Unexpected news that seemed to cheer Giles up. “I knew he had a paramour and thought I sensed a frisson between them. But Dalton and Dahlia… who knew?”
“Oh my poor girl!” Mrs. Regis flapped in a panic. “She’s been lured away by a pirate!”
“Not according to this.” Olivia handed the woman the letter and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. “They forged their alliance after the duke died—when Mr. Regis kept calling at Giles’s house—then met in secret daily after, where one thing led to another and because the perfect opportunity presented itself and because they may soon be blessed by the patter of tiny feet, she has decided to take matters into her own hands.”
“Good for Dahlia,” said Giles, not helping at all. “Although what she sees in Dalton is a mystery, to be sure.” Then he frowned. “Although I am not sure the world is ready for more Daltons when I have always thought one was bad enough. But at least I know why he was so determined to go to Gretna Green. Something makes sense, anyway.”
“Your Grace, you have another visitor.” A footman poked his head around the door and Giles nodded.
“Of course I do.”
“A Mr. Galahad Sinclair.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
A very different Galahad Sinclair was awaiting them in the Great Room than the one they had seen before. This one looked older. Stood with more confidence. Smiled as Giles, Diana, and Vee burst in furious. Before the youngest Merriwell launched at him, he raised his palms in surrender.
“I come in peace, Miss Venus, so put away your claws.” Then he turned to Giles. “And I come bearing gifts, cousin.” He held out a satchel.
Wary, Giles took it and peeked inside then retrieved a piece of paper not quite believing what he was seeing. “This is the page from the parish register.” As Diana and Vee huddled close to read it, he spotted the entry he so desperately needed to see.
Gerald George Gregory Sinclair of the parish of Mayfair and Ffion Jones of this parish Married in this church by Banns on this twenty-eighth day of February in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four.
“I don’t understand.” Because Giles didn’t. This single sheet of paper exonerated him but labeled Gervais as the pretender. The duke had even used his real name. No ambiguous St Clair like they had found in Llanyre, or Saint Clair like his ancient Norman ancestors, butSinclair. Loud and proud.
“My father thinks we burned it, so he’s celebrating with a whore back at the inn because he thinks there is no copy—to either this or the birth record you already have.”
“Why does he think that?”
“Because that is what I told him when I returned from the bishop. It never occurred to him to check that there actually had been a huge fire at the diocese fifteen years ago that destroyed everything.” Galahad shrugged, taking in all the portraits on the walls. “But he also assumed I was too stupid to switch that page before I tossed it on the fire and that I am on his side when I’m not.” He stared at Giles levelly. “I never was.”
“Now I really don’t understand.” But by the glint in her canny eyes Diana was already beginning to make sense of it.
“He duped Gervais.”
The young man nodded. “I thought you knew. I didn’t realize till that night I let you find me that you were clueless about my involvement, and I didn’t dare risk telling you at that point because neither of us had anything and I needed her to find it.” He flicked his gaze to Diana. “Once you found Ffion, he remembered who she was and where she came from, so we got there at dawn and found the missing piece of the puzzle before you did. Prior to that, all we really had was the letter.”
Galahad flicked his head at the satchel again. “That’s in there, too, but it’s redundant now. The embittered words of another one ofmy father’s many women who also happened to be the lady’s maid of the duchess. Words that claim she overheard her telling you that you were the duke’s bastard and the real son of a harlot.”
“Agatha.” Giles shook his head stunned. “The duke dismissed her the same day the duchess died. I’ve always wondered what happened to her.”
“From what I’ve been able to gather they corresponded all the time while the duchess was alive. Him promising her they’d be together as soon as he could find a way to get her across the ocean just so that he could keep a pair of spying eyes in your father’s house. When she was turfed out of that house, my guess is he had no further use for her. I have no idea what made him reach out to her again. He doesn’t confide in me about anything—unless he is roaring drunk and I can keep him lucid long enough to pry it out of him. He especially doesn’t discuss his women—he’s too busy trying to convince me he loved my mother even though he made her life a living hell. When he was home, that is. Which as I am sure you can imagine wasn’t often once he’d spent all her money.”
“Was?”
Galahad offered Vee a tight smile. “She died. Last year. And my dear old absent pappy came home to pick over the carcass of what was left. Then that letter arrived and here we are. Only he expected to have plenty of time to gather his evidence, and I thought I had plenty of time to beat him to it and destroy it, so your father’s death threw a stick in the spokes, I don’t mind telling you. But we got there in the end and justice prevailed.”
“Justice or revenge? Or perhaps you want something else, Galahad?” Suspicious to her core, Diana stared at the young man with narrowed eyes.
“If I was about to blackmail my cousin or extort money out of him for the truth, I’d have to be an idiot to have given him it all up front—and in front of a pair of witnesses, too. I’d also have been an idiot to have written to my long-lost uncle Gerald before we came, tipping him off about what my father knew.” Which finally explained what had sent the duke into a panic. “Or to break that window or snoop around your garden with a lantern or drip you all that information along the way. But contrary to what you all might think…” Galahad made a point of staring at Vee. “I am no idiot though it’s served me well to act as one.”
He smiled, his emotive eyes dancing. “And I should imagine that you of all people know that sometimes justice and revenge are the same sides of the coin, Miss Diana. I confess I’ve never really thought of any benefit to this beyond being the one to tell my feckless father just how much I hate him before I cut him out of my life altogether. This is a day I’ve waited for, for as long as I can remember, and good should always triumph over evil, don’t you think?”
“What are your plans once you’ve delivered the news?” Like Giles, Diana was starting to like his new relation.
Galahad shrugged at her question. “I confess I never thought that far ahead but I’m a resourceful fellow, so something will come up.” He inclined his head as he smiled, clearly chuffed to bits that his plan had succeeded. “So I shall wish you a good day, Miss Diana… Miss Venus.” His eyes lingered on the youngest Merriwell before he held out his hand to Giles. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace. When one has been as starved of family as I have, it’s nice to finally meet some.” Giles knew how that felt.
“At least we share a grandmother.” Galahad pointed to the line of portraits and shook his head. “But as I suspected, none of theseillustrious relatives are mine, any more than they are my father’s. Not that that stopped him trying to take what wasn’t his—and not that that ever stopped him.”
