The Countess (21 page)

Christiana stared. His concern was for her and her sisters. He hadn’t suddenly changed . . . yet. Clearing her throat, she said, “That is very thoughtful, but I suspect if you pay him once, the blackmailer will continue to demand money. And it just isn’t right that you should have to pay when all of this is George’s fault to begin with, especially since you didn’t kill him.”

“And you and your sisters shouldn’t have to pay by suffering the scandal either,” he pointed out quietly, glancing around to be sure no one was close enough to overhear their conversation. “George was my brother. If anyone is going to pay, it should be me.”

Christiana frowned. She didn’t want a scandal any more than he did. Her sisters would suffer horribly from it, but . . . She wasn’t foolish enough to think if they paid once, it would be done. The blackmailer would no doubt ask for more later, and then again, and this would hang over all their heads until they were all dead and buried. Frowning, she asked, “Can we not take the body to the authorities, claim George didn’t die in the fire after all as we had all assumed, but that he was the one away in America this last year? That he left a letter to that effect when he departed, but it apparently burned up in the fire. We can say he returned because he was feeling unwell and that we found him dead in his bed this morning. The authorities can examine him, will find he died of natural causes and all will be well.” She smiled widely, sure she’d found the answer. “That way there would be no scandal, and no way the blackmailer could blackmail us.”

“Ah, well . . .” Richard grimaced, and then sighed and admitted, “Actually, Daniel and I suspect George
was
murdered.”

“What?” she asked with shock and stopped walking.

“We smelled bitter almond around his mouth when we went to move him the first night,” Richard explained, urging her to walk again.

Christiana stared at him blankly. “I don’t understand.”

“We think he was poisoned.” Richard glanced around as they reached the house and urged her to follow the others inside. “Don’t worry. We have a plan to catch the blackmailer.”

“What is this plan?” she asked worriedly as he started to lead her upstairs.

“I’ll explain later,” Richard said rather than answer the question. He also started to move more quickly, urging her upstairs and along the hall to the master bedroom. “You just go on inside and refresh yourself before the meal. All will be well. I’ll have Grace and your chest brought up. Would you like a bath?”

Christiana frowned. “No, that would take too long and I know you want to head back to London. A basin of water to wash with will do.”

“Right. I’ll see it’s brought up,” he assured her opening the bedroom door.

She started to automatically walk into the room, but he caught her back, drawing her around to face him and then suddenly kissed her. It was no quick pressing of lips like the one in the church, but a hard, demanding kiss that quickly had her sinking against him with a sigh and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“To tide me over until we can consummate the marriage,” he said with a sigh as he ended the kiss a moment later, and then he smiled crookedly and added, “You are now most definitely, and legally, my wife.”

Christiana managed a smile despite her reservations, and he urged her into the room. “I shall send up Grace and your chest. Take your time. I’m sure Cook will need a bit of time to get the meal on the table.”

He then pulled the door closed, leaving her alone in the master bedroom. Christiana sighed and glanced around as she moved further into the room. She had never been in it before. When she and George had stopped on the way into London she’d been given the connecting room next door and never stepped foot in the room. She’d also cried herself to sleep wondering why George had been so short with her that day and why he hadn’t come to her that night. She’d cried herself to sleep many nights during the first six months of their marriage wondering the same thing.

Shaking those memories away, she walked around the room, looking over everything curiously as she waited for Grace. It seemed to take forever for the woman to arrive with two footmen in tow carrying Christiana’s chest. Despite Richard’s telling her to take her time, she was quick about her ablutions and change of clothes. Even so, Suzette was stepping out of her room when Christiana left the master bedroom to head downstairs.

“I feel better,” Suzette commented as the two of them started toward the stairs.

“As do I,” Christiana murmured.

“I’m not looking forward to the ride back to town though.”

“I’m sorry about this, Suzie,” Christiana said. “I know you cannot welcome this delay. Perhaps you and Daniel should continue on to Gretna Green and leave us to deal with this other business.”

“As if we would,” Suzette said dryly and shook her head as they started down the stairs. “No, this is more urgent. We have some time yet. If things drag on and it’s necessary, Daniel and I can travel through the night, stopping only to change horses. We could make the journey to Gretna in a couple days that way and be back just as quickly. So as long as we do not delay much more than a week we should be able to make the two-week deadline Father was given.”

