But Jeremy was shaking his head. “That isn’t true, Lady Reeves,” he said. “There was a second horsemen. He kept well back, but the Duke has an ally. Someone else is out there.” He looked at Arthur. “You’re going to win either way, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Arthur said quietly, hoping that it was true. Believing that it was. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’ll go to the constables.” He turned. “They’ll sort this out—whichever of you is in the wrong.”
“That seems more than fair,” Arthur agreed. “Thank you, Jeremy.”
Jeremy turned and walked away, leaving Arthur and Lady Reeves on their own.
Lady Reeves looked shaken, but she recovered quickly. “A second horseman,” she observed. “So, you brought your friend along with you, just as you did the last time we met. What was his name again?” She shook her head. “Not that it matters. You only put him at risk by bringing him.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Arthur said. “I don’t even think thatyoubelieve that. A moment ago, you were so concerned aboutwho outnumbered who. Now, you know that I have numbers, and you know that puts you at a disadvantage.”
“And what will happen when you run away again?” she taunted him.
Arthur raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” he asked. “After going to all this trouble to track you down and get you on your own, would I really leave?”
“You left last time,” she pointed out. “And it didn’t even take that much to get you to go, did it? Just a hint that your beloved duchess might be in trouble, and you were off and running. Really, I thought you would have learned the lesson from that event.”
“What lesson was I supposed to learn, exactly?”
“You were supposed to learn to prioritize your wife,” Lady Reeves said. “That’s the lesson no man ever seems to learn. Certainly,myhusband never learned it while he was alive.”
“Did you murder your own husband as well?”
“Where do you think I learned to use poison so deftly?” She shook her head. “Butyounever learn. You’re like every other man. You let things distract you from what you should be paying attention to. Oh, you’ll run home again, but you’ll be too late. You were almost too late last time. Don’t you think I have people watching your house? Someone will come for her again. You’llrush back to stop them, but one of these times, you’re going to be too late. You’re going to lose her, just as you lost your parents, because you kept chasing after me. This is the thing men willneverunderstand. If they could learn to care for their wives and stop worrying so much about the rest of the world, they would be much happier. You won’t realize what you’ve lost until it’s gone.”
“I don’t think I need to worry about losing anything today,” Arthur said.
“Aren’t you listening? I just told you that I have people outside your house. Theywillattack her now that you’re out of the way unless you hurry back. I knew there was a chance you might come for me again, so I made this arrangement. I knew I would never be safe unless I could hang a sword over your head. You needed some sort of reason to leave me alone—something I could use to bait you away from me. And now, you have it. Run home. Save your wife.”
“I told you,” Arthur said. “I’m going nowhere.”
Behind him, he heard the clopping of hooves as the second horse approached.
“Afraid to leave your friend alone with me?” Lady Reeves asked. “I escaped him last time—perhaps you’re worried I’ll do that again? He’s not very observant, though.”
“I would be more worried about my own powers of observation, Lady Reeves if I were you,” Arthur said quietly.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” she sneered.
Arthur didn’t look over his shoulder—it felt unwise to remove his gaze from Lady Reeves, but he did raise his voice. “Why don’t you take your hood off?” he suggested.
In his peripheral vision, he could see movement as the figure behind him did just that.
Lady Reeves’ jaw dropped, and Arthur felt a deep sense of satisfaction, knowing what she was looking at.
It was clear that she had expected to see Taylor—and, indeed, that had been Arthur’s hope. That even if she realized he had someone with him, she wouldn’t realize who it was. Surely there was no way she would guess.
She hadn’t guessed.
She had thought she could lure him away by making threats to Isabella, the way she had before.
It had never occurred to her that Isabella might be at his side.
CHAPTER 36
“Ican’t believe what I’m seeing,” Lady Reeves said. Her voice was a low growl. “I thought, when I met you, that you were a different kind of lady, Isabella.”
