“Diana,” Lydia said sternly. “We should go.”
She climbed back into the carriage and fell into the seat, her heart shattering in her chest and she replayed everything in her head.
As soon as Marina climbed in, she said across from her, “That vile man! How dare he approach you—”
“But was he telling the truth?” Diana’s mouth went dry. “About the dowry?”
“We don’t know that,” Hannah said quickly. “He could be lying to cause trouble.”
“But this would explain everything.”
The ride home passed in tense silence. Diana’s mind raced through every interaction with Graham over the past weeks. His refusal to show her the household accounts. The way he’d deflect her questions with intimacy. The papers she’d glimpsed on his desk about payments.
And then if used the funds that he told her was allocated for her and their future children, he had looked her in the eye and lied.
By the time they reached the townhouse, Diana was shaking with rage.
“Perhaps we should—”
“Just go,” Diana said, after a footman handed her down from the carriage. “I’ll be all right.”
She didn’t believe those words, but she didn’t need her friends to help her face Graham. It was something she had to do on her own.
Once Diana was inside, she tossed her reticule and hat aside. She immediately went to Graham’s study, and found it empty.
She went to his desk, trying each drawer. The bottom one was locked. She took a letter opener from his desk and worked the lock. The wood splinters from where she forced the lock open, but she was able to access the drawer.
Part of her felt guilty about breaking into his locked drawer. But she had to know if he was lying to her. It might contain the only proof to the contrary so she could confirm that she could trust him and the man was nothing but a liar.
Inside the drawer were bank statements, correspondence, and property deeds. She spread them across the desk and began to read through each of the papers.
Then her eyes landed on a withdrawal slip dated yesterday. Ten thousand pounds from her dowry account, that had been transferred to another account. And then another slip for a forty-five-thousand-pound bank draft that has been drawn up.
Next was correspondence from Rothwell demanding that he be paid the funds that he was owed. And then property sale documents and the ledgers for a couple of the estates with the parchment where she’d written the valuation and the plans for the enhancements.
She thought back on their conversation. The way that he’d asked her questions about the value of the properties and how he never wanted to discuss the estates after that. She had solved his problem for him. Told him exactly which properties to sell without knowing about it. He’d used her while lying to her face.
And if he could lie to her and keep all of this from her, what else was he capable of? She thought she knew him, loved him even. But he was as much of a stranger to her as the day they’d met.
“Diana?”
Graham appeared in the doorway, appearing confused. Was everything a performance?
“What are you doing? I didn’t realize you were home. Mother would love for you to join us for tea. I think she adores you more than me.”
Tears welled in the corners of Diana’s eyes. She loved the man before her, and he betrayed her. She had been the worst kind of fool to let him have her heart.
Graham rushed to her. “What is the matter?”
She pushed him back, too afraid to allow herself to be in his arms. Because as angry as she was, she still wanted him to hold her. Which was why she couldn’t trust herself.
He glanced at the desk and the color drained from his face. “Diana. Please, you have to let me explain.”
“Explain how you lied to me? How you used my dowry after you said you wouldn’t. You’ve been hiding things from me from the start. And I let you trap me so you could have it all. You got my body, my knowledge, and my dowry.”
Graham reached for her again, but she stepped back. “Diana, I swear to you that what happened in the garden wasn’t some kind of plan. You must believe me. I will tell you everything like I should have from the start.”
Diana shook her head, not wanting to hear anymore. Because she didn’t trust herself not to believe him. She took off from the study and raced toward the staircase in the foyer.
