“Come,” Clifton said, taking my hand. “We will retire for the night.”
He didn’t look back at his mother or Fairfax as we left the drawing room, and that, more than anything else, had me terrified about what he was going to tell me.
CHAPTER 27
CLIFTON
As we made our way upstairs, I came face-to-face with the reality that there would be no easy way to tell Diana what had happened to her mother. I would do anything, pay any amount, not to have to share this news with her. I wanted to be wrong.
But while we couldn’t be certain until we found the carriage driver, everything pointed to the reality that Diana’s mother had been killed. Tuttleford’s threats, the way he’d desperately tried to get Diana back, not caring that I’d already ruined her. Fairfax’s news that Tuttleford had already stolen some of her money. The fact that any other carriage driver wouldn’t have disappeared in such a way if what had happened that night had been an accident. It all pointed to the same thing.
Diana waited for me to close the bedroom door before demanding answers. “What couldn’t you tell me downstairs?”
I hesitated. “Perhaps we should wait until the morning.”
“No, you must tell me now. I will imagine all sorts of horrible possibilities otherwise.” Her face crumpled for a moment. “Do you want an annulment? No, that’s not right,” she said, starting to pace. “We’ve consummated the marriage. We would need a divorce. It would cause a scandal, but that wouldn’t touch a Legend. But then the Tuttlefords—” She stopped pacing and faced me again. “No, Lady Clifton is my guardian, so I would stay here, correct? You wouldn’t mind?”
She was starting to pace again, and I spun her to face me. I took hold of her hands and bent so that our eyes were level. “Absolutely not. I am not giving you up. There will be no annulment, no divorce. We are married, and I intend to stay that way.”
She took a few deep breaths as she tried to rein in her worry. Her eyes roamed my face as though she were trying to decide if I was lying to her. Finally, her shoulders sagged with relief.
“Everything will be fine, then. I no longer have to see my aunt and uncle again. I can stay with you. We are happy enough, are we not? So, if you don’t wish to end our marriage, what did you need to tell me?”
I took a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to settle on the right way to tell you this. We have no actual proof, but we are fairly certain we know what happened.”
“Please,” she said, “just tell me. I can assure you that my imagination is far worse than anything you could say right now.”
I cringed. “I’m not sure that it is.”
I led her over to the bed, lowered myself to sit on the edge, then pulled her down to sit on my lap. Her arms went around my neck.
“That afternoon at Kendrick’s wedding breakfast, when your aunt and uncle left the room, I followed them.”
She was frowning. “We already know what they were up to. They were talking about my fortune, probably, or perhaps how they were going to send me away.”
“I overheard your uncle say something that put the fear of God into me.”
Diana was shaking her head. “I don’t understand.”
“He wasn’t happy about your friendship with Caroline. And we know he wouldn’t have attended the wedding if it hadn’t provided him with the opportunity to try to gain Brantford’s ear.”
Diana was looking off into the distance. “He was about to send me back to the country, so I don’t understand why any of that would matter.”
There was no way to avoid this. I kissed her forehead and gathered my courage. “Tuttleford told your aunt that she needed to ensure you were taken away from all your friends, yes. And then he said it would be a shame if an accident were to befall you as well.”
I could see the way my words had confused her. She was working it over in her mind, then her mouth dropped open with a gasp. “No. Surely you don’t think?—”
“We have very good reason to believe that Tuttleford arranged for the carriage accident that caused your mother’s death. And what I overheard was a threat to your life. That was why I needed to act quickly and get you away from him as soon as possible. They will never come anywhere near you again.”
“But my mother’s accident…” Her lower lip trembled. “It wasn’t an accident?”
I shook my head. “We are trying to track down the carriage driver. If we can find him, the Legends will make him talk, and your uncle will pay for his crime.”
Diana’s face crumpled and I gathered her against my chest. There were ugly tears, and my heart broke with every sob. I lifted her into my arms and carried her into the bed. I didn’t care that we were still fully clothed. All that mattered was that I was there for her, and I vowed that Tuttleford would pay for every tear.
“Shh, I’ll make this right. I’m returning to London with Fairfax tomorrow. You’ll stay here, where you will be safe.”
She cried even harder then, and I vowed to tear Tuttleford apart with my bare hands.
