Why Earls Fall in Love

by Manda Collins

  So Lettice had been jealous of her? Georgie thought, aghast. That’s what set all of this in motion?

  “You must admit that you have to rise a bit in order to fall properly,” Lettice continued. “First I killed the man in the theater—Mr. Potts. That was killing two birds with one stone really since he was looking for Robert’s partner in crime, wasn’t he? I followed you and Lowther and Potts to the theater, thinking maybe Potts would find you and think the worst. Though I suspect he was only following you to ask a few questions. But when he took too long, I decided to use him in another way. I killed him and I thought once the connection to Robert was found you’d be blamed for it. But of course nobody suspects the sweet, innocent little Georgina. Though killing him did get him off my own back—he’d figured out that Robert and I were working together to steal the jewels—so that wasn’t a complete waste of effort. No one ever suspected that insignificant little Lettice would be involved in something as shocking as jewel theft!”

  Georgie was horrified to hear how proud Lettice sounded about taking a man’s life. She spoke of it as if she were explaining how she’d made her prizewinning pie. The gleeful way her friend spoke sent a terrified chill down her spine. Her attitude did not bode well for her plans for Georgie.

  “I still needed to find a way to dispatch with you, though,” Lettice told Georgie in a tone of confidentiality. “So I saw to it that Lady Russell’s bracelet went missing then turned up in your bedchamber. And it worked to get you tossed out on your ear, didn’t it? Though I should have known your friends from the nobility would ride to the rescue. What is it about you that makes people lose all common sense?” She made a sound of disgust. “If I hadn’t thought of telling Lord Coniston that his aunt had lost her wits, I don’t know how I would have gotten him to leave us alone. I might have had to harm him. You wouldn’t have cared for that, would you, dear Georgina?”

  The vehicle was slowing at last and Georgie, who was beginning to feel whatever Lettice had used on her wear off, braced herself to climb out as soon as it stopped. Unfortunately, Lettice must have thought of this possibility for escape as well, because pulling the horse to an abrupt stop, she leaped into the back of the cart and wrestled with Georgie until she had her hands clasped together.

  Holding her in a grip that was surprisingly strong, Lettice tied Georgie’s hands together with a bit of rope. “I apologize for this, my dear Georgina,” her captor said, “but I’m afraid that I don’t trust you to stay by my side when we get out of the cart.” Leading Georgie by her hands, she pulled her to the edge of the cart and helped her jump down. Removing her own cloak she swung it around to place it over Georgie’s shoulders. Pulling up the hood to cover Georgie’s face, she allowed the cloak to drape before her, hiding her bound hands. “There now. No one will ever suspect things aren’t as they should be. Thank goodness for this bit of cool weather so that it won’t look out of place for you to be wearing a cloak like that. Though I daresay it isn’t as fine as what you’d be able to get as the wife of Lord Coniston. I could almost shed a tear for the loss of that match,” she said with mock sadness. “But only almost. In fact, I’ll do what I can to comfort your poor distraught love. Never fear.”

  The thought of Con grieving for her loss made Georgie want to cry out. Still, the thought of what Con might suffer if she should die left her feeling the resolve she’d need to fight back against Lettice. She tried to channel the determination to keep the other woman from winning and pushed all of the fear and worry that had been clouding her mind away. In its place, she allowed her survival instinct and her soul-deep love for Con to focus her resolve on one thing and one thing only: getting out of this situation alive.

  She could not, however, let Lettice see the change in her demeanor. She had to make the other woman think she’d lost all hope. That she was unable to move beyond her anguish to fight back. When Georgie stumbled, Lettice grabbed her by the back of the cloak and pulled her up short. Out of the alley, they stepped past the visitors queuing up to go into Bath Abbey, and with Lettice leading Georgie by the arm, they slipped in a door just inside the entrance.

