The door opened and Louisa and Jack entered. Both of them looked well-rested in comparison with everyone else.
“What a pleasant surprise!” the Dowager Duchess said. “Have you eaten, Your Grace? I have ordered a fine brunch to be served.”
“You haven’t eaten, Hannah,” the Duke of Edgeriver said to his wife. “Perhaps, brunch would be a good idea.”
“That would be delightful,” the Duchess murmured, then turned back to Aaron. “At the ball, I saw a young woman, wearing my Mother’s locket at the ball last night. It’s a very distinctive locket, you see.”
“What does it look like?” Lady Julia asked.
“It’s a gold heart, with a rose etched into it, with a pearl at the center,” the Duchess replied.
Aaron raised his eyebrows. Eleanor had such a locket. When he glanced at Lady Julia, it was clear that she had come to the same conclusion. Aaron had a foreboding feeling.
Where could she be? Is she safe? His pulse began to race. Even if she did not love him, he still had feelings for her. Right then, he was deeply concerned for her safety and well-being.
After all, we haven’t yet caught the murderer. Could he have gotten to Eleanor?
Eleanor looked around her for an escape. The sitting room was filled with heavy mahogany furniture—such that she didn’t think she could lift any of it. She attempted to pick up the lightest-looking armchair, and failed—staggering awkwardly in the direction of the door. She gave up.
Time was moving too quickly. When she listened at the door, she did not hear the Dowager Duchess or Lord Ayles talking anymore. They must have gone already. Even at this very moment, the Dowager Duchess might be handing Aaron a cup of poisoned tea!
She ransacked the drawers with shaky hands, looking desperately for a key, or something that she might use to pick the locks. All that she found was parchment paper and a signet ring.
She paused. Think, Eleanor. Think quickly.
There was nothing inside the room which she might conceivably use to get out. There was nothing that might pick a lock. There was nothing to break the door down. There was only the window. She opened it all of the way, peering out.
To her disappointment, she saw no one out on the grounds that she might yell to for help. In the distance, she could see horses, grazing in the fields. She saw no sign of Martin, or any of the stable boys. Looking toward the garden, it was empty. She looked down at the ground.
It was a two-story drop. From where Eleanor stood, it seemed like a very long way to go. She peered out, looking to see if she might be able to climb. There was a green wooden lattice, covered with ivy, which went to the ground. The wood was thin, likely flimsy.
I’m just going to have to pray that it doesn’t break.
There wasn’t time to be frightened. Eleanor climbed out of the window, moving downward quickly. She found precarious foot holds, and she picked her way down slowly. Her hands and knees felt faint as she gripped handfuls of ivy and trellis. At times, the ivy pulled away from the house. But, so long as she didn’t look at the ground, she was fine.
Finally, she put her foot down, and felt the lattice give way as it broke. Eleanor fell the rest of the way, landing heavily on the gravel. She gasped. At first, she was terrified, but then she found that she wasn’t hurt much—she would have a few nasty bruises, but nothing grave.
She breathed out a sigh of relief. It was short-lived. She needed to get moving. Aaron was in danger. She didn’t want to live in a world without him. Awkwardly, she staggered to her feet, stepping on the hem of her dress. Her stocking was torn. She began to run toward the door, limping a little on the knee that she’d fallen on.
The butler was on the porch, clearly having heard the sound of the lattice breaking as Eleanor had fallen. He began walking toward her.
“I say!” Mr. Stanley was staring at her in shock. “What have you done?”
“I have to get to the Duke,” she said breathlessly. “It’s urgent.”
“He’s busy with company at the moment,” he told her. “What do you need to see him for?”
“He’s going to be murdered if I don’t get in there immediately.” Eleanor’s patience was running thin.
He stared at her as though she had sprouted horns. “Absolutely not! You cannot demand to see a Duke. Not on such ridiculous claims!”
“Please, Mr. Stanley. You have to believe me.”
“This is incredible,” Mr. Stanley said. “Go back to your lady’s chamber this instant.”
Eleanor had no time for this. There was only one thing for her to do—outrun the butler. She broke into a run, barreling past him and into the house. She sprinted down the hall while Mr. Stanley yelled after her. “Stop! This instant!”
Aaron stared at the Duchess of Edgeriver. He was beginning to put the pieces together. If Eleanor was truly Lady Elizabeth Comesford, then who brought her to Clayriver Manor? And where was she at this very moment?
“What did the woman look like?” he asked. For, if the Duchess described Eleanor, then that would prove it. He was cut off by the food being brought in by the footmen.
“Please, everyone get a little something to eat and drink,” Louisa said, standing up.
Aaron stared into space while the others paused. He glanced over at Lady Julia who looked like she was about to be ill. They needed to begin to search for Eleanor, and they were dawdling over brunch!
“Here, Aaron, have cup of tea,” Louisa said, handing him a steaming cup on a saucer.
“Thank you,” he said, and accepted the cup, which Louisa had fixed with cream and sugar. He was just lifting it to his lips, when he heard Mr. Stanley’s voice in the distance.
