Page 95 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

“Simon! Rhys!” she exclaimed, rising to her feet to hurl herself into Simon’s arms. Their embrace briefly soothed him. Rage, however, predominated his emotions. “Don’t do anything rash, Simon,” she said. “Kieran came here to warn you.”

“Then he should have approached me directly,” he said with the meager control he could salvage. “How did he gain entry to the house?”

“He used the secret panel in the bedchamber,” she said in hesitation, hiding her pistol in her skirts.

“I don’t believe this. He broke into the bedroom to help me? He could not present himself at the door, the servant’s quarters, or even the stables? Use your common sense. That is not a heroic entrance. He sneaked in because he meant to inflict harm.”

“He was afraid he would be shot on sight,” Ravenna said in a weary voice. “He thought he had come to you directly. He attempted to show himself earlier, but Timpkins’s practice shot warned him away. To be fair, you purposefully left the house in a clandestine manner so that anyone observing your activities would not know of your absence.”

He was too infuriated to appreciate her logic. He glanced sharply at Kieran. “You led me to believe that you had befriended my sister. Yet the moment I turn my back, I find you in my home, imperiling my wife.”

“I tried to tell you the truth,” Kieran said, his face ashen.

Simon ground his back teeth. “Does that include your attempt on my life at the marquess’s ball? Do you realize that my wife has lived in fear, a virtual prisoner, since that night? You had a chance to confess when you met me at the livery stables. You could have sought me out at any time and offered an explanation.”

Kieran rubbed a streak of grime from his cheek. “I deserve every whit of your condemnation, but for the moment you must know only that the earl has vowed to kill you.”

“Is he going to issue me a challenge?” Simon asked in a skeptical voice. “Why should I believe either one of you?”

“He’s too afraid to act with honor. He blames you for his marriage and his failure to garner a political constituency. He despises you, your grace.”

“He has no kind words for you, Kieran. You do not deny you tried to murder me in London?”

There was a silence. The younger man struggled against tears, but Simon was not influenced. “Stay here with Ravenna,” he said to Rhys. “Sleep if it is possible. I might need you again.”

“Where are you going?” she asked in bewilderment.

He swung around. He would not be moved. “Upstairs with Kieran. He’s going to show me how he broke into our room.”

Griffin stirred. “I have been sitting here pointlessly for hours. Let me guard the rear this time.”

Simon withdrewhis pistol from his coat as he accompanied Kieran and Griffin into the spacious bedchamber. He felt at once violated at the thought of Ravenna managing an intruder in this room by herself. This was to be a place of sanctuary and intimate revelations.

“Did he have any weapons?” he asked Griffin, who had crossed the room to peer into the passage at the fireplace.

“No,” Griffin said. “And I searched him thoroughly. In all honesty I might have put a bullet in him had Ravenna not intervened on his behalf. Where does this tunnel lead?”

“To the stables.” Simon motioned to Kieran. “Talk. Tell me the truth. Did Bruxton murder my sister?”

Kieran looked a decade older than when Simon had met him at the livery stables in London. “There was never a question of it in my mind. I swear, I did not witness the act. It was misting all that day. I saw his shadow in the window behind her. She cried out my name as she fell. She’d admitted to him the evening before that she and I were in love. I thought it strange that afterward he showed no anger toward her or me. I planned to take her away the next night. Now I realize that he’d made his own plans.”

“You cuckholded him. His anger was not wholly unjustified.”

“I sinned. I admit it. But so did he. He beat her before I ever touched her. He hit her once so hard that she lost the baby she wasn’t aware she had conceived.”

“Prick,” Griffin muttered, turning his face to the fireplace. “Damn him and his ilk to hell.”

Simon’s head pounded. He was overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought of Susannah living in secret despair. “She should have felt safe to come to me,” he said in an empty voice.

“I begged her to summon you.” Kieran wiped his wrist across his eyes. “She was convinced you wouldn’t believe her or that you’d insist she endure his mistreatment for the sake of her marriage. She said that if you confronted Bruxton he would lie to defend himself and life would be worse for her.”

Was she wrong? Simon wondered. Why hadn’t he visited her? Why had Ravenna’s family ignored her plea?

Kieran continued. “I deceived myself into thinking that I’d brought her some happiness. Perhaps I did, but in the end she died because of me. I should have protected her, even if my love for her was wrong.”

“You expect me to forgive you?”

“I’ll take my stripes.”