Chapter 45

With enormous relief, Julien folded the letter back up and tossed it aside. That saved him the trouble of asking Gabriel to vacate the house—something he’d been intending to do that day or the next. It also meant Cordelia’s suggestion that Gabriel might have somehow been behind the shooting had no merit. Not that Julien ever seriously considered it. Gabriel wasn’t about to kill his source of income, and Julien hadn’t yet asked him to leave the house, thereby completely severing ties.

Some of his other guests had ideas as well. Seaforth casually reminded him that Bertram was next in line and that Augusta was always keen to increase her social standing. Lady Penelope had been the only one with the courage to suggest it might somehow be tied to the Norvilles—belated revenge for Tobias’s disappearance.