“Hello!Lady Wroth!”
Starting at the sound of a voice piercing the silence, Kate whirled around, but again saw no one.Unless… Her eyes narrowed when she glimpsed a female form perched upon a stone bench off the footpath that had led her to this clearing.Blinking, Kate watched the woman hail her, and frowned.She knew that face from somewhere.
Mrs.Parker.Kate let out an impatient breath.The last thing she needed was to be drawn into a witless conversation with the snide widow when she had pressing business at hand.
What if the wretched creature scared away the blackmailer?Kate did not intend to stay in London any longer than it took her to confront the man.She did not want to wait for some new meeting.
“Oh, Lady Wroth!”
Unfortunately, Kate hardly could cut the woman dead, so she forced a smile to her lips and waved before moving away.And then, very slowly, like someone waking from a dream, Kate turned back toward the figure seated on the bench as if seeing her for the first time.
She sat there alone.No maid or companion attended her in this secluded spot, a definite breach of the strict rules that covered Town behavior.Nor did she seem dismayed by Kate’s lack of company.The realization made Kate dizzy, and she swayed a moment before regaining her composure—and her wits.Straightening, she lifted her chin and walked toward her rendezvous.
Kate had come to confront the villain, to find out if it was Jasper who threatened her and to discover the extent of his knowledge.As painful as it would be to have her past made public, Kate was concerned only about the shooting, for the news that she had put a bullet in her future husband would go beyond scandal.
Still, she had steeled herself to face it, and, if need be, her uncle.But the discovery that she was menaced only by a spiteful widow made Kate furious.Approaching the bench, she stood as tall as she could before the seated woman.
“Ah, I see you’ve deduced the significance of my presence here.Clever little minx,” Mrs.Parker said, fanning herself.
“You sent me the note.”
“Quite so.Have you brought along sufficient funds to quiet my sadly wagging tongue?”she asked slyly, eyeing Kate’s slim reticule.
“No.”
The fan snapped closed abruptly.“Perhaps you do not take me seriously, but I warn you that I intend business!”Mrs.Parker said.Pausing, she leaned back, giving Kate a calculated look.“Or do you hope to find out just how much I know?”When Kate said nothing, she smiled wickedly.“Oh, I do know a lot, more than you would ever like to be made public.”
“Such as?”Kate asked.
Mrs.Parker laughed, unfurling her fan again like a coquette.“The whole sordid business, you and your sister reduced to mere servants, living alone.Shocking!”she said, her lips curling in amusement.“And your sister’s marriage.Such amésalliance!But I’m sure she was desperate.How desperate was she?”
The horrid woman leaned forward, an eager light in her dark eyes.“There is more, disgusting things that I hate to repeat, but as her sister, I’m sure you know them: the rumors that she was pledged to Wroth, that she met with him secretly at his hunting box, that they were lovers.
“And yet, suddenly, you are married to him, while she is stuck with a local boy.Tsk, tsk, aren’t you the greedy girl, to steal your sister’s beau?I quite like that, you know,” she said, reaching out to tap Kate’s arm with her fan.
Although Kate had schooled herself not to react, she could not help flinching at the insinuation that Grayson had been Lucy’s lover.That was a misconception that she had not foreseen.
Mrs.Parker settled back with a brittle smile of avarice.“But business before pleasure, I am afraid.And as much as I admire you, I cannot forget what I know without some sort of compensation.I am in need of some funds, my lady, and what is a few pounds between friends?”
Anticipating success, the widow pressed her points home.“Just imagine the damage to your reputation, should this get out.Why, you would be a social pariah.And your husband, the great Wroth, would be brought low by scandal.I’m sure you want to prevent that, at any cost.”
Kate’s swift surge of panic was halted by the memory of one of Grayson’s arrogant claims.He had said that nothing short of murder could affect him.Well, his assertion would be put to the test, Kate thought grimly.
Fixing the woman with a contemptuous stare much like one of her husband’s, Kate did not waver.“No,” she said.“No blood money.Say what you must.I have nothing for you.”Turning on her heel, she walked away, ignoring Mrs.Parker’s screeches of protest.
Her business in London was concluded.
Chapter Eighteen
She was gone.Grayson tore through the town house like a madman, thinking the worst—that she had been abducted or was out proving Raleigh right with some scoundrel.
But when he was going to tear through Town, as well, Badcock told him the truth.Apparently, the rest of his staff quaked in terror at the thought of admitting that his wife had left him, returning to her childhood home in one of his own coaches.
It had come back—without her, of course.Grayson had nearly dismissed the driver on the spot, but he knew that the poor man hardly could have gainsaid the marchioness.And a determined Kate would have found a way, if not in his private vehicle, then on the mail or the common stage.Grayson shuddered to think of such dangers.
But what of her now?How safe was she at a house that had been closed, without even that old fool Tom to keep watch over her?The young woman he had thought so sensible had proved herself to be a reckless fool.He ought to ride over there and bring her back, over his shoulder if necessary.
But he was too angry at her defection.What more did she want from him?He had married her, had given his name, his title, his wealth, and his attention, while she… She had destroyed a self-control he had honed to razor-sharpness over the years and had turned him into a bloody slave to his own body.Wasn’t that enough?What else could he possibly give her, some sappy declaration of love?His very soul?
