“You tell me.”
“Ah, you haven’t figured it out, then. I suppose intelligence wasn’t what he wanted you for.” I held her gaze, unwilling to be the one to break the tentative hold. My heart beat as harsh as a drum in my ears and still I didn’tfeelthe terror I knew was there. Somewhere.
“So he wanted me for my beauty? My wit? My charm?” It wasn’t strictly the wisest move, insulting her. Her hand slippedoff my cheek, brushing a fictional piece of lint away from my shoulder.
“Your breeding and your birthing hips. Like a cow.” I had never been accused of having a form suited to childbearing. In that respect, her insult rang hollow. But it did prick at the certainty, the truth I had accepted as fact, that I would never have need of birthing hips because children were not in my future.
“If I’m a cow, what does that make you?” Not my best, but given the situation, it would need to serve.
She stepped back, half a pace, perhaps less. “I will never understand what he saw in you. If he were pursuing you now, I could at least intellectualize the appeal. But a virginal little debutant, self-important and fickle… There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose.”
Her fingers caught a loose curl from my coiffure, she slipped a finger inside, smoothing the ringlet with her thumb.
That, more than anything, made me feel slightly sick. That she was running her fingers through curls William had placed with care mere hours before. And still I did not look away.
“And your… charms, to the extent they exist, were less than those of a virginal little debutant. What do you suppose that says about you?”
“You have more spine than I credited you with. Believe it or not, I didn’t come here to trade barbs. Or blades.” She released her finger from my hair and perused me, toes to nose.
“Why did you come?”
“Settling a debt.”
“A debt?”
“Surely you know your husband was a frequent purveyor of my establishment. He paid in advance, of course. I owed him a tup or two before he passed.”
She was good. She was very, very good. If I hadn’t known with a surety that was etched on my bones that Gabriel hadn’t touched her after our marriage… It would have been a devastating blow.
“And you’re here too, what? Give me a farthing? After all, that’s certainly what a roll with you is worth.”
Her smile was cruel. “Do you know, I think in a different world we would have been friends.”
“I’m glad to live in this one then.”
“I cannot disagree. He’s going to kill you. And your studious new friend. And anyone else you’ve dragged into this—the grumpy solicitor, the molly, Wayland, everyone. He’ll leave a trail of bodies in his wake.”
“Who?”
“I can’t tell you that. No one likes a chatty whore. It would jeopardize my position and the safety of my girls.”
“So you came here to, what? Insult me? Tell me things I already knew?”
“The attack the other night, those men. It wasn’t random.” That was new. I fought to keep the surprise from my eyes.
“Why now?”
“You started investigating, acting strangely, asking questions. Word travels quickly in this town.”
“Do you have anything useful to tell me?”
“Your little solicitor, the break-in at his office. If you’re going to continueinvestigating, if you can call it that, pull that thread. Not too hard of course, it will snap.”
“Anything else?”
“Enjoy the rest of your evening. Do try not to look too distraught. He’ll consider moving up his plans. And we both know how that ends.”
An image of Will, bleeding and broken on the dining table at Rycliffe Place flashed through my mind and I had to bite backthe bile. It was enough of an occupation, to resist the retching sensation growing in my gut, that I allowed her the last word.
