“I’m not having an affair. I…I am being blackmailed.”
Her heart raging louder than the storm, Evie waited for James’s response. He remained where he was, his hand on the knob, his shoulders rigid. When he said nothing, she realized that he was waiting—was still poised to leave her…for good. To cut her out of his life with a surgeon’s precision.
You have nothing to lose. He despises you. At least let him do so for the right reason.
Her pulse jittering, she forced herself to finish what she started.
“It began a few weeks ago. Someone left me a note in the greenhouse. He knows—I believe it is a man—a secret about my past. He is threatening to expose it if I do not pay him. I did, once. That time I lied to you about being in the greenhouse, I was at the folly. Delivering the hundred sovereigns he demanded.”
Slowly, James pivoted.
“Tell me you are joking,” he said.
She shook her head.
“You risked your goddamned neck—no, we’ll get to that.” He pinned her with a burning gaze. “What hold does he have on you? What is this secret?”
“You will hate me,” she whispered.
“You will tell me. Now.”
Fear had an icy grip on her throat. Despite everything she’d survived, she’d never been as afraid as she was now: this moment when she would have to bear her husband’s judgment. Her hands were shaking, and she twisted them together as she forced out the truth.
“I killed my stepfather. I…I am a murderess.”
Even with the horrible fact dislodged, the pressure in her chest remained enormous. James stared at her, expressionless. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking…if he was horrified, disgusted, or simply stunned. It was his politician’s face, calm and unflappable.
“Calvert Wilmington died of an apoplectic fit,” he stated. “When you were seventeen. That is what you told me. If what you say is true, then the scandal would have rocked society, and I would have known.”
“Only if people knew what I did,” she whispered. “I never told anyone—except Harkness.”
“Yet this supposed blackmailer knows.”
He didn’t bother to hide his skepticism, but at least he was giving her a chance.
Swallowing, she said, “Yes. I think…I think he must be someone from that time in my life. Lord Wilmington had a valet, Merrow, who was his loyal retainer. And there were other servants who must have known what…what went on in the household. They might have guessed that I had a reason to hurt my stepfather.”
“What reason?”
James’s expression was harsh, without a trace of tenderness. He was cold and distant, and if it had been anyone other than him, she would have clammed up. But this was her husband, who’d given her his protection and care for years. In return, she’d given him nothing; honesty was the least she could offer now.
“Lord Wilmington came into my life when I was ten. My papa had died two years earlier in a boating accident, and my mama missed him desperately. She was lonely and lost. Wilmington came along and swept her off her feet. He was handsome, charming, and seemed kind. He expressed interest in raising me as his own. Mama married him within months of their meeting.
“Things seemed fine, at first. He was attentive to both Mama and me. He showered us with lavish gifts…gifts he purchased with Mama’s money. When Papa died, he’d left Mama with a stipend that would allow us to live comfortably, but not extravagantly. Wilmington, as it turned out, was penniless and riddled with debt. He’d hidden his financial situation from Mama during their whirlwind courtship, and when she found out the truth, she would have accepted and helped him…if he hadn’t continued to incur debts.”
“He gambled?” James inquired flatly.
“On everything,” Evie said. “Cards, dice, horses. He squandered my mama’s income. She tried to stop him, but she was afraid of him…we all were.”
James’s jaw was taut. “He abused her?”
“Not in a physical sense.” Evie exhaled, unsure how to explain. “It was more that he controlled her…reduced her. With Papa, Mama was always full of life and passionate about her study of herbs. With Wilmington, she became a shadow of who she once was. In public, he was the perfect husband, gallant and generous. Everyone thought he was devoted to her, but in private, he was different.
“When my mama became with child, he took over and made all the decisions. ‘So as not to trouble your delicate constitution, my dear,’ he would say. ‘Your focus must be on nurturing my heir.’ When she…she lost the babe, things got worse. He took full control, not just of her finances, but of everything. He cut her off from friends, saying she was too weak to visit, and dismissed the servants who were loyal to her. Harkness only escaped the chopping block because she was willing to stay on for a pittance and kept her opinion of him to herself.”
“Harkness holding her tongue? Now there’s a first.”
James’s wry comment made it easier to go on. To delve into the rotted guts of the past.
