After the Wedding (The Worth Saga #2)(97)

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In the end, there was nothing left for Adrian to do but to tell fifty truths and one half lie.

The truths were easy. Adrian swore during the hearing that was held that he was, in fact, the grandson of the Duke of Castleford and the nephew of the Bishop of Gainshire. Why yes, he had proof—here were his parents’ marriage records.

The gossip would go around. The truth would come out. Acknowledgment or no, his uncle wouldn’t be able to hide the connection.

The questioning went on for hours.

Yes, Adrian said, his uncle had requested that he look into the matter of Bishop Lassiter. Why yes, he had proof as to that, too. Here was the telegram requesting his presence at Denmore’s house; here were the telegrams they exchanged, where his uncle insisted that he complete his investigation.

The lie was harder. Adrian had never been good at lying.

“Did you consummate the marriage?”

Adrian thought of Camilla. Of the way she smiled at him, of the way he had asked her to be his when he had returned from his uncle, of the brilliant wave of delight that had lit her features.

He’d taken that from her—the joy she had in believing that she had been chosen. And he could give it back.

Adrian was a terrible liar; he did his best. “I am the nephew of Bishop Denmore. We have discussed church matters before. I knew that if the marriage was consummated, the marriage could not be annulled. We both deserved better.” It was not exactly an answer, but they did not realize it.

They did not hear we both—not truly. They heard that Lady Camilla—that was how they referred to her throughout the proceeding—deserved better.

They were not wrong. They were just not right in the way they thought they were right.

He did not speak to Camilla at the proceeding; they were interviewed separately, to see if there were discrepancies in their stories. He caught sight of her at the end of a long hallway once, though. Her head tilted toward him; his whole body turned to hers.

They didn’t exchange a word. Just that long glance shared from a hundred yards away.

But there was one person he did speak to.

It was on the final day when Adrian was delivering testimony. He left the room for a brief respite, and was trying to gather his scattering thoughts when a man came to stand in front of him.

“You!” Bishop Lassiter glared at Adrian. “You! I’ve been called here to account for my doings, and it’s all your fault.”

It really wasn’t. Bishop Lassiter, Adrian suspected, bore the lion’s share of the responsibility for his own undoing, with unnecessary added help from Rector Miles.

Still. Maybe his conversation with Grayson enabled Adrian to be just a little petty in the moment.

“Why, thank you.” Adrian smiled at him. “I’m delighted you noticed. I was hoping you would.”

“You were the worst valet I have ever employed.”

“I know.” Adrian tried to look sympathetic. “And that was true even before I publicly exposed you as a criminal.”

Lassiter just looked more enraged. “You were supposed to be a nobody! That was the entire point of making her take your name!”

Yes. Lassiter had decided that Adrian was expendable all those weeks ago, when he’d forced them to marry. Adrian had vowed he would learn otherwise. It felt surprisingly satisfying to bait the man.

“Yes,” Adrian said, still pretending to commiserate. “That was where you went wrong.”

“Do you understand that I could be defrocked for this? It’s just a few thousand pounds! It’s not even really stealing.”

“Embezzlement,” Adrian said with a sunny smile. “Performing an irregular marriage. That all sounds terrible. I hope you are defrocked, you and Rector Miles both.”

For a second, he actually thought the man would hit him. Lassiter was certainly angry enough to do so. But a clerk came into the hall to call Adrian back.

“Do have a nice day!” Adrian said.

The moment passed.

Several days later, the news came that Bishop Lassiter had stepped down from his duties at the request of his peers. Rector Miles followed the next day. Adrian and his brother toasted the news with champagne.

Adrian went up to Harvil for a few days. The first plates were in production and he needed to see the results. Besides, he had realized that he needed to ask his artists for a very personal favor.

Shortly after he returned, the results of that favor in hand, a group in Surrey announced that they were breaking ground on a charitable institution—Martin’s Home for Women—for those who had nowhere else to go. The money, apparently, had come from a sizable donation from a wealthy, elderly woman.

Adrian kept copies of these news reports in a folder; one day soon, he hoped, he would be able to discuss them with Camilla.

He felt more ambiguously the next week, when Bishop Denmore announced that he would also be resigning his position. Adrian sent his regrets; he received no response.

Fifteen days after Adrian did his best to lie and claim that he’d never made love to Camilla, he received a notice delivered in person by his solicitor.

The petition to annul the marriage of Lady Camilla Worth and Mr. Adrian Hunter had been granted. The marriage was deemed void for lack of consent. Congratulations, said his solicitor. It’s as if you have never been married.

Adrian read those words as if from the end of a long tunnel.