Page 84 of The Earl She Once Saved

Her fingers tightened. Rafe looked at her with the same quiet directness he had shown in the gray lane outside the Coombes cottage. She could not remain beneath it.

“You should rest.”

“Yes.”

Verity moved toward the door. Something upon the writing table caught her eye. Several sheets of paper lay partly beneath a leather portfolio. Charcoal darkened the edge of the uppermost page. She saw the line of a woman’s cheek, the shadow of dark hair and one carefully drawn eye. It looked familiar.

Verity stopped. There were more pages beneath it, many more.

Rafe followed her gaze. His body went still.

Verity forced herself to look away. She did not ask. She could not have said which answer frightened her more.

“Good day, my lord.”

“Good day, Verity.”

She left before he could continue. About half an hour later, Aunt Cordelia was waiting for her in the drawing room. She was standing beside the mantel with one hand braced against it. Her face had lost all color.

Verity halted. “What has happened?”

Her aunt looked toward her. For once, there was no criticism in her expression and no advice, only fear.

“There are rumors in the village,” her aunt spoke slowly.

“About what?”

“A man was seen on the northern road. Then another report came from Ripon.”

Verity felt the floor shift beneath her.

“The same man?” she asked, though she already knew.

Aunt Cordelia’s lips trembled. “Roland.”

The name moved through the room like cold air. Verity thought of the letter in Rafe’s hand, his closed face.

An obligation of my own.

She believed it might concern a debt, a promise, a woman, but not this. She wondered why Roland would not write to her as well, when she felt that he owed her at least an explanation.

“Are they certain?”

Her aunt nodded. “He has been seen.”

“Where?”

“In Ripon. He has taken rooms there. He has been asking questions about Edgeworth.”

Verity could hear her own heartbeat. Aunt Cordelia crossed the room and caught her hands.

“He is alive.”

Verity stared at her aunt. The past had found the road home.

“He is coming here,” Aunt Cordelia whispered.

Roland was returning to claim everything Verity had saved. And for the first time in years, she was afraid he might succeed.