That had not been a part of his plan.
He brooded on the situation as the minutes ticked by. Eventually, he accepted that he would have to make amends of a sort. He would have to back away, hold off for a time.
“Let Carsely think all danger has passed. I need to give him a chance to forget and grow dismissive and careless of his safety.”
Even with the wedding looming, there was plenty of time, and there was no denying that arranging the right sort of accident was very much easier in the country.
He paused, thinking of the latest pawn he’d moved into position.
It was tempting—undeniably so—to see what might be achieved by putting that agent to work.
Chapter 8
Some two weeks later, a faintly exasperated Julian summoned Felix and Damian to his study.
When the pair arrived, he held out the list of wedding invitees. “I need you to tell me if anyone’s missing who should be there, and then we have to go through and note those we think should stay at the castle.”
The list was four pages long. Felix took the sheets and handed two to Damian, and the pair lounged in the chairs before the desk and started to read.
Julian watched them peruse the pages. The past weeks had grown increasingly hectic; he’d had no idea preparing for a wedding involved so many decisions, so much fussing over this and that, much less that he would be called on to have an opinion on matters such as the decorations for the castle ballroom in which the wedding breakfast would be held. That he didn’t have an opinion hadn’t been an acceptable answer, although it had made Melissa fight to hide a smile.
In between too many meetings with his mother, his future mother-in-law, and his bride, he’d had to deal with estate business as well as the inevitable meetings with his solicitors and Lord North over the marriage settlements. And wedged between all that, he’d tried to get some inkling of what the Irishman might wish to tell him; he’d ambled through the corridors of the Home Office several times, but had been loath to make his inquiry official. Given he had no idea what the issue at hand was, he felt a need to tread warily. That said, all the information he’d been able to glean suggested that there was nothing of a major nature going on.
In light of that, he’d wondered if the Irishman had given up. Regardless, unless the matter was truly urgent, once Julian headed for Derbyshire, he doubted the Irishman would follow.
As for his attacker, whoever the blighter was, at least he appeared to have drawn back.
Julian wasn’t naive enough to imagine he’d given up.
Felix stirred, then asked after a distant cousin.
Julian frowned. “You’re right. His name should be there.”
Felix and Damian hunted through the lists and confirmed the cousin’s name wasn’t on them.
Julian handed Felix a pencil. “Add it.”
Clearly reluctantly, Damian recalled a crotchety old lady, a relict of some ancient connection, and was transparently relieved when Julian assured him she was no longer alive. When his brothers looked at him strangely, Damian explained, “She always used to pinch my cheeks. Hard.”
They moved on to discussing the accommodations.
“Mama says she needs to know by the end of the day,” Julian said. “The castle might be large, but I’d rather not overburden the staff—they’ll have the wedding and wedding breakfast to manage as it is.”
Felix shrugged. “Wirksworth is close enough, and there’s Matlock and Ashbourne for those coming from those directions.”
“And Belper and Derby for those heading back to town.” Damian looked at Julian. “I assume you and Melissa will be remaining at the castle?”
Julian nodded. “We’ve decided to spend the summer there. Melissa wants to get to know the place.”
Damian grinned. “Lord knows, it’s big enough.”
Felix tapped the list. “Getting back to this, why not just put up the close family, hers as well as ours? If you limit it to that, no one’s going to argue.”
“True.” Damian tossed onto the desk the sheets he’d been holding. “And regardless of the castle being huge, that’s still not a small number of guests to be housing under its many roofs.” He stretched, then made to rise. “So that’s done.”
“Not quite.” Julian lifted another list from the pile on the desk. “These are the staff from here who’ll be going up to assist at the castle. Mama said the Crosbys need to know to organize transport and also to organize those remaining here to man this house, and the Phelpses have asked for the numbers to be accommodated at the castle. Check it before I hand it on to Mama.”
Felix took the list, scanned it, and grunted. “Looks right to me.” He passed the list to Damian.
