Page 85 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

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Simon was deeplyglad Ravenna had not accompanied him to the formal drawing room as he recognized the gentleman who turned to greet him. His mind returned to the vision of her lying vulnerable and tranquil in their bed. Let him be rid of this bastard before she awakened.

“Bruxton, this is a surprise.”

He could not force a single note of respect into his voice. He struggled to be polite. In light of how he despised the earl that had to suffice.

Bruxton disregarded the cold welcome. He took a chair while Simon stood, allowing the silence to mount.

A frown shadowed the earl’s face. “I should have sent word earlier, but this required an intimate meeting. I know you are still in the early days of marriage, and I hesitated to call. I regret I am again the bearer of bad news.”

Simon waited. He trusted that by now the under butler had alerted Timpkins as to the identity of their caller and that he would put the household on alert until the end of this interview. “I thought you’d left London. What is the news?”

“You remember my Irish groom?” Bruxton asked.

“Yes. I’ve met him a few times. He seems to be a capable young man.” Had Kieran been incapacitated in a race, or while training a stallion? How convenient that would be for the earl. Simon now believed that the groomsman held the key to the truth about Susannah. Yet not even Heath had been able to trace him.

Bruxton shook his head. His fair hair was wind-swept, his narrow face flushed from a presumably hard ride. “He’s gone missing with a stolen bridle and saddle from my stables. Some of my personal papers have been taken. A man on the run must be considered a dangerous individual.”

“Why would this concern me?”

“His disappearance is connected to Susannah. There’s no gentle way to disclose what I have to say. I would not do so at all unless I felt it imperative that you understand my side of the story.”

“Which is?” Simon asked in an impassive voice.

“Your sister was having an affair with her groom. I suspected it months before her death, but I held out hope that I was wrong. I didn’t want it to be true. I was mortified to think that the other servants knew.”

There was a ring of truth to Bruxton’s words that Simon could not deny, although his first impulse was to defend Susannah. Indeed, she was the last woman he would believe capable of immorality. “How did you find out?” he asked.

“Kieran confessed to me before he vanished.”

Simon stared at him in disdain. “And you think he would come to me for protection?”

“It’s no secret that you dislike me,” Bruxton said. “I’m afraid he might try to blackmail one of us. Your sister’s name must not be enmired in disgrace at all costs.”

“Nor yours, Bruxton?”

“It doesn’t cast any of us in a favorable light. Do you want your sister’s memory slurred?”

Simon paused to listen to the footsteps outside the room. Had Bruxton brought support, or was that Timpkins, waiting for Simon to call for help?

No one entered.

“This is an upsetting revelation,” he said. “But I have to ask again why you are concerned enough to have come here.”

Bruxton glanced at the door. “Do you think it is easy to admit I was cuckholded? To have to tell you that your sister gave herself to a servant? There is humiliation and dishonor in such an affair. I know you loved her. But what she did was a sin.”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?”

“She isn’t here to deny your accusations. What do you expect me to say? I cannot speak against her without evidence. The shy sister I remember would not have deceived anyone on earth.”

“People do not remain the same,” the earl said.

“Nor do circumstances,” Simon replied. “Oftentimes we are forced into a position over which we have lost control. Our will is tested. And for some of us it is broken.”

“It is possible you didn’t know what was in her heart. She shocked me. You surprised me with your marriage. Susannah accused you of abandoning her.”