  The dark hallway was short and led to a flight of stairs leading to the bell tower at the top of the ancient church. But Georgie noticed none of it. The stone walls were cool and the stairwell was much colder than the air outside had been and Georgie was glad of the cloak, though climbing the stairs was difficult given her tied hands and the inability to steady herself on the at times narrow steps.

  They didn’t speak as they climbed, and Georgie was grateful for the chance to plan her escape. She knew that Lettice was intending to push her from the top once they reached the tower, but she hoped that there would be a moment or two for some last words. Because it was then that she would take her captor by surprise and get away.

  Finally, after a few minutes more of silent climbing, they reached the small landing with windows cut into the stones so that they could look out at the city of Bath and past it into the countryside beyond. The bell, whose chains were located in the little room where they stood, was far above them in the top of the cupola. Georgie looked up and then made the mistake of looking down and nearly lost her balance. She’d never really been fond of heights but this went beyond simple fear of heights. She’d been able to climb the ruins without any great discomfort, but this was far higher than she’d ever been and she did not like it. Not one bit.

  Lettice, on the other hand, was energized. It was evident from her every movement, every word.

  “It is incredible, is it not?” she asked Georgie, her eyes avid with a kind of mad excitement. “From here you can see all the way to the coast. It’s a God’s-eye view, and I feel at home at last. No man, or woman either, would dare cross me from this great height. It fills me with invincibility. Do you understand, Georgina? Do you feel it?”

  Georgie wasn’t sure what her response should be to Lettice’s questions. If she agreed, Lettice might accuse her of trying to usurp her power. But if she showed fear that would give the other woman the satisfaction of knowing that Georgie was feeling exactly what she wanted her to feel. As it happened, however, it wasn’t necessary for her to speak at all because a shout from the ground below them caught their attention.

  Peering down, Georgie saw Con staring up at the bell tower from the street, where he was joined by Mr. McGilloway, the investigator for the magistrate’s office, Perdita, Archer, Isabella, and Trevor. He said something to his companions then shouted upward toward them. “I’m coming, Georgina. Don’t move.”

  “Oh, lovely,” Lettice said with a beatific smile. “We’ll have an audience. I suppose this will be easy enough to explain. I shall simply tell them you’ve been livid with me ever since you learned of my affair with your late husband. Which, of course, you didn’t speak of to anyone because you were so ashamed of being played false. It will be no great trouble to convince them that you led me up here then tried to push me off. I had no choice but to fight for my life. You’re quite strong for such a tiny thing, after all. And what a terrible tragedy it will be, when, in a fit of sorrow at seeing you fall to your death, your dear Lord Coniston follows you down. Really, it’s a beautiful tale of love. It might be marred a bit by the news of all those murders you committed before you died, but then there is always a bit of bad news to leaven the good.”

  Georgie stared dumbfounded. Lettice sincerely believed that she’d be able to convince the authorities that the crimes she, Lettice, had committed had instead been perpetrated by Georgina. All evidence to the contrary conveniently forgotten in the haze of her madness.

  Still, Georgie had an idea that she hoped would enable her to escape. If only she could get Lettice to cooperate.

  Aloud she said, “Lettice, how on earth are they going to believe I threatened you when my hands have been tied up this whole while? I think you’d better remove the rope before I go down, don’t you?”

  Lettice watched her for a moment, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why would you point
that out to me? You aren’t going to convince me that you really wish to fall to your death. You’re too fond of your own hide to want that.”

  Even so, she walked closer to where Georgie stood next to one of the stone pillars holding up the cupola. “Give me your wrists,” she said with impatience. “I’m getting tired of your foolishness and we might as well make sure you fall before Lord Coniston gets up here. He’ll be more easy to control when you’re gone.”

  Obeying, Georgie offered the other woman her bound wrists, and rather than trying to untie the knot she’d tied there, Lettice pulled a knife from her reticule and sliced through the bindings. “There,” she said, while Georgie rubbed the raw flesh on her wrists. “Now, it’s time for you to pay for your myriad sins, my dear friend.”

