“Nay, the men tried to crack my skull. It was all part of Thomas’s plan.”
“Thomas was there too?”
“Nay, but he paid some low hirelings to do his dirty work. One of them cleaned out my pockets while the other revealed that Dillingsworth wanted me dead. ‘Tis my good fortune that they had their money already and were nae inclined to bloody their hands. Thomas’s plan is to come ‘round here in the morning to comfort ye, the grieving widow.”
“How kind of him.” She frowned. “You were right to say that this tale is hard to believe. Why on earth would Thomas want to kill you? What could it possibly gain him?”
“Thomas believed he could get ye back, that ye would agree to be his mistress if ye believed I was dead and ye were alone and destitute again.” Ballard was encouraged by the arrested look on Clover’s face. “I signed my death warrant when I cured the stallion. The man must have learned of it immediately and felt I had thwarted him once too often. In the morning, Thomas is going to come after ye. He figures that, after everything else that has happened to ye—the loss of your new husband, the scandal of my being murdered in a filthy alley outside the Sly Dog—ye will be ready and willing to do all he says.”
“And he will make me accept his nefarious offer.” It all made chilling, horrible sense to Clover, andshe grew so agitated she could not stay still. “Let me up, Ballard.”
“Nay, I have nae finished with my story.”
She swatted his arm. “I will not go anywhere and Iwilllisten to you. I just cannot lie here like a lump any longer. Let me up.”
Ballard cautiously moved off her, then watched as she slid from the bed and started to pace the room. After a moment or two she stopped by the washbowl, filled it with water, and brought it to the bedside table. When she retrieved washing and drying cloths, he realized that she intended to tend his wounds. His hopes rose.
Clover rolled up the long sleeves of her nightdress and soaked the washcloth in the cool water. “What else do you have to say? ‘Tis clear that the plan to murder you failed, for here you are.”
“Aye.” He winced when she placed the cloth on the bump on his head. “Thomas didnae like ye marrying me, a mon he believes is far beneath him. I didnae help matters by thumping him or by selling the stallion to Grendall instead of him. He considers himself twice beaten and humiliated by a backwoods illiterate. That the whole town kens about his defeat, or so he believes, only makes him more enraged.”
“If he wanted me so badly, why did he put an end to our betrothal?” Clover began gently to wash off Ballard’s face and was pleased to see that, under all the dirt and smeared blood, his bruises were not severe.
“Money, lass. Ye kenned that before. Thomas wants and needs Sarah’s money. He also wants ye to share his bed. He thought he could have both, but I mucked up his grand plan. Do ye ken, when Irefused to sell him the stallion, he nearly ran me and Grendall down with his carriage as he left.”
“He certainly sounds like a madman, yet why did I not see it in him before?”
“Ye were nae alone with him. There was always someone with ye, and he kens to behave weel before others. The airs and games one indulges in during courtship can hide a lot of ills. Lass, can ye check that other knot on my head? Just to the left. I dinnae think the skin was split, but it willnae hurt to be sure.”
“They hit you twice?” Clover eased her fingers through his thick hair until she found another swelling. “It appears all right, with no blood or excessive swelling.”
“When the rogues got me down, they gave me a hearty kick in the head to keep me down.” He ran a hand over his rib cage and winced. “The cowards kicked me a few times.”
“Take off your shirt and let me have a look.” She hastily swallowed a gasp when he tossed his shirt aside, for the bruising along his ribs was startlingly livid. “That will have to be seen by a doctor and he might as well look at those head wounds to see if a stitch or two is required.”
When she started walking away, Ballard grasped her arm. “We are nae done talking.”
“You can talk until he arrives and, if that is not enough, after he leaves.”
Clover tugged free of his hold and went to ask her mother to send for the doctor. She kept her conversation with her mother brief, although clearly Agnes could hardly contain her curiosity. Clover wanted tojudge Ballard’s truthfulness without other opinions influencing her, so she hurried back to her room.
“Mother has sent Molly after the doctor,” she announced as she found Ballard still sitting tensely on the bed. “There is no telling when he will get here, though.” She sat on the edge of the mattress and faced him. “Now you can finish this wild tale of yours.”
“‘Tis the truth.”
“I am still undecided about that.”
He described how the men had left him in the alley and he had staggered home. The look on her face told him she was seriously considering the truth of his tale. When even Lambert and Shelton suspected he had been trysting with Sarah, he had realized how bad his absence had looked. It was understandable that Clover was reluctant to believe his farfetched tale. He was not pleased when the doctor arrived just as he finished, for he was not sure such an interruption was in his best interest.
Clover left Ballard with the doctor and stepped out into the hall. She found herself smiling faintly when she heard Ballard’s muttered curses at the old doctor. She prayed she was not being a fool, swayed by passion and fine green eyes, but she did believe her husband’s story.
The moment the doctor left, Clover went back into the room. She winced in sympathy when she saw Ballard. He had been stripped to his drawers, a white bandage was wrapped around his head, and another bandage covered his bruised ribs. He looked a little pale.
“The doctor says your ribs are only bruised, not broken,” she said, settling herself on the end of the bed.
“That old coot was so rough, he practically finished the job Thomas started.”
Clover ignored that muttered complaint. “He also said you are to rest for the next few days and that I can remove the stitches from your head wound in ten days.”
