Free Six Degrees of Scandal by Caroline Linden Page A

Henry, which he enclosed. I was very startled, because I’d never heard Henry mention another solicitor. Mr. Brewster had been employed by Henry’s father, and he handled everything I knew of. The Townsends came from Kent, though, so it was possible this other solicitor, Mr. Charters, handled their business in the country.
    â€œBut the diary was very . . . odd. Not only was it unlike Henry to keep a diary at all, it didn’t contain the usual things a gentleman would record. Mr. Brewster had taken a holiday to his cottage outside London, but I was so curious I went to see him there. He professed not to know anything about it, though I’m not certain he was truthful.” Her mouth thinned. “I missed Penelope’s wedding because of that, and I learned nothing.”
    â€œDo you still have the diary?”
    She nodded. “When Mr. Brewster told me nothing, I decided I should come see Mr. Armand, who would be able to tell me more. At the least, I could reclaim any of Henry’s property and perhaps learn something from it. And . . . I confess I was very eager to escape Lord Clary’s attention for a while.” Her voice hardened. “But the vile solicitor not only told me he’d burned everything, he asked me to return the diary! He sent it in error, he claimed.” She scowled. “Mr. Charters left detailed instructions for what to do with his clients’ papers after his death, and Henry had agreed everything should be destroyed. He was never in the habit of explaining his intentions to me, but I can’t believe he meant to leave me to Lord Clary’s mercy, without a farthing to my name!”
    Jamie stretched out his legs. He had a feeling Henry Townsend hadn’t spared much thought at all for Olivia’s situation. He’d spent a fortnight ruthlessly mining every source of gossip, rumor, and illicit knowledge he could tap. His sister Penelope, and especially her husband, had given him a good starting point, and everything he’d heard since then had only confirmed it. Nothing Olivia said tonight contradicted his research, either.
    What he had to tell her was not going to improve her opinion of her late husband, and as of yet he wasn’t entirely sure how it would help rid her of Clary. The only thing he was truly certain of was that he and Olivia could solve it together.
    â€œIt’s a good thing you confided in Penelope as much as you did,” he said. “It was another rare stroke of luck that she married Stratford’s son. When the earl died Atherton suddenly became privy to all his father’s secrets, and unlike Henry, the Earl of Stratford kept papers. Atherton is only beginning to sort them out, but it’s clear to him so far that Clary was deeply involved in helping his father acquire a great deal of artwork by dubious means. Given Clary’s interest in you after Henry’s death, I suspect your late husband was part of the operation as well.”
    Olivia’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What operation?”
    Jamie smiled ruefully. “Henry was a smuggler.”

Chapter 7
    O livia thought she’d heard wrong. “What?” she said again, stupidly. She shook her head before he could explain. “No, Henry barely left London. He couldn’t be smuggling . . .”
    â€œAnd when he did leave town, he came home to Kent, didn’t he?” Jamie nodded. “To visit the family home, pay his respects to old friends . . . perhaps check on the network of people who brought his particular cargo into England.”
    Her heart started to pound. That diary, full of entries that looked like payments. A secret solicitor in Kent, with orders to burn everything. The generous income that inexplicably vanished at Henry’s death. “What do you mean?” she whispered.
    Jamie leaned back in his chair. The light of the lamp glinted off his dark hair, tousled by the wind into a wildly attractive mess