She shook her head. “My husband has nothing to do with this. Nor shall he!”
“I shall let him know exactly how his predecessor died at your hands.”
“That’s absurd. He won’t believe you, anyway.”
“Man to man, he will. I have proof you were with Richard when he died.”
She took a step back. “I wasn’t,” she insisted. “I was nearby, but —”
“You will hang unless you get me the money to pay off those debts. And even if you escape such a well-deserved fate, you will lose your latest conquest. I won’t rest until Diamond knows how you lured my brother into your web, and then made his life such a hell he had to drink to stay sane. You will not get away with it.”
Without another word, Gerald walked away.
Shaking, Alice climbed into the carriage. Then she thought for a moment and stuck her head out.
“Mr. Heyer,” she addressed the driver, “you shall say nothing of this to Lord Diamond. It is a pack of lies that will only worry him for no reason.”
“Yes, m’lady,” the man agreed.
She had no idea if he would hold his tongue. But she knew she couldn’t let Gerald bring Adam into the ugliness of the Faircloughs. With her heart beating like a horse galloping at the Epsom Derby, Alice sat back against the butter-soft squabs and made a decision. Gerald would have no reason to bother any of the Diamonds if she were no longer there.What choice did she have?
Chapter Twenty
Adam could hardly credit his own ears when his butler told him who was in his foyer. He hadn’t seen Alice since breakfast, and he didn’t want her to run into this nasty bit of goods in her own home.
“Send Fairclough to me directly. Don’t let him linger anywhere, and if you see Lady Diamond, divert her until I get him out of the house.”
“Yes, my lord,” Mr. Lewis answered and spun about on his heel to do his duty.
In two minutes, Adam was facing Gerald Fairclough across his desk. He didn’t sit, nor did he invite the man to do so.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“Not much of a welcome,” Fairclough said. “I hear you Diamonds are known for drinking fine brandy.”
“We are, but since you are not welcome here, I won’t be offering you any. Let me be frank. I don’t like you. I don’t want you in my home. I don’t want you near my wife. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
Fairclough simply shrugged, making a face of utter disinterest. Adam hadn’t known Richard Fairclough, but he simply couldn’t see how his loving wife had ever thought him arum-duke, nor let him kiss her. He was reputed to be worse than his brother, and this Fairclough was odious enough.
“We do have a matter to discuss. Lady Fairclough —”
Adam felt his blood boil instantly and circled the desk to stand in front of the unwanted visitor.
“Lady Diamond,” he corrected. “And you shall speak respectfully of my wife, or I will send you back against the wall with another facer.”
“You can try, I suppose. You got lucky last time because you caught me off guard. I couldn’t conceive of you behaving like a pugilist in a drawing room. Nevertheless, I didn’t come here to fight. I came to warn you.”
“About what?” Adam’s hand was fisting, ready to punch him.
“Your wife is not what or who she seems.”
Since he’d known her first as a governess and secondly, as a lady, Adam believed he knew her as well as anyone.
“You are speaking in riddles. Pointless, petty riddles. Get out.”
“There is no way to tell you of her past without speaking disrespectfully since she wasn’t respectable when I first knew her. She was flirtatious in the extreme. My brother was vulnerable, having had his heart broken. And then blowsy Lady Alice came along —”
Adam didn’t let him say anymore. In a heartbeat, he pressed him against the wall, but instead of a planting a facer, Adam had his arm across the man’s throat, making it so Fairclough could barely breathe.
