“It is.” He carried her through to his bedchamber and laid the countess down gently on the bed.
“I understood Toombs to say it was your mother waiting for you.”
“She claims to be my mother.”
When he looked up, it was to see astonishment clearly etched on Lena’s face as her gaze whipped between him and the countess several times as though she were cataloguing features.
“She’s dreadfully ill. I’ve sent for the physician. Can you assist me in making her comfortable?”
“Yes, of course.”
While he removed the countess’s shoes, Lena loosened buttons in order to loosen stays.
“I’m so sorry,” the countess muttered over and over. “The salmon must have been bad.”
“Don’t be troubled, my lady,” he told her. “The doctor will be here shortly.”
“I didn’t want him to take you.”
After bringing a blanket over to her, he settled at her side and clasped her hand. “You’re not to worry yourself over it.”
“He told me you would be well cared for.”
“I was. Ettie Trewlove was a marvel of a mum.”
“Please don’t hate me.”
“I would never.” His father, yes. This woman, no.
He was aware of Lena pouring water from the pitcher into the bowl at the washstand. Soon after, she came over, eased down onto the bed, and began wiping the woman’s brow.
“Your Grace, I’d not expected to see you here.”
“Perhaps you’d be so kind as not to mention my presence to anyone.”
“I’m never one to gossip. I am, however, utterly embarrassed to put you to such bother.”
“My lady, it’s my privilege to tend to you. I’m only sorry you’re feeling so poorly.”
With a little cry, the countess rolled onto her side, brought her knees up, and pressed a hand to her belly. “I may retch again.”
Aiden grabbed a bin and brought it over. “Do what you must. I’m going to fetch some milk. We’ll see if that will help to settle your stomach.”
He was quick about popping down to the kitchens to grab a pitcher of milk and a glass. When he returned to his rooms, he was alarmed to see her looking frailer, paler. It didn’t help matters that Lena appeared more worried.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he slid his arm beneath her slender shoulders and lifted her slightly, holding the glass against her lips. “Here, my lady, drink this.”
With a grimace, she slowly sipped.
“That’s it. Just a little at a time.” He cooed with encouragement, praising her further.
After she drank a good bit and shook her head, he set the glass aside and eased her back down to the pillows. With her cloth, Lena wiped gently at the countess’s mouth.
Moaning softly, Lady Elverton closed her eyes. “Will you tell me of your childhood, Mr. Trewlove?”
If she was looking to be absolved of guilt, he very much doubted she wanted to hear the truth of that, the many nights he went to bed with his gut gnawing at his spine for want of food, how callused and rough his soles became for want of shoes, how often he shivered until he feared his teeth would loosen for want of coal or a proper-fitting and less frayed jacket. “Under the circumstances, I should think you could call me Aiden.”
Her mouth curled up slightly. “Luke. I thought of you as Luke. The first was Matthew. Then Mark. Luke. John. Johnny. I was able to keep Johnny, Viscount Wyeth, because I was Elverton’s wife by then.” The words came slowly, a breath taken between each one.
He squeezed her hand. “Save your strength, my lady, and rest easy. We’ll talk later.”
“I need to make things right with you. I don’t know how much longer I have.”
“The earl told me you were unwell,” Selena said softly. “Do you know what ails you?”
“A husband who wishes to be rid of me. He favors young and beautiful women. The years have taken their toll on me and my looks have faded.” Her eyelids struggled to lift as though she found them heavy as irons. Slowly she turned her gaze toward Lena. “Take care, Duchess. He’ll have his eye on you.”
Selena had never known her bones to feel so cold as she stood before the fireplace in the front parlor, striving to find some warmth in the dancing flames, while Dr. Graves, who had arrived only a short time ago, was examining the countess. Aiden sat in a nearby chair, his forearms pressed to his thighs, his head bent.
“Why didn’t you leave?” he asked somberly.
As harsh as his earlier words had been, as much as they’d bludgeoned her heart, she found that she couldn’t dismiss him easily, couldn’t simply walk out of his life as though he meant nothing at all to her. She suspected in the future, on rare occasions, she would come to the club, simply to catch a glimpse of him. She would look forward to sharing whatever time he spent with his child. Although she’d never been comfortable with the scheme Winslow had cooked up, she hadn’t fully understood the extent of its costs, hadn’t realized what Aiden would come to mean to her. “The way you rushed out of here, I feared trouble was afoot. I remained in case you had need of me.”
He raised his eyes to her. “Thank you for helping me with her.”
“I’ll just stay until the doctor is finished examining her, in case there’s more I can do.”
He merely nodded.
“Do you know why she came to see you?”
“I met her the night I told Elverton to steer clear of you. She lied then about being my mother. I suppose the truth of things began to weigh heavily upon her. She needed to ease her guilt.”
“I can see the resemblance . . . in your eyes, the sleekness of your nose. Elverton’s is rather broader.”
“I thought I’d noticed similarities before, but I blamed it on my imagination and my wish she was my mother—that at long last I knew who had brought me into the world.”
