"Stop," he said, his voice hoarse. "Stop the wedding."
"I beg your pardon, Your Grace?" Henry said. "What's the meaning of this?"
James ignored Henry altogether. He hurried up the aisle to Victoria and placed his hands on her shoulders. He searched her eyes. "Are you all right?"
"Of course," she said, mystified. "I'm fine. Why do you ask? What's this about?"
"You can't marry him," James said roughly.
"But you told me to. You wanted me to marry him."
"And now I'm telling you not to."
"James, what?—?"
"He isn't marrying you for your sake," James said. "He's doing it to protect himself. He's doing it to make sure he's never investigated and convicted of the crimes he's committed."
"I don't know what this is about—" Henry spoke up.
"You do know what it's about," James shot back. "And I would advise you, sir, not to say anything more right now. The constables are already on their way, and you can explain this to them when they arrive."
Henry's eyes widened. He looked around as if searching for an exit, but the only door was the one James had just entered through, and Henry would have had to walk right past James to get to it. Based on the set of James' jaw and the way he held his hands clenched into fists, it seemed obvious to Victoria that he was spoiling for a fight. She didn't blame Henry for not wanting to get close.
"What's going on?" she asked him. "Why are you suddenly against this marriage?"
"I'm sorry. I know I'm the one who pushed it on you, but that was before I learned what I know now."
"Before you learned what?"
James drew a breath. "He's the one who killed my cousin."
Victoria looked at Henry. His eyes had narrowed in obvious anger and dislike, but he didn't look remotely shocked by the accusation.
"Why do you say that?" she asked James.
"I say it because it's the truth," James told her. "I didn't know until today. I had been looking through my ledgers recently, the books I inherited from my cousin, and I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn't make any sense of it. I didn't know what it was that was giving me such an uneasy feeling. That is, not until today, when I spotted a familiar name—Leopold Hartigan."
"Who is Leopold Hartigan?"
"An underground purveyor of poisons. He was the man who sold the poison to my stepmother that she tried to use to kill me. I haven't thought about the name in years. But it was on my late cousin's books a week before his death—books that, I've come to realize, were managed by his business partner, Lord Harbury!"
"You're saying?—?"
"I'm saying Lord Harbury purchased a poison from Leopold Harrigan, and a week later, my late cousin was dead of an unknown affliction. But I know now what the affliction was—he was poisoned. And right after that, a large sum of money wastransferred out of the dukedom's holdings, and I am sure that when the constables check Lord Harbury's personal accounts, they will find it."
He took Victoria's hand in his own, and she shivered slightly at the pure pleasure of his touch.
"He is a murderer," James said quietly. "I should never have tried to marry you to him—I certainly never would have if I had realized sooner what he was. But now that I know, I will die myself before I allow this wedding to continue."
The doors opened once more. This time, a pair of constables entered, along with Maxwell the butler, who Victoria could only suppose must have been the one sent to fetch them.
"There he is," James announced, pointing to Henry. "That's the man."
"Yes, Your Grace," one of the constables said, and they moved toward Henry. He looked around frantically once more, but he must have understood that he had no hope of escape, for he didn't try to run away. The constables reached him, and he allowed them to seize him and lead him from the room.
Victoria watched him go, feeling stunned by everything that had happened. Her head spun, and her knees felt weak. She had been mere moments away from marriage to Henry—no, toLord Harbury.She would not call him by his name now, for he had never been the person he had pretended he was.
But whoever he was, she had been about to marry him. If James had been even a minute later, she would have married him. He had saved her from a marriage to a murderer, but it had been so close…
