She nodded, but her mind was a jumble of images she wanted to push away.
“Really, it’s a miracle that the carriage stayed upright through all of that.”
She nodded again and looked at the blood on her hands.
Michael removed his neck cloth and wiped the blood away. The white cloth turned reddish-brown. He was serious about his job, and a deep crease formed between his eyes.
Could he love a woman who was a murderess? “What are you thinking?”
“I was just thinking that I have never had my life saved by a woman before.” He tucked the cloth inside his jacket and pulled her closer.
“I didn’t know what to do. I saw the knife in your boot and I acted without thinking.” The same sense of panic that gripped her in the carriage returned.
He kissed her forehead. “You did exactly the right thing, love.”
Voices and pounding hooves penetrated the fog. A moment later, Thomas and Daniel rode up.
Thomas dismounted and looked inside the carriage.
“Are you two all right?” Daniel asked.
“A little bruised, but otherwise we’re safe.”
Thomas shook his head. “I guess that solves that problem. You took care of him.”
The three men exchanged a look.
Michael said, “Yes. I took care of him.”
Thomas and Daniel both looked at her.
Grateful that Michael kept her part in the incident a secret, she kept quiet, though she suspected their friends knew the truth. She had done the only thing she could, but still her stomach lurched and her hands shook.
Thomas went to find Inspector Hardwig to manage Roxton’s body and report what had happened.
Middleton arrived last on the scene, but said he would send notes to people in high places, assuring that Roxton’s death was unavoidable. He shook his head. “The man was clearly mad.”
Due to the carriage’s severe damage, Elinor rode the rest of the way on horseback with Michael. While she could have ridden on her own, she was glad for the safety of his arms. Sitting in front of him, she leaned into his chest and tried not to think of the events of the past few days. The heavy haze afforded them some small bit of privacy.
Wet and tired, Michael, Elinor, and the rest of the party returned to Marlton Hall just before dark. The moment they entered the yard in front of the tall wide doors of Marlton’s estate, Elinor’s sense of quiet was shattered.
The butler had the door open before they’d finished dismounting.
Grooms rushed forward to take control of the exhausted animals.
Sobbing, Virginia Burkenstock ran from the door, down the steps, and crushed Elinor in her arms.
“It’s all right, Mother. I am all right.” She patted her mother’s back.
“I was so worried. I was sure you were dead.” Virginia wept.
“All is well, Mother. I have been rescued.”
At that, her mother broke away and turned toward Michael. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again and threw herself against him, sobbing once again. “Thank you, your grace. Thank you. I do not know how to thank you.”
Michael stood with his arms wide and an expression of utter confusion. It was comical, but Elinor’s energy was too sapped even for a laugh.
He looked to Elinor for help, but she just smiled and shrugged.
He patted Virginia’s back. “It is my pleasure to deliver Lady Elinor back to you safely.”
The butler cleared his throat. “Your grace, your brother’s health has taken a turn. Your mother asked for you to come above stairs as soon as you are able.”
Virginia disengaged herself and rushed back to Elinor.
Michael looked at her.
“Go to Everett, Michael. I am fine. I shall bathe and change before I come to see him.”
He nodded and bolted up the stairs two at a time.
Elinor put her arm around her mother’s shoulder and moved into the house.
Sophia and Dory waited to see her, but after giving them each a heartfelt hug, she asked to be allowed to go upstairs alone and wash.
The rain had chilled her to the bone, and she needed to scrub away the filth of everything she had done and seen. She indulged in a lengthy bath, but the memories haunted her.
Once dressed, she went to see Everett.
Tabitha sat in a chair near the bed. She looked small and worn next to the large bed Everett was tucked into.
Closing the door behind her, Elinor entered the room unnoticed.
She walked to the bed and touched Tabitha’s shoulder. “You should get some sleep, my lady. You will make yourself ill, then who will care for him?”
Tabitha rose, and a smile touched her brown eyes. She took Elinor’s hand. “I am so relieved you are safe, my dear. Everett will be relieved as well. He frets over you in his sleep.”
Elinor’s heart broke looking down at Everett’s pale face. “Where is the doctor?”
“Gone to get more laudanum. He will return shortly. An infection of the blood, he says. All we can do is wait and pray.”
Tabitha looked like she hadn’t slept in days. The dark rings framing her eyes and her pallor were a testament to her vigilance over her son.
Elinor hadn’t had much rest either, but she squeezed her hand. “I will sit with him until the doctor returns. Go and rest.”
Tabitha hesitated, but then took a breath, nodded and left. Michael’s mother had always been kind to her, but some invisible barrier had broken between them. She trusted her with one of her most precious things.
Everett lay still in the bed. Seventeen, he was a man, but his illness made him look small and helpless.
