“Yourson?” Surprise followed by a little stab of pain coursed through him. He’d imagined Helen as a mother many times, but he’d always thought she’d be the mother of his children.
“Henry is a little over two,” she said, stepping closer to Nate.
A little over two?Helen had been only married for two years. He backed up once again as the mad thought raced through his mind. “What are you saying?”
She shrugged, a sly smile playing on her lips. “Who knows? Birthing a child is complicated. Sometimes a babe arrives early and sometimes late.” She veered away from him and went to lean against Mr. De Lacey’s large mahogany desk. “Sometimes they arrive pink and screaming, and other times blue and still. My Henry had a powerful scream. He’s a strong and healthy boy.”
Nate shook his head. He’d had enough of Helen and her games.
“He was—is—a strong boy like hisfather.”
Nate inhaled, trying to keep calm. She wanted to retain controlover him to feed her vanity. That’s what all this nonsense was about. She was no different than his brother, and he would not let her manipulate him. “Why did you come here, Lady Luxton?” he said, firmly pushing aside any notions of the child being his and deliberately avoiding using her Christian name this time.
She pushed herself away from the desk and walked toward him once again. “To let you know that I still care—I never stopped caring. And when I heard that you were running an inn—”
“I’m not running an inn,” Nate said through gritted teeth. “I merely own the place. Others run it for me.”
“Ah yes, that little blond orphan you seem so fond of and the red-haired maidservant, too.”
“What are you talking about? Have you been spying on me?”
“Not spying. I’m merely observant, that’s all.” She crept closer to him—the scent of her intoxicating jasmine perfume invaded his space. He gazed into her large dark eyes and impossibly thick, long lashes and was almost lost to the memory of what had been.
“But you needn’t worry. You won’t have to settle for servant girls much longer. That’s what I wanted to tell you last night when I saw you in the garden before that French whore came along and interrupted me.” She pressed her body against his.
“Excuse me?” he said. Clanging bells went off in his brain, alerting him to danger. “You saw Madam Bouffant in the garden?”
“Yes, I saw her creeping about there. She emerged from behind a cluster of trees and gave me an enormous fright. I knew immediately she must have been spying on me. You know how that sort are—always trying to extort money from the rich. And Lord Luxton, bless him, has a temper. Nothing upsets him more than thinking his jewel has been with another man. Don’t let that chair of his fool you. So I ran, afraid she’d recognized me.”
Sothathad been the reason for Helen’s sudden departure. He’d thought it was because he’d turned his back on her. He should haveknown she wouldn’t give up that easily. But what had Madam Bouffant been doing—or rather—where had she beengoing?
“If you ask me, it’s a blessing she fell down those stairs. Who knows what she heard or witnessed.”
The glint in her eyes as she spoke made the hair stand up on the back of Nate’s neck. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you pushed her down those stairs from the way you talk,” he said.
“Why would I risk my neck to do such a thing? I got a fright at the time, that’s true, but no one would have believed a French whore over the word of a lady.”
“Stop calling her that.” Nate slid to the side and out of Lady Luxton’s reach. “She’s dead; show some respect. Madam Bouffant was a guest here—and she was a perfectly respectable French lady.”
Lady Luxton laughed, revealing her perfectly straight, pearly white teeth. “Where she came from matters not—but who she was—well, that was plain for all to see. She didn’t even try to hide it. There’s no place for such a woman at a high-class inn—that’s what you are aiming for, isn’t it?”
Nate folded his arms. He didn’t remember Helen being this callous. Why hadn’t he seen it before? Could it be that two years of marriage had changed her this much? Or maybe she’d hidden her true nature from him then. “Do you know what I think?” he said. She cocked her head at him, daring him to say. “I think that you recognized yourself in her. You saw a beautiful young lady who’d manipulated the heart of an older gentleman and latched onto him in the hope of securing his money.” He paused. “And deep down, I think you despise that part of yourself.”
Her smirk crumbled, and Nate knew he’d struck a nerve. But it only lasted for a second before she regained her smug self-assurance.
“Poor Nate. You still cannot forgive me, can you? But how wrong you are. The French whore and I were nothing alike. I am married, and my husband gave me a title. He will leave my son with a title andboth of us with great wealth. I came here to offer you a piece of that, but as always, you are too proud. But no matter, I shan’t have to worry about finding someone new when the time comes. No doubt, my butler will have to fend the gentlemen off with a stick.” She lifted her chin and turned, striding toward the door.
“Lady Luxton,” he said as she gripped the doorknob. She turned.
“Should anything happen to Lord Luxton while you are a guest here, I won’t hesitate to relay this conversation to the magistrate.”
“Lord Luxton is six-and-eighty years old. He cannot live forever. I doubt the magistrate will disagree with that.” She smiled wickedly, blew him a kiss, and exited the room.
Chapter Sixteen
The serenity ofthe garden seemed surreal in light of what had taken place inside the house that morning. The trail of blood on the stairs, Madam Bouffant’s limp body and battered skull—Bridget shuddered and inhaled deeply, trying to shake the image from her mind. But at the same time, she felt guilty for doing so. Here she was enjoying her lovely garden when a woman—a guest at Villa De Lacey—had died a violent death mere hours earlier. Whether or not she’d been pushed, or she had fallen, Madam Bouffant’s death had been brutal, and Bridget felt she owed it to her to find out the truth about what had happened.
Bridget glanced ahead and saw Bijou near a cluster of trees, sniffing the ground intently. She smiled and was about to call him when she heard voices. She froze.
