The Imposter's Inheritance (Glass and Steele Book 9)

by C. J. Archer

  "Aye, but he'll want India to extend his magic in return," Duke said.

  "He doesn't make leather anyway," I pointed out. "He just works with it. Specifically turning it into footwear, although I don't see why his spell wouldn't work for clothing and bookbinding too."

  "So you need a tanner magician?" Duke pulled a face. "I ain't going to help you find one. Have you smelled those factories? They stink."

  "Maybe tanner magicians don't need to use dog feces and whatever other muck they soak the hide in," Cyclops said. "Maybe that's the whole point of their magic."

  His theory made sense. Mr. Hendry was able to make paper without additives, just by using a spell, so why not tanner magicians too? "It would make a tanner magician easy to find," I said. "The lack of smell will make the factory stand out."

  "It would stand out too much," Matt said. "I don't think there are any for that reason. Someone would have noticed."

  Willie poked the glowing coals in the grate with the fire iron, stirring them to life. "Pity. I'd like to ride on a flying carpet. Or cowhide."

  Duke chuckled. "It's a lot further to fall off a carpet flying over the city than it is a horse."

  Willie sniffed. "Ever seen me fall off a horse, Duke? You haven't because I ain't never."

  "Not even when you were little?"

  "Nope."

  "Huh. I figured you'd landed on your head from a fall and that's why you're a bit…you know." He tapped his temple, angling his head so that Cyclops would see his wink but Willie couldn’t.

  She brandished the fire iron and Duke pressed back into the chair to avoid it, the smile no longer in evidence. "It's a brave man that calls me mad when I'm holding a hot poker."

  "Or a stupid man," Cyclops said. When Duke protested, Cyclops gave an apologetic shrug. "Well I wouldn't have said it to her."

  "Doesn't Delancey come from a family of wool magicians?" Matt asked.

  "The magic ended with his father," I said.

  "There are no distant cousins?"

  It might be worth checking. If Delancey lost touch with his cousins, it didn't mean Fabian and I couldn't approach them.

  Bristow entered and announced a visitor. "Miss Hope Glass is in the drawing room."

  Matt and I exchanged glances. This was my chance to convince her to accept Lord Coyle’s proposal. But I still wasn't sure if I should, or even if I could. Hope wasn't someone whose opinion could be easily swayed.

  "She alone?" Cyclops asked. "Or are her sisters with her?"

  "She's alone," Bristow said.

  Cyclops relaxed. "Think I'll stay in here awhile, just in case."

  Matt and I greeted Hope in the drawing room and she responded politely if somewhat stiffly. We exchanged the obligatory pleasantries while we waited for the tea to arrive. After Bristow deposited the tray and left, closing the doors behind him, Hope finally got to the reason for her visit.

  "The last time we saw one another," she began, "I warned you that I would discover what hold you have over my brother-in-law, Lord Cox."

  She sipped slowly, deliberately, as if she wanted to savor every drop of tea. It was typical of her to turn tea drinking into a dramatic art. I sipped slowly too and didn't prompt her. I would not rise to her bait.

  "And so I have," she said.

  "Have what?" Matt asked gruffly. It would seem he wasn't going to play any games with his cousin.

  "Let me start at the very beginning." Hope set down her teacup and saucer. "Patience and Lord Cox arrived in London two days ago. We dined with them at his townhouse last night. It was immediately obvious that something was amiss. Lord Cox looked drawn and anxious. He barely engaged in conversation and his nerves appeared frayed. Patience was no better, but she seemed worried about her husband rather than nervous. When I spoke to my sister alone, I asked her what was the matter. She said she didn't know, but her husband had been like this for over a week, ever since receiving a letter."

  "He didn't tell Patience the contents of the letter?" I asked.

  "No."

  Matt and I shared everything, so it was odd to me that a husband and wife would keep secrets. Surely Lord Cox would tell Patience about his past soon. It did, after all, affect her too.

  On the other hand, it might upset her deeply to learn that he had only married her because he'd been blackmailed into it by me, and he was protecting her feelings by keeping the secret.

