The Star-Crossed Bride (27 page)

For a moment Emily hoped that was true, that her part in this nightmare was over and done. But then a horrible thought struck her. "How can he?"

"Those in London would know nothing — "

"No." Emily shook her head frantically. "They may know nothing yet, but the gossip would spread as quickly as a plague. What explanation would he give for not showing up at his own wedding — for running to London without saying a word to Mother — to me?"

Valentine replied bitterly, "He seems well able to find excuses for murder, I doubt jilting you would be hard for him to explain."

But Emily didn't agree. "No. That is not the sort of thing other gentlemen would forgive, you know. He would be burning his bridges. And I don't think he likes to do that."

"Do you suspect he will return for you, then?" Miranda asked in disbelief. "Surely he does not think we will let him marry you? Not now."

"Why not? Mother knows nothing. After all, he was planning to elope with me. He seemed to think neither the duke nor Valentine would be willing to ruin my reputation by exposing him as a murderer." Emily scoffed, "But that is ridiculous. Neither of them would let justice turn on my reputation!"

The two men said nothing at all to that statement. Miranda did not agree at once. Instead, she said thoughtfully, "He would see justice done quietly, I am certain. But he would not accuse the marquess in public — not when it would reflect upon you. As for my brother, don't forget that he gave up all hope of marrying you just because your reputation might be besmirched by a runaway marriage — a marriage against your parents' express wishes."

Emily huddled deeper in Valentine's embrace. He had loved her beyond common sense. And no doubt still did. The thought was almost frightening. Granbury had disappeared. But that did not mean he had traveled far. Which left them in quite a dilemma.

The marquess knew they had found out his secrets and were determined to reveal them. Worse, he knew where they were and they had no idea where he had gone. He could be lurking a mile away or he could have fled to the Continent. He could, as unbelievable as it seemed, be prepared to go through with the wedding that the countess was still planning. The thought was suffocating.

Would this tangle never be cleared away? "I had anticipated that we would be able to explain to Mother — and to all the guests — just why the wedding has been canceled," Emily said softly. "I thought Granbury's guilt would ease any questions on my star-crossed life. Now what shall we do? Pretend that we know nothing? Smile and simply ignore the fact that the man I am to marry has vanished and the wedding is set to be held in less than a week?"

"Your mother shall have to be told, there is no choice," The duke said firmly anticipating her objection before she could even state it.

Emily sniffed. He thought he knew everything, but he had not considered the most important thing to the countess — status. "Without Granbury to confirm the matter Mother will refuse to believe that he will not return. To do otherwise would be to accept scandal and she will not do that."

He said imperturbably, "Then we shall have to give her reason to accept that we tell the truth."

His finger pointed to her neck. "The bruise around your neck and the cut around Nan's should be convincing evidence." For one moment, Emily dared believe him. But then she knew better. "She will explain it away. She won't believe even you, no matter how perfect you are. Not until she has to, of course. If Granbury does not show up for the ceremony, she won't be able to postpone the scandal any longer. But I doubt she will accept it a moment earlier."

Miranda took her hand and grasped it with a strength borne of determination. "Then we shall have to tell her that the wedding is off permanently — whether or not Granbury shows his face here again."

Emily frowned, wondering what the flaw in such a simple plan must be. "So we simply reveal that Valentine and I have eloped and that the marriage will not take place?"

The duke made a sound of disagreement, but Valentine cut him off with a sharp gesture. "We cannot do that. The scandal will be so great that your reputation would be destroyed, no matter how dull and respectable the rest of our lives might be."

"So then we go on, as if we do not know that Granbury has fled?" She could not help a little bitterness in her tone. "Will you sneak into my room each night, still? Will you masquerade as a footman in the day?"

He pulled back as if she had struck him. "A jilted bride is less scandal than one who elopes with another man and then announces it a week before the wedding without good cause."

