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“Do you think we can trust him?” Gabrielle asked, looking up at Ramsey with those large blue eyes, and it was all he could do not to take her in his arms again.
“I don’t trust anyone but you,” he answered. Reaching up, he pushed a piece of her hair the razor had missed off her face and behind an ear.
Like a person just waking from a dream, she reached up and touched her ruined cap of hair. “They cut it. To make the work of the guillotine easier.”
Ramsey tilted his head, pretending to study it. “The Conciergerie needs a new barber. This one can’t seem to cut in a straight line.”
She smiled, though he could see the tears in her eyes. “To be fair, he had rather rudimentary tools, many victims, and not much time. I’m certain I look a fright.”
Ramsey caught her chin before she could lower it. “You look lovely, as always. A bit older without all that hair, but the maturity suits you.”
“You’re lying. Again.” She jerked her head, moving away from his touch.
“Not this time.”
She crossed her arms and leaned one shoulder against the door. Her pale skin and dark eyes made her look so fragile and fatigued. Neither of them would be able to continue much longer.
“Do you expect me to believe you have reformed and can now be trusted?”
“I don’t expect anything.” He said, bristling despite himself. He deserved her scorn and her skepticism. Why had he been foolish enough to believe she could forgive him? Love him?
“Why did you do it? Denounce me?” she clarified. “Why did you betray me?” Her voice was even and calm, but he could see the flash of anger in her eyes and the quick tinge of color in her colorless cheeks.
“It is a long and sordid story.” He glanced out at the street again but saw no sign of Alex or Hastings. Perhaps the two of them were taken and now he and Gabrielle were also doomed. This might very well be his last chance to confess, to tell his story.
“I have time, and at this point, I doubt much would shock me.”
He gave a short laugh. “You underestimate me.”
“Then shock me.”
“Very well. I’m not the Earl of Sedgwick. I’m the oldest of eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes of Cumbria. My parents were tenant farmers on the old earl’s land.”
Her brow had creased, but she looked more confused than shocked.
“I knew the earl. He had no heirs of his own, and he took me under his wing. He taught me to read and write. I often sat in his library while he looked over accounts, and in time I learned arithmetic too. I was not ignorant, simply poor.” He slid down the wall of the alcove, crouching so he could rise quickly but giving his back and legs some relief. “Perhaps the earl was lonely or perhaps he saw something in me. He treated me like his son. We would walk for hours some days, and he would talk of music and art. He wanted nothing in return, and all I wanted was a respite from the endless days of hard labor and my aching belly when I went to bed hungry.”
“I don’t understand.” Gabrielle’s voice broke the sound of the soft patter of rain on the streets.
“When the earl died, his estate was in shambles. He’d loved books, not farming. He’d spent the last ten years searching for an heir, but none could be found. I knew this. And on his deathbed, he told me the estate would surely be sold off in parts, all of his tenants made their own master.”
Gabrielle inhaled sharply.
Ramsey cut her a look. “He was a fool, yes, but a kindly fool. He didn’t understand money, didn’t realize none of his tenants would have the money to buy the land they farmed, pay off the earl’s creditors. Without an heir, we were consigned to homelessness. My elderly parents and my seven younger siblings would have nowhere to go. They would have starved or had to resort to theft or prostitution.” He rose again, gave Gabrielle a direct look. “And so I took the only option available to me. I became the earl’s heir.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It is not legal, but it is possible. I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say I took what blunt the earl had and used it to hire the most unscrupulous men I could find. I created a new identity for myself and made an appearance at the earl’s London residence, just as the will was to be read. I had all the documents I needed to prove I was the earl’s legitimate son, from a marriage that took place when he’d been on the Continent. I knew the earl. I could fill in all the details of his life, his mannerisms. I told you he’d been searching for heirs; I had letters from him to me after his man had found me. I must say, if I ever decided to write poetry, Byron would be put to shame. The letters portrayed a beautiful reunion between father and son. Unfortunately, the earl died before he could add me to his will, but no matter. The law is clear on the point. All of his property went to me. Have I shocked you?”
Her wide eyes and heavy silence answered his question.
“My father and mother were good people. Had they known, they would have never allowed me to continue with such a ruse, but once the deed was done, if they spoke out, they would have condemned me to death. I think that is my greatest regret. My parents died with my sins on their conscience.”
Gabrielle blew out a shaky breath. “This is beyond belief.”
“Is it? I was young and rash and thought I was invincible. I didn’t believe I would ever be caught. I didn’t understand guilt or shame or regret. The earl had shown me a life I hadn’t known existed. I saw what I wanted within arm’s reach, and I took it. Damn the consequences.”
He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat. “You were almost a consequence.”