“Thank you,” Christiana murmured and wondered if Suzette’s marrying Daniel was even necessary anymore. Richard had said he’d make up for what his brother had done. Did that include paying off the gambling debt? He hadn’t said so specifically, and he also hadn’t said anything to suggest Suzette and Daniel needn’t marry to gain the dower and pay the debt, but things had been a bit chaotic and confusing since the night of the ball. Perhaps he just hadn’t had the chance to say anything. Or even think about it really. She would have to broach the subject with him the first chance she got just to be sure, Christiana decided. She didn’t wish to see Suzette forced into marriage, even if on her own terms, if there was no need.

“Wait for me!” Lisa cried out, suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs behind them. “I don’t know where the dining room is.”

Suzette and Christiana paused, smiling at their younger sister as she rushed down to join them and then the trio headed up the hall to the dining room.

Christiana had expected Richard and the other men to be there, entertaining the pastor when they arrived, so was a bit surprised to find Reverend Bertrand standing all by himself, peering out a window when they entered.

“Sorry we took so long,” Christiana murmured as she glanced back up the empty hall in search of her husband.

“Not at all,” the pastor said at once, beaming at them as he turned from the window. “You are all three well worth the wait.” Moving toward the table, he began to pull out a chair and suggested, “Shall we sit down? I believe the meal is ready and the servants were merely waiting for your arrival to serve.”

Christiana felt her eyes narrow at the words. “What about the men?”

“Ah.” Reverend Bertrand, pulled out a second chair and moved on to do the same with a third before saying, “They wished me to explain that they felt they could travel more swiftly with just the one carriage and thought you might be more comfortable waiting here with your maids while they dealt with matters in town.”

“They left?” Suzette snapped with disbelief.

“Er . . . yes,” he admitted, looking uncomfortable.

Christiana turned on her heel and started out of the room at once.

“Really, my lady, I think you would do better to simply wait here as they wish. They left some time ago, directly after seeing you ladies upstairs. You will never catch up to them,” the man argued, hurrying after them when Suzette and Lisa followed her.

All three women ignored him.

Chapter Fourteen

T
hey’re going to be very, very angry.”

Richard grimaced at Robert’s prediction, knowing the man was right. But really, leaving the women behind was the best choice. Christiana and her sisters could now relax and enjoy themselves together at Radnor and be out of harm’s way while he, Daniel and Robert hunted down their blackmailer. Besides, it seemed ridiculous to drag the maids, the chests, and all three carriages back to London when they would just have to make the return journey in a couple of days’ time for Suzette and Daniel to marry. And they could travel much more swiftly with just the one carriage.

They had taken Woodrow’s carriage because it was the fastest. They were making good time. They’d stopped at three different inns along the way to change horses, but were still more than three quarters of the way back to London and Richard was sure it wasn’t yet midnight.

“They will get over their anger,” Daniel said now, not sounding at all worried about Suzette’s reaction to their defection.

Robert just shook his head. “Trust me. I have known the Madison sisters all my life. You will not get off easily for this. Either of you.” He let that sink in and then glanced to Richard. “I was glad to see Christiana stand up for herself and make you listen back at the house. It was a good sign.”

“How so?” Richard asked curiously, recalling his surprise when he’d placed her in the carriage and she’d suddenly snapped at him.

“She is being herself with you. It shows she isn’t afraid of you as I think she was with Dicky . . . er . . . George,” he corrected himself. “The one time I saw them together after the wedding she was as jumpy as a cat. I feared he was taking his fists to her, but she assured me he wasn’t.”

“Did you believe her?” Richard asked, frowning at the possibility that George may have beaten Christiana on top of everything else.

“Yes. Christiana is a terrible liar and I’m sure she was telling the truth, but she was still afraid of the man.” He shook his head. “Perhaps she just feared what would happen if he did lose his temper.”

Richard scowled. No one should have to live in fear. A body should feel safe in their own home.

“That doesn’t matter now though,” Robert said after a moment. “The good news is she doesn’t appear to fear you the same way. I think the two of you will make a fine match.”

“Thank you,” Richard said dryly, but was secretly quite pleased with Robert’s words. Christiana was proving to be intelligent, passionate and capable. He liked the woman, and suspected he could more than like her with a little time.

“Does Christiana like—” Richard began, and then grabbed for something to hold on to as a loud crack preceded the carriage suddenly pitching to the side. The next moments were a chaos of shouts, and whinnies as the three men were tossed about. The carriage seemed to roll and crash end over end, and then everything suddenly went still and silent.

