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“I wish things could be different between us,” Phineas said. “I am not the terrible person you think I am.”
“I never thought you were terrible.”
“No?” Phineas asked with a lifted brow.
“Perhaps I do have a lowly opinion of you,” she admitted, “or at least, of the choices you’ve made.”
“I expected as much, and I do not fault you for it,” he responded, “but I want things to change between us.”
“You do?” Daphne asked skeptically.
Phineas moved to sit on the edge of his seat. “We are family, and that means something to me.”
“Since when?”
“That is a fair question,” he stated. “I know I haven’t been the most dutiful cousin, but I want to change that.”
“We are so vastly different.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t at least try to get along.”
“I suppose.”
“Wonderful,” he said. “We could always go riding tomorrow, assuming you are up to it.”
“I am.”
Phineas smiled as he rose. “I shall be looking forward to it,” he said. “I believe I shall adjourn to the library until I have to dress for dinner.”
“You should know that I invited Mr. Stewart to dine with us.”
His smile vanished. “I thought I warned you to stay away from Mr. Stewart.”
“You did, but I decided not to heed your advice.”
“That was a foolish thing to do, since there can be no future between you two,” Phineas said. “You must know that.”
“I never implied that there was.”
“You didn’t have to,” Phineas responded. “You are encouraging a man who has no true prospects. He works at the bank, making a dismal income.”
“I fear that you are reading too much into this,” Daphne remarked. “I only invited him to dine with us.”
Phineas frowned. “There is no good that can come out of associating with Mr. Stewart. I assure you of that.” He walked over to the door. “You will come to that realization on your own soon enough.”
After her cousin departed from the room, Daphne leaned back in her seat and sighed. Her cousin could be quite vexing, and she wasn’t entirely sure she would ever be friends with him.
Chapter Ten
As Guy staredup at Miss Locke’s country home, he chided himself for agreeing to join her for dinner again. His job was, first and foremost, as an agent of the Crown. He didn’t have time to waste on frivolous activities; he still had to track down how the unions were communicating with one another. If he had the members of the trade union in Anmore arrested, it wouldn’t stop the other unions from growing and gaining more power.
Furthermore, he had to discover why someone had shot at him. He winced as he brought his hand to his left arm. He was fortunate that the bullet had only grazed him, so the doctor had simply bandaged his arm.
The constable had been utterly worthless. Mr. Spade had informed him that he would look into it, but then declared it was most likely just a misfire, which was ludicrous. If that had been the case, someone would have come forward to apologize and explain what had happened. No, he was absolutely positive that someone had deliberately shot at him, and it irked him that he wasn’t entirely sure why.
“I’d better get this over with,” he muttered under his breath as he approached the door.
As much as he enjoyed spending time with Miss Locke, Guy knew it was not a good idea to continue to do so. She was a distraction, but it was becoming more than that. He had developed some feelings for her, albeit small. How could he not? She was beautiful, clever, and quick witted. She was precisely the type of woman he had envisioned himself marrying, if he ever intended to get married. Which he didn’t. Marriage brought forth a whole bunch of complications.
