Sheridan heard a murmur of voices from the drawing room. When he and Vanessa had “retired,” everyone had still been drinking and eating in the dining room. “What’s going on?”
“We’re having a meeting to assess our progress on the subject of the investigation. We weren’t planning to bother you with it, given that it was your wedding night, but if you’d like to be part—”
“Of course I’d like to be part of it.” Sheridan glanced around the hall and lowered his voice. “What about the other guests? Lady Eustace? Sir Noah? Lady Norley and Lady Hornsby?” He frowned. “Bonham?”
Thorn began ticking those off on his fingers. “Lady Eustace went to bed. I gather she tires easily. Sir Noah went into Sanforth, hoping to find some cardplayers at the nearest tavern, since none of us wanted to join him in a game. Bonham returned to London. Apparently he had business affairs to take care of, probably foryou.Lady Norley retired to read in her room, and Lady Hornsby left almost immediately after the ceremony to return to . . . wherever she’s been the past week. Didn’t you notice she wasn’t at the bridal feast?”
“I was rather preoccupied at the time, if you’ll recall. Still, it’s curious, don’t you think?”
“Definitely. But it’s Gwyn’s task to interrogate Lady Hornsby, so it’s not my problem.”
“Your problem is to question your mother-in-law,” Sheridan said, “which I gather you haven’t yet managed to do. Good luck to you.”
Instead of turning defensive, Thorn smirked at him. “And nowyourproblem is to questionyourmother-inlaw. Good luck to you, too. I’ll take Lady Norley over Lady Eustace any day.” He clapped an arm about Sheridan’s shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go see what everyone else has found out.”
As soon as they entered the drawing room, the comments began. His brothers tormented him about coming down so soon after going up with his wife. Their wives rolled their eyes and shook their heads, and in general pretended their husbandsweren’ta group of jokers and buffoons.
Mother was the only one who glared—at each of her sons in turn. “Leave him be, all of you. Sheridan and Vanessa will find their way, no thanks to you lads.”
Heywood laughed. “Lads! We’re grown men with wives, Mother. Besides, even Saint Sheridan can endure a few jests at his expense on his wedding night.”
“‘Jests’ would imply that your remarks are funny,” Sheridan quipped as he walked over to the brandy decanter and set down his plate just long enough to pour himself a glass. “So far, all I’ve heard is a lot of juvenile bluster.”
That started his brothers trying to outdo each other with witty insults. It didn’t last long because Sheridan’s cousin Joshua, who was also a major in the Royal Marines and technically Sheridan’s brother-in-law, stood in the midst of the room and cried, “Enough!”
When that quieted everyone, Joshua added, “May I remind you we have a limited amount of time to do this? Sir Noah might return at any minute, or one of the other suspect ladies come down to see what all the commotion is. We need to get on with it, but without creating too much noise. Understood?”
His family muttered something to the effect that they did.
Then Joshua turned to Sheridan. “Do you wish to wait until your wife can join us to discuss the investigation into her mother?”
Damn.
He took his time about finding a chair near a table so he didn’t have to balance a plate and glass on his lap.
“Yes, Sheridan, do you?” Thorn asked smugly. “Or could it be that you haven’t actually told Vanessa yet?”
“I just got married today,” Sheridan ground out. “I haven’t had time to tell her.”
Olivia eyed him closely. “Thorn told me before we were even engaged.”
“You were in love.” Sheridan set the plate down on the table. “That’s different.”
“Not then we weren’t,” Thorn said. “Or at least we weren’t admitting it to each other.”
“Although to be fair,” Olivia said, “Thorn sort of let his suspicions—his unproven suspicions—about Mama slip out. If he hadn’t, I might still not know.”
“That’s not true,” Thorn said. “I would have told you before we married, I’m sure.”
She lifted an eyebrow, then turned to Sheridan. “And when I found out what he suspected Mama of doing, I did give him grief for it.”
“My point entirely,” Sheridan said, taking a swig of brandy. He’d need it forthisdiscussion. “I’d rather have at least a couple of days of wedded bliss before I broach something liable to cause contention.” He set down his glass. “Besides, it’s really none of her concern.” When his brothers and Joshua all groaned and their wives looked daggers at him, he said, “What? It isn’t. She had naught to do with any of it. She wasn’t even born until ten years afterward. I’m only protecting her from the truth about her mother.”
His own mother snorted. “You’re not protecting her fromthat. In some respects she already knows the truth about Cora. You’re protecting Vanessa from learning why she really had to marry you. Because we all know that if not for this investigation, which you performed under cover of being her friend, you would never have ended up married to her.”
“That’s not true,” he protested. Except he knew it was.
Then a voice came from the doorway. “What investigation is your mother talking about?”
