An Inconceivable Deception

by Sydney Jane Baily

  “The only reason I didn’t greet you with a blow to your face is that you left my sister with her innocence.”

  Finn’s mouth opened briefly and then he snapped it shut. Reed certainly laid it all out.

  “I’m surprised Rose talked about that with you,” Finn said tightly.

  Her brother shrugged. “We are a close family, and I believe she told me in order to stick up for you, to convince me you weren’t as terrible a scoundrel as I think you are.”

  “I’m not,” Finn said, then felt annoyed at himself for being defensive. He didn’t really owe this man an explanation. Or maybe he did.

  “I love your sister. I always have. If I hadn’t thought we could make a good life together or that I could provide for her, I wouldn’t have married her. That’s the truth. However, over the past few years, I’ve realized she can certainly do better than me.”

  “Is that why you played dead and broke her heart? Do you have any idea what a sad state she was in? You put her through hell.” Reed’s eyes sparkled with pure anger. “I may just thump you anyway.”

  Finn took in the words. “I wouldn’t stop you.”

  “What sort of man marries a woman like our Rose and then doesn’t keep his word to her? That doesn’t sound like a man my sister would love?”

  Reed was not going to make this easy.

  “It’s a long story, one that I won’t bother you with. Yet I will ease your mind, Mr. Malloy, by saying I believe your sister has made a decent choice in husbands. In both instances.” The words came out bitterly, but there was nothing Finn could do about that. Thinking of his Rose going off with the perfect William Woodsom was a continuous ache.

  “I have time to hear your story,” Reed insisted, “or at least the part about how you decided to abandon my sister.”

  Finn sighed. “Very well. When I finally reached England, it was already months since the sinking of the Garrard. I was desperate to get back to Rose. At the same time that I figured out how to earn passage home, I also discovered that I could make something more of myself. I intended to return home first, of course, and was considering asking Rose if she would go back with me so I could earn a study there with the best. I was working to earn passage back.” He remembered the flash of pain, the disbelief. “Then I got severely injured.”

  He paused. Did Reed really want to hear anymore? The man looked to be absorbing every word.

  “The longer I was gone and the longer she believed me dead, the harder it was to disrupt her life. In truth, I began to think she would be better off without me. And seeing her current choice for her next husband, I would say I was right. The man is a descendent of English nobility, for Christ’s sake.”

  Reed just stared, saying nothing at first. Then he spat out, “What a load of bullshit!”

  Finn backed up a step at the man’s vehemence.

  Rose’s brother continued, barely taking a breath. “If my sister loved you, then why did you need to better yourself? Not for her sake, I guess, but for your own. You were a selfish bastard to do what you did. Can you convince me otherwise?”

  Finn felt the blood drain from his face. Convince the man? He thought about it. Was that what he wanted to do? Did it matter now if he made Reed believe he wasn’t an utter cad?

  No, it didn’t. Not a whit. The words spilled from him anyway. “After my convalescence, I found a place to study to become a master builder. I seized the opportunity to be more than I was, and it was because of Rose, if not directly for her. When we were together, she was ashamed of me and could not bring herself to introduce me to you and the rest of the world as her husband.”

  Reed nodded slightly, which was enough encouragement for Finn to finish.

  “Since I’ve lost her, none of what I did makes sense anymore. I am a trained naval architect, and a good one, but I could have come back and kept my Rose and been quite happy as a shipbuilder at the yard. I find that without your sister . . ,” he trailed off and sat heavily upon the narrow bed, feeling all the wind go out of his sails.

  Finn stared at the wide pine floor and saw nothing. “I suppose I will go up to Maine where my father lives. There’s plenty of shipbuilding there. I know one thing, I can’t stay here.”

  “Because it would be too painful to see her,” Reed surmised.

  “Worse,” Finn said, lifting his head and looking his brother-in-law square in the eye. “Because my being here would cause her pain.”

  Reed’s eyebrows lifted nearly into his hairline.

  “I have seen it every time she looks at me. My coming back has caused her nothing but distress.”

  Finn realized the ache he was feeling was not physical. Centered in his chest, a dull throbbing that made it difficult to breathe — it was the keen loss of Rose.

  Reed said nothing. Then he also sat on the edge of the bed next to his leather portfolio, glancing at the scattered books and papers with cursory interest.

  “I’ve spent some time reading the accounts of the sinking,” Finn explained, “and learning precisely who said what. I appreciate what your wife found out.”

  Reed jumped up again as if he’d been scalded. Wearing an expression like a thundercloud, he demanded, “What does Charlotte have to do with this?”

  Finn thought the man’s eyes would pop out of his head. “I’m sorry if I’ve spoken out of turn. I assumed you knew that Rose asked your wife to determine if there was anything shady. And Mrs. Malloy did exactly that.”

  Reed ran a hand over his eyes and then through his hair before he spoke again.

  “What did she find?” His tone was clipped.

  “Insurance fraud,” Finn explained, thinking of Liam’s elegant house and how slippery the man had become, never at home when Finn went looking for him. “It has nothing to do with my divorce from your sister. Shall we get on with it? I assume you have something for me to sign.”

