The Dark Regent

by Catherine Lloyd

  Fawn watched in horror as Crispin was escorted between the two policemen from the Hall, stopping briefly for his cloak and hat. Lady Coleridge caught her arm when she tried to go after him and pulled her back.

  “No, you’ve done enough damage. I’m sorry, I know how well you love your uncle, but we must be brave and trust that justice will be served. Now, finish your breakfast and then go upstairs with Molly to pack your things. We’re catching the noon train to London.” Gillian’s laugh was brittle. “You will be such a comfort to me as Captain Wolfe sorts out this difficulty. I’m sure it will all be over by tea time.”

  “Can we see him? Will you take me to Crispin when we are in London?”

  Gillian’s gaze was stony. “Of course. You will be my companion when I visit my fiancé. How good of you to concern yourself with my feelings in this trying time.”

  Fawn blushed and averted her eyes. Guilt and fear had rendered her mute. There was only one way to see Crispin again and that was through Lady Coleridge.

  The witness the police spoke of ... what had this person seen? Was someone spying on them in the stable?

  The thought made her blood turn to ice.

  Fawn did her best to smile and behave normally. She glanced around the room and noticed for the first time that Mr. Laleham was missing. Where had he got to?

  She found out soon enough when she finished breakfast and came into the hall. Laleham was standing at the top of the stairs. The smile on his face left her cold. He was smiling like he knew all along this was going to happen.

  He was smiling like he had won.

  Chapter Sixteen

  LONDON WAS a beehive of activity. Carriages rolled through the streets pulled by glossy horses in harness. Merchants delivered their products and wares to the shops; the streets teamed with expensively dressed men and women. Though she had once lived in the city, many months had passed since Fawn accompanied Aunt Jocelyn on her visits and shopping expeditions. Lady Coleridge was kindness itself, introducing her to the drawing rooms of her society friends, and expressing interest in Fawn’s enthusiasm for museums and libraries.

  It had been a week since Crispin’s arrest and Fawn was beginning to believe she would never see him again. Lady Coleridge explained the risk to Wolfe’s defense if Fawn showed too much interest in the man accused of killing her aunt.

  “It does you credit, my dear, but you must think of Captain Wolfe. He does not need another motive for murdering Jocelyn laid at his door. Wolfe was financially dependent on his sister and Jocelyn had strong opinions about the ladies suitable for her brother. Added to that, a witness claims to have seen you two together and until the report is debunked, it casts the whole affair in a grave light. Wolfe has a good solicitor and I have no doubt that he will prevail in court, but in the meantime, you must look to your own future. A girl with your youth and beauty could do very well, my dear.”

  Corporal Jameson’s affection had cooled since Wolfe’s arrest but he had not completely withdrawn from the scene. Fawn, in her anxiety, had been poor company during his visits—a condition Lady Coleridge sought to correct.

  Fawn was grateful for her patronage, but once again she was dependent on a stranger and the living arrangements made her uneasy. Fawn’s prospects of making a good marriage had grown very dim, even if she had to stomach to consider giving herself to another man.

  An image of the sea, deep green and powerful, tugged at her mind. She closed her eyes to hold the fragments together. Peace and something very near to happiness came over her as she remembered the grey sand, the storm and the dull, pounding rhythm of the sea.

  Hawkcliffe Hall.

  Crispin Wolfe.

  There is no other home for me.

  Hawkcliffe was where she belonged and Crispin was the man she belonged with. He had claimed her heart, mind and soul.

  “I must see Captain Wolfe.” Fawn entered the breakfast room that morning with new determination. “I am grateful for all that you have done for me, Lady Coleridge. You have shown me what is possible and that’s more than anyone has done for me in a long time. But I cannot turn my back on Crispin. I must see him today if it can be arranged.”

  Gillian was seated at breakfast, dressed in stunning yellow and green morning gown that complimented her coloring. She was a tall, striking woman with strawberry blonde hair and almond-shaped blue eyes. Crispin would fall in love greeted by such beauty every morning, Fawn thought.