“Get back here!” Mr. Stanley yelled from the hallway. “You can’t go in there, you ruffian!” Aaron glanced at Arthur, who was standing by the door.
Just then, the door to the parlor burst open, and Eleanor ran inside. She glanced around, wild-eyed. She was breathing heavily. Aaron stared at Eleanor in surprise. Her clothing was dirty, disheveled. She was pale, her eyes wide in fear as she found him.
Eleanor became even more panicked when she saw him. She ran toward Aaron, batting the cup out of his hands. He was shocked by her behavior and demeanor, but waited for her to explain. She had closed her eyes, and was breathing out a sigh of relief, her hand over her heart.
“That is my good china! Get out of here!” the Dowager Duchess roared, her hands balled into fists. “This behavior is atrocious!”
“What are you doing, Eleanor?” the Earl of Whitecier demanded. “This is outrageous!”
Aaron blinked. “Eleanor?” he asked, softly.
“I’m sorry,” she said, breathing heavily. “But that tea was poisoned.” Everyone set their cups down with a clatter.
“Poisoned?” Aaron asked, aghast. He had been about to take a sip.
Eleanor nodded, still catching her breath after she had clearly run to escape Mr. Stanley who had just burst into the room. Her hand was on her side, as though she had a stitch. Her dress was dirty, torn.
“Get out of here,” the Dowager Duchess snarled. “She’s lying and causing a scene.”
“No. You tried to kill him,” Eleanor snapped at her ferociously. She turned to Aaron to explain. “She and your brother want you dead. I heard everything that they planned. They caused the carriage accident, they were going to poison you, and there was something about kidnapping a child, but then, they caught me listening and they locked me in her sitting room.”
Aaron couldn’t have been more surprised. His mind strove to catch up. Eleanor was still talking.
“I had to climb out of the window, and use the trellis to climb down, but it broke and fell part of the way,” Eleanor explained, her eyes were filling with tears. Aaron moved to reach for her, to comfort her.
“This is absurd!” Louisa said, causing Aaron to turn. “You cannot barge into my own parlor and accuse me of such vile falsehoods! Stanley! Remove her this instant!”
“I’ll help,” J
ack said, grabbing Eleanor by the arm.
“Jack, let go of her,” Aaron said, beginning to hobble over, if only to save Eleanor.
“Let go of me,” Eleanor snapped, attempting to pull away. She made eye contact with Aaron. He had never loved her more than in this moment. She was like a lioness—angry and fighting.
She had saved his life. From the sound of it, she had broken out through a second-floor window to get to him. Jack grabbed at her again, and Aaron was filled with rage. He wished that his knee wasn’t holding him back.
“Unhand her!” Aaron yelled, watching in horror as her dress tore, bearing the strange star-shaped birthmark on her shoulder. There was a loud outburst in the room.
Chapter 37
“I was right!” the Duchess of Edgeriver gasped. Aaron looked over at the Edgerivers. Both the Duchess and Duke had gone wide-eyed and pale. Aaron had forgotten that detail. He should have recalled, the night before, when he had seen Eleanor’s distinctive birthmark.
A few things fell into place. It had definitely been Eleanor that the Duchess had seen the night before. And she very well could be Lady Elizabeth Comesford. The timing of her showing up at Clayriver Manor would have been correct.
The Duchess was the first to overcome the shock.
“That’s Elizabeth!” she said, seeing the star-shaped birthmark on the woman’s shoulder. She looked at the Duke, who was standing up.
“If you do not take your hand off of my daughter,” he roared, standing up and marching over to Jack and Eleanor, “then I shall take it off for you.”
Aaron knew that if he was going to avoid bloodshed in his own parlor, he needed to get moving. The Duchess of Edgeriver was crossing the room to get to her daughter. The Duke had removed his coat, and was draping it over Eleanor’s shoulders.
Noting that Eleanor was in good hands, he turned his focus to his would-be murderers: his own family. He stared at them angrily. He had trusted them. They had been his only family. And they had killed Northrup in an attempt to murder him. He felt cold fury.
“Louisa, Jack. Sit down immediately. I will have the truth this very moment,” he demanded, walking over to his brother, his cane tapping on the floor. Arthur was right next to him. The viscount had pulled his pistol, and was aiming it at Jack.
“Why do you have a pistol in my home, Lord Mallen?” Louisa demanded. It was clear that the one person she had any care for besides herself was Jack.
“Because someone has been trying to murder my best friend,” Arthur replied calmly. “I had a feeling that a weapon might come in handy. Turns out, I was right.” He pulled back the hammer with an impressive click. He pointed it right at Jack’s chest. Aaron’s younger brother went pale, holding up his hands.
“Please,” he begged, “don’t shoot.”
“Tell me everything,” Arthur directed him. Aaron knew that Arthur wouldn’t shoot, but Jack didn’t know that. Staring down the barrel, Jack was clearly shaking. Aaron approved of Arthur’s choice. If they were going to get the truth, then Jack was the weaker of the two.