She was becoming furious with the lengths they would go just to protect her reputation. "And what if he does not jilt me?"

Valentine said harshly, "To come back would be madness."

Miranda said softly, "I fear he is a madman. We do not know that he will not show up in time for the ceremony."

"I agree." The duke stood and paced the room. "I had hoped you would protect her from scandal, Fenster, not subject her to the worst kind of gossip. But I see nothing for it now."

Emily was stunned to speechlessness by the unfairness of the accusation. Valentine, however, tensed and withdrew his arms from around her. "I had hoped the same, your grace. I could not have foreseen ..."

"No, you couldn't have," Miranda agreed, sending her husband a severe look. "None of us anticipated that he would do something so bold. Although perhaps we should have, considering how boldly he has been abusing and murdering servant women these past two decades."

Emily agreed shakily. "We are fortunate that he did not add Nancy to the list of women he has murdered. Perhaps when we discover where he has fled we shall find out the answers we need. At the very least, that should tell us what he intends to do."

"We must inform the countess of what has happened." The duke was firm. "I will make her see reason."

"If you tell her, she will have Nancy sacked, you know." Emily felt no fear for her own fate. She had Valentine and he was all she wanted. But her maid had not even had the satisfaction of seeing Granbury caught yet. "She was brave to put herself at his mercy. I will not have her lose her livelihood because my mother learns of her part in our plans."

Valentine nodded. "Until Granbury is caught, both Emily and Nan must be protected. They are the two he is most likely to want to harm."

Miranda stood to join her husband at the window. "Then it is agreed. We will say nothing of this to the Countess. We will claim to be as astonished as everyone else that he has disappeared? And if he reappears for the wedding? What then?"

The duke said grimly, "We do what we must."

There was silence as they all remained silent, unwilling to speak the inarguable truth. If Granbury returned, it would mean a scandal so large it would no doubt cross oceans, and even tarnish the reputation of the duke of Kerstone himself.

As Emily had predicted, it was the countess who came up with a plausible excuse for Granbury's absence in response to increasingly curious queries from her guests. "Urgent business in London. He will be back by the wedding day for certain." She said it with a confident smile that made Emily wonder if she had spoken to Granbury.

But her mother disabused her of that notion as soon as they were out of earshot of any curious guests. "Where has he gone? Have you insulted him too greatly this time?" Her hands tightened like corset laces around Emily's forearms.

"No, Mother. I have not insulted him at all." She managed to convey enough sincerity to convince her mother. How could calling a murderer what he was be considered an insult, after all? "I would like to know where he is as much as you." More. But she did not want to overstate her case to the countess. Her mother, after all, was not a stupid woman.

"Has the duke's man located him yet?" she asked Valentine that night, while he held her warm against him. He had continued his ruse of footman so that he could remain in the castle without attracting attention — not one of the guests would understand why a man suspected of eloping with the bride would be allowed at the wedding — but he spent his days scouring the area surrounding the castle for any sign that Granbury might be close enough to cause them danger.

"Not yet." He sighed. "I believe Nan is at the end of her rope. I thought she would faint dead away this evening when I entered the room a bit too quietly while she wasn't looking."

Emily agreed. "I dread having her brush my hair anymore. She is so easily upset that she has had to cut several hopeless snarls out of my head." Emily ran her fingers lazily along the curve of his ribs. "I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad the wedding is day after tomorrow. Finally, it will all be over for certain — will he show, or won't he? At least, it will be over for us. I suppose Nan will worry until he is caught, won't she?"

"Perhaps I should take her to Anderlin? My sisters would keep her busy." His amusement was obvious in the curve of his mouth. She stretched up to kiss him lightly. "Perhaps. But she would be exposed to Granbury's wrath while she travels, so perhaps not. She shall have to bear her nervousness a bit longer, just as you and I must." She shifted impatiently. "We all know the time is ticking away. What can he be thinking? Surely he must understand that even if he did return on the day of the wedding that I would not go to the altar, even if he dragged me there himself."

