“You are returning to your home with your tail between your arse and apologizing to the lady.” Somerton pulled Will’s arm and dragged him down the hall. “She has nowhere to go if she leaves your house. Not only that, but you need her right now.”
“I don’t need her,” Will lied. He needed Elizabeth in more ways than he could count.
“Indeed?” Somerton stopped only when he reached the front step. “Could you really manage all those children alone? Could you get your older sisters ready to make their bow to the queen? Would you have managed hiring servants, tutors, and a governess?”
“No,” Will admitted.
“Exactly.”
Elizabeth knelt down and felt the underside of the desk in Will’s bedroom. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t get enough leverage without getting all the way down on the floor. Lying down on the rug, she scooted her bottom until she was completely under the desk.
“Please,” she begged the desk to give up its secrets. She pressed her hands against the underside of the desk. At least this desk had ornate legs and only one large drawer. She vaguely remembered her mother using this desk to respond to her correspondence. It only made sense that there was a secret compartment in it.
She pulled at the back and sides of the drawer but nothing budged. After skimming her hands all along the underside, she realized there were no secrets from the desk for her now. Tears welled in her eyes. She would never know who she was.
By tomorrow, she would be packing her things and living with Sophie. Elizabeth rubbed her palms against her eyes. She was such an idiot to let him draw her into an argument.
“Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?”
“I’m really not certain. But then again, I have no idea why you are in my bedroom and under my desk.”
Elizabeth sat up so quickly, she banged her head against the desk. “Ouch!”
She inelegantly crawled out from under the desk, only to find Will staring down at her. His brown eyes were almost black with anger. So much for thinking his rage might have dissipated with time. He actually looked more irate now than when he left.
Realizing she stood in front of him in nothing more than her night rail with a dressing gown over it, she pulled the dressing gown tighter.
“Would you like to explain what the hell you’re doing in my bedroom?”
“Umm, I was looking for something,” she said.
“Under the desk?”
Elizabeth cringed at the harsh tone of his voice. “Shhh, the children are asleep.”
“They are upstairs and cannot hear a thing.” He folded his arms over his chest. “What are you looking for, Elizabeth?”
“Something that belonged to my mother.” She prayed he would stop his interrogation at that.
“And?”
“And what?”
Will blew out a breath as if he were having trouble containing his anger. “Why would it be under the desk?”
She sidestepped him and started for the door. “It is nothing that concerns you.”
Before she could reach the door, he pulled her back toward him. “Try again.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. “I already told you it has nothing to do with you. Now if you will excuse me I must go pack.”
His lips tilted up into a smug smile. “You’re not going anywhere until I hear the truth.”
He pulled her a step closer until she could smell the stench on him.
“Oh, my God, you smell like whisky and cheap women,” she said, pushing away from him.
“I don’t think any of those women come cheap.”