Always and Forever (15 page)

Quinn answered honestly, "Yes."

"You do realize that he is betrothed to another?" Lady Scarcliff queried.

"I do know that," Quinn replied.

There was no reaction to this and Quinn found that she was holding her breath. Then quite suddenly Lady Scarcliff declared, "Thank God."

And that quickly all of Quinn's fears evaporated.

She was shown to her room where a bath was immediately brought up for her. After bathing and changing, she headed downstairs to join the others in the music room. She was the last to arrive, Thaddeus meeting her at the door and escorting her to a spot on the divan across from Lady Scarcliff. Lady Scarcliff addressed Quinn while Thaddeus brought drinks to everyone.

"Thaddeus has told us much about you, Miss Shaughnessy."

One look at Thaddeus confirmed that he really had told them much. Oh great, she was going to get tossed from the house before she ever had the chance to ask the questions she came here to ask!

"Don't worry, Miss Shaughnessy, we aren't going to pile up a bunch of sticks just yet," Lady Scarcliff teased.

"That's very comforting to know." Quinn muttered which earned her an honest laugh from Lady Scarcliff.

"I'll hold judgment until I understand why you're here. What is it you wish to know from us?"

"I don't understand why Archer entered into an agreement with Miss Danvers."

Lady Scarcliff's eyebrow rose as she asked, "You don't think he would have asked for her? She is a remarkably beautiful woman."

"Yes and an ice princess. The man I know wouldn't have pledged himself to her voluntarily. My guess is something forced his hand, had him once again doing what he believed was his duty."

"You seem to know my son very well for someone who has known him for so short an acquaintance."

Quinn held Lady Scarcliff's gaze as she offered, "I can't explain it but I do know him. I know his heart and his mind and that's how I know that nothing, outside of duty, would have him pledging himself to someone as horrid as Miss Danvers."

Quinn saw it, the look of pain that flashed across Lady Scarcliff's face.

"You are right. It was a very painful time for us, one that could have broken us as a family, but somehow only made us stronger. Since it isn't really Archer's story to tell…" Lady Scarcliff looked over at her daughters a moment and Quinn noticed the slight nod given to her before she continued "...and if what I tell you can help keep him from marrying that woman, then I shall break the silence."

"We met Miss Danvers and her mother three years ago when Rosalind was in her first season. Katherine was older yet still unwed and it seemed that almost from the beginning she had set her cap for my son. Archer was completely uninterested in marriage especially since he already had his heir in little Nicholas, so all Miss Danvers attempts to lure my son went completely unnoticed by him. We were living here in London for the Season. Cecilia was only fifteen and too young to come out so while Rosalind, Archer and I made the rounds, Cecilia stayed home with a trusted companion."

Quinn looked over at Cecilia and she knew, from the younger woman's sad expression, the secret had to do with her.

"Maybe you shouldn't tell me," Quinn backed off. "I don't wish to make you relive a painful memory."

A warm smile touched Lady Scarcliff's lips before she said, "And because you truly seem to care I shall tell you. It turned out that our trusted companion wasn't so trusting, allowing Cecilia to accompany Lady and Miss Danvers on a shopping trip. But it wasn't shopping that they had in mind. They orchestrated the ruin of my young daughter to ensnare my son into marriage."

"What?!" Thaddeus had turned a worrisome shade of purple.

"They lured her to an unsavory place and put her in a situation that could have been so much worse. The fact that she escaped with just an unwanted kiss and not the loss of her virtue was a miracle. The damage was done though because one word from the Danvers and my daughter, who wasn't even out of the school room yet, would have been ruined. A social pariah."

Quinn felt her own temper flare. "So they blackmailed Archer and told him if he married Miss Danvers then they would keep their silence about the alleged lover's tryst."

"Yes," Lady Scarcliff said defeated.

Quinn forgot for a minute where she was as she stood and started to pace. "So he took one for the team," she said under her breath. She whirled around to look at the occupants of the room. "He can't do it. They have to be stopped." Quinn was pacing again so she didn't see the looks that were being passed between the others in the room. Suddenly, she stopped and turned. "You said from the beginning it seemed that Katherine had singled out Archer for her attention, yes?"

"That's right."

"You were already living in London."

"Yes, for many years."

"And did you know, prior to Archer joining you in London, that his wife was dead?"

"No. Why? What are you thinking Miss Shaughnessy?"

"When exactly did Archer's wife die?"

"Shortly before he came to London," Lady Scarcliff offered.

"How?"

"They found her in the river. She couldn't swim and drowned."

"So, it wasn't common knowledge to the other members of the Ton that Archer's wife had passed?"

Lady Scarcliff seemed confused by the question. "No, there hadn't been enough time for it to circulate and Archer refused to mourn her. You must understand she was a truly cold and hateful woman, so Archer joined us in London instead of staying home for the traditional year-long mourning period."

