Dwarftonspun back around. “He wasmurdered! There is no justice in revenge.”
“Perhaps not where you come from.” Spadely took a step forward. “But when it comes to the England I know, common law iswhat takes precedence. Without the proper evidence for a conviction—”
“Cade wasthere!” Dwarftonnearly shouted, gaining a few curious stares from nearby onlookers. “I have men who will attend to that fact.”
Spadely shrugged. “But did anyone actuallyseehim wield the murder weapon?”
“He had blood on his hands!”
“That could have easily been that of his slain wife and child.”
By this time, Elise noted that Dwarfton’s face was nearly purple with rage. He advanced on his opponent with malicious intent. “Anearlwas killed by Cade’s knife and I intend to prove it.” With that, he turned on his heel and stalked off, but instead of returning to his party, he headedoutside, presumably to brood further in the privacy of his roomsat Grannie’s inn.
Elise shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold breeze that flowed through upon Dwarfton’s departure. “What a horrid man.”
“Indeed, he certainly is.”
She thought she’d muttered it under her breath, but when Spadely took a seat at the bar and smiled at her, she was chagrined to know he’d heard her. “Pardon me, sir. I don’t normally voice my opinions so openly.”
“In this case, it would be warranted,” he returned dryly. As Samson set a glass in front of him, he waited for him to order. “Brandy, please.” As the requested drink was poured, Spadely looked at Elise curiously.“Rest assured, we are of a like mind when it comes to Sir Weston Dwarfton.”
Elise found that her attention was suddenly riveted on this stranger. “Sir, you wouldn’t, by chance, be here to assist Mr. Cade, would you?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.” He took a sip of his drink. “I take it you know him?”
“I should think so,” Elise returned. “I love him.”She smiled, for the more she said it, the more natural it sounded.
She could tell she had shocked him, for he froze with his glass halfway to his lips, but then he burst out laughing. “It’s not often that anything surprises me anymore, but you’ve done just that, little lady.” He extended his hand across the bar. “I’m James Spadely, the Earl of Arandine.”
Elise accepted his offering, although his title caused her jaw to slacken. “Arandine?” she breathed.
“I can see I’ve shocked you.” He offered her a wink. “Let’s just say I owe Mr. Cade a debt that I intend to repay.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Cade.” Chauncey watched as Mr. Grimmgot tohis feet. Once he’d returned his chair to its previous location, he added, “I will review the information that you gave me and put together a defense on your behalf. I’ll return in the morning.”
“I appreciate your services, Mr. Grimm. And I promise that I will do what I can to repay you.”
“That’s not necessary,” the other man smiled. “I’m doing this as a favor for Ms. Charming.”
Chauncey lifted a brow. “I see. Those Charming ladies certainly have a way of getting under our skin, don’t they?”
Mr. Grimm didn’t reply, but the slight twitch of his lips told Chauncey all he needed to know as the attorney took his leave.
When he was gone, Chauncey clasped his hands together in a relaxed pose on the other side of his cell.
It had been difficult for him to recount every single detail of the day he’d lost everything to Mr. Grimm, but the pain he’d felt in his chest had lessened slightly as he thought of Elise.There would always be an acute sadness, a sense of loss when he thought of Martha and Thomas. That would never go away. But at least with Elise by his side, he could remember them with fondness; instead of that harsh devastation he used to carry around with him like a cloak of shame, that sense that he’d failed them.
Now, he accepted that there was nothing he could have done to safeguard them from their inevitable fate. The outcome would have been the same no matter what he’d done, because the men he’d fought were determined to put an end to everything he held dear. They hadheldno thought for anything other than the power and money that the furs would bring.
Chauncey forced his hands to relax, not realizing that he’d clenched them into fists. He turned awayfrom the barsandlay down on his cot and stared up at the plain, white ceiling above. Instead of reliving the horrors of that day and the ones that followed, he turned his thoughts to Elise and imagined the life that they might have built together.
He smiled, picturing that modest cabin in the mountains where he’d rediscovered himself, where he’d found the possibility of opening his heart toloveagain. He closed his eyes and saw the vision of a little girl with Elise’s white blond hair running through the forest like a little fairy sprite, and a boy with dark hair who was constantly up to mischief. He could see Elise with a rounded belly as she tended to her flowers in the hothouse, a contented expression on her lovely face. He would come up behind her and wrap his arms around her midsection and kiss her on the cheek, the single silver band on her left hand proclaiming toone and all that she was taken.
Chauncey allowed himself a few moments to bask in the delight that such a serene portrait brought to him, and then he opened his eyes to allow reality to intrude once more. The truth was, his situation was precarious, and while Mr. Grimm might be a wonderful attorney, even he might find it difficult to prove his innocence when he admitted what had happened on that fateful day, that he’d taken his revenge on the men responsible for the deaths of his family.
So unless Charming was a town fraught with miracles, he didn’t see much of a chance of entertaining a hopeful future.
