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Josie merely sniffed. “If a man is immoral in one way, he is likely to be immoral in others. If you cannot trust him with your wife, why would you trust him with your country?” Having laid down her point, at which Elijah floundered, Josie tipped her nose in the air. “Now, if you will excuse us, after having tracked down information you were unaware of, we still have a viewing and dinner to arrange.” Turning on her heel, she swanned out of the room.
Lily could not think of a single thing to add, so she met Nathan’s gaze, nodded her head firmly, and followed. Mary came out a moment later, though she had a feeling Rex had received a much more congenial goodbye than the rest of the gentlemen.
As he deserved, and her husband currently did not.
Men.
Only one out of four of them were using any sense.
ChapterThirty
Nathan
The viewing was a surprisingly crowded affair. Nathan knew the notice had gone out to all the neighbors and to London, but he had not expected the turnout. Some of them, the London guests, were mostly there due to nosiness, stopping by to pay their respects—and indulge their curiosity—on their way out of London.
The number of their neighbors who had come to pay their respects was the bigger surprise. They certainly had not appeared in such great quantity for his father.
When he thought about it, that was not as surprising as it seemed. His father had not been the neighborly sort, and it would not surprise him if Sebastian had been working to be the opposite of their father in that respect. Not to mention his brother had always been the sociable sort and had been stuck on the estates all Season. Going by the number of heartfelt condolences, he had made an impression on the local social circle.
All of which served as a distraction from the ladies. They were still miffed about how he and Elijah had dismissed their information, and he could not entirely blame them.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
He just did not want it to.
The idea someone he knew, who Elijah and his father had trusted, who was supposed to be one oftheirs, had betrayed them… hurt even more than knowing his own father might have been involved. A double-cross—was what it would be if the ladies were correct.
It was also extremely worrisome because who knew how much classified information had gone to the enemy if Mitchell or both Mitchell and Warwick were involved.
The ideal scenario would be that Warwick was the culprit on his own, but Nathan did not see how that was possible without Mitchell knowing. He was sharp, clever, ambitious, and had a nose for ferreting out information. It was unbelievable to the point of ludicrousness to think Warwick could have been engaged in treachery without Mitchell knowing.
Which meant it was either Mitchell or both.
“If they are correct, you know we will never hear the end of it.” Grim faced, Elijah appeared at Nathan’s side as the foyer finally emptied. Lily had gone into the drawing-room with Lady Cavill, lending the elderly matriarch her arm and her ear. As the presiding lady on the local social scene, Lady Cavill had decided she needed to get to know his countess, and Nathan was very thankful she had.
“Is it making more sense?” Nathan asked, keeping his voice low. Elijah was more agitated than he had been earlier. No wonder, if he had been thinking the same thoughts as Nathan and coming to the same uncomfortable conclusions.
“I do not want to believe it… but yes. I would like to send one of your footmen with an urgent note to my father. He will know better how likely it is.”
“Do it.” Nathan nodded. Hopefully, Mitchell was not the traitor they were searching for, but if he was, the Marquess of Camden needed to know immediately. At the very least, they should not keep the suspicion from him.
If they were very lucky, he would have evidence to refute the conjecture, and they could go on with their search.
* * *
Lily
“Excuse me, Lady Cavill, I need to tear Lady Jones away from you for a moment.” Giving the old dragon her most appealing smile, Josie somehow managed to pierce the lady’s scales, and her crabby expression actually softened. Lily really must get Josie to teach her how to do that.
“Thank you,” she whispered under her breath as Josie pulled her away. “I do not think she intended to let me leave her side.”
“Warwick just arrived with Mitchell,” Josie responded grimly before pasting another smile on her face as they passed another of Lily’s new neighbors. “Nathan and Elijah went upstairs for a moment. If we do not want to be cut out, you need to greet him first.”
Lily picked up her pace. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mary and Evie moving toward the door, though more slowly, acting as though they were only walking that way. As the hostess, no one would be surprised to see her hurrying to greet a late arrival, but the other two had to be more circumspect.
Stepping into the foyer, Lily saw the two men standing in the center of it, heads bowed together as they spoke quietly. They were handsomely turned out in clothing befitting the occasion. Warwick looked up, saw her coming, and stepped forward, which neatly put Mitchell behind him. Something flashed across the secretary’s expression over Warwick’s shoulder, gone too quickly to be identified.
“My lord,” Lily said, dipping into a very brief curtsy. As an earl, she and Warwick were social equals. “Thank you for coming.”
