All color drained from the dowager’s face, and she swayed on her feet. Rob grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and placed it next to her. He didn’t touch her. She threw him a poisonous look and seemed to regain control.
That woman feeds on hate and bile,Lucy thought. Rob stepped to the side to stand by Eli and Morgan, leaving a cold void along Lucy’s left side, cold that seeped right into the hole in her heart as she watched the drama drawing to a close.It’s over. And now he will leave.
“No denial?” David glanced at the men in front of him. “Do any of you have anything to add to your testimony?”
“I didn’t lie,” Spangler muttered, while Miller sank into his seat, chin lowered to his chest.
Higgins twisted in his chair and gave the countess an agonized frown. “You don’t deserve such treatment. You defended the honor of the House of Clarion.”
“I think the Earl of Clarion understands honor far better than any of you,” Rob said from the side. Eli put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
David’s gaze never left his mother’s face. “As magistrate, I’m ordering these men bound over to the jail in Nottingham, Spangler to await the quarter session. The other two will await trial for their crimes in the assizes.”
Assize has the power to order hanging!The sick feeling in Lucy’s stomach intensified.
Miller leapt to his feet, only to be pushed back by Goodfellow. “You’re letting the old lady off?” he shouted.
Lucy thought she heard David’s assurance the countess would meet her due over the din that followed, but she didn’t wait to be sure. She had heard enough. With another quick squeeze of Maddy’s hand, she left them all preoccupied with crime and punishment. By the time she approached the main corridor, she broke into a run.
Willowbrook!She needed Willowbrook, her peace, her place of security, at least for as long as she had it.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lucy slipped awayjust before the countess collapsed, and Miller tried to escape. By the time they restored order, Rob realized she was gone. Goodfellow told him later that she rode back to Willowbrook.
Maddy leaned over her mother, vinaigrette in hand, attempting to rouse her. Rob suspected the old bat chose not to rouse.
David let his anger show now that the official part of his duties had finished. “Leave her, Maddy. We’ll have the footmen haul her to her room. We can arrange transportation to Northumberland tomorrow.”
“Northumberland?” the countess choked. She sat up, sputtering and coughing, slapping Maddy’s hands away. “It is a wreck of a barn.”
“If it is primitive when you get there, you can blame your crimes, Madam. I’ll order repairs. Your accounts will give us the funds to do so—money that might better be used elsewhere—the repairs are necessary because I expect you to spend the rest of your life there. You will do no more harm to those I love.”
“Maddy, inform your brother I will not be treated in this high-handed manner.” The dowager, still sitting on the floor, lifted her chin at her daughter.
Maddy rose and stood at David’s side. “David has my full support,” she said.
In a corner of the room, Rob’s men milled around, ill at ease, embarrassed at the family drama unfolding in front of them. Eli looked sick at heart.
“Are we needed here?” Gibbons asked softly.
“I’ve put you and Goodfellow at the earl’s disposal. He may need you to escort the countess into exile. Report to me at the Willow when you’re done.”
“Back to London, then, Major?” Goodfellow asked.
The stab of pain Rob felt took him off guard.Back to London, away from Lucy. He took a deep breath. “Back to London,” he agreed.But I need to speak to Maddy first. There has to be a way…He glanced at his sister and brother, who embraced as their mother was led away.Perhaps tomorrow.
“Coming home, then, Robbie? Da will want to hear it all.” Eli’s words penetrated Rob’s fog of confused feelings, everything that drove him away, everything he had been determined to avoid, everything he’d come to crave.Home. Da.He’d left a change of clothes and a few belongings at Willowbrook. The urge to use that as an excuse to ride after Lucy gripped him.But what will I say? She would hate London. She said so.
“Home, Eli. It’s time,” he said at last.
Morgan chose to linger with Gibbons and Goodfellow. Rob didn’t ask why.
When Rob and Eli reached the Willow, the telling of the tale didn’t take long in the convivial atmosphere of Robert Benson’s sunny office. Words depleted, Rob sipped his ale slowly, wishing it to last. He stared at the beam of light across the battered old table, avoiding Da’s eyes, savoring his company.
“What now, Robbie? Sell Willowbrook?” Eli asked.
What indeed.Rob didn’t look up.
