Page 58 of The Untamed Heart

Lucius perked up, instantly interested. “Prufrock? What did he say? Did he find—?”

“Yes,” Hawkney said, sending Lucius an impatient glance. “He informs us that Captain Strangways was given the order, but he was killed in action.”

“Ah. Well, that explains that then,” Sherry said with relief. “I imagine that pleased Marcus.”

“It did. I could almost see the weight lift from his shoulders,” Hawkney began. “Indeed, our friend is looking quite—”

“That’s not right.”

They both turned, staring at Lucius. His expression was one of frustration.

“What’s not right?” they asked at the same time.

“Strangways. I don’t believe it. Keller wouldn’t have given that order. I have a sense of the man now and… No. I don’t believe it.”

“Well, Prufrock found the order, written in Keller’s hand, and assigned to Strangways,” Hawkney retorted, looking somewhat annoyed.

Lucius’s scowl only deepened. He ran a hand through his hair, which did little harm as it was already a mess, and began pacing the room.

Sherry and Hawkney ignored him, for that seemed to be the safest option.

Hawkney turned back to Sherry, his expression one of resigned perseverance. “As I was saying, Marcus is looking remarkably well. I rather think he may have taken a shine to Miss Foxworthy and—”

“When did he die? At what time precisely?”

Hawkney sighed. “When did who—”

“Strangways, you halfwit, who the hell do you think I mean?”

Hawkney stiffened and Sherry groaned inwardly. He was not in the mood for breaking up a fight.

Not another one.

“Lucius,” he growled.

Lucius folded his arms and glared at them both. “Fine. Please tell me when and where Captain Strangways died, your grace.”

Hawkney looked troubled as he withdrew a piece of paper. “You really think there’s a problem? Prufrock said the death was recorded in the proper fashion. He copied out the entry,” he added, handing the paper to Lucius, who snatched it from him.

He read the entry, tugging on his hair as his eyebrows drew together. “No. No. It doesn’t work. I need my books.”

“Doesn’t work?” Hawkney repeated. “What do you mean? You think someone falsified the report?”

Sherry got to his feet and hurried to the door, summoning a footman. “Bring Lord Darenth’s bag here at once, please.”

They said nothing until the bag was delivered and watched as Lucius fell to his knees on the rug, undoing the fastenings and tossing books left and right until he found the notebook in which he’d recorded his findings at Horse Guards.

Hawkney got up and came to stand beside Sherry, looking over Lucius’s shoulder. They both watched impatiently as Lucius regarded the pages filled with the odd squiggles, numbers, and symbols of the code he used to write with, and that no one else could decipher.

“The sly devil,” Lucius exclaimed. He raised his head, his eyes lit with triumph. “Major Keller could not have assigned the message to Captain Strangways because he’d been dead for at least forty-five minutes.”

“What?” Hawkney said as Lucius got to his feet.

“Look,” Lucius said, thrusting the copied entry under Hawkney’s nose. “It says here Strangways was killed in action during the opening minutes of D’Erlon’s attack on La Haye Sainte. Well, that battle began at half-past one in the afternoon, and the message wasn’t sent until twenty-five minutes past two! I told you I was right,” he said smugly.

“Bloody hell,” Hawkney said, the colour draining from his face. “He meant Marcus to die that day.”

“But he didn’t, and now Keller means to finish the job,” Lucius said impatiently. “Someone ought to warn him, don’t you think?”