The constable turned to Bethany. “I know your uncle, as well as your mother and aunt. My family lived in Faversham when I was a boy.”
Leopold watched the exchange to see how Bethany would respond.
“In fact, my father and I were just visiting your uncle a few days ago. Your entire family is in residence, including your mother and Mrs. Montgomery.”
Bethany’s eyes widened. “Aunt Anne?” Bethany questioned as the color left her face.
The constable chuckled. “I understand she is still the biggest gossip in London. Father told me that she’d been that way since she first learned to talk.” Those words were delivered with a warning to Leopold.
“It was to be a surprise,” Leopold said and began to spin a tale that would not see Bethany ruined. “We enjoyed a small, private wedding and wished to keep the marriage a secret for as long as possible so that we were not bothered.”
Bethany frowned at him.
Certainly, she knew that they would be wed shortly. They had no other choice.
“Though, we knew that as soon as we arrived at the Dargates’ home that Aunt Anne would not be able to resist the urge to write a letter to every single acquaintance.”
The constable chuckled again. “She will be sending missives from heaven when her time comes.”
The constable turned to Bethany. “How is it that you did not suffer injury?”
Bethany’s breath lodged in her throat. How did she answer the question? Until now, Claybrook had described how he was attacked and that it was Bethany’s servants who had brought him to the coaching inn without mentioning how she may have been a part of the rescuing.
“She ran,” Claybrook answered from the bed. “When we were stopped, I urged her to run, which she did and hid until we were later found.”
How could he tell such a lie?
Then she realized that he was protecting her, but to claim that they were married was too much of a ruse that would see them trapped. And, if she knew anything about the Duke of Claybrook, he had rules to avoid such unwanted entanglements. She’d heard him recite those rules, and then he wrote the entire list for his cousin, the Duke of Ellings. So, why would he seal his own fate now?
“By whom?” the constable asked.
“My driver,” Bethany answered easily since it was the truth. “My carriage with two footmen riding beside it came across His Grace in the middle of the road.”
“You were with him?” the constable asked.
“I was by his side as soon as I was able.”
“Why were they following so far behind?”
Why did Merryweather have so many questions? None of this mattered. Catching the miscreants who had attacked Claybrook and his belongings was far more important.
“We had gone on ahead. We wished to be alone since we were recently wed,” Claybrook offered.
“How recently? I am to understand that your wife spent the night here before she found you in the road the next day.”
There was no privacy in England. Not even in a small hamlet such as this where nobody knew her, yet everyone knew her comings and goings.
“I snuck in through an open window and left the same way,” Leopold answered.
Merryweather laughed. “You always did have an answer for even the most impossible and ridiculous situations, but this one will not stand up to scrutiny.”
“I will work on a tale that is more plausible.”
“Nobody needs to know anything,” Bethany blurted out. “Claybrook is injured. He nearly died. I cared for him only because there was no one else. He should not have to suffer the gossip any more than me and I shall not see us ruined because ruffians decided to rob him one night.”
Merryweather pulled back and then laughed, which did nothing to help her irritation. “I congratulate you, Claybrook, on your good fortune.”
“Good fortune? He nearly died.”
