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Braden looked down at Tia. “I believe you must have figured out my deception. Were you terribly angry with me?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “Until a solicitor paid us a visit and I realized exactly why you had staged that argument over Emily.”
“It wasn’t entirely staged, Tia.” He hated having to tell her this because of how it made him look, but he had no choice. Keeping secrets between them was no way to start a marriage.
“What do you mean?” She took a step out of his arms.
“I had been courting Emily.” Braden blew out a breath. “It was right after I inherited the title and decided to reform. I didn’t want to fall in love again after Penelope, so I was purely looking for a woman who would be a good wife. No trouble. I thought Emily was that woman.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Then she met Jonathon. I had come to love Emily in a sweet way. There was no real passion between us. But I guess there was passion with her and Jonathon. At first, I thought he had deliberately tried to entice her away from me. I was actually pleased when she married Eldridge. Now that I’ve seen them together, I realize they weren’t thinking of me at all.”
“Are you in love with her?” she whispered, trying to keep her tears at bay.
“No, sweetheart. I am in love with you.”
Adams entered the room again and just stared at them. “You didn’t tell him yet, did you?”
“No, we were waiting for you,” Braden said, suddenly content. He could stay in this room forever as long as she was with him.
They all sat down before Adams asked, “Should we wake your brother and cousin?”
“Let them sleep. I want to hear why my betrothed seems to believe a woman is at fault here.”
“Because she is,” Tia said with a grin. “As I read through this book, I discovered two things of importance. First, you are most likely a real Tavers. Apparently, every couple of generations, a black-haired, blue-eyed child is born. To date, none have been firstborn males, so you may be the first. Secondly, when the letter of patent was written, the first Viscount Middleton begged for a codicil to be added, allowing a female to inherit should no male family members be alive.”
“And that was allowed?” Braden asked.
“Yes,” Tia continued. “The first viscount had only daughters and no other male members of his family were alive. The codicil was added on the condition that the man she married took the Tavers name. So far, there has only been one Viscountess Middleton in her own right.”
Braden sipped his brandy in thought. There was only one female he could think of who would do all this. “Constance.”
“Yes, I have checked the lineage and she is the next in line to inherit.”
“Well, certain things are starting to make sense now,” Braden said. “Mary used to be her maid. I wondered why she didn’t go with Constance.”
“Once you and Jonathon were out of the way, Mary could have poisoned Alistair,” Tia said.
“Of course, but Constance must have been frustrated by my inability to die for her. She saw the opportunity to have Mary act as your maid, thus getting her into my house. And having easy access to the poison with your bag of herbs.”
“Exactly. I would not be surprised to learn she wanted me blamed for your poisoning.” Tia finally took a sip of her brandy.
Braden shook his head. “And she must have somehow learned that I was visiting Emily the day of the carriage accident.”
Tia’s eyes widened. “I had forgotten about that! She even asked Hart to stay so she could speak with him. That little bitch!”
“But why?” Adams asked. “Why would she care about becoming a viscountess? Isn’t she married to a baron?”
“Yes,” Braden replied. “So why would she care about becoming a viscountess?”
“I do not know,” Tia admitted. “But she is the heiress apparent with you three dead.”
Braden stood ready to leave. “I will go speak with her.”
“And say what?” Tia asked. “ ‘I believe you tried to kill me, but here I am, not truly dead’? You cannot do that. We must come up with a plan.”
“She is right, Middleton,” Adams added before refilling his glass. “And Miss Featherstone is the only one who can speak with Constance.”
