She frowned. "I don't think I can do that at the cost of my own happiness, not even for Melly."
"Are you so sure I would make you unhappy?" The thought wounded him in a way that he didn't even understand.
Her eyes filled with uncertainty. "No."
That was a start.
"Tell me about Merewether."
She bit her bottom lip.
"Everything," he demanded, when he realized she was in all probability trying to decide how much to say.
"Someone is pilfering from the shipping office in London. I can't tell by the books if they are actually stealing cargo or just money. I noticed the discrepancies and sent a letter to Uncle Ashby's nephew asking about them. He oversees the offices in London."
When Drake nodded his understanding, she went on.
"I never received an answer, but nevertheless went back through previous months' accounts. Once I knew what I was looking for, it was not hard to find."
"Is that why you are going to England?"
It certainly made sense. Thea was not the type of female to be tempted by the frivolous delights of the Season. She was, however, the type to take charge and go searching for the thief on her own.
"Yes. You've got to understand, Drake. Uncle Ashby's health cannot stand the cold climate of England, much less the voyage. He was in bed a month when he and Aunt Ruth returned from their last visit."
"Why didn't you hire Bow Street
to investigate?"
"What if it's his nephew? How will Uncle Ashby's heart take the blow?"
Drake frowned. "He's a man, Thea. His heart will survive the blow."
"I don't mean his feelings, I mean his heart. The doctors say it is weak. If he were to discover his nephew was stealing from us, he might have an apoplectic fit and die. He has quite a temper and it would hurt him, even though he is a man."
"So, if it is the nephew, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. Make him resign from his position, I suppose, and hire someone more trustworthy."
"Are you saying you aren't going to tell Merewether about this at all?"
She stiffened in his arms. "Don't make it sound like I'm betraying him. I'm trying to protect him, like he protected my mother and me when we came to the island."
He couldn't help
but admire her loyalty, even while wanting to curse at her independence. "If it is the nephew, your letter alerted him to the danger, and it looks like he's decided to deal with matters by getting rid of you."
"Yes, but I'm not sure it is Uncle's nephew. Someone else could have read my letter. Someone else could be the thief."
Not likely, but he didn't see the need to argue the point. "You know what this means, don't you?"
She nodded. "The thief is in league with someone from home. At first, I thought it could have been a sailor taken on board Whiskey Jim's latest voyage from England, but you didn't pick up any more sailors in port, or passengers besides me. The man who tried to throw me overboard had to have been paid by someone."
"The same person responsible for engineering the accident in the warehouse."
"Exactly, and when that didn't work, they came aboard ship pretending an interest in your marvelous engine and hired that disreputable sailor to hurt me."
"He tried to kill you."