As rich as bloody Croesus.
Kirby had said he'd checked. He'd sounded very sure, and he was, after a fashion, clever. "As rich as bloody Croesus"… it wasn't easy to imagine him making such a big mistake…
The months rolled back. In her mind, she revisited all the evidence she'd garnered, all she'd seen with her own eyes, everything that had led her to believe Luc and the Ashfords were very far from rich.
She couldn't have been wrong… could she?
Of course not! He'd all but admitted she was right…
No, he hadn't. Not as such.
Not ever.
The marriage settlements — by his insistence written in percentages so no real amount, no value of his estate had been there to read. She'd assumed the amount had been small.
What if it had been large?
All those repairs — the lumber ordered early, within days of that dawn she'd first spoken of marriage, of her dowry.
What if he hadn't married her for that?
She refocused on her reflection, then gave a shaky laugh. She was imagining things. The events of the night had left her overwrought, small wonder…
What if he hadn't married her for her money?
A tap fell on her door.
Distracted, she called, "Come in."
She looked around as Higgs stuck her head past the door.
"I was just off to bed, my lady, if there's nothing else you need?"
"No, Higgs. And thank you for all your support this evening."
Higgs flushed and bobbed. "My pleasure, ma'am." She started to back out of the room.
"Wait!" Amelia waved. "One moment…" Swiveling on her dressing stool, she faced Higgs. "I have a question. When I first arrived, that first morning we discussed the menus, you mentioned we could now be more extravagant. What did you mean?"
Higgs came in, shut the door, clasped her hands. Frowned. "I don't rightly know as it's my place to speak—
"No, no." Amelia smiled reassuringly. "There's no difficulty — I just wondered why you'd thought that."
"Well, you know about the master's father, about how he died, and… all that?"
Amelia held her breath. "About how Luc's father left the family in dun territory?" When Higgs nodded, she exhaled. "Yes. I know about that." She hadn't been wrong. It was all a silly misunderstanding of Kirby's—
"And then, at last, after all his hard work, the master's ship came in, and he said we didn't need to watch our pennies any longer. His investments had made him and the family rich. That was such good news! And then he was marrying you—"
"Wait." Her mind literally reeled. Investments? Lucifer had asked Luc about investments… "These investments… when did that happen? Can you remember when you heard?"
Higgs frowned, clearly counting through the days. Her eyes narrowed… "Yes — that's it. The week after Miss Amanda's wedding, it was. I remember I had Miss Emily's and Miss Anne's gowns to see to when Cottsloe came and told me. He said the master'd just heard."
She felt so dizzy it was a wonder she remained upright; her emotions swung crazily, from ecstatic happiness to fury. She plastered on a smile, brittle, but enough to reassure Higgs. "Ah, yes. Of course. Thank you, Higgs. That will be all."
Graciously, she nodded; Higgs bobbed and departed, closing the door.
Amelia set down her brush. One point she'd never understood swam into focus. Luc had been drunk that dawn she'd waylaid him; she'd realized at the time it had been a supremely un-Luc-like happening. He hadn't known she would materialize and offer to rescue him financially — he'd been drunk in celebration of the fact he'd already rescued himself from what, she now suspected, had been a much worse situation than even she had guessed.