Trev gave her a small smile. It didn't surprise him that Sturgeon was coming to love Callie in spite of himself. And well enough, if it would make him a better husband to her. Trev would be in Shanghai, making arrangements to become an opium addict.

"You aren't saying this just to butter up my feelings, are you?" she asked suspiciously. "I don't mind that he broke it off before. You needn't make up silly stories about it just to make me feel better."

He scowled. "It's not a made-up story. And it's hardly silly if you've been embezzled of your fortune."

She gave a little gasp. "Nonsense! What are you talking about?"

"You'll have your money back, I'll make certain of that," he said. "But he was blackmailed, Callie. Why would someone try to prevent him from marrying you? And then the rest of them cried off too, on the thinnest of reasons. It's devilish strange, and I've been doing some looking into the matter."

"In between your escapes from the Bow Street Runners, I suppose?" she asked haughtily.

He held his temper. "Who would be most likely to have access to the accounts and the trust? Who's your trustee?"

"My cousin, of course," she said. "Are you saying poor Jasper blackmailed Major Sturgeon and stole all my money, and then made the rest of them cry off too? And this while my father would have been alive—I don't suppose you're accusing him of embezzling me?"

"Of course not." Trev was becoming annoyed at her resistance. "But stranger things have happened, you know, than the heir apparent wishing to help himself a bit early. How many years has your cousin had access to the Shelford accounts? I want to see the books."

"I believe you've run mad. You don't suppose he altered the accounts! Cousin Jasper couldn't add a sum correctly if it were two plus two."

"Couldn't he? I'd like to be certain of that."

"It's quite impossible. I manage the accounts. At least I supervise him at it, because he's hopeless at the task."

"Perhaps that's all a show. It was damned odd of him to gamble Hubert away—he may have come short in his reckoning and required money to cover himself. Or perhaps it could be the countess behind him? God knows she's as cold as any thief in Newgate."

Callie made a face. "I'll confess that I'm not fond of Dolly, but I don't suppose she's a criminal." She reached down to her basket and pulled out a ball of white yarn. "Perhaps you may have been too much with that class of person and become excessively suspicious."