For one moment, Richard was too dazed to be quite sure what had happened and where he was, but then he heard a groan beneath him and realized the lumpy something he was lying on was either Daniel or Robert. He also became aware that something heavy lay on top of him, making it hard to breathe. Grimacing, he lifted a hand to touch whatever it was and was rewarded with another groan and a heel or elbow—he wasn’t sure which in the darkness—dug into his groin as whoever was on top of him began to struggle to get off.

“Lord Woodrow?”

The darkness surrounding them was suddenly relieved when the carriage door was yanked open above them and the driver peered in with a lit lantern in hand. It was then Richard realized the carriage had come to a halt on its side. He grunted as the man on top of him unintentionally jabbed him in the side as he struggled to sit up. The fellow then reached up for the opening and began to pull himself out, but it wasn’t until he was halfway through the opening, his face lit up by the driver’s lantern that Richard knew it was Robert.

“Damn, Richard, get off me, I can’t breathe,” Daniel gasped beneath him, apparently recognizing Robert as well.

Richard immediately began to move, doing his best not to elbow or otherwise poke his friend as he did. Of course, that was impossible and he muttered several apologies as he shifted his weight to the side. Kneeling in the overturned carriage, he then turned back to ask, “Are you all right?”

“Battered and bruised, but otherwise fine I think,” Daniel said grimly, sitting up beside him. “You?”

“The same,” Richard said on a sigh and then glanced up to the opening and the still waiting driver. Robert was now also peering back in at them.

“What happened?” Daniel asked his driver as he stood and began to pull himself through the opening.

“I’m not sure, my lord,” the driver said unhappily. “We were riding along fine and then I heard a crack, and the carriage pitched and began to roll. Fortunately, the carriage body snapped just behind the boot and the horses weren’t dragged with it or they would have died for certain.”

“And you weren’t hurt?” Richard heard Daniel ask the man as he followed him out of the carriage.

“I was tossed, but landed on a bush. I’m all right,” the man muttered, and then added with disgust, “But the coach is a wreck. I don’t think it can even be fixed.”

“As long as everyone is all right,” Daniel said and raised an eyebrow in question at Robert.

“Fine,” the other man assured him, easing to the edge of the carriage to leap down. “I got an elbow in the face during one of the rolls and will probably have a black eye, but otherwise am fine.”

Daniel grunted at this news and moved to inspect the two wheels on the upraised side of the carriage. Richard shifted to the edge of the carriage to look them over as well, but both seemed fine so they followed Robert to the ground and moved to peer at the broken wheel.

“That’s a rather straight break,” Daniel muttered suspiciously as they peered at the spokes.

“You think they were cut?” Richard asked peering at what remained attached to the carriage.

“Those three spokes certainly look like they could have been,” Daniel pointed out. “The rest are more splintered and natural-looking breaks. They probably snapped under the pressure when those three gave way.”

Richard frowned at the suggestion and straightened to glance around. “I agree. The question is if it was deliberate, who did it and why? And when?”

“The why is easy,” Daniel said quietly. “As far as George’s killer knows, the poison didn’t work. As for when . . .” He peered back at the broken wheel. “It couldn’t have been done in town. There were four of us in the carriage this morning on the way to Radnor. The wheel would have given out under that kind of weight before we left London. Besides, you weren’t even in my carriage on the way out of town.”

“So it was done at Radnor or one of the three stops since we left,” Richard reasoned and glanced around again. He didn’t doubt for a minute he was the target, but he was more concerned with the possibility that someone may have followed them from London and might yet be following them.

“Is that a carriage I hear?” he asked suddenly.

“Yes, and it’s moving quickly. We’d best get off the road.” Daniel called to his driver to warn him and the man immediately urged the horses onto the grassy verge. He then moved back to the edge of the road with his lantern and lifted it in the air to swing it back and forth to get the attention of the approaching vehicle.

“A coach and six,” Robert muttered as the vehicle careened around the bend and into view on the moonlit lane.

The oncoming coachmen spotted Daniel’s driver and swerved to miss him. He didn’t slow, however, but raced right past them.

“Wasn’t that—?” Robert began.

“Yes,” Richard said grimly, having recognized the Radnor coach with Christiana, Suzette and Lisa all gaping out the window at them.

“I did tell you they would not take our leaving sitting down,” Robert said with amusement.

“You didn’t say they would follow,” Daniel pointed out.

“Why spoil the surprise?” Robert laughed.

