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He didn’t reply as he turned toward the mausoleum. She watched him unlock the door and enter, leaving it open.
“Should I?” she asked. She didn’t actually expect an answer, but then Dillan touched her arm.
“Go,” he said. “See what you can find out. Alexi and I will be right here waiting until you come out.”
Bennet heardthe soft swish of her skirts as she entered the mausoleum. Odd, but Rebecca’s skirts sounded different from any other woman’s. He loved the sound as much as he loved the rest of her. But he couldn’t say any of that now.
In fact, he wasn’t sure he could speak. It wasn’t every day that a man stared at his own stone sarcophagus. It even a had a gold-plated plaque with his name just above it on the wall.
He’d come here to say goodbye to his father, perhaps apologize to his brother. He hadn’t expected to find the evidence of his own death. There hadn’t been a body—obviously.
“I come here often,” she said behind him. “I knew you weren’t in there, but still. It was a place to go to be…near you.”
He’d hated being apart from her. But in this moment, he realized just how real his death must have been to her. No question. No doubt. He’d been gone forever in her mind, where in his, he’d make it back someday and maybe there was a chance she’d waited. “Rebecca.”
“Start talking, Bennet. I mean it.” Her hands landed on her hips again. Dear Lord in heaven, he loved when this woman was strong.
Especially in this moment when he felt so weak. “That sounds like a threat.”
“It is. Let’s be clear. I work for one of the largest papers in London. Either you talk or I’ll fill in my own details. I’m quite good at it.”
He turned to fully face her, half impressed and half irritated. She needn’t threaten exposure. Whatever she’d been through, he’d done it for her protection, after all. “You’re threatening me now?”
“You can’t come back here today and provide me no explanation. Not after all this time. You owe me something.”
Pain lanced through his chest. He did. “It was my work that got Marcus killed.”
She gasped, listing to the side to lean on the doorframe. “You know that for certain?”
“I do,” he said, the pain still so raw that he placed a hand on his chest. “The coin in his hand…”
Her hands came up to her mouth before they dropped again, her eyes wide with surprise. “You know about that? I’ve searched every shop and smith I could find to trace that coin, but…”
“That’s because it’s not made here. It’s from India.” He took a step toward her, needing to be closer. “From the ashes of the Indian Trading Company, another business has arisen. One of the former leaders is not happy being an administrative officer. He’s started his own shipping business, using the harbors, contacts, and routes of the former shipping company, only he doesn’t do so with the crown’s permission or support.”
Rebecca understood. “He’s a smuggler.”
“He is. A powerful one. Rich and only getting richer. I came so close to finding his real identity before I left the East for our wedding.” He swallowed as he walked toward Rebecca. “And just before I arrived home, he left me a very clear message.”
“What was it?” But her voice trembled.
“Marcus’s death.” He couldn’t help himself. He reached up and cupped her cheek. “Don’t you understand? This man is an English citizen. Likely a lord of the realm. He killed an heir to the marquessate in broad daylight without a single repercussion. He wanted me to know I wasn’t safe. And if I’d stayed and married you, you wouldn’t have been safe either.”
She shook her head. “You’re trying to say that you did this to protect me?”
Relief washed through him. Finally, she was beginning to understand. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m attempting to say.”
“You complete idiot.”
He blinked in surprise, dropping his hand. “What?”
“So all this time, you’ve been trying to catch him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you? Catch him?” It was her turn to step closer, her chin at that jaunty angle again, her eyes glittering. “For the three years of hell I’ve been through thinking you were dead, did you find the man who killed your brother and see him hanged?”
“Well.” He nearly stepped back. How did Rebecca manage it? He had to outweigh her by two stones, but she had him shaking in his boots. “No.”
