“This fellow threatened to kill her a number of years ago, soon after her mother died, in fact. She never knew who he wasor why he threatened her. And for a few years she thought she had eluded him or at least that he had gone away. Then earlier this year she began to feel that someone was watching her. Turns out there was. While I was staying at The Castle, her room was ransacked by the villain—looking for this!” He held up Annis’s father’s ring.
“Annis, very bravely, if a trifle totty-headedly, decided to confront the miscreant and managed to stab him and give him a scar on his cheek.”
“Good God—Tavistock?” asked Robert.
Emrys nodded. “Yes. Annis heard his voice tonight and recognized it. That’s why I took her home. She was understandably upset.” Emrys smiled wryly. “Although she was a little relieved, too. She was worried she had killed him.”
“Bravo!” murmured Ravenshaw, his deep blue eyes glittering in the lamp light.
“But where’s the connection to Tavistock, Emrys?” pressed Robert.
“This ring belonged to Nicolas Benedict Redmayne, son of the 6th Earl of Tavistock... and Annis’s father.” He stopped, waiting for what he had said to sink in.
“The current fellow is the 7th earl, this Nicholas’s son?” asked Pendrell.
“Yes, his name is Lawrence.”
Ravenshaw said delicately, “So Annis is his illegitimate daughter? And the current earl’s half-sister?”
“Yes and no,” said Emrys with a small smile. He was enjoying himself a bit. “Annis was born Nicolas’s legitimate daughter, and it appears that it’s Lawrence who is the illegitimate one. Her parents’ marriage predates his, and it seems the marriage was never set aside—I checked. Instead, it was Nicolas’s marriage to Lawrence’s mother that was bigamous.”
“You can prove this?” asked Robert.
“We’ve seen the marriage record and there are no grounds for the marriage being annulled. Nicolas wasn’t impotent—Lawrence himself is evidence of that, even if Annis is not. And my solicitor believes no measures were taken to set the marriage aside or void it for any other reason, either.”
“Hence why he wants her removed and to retrieve the ring. She is a threat to everything he has.” Ravenshaw’s tone was low and sent a shiver over Emrys’s skin. Jerome DeVere was not a man to make an enemy of.
“But why threaten her all those years ago, and then again now? Why wait all that time?” asked Pendrell.
“I don’t know—perhaps he lost track of her. She did move away from Bath to London and thence to the Laynes’ employ.”
“What is your plan, Emrys? You do have a plan?” asked Ravenshaw.
“I do. I plan to lay a trap for him, for which I need your help.”
“Whatever you need, old man,” said Pendrell, placing a big hand on his shoulder. The other two assented.
Fifteen minutes later, all four gentlemen returned to the ballroom. Emrys collected a drink from a passing waiter and watched while the Marquess of Ravenshaw very smoothly invited Tavistock to join him in the card room.
The two men left the room together, and Emrys followed slowly. Pendrell and the duke were already there. Ravenshaw led the unsuspecting Tavistock to their table and a few minutes later Emrys joined them, just as Robert, who held the bank, was about to deal.
“Room for a fifth, gentlemen?” asked Emrys, pulling out a chair.
“Of course!” The duke smiled at him. “I don’t believe you’ve met Tavistock?”
Emrys smiled, reaching out his hand upon which he wore Annis’s ring. “Pleasure. It’s Lawrence Redmayne, isn’t it? Mygrandmother knew your grandfatherquite well, by all accounts.” This provoked some laughter which covered Tavistock’s color change as he caught sight of the ring. Emrys wondered if he would ask about it, but he didn’t.
Close to, Lawrence Redmayne was of medium height and athletic build. He would be accounted good looking if it weren’t for the nasty scar on his right cheek. He had brown hair and grey eyes, and Emrys at least could see a faint resemblance to Annis in his coloring and the cast of his features. A little more than two years younger than Annis, this young man would be twenty-six soon.
They played for an hour and Tavistock stole many glances at the ring during that time, but he never asked about it. Eventually, the last game drew to a close, and Ravenshaw as usual had won more than his fair share. The man couldn’t play without winning, he had the damnedest good luck—and skill of course. Then Emrys said casually, “Well chaps, I need to call it a night, but I’ll see you on Thursday when perhaps we can all have our revenge on Ravenshaw?”
This was greeted with laughs, and Emrys added, “You’re most welcome to join us, Tavistock. I will send you an invitation with my direction. You will come?”
Tavistock flushed faintly, well aware that to be feted by such a group of titled, older gentlemen was a social feather in his cap, and said politely, “I would be delighted, my lord.”
“Good. See you on Thursday at eight, then.”
Emrys strolled from the card room, well pleased with his stratagem.
