“Dead,” Emma managed as she attempted to pull away from his grasp, but his fingers locked tighter about her wrist.
“If she is dead, so are you,” he growled. “If I cannot know my daughter, neither may Lord Donoghue,” he said in a tone as if he was making polite conversation. His manner of speaking made his words even more terrifying. “Your continued interference has made it necessary. You must understand this is all your fault.”
“I did not kill her,” Emma pleaded. “It was Lord Davidson.”
“Yet, you did nothing to prevent her passing,” he declared.
“I was locked in the pantry,” Emma said lamely, while knowing full well this man would never understand.
“And now you are wearing her cape,” he accused. “Her mother sent it to her from Europe,” he said in sad tones.
Emma wished to say Lady Maria Donoghue was her mother also, but she could not argue with a man as deranged as had been his daughter. He reached up to tear away the toggle holdingthe cape in place. It quickly slid off Emma’s shoulders to be splayed across the floor.
He tugged Emma along behind him to locate Maria’s body. “My poor sweet child,” he lamented when he pulled away the cloth Emma had used to cover the girl only moments earlier. “She deserved a better ending.”
Dressed as a man of society, prepared to attend a concert or the theatre, Mr. Palmer turned to face her. His face was as free of expression as a mask. He appeared calm, while all Emma’s emotions were on display. His face had been sculpted by moonlight into sharply defined lines that would have frightened even the bravest heart, which hers was not. A thin lock of hair fell upon his forehead, causing him to frown deeply. “How shall we proceed?” he asked as if she should decide how she would die. “Shall I stage it to be a suicide, your grief at having killed your dear, sweet sister? Or are you brave enough not to scream, but rather fight, which can only make it all most unpleasant for you, but not for me? You will die no matter how much you scream and plead. That child on the floor was my life—my reason to live—now your reason to die.”
“You are not in your right mind,” Emma accused.
“Why should I be?” he countered. “For more years than you have lived, I dreamed of a woman above my station. I loved her and the child we sired together. A dream, not a nightmare. That is until Lord Simon Donoghue bargained for the woman meant to be my bride.”
“My father will give you enough money to go away,” Emma pleaded. “You may have the freedom and the power you always desired.”
Richard ordered Duncan’sdriver to stop the carriage at the head of the road, where he and Duncan disembarked. “The cottage appears to be dark,” Richard said softly.
“Slow and easy,” Duncan cautioned. “You lead, for you are surer on your feet than I, but practice caution. Use your head, son, if you expect to save Lady Emma.”
Richard squeezed the man’s shoulder, realizing for the first time how Duncan was now shorter than him. “I am proud to have you beside me, sir.”
With a simple nod of their heads, they began to move steadily, but cautiously, along the road. The occasional dog barked, but no one else appeared to be about. It had to be well after midnight; yet, they were accustomed to late hours.
“The door to the cottage appears to be open,” Richard whispered close to Duncan’s ear when they came near enough to view the house.
“I will take the larger window on the right,” Duncan ordered in equally soft tones. “You take the two on the left.”
Richard nodded his understanding and darted along the road, bent over and using the hedgerow to conceal his presence. When he was in place, he motioned Duncan forward. Despite claiming not to be so sure-footed as in the past, Duncan reached the house easily before Richard, who had to vault over a fence and circled the well. Even so, Duncan held out a hand to slow Richard’s approach. Duncan cupped his ear to warn Richard to listen.
He slowed his heart and tuned his ears to the sound of voices within.
“You are not in your right mind.” Lady Emma’s voice announced she was still alive, and Richard presented God a quick prayer of thanksgiving.
“Why should I be?” a man countered. “For more years than you have lived, I dreamed of a woman above my station. I lovedher and the child we sired together. A dream, not a nightmare. That is until Lord Simon Donoghue bargained for the woman meant to be my bride.”
“My father will give you enough money to go away,” Lady Emma pleaded. “You may have the freedom and the power you always desired.”
“You have been meddlesome from the beginning,” he declared. “When we received word of your arrival, I thought to keep Maria near, just as she had always been—permit her to be your playmate and to learn along with you at your governess’s hands, but your mother wrote to say Lord Donoghue had learned of our relationship, and it would be best if I sent my child away. I changed my name to ‘Palmer’ as a symbol of my loyalty to my child, for such is where she would reside. We thought if I could find the yellow sapphires meant for Maria, we could go away together, but no matter how much I searched the house, they remained elusive.”
“The numerous repairs to the walls and flooring,” Lady Emma said in realization. “You said it was dry rot, for the house had stood empty for so long. Did you think I had hidden them in the house? My mother has never lived there.”
Meanwhile, Duncan gestured that Richard was to take the shot when Emma was no longer in the way.
“You were also so gullible, so needy for attention. I could have torn the house down completely, and you would never have questioned one decision.”
“My mother had put you in charge of the house,” Lady Emma said in apparent realization of the obvious.
“Yes, she did, and I have accumulated enough—a hundred pounds here and ten pounds there for my pockets to be deep. My child and I were going away tonight, but Maria desperately wanted the sapphires, enough so to accost you last week. Her mother had promised them to her. Now, I have no daughter andno wife. I believe Lord Donoghue deserves the same.” He sighed heavily. “Let us take a walk together a little further along the road, away from the houses. You lead, Lady Emma.”
Richard motioned for Duncan to catch Emma.
