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Carmen looked from one to the other. There was something stoic about people who lived in this part of the world. It was the village life, because they knew one another so well, that in times of calamity it was all hands on deck.
When she signed the statement she rose to her feet and took a deep breath. “I’ll fetch that tea for you.”
Rex was standing beneath the crescent stairs in the hallway, demonstrating his actions to an officer. As she passed, he paused and locked his arm around her waist, drawing her in against him. “You okay?”
Carmen stared at him and felt as if her chest wrenched apart inside.
It was the same concern she’d witnessed all week, and yet she’d been unable to place it, mistaking it for a greedy possessiveness and his hunger for power over her. It made her knees weak to experience it now, knowing that he’d been so worried about her.
Despite the tenderness in him, the secret legacy that had surrounded them all these years pressed down on her as she looked up at his handsome face. It was a legacy of jealousy they’d been left, a trail of bitterness and betrayal. Their family history had been hounded by ill fortune long before her mother’s car crash. They were doomed to unhappiness, all of them. Falling in love with Rex was a cruel twist of fate, and the last straw.
“I’m okay,” she managed. “I’m still angry with you, though.”
“We’ll talk, soon.” He let her go and returned to the conversation with the two police officers he was dealing with.
Talk soon?
I can’t. Not yet.
* * *
FINALLY THE POLICE were done. Rex quickly tracked Carmen down in the kitchens, where she was talking with Mrs. Summerfield.
As soon as he entered the room he noticed that Mrs. Summerfield was comforting Carmen. She was bound to be upset, Rex knew that, but the look on their faces gave him a bad feeling.
Mrs. Summerfield took off her apron. “I’ll leave you two alone now. I’ll be back in the morning.”
The resigned look on the cook’s face worried him even more. Was it just the events of the day, or was it something else?
Once she’d gone, he strode to Carmen’s side and held her. For a few moments she clung to him.
“We’re safe to stay here tonight, now they’re under lock and key.” How long that would last was another question, but for now they could breathe easy.
Carmen pulled free of him. “No, I’m leaving, too.”
Rex was dumbfounded. “Leaving? Now?”
“Yes, now.” She picked up her handbag from the table and walked away quickly. He followed her, hanging on every word as she continued.
“While you were dealing with the police I arranged for a taxi to call at nine-thirty.” She paused in the hallway and glanced at her watch. “It’ll be here any moment. The last train for London leaves Beldover at ten.”
Rex closed the space between them in four long strides and wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “There’s no need to be concerned. We can be together now, we can relax.”
“Rex, it’s over. The house. You and me. Everything.” She glanced around the hallway and then back to him.
He saw the resignation in her eyes and it cut him up inside. Her lashes were damp, a smudge of mascara darkening her lower lids. He couldn’t bear it. “I want you to stay. I thought you loved being here.”
“I do love the house. And what you’ve given me these past weeks—” she paused and inhaled deeply “—I’ll be forever grateful for what you introduced me to. That side of myself that I was unaware of.”
Unaware of? Rex struggled to accept what she was saying. All of it.
“I need time out to get my head together. I need to get my life back on track.” She broke free of his grasp.
Rex stared at the back of her head when she turned away.
She was still talking. “You found out what you needed to know. You really do care about the place, after all. You fought for it, you protected it. It’s yours. You’re the new custodian of Burlington Manor.”
“No. Not without you.”