“Jack,” Aaron said, sighing grimly, “you’d best get talking.”
“Don’t say a word, Jack,” Louisa ordered.
“My patience is growing very thin,” Arthur snapped. Aaron had never heard the Viscount of Mallen speak in anger. “The truth, now.”
Jack began to cry, and then the words came pouring out of him. “It was Mother’s plan all along,” Jack said, shakily. “I only went along with it. She was the one who frightened off your valet, so that Bradshaw could take over and keep an eye on you. And—and it was her idea that I seduce Lady Julia, so that she would help us.”
“Lady Julia?”
The Lady in question had gone pale. “I would never have agreed to murder anyone,” Lady Julia said. It was clear that she had known nothing of it. Aaron had the hunch that Louisa had seen an opportunity to use Lady Julia. No doubt the gift of the heirloom diamonds the night before had been an attempt to do so.
“You would use my daughter in such a way?” Now Lord Whitecier was angry. He stood protectively beside his wife and daughter.
“And Mother wanted you dead,” Jack was saying to Aaron, “so that I would be Duke, but she would be in charge. She wanted to make us both her pawns,” Jack said, sobbing softly. “Please, you must believe me.”
Louisa looked furiously at Jack. She sat there, her face stony. She didn’t refute or deny anything. Aaron did believe Jack—he wasn’t dangerous enough to come up with such a plan of his own accord. But he was certainly weak enough to be persuaded.
“Was it you who was stealing from the estate?” Aaron asked Louisa.
“Yes,” she replied. “It was rightfully mine. I don’t understand why your father would have left me with such a pittance after I gave him a son. I see no reason why I should have to give up my title and rights simply because my husband is dead.”
Aaron laughed in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that the culprit had been right there all along. Louisa—a murderess and a thief! He hadn’t believed her capable of it. Clearly, that had been a dangerous mistake on his part. He could have died because of it.
“It would have worked too if you hadn’t survived the carriage accident.” Louisa shrugged. “And if that girl hadn’t escaped, then you would have certainly been dead now.” Aaron was shocked by her lack of empathy. He had never truly known her for who she really was. She sat there, staring at him, completely unapologetic.
“What would you have done with our daughter?” the Duchess of Edgeriver demanded. When Aaron looked over, she was standing protectively in front of Eleanor. “You are a madwoman.”
There was a dangerous light in Louisa’s eyes. At the words of the Duchess, she snapped.
“She should have stayed where my hired man put her,” the Dowager Duchess growled, pouncing. She grabbed a knife from the table, running at the Duchess of Edgeriver. “When I had her taken twenty years ago!”
To Aaron’s surprise, Jack was the one to get in between them, grabbing his mother by the wrists. “Enough, Mother,” he said, forcing her to drop the knife with a twist of the wrist. “Enough. This has gone too far.”
Louisa looked into his face, her own crumpling. “I just wanted you to have a future,” she said to Jack. “I wanted you to be someone—to have something.”
“It wasn’t mine to take,” Jack said tonelessly. “It’s all over now.”
Chapter 38
Aaron had Mr. Brownleaf sent for. Louisa and Jack remained on the settee, under the close observation of Arthur and his pistol.
“We’re leaving,” Lord Whitecier announced, ushering his wife and daughter from the room. “Your Grace, you may come to Clayriver Manor to discuss the marriage, once all of this is over.”
“With all due respect, My Lord,” Aaron said, tiredly, “I don’t believe I will.”
He looked at Aaron in shock. “How dare you,” he snapped.
“Father,” Lady Julia said, stepping in. “I do not want to marry him, either. Can we please just go home? I’m exhausted.”
He looked at his daughter, who was very pale, her eyes large, and imploring. He nodded. “Of course, My Sweeting.” The Earl gave Aaron a thunderous look, but he left the room with his family.
Aaron turned to where the Duchess and Duke of Edgeriver were standing with Eleanor, who was wrapped in the Duke’s coat, still. They were talking among themselves.
“We’ll take you home now,” the Duchess was saying. Eleanor nodded.
“Let me change,” she suggested. “My things are upstairs.”
“Eleanor,” Aaron said softly. She looked at him, her eyes softening. “You saved my life,” he said, trying to come up with the right thing to say to her in that moment and failing when he recalled how she had said that she had never loved him. Her eyes were on the floor.
“I wouldn’t have let them kill anyone, Your Grace,” she said.
He couldn’t believe that she didn’t love him. Not with the way that she had co
me bursting in to save his life.
“Of course,” he said. “Regardless,” he went on. “I owe you a great debt.”
“Well,” she murmured, seemingly unable to find any words herself. He wanted to speak with her—to ask her if she had truly meant it. She smiled, finally raising her eyes to meet his. Aaron still felt the same heat and desire for her that he always had.
“Can I call on you tomorrow?” he asked. “After I get this all…managed?” There was so much to do. He knew that the Edgerivers would likely want some time to become reacquainted.
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