Jonathan went on, his tone an odd combination of petulance and boastfulness. “Lady Catherine is a frequent visitor to Ainsworth Hall. She and your father have grown quite close, as have she and I. Tell him, Catherine.”
Teddy fixed her with a steady eye, not bothering to hide his amusement.
Without warning, she rose, dashed around the desk, and hurled herself against him. “It’s true that the earl and I have grown close, darling, because of our mutual affection for you and because everyone knows he’s to be my father-in-law. I never gave up hope the two of us would be together when you finally returned, nor that you’d make a full recovery. Never.”
Jonathan stared at her, face aghast. “Catherine, how can you say that? You told me you loved—”
“Shut up. Shut up or I’ll tell him every unscrupulous thing you contrived to do behind his back. How could you stoop so low as to take advantage of your cousin’s unfortunate injury, sustained after so valiantly serving our country?”
“But…but—” He broke off and met Teddy’s gaze. His affect of arrogance vanished, replaced by a look of wild desperation. “You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I think I do,” Teddy began, simultaneously removing Catherine’s arms from around his waist—though the task was proving more difficult than he’d imagined. “Your plan was to rid yourself of me, without drawing undue attention, by first having me locked up in a madhouse. Then, once I was safely hidden away, you and your hired physician intended to slowly increase my dose, thinking to eventually kill me? Do I have that right?”
“You are a monster!” Catherine shouted at Jonathan, her face set in a mask of revulsion. “Scheming against your own family.”
“She put me up to it,” Jonathan exclaimed, pointing a damning finger at her.
“Liar,” she hurled back. “I never said any such a thing.”
“Not in so many words,” he retorted angrily, then addressed Teddy. “She planted the seeds. Told me she loved me, but could never marry a commoner. She said if, somehow, I ended up inheriting the earldom, we could be together.”
Now, that, Teddy could believe. “Did she, indeed?”
“You can’t possibly understand. You, who have everything—looks, charm, wealth, and two titles, to boot. Women have always thrown themselves at your feet. When Catherine told me she loved me and wished we could be together—what could I do? I had to make her a countess, don’t you see?”
Catherine began to have the look of a cornered fox. “He misinterpreted my attentions. Teddy, you must believe me. I had no notion of what he was doing.”
Teddy ignored her. “I’m afraid I do see, Jonathan. You fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. I do have one further question. How did you induce my father’s apoplexy?”
He tugged at his waistcoat, drawing himself up with an air of grave dignity. “It seems the stress of what happened to you, his only son, was more than his body could bear. Believe me, or don’t.”
“Two fortuitous strokes of luck for you, then, or nearly so. My handy case of amnesia, coupled with my father’s illness set you up to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. The title would then have been yours, enabling you to marry the woman of your dreams. Too bad it didn’t pan out. And now, you must pay the price for your missteps.”
Catherine stomped her pretty slipper. “I demand to be heard. I never intended to marry this man. My heart has always been yours.”
Teddy sighed and eyed the ceiling, impatient with the constant interruptions.
Jonathan licked his lips and, for the first time, appeared to realize he had drawn the short straw. Not only was his dream of marriage to the beautiful Lady Catherine vaporizing before his eyes, but faced with the charge of attempted murder, he could hang.
“I never tried to kill either of you, regardless of what the doctor implied, a-and you cannot prove otherwise. It’s neither my fault you came back deranged, nor that your father has a weak heart. All I did was seek the best care for you—a-at your father’s behest. Is it my fault the doctor turned out to be a quack?”
“I don’t know. What do you say, my lord?” Teddy asked.
The room fell silent, save for the snick of the office door, opening. All eyes turned to see the earl, looking haggard, and far older than his years. Garbed in his bedclothes and heavy silk dressing gown, and leaning on an ornate walking stick, he crossed the threshold.
As if on cue, Lady Catherine swooned. Not feeling particularly chivalrous toward her, Teddy considered letting her crumple to thefloor. At the last moment, he caught her in his arms and carried her to the sofa near the hearth where he deposited her.
“M-my lord. How good it is to see you up and about,” Jonathan said. He looked anything but pleased. He looked terrified.
The earl fixed his coldest glare on Jonathan. “You will leave London, at once, and never return. This gift—your life—I bestow upon you for the sake of your father, my late brother, God rest his soul. Thanks be to God he did not live to see the disgrace you’ve made of yourself—and at my son’s request.” He snorted in cold amusement at Jonathan’s sharp, indrawn breath.
“Oh, that surprises you? Teddy was always fond of you, rather like one who’s picked up a stray dog. Even now, when I suggested how I should like to deal with you assuming his outlandish claim proved true, he made it plain he would not permit my far simpler solution to his, just as I made plain I would not permit his calling in the magistrate to handle things.”
No, indeed, the earl would not hear of any so-called plebeian involvement in family matters, insisting do so would bury them under scandal and shame.
Jonathan, who clearly did not know the earl’s countenance as well as Ted did, attempted to speak. “Sir, I—”
“Silence,” the earl snarled, causing him to weave slightly on his feet. He drew his second hand to his cane to steady himself.
