“I’m right here.” The constable walked in from the back door. With Asher present, he no longer filled Everly with the same amount of fear. He was neither as tall nor as broad as Asher nor did he wield Asher’s righteous anger at the moment.
Still, Everly acknowledged some fear as he neared.
Asher grabbed her arm as if sensing her need for his nearness. She was amazed to feel the way she did but decided she’d think about it all later.
“You have kept her in a cell all night,” Asher said.
“I was just doing my job,” the constable said.
Everly braced for him to argue just as he had with Mr. Goodman.
“The only reason you still have your job is because the lady is unharmed,” Asher said.
Everly smirked. “I told you I was Lady Wycliff.”
The constable paled. “I didn’t know who she was to you.”
Asher paused and then said, “She is the daughter of an earl. You went too far this day.”
The constable straightened. “But she stole a bag of diamonds worth a great sum.”
“What proof do you have?” Asher asked.
The constable left and returned with a bag. “This belonged to Lord Fallen. He is the one who called for the authorities. We found it in the pockets of her coat at the town hall.”
“I don’t know a Lord Fallen,” Everly said. “And I’ve never seen that bag in my life.”
The constable ignored her. “What would you have done, Your Grace? Given the evidence?”
“Ask more questions,” Asher said. “There were plenty in the hall that evening. Did Lord Fallen identify her as the thief?”
The constable nodded.
“I’ve never met Lord Fallen,” Everly said.
“He didn’t know her name,” the constable confessed. “But he said she fit the description. A red-haired woman wearing white.”
Everly scoffed. “There were plenty of women like that last night.” Some even wore red wigs.
“He said she was very beautiful,” the constable said. “And we found the bag in your cloak. You must be guilty.”
“There can be other reasons,” Asher said. “Either Lady Wycliff was framed or Lord Fallen is lying about the diamonds and seeks payment from a well-known heiress.”
Everly wanted to jump up and throw her arms around Asher. Though they barely knew one another, he seemed so sure of her innocence, even knowing she’d already pleaded privilege of peerage for something else.
It nearly brought her to tears.
The constable shook his head. “Your Grace, finding the answers to your question would take men I don’t have. Also, Lord Fallen has left for London to see his man of business. I’ve no one to send.”
“I’ll go and ask,” Asher said.
“As will I,” Everly said.
Asher looked and her and frowned. “No. You’ll remain at the castle until I return.”
His words were like a slap to her face. This was her future they were speaking of. “I must go. I must confront this man.”
“No,” Asher said again, the word driving a knife through her heart. She detested that word, detested hearing it from a man. “He could be dangerous, and I’ll not have you in harm’s way.”
Everly narrowed her eyes. “So, I’m to simply leave my life in your hands?”
“It’s in my hands at his very moment.”
Everly was stunned and yanked her arm until Asher let it go.
For a moment, she’d thought she’d seen something in him, but now that illusion was gone. He was still the controlling lord she’d always assumed him to be.
“Your Grace,” the constable said. “If I release Lady Wycliff, it would have to be in your care. She’d have to remain with you every step of the way. I can’t take the risk of her escaping the castle and not being present when the judge arrives. As you’ve pointed out, she's a wealthy woman. She could flee to the Continent.”
Everly’s heart nearly gave out. Everything about her life was out of order. She glanced up at Asher and found him watching her, but she couldn’t read his eyes. What was he thinking?
“Your Grace,” the constable went on. “If you don’t take her, I have to keep her here in the cell. Lord Fallen is well connected and will not let this slight go easily. If you accept the responsibility of the prisoner, and if she’s not here when the judge arrives, you’ll have to face the judge in her place. Do you accept?”
Constables actually had no set rules except for those set by themselves. The position was unpaid and rotated every year. So long as everything seemed to work and the town was safe, the constable’s superior, an army general, would allow him to make his own decisions.
Asher was still watching her, clearly deciding what he should do. His gaze narrowed on her.
Everly remained still.
She wanted Asher to take her just as much as she didn’t want it. She didn’t know what would be worse, the cell or living a moment under Asher’s hard rule. She nearly hoped he left her. At least in the cell, she was able to do as she pleased… within reason.
And no man needed responsibility of this sort. Though Everly would never run from the law, she couldn’t be sure that Asher knew this. Was he willing to take the chance? The likely penalty for someone like him would be payment for the stolen diamonds. Was that something he was willing to do for her?
He turned to the constable. “Are there papers that need to be signed?”
She let out a breath and realized it was done.
∫ ∫ ∫
1 0
Asher looked up as Valiant went by him on horseback.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to ride some of the way.” Valiant was dressed in a gray riding habit. “I think the ride will be good for me.” Or rather, she wished to be alone and this was the only way.
“Very well,” Asher said.
Though she would mourn her husband for at least two months more, Valiant was allowed to begin socializing again but only at small gatherings. Valiant was coming to protect Everly’s reputation.
