A Murderous Masquerade (Unrivalled Regency Book 2)

by Williams, Jackie

  Anne rose from the bed and took some hesitant steps. She clung onto the bed post to steady herself as she spoke.

  “My brother cannot remain in hiding for much longer. He must reveal himself soon. It will look very bad if he suddenly appears only days after the trial. Whatever faults he has, I cannot believe he would let another man die over his own stubborn pride. He could be prosecuted himself if he lets that happen, but I have no explanation for his actions. I am beginning to think that he has taken leave of his senses.”

  Charlotte turned to Anne and took her arm. She guided her to the chair.

  “I cannot imagine how you are feeling. Perhaps we should not keep blaming Edward. Maybe he really cannot come forward. Has anyone thought of the possibility that he was kidnapped or possibly injured during his flight? Perhaps he has found it impossible to respond to your researches, Alexander.”

  Geoffrey snorted in derision.

  “Begging Anne’s pardon, but her brother is a little snot and after what he tried to do to you, Charlotte, I cannot believe that you are about to defend him.” The violence in his normally gentle tone told her exactly what he thought about the man.

  Charlotte sighed as she sat on the arm of the chair beside Anne and passed her the diamond to view. Geoffrey’s words bit deeply into her mind. She had been truly frightened in the initial stages of the attack. If their victim had been anyone but her, they would not have come away unscathed. She shuddered at the thought and glanced at Anne, whose wan features still couldn’t quite contain the happiness she felt at carrying Giles’ child. To give oneself to the man you loved was clearly a wonderful thing. To have your dignity and your innocence stripped from you violently was another thing altogether. She stood up quickly and began to pace the room.

  “I know, I know and don’t think I forgive him. If I hadn’t been able to defend myself, I dread to think what might have happened; but nothing did happen. I did defend myself and I broke free. Edward and his friends caused nothing but a small disturbance that should have been forgotten come daybreak if he hadn’t gone missing. Now Anne’s father thinks he fought a duel with my cousin and that his body has been eaten by pigs. That thought alone would make any father want revenge, surely. Lord Lavenham is not being reasonable because his reason says that his son is dead, where as we know that isn’t the case, unless it was by some other hand than Giles’. We have to look for another explanation as to why he hasn’t come forward. Someone must have seen him or is protecting him or has kidnapped him. It’s not as if he is small. He’d never pass unnoticed with that paunch he carries about.”

  All three of them stared at her before Anne wrapped her fingers tightly about the diamond.

  “Charlotte has to be right. I know my brother. He can be opinionated and ignorant but he’s no killer. He might have wanted to embarrass Giles, even do something to ruin his reputation, but he would never have gone this far. It’s not in his nature to stand back and watch from the side. He would want to be right in the middle of everything, making sure that he can preen and strut in front of his adoring friends. Something really must have happened to him.”

  For the first time in weeks Alexander heard fear in her tone. Not only could she lose her beloved but she could lose her brother too. Alexander knew exactly how that felt.

  Geoffrey watched Charlotte as she turned to pace again. She picked up the cinnabar box that she had left open on the bed and Geoffrey stared at it curiously.

  “Is the mechanism still working or is it a one use only type of thing?”

  Charlotte shrugged helplessly.

  “I don’t know.” She pushed the lid closed and passed it to Geoffrey. “You try. You squeeze these two hearts together and then give it a little pull.”

  Geoffrey took the box from her hand. His fingertips brushed her palm and he couldn’t help but notice the tremble that she fought to control. He glanced at her face but she didn’t meet his eye. He looked back at the box.

  “There is no hint of an opening. It is completely invisible. The box looks like a solid square.” He tried to fit his fingernails between the intricate carvings to squeeze the hearts but his nails were too short and his fingers too large. “It must have been meant for a woman. There’s no way that a man could ever open such a delicate thing.”

  Charlotte shook her head.

