Page 50 of The Earl She Once Saved

“Your brother took money under the strength of the Edgeworth name.”

“My brother stole money under whatever name proved useful to him.”

Crote shut the portfolio, using the few moments of silence to come up with more arguments.

“Names endure longer than men.”

Rafe tilted his head as he spoke. “That sounds very nearly like a threat, Mr. Crote. Am I to take it as one? ”

“Merely an observation.”

Rafe stood. That meant that the interview was over.

Crote rose more slowly. “You have only just returned, my lord. You may not yet appreciate how … fragile a reputation may become after scandal.”

Rafe looked at him. “Are you suggesting you mean to damage mine?”

“I am suggesting that people remember,” the man’s arguments slithered around Rafe.

“So do I.”

Crote’s eyes narrowed. “There are debts that follow a family.”

“No.”

Rafe’s voice went cold. “There are sins men prefer to call family debts when the man who committed them is inconveniently absent.”

The color rose in Crote’s face.

Rafe continued. “If you possess a legal claim against my brother, take it to my solicitor. If you possess only gossip, take it somewhere I am not obliged to hear it.”

For a moment Crote said nothing, then he bowed. “Very well.”

He reached the door, but there, he paused.

“The Edgeworth name has already survived one disgrace.”

Rafe’s hand tightened at his side.

“I should be careful not to invite another.”

The door closed behind him. Rafe stood motionless and he had to admit to himself that he had faced men with weapons who had irritated him less. He sighed heavily, turning his attention to the morning post, which he still had not gotten around to reading.

Verity’s aunt had gone out for the day. Ezra was somewhere with Mrs. Hale, though Rafe suspected the excuse involved neither household business nor necessity. Verity had come down, but she informed him that she would be in the garden. He himself had every intention to stay inside. That was probably for the best.

There were three letters waiting for him. One was from the solicitor. One was bearing an unfamiliar hand. And the third …

Rafe broke the seal before he properly looked at it, then he saw the writing and everything inside him went cold. He knew that hand. He knew those long, careless strokes, the arrogant sweep of the R. He had seen it on childhood notes, debts, letters from school, and apologies that had never meant anything.

Rafe stared at the page … his brother was alive.

Chapter 9

The drawing room was full of morning light and cold ashes. But that was not the reason that made Verity linger in the doorway.

Rafe was standing before the windows with a letter in his hand. He had not heard her enter. The paper was held too tightly between his fingers, the edge bent beneath his thumb, and there was something in his face she had not seen before.

She could not say that it was anger, because anger moved. It tightened the mouth, sharpened the eyes, and demanded somewhere to go. This was stillness, and every part of him had closed.