the back gardens.”
“That’s all?”
“And, I gather, sisterhood.”
They had reached the doors to the drawing room, from which drifted warm voices and laughter. “I hope I don’t offend you, James, but your fiancée and her sisters are not the ‘usual’ sort of gentlewomen one encounters at a country assembly. Or anywhere that I would think to look.”