She sat by his side, and took his hand. “Oh, Everett, I am so sorry. Please live. You really must get better. It would be terrible otherwise. I will make you a list of reasons to get better. First, your mother would not recover from your loss. Sheldon would be lost without you. You have your school work that you love and must complete. There is an entire world for you to explore when you are older, but you must get older to see it. Think of all the exotic places you will see. One day you will fall in love. You do not want to miss that. I do not know what Michael will do if he loses you. He was just telling me how he wishes to spend more time getting to know you and Sheldon. He plans for you to stay with us during your school breaks after we’re married. Oh, and you will miss the wedding if you do not get better.” She stopped her list to catch her breath.
“You could be a duke one day, you know. Michael and I shall adopt children, and you or your son will one day be the Duke of Kerburghe. Won’t that be something? I shall have to call you, ‘your grace.’ Of course by then I will be an old woman with grown children and a dozen grandchildren running about. Perhaps you will be kind to me and allow me to call you by your Christian name. What do you think? Shall I be allowed to be familiar with the great duke?”
“You may call me, ‘Kerburghe,’” Everett grumbled. She looked up, and his eyes were open. The hint of a smile touched his lips.
“Everett, you’re awake. How long have you been listening to me babble?” It eased her worry that he still had his sense of humor.
He tried to shrug, but it was more of a twitching of his thin shoulders. “I do not know, but it was a good list. I will do my best to see it through.”
“Good.” She wiped the tears from her face. “How do you feel?”
“Hungry.” He grimaced.
Joy spread through her. “I’ll ring for something.” She pulled the cord near the bed. A few moments later, the door opened, and the maid rushed in followed by half the household.
Michael was first in. He’d washed and changed. He stared from Elinor to Everett and back again.
She couldn’t contain her tears. She squared her shoulders. “Everett would like something to eat.”
The doctor, a bald burly man with an overgrown beard, pushed through the lords, ladies, and servants crowding
the doorway. He put his hand on the boy’s head, then took his wrist between his fingers. He smiled, and the strain on his face eased. “The infection seems to have abated. He is out of danger.”
The crowd cheered.
Tabitha pushed through and hugged Everett.
The doctor turned to the maid. “Get him some broth and nothing too strong for a few days. See he’s fed a small amount every couple of hours.” Narrowing his eyes, he turned to Everett. “No jumping about, boy. Go slowly for a while until you get your strength back. The wound will need time to heal.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, everyone out of the room, the boy needs food and rest,” the doctor commanded.
The group dispersed and chattered happily as they left the room. Michael and Tabitha stayed behind. Elinor made to leave as well, but Michael took her arm and pulled her close as he addressed the doctor. “Is there anything else we should do?”
“Just keep him quiet for a few days, your grace. He’s young and should make a full recovery. It would be best if you didn’t travel for a least a week. The last thing he needs right now is to be jostled around in a carriage for hours.”
Tabitha whispered to Everett and brushed the hair from his forehead.
He smiled up at her.
“Thank you, doctor,” Michael said.
He nodded. “I’ll check on him daily for as long as you stay here at Marlton Hall. I assume you have a family physician in London you can call upon when you leave.”
Michael confirmed that they did, and the doctor left the room.
He looked at Elinor and his bright blue eyes swam with unshed tears of joy. He touched her cheek, and smiling, she nuzzled deeper into his hand.
Weariness swamped her. Her legs wobbled, and she longed for somewhere soft to lay her head. “It’s late. I am going to bed, and you should get your mother to sleep as well. She’s exhausted.”
Michael went to the bed. “Mother, go and rest now. You heard the doctor. Everett is out of danger. I will stay with him a while.”
Tabitha Rollins nodded and kissed both her sons. “Sheldon is in bed, but he will be happy to see you in the morning.”
Everett smiled for his mother.
Tabitha touched Elinor’s cheek as she left the room.
Holding onto the doorframe to keep her feet, Elinor marveled at how similar the brothers looked.
Michael shifted from foot to foot before he finally sat. “I am glad you are all right.”
“I am happy to see you recovered, Lady Elinor,” Everett said.
Michael nodded mutely.
“Was it an adventure?” Everett asked.
Michael looked over his shoulder at Elinor, and his expression warmed. “It was. If you will try to rest, I will tell you all about it.”
Everett closed his eyes.
Michael began the tale from the point where Sheldon ran toward them.
Unable to listen, Elinor stumbled down the hall to her bed.
Chapter 22
It wasn’t like Elinor to take a meal in her room, but she was too tired to face an entire house of people wanting to know what had happened. What would she tell them? She had already decided not to tell anyone other than Sophia and Dory about having killed Roxton.
Michael seemed willing to let it be his hand that had done the deed, and the scandal of her having killed a man would be terrible. However, she couldn’t lie to her two best friends. Besides, they could be trusted to keep the information private. Elinor suspected that Marlton and Thomas Wheel already knew the truth. The four men often communicated in some silent way.
Unable to eat, she sipped her tea. Michael hadn’t come to her last night. She worried that he might have changed his mind about the marriage after seeing her kill Roxton.