  “No, I think you are wrong. This is oriental. The box is an expensive piece of craftsmanship. My father had several pieces just as intricate and they were definitely meant for a man. One was a beautiful jade medicine cabinet filled with tiny phials...It was beautiful but we gave it to the doctor as a payment for his bills. That was similarly carved. No woman would own something like this, but the rich men of the orient are different to you men here. They wear their nails long. This wouldn’t be hard to open if they knew the secret. I seem to remember my father telling me that they were used to send secret messages. Only the recipient would know how to open the box. Notes or small gifts could be concealed inside and responses could be given the same way.”

  Anne sucked in her bottom lip as she thought.

  “So if Giles knew the secret to opening this, we could pass messages under the guise of it just being a small gift, something from home that would comfort him greatly while he endures the time in his cell?”

  Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with sudden enthusiasm.

  “I think that might just be the best idea we’ve had. Would you be able to pass this to him, Alexander?”

  “I would think so, but how do we tell him how to open it without Gates discovering whatever message you are going to send?”

  Charlotte laughed.

  “I have a plan. Don’t worry. Leave it all to me.

  Chapter Twelve

  Giles stood as he heard the key turn in the lock.

  This couldn’t be happening!

  He swallowed hard as Gates shuffled in through the door of his original gaol cell. It was as horrible and as foetid as he remembered. The guard house, though cramped was a palace in comparison to this hole.

  The town parson followed him and then Anne and Alexander joined them in the tiny, squalid cell. Anne looked as though she was about to faint and Giles took a step towards her but Gates stepped between them.

  The trial was over. He would die at dawn.

  At dawn?

  He could barely comprehend that it was already over. They had gathered but two hours earlier, heard the flimsy evidence and decided his fate within minutes. Rookwood and Latham had both looked shaken as they heard the verdict, but neither of them had veered from their original story, neither had given him any quarter.

  Even a heavily veiled Anne, calling out from the massed crowd, that she had spent the night with Giles had no effect on the outcome. Her announcement might have been more convincing if another woman in the square hadn’t begun laughing and called out that she had spent the night with the handsome gent too, even if it was only in her dreams. This set up an avalanche of catcalling from the town’s less reputable women who agreed that most of their dreams featured Giles in all his glorious masculinity.

  Lord Lavenham had stood silently at the rear of the crowd. His cold eyes had barely left Giles except to glance at Anne when she cried out her scandalous claim.

  When Giles had been questioned, he had answered truthfully without naming Anne as the woman he had been with. He’d also admitted riding nearby the farm just after dawn but he emphasised that he hadn’t entered the farm or the pig pen. The judge had asked him about the foot and lower leg that that had been discovered, but all he could do was to deny any knowledge of it.

  Doctor Leven admitted that he couldn’t tell categorically that the limb had come from Edward Ellesworth, however, as it had been found along with remnants of his coat and no one else had been reported missing along with the fact that no injuries had been reported in the vicinity, it seemed fair to assume that the limb had belonged to the young Lord.

  Alexander had come to the stand to confirm that there had been an attack on
a young woman at Ormond and that he, his stableman and Lord Caithwell, had all seen the men involved. Ellesworth was one of them. The other two, who he forbore to name, had left his home sometime later. Lord Edward had already been found to be missing at that time and Alexander had assumed he had made his escape via the bedroom window and the rampant ivy that grew on the wall. The last person to have apparently seen Ellesworth alive was his own butler, Grady, who swore that the young gent was hale and hearty when he had delivered a tray of victuals to the room at just after midnight.

  The Earl of Lavenham told his own story and brought Gates to the stand to bear witness to Giles’ threat. Then at least ten other men came to give character witness statements as to Edward’s good and kindly nature. Even Giles had to admit that if the little prig had actually been as the men described, he probably would have liked the man, himself.

  The twelve men of the jury had appeared almost bored as they sat listening to the various pieces of evidence. One of them had looked as though he was reading a book and another filed his nails as Carter summed up his defence of his client. It appeared that none were interested in seeing justice done. They looked as though they would all rather be sitting in their dining rooms eating roasted turkey and drinking port.

