Chapter Forty

L ord Tobias, Duke of Moreland

Each rushed footstep on the pavement sent a throbbing sensation to my head. From the second Ash fetched me from the office, my heart had been in my throat. I had a horrible suspicion that Brown was behind her current distress. We turned onto Milk Street, and Ash pointed to the house Birdie lived in. I wanted to run to her and... and do what? I had released her from service for her own protection. However, disassociating from me hadn’t helped.

Ash knocked on the outer door as I stood on the stoop, waiting for someone to answer. After a long, drawn-out moment, he shook his head. “Her landlady is hard of hearing.” He pulled a slim piece of metal from his inner pocket and with a grim nod at me, proceeded to pick the lock.

I wasn’t sure how Birdie was going to respond when she saw me. The way we left wasn’t under the best of circumstances, but I still recalled her kiss and the way it made me feel. With a satisfying grin, Ash opened the door. He entered first and I followed, unsure where I was going.

The three-story building was similar to mine and in good condition. However, a cobweb in the top corner of the narrow stairwell spoke of neglect.

Birdie lived on the top floor. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door, anxious to assure myself she was safe. “Birdie, it’s me, and Ash,” I said loudly so that she would know it wasn’t someone trying to trick her.

When she didn’t answer, I shared another look with Ash, concerned that perhaps she was injured or hurt or she wasn’t present at all. Had Brown followed through with his threat? Goosebumps broke out across my skin, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

I knocked again, this time louder. “Birdie, it’s Moran. Open up.”

“Tell me the difference between they’re, there, and their?” came her muffled reply. I shared an amused glance with Ash.

“ There is a place. Their refers to people. They’re is a contraction.” I spelled out each word, trying not to laugh while doing so. Leave it up to her to give me a grammar question.

The soft click of a lock sounded and she opened the door, peeking outside. Her hair was askew and there was a heightened color on her cheeks. She stepped back to allow us to enter. By the disarray inside the flat, she was in the process of packing.

She didn’t look directly at me but at Ash. “I suppose you heard from Jinx and Diggory.”

“I ran into your sisters and they told me you were in trouble.” Ash settled his hands on his hips. “Who are Jinx and Diggory?”

“Two inspectors from the Mayfair station. They came to inquire about my father.” She folded her arms across her belly, her expression drawn. The confident woman I was used to seeing was noticeably gone. “Are my sisters safe?”

“They are at my parents’ house and my mother is looking after the little ones while Eloise goes back to work.” Ash settled his hands on his hips, his mouth downcast.

“What did Jinx and Diggory want?” I asked, disturbed by the entire situation. Birdie was being harassed because of me. If it weren’t for that pesky Brown and his self-righteous cause, she wouldn’t be in trouble. Except I couldn’t place all of the blame on Brown. I had brought this on with my arrogant dismissal of his influence. I should have known better after seeing him with my uncle.

Birdie shook her head, her trembling lower lip cutting straight to my heart. “They claim he disappeared, but I assure you he didn’t.”

“He? Who is he?” Was she speaking of her father or her husband? No, she claimed Frank never existed. Or had she been involved with another man. Jealousy rushed through me, as well as shame. Even if she’d been involved with another man, she owed me no explanations. Something in her past had led her to this moment. And my own actions triggered her current predicament.

“My father.” Her words came out in a mere whisper, anguish in every syllable.

“He didn’t disappear, did he? Is he dead?” Ash asked.

I stared at him, shocked he hadn’t thought to impart that bit of information to me. Except he had told me he might not be able to get her out of this mess. I could forgive many things, but murder wasn’t one of them. “Did you kill your father?”

“No, I didn’t kill my father!” Birdie glared at me, still clearly upset over our earlier fallout. “He died, but I didn’t kill him. He died in the presence of a doctor, who himself died several days later.”

“Why would they think he was murdered?” I was still confused by what was going on. We all carried so many secrets.

“My father is buried in the family plot. I simply told no one he was dead and since his attending physician died, it seemed reasonable to keep my father’s death a secret so that I could provide for my sisters.”

