“—slipped into her tea…poor dear.”
“—but it was not medicine? Are you certain of this?”
“No! I know my herbs. It was something sinister. I do not know what Lady Landry has done to—”
Richard’s blood ran cold as he whipped around to address the two young women. “What did you just say?”
Both servants startled and snapped into polite curtsies. “Begging your pardon, my lords. We did not mean to gossip.”
“Never mind that. What did you say about Lady Landry?” Richard demanded. He was nearly losing his manners. Anthony placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder to try to keep his temper contained.
The servants looked to one another, afraid of being in trouble.
“She is my wife!” Richard’s voice rose as he spoke. “I demand that you tell me what you know at once!”
Anthony stepped forward. “Nothing shall happen to you. I assure you that neither of you will face consequences for this so long as you speak truthfully andquickly.”
They still appeared nervous, but Richard managed to maintain the shred of calm that he possessed, clinging to it as if it were a lifeline.
“Forgive us, my lord, but she saw Lady Harrington doctoring Lady Landy’s tea. She claimed it was medicinal…but her father is a herbalist, my lord. She knows that the dried leaves in the tea were not for her health. We fear…we fear that she might have poi—”
The girl did not even get the word out fully before Richard turned on her heel and ran full-tilt up the stairs and in the direction of their bedroom. Richard would kick the door down entirely if that was what was needed. He would not feel poorly about the damages either. A fight was one thing. It was something that they could handle…but then, if she was poisoned…
His stomach churned at the thought. Bile rose into the back of his throat, but he could not stop moving. Not until he reached the bedroom to find the door already ajar. All of the possible worst-case scenarios popped into his mind instantly as he feared the worst. Somewhere in the back of his mind, it registered that Anthony was running right on his heels, but he could not process it properly as he swung into the bedroom.
He could not lose her. Not like this. He was not ready. He did not ever wish to be parted from her. Even just the misunderstanding was eating him alive. But losing her? Actually having her and his unborn child torn from the world? He had not even gotten the chance to tell her how he felt. He had been a coward to not tell her how in love with her he was. Terror gripped his chest and would not release as he saw what awaited him.
Standing there was his father and a frightened-looking Catherine. Did his father have something to do with this as well? It took only a moment to survey the strange scene and see the tea spilled all over the floor; the scent of it was something that felt almost familiar, but he could not quite place it.
“I can explain,” the duke said immediately.
Catherine’s eyes flicked from Richard to the duke…but she did seem unharmed, if but a little ruffled.
“Did he hurt you?” Richard asked. “The tea…did you drink the tea?!!?”
Catherine shook her head, her face grim. “No, he…His Grace saved me.”
“What?” He could not believe what he was hearing…not truly. It was not fathomable that his father had done anything good. Was it? If he had been asked before this very moment what the last time that something had been positive as a result of the duke’s actions, Richard would have come up with absolutely nothing at all.
“He said that he saw Lady Harrington put something in my tea…He stopped me from drinking it just in time,” Catherine confessed softly.
Richard crossed the room to her, not caring who was standing in the room with them or who was watching. He did not care what they might think of him as he strode to her and pulled her into his arms. Catherine grabbed onto the lapels of his coat and allowed herself to be held. Only then did the sob break loose from her chest.
“Did that horrible woman actually attempt topoisonme?!” Catherine asked incredulously. “Would she truly go that far?”
Richard did not know how to answer that. It certainly seemed perfectly possible that she would.
“I…an apology cannot properly express how misguided I was. I…encouraged her affections to an unhealthy level. I will take all of the blame for this,” the duke whispered, so low that were it not so deathly quiet in the room, they might not have heard a word that he said. “I was wrong…I have been wrong for so long…”
Anthony moved to the tea setting and lifted the cup to sniff at it. His nose crinkled, and he shook his head. “We must have this tested immediately. I will go and fetch an herbalist and locate those servants once more…they might be our best witnesses…”
“I did not think that she would go this far…truly. I thought that perhaps you could be swayed into the arrangement that would have suited me…but looking at you now…seeing the two of you…” The duke swallowed against the thick emotion in his throat. “I remember looking at your mother the same way…”
Something in Richard fractured. He carried the same wound as his father did in that regard. He had never truly gotten over the loss of his mother—but he had not been allowed to properly mourn her in the wake of his father’s pain either.
“You shall be a better father than I ever was…” the duke whispered.
Catherine looked up at Richard. “You told him?”