But also because Asher planned to keep his sister close. He had no clue how to help her, but he wanted to. He felt more than obligated to watch over her and get her through this rough part of life, shelter and give her his protection even though she was free to do as she pleased.
There were many things Asher could abide. His sister’s tears were not among them.
Asher set a foot into the carriage but stilled as he looked at Everly.
She sat facing forward. She was dressed presentably now, in a blue traveling gown that hugged her body. Her posture was stiff, likely holding in the rage that burned within her golden eyes.
He’d known she’d resent him for releasing her from the constable’s care, but he’d also known he’d had no other choice. She was a lady and didn’t deserve to be left in such horrid conditions.
She turned to him then, nearly cutting him with the fire in her gaze. “Let us be on our way. It will take precious days to reach London.”
He pressed his lips together and climbed into the carriage, taking the side opposite her. Their trunks had been packed hastily and now they were set to depart.
He’d tried to get the other women in his family to come, yet while Brinley truly wished to go, she didn’t do well in carriages for extended periods, not since becoming with child, and Beatrix wanted to stay with Brinley, just in case the woman needed her. So only Valiant rode at their side, leaving him and Everly alone for the most part.
He tried to see her as his ward instead of a desirable woman. After all, the constable had left her in his care.
It was a situation he’d never thought to find himself in and, he imagined, neither had Everly.
“Tell me what happened,” he said. “Why didn’t you plead privilege of peerage?”
Everly sighed. “When I was fourteen, I stole bread from the market.”
Asher’s eye widened. “Why would you do that?” He expected to hear that she thought it would
be amusing.
“You asked why I pleaded privilege, but I’ll not say why I needed to.”
Asher thought to argue but let it go. The matter had happened so long ago it likely didn’t matter.
And it didn’t sway his thoughts on the case at hand. She may have stolen bread as a child, but she’d not steal diamonds. Of that, Asher was certain.
During the first hour of the journey, she didn’t look at him or speak, and he didn’t require it. He had much to do and set about distracting himself with looking over the law books he’d had a footman find for him before they’d departed. If there was a way to help Everly, he hoped to find it.
Though, inside, he couldn’t quiet the joy he felt at simply having her so close. It was wrong that he gained pleasure from their proximity, especially when he knew she scorned it.
Her voice startled him sometime later.
She sighed. “I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me. You came to my rescue. You’re a hero.”
He rolled his eyes and turned back to his book. “Hero is the hero. I’m simply trying to right a wrong, nothing more.” He wondered if she’d thought about their kiss.
“Of course,” she replied.
He read his page again and realized it was at the least the third or fourth time he’d done so.
“And I thank you for what you do now,” Everly continued. “This is… beyond the call of duty, even for the daughter of an earl. You could have sent a footman to speak to Lord Fallen.”
“And leave your fate in the hands of a servant?” He looked at her finally, taking in her lifted chin and her comely face. “I will do everything in my power to see that no harm comes to you.”
He told himself he’d have done this for any lady, but he knew that was simply not so. This was Everly, his first intended bride. Now, she was without a protector and he felt responsible for her in a strange way. “Do you know anything about Lord Fallen?”
She shook her head. “I never met him.”
He narrowed his eyes. “And this woman who stole his diamonds, can you think of who it might be?”
Everly shook her head again. “I’ve been going over it in my mind and can think of no one. There were more than a few women present who fit his description.”
“We’ll need to compile a list,” Asher said. “Hopefully, most of the guests are heading in the same direction. I can speak to them all once we arrive in London.”
“Just you? What about me?”
“It’s best you let me do this alone, Everly.” The very thought of her in danger made it hard for him to breathe.
“But the constable said I must stay at your side. You can’t leave me in your house, which is what I know you were planning.”
He had been planning just that.
“I must go where you go,” she said.
“It is ridiculous to think that his words implied we’d be attached at the hip,” Asher said. “I believe staying in the same city will be assurance enough.”
She smiled, and he knew why.
Assurance. It was his true name, the one his mother had bestowed upon him, though no one called him that. He was Asher to his family and Lord Ayers to everyone else.
“I could still run away even if we were in the same city,” she said.
He stared at her. “Run where you wish, but I will find you.”
* * *
Asher’s words had the strangest effect on Everly’s body, a tightening that nearly knocked the wind out of her.
He sat across from her, turned to the side with a knee thrown over the other. He looked at ease, yet those eyes warned her just how easily he could become a predator.
It was no easy feat to rule a dukedom. It took a man of bravery to establish himself so high over others and, according to legends, the Curbains had plenty of brave men and women in their family.
Warriors. Gods.
Run where you wish, but I will find you.
She imagined it. She was running through a dark abandoned forest yet could feel his presence pressing all around her, trapping her.
No! What was wrong with her? She would never be trapped again. Not with Asher or anyone.
She glanced at his book. “What are you reading?”