My entire body sagged in relief. I shook my head, looking from Ash to Birdie. “That’s it? That is your big secret? I hardly think that is a big deal. Unless Ash says it is against the law not to post someone’s death in the paper.”

“It isn’t against the law.” Ash continued to watch Birdie, his unease still showing. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

“You are correct. That part was not illegal. What followed could be crossing the line.” The quiver in her lower lip increased and she clenched her hands. While one couldn’t truly differentiate a lady from other women simply by her looks, she carried a familiar air, one that was driven into young ladies of quality. She wore it without even realizing it.

“Go on.” The tension returned, my shoulders creeping up to my ears while I waited for her to speak, the room eerily quiet. It was hard to credit that our falling out had occurred only last night. She had told me her real name, and I had reacted badly. From the way she continued to ignore me, she was still upset with me, and I wasn’t very happy with her either.

“My father had an heir. He’s actually an earl and has no idea that he inherited the terrace house. I concocted the story about my father going to Greece because he and my stepmother had gone there often when they first married.”

“Which would explain why Violet told me about the postcards,” Ash said.

“Yes, they sent us postcards and I was able to manipulate the stamps on them to look like they were recent and not from a decade before. I didn’t do that to try to fool anyone but my sisters. They would have been devastated to know that our father had died. Only Eloise, myself, and Violet are aware that he is dead.”

“Why did the police take the postcards?” I felt like I hadn’t been part of the conversation, even though I was standing here listening to everything. Ash had not filled me in on what the Namath sisters had told him, and Birdie hadn’t given either of us the information. It was all very complicated, which seemed to be the theme of my life lately.

“They wanted proof that my father is alive. In my panic that was the only thing I could think of. I asked Eloise to gather them. Jinx also took the memento box I kept them in, saying that he needed it for the investigation.” She worried her hands, rocking back and forth in her agitation. I wanted to reach out and take her in my arms but that wasn’t my place anymore.

“Then you’re simply going to admit that your father died and show him the death certificate,” I said. The truth was sometimes the best course. Once her name was cleared, she would be free of charges. I was concerned, however, that her association with me had farther reaching consequences than any of us realized. “That should exonerate you.”

Ash shook his head at me, and motioned for Birdie to continue. “Go on.”

“Are you sure you wish to hear this?” she replied, holding Ash’s regard. “I don’t want to get you in trouble and if your higher ups ask you about it, you will be obligated to tell them. I insist that you do, I don’t want you to suffer because of my mistakes.”

He glanced at me with a grim smile. “I’ve tendered my resignation to the Met. Effective the end of the week, I will no longer be an inspector.”

My jaw dropped at the news. “What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Because he was angry with you . But still, we told each other everything. Well, perhaps not everything, which was the source of our falling out.

With a shrug, he sighed. “I thought it was time. But I digress. I was telling Stark of my plans when we were told there was a disturbance. Little did I know that Moran and Brown were creating a spectacle.”

Her mouth opened and she stared between us. “You went outside to fight with Brown? I thought you were just going to shoo them away.”

“I confronted him about what he said to you.” My hackles rose again and I wanted to seek out Brown and give him more than a piece of my mind. “It was completely unacceptable.”

“Well by confronting him you only made things worse. This is all because of you.” She glared at me, indignation sparking her green gaze.

The ever present guilt quickened through me. I couldn’t dispute the fact, nor defend myself on that score. “I know it’s my fault and I can’t change it. You need to simply admit to them that your father is dead, provide them with the death certificate, and the investigation will go away.”

“Brown won’t give up on his crusade to shut down your publishing house.” Ash narrowed his eyes at me. “Besides, Birdie is not finished telling us everything. Are you Birdie?”

With a long exhale she lowered her lashes before lifting them again. “My sisters and I were in dire straits without any resources other than our wits. A few years back, my father rented out the house for the season and took us to live in a cottage in the country. After his passing, I continued to lease the house to the family and pocketed the funds.”