  They had taken but ten minutes to come back with their verdict.

  Guilty!

  As Giles had listened to the impossible word the judge pulled a black cloth from his pocket and placed it on his head.

  “You have been found guilty of the murder of Lord Edward Ellesworth. There is only one punishment worthy of such a crime. You will be taken from this place tomorrow at dawn and hung by the neck until dead. Do you have anything to say before you are put to death?”

  The words had echoed around inside his head. Guilty! He wasn’t guilty of a damned thing! He stared at all the fat, corpulent faces of the twelve men who had condemned him. He knew not one, but he also knew that he would never forget them. His soul would carry the memory of them well past his grave, of that he vowed. His eyes met the Earl of Lavenham’s. The glint of triumph died as Giles lifted his chin and refused to drop his gaze first.

  Heart rending sobs reached his ears and as the Earl glanced towards his distraught daughter, Giles felt the first tremor of anger race through his body. How could the man do this to his own daughter? How could he, even for an instant, believe that Giles would do a single thing that might cause the woman he loved any pain. It was inconceivable! The fury began to grow; it circled his heart and gripped it hard until he thought he might burst with the pressure. If he didn’t get out of there now, if someone didn’t return him to his cell immediately, then he wouldn’t be answerable for his actions.

  “No! I have nothing to say!” He spun to his guards. Nate looked as though he was about to take a step back and let Giles walk past, but the guard to his left took hold of his upper arm and bundled him down the steps and quickly back into the gaol house.

  And now they all stood there in the tiny, crushing room; variously angry, sad and uncomfortable as sobs fell from the distraught woman’s lips. Gates blundered on regardless.

  “I can’t let you have any contact. She could pass you a weapon, something to aid an escape.”

  Anne cried out in distress and fell against Alexander who gathered her in his arms as he spoke through gritted teeth.

  “For God’s sake man! Have you no compassion! It’s his last night on this earth and her last chance to see her betrothed.” His chest was heaving with the effort to keep calm. He still couldn’t fathom how Ellesworth had engineered this whole ridiculous scheme or how his father had gained such back up and he couldn’t believe that Giles was to be hung on such flimsy evidence.

  Giles cleared his throat and spoke quietly to Gates.

  “As a last request I ask only for a few moments alone with my beloved. I vow that I will not take any weapon nor will I attempt to escape. I accept my fate even as I know that I am innocent of the crime that I have been condemned for. Ten minutes with the woman who should have been my wife, will at least calm my soul before I have to die.”

  Gates couldn’t lift his eyes. He grunted and huffed for a few seconds more before he spoke grudgingly.

  “A quarter hour I’ll give you, but not a moment longer. And the priest and His Grace, the Duke will stay in the room. I can’t be having all and sundry tramping about the gaol every day.”

  Anne didn’t hesitate. She flung herself from Alexander’s arms into Giles’. He caught her and crushed her in his embrace, kissing her brows, her cheeks, her eyes. He dragged in deep breaths of vanilla and roses as he ran his fingers through the lush tresses of her hair.

  “Anne,” he whispered hoarsely. “You should not have come.”

  “How could I not? This cannot be the last time I see you, my love. It just cannot be. The Lord wouldn’t let me wait for you as long as this, only to tear me away when I need you most.” Her voice was as ragged as his own as she sobbed against his chest.

  Alexander and the parson stood against the door, trying to appear invisible as the tragic couple spoke their last words to each other, but it was impossible to not listen to their mutual distress. Alexander blinked furiously as the parson brushed the sleeve of his gown against his eyes.

  Giles took Anne’s face in his palms. He cupped her cheeks and stared at her as if imprinting the memory of her beauty in his soul. His tone was suddenly fierce.

  “You must not mourn me, Anne. Promise me that you won’t. I want to you to remember me by wearing the colours of the rose garden. You must find a wonderful husband who can give you all the things I failed to.”