  For a moment, Reed looked as if he wasn’t done with the prior subject, but then he leaned over and started to undo his satchel.

  “Yes, I have brought an agreement for an uncontested divorce. If you sign it, then I can file in the court and—”

  One of the six lower panes in the room’s only window shattered inward with such sudden force that both men ducked. The brick that did the damage skidded to a stop in front of their feet. A piece of paper was tied to it with twine.

  Reed bent down first and picked it up as Finn crunched over the glass, raised the sash, and looked out, craning his neck one way and then the other to see if anyone was running away. No one looked the least bit suspicious.

  When he turned, Reed had untied the note from the brick, which he placed by the door. Then he handed Finn the paper. “Message for you, I take it.”

  Finn shrugged, only wishing Rose’s brother hadn’t been there when this unsavory event had occurred. He scanned the writing, a mere two lines:

  If you want to stay alive, leave Boston. Don’t tell a soul or your delicate flower perishes.

  Finn didn’t have to read it twice to understand what the threat implied. Someone had seen them together at the bookstore and knew who she was.

  “What is it?” Reed asked.

  Finn looked up from the note and directly into a blue gaze that so resembled Rose’s eyes he couldn’t speak. How could he possibly hide this from her brother, her protector? Wordlessly, he handed the paper over.

  It took only a second.

  “What in blue blazes!” Reed exclaimed. “Who the hell sent this?”

  “I wish I knew,” Finn said. “I told Rose we must not be seen together and that she couldn’t tell Woodsom or anyone about my return because it might put people in danger. I was too late.”

  “Why does someone want you to leave?”

  Finn frowned. “Because the Garrard never should have sailed. Somebody besides me knew it and let us go to our deaths anyway. Except I’m not dead, and that’s a problem.”

  Reed considered. “Even if you divorce my sister, she will not be safe.”

&n
bsp; Finn agreed. “Until I leave or die.”

  Reed shook his head, folded the paper, and tucked it into his coat pocket. “Even then, I doubt it. It seems merely her knowing you is the issue, not being married to you. The absence of your person will not erase the fact that she knows you survived. I imagine whoever is responsible for threatening you — and her — will have no compunction about getting rid of Rose even after you leave. She is the proverbial loose end.”

  Finn’s pulse seemed to race as he took in Reed’s conclusion.

  “So what do I do? Stay and she is in danger. Leave and she is in danger.”

  Reed crossed his arms over his chest. “You could leave and save yourself, and let me worry about my sister.”

  “No.” Finn would not explain why or try to make this man understand that despite past appearances, he was not the kind to abandon a woman. “She is my wife.”

  “For now,” Reed muttered. “I admire you for not running from this mess. However, your question remains valid: What are you to do?”

  He snatched up his portfolio, the divorce papers still inside, and headed for the door, only glancing back when his hand was on the doorknob and still Finn hadn’t moved.

  “Well, man, don’t just stand there. Are you coming?”

  Finn felt adrift, clinging to the wooden board from his own doomed ship, helpless and with no control over his destiny. The nausea that had plagued him returned with a vengeance, and all he could do was breathe deeply and try to ignore the black seed of despair that the note had planted inside him.

  Was this really happening?

  “Where?” His voice sounded like a jack plane running over thick timber — rough and raw.

  “First thing’s first,” Reed said. “I have friends in the city’s police force. We’ll take your troubles there. I want to hear everything about this from the beginning, but you might as well say your peace to the constabulary at the same time. Agreed?”

  Finn thought about the ramifications. Going it alone had been futile, and he didn’t think Rose’s position could get any more precarious than it already was. He grabbed for his coat.

  “Agreed.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What were you thinking?” Reed demanded the minute Rose walked into her own front hall from an exciting cooking class on slow-simmered soups.

  Considering all the things swirling in her life at that moment, Rose kept her mouth closed. Any one of a number of her thoughts could prove damning.

  “Into Father’s study. Now,” Reed said and turned on his heel.

  She nearly stuck her tongue out at the back of his head, but she was too old for such behavior — no matter how satisfying.

  “Close the door, please,” he said as soon as she entered a step behind him.

  Such dramatics, she thought, while shutting it firmly.

  “Yes, dear brother. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Don’t you ‘dear brother’ me. Are you trying to get yourself killed? And what about my wife? How dare you bring Charlotte into this!”

  Stuff and bother! He knew.

  “You’ve spoken to Finn.”

  “Indeed I have,” Reed intoned. “This is not the simple matter of my taking some papers over for the man to sign, is it?”

  Rose looked at her shoes. Such a lovely shade of turquoise, peeking out from under her hem.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “You seem to know everything. What do you want me to say?” Then she looked up at him as it dawned on her that he’d actually met her husband. At last.

  Despite her brother’s expression of abject displeasure, Rose couldn’t help asking him, “What did you think of him? Did you like him?”

  Reed stared at her as if she’d truly lost her mind. What’s more, he stayed mulishly silent.