Richard rolled his eyes and then watched the Radnor coach return from the direction it had gone. He wasn’t surprised to see it returning. However, he
was
surprised when it pulled to a halt next to them and the women did not immediately pile out exclaiming with concern over their well-being after their accident. Instead, it sat silent and still, the driver glancing uncertainly from the men to the still closed coach door and back.

“Time to face the music,” Robert said dryly, heading for the door.

Daniel grunted and then glanced to his own driver and ordered him to tie the leads of their horses to the back of the Radnor carriage and then join the driver on the front. They would stop at the next inn to leave the horses. Daniel’s driver would stop there as well to arrange for someone to collect the broken carriage and see if it could be fixed.

“Hello ladies,” Robert said cheerfully as he opened the carriage door and got inside.

There was a polite chorus of hellos and then silence, Richard noted as he approached the open door. Glancing in, he saw that Robert had settled next to Christiana on one bench seat, leaving Suzette and Lisa on the other. His gaze moved over the women’s sour expressions as they peered back at him and he sighed, but said, “Hello ladies,” as he entered as well. This time, however, there was no response and thick silence reigned as he squeezed onto the bench seat between Robert and Christiana. There was also no response when Daniel entered with the same greeting. It was obvious the women were holding him and Daniel responsible for leaving without them, and despite being with them, Robert was not being held accountable.

At least not by Christiana and Suzette, Richard thought as he tried to find a comfortable position on the seat. Lisa alone was glaring at Langley.

The carriage started forward then, and Richard found himself jolted and then tossed against Christiana as they turned to head toward London. He quickly tried to ease back to give her more room, but found himself pressing uncomfortably against Robert to do so. Muttering with irritation, he gave up trying to force more space on the narrow seat and simply lifted Christiana onto his lap and slid over into her spot.

“Put me down,” Christiana cried at once.

“This is more comfortable,” Richard said.

“Perhaps for you,” she snapped.

“For you too,” he said confidently, relaxing and wrapping his arms around her waist. “You are just too angry at me to admit it.”

She twisted sideways across his lap to scowl at him and asked, “Why ever would I be angry at you? Just because the three of you snuck out like a trio of cowards leaving the poor pastor to explain you’d headed back to London without us?”

“We thought we were doing you a favor at the time,” Richard said quietly. “You would have been much more comfortable waiting at Radnor with your maids.”

“The maids are following in Robert’s carriage,” she announced, and then added grimly, “And if you’d thought you were doing us a favor, you would have told us yourselves you were leaving.”

“I didn’t say I thought
you
would believe it a favor,” he said calmly. “Just that we knew it was.”

Christiana snorted and turned away, folding her arms angrily across her chest. “Oh, aye, we would have been terribly comfortable waiting at Radnor not knowing what was happening and worrying ourselves silly. My, I can’t think why we followed you with so much to look forward to.”

“Well, I’m glad you did. Thank you. We could have been stuck out there on the road all night,” he said solemnly.

Christiana stilled, and then turned to peer at him suspiciously in the light cast by the lantern outside the window. After a moment, she relaxed enough to ask, “What happened?”

“It looks like three spokes in the front left wheel may have been cut. The whole wheel collapsed under the stress when they gave,” he answered promptly, deciding there was no sense keeping the information from the women. It was better if they were prepared and had an eye out for trouble too.

Christiana turned sharply to peer at him. “Cut? Are you certain?”

Richard hesitated. “Not completely, but the breaks on three spokes side by side were almost straight across while the others were jagged and splintered.”

“George’s poisoner?” she asked unhappily.

“That would be my guess,” he acknowledged.

“What? George was poisoned?” Suzette asked at once, and Richard glanced over to see that Daniel had drawn the young woman onto his own lap to make room on their side of the carriage. Suzette was sitting, arms crossed and expression grim like her sister, apparently not really happy to be there either.

“It seems George may have been poisoned,” Christiana explained. “Daniel and Richard smelled bitter almonds by his mouth.”

“Almonds aren’t poisonous,” Suzette said at once.

“Bitter almonds are used to make cyanide,” Lisa explained solemnly, drawing every eye her way. Shrugging, she said, “I read a lot.”

“She does,” Suzette said dryly and then turned to Christiana. “What else don’t we know?”

“You know everything I know now,” she assured her. “And I only found out about the poison after the wedding. I just hadn’t yet had a chance to tell you.”

Suzette nodded and then turned to spear Daniel with a look. “What else?”