Page 91 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

“I am well-armed,” Griffin said. “You aren’t going to take a meal before you ride out?”

“It will be daylight if we tarry,” Simon answered.

Ravenna waited in silence for him to bid her farewell. “Entertain your brother in the house until we are back, in case anyone is watching,” he said in a clear voice. “Griffin, let it appear as though the house is full.”

Ravenna hurried to the window and waited until she saw Simon and Rhys canter from the stable yard for the coaching road. Evening haze soon blurred their figures. She swallowed and felt Griffin standing at her side.

“I’d like to have gone with them,” he murmured. “Well, not to worry. Do I understand you have a new horse?”

“I'll take you upstairs to the stranger's room to wash and then fetch my mantle from the main bedchamber. Then we can talk about children and horses.” She smiled at him to belie the tension that hung over them. “We have cold meat pie and raspberry pudding left from supper. Tell me about Harriet and my nephew while we eat. Fill my mind with light thoughts until they are back. That is, if you are in a mood to talk.”

“To you, yes. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you, nuisance.”

A cold draftembraced her as she entered the ducal bedchamber she and Simon shared. Had Isolde opened a window to air out the fragrance of rose water? Her gaze moved slowly across the room.

The curtains had not been disturbed. Nor had the long sash windows that looked out at the dense parkland.

She knew she was not alone.

Another rush of dank air touched her face.

She had not noticed anything unusual earlier when she had surveyed the room. The air had felt stuffy, overwarm, in fact.

She saw a reflection glimmer in the looking glass even before she turned and noticed the man standing in front of the fireside panel. He grasped a cap in his hand; his eyes followed hers to the pistol that she had placed at the foot of the bed. She hid her hands in her skirt, stepping back slowly.

“Please don’t,” he said, his Irish brogue unmistakable now. His face looked beaten and penitent in the firelight. “I’ve a confession to make about the duke’s sister. Hear me out. I’ve nothing to lose.”

“How did you know about the panel?” she asked, straining her ears for the sound of Griff’s voice.

“Susannah told me of it. Her father had forbidden her to use it, but his grace and his brother would sneak through down the hidden stairs to the stables to sleep with the horses on summer nights. He let her join them on occasion.”

“He would,” she said.

There was no chance of Simon’s intervention now, however. He and Rhys trusted Griff would guard her. They had no reason to hasten back to Caverley.

His voice startled her from her thoughts. “She was gracious,” he said. “And kind.”

“But I am not.” Her throat closed as he advanced across the carpet. She noted that he’d neglected to close the panel.

An oversight? Or deliberate act?

An appalling vision slid across her mind, that of her husband discovering her body entombed inside their bedchamber wall. He would fall to pieces.

She would not appreciate such a ghastly end herself. Poor Simon. He did not deserve another lashing of guilt, another cause for remorse. After all, it was her duty to protect his heart as he did her physical person. She would have to take destiny in her hands again.