“’E’swhat?”
“Related to my husband—you weren’t aware of that? They share the same aunt through marriage.”
Megan must have realized, as Kimberly did, that fact might influence Ables into changing his story. But thatwasn’twhat they were after, which is why she quickly added the assurance, “That is no concern of yours, of course, Mr. Ables. If MacGregor is guilty, he will be dealt with accordingly. I mentioned it only so that you understand why we wish there to be no doubt whatsoever.”
“I ’ad no doubt,” Will grumbled.
“Of course not, but Lord MacGregor does deny the charge, and with no other witnesses to be called upon, that pits his word against yours, doesn’t it? Which is why we are here now, to put any doubts that anyone might have firmly to rest. Simply identify him again, and that will prove him to be a liar as well as a thief.”
Silence again, and the man’s panic could almost be smelled. He’d tried to talk his way out of cooperating, but had failed. And he hadn’t been smart enough to simply grasp the excuse Megan had inadvertently handed him, to admit to uncertainty now. Most men wouldn’t bite the hand that feeds them, and condemning a member of your employer’s family could definitely be considered biting that hand.
Yet that wasn’t the outcome they’d been hoping for. It might have gotten Lachlan off the immediate hook, but it certainly wouldn’t have proved his innocence as far as Devlin St. James was concerned. And Kimberly was sure that Lachlan would prefer to be completely exonerated. Especially since he had been beaten for something he didn’t do.
Megan sighed once again as the silence continued, then called out, “Very well, gentlemen, Mr. Ables needs to hear your voices again, and give yourselves names this time, if you please. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ought to do it, so he doesn’t have to deal with—counting.”
The Scotsmen complied, with only a slight thread of impatience in a couple of their tones. And they each claimed one of the names Megan had supplied, and in the same order she’d said them, so Ables didn’t have to tax his counting ability by coming up with a “first” or “second.” But when the last voice was heard, the groom still hesitated, and hesitated, in an agony of indecision. It was soobviousthat he had no idea which voice belonged to Lachlan. He couldn’t even make up his mind which one to guess at.
Megan finally lost her own patience and said brusquely, “Mr. Ables, this is not a matter for guessing. Either you know or you don’t know—”
“Luke,” he blurted out with a cringe, as if he expected the ceiling to now fall on his head.
It felt instead as if it had fallen on Kimberly. No! Thrice bedamned luck! And probably because he associated Luke with Lachlan, the closest he could get to a similarity in his mind. Damn Lachlan, why hadn’t he picked another name, instead of following in order…
“So,” Megan said, disappointment clear in her tone. “You do know.”
Will Ables didn’t relax until then, and now you could almost see the tension slide off his shoulders. He smiled. It was a wonder he wasn’t laughing.
“Aye, and didn’t I say as much,” he bragged.
It was the bragging that infuriated Kimberly the most. She was so furious she took a leaf from Ables’s book and managed a wild guess of her own. Looking him right in the eye, she told him firmly, “It doesn’t matter. Howard Canston has already confessed everything to me.”
“Oh, my,” Megan said, as surprised as Kimberly to see Ables lose all his color again, then start turning bright red as anger replaced his horror.
“That bleedin’ bastard!” he burst out, half whining, half yelling, and then in his own defense, “’E offered me five ’undred pounds, more money than I’d see in me lifetime. I couldn’t refuse that, now could I?”
“Obviously not,” Megan said dryly. “But you had no qualms about sending an innocent man to prison.”
“I swear, Your Grace, it weren’t to be like that. ’E said ’e just wanted a little revenge, ’cause the bloke there embarrassed him. ’E said after the Scot suffered a little, ’e’d turn the ’orses loose so they could be found, then tell the duke ’e’d overheard a couple Cornishmen in a tavern bragging ’bout stealing ’em, which would clear the Scot.”
“And how would that clear you, Mr. Ables, when it was you who named MacGregor as the thief? Sort of makes you still involved, doesn’t it?”
There went the man’s color again. “That bleedin’ bastard!” he was shouting now. “’E never mentioned that part, and I never thought…
He bolted out of the door before he finished, overcome by his panic. The two menservants went after him immediately. Kimberly sank down in the nearest chair, her relief making her legs weak. The man’s wild guess had saved him. Hers, just as wild, had condemned him. Amazing.
And from the doorway to the duke’s suite, Lachlan remarked, “I’d say let him go, if I werena still feeling twinges as a result of the false words out o’ his mouth. But ’tis Canston I’m wanting.”
“I don’t blame you a’tall, Lachlan,” Megan replied, somewhat abashed. “But I really think you should let my husband deal with this.”
“Your husband hasn’t dealt well wi’ it so far, lass,” he reminded her.
Megan blushed. “He’s going to feel awful about this, I do assure you.”
“Aye, he will,” Lachlan agreed, then pinned Kimberly with his light green eyes. “And why did you wait so long tae mention that blasted confession?”
She stiffened, not liking his accusing tone. “Perhaps because there was no confession. I merely guessed about the viscount, the same as Ables guessed about you. But you should have had more sense than to pick the name Luke. You practically asked him to choose you.”
He blinked at her. Then he laughed. Then he crossed the room to lift her out of her chair and kiss her.
