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Now, she had no real desire to attend this event, but she didn’t feel that same gut-twisting knot of anxiety over it. She was here with her husband, and if she only spent time with him and her friends?

Well, the gossip rags could say what they wanted.The newly minted Duchess of Montgomery seems fond of her husband. Please. It was boring, not untrue, and she’d had far, far worse.

It was a wonderfully liberating feeling.

So, as she returned to her husband, Grace felt her spirit grow lighter. None of this wasreal,she reminded herself—the talk, the shine, the sidelong glances. It didn’t actually matter.

What mattered was her friends, her husband, the families they were building together.

And catching a villain, she reminded herself, when her husband bent down to whisper low in her ear.

“Come along,leannan. It’s time.”

CHAPTER 24

Caleb did not have a good feeling.

Or, well, he supposed that was not precisely the case.

He had a strong sense, after all, that they would learn something this evening. He might have dismissed it as optimistic, if anyone had ever accused him of having such a trait.

Something in the air felt like it did in the eve before battle, however, something in his body priming him for action before his mind could identify the threat.

He thought they would learn something, and that was good. But he feared that what they would learn would hurt his wife.

And even thinking about that filled Caleb with a burning, heady rage.

“This one,” Grace said quietly, tugging on his arm and drawing his attention. “But it will be locked. He always keeps it locked.”

Caleb shot her a quick smile. It was so nice to have the answers handy.

“That’ll nae be a problem, lass,” he said. “I’ve the key.”

He produced it from his pocket and dangled it briefly in front of her face. She gaped at him and damn if that wasn’t satisfying.

“How?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “Your brother obviously hates your father. Turns out, he knows which servants hate your father, too.”

Somehow, she looked even more incredulous. “You told my brother what we’re doing.”

“Well, I might not have told him that ye were coming with me. Didn’t think he’d approve.”

As a matter of fact, Oackley’s precise words had been, “I don’t care if you leave my father shackled in a pillory in the middle of Covent Garden, but if you get my sister in any trouble at all, I will destroy you.”

Caleb wasn’t overly concerned, as he intended to destroy anyone who intended Grace harm long before it reached her, anyway.

“Men,” Grace harrumphed. She did not, however, seem upset that he’d managed to ensure that they’d be able to snoop all they wanted.

Graham’s office was neatly organized, though stacks of paper and thick, leather-bound ledgers sat here and there with an oh so casual placement that Caleb assumed was to emphasize how verybusyandimportantthe man was.

Christ, but Graham was a peacock. He hid it reasonably well, but the man was as vain as any dandy—he just let it out in different ways.

“Where do we start?” Grace murmured.

Caleb reached into his pocket again and produced another, smaller key.

“He’ll keep the most important things locked up, now, won’t he?” he asked.