  Stepping forward, Rose took his hand. “Doesn’t he speak well with a lovely cadence? And he’s clever, didn’t you think so? Were you taller than him, or he, you? I can’t tell. Did you walk together? Did you notice his limp? He didn’t have that before he went away I still haven’t asked him—”

  “Silence,” Reed ordered.

  She pressed her lips together to stop herself speaking, chewing her lower lip while she waited.

  With an expression of exasperation, her brother wrenched his hand free. “Stop being a gadfly. We are not here to discuss the merits of Mr. Bennet.”

  “Oh, but we could be,” she persisted. “After all, I married him. Can I not be a little curious as to your opinion of him?”

  He rested his backside against the desk, his long legs stretched out in front of him, and crossed his arms.

  “Well?” she persisted, suddenly dying to know something of Reed’s opinion.

  “Oh, all right!” he snapped. After a few moments, he said, “Bennet seems to be a forthright individual. Quite surprising, considering his treatment of you.”

  Rose waited. And waited. Reed stared her down.

  “Is that all? I asked you—”

  Her brother raised his hand to halt her. “I neither liked him nor disliked him. I was, however, angry that he has put you in danger. He speaks as any normal human does, I suppose, except with a slight accent, mid-Maine, I’d warrant. I believe we were of a similar height though we did not stand back-to-back and examine our reflections and postures in the mirror.”

  Rose giggled at the notion.

  “I noticed his limp, yes, when we walked to the police station.”

  “Oh,” she sobered immediately.

  “I asked him to relay his entire tale to a detective, which he did.” Reed rolled his eyes. “In answer to the question I previously skipped, yes, I do believe he is clever. Yet I cannot say that I admire him. He has compounded one error with another.”

  Rose wrinkled up her nose in dismay, the pit of her stomach feeling knotted. “I am sorry you do not admire him. What errors do you mean?”

  “The ones you already know — marrying you secretly, pretending to be dead for years, and then coming back bringing danger with him, and, of course, meeting you privately.”

  She felt her cheeks grow warm. She was about to say that they were never truly alone when she realized that was not the case. However, he was her husband so that was not a terrible offense.

  “The potential danger is not Finn’s fault,” she protested. “You know the whole story now. So what will the police do next?”

  “That is not your concern. Moreover, no one knows the whole story yet. Do they? This is an ongoing matter, and more than ever, you need to stay clear of Bennet.”

  “But—” she started.

  “You have to,” Reed insisted. “I was with him when a threat was made both to him and to you.”

  She surged forward and grabbed Reed’s hand again. “What threat? What was it?”

  “He has been told to leave the area and talk to no one or your life will be imperiled.”

  Her thoughts were whirling. Would Finn disappear again in order to protect her?

  “With the police on hand, there is less danger, don’t you think?” she asked.

  Reed sighed. “Perhaps whoever is threatening him will act even more quickly.”

  How cavalier of her brother!

  “How was this threat made? Did you see the person?”

  Reed shook his head. “A brick through Bennet’s window with a note attached. Crude but effective.”

  “I see.” She would have been terribly frightened by such an occurrence if she’d been there when it happened. “No one was hurt though?”

  “No,” he said, his voice calmly quiet. “Not yet.”

  She couldn’t suppress a shudder.

  Reed felt it through their joined hands and pulled her to him, resting his chin on the top of her head.

  “I am trying to help fix this mess.” He patted her back.

  “I know.” Rose pressed her check against him. Reed could mend any issue. She’d come to believe that. Ever since their father had passed—

  “You kno
w Mama intends to marry Mr. Nickerson.”

  She felt her brother relax and knew he was smiling.

  “I know.”

  Not for the first time, Rose pictured her mother living elsewhere. “It’s an interesting development?”

  “A welcome one, I think,” Reed said. “Do you agree?”

  She pulled away from him. “I am extremely relieved she has found someone to keep her company. Yet how unexpected. I thought at one time someone mentioned him being interested in Elise.”

  “What? That’s absurd.” Reed grinned. “Nickerson could be her father. He was around the house because of his interest in Mother, not Elise.”

  “That does make more sense. It also means Mama and Mr. Nickerson have been hiding this for quite a long time.” Longer than her own hidden marriage to Finn, in fact. She blinked up at her brother, wondering if that helped in her defense.

  “That doesn’t excuse your behavior, not one whit.” Reed knew exactly what she was thinking. “The circumstances are very different. Our mother will be wed with the full knowledge and blessing of those who love her. In any case, you want out of your marriage so why try to justify what happened in the past? How could it matter what I think of Bennet?”

  Out of her marriage. Yes, of course, because she loved William. Then again, could she honestly say she loved only William? Certainly, some ghost of a feeling existed for Finn, some connection between them that wouldn’t let her stop thinking of him, some spark that sizzled when he was close.

  It was wrong! She belonged to William now.

  Reed groaned. “If I had a penny for each of your wayward thoughts! Why, I can practically see them in your eyes.” He sighed. “Luckily, I don’t know what’s really going on in that adorable head of yours, or I would be the one who needed to be locked up. Simply stay put, stay safe, and I’ll let you know when you are divorced and Bennet has departed our fair city.”

  With a pat on her shoulder, he left.

  It might as well have been a pat on her head as if she were a child.