“That is theft.” I’d thought she was the most honest person I had ever met. Apparently, I had to reevaluate that opinion.

“Do not judge me, your grace .” Birdie crossed her arms over her chest once more, this time with righteous indignation. A trace of her old self was back in full force, a welcome, if not daunting sight. “As I said before, I did what I had to do to protect my family. The same thing your father did for you after your uncle unfairly tossed him out onto the street. If I was a man, this wouldn’t even be an issue because I would have inherited the title. Unlike you, I would have accepted it gladly.”

“She does have you on that score.” Ash chuckled, a trace of humor back in play. At least he was coming around, or I hoped he would.

“This isn’t about me. This is about Birdie. What are we going to do? She obviously broke the law by renting the house out when it belonged to her cousin. Although, I suppose we could pay back the cousin the earnings he would have made off the property.” While I had amassed some money over the years, I had reinvested much of it in the business. I would have to speak with my banker after finding out exactly how much she had acquired over the years.

Chin jutted out, she shook her head. Birdie began to tap her toe, her temper riled. “You aren’t doing anything. You’ve made your feelings clear. You wanted to distance yourself from me, and that’s where we draw the line,”

“Don’t let your pride get in the way of accepting my offer.” While her accusation stung, I wouldn’t allow her to suffer because of me.

“I have one solution that will work, but you two must listen to what I say.” Ash put up a staying hand, stopping our bickering. “You both are guilty of what you accuse each other of, all for a good reason, I suppose.”

“I will help the Namath sisters in any way I can.” I settled my hand behind my neck and rubbed at the tight flesh. “This is my fault. If Brown hadn’t found out about the Ambrosia line, none of this would have happened.”

“You may be right. However, if Birdie hadn’t broken the law, she wouldn’t have anything to fear.” Ash’s thumb increased its tapping in a steady rhythm against his hip. “My solution is simple. Moran will marry you and all of this will go away, the same as the other charges.”

Birdie released an incredulous chortle of laugher. “Marriage is your solution? Me marry Moran?”

“I am not a bad sort.” Defending myself seemed foolish. There was a point when I had been prepared to propose to her. Her laughter was an unexpected insult. “Although I know how you feel about marriage, it makes sense except for one big flaw. I am abdicating my title.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “And here I thought you were smart. A prat, mind you, but a smart prat. What do you hope to accomplish by giving up the title?”

“I want to get back to my normal life.” I thrived on routine and the ebb and flow of my life was centered around my passion for books. The title came with estates and people dependent on me for their daily lives. Not to mention social events and cringe-worthy state dinners. I shuddered simply thinking about the endless obligations that would pull me in multiple directions.

Ash shook his head with more vigor, understanding and determination in the twist of his lips. “That’s an impossible task. Once that information hits the streets, everybody will know. You can’t go back to your old life because everyone knows who you are. Even if you abdicated your title, you would always be a duke to them.”

I winced at Ash’s truthful words. Resentment bubbled up inside me and I released my fists, stretching my fingers out. “What about my business? Being a duke is a lot of responsibility. I won’t have time to edit manuscripts and publish the books I want to publish.”

“That isn’t possible anymore.” Ash wasn’t giving me any quarter. “You must face up to reality. You are a duke. You wield so much power yet you want to give it up.”

“You’ve always despised the aristocracy because of the power they wield. And now you want me to hold onto the title? Why? What changed your mind?” Surely Ash, like many people I knew in the past, hadn’t altered his tune simply because of who I was? I know it was unfair, but during the brief time that I lived at the ducal estates, it was a constant challenge to determine who wanted to know me as a person, and me as the grandson of a duke.

“He doesn’t want you to hold onto it for selfish purposes but because of what you can do with it.” Birdie continued to rock back and forth, her smooth brow furrowed. She had been listening intently to the conversation while glancing nervously at the door.

“I don’t want it. I don’t want the weight of responsibility.” Even thinking about it made my shoulders feel like a heavy burden had been yoked around my neck. I couldn’t do it. I simply couldn’t.

Except it was becoming more and more clear that I may not have a choice.