Being reminded of her husband’s death in such a manner would have been… fraught.
“How is she this morning?”Matthew asked sympathetically.
“Still sleeping when I left, thankfully.We had to dose her to calm her.”Zachary shook his head.“I had to sit in a chair beside her, holding her hand, until she fell asleep last night.She cried until she finally dropped off.”
There was a bone-deep tiredness in his voice, the kind that came from far more than a single night of ill rest.Matthew did not envy him at all.He might have secured a fiancée and a future that was helping his mother with her grief, at least most of the time, but he had done it at the expense of his own happiness.And now his mother was struggling again, anyway.
The door to their room opened, and Christian and Nathanial came in, smiling and laughing together.It was very nice to see Nathanial so happy now, rather than being part of the dour club with Zachary.Not that Matthew blamed Zachary for being depressed; it was just nice that Nathanial no longer was.
If he still had his coin, he might offer to flip it for Zachary.It had worked out very well for Nathanial, by all appearances.
His fingers ran over his pocket, and he sighed internally when they came up empty, but at the same time, there was a kind of resigned acknowledgment that, of course, they had.Matthew was finally becoming used to the lack.Somehow, he felt like it should take longer for the change, but he was also grateful for it.He did not like feeling panicked every time he reached for his coin and found his pocket empty.
“Well met, fellow dukes,” Christian said, clapping his hands together.“I have just come from giving my mistress hercongé.”
Matthew snorted as the others all stared blankly at him.
“Are we supposed to celebrate that for you?”Sebastian asked blandly, shooting a worried look at Zachary.Who, of course, had broken things off with Delilah before embarking on the search for a wife.Although Christian’s mistress had been an actress, not a widow of theton,so it was not as if she could have any expectations of becoming a wife.
Not like Delilah had.
“Absolutely.”Christian nodded, rubbing his hands together.Like Matthew, he and Nathanial stopped by the drink cart.Nathanial handed him a glass, allowing him to make his way into the circle to sit beside Zachary.“My time is now completely freed to focus on the next step in our mystery.I am delighted to discover that there is a next step to take.”
“Should you not be focused on finding a wife now that you no longer have a mistress?”Zachary asked, turning his head to frown at Christian.
With an exasperated sigh, Christian shook his head.
“I told you, having a mistress was no impediment to finding myself a bride.It is not as though I announced it at every ball I attend.However, it was becoming difficult to pay proper attention to Susette, look for a bride,andassist with the investigation.This way, I only have two things to do.”He grinned.“It works out well for Susette, too; she’s been offered a part in a traveling company, so she’s off to France next week with some pretty new jewels to remember me by.”
“What he means is that she was going to leave him anyway, so he might as well break it off with her now,” Nathanial joked, coming to sit by Matthew, leaving the chair between him and Christian for Drake.
Christian shrugged and took a sip of his brandy.“Does it really matter the order of things?”
“Not in the slightest.”Sebastian shook his head, a bemused expression on his face.Of their whole group, he and Zachary were the most likely to do things the ‘proper’ way.Unfortunately for Sebastian, his mother had turned out to be quite vicious to his sister, and Sebastian had banished her to the countryside, so he did not have a mother or even a grandmother to assist him in finding a bride.Lady Astrid had suggested several times that he use Lady Hu, the matchmaker, but so far, he was proving to be very resistant to the idea.
The door opened again, admitting the final member of their group.Drake had a rather vicious smile on his face as he strode in, one that made Matthew wonder about what condition he’d left Mr.Blash in at Newgate.He appeared very pleased with himself as he shut the door behind him and locked it, so they would not be disturbed.
“Gentlemen,” he said with a nod, and like the others before him, headed for the drink cart.
“Where have you been?”Nathanial asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I had some matters to attend to.Nothing to do with this,” Drake replied, taking a sip from his snifter as he moved to claim the seat left open for him.“Have we started yet?”
“Not at all,” Gregory replied.“There was a small fire in Zachary’s kitchen last night; his mother was very distressed by it.Christian has given his mistress her congé.And, as usual, Sebastian still has no marital prospects.”He chuckled as Sebastian reached over to punch him in the shoulder.
Even before Gregory had married Sebastian’s sister, the two had been close and treated each other more like brothers than friends.Hence the teasing.
“I am a duke.I haveallthe marital prospects; it is just a matter of picking which woman.”Sebastian huffed.“Just because you accidentally fell into a happy marriage does not mean it will be so easy for the rest of us.”
“Go to more house parties,” Nathanial suggested.“Perhaps you will be trapped in a happy marriage.”He chuckled when Sebastian glared at him.
“I want to hear what Matthew has to say,” Drake said, cutting off the inevitable deterioration of the discussion.Matthew sat up straight in his chair as everyone looked at him.“Since you were the one who wanted to call the meeting.”
“Yes.”He cleared his throat.“I ah… I have some new information that has been brought to me.An unexpected clue.”Everyone’s expression changed, becoming much more serious.They had all known why, but saying it aloud dampened whatever lightheartedness the jokes about the marriage mart had managed to inspire.“I was approached by a person?—”
“Who?”Drake asked immediately, interrupting him.
Matthew shook his head.“It does not matter who.Their identity is not important to the information.”And he had promised Johanna he would protect her mother.The best way to do that was to keep where he’d gotten the information from a secret, even from his friends.That way, they could not slip up and accidentally reveal her identity to the wrong person.