“Perhaps we could ask my uncle together about the ledger,” Edwina suggested, hoping to ease her worry.
“I do not wish to bother him during the soiree,” Mr. Stanley said as he came around the desk. “And you shouldn’t be here at all. You should be dancing with a plethora of suitors, including Lord Hilgrove, if the rumors are to be believed.”
Edwina refused to back down, not when she felt such a pressing need to get to the bottom of this. “Do you mind waiting here while I go speak to my uncle?”
An annoyed expression crossed Mr. Stanley’s face. “I amsimply trying to do my job. Do you truly wish to disturb your uncle over something as trivial as this?”
“I do.”
“It’s no wonder your uncle has been so disappointed in you lately,” Mr. Stanley remarked with a hint of disdain. “Your persistence can be rather tiresome.”
Edwina was taken aback by Mr. Stanley’s stinging remark. “That is entirely uncalled for, and not the least bit true.”
For a moment, Mr. Stanley had the decency to look ashamed before his demeanor shifted back to one of impatience. “I apologize, but you are keeping me from my work.”
Knowing she risked her uncle’s ire, Edwina stood her ground and held out her hand. “I think it would be best if you returned the ledger until we can discuss this further with my uncle.”
Mr. Stanley’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You cannot be in earnest.”
“I am,” she declared, lifting her chin defiantly.
With a calm grace, Mr. Stanley placed the book back onto the desk and reached behind him, retrieving a pistol that had been hidden from sight. He aimed it directly at Edwina and said, “I didn’t want it to come to this, but I need this ledger.”
Stunned, Edwina lowered her hand to her side. “What are you doing?”
A flicker of regret passed over Mr. Stanley’s eyes before he hardened them once more. “You had to make this difficult. Why couldn’t you have just let me take the ledger and mind your own business?” he demanded.
“I don’t understand,” Edwina said, taking a step back.
Mr. Stanley scoffed, a sneer twisting his lips. “Clearly,” he mocked. “You live in a world where everything is handed to you on a silver platter, but I do not have that luxury. I have had to fight for every penny given to me.”
Edwina’s frown deepened as she listened to his words. “But why do you truly need the ledger?”
“Ever since your father passed away, I have been skimming off the funds from what your uncle provides for the village,” Mr. Stanley confessed. “Your father kept meticulous books but your uncle is a fool when it comes to estate management. He has no idea how to balance a ledger. Which bodes greatly in my favor.”
“If that is the case, then why do you need my uncle’s ledger?” Edwina asked.
Mr. Stanley held the worn book up. “If anyone were to compare this ledger to mine, it would reveal discrepancies and prove that I have been stealing the funds.”
“Couldn’t you just get rid of your ledger?” she inquired.
Mr. Stanley looked at her like she was a simpleton. “Do you think it wouldn’t raise suspicion if the man in charge of finances suddenly lost his ledgers?”
Edwina shook her head. “How could you steal from the villagers?”
“They don’t need their cobblestone streets and clock tower to be repaired,” he replied.
“And what of the tenants?”
Mr. Stanley shrugged. “So their roofs leak? That is hardly a concern of mine.”
Edwina looked at him incredulously. “How did you keep this from my uncle?” she asked.
“As I said, your uncle is a fool and believed that any discontent among the tenants and villagers was simply ungratefulness, just as I had convinced him of such,” Mr. Stanley boasted with a smirk.
“You are not the man I thought you were,” Edwina remarked.
Mr. Stanley’s smirk widened into a malicious grin. “I thought my scheme would be uncovered when I stole from your inheritance,” he admitted. “But your uncle bought my excuse that your father wasn’t in his right mind when he wrote the will and had not left enough funds in the account.”
