Wasted time, wasted emotions, he seethed. She was a liar, and she’d accompanied him hither and yon with her meek, quiet ways to throw him off the track of her horror of a brother.
His hands fisted on his lap.How dare she continue to defend the man!In the face of all this evidence, and while still reeking of Sophia’s perfume.
“If your sister were not present, Smythe, I would beat you to a pulp, and you would never live to see the police station.”
Adelia gasped, but the young earl shrugged again. “Who knew Lord Burnley was such a coward. First to punch me without gentlemanly warning, and next to offer to kill me while my hands are tied.”
Owen reached forward slowly to grab the man by his silly bow tie and pull him half off the squabs.
“You truly do not appreciate your good fortune in having Lady Adelia here to prevent your punishment. I cannot believe I had you under my fists at Teavey’s and didn’t know what a monster you were.”
For her part, she was tugging on Owen’s arms to get him to release her brother.
Owen gave the man a rough shake for good measure, then let him go, hoping he’d slither down onto the carriage floor, but he didn’t. Instead, Smythe relaxed again onto the seat, fixing him with an irritated glare.
“This is precisely why I destroyed the handkerchiefs,” Adelia said. “I knew you would react like this. Like a tyrant, as judge and executioner.”
She had tried to help her brother the same way as Owen was trying to…well, not help Sophia, for it was too late for that. All the same, he could and would follow this obvious path through to the conclusion that would see Smythe hanged. He didn’t think it prudent to mention that fact in Adelia’s company.
He fought the slight swizzle of guilt that wound around his gut. While there could never be anything between Adelia and him now, he’d determined the culpability of her brother and felt sorry she would have this stain upon her name.
He felt even sorrier he would never again make her laugh, a rare treat, or kiss her lips and hold her in his arms. Briefly closing his eyes against the ugliness of what was happening, he could not allow himself to have feelings for this woman an instant longer. And they would be pointless. If she ever had any regard for him, she couldn’t still, not after this.
Seemingly sooner than he thought possible, they were at Whitehall and the police station, next to Scotland Yard.
Close to midnight, Owen was not under any delusion Detective Sergeant Garrard would be in his office so late, but surely, someone would rouse him from his bed wherever the man resided. Or, at the very least, they would hold Smythe until the detective came into work the next morning.
To that end, Owen shoved Smythe into the station. He saw no policeman he recognized but let it be known he had apprehended the murderer of his sister.
Adelia chose that moment to cease being the quiet woman he had grown accustomed to.
“Lord Burnley is mistaken.” Her voice rang out loudly and clearly.
Owen rolled his eyes. “The evidence is indisputable.”
Luckily for Owen, the constable was not young and impressionable, nor swayed when he asked Smythe his name and learned he was not only a member of nobility, but an earl.
In fact, taking in Smythe’s shabby appearance, the officer looked doubtful.
“He is who he says he is, despite his disguise,” Owen said. “However, I have evidence of his guilt, and I will not let you release him. I demand you send for Detective Sergeant Garrard.”
The policeman led the three of them to a small room with a table and four chairs.
“Please, my lords, my lady, wait here.”
This was going to become awkwardly uncomfortable, and Owen didn’t give a tinker’s damn. Strangely, it was Adelia who spoke first.
“Why were you hiding your acquaintance with Miss Moore?” she asked her brother.
Smythe glanced at Owen first, then at his sister seated next to him.
“Isn’t that obvious, Dilly-girl?”
Dilly-girl?
Adelia shook her head, and her brother fell silent.
Owen decided to enlighten her. “Because his mistress is from the wrong side of town, about as wrong as you can get without being from France.”
