“Ready to collapse, but otherwise well enough. Duncan and Fraser will stay in the gamekeeper’s cottage until the castle is habitable again.” He gave a short laugh. “If it ever is. Perhaps I’ll leave it in ruins.”
Cecilia flinched at the bitterness in his voice. “Gideon—”
“Haslemere and his men are returning to Surrey later this afternoon. There’s no reason for them to stay, now our ghost is gone. No place forthem, either.”
The mystery of the White Lady had been laid to rest, yes, but what of the other secrets, the nightmares hidden inside the stone walls of Darlington Castle? Only Cecilia knew the truth of what Lady Leanora had done. How could she tell Gideon his beloved wife and child had been sent to early graves by his brother’s mad wife?
As gently as I can, oneword at a time.
Cecilia drew in a deep breath. “You knew about Isabella all along? That she wasn’t your brother’s daughter?”
Gideon dragged a hand through his hair. “Yes. Isabella doesn’t look a thing like my brother, but she does bear a striking resemblance to Darlington Castle’s former steward.”
The hazel eyes.
“If Isabella had been a boy, I’ve no doubt Leanora would have tried to pass him off as the heir. Nathanial knew everything, of course. He was hardly at Darlington Castle at all in the month Isabella was conceived. It didn’t matter to him—he loved her with all his heart—but all the love in the world won’t save Isabella from scandal if the truth of her birth is revealed.”
Cecilia thought of Isabella’s bright eyes, her lively mind, and sunny smile, and her heart sank in her chest. It broke her heart such a beautiful, loving child as Isabella should suffer for her heartlessmother’s sins.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cecilia asked quietly, trying tohide her hurt.
“I’ve never revealed Isabella’s secrets to anyone, Cecilia. Only Haslemere knows the truth. Isabella will bear the brunt of Leanora’s betrayal of my brother, and now she’ll be made to bear the shame of her mother’s madness. I thought only of protecting her.”
“From me, Gideon? You thought you had to protect Isabella fromme?”
Gideon flinched at the question, but he met her gaze. “I know you’d never hurt Isabella, but I also know you’re keeping secrets from me, Cecilia. You’re no housemaid, are you? You didn’t come to Darlington Castle to polish silver and scrub floors. Even so, I still trusted you with my own secrets. But I couldn’t trust you with Isabella’s when I don’t know who you really are.”
His words tore into Cecilia, claws raking across her heart, but what could she say in reply? Weeks ago, when she’d first arrived at Darlington Castle, Gideon had called her a liar, and he was right. As much as she’d grown to love Isabella, she had no claimon her secrets.
When she didn’t answer, Gideon turned toward the window, away from her. “Leanora has always been selfish and unpredictable. She was a spoiled belle when she and Nathanial first married, and over the years she’s grown more unstable, and more volatile. I knew she was unbalanced, but this…I never imagined she’d go this far.”
“But you did suspect she’d come back someday.” Cecilia pushed the words through numb lips. “That’s why you turned the sitting room into Isabella’s bedchamber, and put Amy in there with her. To protect Isabella fromLady Leanora.”
“I thought Leanora would try and take Isabella away from me, yes. Not because she wanted her. Isabella has never been more than a means to an end for Leanora. She would have ruined her if given the chance.”
The thought of Lady Leanora having control over Isabella chilled Cecilia to her bones. “Is that why you sent her away from Darlington Castle? To protect Isabella?”
“I never sent her away. A few weeks after Cassandra’s death, Leanora came to me demanding money so she could escape Darlington Castle for a new life as a merry widow. I agreed to give her the funds she demanded, but only if she left Isabella behind with me. A few months later, she was betrothed to Aviemore, and I hoped we’d seen the last of her. God only knows what’s happened to him.” Gideon’s blue eyes were bleak. “Leanora didn’t put up much of a fight over leaving Isabella.”
“She didn’t come back for Isabella. She’s been roaming freely through the castle since she returned to Edenbridge. If she’d wanted Isabella, she could have taken her at any time.” Cecilia swallowed. “Shecame foryou.”
“As if I couldever…she was my brother’swife, and Leanora expected me to…” Gideon’s hands clenched into fists. “Leanora never gave her daughter a second thought. Herown child. All those months I lived in fear she’d take her from me, but she never wanted Isabella.”
A half-sob tore from Cecilia’s throat at the despair in his voice. She reached for him to caress his cheek with her fingertips, but he flinched away from her. “Tell me about the secret passageway.”
Lady Leanora’s body had been found outside the locked stillroom door, her fingernails torn and bloody from clawing to get out. “One end of it lets out into the dressing room in Cassandra’s bedchamber. From there, she could get anywhere inside the castle. I kept wondering why the door between Isabella’s and Cassandra’s rooms were always unlocked, despite your orders. Leanora must have had a key.”
Gideon braced his arms against the windowsill, his head dropping down between his shoulders. “This would have broken Nathanial’s heart.”
“All those vicious rumors, all those lies about the Murderous Marquess.” Cecilia knew Leanora was responsible—she’d said so herself—but even so she could hardly believe anyone could be so hateful. “Howcouldshe have donesuch a thing?”
“Far more easily than you’d ever imagine.” Gideon turned to face her, a bitter laugh on his lips. “I know what Leanora is. I’ve always known. As soon as I knew she was the White Lady, I should have realized what she was capable of. God knows what she might have done, who else she might have hurt—”
“You tried to stop her, Gideon. You and Lord Haslemere spent every night for weeks searching the grounds for her. This isn’t your fault.” Unable to stop herself, Cecilia rushed to him and took his face in her hands. “Leanora’s madness, the things she did…how could anyone imagine she’d go so far?”
“How far did she go, Cecilia?” Gideon took Cecilia’s wrists in his hands and jerked them away from his face. “Her madness may have ended with the fire, but it didn’t beginthere, did it?”
Cecilia choked back the sob that rose in her throat. She didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want to be the one to put this ugliness in his head, but Gideon deserved to know the truth. “No.”
