O’Brien sighed. “Well, I’m the last person who could chide you for reaching too high. But I don’t think Lady Aston is in danger. I don’t think she’s ever rejected the man.”
“I’m not aiming too high,” Sebastian hastened to reassure him. “I have no expectations. I know a woman like her is entirely out of my reach.” All of that was true, which only made his behavior this morning even more ridiculous.
Shaking his head, O’Brien laughed. “Oh, my friend, you’ve got it bad.”
In response, Sebastian could only nod glumly. “Yes, I suppose I do.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, and then Sebastian shook his head. “Bloody hell. I I need to talk to Blackstone, don’t I? See what he knows, if anything. Perhaps he really doesn’t have any idea that it could be his brother.”
“He’s been acting like he knows,” O’Brien said. “I think you’d be making a big mistake to go to him. Either way, it’s likely to end with you losing your job.”
“Perhaps,” Sebastian agreed. “But I don’t see any other way. I will never be able to do this on my own. It has to come from the top for a man like Danbury. Even if he is Blackstone’s brother.”
O’Brien nodded pensively. “I’d like to believe that Drake is a good man. We’ve been friends for a lot of years. But when loyalties are tested, you never know which will win out.”
“I guess I’m just going to have to take my chances,” Sebastian said grimly. “I still have one more avenue to explore, but either way, I’ll go speak with him tomorrow. Wish me luck.”
* * *
SEBASTIAN LEFT O’BRIEN’S house more convinced than ever that The Viper was Viscount Danbury. He made a quick stop by his flat to pick up Evelyn’s diary, taking it back to the office, where he pored over it for hours, reading back through Evelyn’s life until he found an entry she’d written when she was eighteen.
M, the V of D, cornered me at the E of K’s ball last night. He asked me to walk outside with him, and although I had no desire to do so, he seemed quite desperate to talk to me. Once he got me in a remote corner of the garden, he tried to kiss me. When I pushed him away, he grew quite furious, told me he’d always planned to make me his wife. When I told him that I did not want to be anyone’s wife, he became so angry and cold he frightened me. I am more convinced than ever that I did the right thing.
He cursed Evelyn’s penchant for using initials instead of spelling out names. He couldn’t prove that she was speaking about Danbury, but how many other men whose first names started with M were also the viscount of someplace that started with a D?
Of course, this wasn’t the sort of proof that would stand up in court, but surely this was enough to convince Blackstone, who obviously already had his suspicions.