Page 103 of The Earl She Once Saved

They did not speak of Roland. They did not speak of the girl Rafe believed remained inside her, or of the question interrupted before he could ask it.

Edgeworth came into view beneath the evening sky. A carriage stood before the steps. Verity recognized it and the lightness inside her vanished.

“Mr. Ellison.”

Rafe straightened in the saddle. They urged the horses forward.

The solicitor was waiting in the hall when they entered. His leather case stood upon the table, unopened. He had not removed his gloves. That frightened Verity more than haste would have done.

Mr. Ellison looked at her, then at Rafe. His expression was grave.

“I have news,” he offered instead of a greeting. “What I have learned concerns your husband, the Edgeworth title and your marriage.”

Verity’s hand found the edge of the hall table. Beside her, Rafe moved closer without touching her.

Mr. Ellison glanced toward the drawing room.

“I think you’d both better sit down.”

Chapter 16

Mr. Ellison did not sit until Verity had done so.

Rafe remained standing beside her chair. The solicitor’s gloves lay across one knee, the pale leather creased beneath his fingers. Dust clung to the hem of his coat, and his boots were damp from the road.

“The report has been confirmed,” Mr. Ellison said. “Lord Edgeworth was seen yesterday at Ripon.”

Verity went white. Every trace of color left her face so completely that Rafe moved before he knew he had done it. His hand stopped above the carved back of her chair.

He wanted to touch her. He did not dare.

“At … Ripon?” she asked.

The solicitor nodded. “At the Crown. A clerk in my employ spoke to the innkeeper himself. His lordship gave his name openly and has made no effort to conceal his identity.”

The room had become very still. The clock upon the mantel marked each second with an intolerable neatness.

Yesterday, he had ridden to Ripon. Yesterday, she had asked what took him there, and he had given her nothing but necessity and evasion. He watched the distance between the estate and the town measure itself behind her eyes.

Mr. Ellison glanced between them, but if he noticed the change, he possessed enough discretion not to remark upon it.

“There can no longer be any doubt that Lord Edgeworth is alive,” he continued. “As such, there can be no question regarding the title.”

Rafe’s jaw tightened. Verity lowered her gaze. One hand lay upon the arm of the chair, the fingers pressed flat against the polished wood.

“And the estate?” she asked.

“It remains entailed with the title.” Mr. Ellison adjusted the gloves across his knee. “There is also the matter of your marriage.”

Rafe looked toward him.

The marriage.

He hated the word in another man’s mouth. He hated more the truth of it.

“Legally,” Mr. Ellison spoke carefully, “nothing has changed. Lord Edgeworth’s absence, however prolonged, did not dissolve the union.”

“No,” Verity answered. “It merely left me to bear it alone.”