“Lake, where have you been?”
“Tending MacKenzie. Don’t you know how to knock? A moment more and I’d been undressed, fool woman.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “You’re just my brother; besides, I’ve seen you skinny-dipping at Versely Park. I know what you look like in the altogether.”
“What?” Lakehurst protested. “And it doesn’t matter if you are my sister or not. A lady does not barge into a man’s rooms. It just isn’t done.”
“Well, it’s done if she has something important to tell him.”
“And what is so important?” he asked, calming down. Gwinnie was Gwinnie, and he loved her dearly.
“Mr. Tidemark tried to steal the money Mr. Liddle gave Cassie yesterday. Mr. Liddle stopped him, but Mr. Tidemark is angry and threatening everything he can think of, greatly distressing Cassie. She is putting on a brave, calm face; however, I’ve seen her hands shake. She is near breaking, I swear it. I know I would be if I had to deal with an idiot like Mr. Tidemark,” Gwinnie said, pacing his room.
“No, you wouldn’t,” her brother contradicted. “However, I understand the strength of your concern that you would say so. Let me get cleaned up, and I’ll be down.”
Gwinnie paused, her brows knitting together. “She needs you, brother of mine.”
“I hope for more than just dealing with Darkford messes,” he groused.
His sister stopped and visibly relaxed as she smiled at him. “She does. She may not realize it yet, but she does.”
* * *
Coming downstairs twenty minutes later,Lakehurst heard loud voices coming from the parlor. He winced. While he’d enjoyed a few moments of solitude with MacKenzie in the stable, his sister’s words raised guilt in his chest, for Cassie had not had any time alone, time to think through all that had been happening. Now his gentle love was caught in the middle of irate gentlemen. Gwinnie was likely correct in her assessment of Cassie. She needed support.
He pushed open the parlor door.
Mr. Tidemark glanced in his direction, then turned and marched toward him. “You! You! This is all your fault!” he declared repeatedly, poking at his broad chest with his forefinger.
Lakehurst caught the man’s hand. “Enough,” he said. “Unless you wish to temporarily—if you are lucky, only temporarily—lose the use of this hand,” he said with equanimity as he squeezed Mr. Tidemark’s hand slightly, then let go.
Mr. Tidemark scowled and then sneered. “You don’t frighten me; I have the law on my side,” he said, pulling on his coat lapels as he backed away.
“Mr. Tidemark,” Lakehurst said tiredly, “since last I saw you, I have climbed up a cliff with a dead man on my shoulder, curried and fed my lathered horse as the stable hands were called to other matters, gone to my room to get cleaned up, come downstairs to hear acrimonious voices coming from this room that could be heard by anyone in the hall, and walked in only to have you accost me on my entrance. I strongly suggest you sit down next to your wife and calm down lest I have you thrown out of the castle.”
“You would not be so presumptuous,” Mr. Tidemark huffed defiantly.
“Tidemark,” Lakehurst said, his eyes narrowing as he looked down on him. “You do not know me well enough to make that statement with any measure of certainty, so I suggest you sit down.”
“Edmund,” wailed Mrs. Tidemark softly.
Mr. Tidemark glared at him, but returned to his seat by his wife.
“Well done, brother of mine!” crowed Gwinnie, smiling and rocking happily while Mr. Liddle clapped, and Ellinbourne tilted his head and nodded.
“Thank you,” Cassie said. She sat on a sofa facing the Tidemarks. Ann and Ursula sat on either side of her, holding her hands.
Mr. Stillworth sat in a chair by the fireplace, looking bored. Lakehurst studied him. To merely ride about the estate would not have taxed MacKenzie. He would know where Stillworth went and what he did with his horse. But he would deal with him and the matter of MacKenzie, later.
He walked over to the sofa where Cassie sat. Ann smiled at him, gently released Cassie’s hand, and stood up. She went to stand by Ellinbourne, linking her arm through his. Lakehurst took her seat next to Cassie. Though he didn’t touch her, he sensed the tension in her lessen.
“Has the coroner been sent for?” he asked the others in the room.
“I sent a note to the coroner and the magistrate,” Mr. Liddle said. “As they are in Wells, we likely won’t see them until tomorrow.”
Lakehurst nodded.
“I sent a note to Mr. Fortesque,” Ellinbourne said. “I felt that only proper.” He looked at Cassie. “I asked him to come here,” he told her.
