Sophia straightened her spine.
“Other than Lord Harold’s, have any remains been discovered?” The question sounded so very non-incriminating. Rhoda wished she’d not released his hand. Did he never need anyone else’s strength?
“Of course, a few weeks later.” Prescott seemed to phrase his answer cautiously. “When the carriage was recovered following the mudslide. My uncle’s, St. John’s.” He swallowed hard. “And my father’s.”
Lord Carlisle nodded solemnly but then clarified, “Not near the road. On the beach.”
Sophia turned wide eyes toward Prescott. Oh, dear God, there had been. Rhoda’s breath caught in her throat.
“Why would you think there might have been?” the duke asked.
Justin stared at his elegant hands thoughtfully. “Your Grace.” He looked up and addressed Sophia. “It was a horrible day for everyone, but no one more so than you. But I must ask. Do you remember your stepbrother, that is, Dudley Scofield, arriving at Priory Point? Do you remember Miss Mossant interrupting him in your chamber that evening?”
Rhoda waited for her to confirm this.
“No.” Sophia shook her head. “I don’t remember that at all. I’d been given something to calm my nerves. I remember falling asleep.”
Prescott seemed to be watching Sophiavery carefully. When he spoke, his voice sent a chill down Rhoda’s spine. “If that bastard saw fit for any reason to enter my wife’s suite, then, or ever again, he’d not live to tell about it.”
The meaning of his words washed over Rhoda and then Justin spoke up again. “So, no second body was ever found on the beach, washed up from the cove? No one who might have been identified as Mr. Scofield?”
Sophia shook her head adamantly.
Dev leveled his gaze upon Rhoda. “I can assure you. In fact, I give you my word. Only one body has ever been recovered from those cliffs. And that man is now buried on these grounds beneath Lord Harold’s tombstone.”
Rhoda could hardly believe it. It was as though the vise that had been squeezing her chest for nearly a year loosened slightly.
“He went to your room, Sophia.” She couldn’t keep it in a second longer. “He was up to his old tricks, so I offered to take him to join the rescue effort. But when we got there, everyone had left. Oh, Sophia, I pushed him away from me! I pushed him, and he fell! I thought he’d fallen off the cliff, the same as Lord Harold, but Lord Carlisle suggested he may have survived his fall and then run away. I’ve felt horrible. I think I might have killed him.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Sophia burst from her chair.
“Oh, Rhoda, no, dear.” Sophia’s arms wrapped tightly around her. This embrace felt like a benediction. They clung to one another in the center of the room, both of them weeping and laughing. Rhoda could hardly believe it!
“I thought I killed him,” she repeated again, but Sophia shushed her.
“And that’s why you’ve been so changed! Oh, Rhoda, I wish you’d told me! But no worries! You have nothing to worry about!”
Rhoda sniffed a few times, suddenly feeling quite ridiculous for making so much of this. She’d been so certain though…
The duke had risen and placed one arm around Sophia. “If it’s quite all right, I think it’s time my duchess and I check in on our daughter.” He met Justin’s gaze. “We’ll see you in the morning then?”
He would make his offer to Emily! He had no choice.
Justin nodded. The mood of the room changing from a giddy relief to that of somber determination. “Take your time in here, if you’d like.” Sophia gestured toward the liquor cabinet. “I’m certain some sherry wouldn’t be out of order.”
“Or something stronger,” the duke added.
Justin nodded again. When the door closed behind them, Rhoda couldn’t help but meet his gaze.
“You were right!” She had a wobbly smile left inside of her. She’d been so stupid. So foolish!
How had he come to mean so much to her? And now he would offer for Emily, one of her best friends. Somebody she loved like a sister. How could she stand by and watch them wed? Watch Emily grow large with his child?
She was such an idiot!
The duke and duchess, God bless their souls, were hiding something. Rhododendron hadn’t caught on but there’d been something in the way they glanced between one another. Justin shook it off. He didn’t care what, and he didn’t care why. Only one body had been discovered, and it was buried now. Of that, he had no doubt. Prescott spoke the truth.
She was free. He’d known she had a secret, but God, he couldn’t have guessed in a thousand years.
From the look on Dev’s face, the duchess’s brother wouldn’t have lived long anyway.