Her heart ached for him. “I didn’t realize you yearned to know who your mother was.”
He lifted a shoulder, dropped it, seemed to clutch his hands more tightly. “I think every motherless child hungers to know the tale of his origins. It’s just easier to claim not to, to pretend it doesn’t matter.”
Which made it even more important that the babe growing within her never doubt its origins. Perhaps Aiden was correct that they should part ways. How much longer could she refrain from letting the love she felt for him shine through in her eyes for all the world to see? Was it fair to ask him to wait for her for a few years, to then pretend they’d only just met?
“How do you feel knowing Viscount Wyeth is your brother?”
“I always knew he was my brother through Elverton.” He studied his clasped hands. “It’s an odd thing to know that we share the same mother as well.”
His voice had hesitated at mother, and she wondered if it would have been easier to learn all this when he was younger—or to have not learned any of it at all. Would Selena’s son look for similarities in Lushing’s portraits? Would he hate her if he ever learned the truth regarding his existence?
Wandering over to the sideboard, she splashed some whisky into a glass and handed it off to Aiden.
He tossed back a good portion of it. “Thank you.”
Kneeling before him, she placed her hands on his wrists as he did little more than clasp the glass. “Even though we are not going to continue to see each other, I want you to know—I need you to know—that if you are ever in want of solace or anything at all, you can come to me and I’ll be there for you.”
“But only in the shadows.” His eyes contained enough sorrow to bring tears to hers. “Even when we arrange for me to spend time with my child—it’ll have to be in such a way that no one sees us. I’m beginning to think it might be best if I simply observe from afar.”
“I want you to have the opportunity to know your son—or daughter.”
“And when he or she grows older, wiser, more aware of the world and begins to wonder why I have such a keen interest—”
�
�Because you’re my friend.”
He shook his head. “I wanted you so badly that I may have ignored all the possible ramifications of our actions.”
She could hear in his tone the falsehood of his earlier words. He hadn’t grown weary of her. “You’ve come to mean a great deal to me.”
“For what it’s worth, I won’t ever forget you. But for any of us to have any semblance of a normal life—”
“I think she was poisoned,” Graves announced as he came to stand before them.
As he rose to his feet, Aiden brought Selena to hers. “What do we do for her?” he asked.
“I think you’ve already done it by giving her milk. I’m glad you didn’t wait for my arrival.” It had taken him more than an hour to get to them.
“How does milk help?” Aiden asked.
Graves cupped his elbow with one hand in order to support his arm while he rubbed his chin. “I’m not quite certain of the particulars, but it seems to neutralize the arsenic if it’s not already completely digested and in the blood.”
“Arsenic? What? She had a mishap applying her face creams or powders?”
Selena could see that raging fury was rushing through Aiden as his eyes burned.
“She said she was feeling perfectly well until tonight, and as this came on quite suddenly, I suspect it was placed in her food or drink during dinner,” Graves said.
“By whom?” Aiden demanded.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“The Earl of Elverton,” Selena said quietly. “He came to see me recently, propositioning me again. I assured him I wouldn’t become his mistress.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Aiden asked.
“Because I didn’t want you confronting him, earning his ire. He’s a powerful man, and I thought I’d put an end to it. But now I have to wonder if I merely gave him cause to strive to make a place for me as his wife. To show that he could.”
Aiden met the doctor’s gaze. “Is there a way to prove he poisoned her?”
“In a household such as his, even if we could locate the food laced with poison, with so many servants about, he’d point the finger elsewhere.”
“Then I’ll deal with him.”
“That tone indicates a man who will do something foolish that will see him ending his life on the gallows. Talk with Chief Inspector Swindler at Scotland Yard. He may have some ideas.”
“What if we could get him to confess?” Selena asked.
Aiden narrowed his eyes. “And how would we do that?”
“If my suspicions are correct, and he did this as a way to win me over, if I were to invite him over for tea, perhaps he would feel a need to share the lengths he will go to in order to have me.”
“No. I want you nowhere near the bastard.”
“I wouldn’t be alone. You and the chief inspector would be on hand, hidden away somewhere, listening, as it would be important that an officer of the law hear his words.”
“No.”
“Aiden—”
“For two reasons, Lena. First, the risk to you is far too great. He could very well run mad when he discovers you—we—duped him and harm you. And second, if he is found guilty of committing a crime for which he would hang—and trust me, I would not at all mind seeing him hang—I believe there is a chance the Crown would take his title and properties, which would leave his heir with nothing.”
Her eyes softened. “And you won’t do that to your brother, even though you don’t know him.”
Aiden gave a brisk nod. “Finn and I will deal with him, and he will rue the day we were ever born.”
She had no reason to stay, and yet Selena couldn’t bring herself to leave. If she hadn’t fallen in love with Aiden before, she would have done so tonight as she watched the gentleness with which he tended his mother, wiping her brow, ensuring she drank more milk. Told her pleasant tales from his childhood about a dog he’d once had, his love of mincemeat pies, the books he enjoyed reading.
