Alguire barely looked at it before he turned to Avery and said, “There was a bowl of comfits that sat at your father’s side.”
“The bowl is there,” Elisa told him, pointing to the table that held other objects. The glass itself was pretty and she’d already thought Alguire would want it.
Alguire looked at it and then cleared his throat before picking it up. “Yes, this is it.” He smiled at her. “Thank you.”
Was that it?
He didn’t seem pleased with just the bowl. Had he wanted the comfits inside? “I had the candy tossed away. I don’t think they were any good anymore.”
“Really?” Avery asked. “What makes you assume so?”
“The smell,” she said. “It seemed wrong.”
“Did you try one?” Alguire asked.
She shook her head.
He relaxed. “Well, it is good you got rid of it then.” Alguire picked up a jacket that looked as though it would fit him and then bowed. “I thank you for your kindness. These items that belonged to your father, I shall cherish.”
Avery saw him away.
Elisa was heading to her old room, just to look at it, when a footman came to her.
“My lady, a tragedy has happened.” He looked remorseful.
“Oh, dear, what now?” she asked.
“Lola has died.”
Her father’s dog. Elisa had been there when he’d got the shepherd puppy six years ago. “How did the dog die?”
“I don’t know. She was eating and then she began to cough up blood.” He frowned. “We were trying to save her while you took your meal. I’m sorry. I hate to inform your brother of this occurrence.”
“No, I will tell Avery. Thank you.” Hopefully, her brother had not bonded with the dog.
“And the boys who found the dog,” the footman went on. “Could you also see that they don’t lose their position?”
Elisa nodded. “May I speak to them?”
“They are with the dog now. They’ve cleaned up the mess and washed Lola very nicely. They are gravely saddened by what happened.”
“Take me to them.”
She followed him into the kitchens. There she saw the boys, who looked no more than seven or so. They sat on the floor with the dog between them. The dog had been positioned as though at rest. Elisa could still barely look at it.
When announced, the boys stood. Their small blond heads were down. The footman introduced them as Tom and Nathan.
“We’re sorry, my lady,” Tom said.
“That’s all right. It was hardly your fault. Sometimes, these things happen.”
The boys didn’t look at her.
She looked at the bowl the dog had eaten from. It was still mostly full. “Did one of you pour Lola another bowl?”
Nathan shook his head. “That’s the one she was eating from.”
Elisa went over and knelt down. The meal looked to have been old stew. Something pink caught her eye, and she asked for a spoon to dig it out. Once out, she recognized it as a comfit.
She looked at the boys.
Tom spoke first, addressing Nathan. “I thought you got it all out.”
Nathan started crying.
“What’s going on?” the footman asked.
Elisa stood. “Where did you boys get this?” She handed the spoon to the footman.
Tom spoke through his tears. “Mr. Gates told us to throw it away. He said it wasn’t good, but Lola always ate things that were no longer good.”
The dog died from the comfits.
A terrible feeling filled Elisa. She turned to the footman. “Do you know where my father got these comfits?”
“No, but I can ask his valet.” The footman left and came back with Mr. Gates.
“They were a gift from Lord Alguire,” Mr. Gates informed her.
Elisa stared at the men until her vision began to blur.
Then she fainted.
∫ ∫ ∫
5 0
* * *
Nicholas stopped asking the staff questions once he noticed that Elisa was waking up. She rested on the bed beside him. He held her hand.
Her eyes found his, and she frowned. “Nicholas? Where am I?”
“You’re at your brother’s house. What happened?”
She looked around and then her eyes widened. She looked at Nicholas. “Alguire killed my father.”
“What?” Avery stood at the foot of the bed and moved forward. “What are you talking about?”
“The comfits,” Elisa fought to sit up and Nicholas was there to help. “The comfits Father was taking, they were poisoned.”
Avery shook his head. “Elisa, you must still be tired. Perhaps, you had a terrible dream—”
“I know my mind!” she screamed. As she began to weep, Nicholas wrapped his arm around her, but she fought him off and glared at him.
Nicholas shrank away and tried to think of the reason behind her hostility toward him. He’d done nothing wrong.
“Avery,” Elisa said. “You must listen. Alguire killed our father. Ask the footman.”
“I did. Thank God he was there to catch you before you fell. He said you discovered the comfit in the dog’s bowl. He’s had Tom and Nathan dispose of the rest of them. They’ve been burned to ensure none of the other dogs eat them.”
Elisa gasped. “That was evidence! Alguire killed our father.”
Nicholas didn’t know what to say. As he watched the siblings fight, he tried to see things as Elisa did. “My love.”
She looked at him.
“Just because Lola died from the confection doesn’t mean it was the comfit that killed your father. Dogs and people are different—”
“I know what I know!” she shouted. “Alguire killed my father!”
“I’ll go get a doctor.” Avery started for the door.
“No! Wait! Listen to me, please.” She sounded so desperate. Her face was red. She broke into tears. “No one listens to me.”
