She’d been horrified, but a part of her had been glad! That horrid, horrid man had hurt Sophia badly. He’d caused her to live in continuous fear. Yes, Rhoda had pushed him… and then she’d done nothing afterward. And she’d told no one. Perhaps if she had… But, no. Such thinking was of no use.
She’d run in the opposite direction. “I ran.”
Justin sat calmly but then nodded. “So, you did not see where he landed? You did not ever see him flailing in the water or broken on the rocks below?”
Rhoda shook her head side to side. “But it was a cliff! The same cliff that killed Lord Harold.”
Justin pulled away from her. “Look at me, Rhododendron.”
The sound of her name on his lips sent warmth traveling through her veins. “I spent hours on that cliff, and just below it. There were several places where a person could have caught themselves, stopped themselves from falling, depending upon where they went over.”
Rhoda wasn’t sure what he was saying. “But he disappeared afterward. He never returned to the castle.”
Justin tilted his head. “I’ve heard nothing of another body being discovered. Dev would have been informed if Mr. Scofield’s remains turned up on his estate. Have you ever asked him?”
Surely, he could guess the answer to that.
What was he saying?
“You think he might have survived?” She shook her head. The cliffs near Priory Point were treacherous.
But Rhoda felt a glimmer of hope. A flicker so tenuous she feared to acknowledge it. Could he be right? Was it really possible that Dudley hadn’t died that day?
“But…” She had to challenge this new hypothesis. “Why would he not go back to the castle? Why would he simply disappear?”
“Perhaps he had debts. Perhaps he feared exposure.” Justin squeezed her tight. “A body would have eventually washed up, and it would have become public knowledge.”
“Prescott would know,” she said in a daze.
At that moment, she felt something she’d not felt in nearly a year.
Hope.
It might be fleeting. Likely, she only invited further disappointment, but she would allow it to wash over her broken soul for now.
She wished she could stay in his arms forever.
But she also had a sudden urgent need to seek out Prescott. “Do you think it possible he’s still awake?” She sat up straight, one arm still draped around Justin’s shoulders.
She saw a flash of his white even teeth when he smiled. “Only one way to find out.”
Coming Clean
Lord Carlisle locked the chapel doors behind them and then offered his arm as they turned to walk toward the house.
“What if they did?” she couldn’t help but ask. Terror gripped her. “What if they did find his body?” She shivered, and he pulled her closer.
He did not answer right away. She liked that he would give her question due consideration. So much might be at stake!
“You led this Scofield fellow away from the duchess because he harassed her?” he asked.
Rhoda remembered when Sophia had finally admitted what Scofield had done to her. Sophia hadapologizedwhile regaling the mistreatment she’d received at the hand of her stepbrother.She’d apologized!She’d believed she had been to blame.
“He’d done it before,” Rhoda answered. When she’d discovered Dudley in Sophia’s room, she’d known she had to do something to get him away from her. Sophia had been distraught and sleepy from laudanum.
Dudley Scofield had been something of a monster to Sophia.
Had been. In her heart, Rhoda believed he must be dead. Surely, he would have come out of hiding if he were alive.