  Her ladyship was kind too. She had met Fawn’s every need even though it must have wounded her to do so. After all, Fawn had been caught in a romantic tryst with her fiancé according to an unknown witness. Gillian must have her doubts about her friend.

  Her ladyship hesitated in her reply. A cloud crossed her perfect brow and from the look on her face, Fawn thought she was going to slip into a rage. As though what Gillian had shown Fawn all this time was a mask and for a brief instant, she saw the real Lady Coleridge beneath.

  The moment passed. Her ladyship beamed. “Then you shall! Your uncle is being held for trial at the Royal Constabulary Jail. Ronald will take you there in the carriage and wait to bring you home again. And then I have a wonderful evening planned for us. We are dining at the Savoy and then I am taking you to a salon. A select gathering of London society will be there—glittering, sophisticated people. My friend, Lord Drake is eager to make your acquaintance again. He can be a powerful friend to you. We will not disappoint him, will we, dearest?”

  “No, of course not.” Her stomach twisted, wondering at the sort of society Lady Coleridge was talking about. “I remember him as a friend of Aunt Jocelyn’s. I shall be delighted to meet him, Lady Coleridge.”

  §

  IN DIRECT contrast to the color and spectacle of the streets of London, the Royal Constabulary was a bawling, stinking madhouse of noise and filth. The worst of London’s citizenry were held there, as well as the unlucky, the damaged and the poor. Crispin Wolfe was the odd man out. Perhaps because of Captain Wolfe’s station, he had been given a cell of his own. Fawn met him in an interview room where they were watched by a sour-faced guard. The room was furnished with a scarred table and two chairs but neither of them sat down.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again,” he said.

  “I couldn’t stay away. Are you not glad to see me, Crispin? Will you not kiss me at least?”

  “It is not allowed.” He jerked his chin at the guard who did not even blink. “Does Lady Coleridge know you are here?”

  Wolfe stood at a distance, his arms crossed over his chest. Fawn was perplexed by his coldness.

  “Lady Coleridge arranged this visit. I have been staying at her house in London this past week.” Her heart cracked seeing his handsome face ravaged by imprisonment. “Her man drove me here in her carriage. He’s waiting at the curb.”

  “I have no doubt Gillian will expect something for her generosity. Don’t trust my fiancée, Fawn. Her motives for helping you are not pure.”

  “I-I don’t understand. I thought you would be pleased that we are friendly with one another. You are dear to us both.”

  He hesitated and looked down at his hands. “You should not have come. Don’t do it again. I’ll leave instructions with the Warden to refuse you admittance if you come again.”

  Fawn blinked, stunned. “What? Why—what has happened? Do not shut me out! I love you. Please, Crispin, you mustn’t give up hope.”

  “Good God, haven’t you understood a word I’ve said? I do not want to see you again. It isn’t a question of hope—I am confident I’ll be acquitted. It is a question of not returning your feelings. I wanted you and once I got you, I ceased to care about you. It is that simple.”

  His words hit like a blow to the chest. “You are lying.” Her voice rasped.

  Crispin looked her squarely in the eye. “No, I am not. I’m going to marry Lady Coleridge as I’ve been planning to do from the first. That alone should tell you something.”

  Fawn’s heart was hammering. “I am the wrong perso
n to play this game with, Wolfe. I will not weep and go away confident that you didn’t mean it. I have been abandoned too often to think anything but the worst. I am the sort who will believe you.”

  “I want you to believe me!” His black hair had grown since she saw him last. Crispin tried to rake his fingers through the tangles. “My feelings for you are not what I led you to think they were. I lied to you and manipulated you for my own purposes. My arrest and incarceration have given me time to reflect on my behavior. I regret hurting you.”

  “You regret hurting me?” she repeated in disbelief. “Tell me, Crispin. Which of the hurts you have inflicted upon me grieve you the most? The moment you took my virginity or the shame I felt in your company?” Fawn leaned forward, her voice rising. “Why—why concoct such an elaborate scheme simply to ruin one girl? Tell me!” She slammed her fists on the table.

