Read Online Tanya Anne Crosby by The Impostor's Kiss - Free Book Online Page A

all?
    He’d said she was indispensable.
    It’s not my mother who needs you most…
    The memory of his words made her shiver slightly, but she didn’t trust him.
    He wanted something from her, she was certain of it. She’d never known him to flatter anyone without reason. There was a time she’d thought him charming, but she’d come to realize every word that came out of his mouth was calculated. He’d grown from a boy who’d defied his station to play with commoners into a coldhearted, greedy landlord who took food from the mouths of bairns and who cared only for his own pleasures. It would behoove her to tread lightly with him and to believe none of his words.
     
    “What do you mean, the funds are not available?” Merrick asked, stunned by the disclosure.
    He sat in a chair facing the steward’s desk and took in the state of the room. It was comfortably furnished and slightly less kept than the rest of the household. A film of dust covered the draperies and furnishings…everywhere but the desk, which was apparently well used. Unlike the rest of the house, it was obvious this office was not maintained daily by the servants.
    “Precisely that, my lord. The funds are simply not available to you.”
    The cocky bastard had informed him baldly that he had no right to peruse the account books. Theywere under lock, he’d declared—a lock to which, apparently, he had the only key.
    Why would a steward have sole possession of the estate books and the house keys?
    Was it possible the estate belonged, not to Ian, but to his mother? If so, how was it that Fiona trusted Edward over her own son?
    Merrick rephrased his question. “By not available to me, do you mean they do not exist? Or do you mean that I simply do not have access to them?”
    Edward stood rigidly by the cabinets where the ledgers were evidently kept, obstinately shaking his head. “As I’ve told you previously, my lord, I am not at liberty to speak of household investments. If you wish to know more, you must broach the matter with Lady Fiona.”
    “I see,” Merrick said, and then added, surmising, “So you send me to my mother, she sends me to you and it goes precisely nowhere?”
    The steward averted his gaze. “I am sorry, my lord.”
    Like hell he was. It was perfectly clear by the man’s smug expression that he wouldn’t be persuaded to reveal anything more.
    Merrick fully intended to get to the heart of the matter. He wasn’t accustomed to being refused; it didn’t set well with him. “I suggest you find a way to obtain those funds,” he told the steward, eyeinghim pointedly. “Miss Simon will be paid as agreed upon. I’ve no doubt my mother would tell you the same.”
    The steward’s arrogant facade cracked a bit. “Yes, my lord, she is, indeed, quite fond of Miss Simon, but—”
    Merrick stood abruptly and turned to leave without excusing himself. “Just do it, Edward,” he snapped, and left before his temper could no longer be restrained.
    At least he now knew what answers his brother had sought from Edward to no avail. He experienced a momentary pang of regret for Ian. Was this what had driven his brother to thievery?
    It didn’t matter.
    Thievery was hardly a noble pursuit—no matter that Chloe seemed to think so.
    As far as Edward was concerned, the steward only thought he was in control. Merrick was about to set the bastard back on his heels. His first task was to find out to whom the estate belonged—to his father or to Fiona. Merrick suspected the miser was his father, in which case, Edward had better find himself a rock to crawl beneath.
    At the moment his greatest dilemma was in getting a message to Ryo without alerting Ian, his father or his mother. Ryo was the one person Merrick felt he could rely upon. Though the old man’sloyalties lay primarily with Merrick’s father, ultimately Ryo would do what his conscience dictated.
    Merrick had a feeling Ian wouldn’t reveal himself straightaway. There must be some way