Quinn felt a chill go through her before she asked her next question. "So how did Katherine know that Archer was once again on the marriage mart?"

There was hardness in Thaddeus' voice that Quinn had never heard before when he answered her, "She had to have known that his wife was dead, but since she lived in London, the only way she could have known about it is if she had a hand it in."

Quinn turned to Thaddeus. "If she killed his wife, and was willing to ruin his sister to claim him, then there is no telling what she'll do to keep him."

"We're going to have to handle this very carefully." Thaddeus said what Quinn, herself, was thinking and then she added, "We need to tell Archer."

"Agreed."

The tremble in Lady Scarcliff's voice had both Quinn and Thaddeus turning to her. "How are we going to save my son?"

Quinn had been pondering that particular question for quite a while now and hadn't found an answer.

She looked to Lady Scarcliff and sighed, "I have no idea."

Later that day, Quinn and Thaddeus decided to visit a detective recommended to them by Lady Scarcliff. Quinn was convinced that in the future Archer and Nickie met with foul play from the Danvers so now they needed to stop it from happening. They needed information. And Quinn also wanted to learn more about Archer's wife; more specifically, how she died. On the coach ride Quinn noticed Thaddeus was unaccountably quiet.

"What's troubling you, Thaddeus?"

There was confusion and a touch of fear marring his features when he turned his head to her. "Why now?" he asked. "Why were you sent back now, to this specific time? I don't think Arch is anywhere near ready to actually marry Katherine. He's been procrastinating for years. So what's driving this? What is so important that you were sent back now to correct it? You're not telling me everything," he concluded.

Quinn took his hands into hers. "You're right. In the future, there is nothing, absolutely nothing about Whispering Winds. The place is like a tomb, abandoned by everyone, but the furnishings that remain are Archer's. It is sad and empty with none of the grandeur it deserves. My theory is that Katherine and Edwyn are working a con and the ones who stand in the way of them getting what they want are Archer and Nickie. I think that they kill them in such a manner as to put a black cloud of suspicion over the place that lingers into the future."

Thaddeus looked almost ill with trepidation and when he spoke, his voice cracked, "That's really rather disturbing. So you think that you were sent here to stop this?"

"It's all I've got so far, but the more we learn about the Danvers, the more I think I'm right."

Thaddeus wiped at a tear, "Thank you for telling me."

The detective looked a lot like Sherlock Holmes with his black cape and funky little hat; he even smoked a pipe. He was just a bit taller than Quinn and very non-descript but his dark brown eyes were sharp and astute. In fact, he had the perfect cover since no one would look twice at him and Quinn bet he used that to his advantage to get close to people and hear their dirty little secrets with no one being the wiser.

His office was small, his desk completely cluttered with papers, a small fire burned in the grate of his fireplace. The place needed a good cleaning but Quinn knew, in her gut, if anyone could find out about Archer's wife it would be this man, Douglas Grant.

"So she died just over three years ago?" he began.

"Yes," Thaddeus replied.

"And her family?"

"I'm not sure that they are still around. I believe they may have moved after her death."

"Interesting," Douglas jotted notes in his notepad before he looked up at Thaddeus and Quinn. "Lord Scarcliff was not home at the time of her death, is that right?"

"Yes, that's correct," Thaddeus supplied.

"Is it fair to say that Lord Scarcliff and his wife did not care for one another?"

"She was a cold fish. I don't know of a single person who cared for her," Thaddeus bit out.

"I apologize; I just am trying to get an accurate picture. It helps me in my work when I understand all the nuances of those I investigate."

"Fair enough," Thaddeus replied.

"There is a son?"

"Yes, but Nicholas was too young to remember anything. He doesn't even remember his mother," Thaddeus countered.

"Strange that a mother would willingly leave her child though I have heard of stories where the mother is so overcome with depression after the birth that they bring harm onto themselves or their baby. I suppose if this is a case such as that, we should count it lucky that she didn't hurt the boy too."

A shiver went through Quinn at the thought of harm coming to Nickie. Postpartum depression, was it possible? She was pulled from that thought when Douglas Grant offered, "I'll be in touch within the week."

"Thank you," Quinn replied.

Quinn rose and Thaddeus followed. Mr. Grant walked them to the door and shook Thaddeus' hand before turning to Quinn and bowing his head in farewell. When they were alone on the street just outside his office, Quinn asked, "What now?"

"We need to tell Archer but we can't send a letter. It's too risky so we'll just have to summon him to London," Thaddeus announced. Quinn didn't miss his calculated look which prompted her to ask, "What are you up to?"

"Oh, nothing I just have a fool proof way of getting Archer here as quickly as humanly possible."

"And that would be?"

Thaddeus' smile was positively wicked. "Why spoil the fun? You'll learn soon enough. Shall we go for tea? I'm famished."

Quinn had the sense that the other shoe was about to drop but she took Thaddeus' offered arm and replied, "Tea sounds great."