  “My intention was to keep you as my mistress after my marriage. I see now that I was wrong to put you in that position. That is what I regret.”

  She was shaking, bloodless with fury and terror. “You must stop this, Crispin. This is not amusing, this is my life. Tell me the truth—you love me! Say it!”

  “I thought I did. Perhaps I wanted to love you ... my sister’s niece.” His irises were the color of indigo when they met hers. “I should have left our relationship at that. I’m sorry.”

  Her stomach fell. Crispin was in deadly earnest.

  “You were going to marry Lady Coleridge,” she repeated, as though trying to learn a school less that she did not understand. “You were going to keep me on as your mistress, like a pet you cannot put down.”

  Crispin turned his back on her. His broad shoulders rounded and he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Lady Coleridge is no fool,” Fawn hissed, bile rising in her throat. “She will see the man she bargained for in you and regret her decision. And yet you tell me that I can’t trust your fiancée! At this moment Lady Coleridge is the only person I can trust.”

  The blow struck home. He turned sharply. Tension creased the corners his brilliantly blue eyes and he looked like he had aged beyond his twenty-eight years. There was grey in his hair, showing through like dust among the raven black strands, and the lines in his face had deepened.

  Her heart lurched. She sank to a chair, her legs unable to hold her up under the strain.

  “Why are you doing this to us?” she whispered. “You love me. I know you do. You must not be convicted. You must not be sent to prison! I could not bear it. I long for your release just as I long to return to Hawkcliffe Hall.”

  “My solicitor will be arriving soon,” he said stiffly. “With luck, there will be no trial and I’ll be released within the week.” Crispin’s eyes met hers, hot and red-rimmed. “But you will never return to Hawkcliffe Hall. There is no place for you in my life, Miss Heathcote.”

  Fawn dropped her gaze to her shaking hands. “You have taken everything from me ... and now you take even this. There is nothing good between us. There never was.”

  Crispin came around the table and stood in front of her. He spoke in a low, intense voice. “Tell me how much you hate me. End this now. Tell me to forget about you and I will. End it, Fawn.”

  She couldn’t speak. The words froze in her throat.

  He bent close to her ear so that the guard could not overhear what he said. “Every moment I spent with you was worth it. I would not trade these bars to undo what I have done. I would take you on this table if I could bribe the guard to look the other way. Look what you do to me, Fawn, even in this place. This is what I have to give you—nothing else.”

  He pressed his hips forward. Crispin’s erection was huge under his tight trousers.

  Fawn rose quickly, stumbling away from him and knocking the chair over in her haste.

  The guard stepped forward. “Are you all right, miss?”

  Crispin fixed her with his dark unreadable eyes. “My niece is fine. She is just disturbed by the change in me. I hope we understand each other now, Fawn. Prison coarsens a man’s nature.”

  She felt weak. Her mind was wild with confusing signals. “I wonder if I ever knew you at all. I am sorry for Lady Coleridge, but I am sorrier for myself. I didn’t have the sense not to fall in love with you.”

  Fawn gathered her mantle and muff together. She crossed to him, lifted up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. “Goodbye, Crispin. I wish you well.”

  She turned to leave but Wolfe caught her arm. His blue stare scanned her face anxiously. “You mustn’t trust Lady Coleridge. Whatever she promises you, you can’t trust her.”

  “I’m afraid I have no choice. Tonight we are dining at the Savoy and then attending a small party. She means to introduce me to a friend of hers—and yours.”

  “Who is this friend?”

  “Lord Drake. I understand he is eager to make my acquaintance. Goodbye, Captain Wolfe.”

  Crispin watched Fawn leave the foul chamber, dread settling in the pit of his stomach.

  “Well?” he barked at the man who had been observing the meeting from a hidden room.

  Albus Laleham entered the interview room though a secret door. “Very impressive,” he said. “Miss Heathcote appeared to be quite convinced.”

