Nothing else was said. Richard placed himself between Emma and the man set on killing her. When Emma exited the open door and quickly disappeared as Duncan snatched her to his side, Richard replaced her. A streak of orange light filled the cottage’s darkness as the bullet cleared his gun. He watched as “Palmer,” or, Richard supposed “Babbington,” threw up his arm to protect himself, opening his chest wider to serve as Richard’s target. The whites of the man’s eyes grew larger in disbelief. His scream died in the empty room as he collapsed on his back.
Richard remained in place until Emma threw her arms about his neck. “Richard! Richard!” she pleaded.
“I am fine, love. Fine, at last.”
It took mostof the night to assure the local authorities of what had occurred in the simple cottage in a place called “Palmer’s” after the twelve almshouses. The scene in the cottage was far removed from charity of any sort.
“Although I did not see him,” Lady Emma said, for likely the twentieth time, “Miss Babbington called her attacker ‘Lord Davidson’ while they argued.”
Finally, the sheriff called in to oversee the investigation accepted Lady Emma’s version, for not only was the man aware of Duncan’s position in society, but an express had arrived from Lord Graham, which pressed authenticity to Lady Emma’s tale. His lordship and Lord Marksman, having found Mr. Palmer missing from Donoghue House, had set out to assist Richard and Duncan.
“Ironically,” Graham had written, “at a toll gate, we encountered Lord Davidson’s coach returning to London. Thinking it odd, we detained his lordship until we learned why he was so disheveled and scratched up. Lord Davidson finally admitted he had gone to Palmer’s to stop Lady Emma from accusing him of her attack in Covent Garden. We naturally have returned him to Middlesex until we learn otherwise. Beaufort sent word he was on his way to your destination.”
Graham’s message and Navan Beaufort’s appearance was enough to convince everyone that their tale was the accurate one.
With the dawn of a new day, Richard, Emma, and Duncan crawled into Duncan’s coach and set out for London. They were talked out. Exhausted. In truth, Richard simply leaned against the side of the coach with one leg on the seat and the other to brace his position while Lady Emma laid out across him. He wrapped his arms about her. Duncan raised an eyebrow of objection, but no reprimand was delivered. Duncan, too, closed his eyes, and they all slept for the few hours it took to return to Duncan Place.
Theodora greeted them at the door and took over Lady Emma’s care. “You sweet dear. You will stay with us indefinitely, until all this is resolved. I closed down Donoghue House to visitors of any kind until you are prepared to address the staff.”
Lady Emma shook her head in agreement, but Richard knew she was too exhausted to comprehend fully what Theodora had explained.
“We all simply require our rest, my dear,” Duncan said. “As do you, child,” he told his daughter. “You have dark circles under your beautiful eyes. Why do you not share a bed with Lady Emma?”
“Yes, Papa. Come, Emma, we will use my quarters.”
“I was not thinking of sleeping beside Emma,” Richard said when the ladies disappeared up the stairs.
“Yes, you were,” Duncan corrected, “but only after the exchange of vows. Later, I will write to Lord Donoghue and advise him of all which has been exacted in his name. You may attach your intentions to marry the man’s daughter in the post. I know you wish the exchange of vows would take place tomorrow, but by then, all of London will be buzzing about the disaster. A hurried marriage will only complicate the rumor, and your children will pay the price. You understand what such would mean to their futures as well as any of us.”
Richard sighed heavily. “I despise deportment and society’s rules!”
“Yet, you will follow them,” Duncan said pointedly.
“Yes, sir.”