  As Georgie had hoped, Lettice couldn’t resist the urge to point the knife at Georgie’s chest while they were standing so close to one another. She pressed the point into Georgie’s breastbone. Georgie remained still while Lettice spoke.

  “You really don’t like this knife, do you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed with delight. “I must admit, it would be so satisfying to sink it right into your flesh.” She smiled, her eyes focused on the place where the knife bit into Georgie’s skin. “You saw the bayonet wounds after battle, did you not?” she asked, looking at Georgie. “Where the blade had sliced through skin and sinew and sometimes bones or organs. It was terrible, but at the same time, there was a sort of beauty to it all. The way the blood turned from red to crimson then to black. The way the flesh parted, like a melon split open in the sun.”

  Georgie’s stomach turned at the other woman’s descriptions, but she steeled herself against the image her words conjured. Instead she focused on the knife, and on the lilt of Lettice’s words. She’d just chosen her moment when several things happened at once.

  First, she brought her right hand up from where it rested at her side and grabbed the hand in which Lettice gripped the knife.

  Next, they heard pounding steps coming up the stairs.

  Georgie took advantage of the other woman’s surprise, and using the pillar behind her for balance, she pressed down on Lettice’s knife and tried to wrest it away from her. They struggled for a few moments until Lettice, who was wearing boots and not slippers like Georgie, brought her booted foot down on Georgie’s foot. Hard. Surprised, Georgie lessened her grip for a split second, and before she knew it Lettice, pulling at the knife, propelled them both away from the pillar and up against the balustrade, where she pushed Georgie’s head and shoulders over the edge.

  She’d just brought the knife against Georgie’s throat, when Con burst through the doorway pointing a pistol at Lettice.

  “Drop the knife, Mrs. Stowe,” he said fiercely. “And let Georgina go.”

  Twenty-two

  “Oh,” Lettice said, not frightened in the least, “you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then you and your little mouse could live happily ever after. Isn’t that right? Well, why should I care one way or another what you want, Lord Coniston? Your sort has never given a hang for me.”

  “But perhaps that’s why, Lettice,” he said, softening his tone. Georgie could hear the fear underlying his façade of calm, however. “Perhaps Georgina and I can see to it that you get the respect you deserve. I am an earl after all. I’m quite powerful and could see to it that you get everything you deserve. But only if you let Georgina go. If you don’t then I’m afraid I’ll do everything in my power to destroy you.”

  “Oh, la, my lord,” Lettice said with a giggle. “Listen to you making such a threat. And me with my knife right here on your little love’s neck. Let’s just see what happens if I bring the knife closer.” She increased the pressure on the blade and Georgie felt the sharp sting of it against her neck, where her pulse hammered with fear. She clenched her teeth against the pain rather than give Lettice the satisfaction of hearing her cry out.

  “No!” Con cried. “No. Stop. Do not hurt her. I apologize for threatening you, Lettice. Only please don’t hurt her. I…” Georgie could see the fear in his eyes, and she felt the burn of tears behind her eyes as she watched him. “I love her,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’ll do whatever you wish. Just please don’t harm her.”

  “Will you put your gun down?” Lettice asked, her voice lilting as if she were singing a nursery rhyme. “Will you put your gun down and promise not to interfere again? Your little love and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

  “Yes, of course,” Con said, his voice strong, but still with a thread of fear behind it. “I’ll leave you alone. And I’ll put the pistol down. Here?” He gestured to the sill nearest him.

  “That’s better,” Lettice said, nodding her approval. “Now, you may stay here. But keep quiet. And remember not to interfere. I so hate interfering gentlemen.”

  Con nodded, but his eyes found Georgie’s and held them for only a moment. But it was long enough for her to feel the power of his love for her. And silently she vowed to get out of this situation so that she and Con could have and enjoy the happily ever after that Lettice had just scoffed about.