Selena sat in a nearby chair, knowing he was painting a pretty picture of his life for this woman so she would harbor no guilt for not having raised him herself.
“My brothers and I were always getting up to some mischief, Gillie usually tagging along behind us. Mum managed to keep a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and clothes on our backs. Shoes were sometimes an issue, but I never minded going barefoot. I liked all the different textures my feet would encounter, and I could run faster without the weight.” His eyes met and held Selena’s, and she remembered how insistent he’d been about removing her shoes that first night. She wondered if he’d ever frolicked barefoot in clover. She wished they’d had an opportunity to go on a picnic near a river.
“You loved the woman who took you in,” the countess said weakly.
“I still do. The way she cared for us, you’d have not thought she hadn’t given birth to us.”
“I wanted that for you. After we married, I asked him if he would bring my children back to me, but he couldn’t remember where he’d taken you all. There were other mistresses you see, other babes. I always made excuses for him. He was a man of strong needs and urges. He had such vitality. How could one woman satisfy him?”
“You told me you loved him.”
“I did . . . when I had a young heart. Then he broke it too many times. It is naught now but cracks and fissures into which regret takes root.”
Selena wondered if a time would come when she would regret the bargains she’d made, the deception she would perpetrate. Already she was feeling a tiny crack in her heart because Aiden would not be in her life.
“You’re not going back to him,” Aiden said quietly. “You’ll stay here until you’re strong enough and then I’ll find accommodations for you elsewhere.”
“I need to let Johnny know.”
“I will handle the matter. Don’t worry yourself. Try to sleep.”
“You’re such a good boy.”
But Selena knew he was an exceptionally good man.
When the countess finally drifted off, Aiden looked across the way at Selena and jerked his head to the side. She followed him into the front parlor.
“You need to be getting home,” he said quietly. “Dawn will be arriving soon.”
“I don’t understand how Elverton can be so callous, so vile. If your mother hadn’t come here, she might have died. And who would have been the wiser regarding the circumstances behind her death?”
“She’s with me now. And I will keep her safe.”
She didn’t doubt his words or his ability to do just that. “When are you going to confront Elverton?”
“Tonight. I’ll keep the countess here until that matter is done.”
“When all this is behind you, perhaps we can discuss our future.”
“We don’t have a future, Lena. We never did.”
“I can’t just cast you aside.”
“You are too vibrant a woman to live your public life alone and without escort.”
“Perhaps there’s another way.”
He shook his head. “You need to leave.”
“Will you at least give me one last kiss?”
She shouldn’t have asked but as he joined his mouth to hers, she was ever so glad she had. It was bittersweet to know it was the last and to know it would never be enough.
When he drew back, she gave him a soft smile, then turned on her heel and walked out of his life and into the one she had thought she wanted.
Chapter 23
The Earl of Elverton poured himself a scotch, dropped into a chair in his library, and brooded. Late last night, while he’d been at his club, his wife had called for a carriage. The vehicle and driver had yet to return. No one seemed to know where his countess had gone.
All day and into evening, he considered his dilemma. Was it better to sound the alarm and have people searching for her or to wait until someone came to inform him that she was dead? Because she would die, was probably already staring sightlessly into oblivion. Perha
ps she’d expired in the carriage and the driver was too terrified to return her to the residence. Or she’d passed elsewhere and had yet to be found.
He would be shocked, of course, horrified, bereaved.
He wanted Polly, to become lost in her, but it would not do to be caught plowing into her when news came regarding the demise of his countess. His time would be better spent planning his lies, his disbelief, his sorrow. There was a small chance she still lived. If she returned to the residence . . . well, more direct measures might be called for because he was determined, one way or another, that Selena Sheffield, Duchess of Lushing, would become his wife within the year.
Aiden had gone to Finn’s farm and explained the situation to him, knowing his brother wouldn’t hesitate to saddle a horse and accompany him to Elverton’s residence. They didn’t bother to knock on the door, but simply strode in and demanded the butler tell them where they’d find the earl. Dismissing him, not waiting for an introduction, they marched down the hallway and into the library, where the toad who had sired them sat in a chair by the fireplace, glass in hand, sipping an amber liquid.
He released an impatient gust of air. “I rid myself of you bastards so I wouldn’t be bothered with you. You’re making a nuisance of yourselves.”
“Was your countess making a nuisance of herself?” Aiden asked. “Is that the reason you poisoned her?”
The earl went so still it was impossible to tell if he even breathed. “I did no such thing. Is she dead, then?”
Aiden lunged forward, grabbed the armrests, and caged in the vile excuse for a man. “She came to me. I nursed her through the night. But Dr. William Graves confirms she was given arsenic, probably during dinner.”
“It must have been a servant. I’ll let go the lot of them.”
Grabbing his lapels, Aiden jerked him out of the chair with such force that his glass went flying before crashing to the floor. “I know it was you.”
The old man shoved himself free. “You can’t prove it. You can’t prove anything.”
“We’re well aware of that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t see justice done.”
“Touch me again, and I’ll have you arrested. It is against the law to strike a lord.”
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