To Tame a Dangerous Lord (Courtship Wars 5)

Hesitating as if he might say something further, Rayne cast a glance at Madeline. Anger flickered in his eyes again when his gaze fixed on her bruised cheek. He even raised his hand as if he might touch her to offer her comfort … but then he drew back.

Without another word, Rayne let himself from the office—ruthlessly reminding Madeline of the vast chasm that still remained between them.

A moment later Mrs. Pilling arrived, carrying cloths and a basin of warm water along with a jar of unguent, which she deposited on the desk. Desperately needing the distraction, Madeline automatically reached for the cloth to administer to her brother’s injuries as she’d done countless times in the years since their mother’s passing.

When she gently dabbed at the vicious cut above his eye, Gerard winced in pain, yet Madeline knew the pain filling her heart went much deeper.

Her brother would likely come out of this debacle with his love and his future assured, but she had no such hopes for her own love and future, considering the shambles she had made of her marriage.

Chapter Eighteen

I should have guarded my heart much better, Maman. Now I must pay the price.

Rayne avoided reflecting on the future of his marriage for the time being, since there were more immediate matters to settle—namely reuniting Gerard Ellis with his young bride and convincing Ackerby not to pursue criminal charges against him. Yet Rayne’s conscience was smiting him ruthlessly.

Not only had Madeline told him the truth, not only had her motives been entirely innocent, but far from betraying him, she had actually been attempting to protect him. To shield him and his family from scandal by preventing her brother from carrying out his idealistic, love-struck schemes.

How could he have been so blind to her true nature? Rayne wondered as his coach trundled along a country road toward the farmhouse where Ellis’s wife was concealed. How could he have misjudged Madeline so egregiously? So willfully?

Rayne watched her now as she sat on the opposite seat, beside her brother, listening as Ellis recounted the details of his recent elopement and effused about newly married life. Her brother’s spirits were understandably high since the end of his ordeal was in sight.

Madeline, however, was unusually quiet—and Rayne well knew he was the cause.

He voiced a silent invective at himself as he stared grimly at her bruised cheek. He was profoundly relieved that his suspicions about her were unfounded, yet his relief warred with even more profound feelings of guilt and remorse.

At least dealing with Ackerby should be simpler than resolving his self-imposed problems with his marriage. Once their prisoners had regained consciousness, Rayne had quickly elicited the information he sought, beginning with how they had picked up Ellis’s trail:

When the housekeeper refused to reveal her employer’s location even under physical duress, Ackerby had questioned the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Vasse about where to find their daughter. Upon hearing their new son-by-marriage branded a thief, they were eager to confess so as to save Lynette from prosecution.

As a result, yesterday Ackerby had sent four men ahead to Maidstone to apprehend Ellis at Claude Dubonet’s cottage. Upon arriving late last evening, however, they found no one at home. They watched the cottage through the night and into this morning, until hunger drove three of them to the inn in search of a meal, where they spied their quarry by mere chance. Their plan had been to carry Ellis to the cottage to await the baron’s further instructions, since “Lord H’ackerby” was expected to arrive there this afternoon.

To maintain the element of surprise, Rayne intended to head to the cottage himself and confront Ackerby there, as soon as they collected Lynette.

Meanwhile, James would deliver the three ruffians to the Maidstone jail using Madeline’s hired vehicle—which left her no means of transportation and necessitated her riding in Rayne’s coach.

Yet she clearly had no desire to be alone with him. When the carriage eventually came to a halt in a farmyard and her brother jumped out, Madeline did likewise.

“I shall help Lynette gather their belongings,” she murmured before hurriedly following after Ellis.

Rayne watched as brother and sister entered the farmhouse together. Then, too restless to wait passively, he descended from the carriage and strode a dozen paces away, where a break in the farm buildings offered a view of the rolling Kentish countryside.

A nip of fall scented the brisk wind that buffeted him, while gray clouds scudded ominously across the sky overhead. With his mind assaulted by such troubling thoughts, however, Rayne scarcely noticed the threatening weather. Instead, he kept remembering the bruise marring Madeline’s lovely cheek.

The image of her battered face heaped hot coals upon his already guilty conscience.

There was no question that he would pay whatever price was necessary to purchase the necklace. The cost didn’t concern him, even though Madeline chaffed at having to accept his “charity.” For only when her brother was out of danger would she rest easy. He owed her that much, Rayne acknowledged, after the baseless accusations he’d made against her.

True, Madeline should have come to him at the first sign of trouble. Doubtless, her outsized pride and fierce independence had contributed to her determination to handle the brewing scandal herself. But Rayne knew he was solely to blame for imagining her betrayal.

Upon learning of Madeline’s clandestine journey, he’d let his suspicions reach a boiling point. The thought of her indulging in adultery roused something dark and dangerous inside him.

Yet it was no excuse that his past had made him distrustful of seductive women. He was wrong to let his obsession with a previous broken love affair cloud his judgment so badly.

He’d realized the sheer idiocy of his mistake while confronting Madeline today—upon seeing the utter honesty and v

ulnerability in her face as she confessed her reasons for tearing off to Maidstone.

When he accused her of being involved with a secret lover, she looked distraught and dismayed that he had questioned her integrity and honor so baldly. And when he implied that he might have a mistress in keeping, she reacted as if he’d struck her.