  “You have what you wanted. See that the charge against her is dropped as you pledged to do or I’ll hunt you down, Laleham. So help me, God, I will destroy you. Fawn will not be arrested and there will be no investigation. She is innocent.”

  “Of conspiring to commit murder, yes, I believe she is,” affirmed Laleham. “But she is not innocent of betraying her friend, Lady Coleridge. Unless it’s your assertion that you forced yourself on the girl, one must assume Fawn welcomed your advances even as she was pretending friendship with your fiancée. She is, at the very least, guilty of deceit, which paints her as a sneak. The Society is concerned, Wolfe. Is Fawn to be trusted?”

  The question was met with stony silence.

  Albus smacked his lips. “Regardless, a deal is a deal. Miss Heathcote will not be charged with lying to the police, or as an accomplice to murder. Once she is respectably married to Corporal Jameson, she’ll be no trouble to anyone. Please, do not concern yourself with your niece any longer. She is not your problem. The real issue at hand is your defense.”

  Crispin contemplated the portly gentleman with loathing. It was a deal with the devil but one that had decisively removed Fawn from prosecution. All Crispin had to do was prove his loyalty to Lady Gillian, renew his commitment to marry her when he was released from prison, and Laleham would safeguard Fawn’s future.

  “I have tracked down Jocelyn’s housemaid—the one who was with her that day. She told me that you indeed came to the house and argued with your sister. However, Mrs. Heathcote was still alive at the time she ordered a cup of hot milk an hour later. The private investigator I hired found an empty bottle of laudanum concealed at the back of a drawer in the night table, which is likely the reason it was not discovered by Scotland Yard. The housemaid and an anonymous source will give their statements to Scotland Yard and you’ll be cleared of all charges. I anticipate an immediate acquittal and release. I know the judge rather well.”

  The portly man gazed at him smugly. “It helps to have friends in the Society who are willing to stick their necks out for you. I only hope you appreciate it, Wolfe, and remember what happened here. You owe them your life.”

  “I don’t give a damn about my life!”

  Albus pursed his lips. “No, it is Miss Heathcote’s life you care about. It concerns me that you fail to understand the anxiety your arrest has caused some very prominent persons.”

  “I am aware and you may reassure those prominent persons that their fears are unwarranted. I am a soldier. I do not betray my allies.”

  He would say nothing more on the subject. Crispin was sick to death of the Society and wished he had never ventured into that pit of vipers. He wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been obsessed with Fawn. That he needed the Society now to protec
t Fawn at the cost of never seeing her again was cruelly ironic.

  Albus Laleham made one or two meaningless comments and then left the room when it was clear the captain would add nothing more to the discussion.

  Wolfe paced the room impatiently waiting for his solicitor to arrive with news of his release. Time was running out. He would do whatever the man instructed if it meant getting out of here tonight. Post whatever bond, make any concession. He and Drake were cut from the same cloth. They shared the same base urges and heartlessness when it came to their female conquests. Whatever it cost, Wolfe had to get out of here before Gillian delivered Fawn into his old friend’s hands.

  As for what he had done to Fawn....

  He couldn’t think about that or he would lose his nerve entirely to face her again.

  Chapter Seventeen

  WILFRED CROSSED the length of the drawing room three times before getting to the point. Fawn eyed his young pensive face with rising trepidation.

  She had returned from the prison to find the corporal waiting to speak to her. The visit was a surprise. The corporal’s attention had been lacking in the week since she left Hawkcliffe Hall. At a time when his friendship was most needed, Wilfred had subtly withdrawn it. The reason for this was not lost on Fawn. Her friend broached the subject that had been troubling him.

  “My cousin has instructed me to disregard the past in order to secure a bright future. She assures me Wolfe will be exonerated and inherit your aunt’s estate without further delay. Your uncle will be a wealthy man.”

  Wilfred paused and Fawn dared not interrupt his flow of thought, sensing what was to come.

  “My concern is what I will have to sacrifice to secure this future my cousin is so keen for me to have. Gillian is confident her fiancé will settle you with a comfortable income and I have no doubt he will, Miss Heathcote.”