  "I knew Patience wasn't telling me everything," Hope went on. "I pressed her all night until she finally cracked and admitted she suspected you were involved, India."

  "Me?"

  "She saw a letter addressed to you in Lord Cox's hand, but she didn’t know the content. I would have opened it before the servants sent it, but Patience was always the obedient one, despite that little incident with the rogue." She dismissed Patience's youthful indiscretion with a wave of her hand, as if it had been nothing and had not led to Lord Cox calling off their first engagement.

  "Is that why you're here?" Matt asked. "To ask India why he wrote to her?"

  Her eyelashes fluttered. "I know why he wrote to her. He blames India for breaking her promise to keep his secret. The secret India used to force him to marry Patience." She picked up her teacup and sipped.

  Despite my shredded nerves, I did the same, keeping my features schooled.

  She rested the cup on her knee and regarded me with a cool smile. She was enjoying this. Or perhaps she was enjoying seeing her sister suffer. "When I couldn't get an answer out of Patience, I confronted Lord Cox, and he told me," she said.

  "What, precisely?" Matt asked, clearly not believing she knew the secret.

  "Everything."

  Matt made a scoffing sound.

  "He told me that his father was married to another woman before he married his mother," she said. "The first marriage was never dissolved and so the son she bore him is the legitimate heir. He told me his half-brother grew up not knowing this, but Lord Cox had learned it from his father on his deathbed. He had kept the secret to himself and thought no one else knew about it—until you used the scandalous information to blackmail him into marrying my sister."

  An icy shiver rippled down my spine.

  "Why would he tell you all of that?" Matt asked. He sounded calm, whereas I was wracked with guilt, horror, and utter shamefulness at my role. "I don't believe it's simply because you asked."

  "I promised him I could help him," Hope said, matching his tone. "I told him I knew people who can fix all sorts of problems, even those that seem unfixable, and they specialize in problems of a personal, unmentionable, nature."

  "Who?" I blurted out.

  "Why, you, of course." She smiled at me then turned it on Matt.

  He sat unmoving in the chair, regarding her through hooded eyes. "Why would you say something like that?"

  "Because it's true. Since you are the one who informed Lord Cox's brother, India, you can uninform him, so to speak. You simply have to tell him it's not true and that you were simply being nasty out of jealousy, spite or some such notion."

  "I did not inform him," I said hotly. "I don't know how he found out the truth, but I can assure you, it wasn't through me, Matt or any of our friends."

  Her forehead creased. For the first time, she looked uncertain. I was more relieved than I cared to admit that she believed me.

  "Then who did?" she asked.

  "We can't fix this," Matt said. "If the information is true—and it must be or Cox wouldn't be so worried—then nothing can be done, now that the half-brother is aware of it. You need to speak to Cox and tell him we can't help him. Make sure he knows we kept his secret. Tell him to engage a good lawyer."

  "No, Matt, I won't tell him a thing," she snipped off. "Because you can still help him. You've helped the police with all sorts of delicate matters. I believe you're even on good terms with the commissioner."

  "This isn't a police matter. The commissioner can't do anything."

  "He can sweep all sorts of things under the carpet."
/>   "It's not a criminal matter."

  "Then you must find another way to end this in favor of Patience and Lord Cox. After all, you owe them."

  "We didn't inform the half-brother!" I said again.

  "I meant it's your fault my sister married him in the first place. If not for your blackmail, he would never have proposed a second time. She wouldn't be tangled up in this mess."

  I bit my tongue despite wanting to spit back a thousand retorts. It would serve no purpose to show her how angry I was. I'd helped Patience. She'd wanted to marry Lord Cox, and I suspected he loved her too. Besides, Hope had never cared about her sister's happiness. She wasn't pursuing this because she cared, she was doing it for her own selfish reasons. By being connected to an upstanding, influential peer like Lord Cox through her sister, Hope's own marriage prospects had brightened. His fall from such lofty heights could bring Hope down too.

  "Did you tell any of this to Patience?" Matt asked.