  “Now,” Lettice said to Georgie, “where were we?” She kept Georgie in position, where she was facing Con, who looked as if he wanted more than anything to rush to them and prise the knife from the other woman’s hand. But the distance was too far. By the time he reached her side, Lettice could have slit Georgie’s throat.

  “Ah, yes,” Lettice said, wrapping her left arm across Georgie’s chest to hold her steady, and bringing the knife up against Georgie’s throat again. “I wanted to ask you a few things before you have to dash off.”

  She laughed at her own joke for a moment before continuing. “But seriously, I would like to know what it is about you that makes grown men turn into slavering idiots. I’ve never been able to understand it. Even my own dear husband thought you were the prettiest little thing he ever saw. And let’s not forget your dear husband, Robert, who still watched your every little move even while he was bedding everyone but you! Now is that fair, I ask you? I say that it is not! Then your brother-in-law, dear Malcolm, took the instructions I gave him to watch over you far too seriously. Didn’t he realize that he was only supposed to watch you? There was nothing in my notes instructing him to build castles in the air about taking you away from it all.

  “Men are so unutterably foolish. But none of them has been quite as foolish over you as your own dear Galahad, there, Lord Coniston. Though Galahad was pure, wasn’t he? And your dear, dear Coniston is anything but. He can be a very naughty boy. Why, I suspect he had carnal desires for you while he was betrothed to your dear friend the young dowager. He is a man, isn’t he?”

  As she spoke, Lettice’s voice became more and more strident until she reached the end of her speech when she was shouting. “I want to know what it is about you, Georgina!” she cried through clenched teeth. “I want to know why they all love you!”

  All the while Lettice was winding herself up into a towering rage, Georgie was biding her time. She could feel the other woman shaking as she allowed her anger to overtake her, until finally the hand holding the knife against her throat was so unsteady that Georgie feared she’d cut her throat accidentally. But when Lettice shouted her last words, Georgie judged the moment to be right, and her hands free, she grabbed hold of the forearm of Lettice’s knife hand and pushed as hard as she could away from her neck. Then she dropped all of her weight downward and scrambled away from Lettice and toward Con.

  Having her arm thrown forward then back made Lettice lose her balance, and as she scrambled to right herself, she found only air. Unable to regain her footing, she flew backward over the edge of the short wall and down to the stone-covered ground below.

  * * *

  “So this Lettice Stowe person was responsible for all of it?” Isabella asked from her perch on the arm of Trevor’s chair. “But what on earth sent her over the edge?”

  “Oh, Isabella,” Perdita said with a grimace. “That was a bad pu
n even for you.”

  They were all, including Georgina and Con, who were seated next to one another on the settee, gathered in the drawing room of Perdita’s house in Laura Place.

  After the events of the day before they’d all been reluctant to let Georgie out of their sight. Especially Con, but Georgie could not find it in herself to resent him for it. After so many years of feeling as if she had no one to lean on in times of strife, it was a comfort to know she could lean on Con if she had to.

  “Yes, to answer the question,” she said, breaking into the sisterly bickering. “From what her journals revealed, she was living here in Bath when she received a summons from someone she never names. He offered to pay for her to stay in Bath if she would perform a service for him. Which was to make my life here miserable.”

  “And there’s no way of knowing who this person was?” Trevor asked, frowning. “I am dashed tired of this fellow getting away without punishment while his minions take all the blame.”

  “It is rather troubling, isn’t it?” Isabella asked, absently stroking his arm. “It sounds all too familiar, this delegation of dirty work.”

  “I didn’t say that, precisely,” Georgie said quickly. “Mr. McGilloway gave me a letter to examine from the person who wrote to Lettice. I’ll give you one guess as to whose hand it’s in.”

  “Never say!” Perdita gasped. “The same person who pens your threats about last season?”

  “Correct,” Con said. He’d been quiet through this entire exchange and Georgie could feel the tension in his body next to hers. She had tried to reassure him that she was in one piece, but that didn’t seem to be enough to quell his fears.