Page 39 of Never Tempt a Widow

Chapter Nineteen

Many schemes had been discussed concerning Dundas Reedman’s fate, most of which involved revenge rather than recourse to the law. Much as Rowland wanted to turn the fellow inside out himself, tear him apart, and feed the pieces to the fishes, he felt it his duty as a magistrate to quell the more violent suggestions made by both the Duke of Wolfingham and his youngest daughter.

There was a saying that went, “give a man enough rope, and he’ll hang himself”. Rowland very much hoped that this would be the case with Reedman, for he deserved to swing for his crimes. The duke was in favour of enticing Reedman to Morden Hall on some made-up pretext, with himself and officers of the law hidden within eavesdropping distance. Reedman would be enticed to confess his dastardly crimes and then be apprehended.

“But, Your Grace—”

“Call me Wolfingham, as we are family now.” The duke’s tone was surprisingly affable—he seemed to have become used to having an unexpected son-in-law very quickly.

“Wolfingham—sir. What concerns me most about this scheme is that Reedman will only let down his guard with Fina. He would confess nought to me, and certainly nothing to you, nor even to Lord Hanley. Besides—Hanley and I did not part on the best of terms, so I wouldn’t want to involve him, anyway.”

“Am I to have no say in this? I, who knows Dundas better than any of you? It should be me he has to face.”

Rowland refrained from pointing out to Fina that she clearly didn’t know the man at all. He didn’t want her to be in Reedman’s company once more, not for a single second.

“Would that be wise?”

“Papa—he will talk to me. He was keen to exonerate himself of my attempted murder at our last meeting.”

Her voice roughened, and Rowland clasped her hand, stroking the back of it. That his darling should have been subjected to such infamy sent a tempest raging through his veins.

Fina gripped his hand back and continued, “As I say—Dundas is sure he can manipulate me if he has me alone. He knows he can’t take Edgar now, so there will be difficulties with his latest female conquest if he promised her a child. And if, as we suspect, the lady is wealthy, then his financial hopes will have been dashed. If he thinks he can find a way of blackmailing me, I’m certain he’ll take the bait.”

The duke let out a low whistle and stared at his daughter. “My dear—you have certainly grown up in the time that you’ve been away.”

“Hardship has a way of stealing the innocence of youth. My darling wife has suffered greatly, and I vow to devote the rest of my life to making up for that fact.”

The duke coughed, and realising that he was gazing at Fina with a foolish grin on his face, Rowland forced himself to return his attention to his august father-in-law.

“I’m still against the idea of putting Fina at risk. If I see Reedman with her, I can’t be answerable for my actions.”

“Then let the local constable and his colleagues take responsibility for closing the trap. Everything must be above board once Reedman has perjured himself. Although, if he were to sustain a black eye or some little damage to his ribs before being manacled, I don’t think anyone would mind too much.”

“If anyone is going to give him a black eye, it should be me!” Fina shifted in her chair. “I’m the one most injured by that fiend.”

Her father sighed and drew a hand across his brow. “I never imagined that by teaching my daughters the sport of fencing, I would awaken such a martial spirit.”

“Forgive me, Papa. I have spent so long living in fear of that man that it’s a struggle to contain my anger. Why—I used to jump at every shadow. I was ready to disembowel Rowland here with a cabbage knife on one occasion, lest he overstep the mark.”

Rowland blinked. “I don’t remember that.”

“Well—I wouldn’t have done so, of course. But I still kept seeing Dundas behind every tree and every bush, thinking he had returned to finish what he had begun and silence me forever. I even thought that Rowland’s steward, Mr Alleyne, was Dundas in disguise and avoided him for weeks after I first came to Morden Hall.”

Rowland hadn’t known that, either. Maybe he’d better request that Alleyne change his appearance. Would Fina ever be free of the spectre of Dundas? She might never be easy until he was either safely out of the country—hopefully having being transported to one of the colonies—or dead.

“Reedman is unlikely to come to Morden Hall if he knows we’re here.” Fina’s mama fluttered her fan in front of her face. “He’ll recognise the ducal coat-of-arms, no doubt. We should, at the very least, hide the coach.”

“Maybe you should return to Wolfingham, my dear, with Mr Ainsworth as your protector while I remain here in secret. That should put Reedman at his ease—if he’s still in the area.”

“What? And miss the denouement? I couldn’t abandon Seraphina to that man’s clutches and not be here to give her a shoulder to cry on afterwards. Should she have need of one.”

Rowland would far rather his wife cried on his shoulder. Still, getting the ducal coach out of sight was certainly a sound idea.

“I worry,” the duke said, pressing his fingertips together, “about our other daughters. They may be older than Seraphina, but just as much of a temptation to idle rogues with empty pockets, like Reedman. Should not at least one of us be at home to watch over them?”

Neatly done. The duchess’ expression changed dramatically, and she would have surged out of her chair there and then, had not a loud banging at the front door startled them all.

Everyone stared at Rowland. He pressed a finger to his lips. “If it’s an unwelcome visitor, I’ll get rid of them. If you could all refrain from talking for a while, that might be best. We don’t want anyone accidentally overhearing our plans.”