“Why would you do that?” Adam asked. “For what purpose?”
Alice wished she hadn’t. “I was half-lunatic at the time. Humiliated and angry, I wanted him to cease his blatant behavior. Have a mistress if he must, but I didn’t want him parading her around, going places with her that I wanted to go. Suddenly, she had the life I previously had, attending balls and dinners, and with the man who ought to have been at my side.”
“I understand your feelings, but what did you hope to gain by catching him with her?” He was questioning her like a lawyer, and she hated that he doubted her.
“Would you believe me if I said I thought common decency would make him stop if I confronted him?” She couldn’t help her bitter tone. “I forgot he didn’t have any. Besides, it all went wrong. I sent word through her man-servant who I was and with whom I wished to speak. Not her, by the way. I had no interest in seeing her at all. Then Richard came to the top of the landing and looked down at me in the foyer. He was talking gibberish.How dare I follow him and ruin his fun!He would teach me a lesson, he said. And then he took the first step and came tumbling down.”
Adam ran a hand through his hair. “He fell down the stairs?”
“He did, like a rag doll.” Alice remembered how slowly Richard seemed to fall. She’d watched it, with time to put herhand over her mouth in horror. “He was so limp from the start. I didn’t think he would even be injured except for a little blood at his temple. But at the bottom, he broke his neck. I heard a scream and thought it was my own until I looked up and saw his mistress staring down at us.”
Adam nodded. “What is her name?”
His cobalt blue eyes were intense, and she knew its importance. The woman was the only witness who could prove without a shadow of a doubt that Alice had nothing to do with Richard’s death.
“I don’t know.”
Adam’s jaw clenched while his gaze bore in to hers. Then he sighed. “But the present Lord Fairclough knows, I warrant.”
She shrugged. “When Gerald started threatening me, saying I had pushed Richard to his death, I returned to where he died, looking for Richard’s mistress to bear witness to my innocence, but she had moved away. It is my word against Gerald’s. Thus, I left London.”
Under his breath, he emitted what Alice could only describe as a feral growl. Adam was irritated and exasperated because of her, making the pit of her stomach ache.
“I asked you before if there was anything else I should know,” he reminded her, “if there was something more you had to tell me.”
Alice swallowed the regret. “Since I did not murder Richard, I had nothing else to confess except for being too flirtatious. That was stupid and irresponsible but not a crime.”
“Agreed on that point, my lady, but you ought to have confided in me about the strain you were under and the real reason you didn’t want to return to London.”
She nodded but still defended herself. “I have become used to keeping my own counsel and handling my problems.”
Adam leaned back. “Or rather,nothandling them. Instead, you ran away,” he pointed out. “Besides, as my wife, your problems are now mine.”
That was what she dreaded. “I don’t want my troubles to affect you in any way. But I shall confess something else I have kept from you. Recently, Lord Fairclough accosted me outside your parents’ home.”
“What?” Adam was on his feet within the span of a heartbeat, towering over her. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Alice lowered her head. “He is now demanding I get money from you. Otherwise, he will go to the magistrate with his accusations against me.”
“But you didn’t come to me asking for money.”
“No!” she declared, lifting her gaze to his. “I never would.”
Adam crouched down in front of her. “Alice, Alice.” He took her hands in his. “We are bound together in matrimony, in the eyes of the Church and Crown. You are mine to look after, and I am yours.”
“I know, but I never want any of my past to —”
“It’s too late for that,” he interrupted. “Don’t you understand, Wife? I will do whatever it takes to help you and free you from Fairclough’s threats.”
Adam meant well, but she knew Gerald, just as she’d known his relentless brother. Whatever they sank their teeth into, they didn’t let go, whether it be gaming, whores, or even tormenting her.
“I love you,” she whispered. Silently, she added,Thus, I cannot let you become involved in this.
She’d seen the type of men Fairclough had sent to throw her out of the Gloucester Street home she’d shared with Richard. They were undoubtedly the same lowly creatures who’d gone to Stonely Grange. If any of the owners of the gaming hells to whom Richard owed money found out Adam was willing to paya single farthing, those same rough clowes and sneaky dambers would be at his Arlington Street door.
She shuddered. Only she could prevent it and protect her sweet husband and her new family. Only she could keep their snowy fleece untainted by London’s soot.
Adam wanted to loungeand appear as relaxed as Alexander Hollidge appeared, but he couldn’t. If there was any possibility Alice could be charged with anything, then this was not a brandy-and-cigar moment. Not yet. But after consulting with them the night before, he knew this afternoon, they had good news.