He showed her the cover. “I hope to find some way free of this case before it can truly begin. I can’t understand how the constable thought to keep you. Surely, there had been someone of credibility to pull as a witness to your name.”
The anger that had been burning in the back of her mind surfaced. “As a fact, the constable did find someone. Lady Abigail Christensen.”
The duke lifted a brow. “They are a well-respected family in town. Surely, her word should have gained you some regard.”
“She played as though she’d never met me!” Everly’s fingers curled into a fist. She knew the woman was heading to London. She recalled her and Diana speaking about the engagements they would attend. Abigail was but gentry, so she’d not attend the same parties as someone like Everly, yet Everly vowed to make her regret crossing her.
And then the child had had the nerve to threaten her! Abigail would rue the day she met Everly.
Asher straightened and narrowed his gaze. “Lady Christensen didn’t remember you?”
“Oh, she did, but she was upset.” Everly thought of all the many ways to ruin the girl. The sound of doors closing in the child’s face rang in her mind.
“Why was she upset with you?” Asher asked.
Everly opened her mouth to tell him but then shut it. She felt her cheeks begin to blaze with embarrassment. She said nothing.
Asher’s gaze narrowed further and then he said, “No.” Yet it had been in a voice that told her he was speaking to himself. “No, it couldn’t have been that trifling kiss in the tree.”
“It was that trifling kiss. She loathes me because of you.”
Instead of him matching her anger, his lips began to turn up.
Was that a smile? She readied herself to tell him to stop.
But then he laughed.
And Everly stilled and fell silent, too afraid to do something to ruin this glorious presentation of masculine male merriment.
Her fingers curled for reasons other than anger, and Everly swallowed as she came to understand what Abigail saw in him.
The potential that laid behind his dour looks.
He was gorgeous. The deep sound of jubilation struck awe into her heart. “Capital.”
Capital? That’s all he had to say?
“Your kiss nearly cost me my life,” she reminded him. Perhaps, she was overreacting.
But who knew?
Asher chuckled again and looked down at the book. “You have to admit that it’s quite flattering.”
“I admit to nothing.” She leaned back in her chair and only then realized that she’d been leaning toward him, drawn in by the flash of laugh-lines around his lips.
Asher stared out the window and sighed. “I didn’t know the girl felt that strongly for me.”
Did he feel strongly for her? Was this conversation swaying him to Abigail’s side?
Why did that bother Everly so greatly? She told herself it was a simple matter of betrayal. She’d known Asher longer, therefore, he should choose her… during this predicament. Nothing more.
“I nearly feel bad for her,” he finally added. “I’ve no intentions to wed.”
She swallowed around her sigh. “Why not?”
He lifted a brow at her, and she immediately recalled her endless questions from the night before.
“We’re stuck together for some time,” she said. “We may as well get to know one another.” While she’d never cared to know much about Asher before, Diana had set her on this path and his last words left her curious.
And besides, he already knew a fact about her that few others were aware of. She’d never tell him why she’d stolen the bread.
She’d been hungry. Famished. Starved by her father.
His expression said he conceded to her
point. “Getting to know one another implies you sharing as well.” His eyes challenged her. “Is that something you are willing to accept?”
∫ ∫ ∫
1 1
Everly’s golden eyes flashed, and he realized he’d surprised her.
Serves her right. It was only fitting, since she’d shocked him more than once in the last hour.
Miss Christensen was jealous over a kiss? Enough to leave Everly in a cell? The memory nearly had him laugh again.
And then it made him nervous. He hoped he’d not done anything to encourage Lady Christensen’s affections. He was sure he hadn’t.
“Very well,” she said. “But you must swear that this conversation remains between us and not to ask about the stolen bread.”
It was yet another secret they’d share, another connection.
She sighed longingly. “I could use a bit of coffee right now.”
So could he. He’d not had his usual cup… or three. There had been much to do this morning and he imagined the constable had not offered her any either.
She closed her eyes for a moment and then reopened them. “Well? Why won’t you marry?”
“I’ve no need to. Hero is my heir and now he, too, has a healthy boy. The Curbain line is secured.”
She placed her hands on either side of her body and seemed to rest them as the carriage swayed her. “But don’t you want children just for the sake of having them?”
“No.” Though it was selfish, he was glad Mary hadn’t given him any heirs. They required too much. were far too fragile.
“Why?” she asked.
“No, my turn.” He put his book aside and stared at her as he gathered his thoughts. This encounter could be the only one like this he ever had with her. He didn’t wish to waste the chance of getting to know her inner depths.
She lifted a brow. “You wish to know why I’ve never married?”
“No, I know the answer,” he said.
She gave a short laugh. “So, you think you know me?”
He held her gaze. “You’ve not married, because you’re afraid that someone will hurt you as your father did. You’ll never trust yourself with another gentleman again.”
The Perfect Duke (Valiant Love) (A Regency Romance Book) Page 5