Her stomach knotted. What man would want to marry a woman who had murdered? She had potentially saved his life in the process. Would he take that into account? When he spoke to the doctor about Everett, she’d stayed by his side. It was like she was part of the family and should be present for any important conversations. That was a good sign. Perhaps he was just tired last night and that was why he hadn’t come.
She was startled out of her reverie by knocking at the door. “Come in.”
Dory poked in her perfect gold-blond head. “We did not have a chance to talk yesterday.” She opened the door further, admitting herself and Sophia to the room. “May we come in?”
“Of course.” Elinor was glad for the distraction from her troubling thoughts. She accepted hugs from her two friends.
The three of them sat at the small table.
Sophia picked at Elinor’s untouched breakfast.
Dory took charge. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” It was what she had told her mother and anyone else who asked. “And no,” she said honestly.
“Tell us,” Dory said.
“I do not know where to start. It was only a few days ago, but I feel as if I have lived years in that time. I fear everything has changed.”
Sophia stopped eating. “Perhaps you should start at the beginning. Then Dory and I will have more of an idea how we can help you to sort this all out.”
Elinor nodded and began the tale from the lovely time she had fishing with Michael’s brothers by the river. She ended with plunging the knife into Roxton’s back and arriving back at Marlton.
Dory gasped and reached forward, taking Elinor’s hand.
Sophia nodded. Perhaps she’d already heard the information from her husband.
“I fear that everything has changed.” The thought plagued her.
Dory squeezed her hand. “What do you mean? You are safe now. No one outside our circle need ever know.”
“I do not think that Michael will want to marry a woman who is a killer. I cannot say that I blame him. He might think that I could do the same to him whilst he slept.” She wiped her tears.
Dory’s eyes widened. “He is a fool if that is what he thinks, and he does not deserve you. You saved his life and—”
“I do not think you need worry about that.” Sophia scowled at Dory, and then smiled at Elinor. “In fact, I am certain that he still wishes to marry you.”
“How do you know?” Elinor sniffed into her napkin.
Sophia had a way of making her feel good just by being present. She had come to her rescue when she and Michael had been caught in a compromising position, and now she had the key to free her from this tragedy as well. “Michael asked Daniel for the use of his study in order to speak with your mother this morning.”
Elinor jumped from her seat. “When?”
“They are together right now.”
“Oh no! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Here I have been sitting and telling stories and my future is hanging in the balance. What if Mother says no? I must go.” She looked in the mirror, tucked an errant hair behind her ear, and ran through the house.
When she got to the study, Elinor pressed her ear to the door, but heard nothing. Catching her breath, she lifted her hand to knock, but instead squared her shoulders, put up her chin, and walked in.
Mother frowned across the desk at Michael, and Michael frowned back. They both looked up.
Elinor was tired of being bullied. “I understand my future is being decided. I would prefer to be the one making those decisions from now on.”
“Elinor, really. You have no business being here.” Mother’s scolding did not have the effect it usually did.
Michael smiled, bolstering her courage.
“I have every right. I am not a child, Mother. I will make my own decisions.” She was an adult and would act as such. The last few days had changed her as much as the events of the last few months. No more waiting for someone else to change her world.
Mother glared. “I have already told his grace that a marriage agreement between the two of you is out of the question. Your father was very specific in his instructions before he left.” She took o
n the monotone she used whenever quoting Father verbatim. “You are not to marry Michael Rollins. I do not think he has changed his mind and I have no way to contact him at this time. He has an essential job and cannot be bothered with trivialities.”
“My future is not a triviality. Nevertheless, I do not wish for you to contact Father. His business is what he really cares about, anyway. If he cared about me then he would have asked my opinion before he created this mess in the first place. Michael and I would already be happily married, and Father would not have dishonored our family by breaking his word to a duke of the realm.”
Mother gasped. “Elinor, how dare you speak of your father that way?”
Michael beamed at her. It was nice to see pride rather than pity or shame in his eyes.
Virginia gaped at Elinor, then cried.
With a sigh, Elinor sat next to her. “I am sorry, Mother. I know that you think Father is always right.”
“That’s not true. He is rarely right, but he is still your father,” Mother said.
Elinor laughed. “Well, I am telling you right now that I will marry no one if I am not allowed to marry the Duke of Kerburghe. I would rather grow old and be pitied as an old maid than to marry a man whom I do not love. It is not fair to me and certainly unfair to the poor man I am forced on. I will marry Michael or no one at all.”
Mother sputtered. “Elinor, you do not know what you’re saying. It is obvious to me that the events of the past few days have caused you some sort of trauma. I shall call the doctor back for another look at you.”
“I am not ill, Mother. I mean what I say, and no amount of doctoring will change my mind.”
“Middleton is a good man, and he may well make an offer.”
“You are correct. Middleton is a good man. However, whether he makes an offer or not is irrelevant. I will not have him. I love Michael, and marrying anyone else is out of the question. Besides, do you really think that Middleton wants a wife who is in love with someone else?”
Mother got up and walked to the other side of the room, shoulders slumped and shaking.
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