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He already had a man watching the shop, but he decided that he needed to go down there himself. Perhaps he should warn them.
He sighed, feeling as though he was being pulled in far too many directions. The most important thing right now was to make sure his brother paid for all the despicable things he’d done. It was time to speak to the magistrate. He still didn’t feel like he had a very substantial case against Danbury, but what was he supposed to do? Wait for his brother to kill again and make a mistake?
No. He would not allow any more women to die.
With a sigh, he prepared to present the most difficult case of his life.
* * *
HEATHER SPENT THE MORNINGexploring Drake’s home, pleased to discover that it wasn’t the overdone pleasure palace she’d feared. The décor was tasteful and elegant, far more masculine than she’d expected.
She’d been sad to wake up alone, but she knew he had to work. The responsibility of bringing both Jacob and The Viper to justice hung heavily on his shoulders, and she knew he’d never rest until he accomplished those tasks.
As she drifted from room to room, she allowed herself to imagine, just for a little while, what it might be like to truly be Drake’s wife, to live here in these beautiful rooms. She would wake up with him in that big, comfortable bed and have dinner with him in the large dining room with the exquisite cherry wood dining set. In the evenings, they’d adjourn to the library, filled with floor-to-ceiling bookcases with leatherbound volumes and sliding ladders. They’d sit in the deep, comfortable chairs and talk and read.
Sighing, she collapsed in one of those comfortable chairs and shook her head, though there was no one around to see.
She couldn’t go on this way. If she was going to have any chance of a future with the man she’d grown to care about so deeply, she had to tell him the truth.
Already, it might be too late.
Knowing him as she thought she did, she believed there was the slightest chance that if she told him what had happened, if she explained to him how frightened she’d been of Jacob, that he might forgive her. He might even be able to find a way to get her out of the mess she’d gotten herself into. But if he found Jacob today, if he found out that she’d been a part of the bombing and the kidnapping... If he thought she’d lied to him, he’d never forgive her.
Please, don’t let him find Jacob today.
* * *
DRAKE’S DAY HAD BEENlong and disheartening, but as he rushed up the front steps of his house that evening, he was happier than he could ever remember to be returning home. The thought of Heather waiting for him made him ridiculously grateful. In her arms, maybe he could forget that he’d made no progress on either finding Lindon or advancing his case against his brother.
He’d finally had his meeting with the magistrate and presented all of the evidence that he and the others had gathered against Danbury, but the man had not been convinced that Mortimer was The Viper. In fact, the man had ordered him from his office, obviously unwilling to even consider trying to charge a peer with something so terrible without undisputable proof.
He stopped to briefly speak with Constable Graham, one of the officers he’d left guarding the house, assuring himself that nothing suspicious had occurred while he was gone, then entered, taking the stairs three at a time.
“Heather!” he called. “Where are you, darling? I’m home.”
“I’m in the bedroom,” she replied, her voice wafting from up the stairs.
He rushed into the room, then paused in the doorway, finding her sitting in a chair before a roaring fire, an open book in her lap.
“I love seeing you here,” he said, moving across the room and kneeling on the floor in front of her, shocked by how much it soothed him to be with her. The urge to pour out all the troubles of the day nearly overwhelmed him. He’d never before felt the need to share his problems with a woman. “I love the thought of coming home to you every night.”
“I love it too,” she murmured, but he saw none of the excitement he’d expected. Instead, she looked worried. On edge. “I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home.”
He frowned, sensing that something was wrong. “Were the servants unkind to you? Did they make you feel unwelcome?” If he found out that someone in his employ had hurt her, even a little bit...
“No,” she hastened to reassure him. “Everyone was very good to me. The cook served me a lovely lunch and assured me she’d have dinner ready by seven.”
He frowned, searching her face for answers. “Then what is it, darling? You seem troubled.”
She cupped his face in her hands, but her eyes welled with tears, and the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified. “Oh, Drake. There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you from the beginning. But I’ve been so afraid... because I fear that once you hear it, you’ll no longer want to have anything to do with me.”
His mind raced in a dozen different directions as he tried to anticipate what she’d say next. She seemed utterly sincere, truly worried about his reaction, but he couldn’t imagine what could be so dire. “There’s nothing you could say to make me feel any differently about you,” he told her gently, believing it to be the truth.
A strangled laugh escaped her. “Don’t say that. Don’t say that until you hear what it is.”
“Very well.” Pushing to his feet, he walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a tumbler of whisky, sensing he was going to need it. Then he took the other chair in front of the fireplace, giving her his full attention. “Say whatever you need to say.”
She cleared her throat, the tears still falling. “I was part of the Citizens Committee,” she said all in a rush. “I’d been active in the Suffrage movement, and when I met Jacob, he convinced me that I needed to get involved with his group as well, that they were helping the working man. I thought it would be another way that I could make a difference.”
