Unease continued to stab at Charles and his gut knotted with apprehension.
Jacob tilted his head to one side. “You really are concerned, aren’t you?” he said. “I’m sure she and Nicola have just lost sense of the time.You know how women rattle on. Doubtless your wife’s told Nicola she’s expecting your child. Women like to share confidences, and Nicola’s sister is Olivia’s maid, so she’ll have seen your wife’s bedsheets.”
Bedsheets?Devil’s breeches, it was enough of a trial for a man to know about such things, let alone discuss them.
“Susie’s always been loose-tongued,” Jacob continued. “But she’s much kinder than Nicola. She’ll have plenty of admirers when she’s older, then your wife will be wanting a new maid. As a young lass, Susie was always prattling on about this or that. I remember one summer when I was helping Mr. Faulkes with the pigs, I…”
He paused as Charles raised his hand and signed, Does Mr. Faulkes keep pigs?
“Don’t you listen to anything Mr. Carlton says? He’s always extoling the virtues of Faulkes’s pigs. It was his pork that graced your dining table. Recall the pie your wife baked?”
And sheep?
“Heavens no!” Jacob laughed. “Faulkes comes out in a rash when he goes near a sheep. Always has done. The wool, Mrs. Faulkes said—the late Mrs. Lucy Faulkes, that was, before she died, God rest her soul.”
Lucy Faulkes—the pregnant woman who fell down the stairs and broke her neck…
He has a dog, yes? A collie?
“Mr. Faulkes has never had a dog,” Jacob said. “Plenty of cats, mind you, given that the barn’s overrun with mice.”
Icy fingers tightened their grip around Charles’s stomach as he recalled the overheard conversation.
The bitch and her pup cannot be allowed to live…
Charles signed to his brother.Do you think Nicola is a good person?
Jacob opened his mouth to reply, then paused.
Be truthful.
“Well…” Jacob hesitated. “To be honest, meaning no disrespect, Nicola was none too pleased when you returned after the old earl passed. She said that you’d have been better staying on the Continent. At the time I thought it was just because this house has always had the specter of death hanging over it. But she then seemed overly keen on pushing me forward as your heir.”
It’s what you want, isn’t it?
“Fuck no!” Jacob laughed. “What—to have to deal with all the comings and goings of lawyers, bankers, not to mention placating the staff and the tenants who think I’m some puffed-up nothing merely because I have the title? I’d rather do a proper day’s work anytime, which is why I could never offer for Nicola. She doesn’t want me as I am. I’d stake my arse on her only wanting to be the next Countess Devereaux. Ha! Put her nose right out of joint when you turned up with that lovely little bride of yours. Made her sick with envy. It was then that I realized Nicola wasn’t the girl for me. I always wondered why she made such a show of befriending your wife when…Holy cock, brother, are you all right?”
Charles let out a groan as he shuddered, and he gestured to Jacob, his hands trembling.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” Jacob said. “Sit down and let me get you a brandy.”
Charles gestured more slowly.My wife’s maid. Send for her. And John.
Jacob nodded and rang the bell. Shortly after, the young footman appeared and, after a brief exchange, scuttled off, then returned with the young maid.
She looked even younger than when Charles had last seen her, her eyes large and wide in her pale face.
“No…” she whispered, and she stepped back, trembling, and lifted her hand to her mouth. “Sweet Lord, no!”
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Susie,” Jacob said. “My brother just wants a word with you.”
Her expression glazed with fear, she glanced about, like an animalreadying itself to flee.
Hold her.
“What?” Jacob said.
Devil’s bollocks, why could nobody understand him?