  "No," Hope said. "She's not aware that she shouldn't be styled Lady Cox." Her smile returned, as if she were picturing the moment she revealed the secret to her sister. "I think it's time she learned the truth." She rose. "Good day. I'll see myself out."

  Even so, Matt rang for Bristow and the doors opened immediately.

  Hope didn't leave, however. She stood there, frowning. "You didn't answer me earlier. If you didn't tell the half-brother, who did?"

  "How would we know such a thing?" I said.

  "Could it have been the person who gave you the information?" The silence that followed was so deep that I swore I heard the clock's mechanisms whir. "Where did you get the information, India? Someone must have given it to you. Matt doesn't have the contacts in England to find out this sort of thing, and you have never moved in the right circles."

  Matt rose and indicated the open door. "Bristow will see you out."

  She didn't move. The cogs of her mind turned behind her unblinking stare as she sifted through what she knew of us, who our contacts were. It didn't take long for her to settle on the answer.

  "Lord Coyle," she murmured.

  I offered neither confirmation nor denial, but she didn't seem to need it.

  "How did he learn the secret?" she asked.

  "Coyle is very well connected," was all Matt said.

  Hope's gaze turned pensive.

  "Speaking of Lord Coyle." I did not go on. I couldn't decide whether I should try to convince her to marry him or not. She was loathsome, but he was worse, and I wasn't sure I could bring myself to push her toward him.

  "Speaking of Coyle," Matt said, picking up where I left off, "perhaps you should accept his marriage proposal. Once the situation with Cox becomes public knowledge, your other prospects will withdraw. Coyle won't care, however."

  "I have no other suitable prospects," she said with a tilt of her chin. "As to Lord Coyle, I'm capable of making up my own mind without my dear cousin telling me what to do."

  "I'm merely advising."

  "I get quite enough advice from my parents, thank you. If I do accept Coyle's offer, it will not be because you or anyone else wishes it." She strode out, her skirts swishing around her ankles.

  "It wasn't a refusal," Matt said, sitting again. "But we need her to accept him within two weeks."

  I rubbed my forehead, unable to focus on the prospect of their marriage. I was too consumed with wild ideas for helping Lord Cox keep his title. "Is she right, Matt? Is there something we can do to make the half-brother give up his claim?"

  He settled beside me on the sofa with a deep sigh. "We could try reasoning with him, and tell him Cox is a good man who doesn't deserve to suffer for his father's sins. We can point out how it will affect Cox's four children."

  I could tell from his deflated tone that he didn't think it would work. It would be a very generous, selfless man to give up the prospect of wealth and privilege for someone he didn't know.

  "Cox should offer to give his half-brother an allowance in return for giving up all rights to the title," Matt said. "That's what I'd do if I were in his shoes."

  I suspected Matt would give up the title to the rightful heir, no matter the consequences to himself, but he was a different man to Lord Cox.

  "Hope will tell Patience, and she'll hate me for the part I played in her engagement," I said with a groan.

  Matt put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "She loves him. She should thank you."

  I gave him an arched look. "That's not how she'll see it."

  "You don't know that. Besides, it's Cox she should be angry with. He knew he wasn't the legitimate heir and yet he proposed to her anyway. The first time, I mean. He had no right to do that when it could all come tumbling down at any moment. "

  "But that's the thing," I said. "He never expected his half-brother to find out."

  "Still…" He kissed the top of my head again.

  I pulled away and clasped his hand in both of mine. "I want Lord Cox to know that it wasn't me who informed the half-brother. I hate him thinking I've betrayed him."

  He nodded. "We'll visit tomorrow."

  Chapter 3

  We drove to Lord Cox's townhouse immediately after Sunday morning’s church service in the hopes we would catch them before they left to make calls. Being recently arrived in London, I expected them to be busy seeing friends. It would be important to keep up appearances, in case word had got out.

  I was worried we wouldn't be received, but the butler showed us into the drawing room after checking that his master and mistress were home. We were greeted with stony faces. Lord and Lady Cox sat at opposite sides of the drawing room, not at all how a newlywed couple should be in one another's company.