“I’m listening,” Nicholas said in a low tone, hoping it would calm her.
She glared at him once more, her eyes the sharpest slits he’d ever seen. “I want Dr. Sparrow.”
The request was like a shot to his chest. Nicholas had to keep from looking around for the blood because surely he was dying.
“Or Astger,” she said. “Please, go get them for me.”
He stood. “What can they do for you that I cannot?”
“Listen to me,” she said.
“I am listening.” Why did she never believe him when he said as much? “Just because we don’t agree on everything…”
She got out of the bed and looked around the room. “If you will not get them for me, I will get them myself. Where are my shoes?”
Nicholas watched her. Anger boiled under the surface of his skin and turned his belly. “You’ll go nowhere.”
She looked at him. “You said you wouldn’t keep me prisoner.”
“You’re not thinking clearly. Let me help you settle back in bed. You should rest—” He moved his head just in time to miss the vase that was heading for it.
It smashed into the wall behind him.
He turned and jumped out of the way of a candelabra. “Elisa! Have lost your—”
“Out! Get out!” she screamed loudly. Her voice rang and bounced off the walls. Then she was crying. Her entire body shook in a combination of rage and anguish.
She looked wilder than he’d ever seen her. The sense of failure and confusion began to settle in him.
He didn’t know what to do. Therefore, he left. He thought time alone would help settle her. He had no intentions of calling for Sparrow or Astger.
She was his wife and no one else’s. He was the only man she needed.
But what if he was wrong?
Perhaps, he should call Sparrow for his medical opinion, but then again, Sparrow didn’t seem to think clearly around his wife either.
Nicholas needed to think.
The door to her room opened behind him.
<
br /> He turned.
She was there. She glared at him and then slammed the door.
He lost his temper. “I don’t understand why you’re angry with me. What have I done?”
She opened the door again. The pain in her eyes cut through him like glass. “I love you with all my heart, but I shouldn’t have married you.”
She may as well have killed him, truly killed him, then say those words. “Elisa.”
She started to close the door again, but his hand stopped it with only a crack left. Her head was down. Her voice was weak. “We weren’t meant to be.”
“That is a lie.”
She looked up in shock, likely surprised by the confidence in his tone.
“We were meant to be,” he said. “You were meant for me and me for you.”
Her brown eyes seemed hesitant, but the pressure on the door lessened. “I’m scared.”
“Of what? Of who?” Who did he have to break in order to make things right for her?
“The doctor my brother is calling,” she whispered. The tears in her eyes spilled over. “I don’t want laudanum. I don’t want to go to sleep.”
Nick thought for a long moment and then said, “All right. No sleeping.”
She closed her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Can you tell me why you think Alguire killed your father?”
She blinked and looked at him again. The fear began to return. “I don’t want to tell you.”
“Why? You think I won’t believe you?”
She shook her head. “No, I know you won’t. I know I will tell you everything and that you’ll not believe. And if I tell you everything, if I pour my heart out to you and still you do not believe, then I will hate you forever, Nicholas. It is different if Sparrow of Astger doubt me, but… not you. I don’t want to hate you.”
Nick licked his lips and realized her words confirmed that she cared for him more than the others.
He didn’t want his wife to hate him. He loved her.
But her story seemed crazy.
He had a decision to make.
Believe her or don’t.
He felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. To take another step into her mind would be to fall.
Yet, he’d already fallen for her, hadn’t he?
Might as well go all the way.
“Tell me and I’ll believe everything you say.”
∫ ∫ ∫
5 1
* * *
Elisa took a breath.
She’d just finished telling Nicholas everything she knew.
He stood by the window and looked out.
It had taken an hour to tell him everything. In that time, he’d interrupted more than once with questions and then the doctor had arrived. He’d barely stepped a foot into the room before Nicholas was banishing the man.
Through it all, she could tell Nicholas was listening. He wanted to understand, and she was thankful for that at least.
But now that he knew… if he didn’t believe her? Nothing would be the same. They could not return to who they’d been just yesterday or even at the castle. She would never stop loving him. He would be master of her heart forever.
But the trust would be gone and her faith in him…
“Did you tell Sparrow and Astger all of this?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Only you know everything.” She thought that would make him happy.
Yet he frowned. “And even with all the missing pieces, they believed in your cause more than I did.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she decided against it.
“I need to speak to Van Dero.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I need to know if I’m allowed to punish Alguire for this.”
“Punish him?” Her heart skipped. “You believe me?”
“I believe you.” He grinned.
She smiled, but then wondered if he still thought her mad.
She would not ask. She would bask in the glow of the moment. He believed her. It was enough to see them through the day, maybe even forever.
He moved toward her and held out his hands.
She took them and allowed him to pull her from the bed.
His arms went around her, and Elisa stepped against his chest.
For the first time in a while, she believed everything would be all right. Alguire was the cause of all her heartache, the reason she’d been put in Bedlam.
He started toward the door.
