“If we look closer, we’ll discover it embroidered to match your other handkerchiefs, will we not?”
“All right. Fine. I hit him with a swordstick.” His gaze flicked from person to person. “But I didn’t kill him. He was still breathing when I left.”
Gavin’s muscles flexed. “Is there any reason we should believe you?”
A silence settled in the shadowed hall before Nancy Heatherbrook cleared her throat and whispered, “Actually…yes.”
“Honey.” Lady Heatherbrook reached for her daughter’s hand. “No.”
Nancy squared her shoulders. “I…I went to visit Papa long after the dancing stopped. He had the bandage about his head already, but I didn’t even ask how he’d gotten injured. I was too angry. I told him I didn’t want to get married to someone who was too old to dance, much less…” She colored, coughed, took a deep breath. “I know it’s selfish and horrible but I couldn’t make myself marry Mr. Teasdale. I’d run away before I let that happen.”
“WithMonsieur le professeur du Français?” Edmund interjected with a sneer.
“Yes,” Nancy responded hotly. “At least Pierre has a pulse. And he loves me. He told me so. But Papa said…Papa said I was young and foolish, and that I shouldn’t put girlish dreams over his dictates as head of the family. That money matters more than love, and I’d been raised well enough to know my duty. And then he said…and then he said…” Nancy burst into wet, noisy sobs. “He said he’d not only sacked Pierre, he sent him hog-tied on a boat to India.”
Shocked silence enveloped the dim corridor, until Edmund’s wry voice broke the stillness.
“Well, sweetheart,” he said with a relieved smirk. “Sounds like you had more of a motive to kill the selfish rotter than I did.”
“My daughter would never kill her father. You’re the selfish rotter, Edmund. Stealing from my husband? Leaving him to die?” Rose pounded her fists against his chest. “Get out. And never come back. You’re no longer part of this family.”
He lurched away from her. “You can’t order me around. It’s not your house.”
“No,” Gavin agreed. “It’s mine. Do as my sister says. Return whatever you’ve purloined, and get out. I’ll send some footmen along to make sure you do.”
“I didn’t kill Papa,” Nancy choked out, sobbing into her mother’s arms.
Gavin slanted a look at Evangeline. “She didn’t do it,” he murmured.
Evangeline sighed, unable to deny the truth. “I know.”
Nancy and Lady Heatherbrook headed back toward their chambers. Half a dozen footmen followed Edmund to his room.
Evangeline turned to Gavin, held his face in her hands, kissed him. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” His arms went around her waist and held her tight. “You caught a thief.”
“But not a murderer.” She gazed up at him. “And I’m sorry about this morning. I’ve always been quick to judge, and I know I shouldn’t be. If anything, you’ve taught me to rely on my own intuition rather than the suspicions of others. And I know you. I know you would never harm an innocent person. Whatever you did to Lord Heatherbrook, he deserved.”
An indefinable emotion flickered across Gavin’s face. Unease rippled through Evangeline’s stomach.
“About that,” he began hesitantly, then paused as a new pair of female voices came from down a connecting corridor. When the voices turned out to belong to Susan and Lady Stanton, Gavin dropped his arms from Evangeline’s waist and groaned. “Those bloody Stanton women,” he growled sotto voce. “I’ll kill them yet.”
As Evangeline turned to greet Susan, she wondered what Gavin had been about to say…and whether she’d be better off not knowing.
Chapter 39
Evangeline spent most of breakfast gazing at Gavin and wishing they could’ve spent more time together. Although he returned her gaze openly, his eyes were hooded, unreadable. When she stood to fetch another piece of toast, she wasn’t surprised to find him joining her at the sideboard.
“I already requested a carriage be brought round for you,” he murmured. “It will be by the front garden in less than an hour. But first…first…I can’t let you leave without telling you…”
Toast in hand, she whipped around breathlessly to face him. “Yes?”
He swallowed convulsively, tensed his shoulders, turned away. He stared at the gleaming silver platters for a long moment before muttering, “I’ll miss you.”
He’d miss her. He’d told her that last night. Well, what had she expected him to say? Evangeline nodded, forced her fingers to unclench from around the now-mangled piece of toast. She selected a new slice even though she was no longer hungry.
“I’ll miss you, too,” she said, careful to keep her tone light so he wouldn’t be able to hear the breaking of her heart beneath her words.