"I don't expect he is thinking anything that will do any of us good." Valentine's voice was filled with impotent fury and she wanted to ease him, as any good wife would.

"I'm certain of that," Emily said with a shudder. Then she ran her finger lightly down his ribs until she felt his breathing quicken. "But do we have to discuss him all night?"

One of the guests, a cousin Emily could not remember having met before — probably because that branch of the family did not come equipped with a title, and thus was of little interest to her mother — raised the alarm early one morning. The breakfast room was full when he came running in, waving a dirty scrap of cloth and nearly hysterical with shock. "The marquess has been most foully murdered!"

The duke, as was his wont, took charge. He leaped up from his place at the table and strode over to the panting relation. "Come, man, do not upset the ladies like this."

"Forgive me, your grace," the man said, abashed. His voice grew quiet. But not so quiet that Emily did not hear every word he said. "I fear the marquess has been waylaid and murdered on his return from London."

"Are you certain?"

"Quite. Here is his bloody neckcloth — and his torn jacket, bloodstained as well."

As ever, the duke asked the most important question first. "Did you see a body?"

The man swallowed and his throat worked. "No, your grace."

The duke raised his brow imperiously. "Perhaps he is even now being tended within the castle walls — "

The man protested, holding up the shredded cloth. "No man could have survived such a vicious attack. No, I suspect his body lies in the loch."

Emily wondered if Granbury had finally met his just end at the hands of someone who knew what kind of man he was. But somewhere deep inside she was afraid it was another game the man was playing with her — with them all. That his bloody belongings had been found near the loch made the situation difficult to determine. If he had been thrown in, he might never be found. The depths of the loch were greater than anyone had ever plumbed and it rarely gave up its secrets.

"We shall begin a search," the duke said, motioning to Soames. "Men, we have a duty to do for our hostess." There was a hubbub at that, but the men eagerly rose. Their questions threatened to deafen everyone.

"We need to send men into the loch," someone shouted. "But we'll never find the body, the depths are too great."

"Who could have done it?" The murmur rose to a rumble as that question was discussed. Emily herself began to wonder if — But no. Valentine would not have done something like that without telling her. And if he hadn't told her, she would still know. She would see it in his eyes.

The duke restored order by shouting in his most authoritative voice, "Let us not disturb the ladies, gentlemen. I will explain matters once we are all out of doors."

Emily watched as they filed out. She was not surprised when Valentine, abandoning his footman duties, followed in their wake despite Soames's initial objection. When the duke stepped in to request all the footmen participate, though, the butler quickly changed his tune.

Miranda, a triangle of toast dangling unnoticed from her fingers, whispered, "He has begun his game now."

"Do you think so, too?"

"Yes, indeed." Miranda nodded, and then gave a tiny shiver. "I wonder if we are up to playing well enough to win this time."

Emily frowned at the worry in the question. "Of course we are. Valentine will see that we win. I trust him completely."

Miranda paused thoughtfully for a moment and then sighed. "You are right. I suppose it is just knowing what Granbury has done in the past — and how closely he came to murdering poor Nan."

"Nancy!" Emily wondered if the maid had yet heard the rumors that would soon be circulating belowstairs, if they were not already.

Miranda stood, dropping her toast back onto her plate. "We must tell her of this latest development, Emily. The poor girl will be beside herself with fear knowing how close he must be for him todare to plant evidence of his own murder."

As they hurried into the hall to look for the maid, they were stopped by the people milling about in confusion as the men the duke had commandeered donned their hats cloaks. The countess looked furious. At first Emily believed it was because someone had dared murder one of her guests — the fiance of her daughter at that.

But then she waved a letter in the air. "I have no doubts the marquess has been murdered. I know who has done the deed." As she was standing at the top of the stairs, all eyes turned to her while silence rapidly fell in the entrance hall.

"How can you know — " The duke began.