Simon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Were you expecting a different answer?” she asked, smiling. “I know what is in your heart, and it would not have been a senseless act of killing.”
“You give me more grace than I deserve,” he admitted softly, pulling her closer to him. “But if it ever came to it, I would do it for you.”
“That is…” Rachel bit down on her lip. “Well, I suppose that is oddly romantic.”
A man who was willing to do anything to keep her safe. She had only ever read about that sort of love in romance novels.
As the carriage approached the front drive, they noticed a commotion had broken out.
“What is happening here?” Rachel asked, grabbing onto Simon’s arm tightly.
“The constables are here.”
The two of them rushed out of the carriage and saw three constables standing near the steps. A fourth was leading a man in shackles.
“Beckham?” Rachel’s eyes widened. He had been one of the gardeners at the estate. He was struggling, his face pale with fury as he twisted in the officer’s grip.
“Let me handle this,” Simon assured her.
“You’ve made a mistake!” he shouted. “I served this house faithfully! I didn’t do anything?—”
“That’s enough,” Simon cut in coldly, his voice silencing the man instantly.
One of the constables turned toward him and gave a short nod. “Caught him trying to sneak out through the servant’s corridor. We have letters to prove his association with Grace Langston.”
Rachel felt her stomach drop. The gardener was not someone that she had interacted with much, but she had always assumed him to be a quiet man who meant no harm.
Appearances were deceiving, once again. Rachel looked to Simon, who calmed her down with only a look.
“How long has this betrayal been going on?” Simon asked the constable.
“We suspect that their alliance has been happening for a few weeks at least,” he replied. “Could even be months. But it was definitely going on around the time that the duchess moved in. He was feeding her details about the household. Staff schedules.”
“How much was she paying you?” Simon scowled at the gardener. That loyalty could be bought so easily startled Rachel, but it was a reality that she had to come to grips with.
The gardener—now in shackles— glared up at Simon. “She paid me more in a week than you did in a year.”
“So, you thought that was a fair payment for trying to kill my wife?” Simon stepped in close. Beckham faltered. In comparison to Simon, he seemed quite small.
“I did not know that it was a murder plot,” he tried to defend himself. “You cannot prove that.”
Simon turned to the constables. “Take him away. The charges will include attempted murder, conspiracy, and treason.”
The gardener continued to struggle, but he was outnumbered. The constables began to drag him away as he cursed them all the way to the gates.
Rachel stood still, trying to process all that had happened. “Do you think there are more?”
Simon looked around his estate. “We will do a thorough search. If there are more, then I will make sure that they are weeded out.”
Rachel bit down on her lip.
Just as the constables left, Rachel barely had time to collect her thoughts when she was immediately met by an eager Aunt Jean and a worried Marina.
“You are finally here,” Marina embraced her sister tightly. “I was worried that something might go wrong and that?—”
“The problem has been dealt with,” Rachel assured her sister. “Grace confessed to the whole thing, and now, she is in the hands of the authorities.”
