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His heart raced—Lady Langley had left Sandbourne, with her family, just before Jasper did. That meant that the robbers had waited for them. It could have been any of them, but Lord and Lady Langley had been the ones with the bad luck.

* * *

Jasper rode to Kirby Hall, the first thing the next morning. He’d been up until late, having gone over to see Lord Langley and Lady Ella. They were both shaken, but neither of them hurt. He’d listened to their story—how a group of two men stopped them. Lady Langley had been held at knifepoint. She’d tried to fight back, and had been killed.

Jasper was going to call off the wedding. Full stop. They could not have guests arriving for a wedding when there were thieves in the area.

He arrived in time to meet Lord and Lady Kirby for breakfast.

“Come, have a seat, Your Grace,” Lord Kirby said, his plate full before him. Jasper felt terrible to be intruding upon them, but he couldn’t put it off.

“I need to talk to both of you, and Lady Leah, as well,” he said.

“She’ll be down in a moment, Your Grace,” Lady Kirby replied.

“It would be best if it were just the three of you,” he said, not wanting Lady Selina to be there.

“I’ll go and get her,” Lady Kirby said, standing and leaving the room.

“It’s about the wedding, then?” Lord Kirby asked, knowingly.

“Yes, My Lord,” he said grimly. “Lord and Lady Langley were attacked last night.”

Lord Kirby frowned. “Langley? Is he all right?”

Jasper shook his head. “No, My Lord.”

Lord Kirby gasped, setting his knife and fork down. He’d gone pale as a sheet. “Good God,” he whispered. “We’d only just seen them. We—”

Jasper watched as realization dawned on Lord Kirby.

“Right,” he said. “We don’t need guests arriving now.”

The two ladies entered, then and Lord Kirby didn’t say anything more.

“Your Grace,” Lady Leah said, curtsying. “To what do we owe the honor?” She was smiling as she sat down in the seat across from him.

“There was another robbery last night,” Jasper said. “Lady Langley was killed.”

Lady Kirby gasped. Lady Leah looked stricken.

“We need to call off the wedding,” he said. “We cannot have guests arriving in the area when they are exactly the type of people who these men are targeting.”

“Then, of course,” Lady Leah said, suddenly tearing up. “We’ll have to write to everyone to let them know.”

“It’s for the best, dear,” Lady Georgiana said.

“Of—of course,” Lady Leah agreed, shakily. “It—It’s not forever.”

Jasper nodded. This would be the first step—call it off, then when he was in a better frame of mind, he would talk to her, convince her that it would be best, for both of them, that they not go through with it.

* * *

Leah stood up. It wasn’t fair! Her wedding! Put off! On top of that, Lady Langley! Murdered! Her throat was very tight, and her eyes were filling with tears. They were all watching her. She covered her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, then ran from the room, sobbing. It was too much to bear.

“Oh, Leah, my sweet!” her mother called after her, following her out and into the hallway.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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