  Patience knew. It was a relief to know that they’d had the awkward conversation. I didn’t want to be the one to inform her.

  "I'm glad you're here," Lord Cox said without so much as a “good morning.” "It saves me a visit." He waved at the sofa and we sat.

  "We'll have tea now," Patience said to the butler.

  "No tea." Lord Cox dismissed the butler with a lift of his finger. "They won't be staying long."

  I swallowed heavily.

  Patience's glance flicked to mine then away, as if she couldn't bear to look at me. She seemed worn out. Her eyes were puffy and her nose red. Her husband looked just as exhausted, and there was none of the soft, amiability in his face that I'd seen before.

  I swallowed again. "It wasn't me," I said quietly. "I didn't tell your half-brother. I don't even know his name."

  "I don't believe you," he said without looking at me.

  "My wife isn't a liar," Matt growled. "She didn't inform him. Nor did I. If I were still a betting man, I'd put money on Coyle."

  Lord Cox's gaze finally snapped to mine. "Coyle?"

  "He's the one who told me about your…predicament," I said. "He wanted me to owe him a favor, so he gave me the information to use. I'm sorry, Patience. I really am, but…it worked out for the best, didn't it?"

  She looked away, her face pale, her lower lip quivering.

  "How did he discover it?" Lord Cox asked.

  "I don't know," I said.

  The muscles in Lord Cox's jaw worked as he stared straight ahead. "Why would he want you to owe him a favor, Mrs. Glass?"

  "That's none of your affair," Matt said.

  "She owes me answers."

  "She owes you nothing. She didn't tell anyone your secret."

  "She blackmailed me!"

  "Into something you wanted anyway."

  Lord Cox's lips thinned and he stared straight ahead again. He did not refute it, at least.

  "He wants me to owe him a favor because I'm a magician," I said, "and he has an interest in magic objects."

  Lord Cox snorted. "That's absurd."

  I'd given him an explanation; I wouldn't beg him to believe it.

  "Have you spoken to your brother yet?" Matt asked.

  "Half-brother." Lord Cox crossed his arms, and I thought he was going to re
main silent, but after a long, awkward moment, he blew out a breath. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "I've written to him, offering him an allowance if he signed an agreement stating he wouldn't pursue the matter further. He refused."

  "Offer him more."

  "It was a sizeable amount! More than generous. More than I can afford," he added in a mutter.

  Patience winced. She looked to be in pain as she watched her husband's demeanor change from defiant to defeated. I wished she would go to him, comfort him, but she remained seated.

  "Ask to meet with him," Matt said. "If you can explain the impact it will have on your family face to face, he might give up the claim."

  "That's why I'm in London, to see him. He traveled here to meet with a lawyer, according to the letter. He wants to meet me too, but not to get to know his brother better," he bit off. "He wants to look the man who cheated him out of his inheritance in the eye. That's how he worded it."

  That was either the rash reaction of a deeply hurt man or the thoughtless reaction of a cruel one. I sincerely hoped the brother was the former, because the latter was going to be impossible to reason with. "I'm sure once he meets you both and sees that he would be hurting good people, he'll change his mind," I said.

  "I doubt it. He asked me to bring the family coronet to the meeting and hand it over as a symbol of good faith."

  "Coronet?"

  "A priceless heirloom, given to my ancestor by Charles II after the restoration of the monarchy. My family fought for the Royalists in the civil war. It's kept under lock and key on the estate and only worn on special occasions."

  "Did you bring it with you?" Matt asked.

  Lord Cox nodded.

  "You're not going to give it to him," I said, aghast.

  "Why not? It's his."

  "Legally, yes, but…" I didn't finish. He was right, and the brother had the law on his side. If I hadn't known the protagonists in the story personally, I would have been on the brother's side too, hoping he would take what was rightfully and morally his.

  My relationship to Patience had colored my judgment and sent my own moral compass pointing in the wrong direction. I bit my lip, folded my hands in my lap, and remained quiet.