“Yes?”
“I… Good night.”
“Good night, Beth.”
Bethany didn’t release the breath she’d been holding until the door closed behind him.
How was she expected to remain angry with that bounder when he called her sweetheart and spoke to her so tenderly? And what was the meaning of that kiss?
She drew her braid around to her nostrils and inhaled. Just as she had hoped, where his hand had touched her, he’d left behind a trace of his scent.
Had she always been this pathetic? She closed her eyes and savored all the sensations that came with his cologne. In answer to her question, yes, she no doubt had been. Only it was worse now because not only did she ache for him with her heart but with her body as well.
She’d been a fool not to wait for him in the bed they’d been sharing--cutting off her own nose simply to spite her face.
But the question still plagued her. He’d told her about his sisters, about his mother, and she truly didn’t believe that he’d gone off for a tryst with Lady Starling. So why would he need to keep this ‘business’ from her?
An hour later, she’d given up on the idea of sleeping completely and was pacing back and forth across the room.
Seven steps to the wardrobe, twelve to the window. And then eight more to the door.
And then the answer came to her. It wasn’t that he was keeping something from her. It was that he was protecting her from something.
And the only thing he would need to protect her from now was…
Bethany’s fingers went numb. Westerley must be back. The missive! It hadn’t been from Lady Starling but from Westerley!
Less than a minute later, wearing her dressing gown and carrying a single taper, she all but ran through the corridors in the direction of the master chamber.
That had to be what he was keeping from her! Her emotions wavered between anger that the two of them would arrange something like this without telling her and white-hot fear that either or both of them were about to be killed!
As the person whose honor was supposedly being defended, didn’t she deserve to have a say about it?
Chase knew how she felt about this!
Westerley should have had the courtesy to come to her first. As her footsteps ate up the distance to her husband’s chamber, the anger and fear quickly transformed into panic.
“Chase?” The door flew open as she burst into the room. “Chase?” By now the very dim light of dawn was just beginning to filter through the drapes. She lifted the taper to shine more light on the bed and then froze.
He wasn’t in it. In fact, it didn’t look to have been slept in at all.
She blinked and then drew the curtains all the way back, momentarily at a loss as to what to do. Was it possible she was wrong? That he’d only gone for one of his runs, or was he already visiting Farm Street?
Then she noticed a familiar missive resting on the surface of his desk. It was folded in half, the same as the one Lady Starling had handed him the evening before, she was certain of it. Only the wax seal had been broken.
He’d left it out in the open so that anyone could read it.
Bethany froze where she stood at the window. The letter was Chase’s personal correspondence. It wasn’t addressed to her.
The letter could as likely absolve him of any wrongdoing as it could damn him.
Her fingers itched as she waged a silent war with her conscience. Undecided, she crossed to the desk so she could get a better look at the outside of the letter.
One word.Chaswick. It was written in bold black letters. Not a lady’s handwriting.
Lives could be at stake.
Bethany reached out with her taper and lit the three candles in the candelabra. Torn, she blew out the flame on her own.