“How would you punish Alguire?” She followed him.
He took her hand. “That, I don’t want you to worry about.”
She remembered how Alguire had been dragged into the snow and left without his clothes. She wondered if by punish he meant something far more severe this time. “We should tell Avery what’s going on.”
“I will.” They started down the hall.
She bit her lip and added, “Also, you need to speak to Avery about another matter.”
He looked at her. “About what?”
“The past. Why he’s angry with you.”
“He told you why?”
“Yes.”
He studied her face and then his brows lowered. “It’s not good, is it? It never is.”
She laced their fingers together. “We all have regrets. Avery said the same.”
Her husband sighed. “Some have more than most. Would you like to be with me when I explain everything to Avery?”
“No, I wish to see Tom and Nathan. I’m sure my fainting caused them great fear.”
He kissed her hand when they reached the foyer. “That you would care for the worries of servant children proves you have the biggest heart in London.” His eyes were so warm and open that Elisa fell into them and forgot herself.
Pressing herself into her husband, she was glad when he lowered his head.
Their lips met open, their kiss hot.
There was the clearing of a throat.
Nicholas pulled away, but there was not an ounce of shame in his gaze as he turned to Avery and the doctor.
Avery struggled to meet Elisa’s eyes for long moments, but then finally, he did. “I told Dr. Shaw your thoughts about the poison and he agrees it could have been a cause. Father had terrible stomach pains. You may have noticed his inability to eat much at breakfast.”
Elisa had.
Dr. Shaw was a tall man with a wide girth. His gray hair was white and matched the white cravat that was thick around his neck. “If the comfits were poisoned then your father’s quick decline makes sense. He had a pension for sweets, but he limited himself to one or two a day. It was likely that restraint that kept him from dying faster.”
Elisa fisted her hands at her sides in both pain and anger. Nicholas wrapped his arms around her.
Avery said, “Also, I recall speaking to Father’s solicitor after the reading of the will. The man informed me that he’d been called by Father a few weeks ago to discuss removing Alguire. Apparently, Alguire had shared his wish to break the contract and marry someone else, yet still, he wanted the land.”
Elisa was surprised. “Really? Alguire acted as though I was all he wanted when he came for me at Bedlam.”
“It was for show,” Avery said. “The clothes, the gifts, the devotion. It was all in the hopes that Father would not change the will. It worked, but Alguire likely killed him just to make sure.”
“I knew the cause for your father’s death had nothing to do with my skills,” Dr. Shaw said. “I’ve taken action and have sent the authorities to Alguire’s home. He should be arrested soon.”
Elisa and Nicholas shared a look.
Then Nicholas turned to the doctor. “Thank you.”
“It was no trouble at all.” Dr. Shaw said. “If he is a murderer, he will hang for this.”
Avery approached Elisa. “I apologize. Also, I’d like to know more about Sarah Saxon’s death and what you know.”
Elisa looked down. Memories of doing exactly what Avery was requesting now
came back to her. She’d told her family everything already. “I told you already.”
“I know,” Avery said, pained. “But I was blind then. My eyes have been opened. If Alguire is guilty now, he could have been guilty then.”
Nicholas said, “You should tell him about Gloria.”
“Gloria?” Avery asked, pressing for information.
Elisa looked at Nicholas.
Her husband touched her cheek. “We all have regrets.”
Elisa sighed and nodded. Then she turned to her brother. “Shall we go into the drawing-room?”
∫ ∫ ∫
5 2
* * *
“Dr. Shaw is right,” Sparrow whispered to Nick. “Poisoning someone in such small doses would be hard to spot.”
Nick nodded. They were standing by the window in Avery’s drawing-room. It was dark in Mayfair, both figuratively and literally, but the height of the Season went on. The men and women who lined the roads in carriages and stood on the sidewalks waiting to get into parties had little sense of the dangers that lurked in London.
The most many of them would ever encounter was a pickpocket.
Nicholas had seen the worst and then some.
“The symptoms could have looked like anything,” Sparrow hissed. He had no idea Nicholas’ mind was a hundred thoughts away. “It would have been impossible to narrow it down unless suspected. Doesn’t mean that the man isn’t a fool.”
That got Nick’s attention. “You don’t like him.”
“I don’t like any doctor of a stubborn mind. Even when presented with evidence of a better treatment, they refuse to listen.”
Nicholas was reminded of just how ‘good’ a listener Elisa had thought the doctor was. He’d been hesitant about inviting Astger and Sparrow over, yet he had written to them just as easily as he had Cassius to tell them what was happening.
Astger stood by the door, glaring at it as though he dared Alguire to come through it. Nicholas would not be surprised if the man used his teeth to disassemble the marquess.
Cassius sat next to his wife, Milly, who was engaged in a conversation with Elisa. Nicholas watched the great energy Milly used as she spoke and could tell she was trying to make Elisa feel better.
Elisa smiled, but Nicholas knew she was worried.
A Knight of Vengeance: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 25
