To Tame a Dangerous Lord (Courtship Wars 5)

Madeline inhaled a deep breath. “The truth is … I am trying to save my brother from being hanged.”

She couldn’t tell from Rayne’s expression if her revelation elicited any sympathy from him, but at least he hesitated before prodding in a slightly less wintry voice, “Go on.”

Madeline did fumble with her purse strings then, slipping them off her wrist as she moved closer to Rayne so she could set her reticule on the table. “Well … you see … Gerard eloped with his childhood sweetheart some three weeks ago, but before he left for Scotland, he stole a priceless heirloom from Lord Ackerby.”

In a halting narrative, Madeline confessed the whole story, including Gerard’s motive for stealing the necklace and his desire to hand it over to his new bride’s parents, who reportedly were the original owners.

She went on to relate the complications of Ackerby’s wrath—that Gerard and Lynette had spent the first week of their married life a short distance from The Blue Boar Inn, at a cottage belonging to Lynette’s cousin, Claude Dubonet; how Gerard had learned about the assault on their housekeeper; and Gerard’s subsequent fears that Ackerby and his henchmen were on his trail, which had scared him into leaving the cottage with his wife and going into hiding.

“Gerard decided to flee to France to avoid Ackerby’s retribution,” Madeline concluded in a small voice, “and so asked me to advance him the funds by letter. But I came here myself instead, to convince him to return the necklace to Ackerby.”

“You intend to return it?” Rayne asked tersely.

“Of course. It is the only honorable thing to do. The necklace does not belong to Gerard, and he has no right to give it away. And by returning it, I hope to persuade Ackerby to spare my brother a prison sentence or worse.”

Rayne did not appear entirely convinced that she was telling the truth. Did he think her complicit in her brother’s crime? Madeline wondered, watching his face.

His tone held a distinct coldness when he spoke again. “So you lied to me and concealed your whereabouts, professing your destination to be Lady Danvers’s home in London?”

“I did not actually lie to you,” she protested. “I merely did not tell you I was coming here.”

“You lied to Bramsley, which is nearly the same thing.”

“It is not at all the same! I didn’t want your servants or any of your other connections knowing that my brother is a criminal.”

Rayne’s hard gaze searched her face. “So why didn’t you come to me and request my help?”

“Any number of reasons. I didn’t want to burden you with my problems, for one thing. And I needed to act quickly if I hoped to save my brother from his own folly—and to avoid a scandal as well. Your family is already appalled enough by your marriage to me. How would your grandmother react if she learned that Gerard had stolen from a peer? Or if he were thrown in prison or hanged?”

Not replying, Rayne regarded her intently, as if trying to judge her veracity.

Madeline bit her lower lip. She couldn’t tell him the chief reason preventing a scandal was so crucial to her—because she was desperately in love with Rayne and feared losing any chance of winning his love—for then he might pity her and that would be insupportable.

“How was Ackerby blackmailing you?” he finally asked.

“He had just learned about the theft when he came to Danvers Hall,” she answered honestly. “He suggested that if I became his mistress, he would not press charges but allow Gerard to keep the necklace.”

Something dark and dangerous flashed in Rayne’s eyes. “So what did you tell him?”

“I refused, of course. But I promised to make Gerard return his property if indeed he had stolen it. Ackerby said he would allow me time to get the necklace back in exchange for a kiss, and he assaulted me before I had the chance to object. That is why you found us kissing in the garden. But then you struck him and knocked him down and goaded him into a duel. He was so furious I feared he would take immediate action against my brother. So I wrote to Ackerby to beg him to hold off until I could speak to Gerard myself and convince him to give up the necklace.”

“Was your concern for Gerard the reason you demanded we call off the duel?”

“In part. I also worried that you might be hurt. Ackerby is accounted an excellent shot.”

Rayne continued to scrutinize her. “Why should I believe any of this?”

“Why shouldn’t you believe me?” Madeline countered. “I am telling the truth.”

“That remains to be proven. You could just as easily be in league with your brother.”

She winced at his reply but strove to quell her rising despair. “I can understand why you would consider some of my actions suspect, Rayne, but not why you could think I would betray marriage vows by taking a lover—and with Ackerby, of all men.”

“What reason have you given me to think otherwise?” he rejoined. “You claimed you were shopping with Lady Danvers during your frequent jaunts to London last week, but yesterday you lied about being with her. It’s conceivable that you used her as cover for a secret affair with a lover.”

The accusation both distressed and stung Madeline. “You spend much of your time in London without telling me what you are doing. How do I know you are not engaged in an affair? Perhaps you have a mistress in keeping there.”

“Perhaps I do.”