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Heather shook her head and her heart sank. Impossible to believe that a lady of quality would stoop to such threats. Sara was threatening not only her, but Godwin as well. What was the awful woman planning now?
“Ah, you wonder to what lengths I have gone,” Sara said. “You wonder what it is I mean to do. Don’t you know?”
“No, I can’t imagine why they are here,” Heather finally said as Sara stood watching her reaction.
“I have brought these unscrupulous seamen here. They are smugglers by trade, but ever ready to make money any way they can. Desperate fellows, really. They carry pistols, you know, and are capable of great evil for very little money. I was prepared to pay them a great deal more than the two hundred pounds I gave them.”
“And you want me to know this because?” Heather asked, though she knew the answer.
“They have agreed to murder Godwin for me tonight. There is only one road from St. Ives and he will be on it and nearing soon, very soon.” She halted and smiled. “Indeed, ‘tis a lonely road, and the deed can be accomplished quickly.”
“You are mad!” Heather cried, fully horrified. “You would not dare such a thing!”
“No, it was not my first choice, however, I would rather be a widow than a discarded wife, you see,” Sara answered.
Heather’s hand went to her heart and she gasped. “Wicked woman…no, I don’t believe you would dare such a thing. You would be blamed immediately. Everyone…as witnessed by Mrs. Abernathy’s visit to my uncle, already knows that Godwin is about to divorce you, and you would be suspected at once.”
“Indeed, I do admit to a certain reluctance to take that course. However, as I said, I will not be a discarded wife, and suspecting one of a crime is very different than proving it.”
“Oh my god!” Heather was beside herself as she searched her mind for a way to stop this awful woman. Unconsciously, her hand went to her stomach, as though to shield her infant from such ugliness.
Sara eyed her and then said, “You still don’t comprehend your situation, do you? Very well, allow me to outline my thoughts. I will not sign the papers Godwin wishes me to sign. I will not be divorced. He has threatened me that if I do not sign, he will disavow Roderick and me. He said he would have our marriage annulled…tell the world I foisted a bastard child on him. He would ruin us all…for what?” Sara looked Heather up and down. “For you? A nothing, with nothing, not even the will to protect herself.” She paused and there was so much hate in her eyes.
Heather shivered, unable to immediately respond to this, aware suddenly that Godwin was in danger this very evening.
“You see now, don’t you? I have two roads before me. Either he dies before he can do this awful thing to me, or I get rid of you. Simple, isn’t it? I cannot murder you. Godwin would know, and I do believe he might even try to kill me with his bare hands. No, killing you is not an option…for now. I can’t have him turn to the courts and accuse me of murder. He has powerful friends. I know that. Therefore, I have found another way to dispose of you. You will leave him. If you do not accept to leave him, I shall have him killed this very night and chance the consequences.”
“You…you would not succeed…people would know, they would talk. They are already talking!”
“Oh? I shall succeed. But why allow me to do that when you can stop me by writing this letter? Godwin will believe it. He will discover that your uncle has already disowned you—sent you off, and…”
“I will bear witness against you should you hurt Godwin!” Heather snapped, standing up to the woman.
Sara eyed her. “Indeed, I do believe you would. Therefore, I shall put your bodies together. What an intriguing idea. It will look as though you were killed on the road by highwaymen while on one of your little trysts.” Sara shrugged. “After all, as you say, people are already talking. In fact, that seems the far more simple game to play.”
“No…this is too ugly, even for you!” Heather said as much to herself as to Sara. Would those seamen really murder two people? Was Sara bluffing?
“As I have said, I have no wish to be a widow. I have no wish to kill you either i
f I don’t have to. The truth is, my seamen may be loath to kill a woman, and then I might have to come up with more money, which would delay my plans. No. I shall stick with either getting you to write the letter, or killing Godwin,” Sara left this in the air.
Heather collected herself. What to do? Sara would kill him. She had believed the woman would rather him be dead than finding herself divorced. She had to pretend to accept. She would do what Sara wanted for now…and then Godwin would find her, come for her. He would not believe she had left him. She would write the letter, and even if Sara’s men actually forced her to travel with them to her home, Godwin would come for her.
“It would appear, my lady,” Heather said, “you have left me no choice.”
Sara smiled. “That is quite correct. You are out of choices, have been since you decided to bed a married man. I am the one who has been wronged. Not you!”
That was doing it too brown for Heather. “You have wronged Godwin from the start. He told me the entire sordid story. He knows you are the one who tore him from Lisa. He knows all the while he courted you, you bedded a gypsy. You have wronged him, and I have made him happy.”
“Naïve girl. Happiness is a fleeting thing. You have had your months of happiness. It ends now, as it should, as mine did the moment I married Godwin.”
“Why did you marry him then?”
“For the title, for the wealth!” Sara screamed. “Certainly not because he was exciting.”
“Not exciting?” Heather cried. “You are a fool.”
Sara’s hand lifted, but she seemed to get control and dropped it to her side. “Sit down at the desk. Take up the ink and quill there…oh, you can write, can’t you?”