  Anne shook her head.

  “I’ll never marry again. If I can’t have you, then I will live at Evenleigh alone. No one could replace you; no one could touch my heart as you have. You told me that I became your wife when we lay together over a month ago and I hold you to that vow. You must not give up hope that Edward will stop this foolishness and come forward. There are hours until daybreak. Anything could happen.”

  Alexander turned around and faced Giles.

  “Geoffrey and I will search all night. Charlotte has gone to Lavenham with Callum. She says that she will beg on her knees if she has to. Craddock has gathered all his friends for news of any as yet unheard gossip. It is not too late.” He spoke with gritty determination.

  Giles almost pitied them. At least he wouldn’t be here to see their pain.

  “I appreciate what you have done, but I should have realized that it was futile from the start. Edward Ellesworth was a far greater adversary than I had ever expected, and Anne’s father was cleverer than I ever would have imagined. They have won the day and I congratulate them on their triumph even though it has been at my life’s expense.”

  Anne shook her fist at him.

  “They have not won! You cannot say this.”

  Giles took her tiny hand in his and covered her fist with his palm.

  “Don’t let us argue in these last minutes we have together. Just make sure that when your father chooses you a new husband, he is someone you can love and respect.”

  Anne attempted to take as step back but Giles kept hold of her hand as she spoke quickly.

  “No one will marry me. I intend to retreat to the country.”

  “You can’t imagine that he will let that happen, Anne. You know how much he needs money. He’ll sell you off to the highest bidder. You have to prepare yourself.”

  “He won’t!” She cried. Her distress was almost unbearable as she tore herself from his grasp. “No one will have me!” She held her hands protectively to her stomach and Giles staggered against the table as he watched her actions. The movement was too meaningful, too full of a mother’s fears. He dragged in the air that suddenly felt as thick as treacle.

  “You mean...Anne? Y...you carry my child?” His voice stuck in his throat as the enormity of the situation struck him, but he didn’t have time to ponder the he would be a father, albeit a deceased one, for long.

&nb
sp; Alexander stared from one to the other as he took a long stride into the room.

  “My God! I should have thought of this before. Anne, you are saved from your father’s evil plans! Giles, that special licence? You do still have it about you?”

  Giles nodded and placed his hand against his breast pocket.

  “Of course. I had it the day I meant to propose to Anne. Why?”

  Alexander turned to the cell door. He quickly grabbed the stub of a candle and blew out the wick. He moulded the soft wax into a long, thin sausage and began stuffing it in the keyhole just in case Gates decided to return early. He pushed in as much of the wax and wick as he could before he turned to the parson.

  “Well, get on with it. Gates will be back any moment.”

  The parson raised an eyebrow and then turned to Giles.

  “I am ready to hear your confession. Remember that the Lord forgives...” He stopped dead as Alexander stood in front of him.

  “Not his last rites, you blithering idiot! Marry them! He’s holding the special licence and she agrees to it.”

  Giles stepped forwards.

  “Now hang on. Neither I or Anne have agreed to anything.”

  “I do!” Anne said loudly and a serene smile graced her lips.

  The parson turned to her.

  “I haven’t asked the question yet.”

  Giles shook his head as he turned to her.

  “This is ridiculous. I am going to be hung in the morning! How on earth can you think of marrying me now?” Confusion filled him. While he wanted her, for the life of him he couldn’t see why she would bother.

  Anne caught hold of the lapels of his jacket as her green gaze trapped his own in the mesmerising depths.

  “Because I love you and I want our son to have his father’s name. I want him to inherit his rightful title and his own home. I want him to know you as his father, not some aging aristocrat who will ignore both him and me as soon as I have done my duty. I don’t want my father to marry me off to the highest bidder like some horse at the market or for me to have to bring up your son as another man’s progeny. I want to show the whole world how much I loved you and how much we both love the son that we made together.” Her impassioned tones caught in his heart.