“I can explain.” Cole’s eyes darted between Darcy and his cousin.
Arching a brow, Darcy pressed his lips together.
“We found your ‘notary,’” Richard growled.
“Who?” Cole’s mouth gaped open.
“Old Burtie sang like a canary.” Richard grinned maliciously.
Cole’s face lost all color. Sputtering for a second, he finally rallied, his chin lifting. His eyes narrowed. “I am willing to be reasonable. I will sell Pemberley and Darcy House to you for the sum of fifty thousand.”
Darcy scowled. “Never!”
With a tip of his head, Darcy indicated to his cousin that he was ready for this to be done. Within a hairsbreadth, officers from Richard’s battalion surrounded Cole.
When the small man struggled, Richard warned, “You can go with dignity, or we can haul your arse out of here. Your choice.”
Cole appeared to shrink right in front of the cousins.
In an ultimate display of bravery, Cole asked, “What are your intentions?”
Piercing him with his glare, Darcy replied, “Unlike you, I abide by the laws of the land. The courts will receive you as a thief and a murderer. What they do with you is up to them.”
“But I did not kill Wickham.” Cole’s knees shook.
Darcy shrugged. “It matters not who held the knife, does it?”
“It was the sailor, the one on the ship with Anders,” Cole hurried to explain.
Again, Darcy shrugged. “We will allow the courts to decide who is guilty.”
Tipping his head toward his cousin, Richard ordered his men to seize Cole. Before they left, Darcy grabbed the walking stick away from him, gripping it in his hand. In no time at all, Darcy stood alone, surrounded by customers and bank employees who were already gossiping about what they had seen and heard.
Studying the carved falcon on the top of the cane Cole stole from him, Darcy thought of all he had lost and gained in the past months. The courts typically moved slowly. Yet, he knew that, in time, they would condemn Cole to death for the murder of Wickham alone, as well as restoring his properties and possessions to him.
Victory filled his chest, though his heart yearned for Elizabeth. He wanted to go home. Not to Pemberley, but to her.
39
Elizabeth’s exhaustion from her travels vanished the instant she strolled into the drawing room at Matlock House at Grosvenor Square to the sound of her husband’s laughter. Once he saw her, his face lit with the broadest smile she had ever witnessed. He welcomed her weary, travel-worn body into his embrace, wrapping his powerful arms around her.
“My Elizabeth.” He breathed her name, which was music to her ears.
Holding him tightly, she promised, “I never want to be parted from you again, Fitzwilliam. I missed you so much.”
She heard Lord Matlock greeting his sons.He said, “Before we wash off the mud from the roads, tell us what has happened.”
Elizabeth was grateful that she would not be required to wait to discover the events since Darcy left Alderwood in Derbyshire.
He ushered her to a sofa close to the fire. He sat next to her, his arm around her shoulders.
Before tea could be brought in, Richard said, “We found Cole at the Bank of England attempting to withdraw funds that Darcy had frozen. As of this afternoon, this is the fourth day he has spent with the cream of British criminal society at Marshalsea. Darcy’s attorney, who is on good terms with the Lord Chancellor, is confident that the testimony of Mr. Anders and the fraud who impersonated the notary will convict Simon Cole of his crimes.”
Lord Matlock asked, “What of them?”
“Darcy wrote a statement to support Mr. Ander’s claim that he did not murder Wickham.”
Stunned by the news, Elizabeth turned to Darcy.
