Free Quick, Amanda by The River Knows Page B

when he missed Victoria, he reflected. Fortunately, there was an
    establishment in Winslow Lane where his particular requirements were understood and catered to in the
    most satisfactory fashion.

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    He would give a great deal to be rid of his new wife, but he could not afford to dispense with her just
    yet. On their wedding day he had discovered to his horror that he had not obtained control of Lilly’s
    entire inheritance. Her grandfather, the clever bastard, had tied up the remainder of her fortune in such a
    way that it was doled out in annual stipends.

    For all intents and purposes, Elwin thought bitterly, he was being forced to live on an allowance.
    Furthermore, if anything untoward were to happen to Lilly the yearly payments would be stopped
    immediately.

    It was demeaning. Humiliating. An outright insult. This was what came of allowing men like Lilly’s
    grandfather to buy their way into Society. Bloody hell. If it weren’t for the damned money, he would
    never have even considered a woman with Lilly’s background as a potential bride.

    This was the second time he’d been forced to marry well beneath his station. First Victoria and now
    Lilly. And all because of money.

    It wasn’t right that a man of his breeding should be forced to stoop so low. A white-hot rage seared
    through him. He suddenly realized his hand had closed around a heavy silver paperweight. He hurled it
    against the wall. It struck the blue velvet drapes with a soft thud and tumbled onto the carpet.

    He had needed money very badly this past year. Things had started to go wrong almost at once after
    Victoria died. It was certainly fortunate for him that Society did not condemn a man to three years of
    mourning as it did widows. Widowers were expected to remarry, the sooner the better. Although he’d
    had no particular desire to acquire another wife, it had not taken him long to realize that a financially
    sound marriage was his only hope of remaining solvent.

    In the months following Victoria’s plunge into the river he had suffered several serious financial reverses.
    The death of Phillip Grantley two weeks ago had come as a devastating shock. Among other things, he
    had depended on Grantley to collect the blackmail money in an anonymous, untraceable manner. The
    blackmail scheme was the only one of his business arrangements that had continued to work properly
    after Victoria’s demise.

    More crucially, it was Grantley who had concocted the plan for the new investment consortium that was
    his only hope of freeing himself from Lilly and her stingy grandfather.

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    Grantley’s supposed suicide had panicked him for several reasons. The fear that one of the blackmail
    victims had discovered the identity of the agent who collected the payments and had taken lethal action
    had badly rattled his nerves. Victoria had insisted that they select victims who were wealthy, elderly, and
    frail. It was difficult to imagine any of them tracking Grantley down, let alone killing him, but the possibility
    that one of them had done just that could not be ignored. What if that same individual had also learned
    that he, Hastings, was the person behind the scheme? It was that fear that had caused him to hire the two
    guards.

    Luckily, there had been no further indications that he was in danger. Indeed, in the past few days he had
    begun to believe that he had overreacted. Perhaps his suspicions and fears were groundless. Maybe
    Grantley really had taken his own life. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, because the investment
    consortium was fully formed and ready to be launched.

    He had even been thinking of dismissing Quinby and Royce, but the disaster last night had changed
    everything. The fear had returned to chew on his vitals. Much as he disliked having the guards constantly
    hovering, they