Page 98 of A Momentary Marriage

“How do you think I arranged a carriage accident? Brakes fail all the time, and that hill is steep. Horses bolting at just the right moment is a bit chancy for a murder method, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know what made the horses bolt. There are several things that could do it. Perhaps a loud noise startled them or you threw a rock at them.”

“Threw a rock! You think I was standing beside the road, tossing rocks at them, and no one noticed me? Why in the hell would I want to kill your wife? I know nothing about the woman other than that she was foolish enough to marry you.”

“Why? Because she stands between you and what you want. You would have been content with killing just me, but when I married her, I put her in your way.”

“Now I’m supposed to have tried to murder you, as well? I somehow gave you a brain tumor?”

“You provided the poison that nearly killed me. You were in the London house when it was hidden there.”

“Poison! What do you mean, ‘hidden’? Where?”

James ignored him, plowing ahead. “Unfortunately I was too foolish and blind to believe you would go after Laura next. I thought your lifelong hatred of me had driven you more than greed. I should have realized that you would find Laura a grave danger to your plans. All she has to do is bear me a son, and the title is no longer yours.”

Claude stared at him for a long moment. “You believe I would kill two people in order to get the title? Murder my own brother?”

“It isn’t as if we have a close fraternal bond.”

Claude snorted. “How could we? You had no interest in any of us. All you ever cared about was your true brother. The mighty Earl of Montclair. You were really a Parr, much too good for us mere de Veres.”

“What?” James’s eyebrows soared upward. “When have I ever laid claim to being a Parr? You think I liked being one of ‘Randy Reggie’s’ by-blows? Knowing that Sir Laurence hated the sight of me?” James heard the rising sound of his voice and clamped his mouth shut.

“Father hated you? Oh, poor James. How unfortunate your life has been. You inherited a title you didn’t deserve, not to mention a house and estate. Our mother doted on you because you were his son, the man she truly loved. And Father favored you in every way imaginable. I am the oldest de Vere; I should have been the one to inherit. But he would never disclaim you. You were his prodigy, his shining son.”

“What drivel. I was nothing to Sir Laurence but a daily reminder of his wife’s infidelity.”

“Then why did he claim you as his own even though it would make you the heir?”

“He would never have shamed Mother that way. He loved her.”

“He didn’t have to set you up to run everything, to oversee the trust, to manage his money, the businesses. That would have been no shame to her. He did it because you were his favorite. Because you are the one who resembles her. Every time he looked into your eyes, he saw the woman he loved more than anything else in the world.”

“You don’t know anything. Vincent was the child he loved. You weren’t around when he died. I was. I saw the way Sir Laurence looked at me. I watched him weep for Vincent. I heard him say, ‘Now I have no son.’ I have no idea how he felt about you. But I know how he felt about me. I was, much to his chagrin, the one most like him in thought and temperament. The one he knew who would take care of the finances properly, even advance them. The only one he trusted to be hard enough to handle the trustee’s duties. He gave me the responsibility, but he never gave me his love.”

James looked away, all the anger that had carried him gone, leaving him exhausted. Claude, too, seemed out of words and wrath. The brothers were silent the rest of the way into London.

chapter 39

Laura awoke feeling sore all over. Looking at the emptiness beside her, she wished she could close her eyes and go back to sleep. How completely her life had changed in the course of one night.

James’s words had pierced her. She suspected he was lying—whether to her or to himself, she wasn’t sure—but it had cut deeply to hear him say he didn’t love her. Worse, he didn’t want to care for her. He wanted to be far away from her.

She was tempted to avoid breakfast, but she knew she had to face the aftermath of last night’s events. Besides, she was mundanely hungry—clearly she hadn’t the makings of a tragic heroine.

Breakfast was as bad as she feared it would be. Adelaide, unsurprisingly, was sullen and quiet. Tessa, red-eyed, kept dabbing her handkerchief to her eyes while Netherly tried to console her with poetic words. Archie seized the chance to hold forth on James’s unfairness, Claude’s slyness, and the unlikelihood that anyone had tried to kill Laura.

Walter finally slammed the butt of his knife down on the table. “Stop! Good Gad, Salstone, can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

The uncharacteristic outburst so startled Archie that he lapsed into silence. Adelaide gave a sob and jumped up from the table and ran from the room. Patricia followed her, presumably to provide comfort. After that the others began to leave, as well.

Laura started to rise, too, but Walter said, “No, Laura, please stay. I’d like to talk to you, if I may.”

“Of course.”

Walter moved over to sit beside her. “I am so sorry about . . . everything.”

“Thank you.”