Page 50 of Black and Silver

“It does,” Lawrence admitted, his voice slightly farther away, as if he were attempting to draw Owen away from her. “Or at least it did. I…I kept it as a reminder of the lady I have lost.”

Owen snorted, his voice also slightly farther away. “It is an abomination,” he said. “I destroyed the rest of that macabre skeleton she insisted on keeping. I will destroy this now.”

Minnie sucked in a breath and did end up coughing, but Lawrence’s shout of, “You will not do anything to damage the memorial of my love,” covered the sound. That and Silas pretending to cough somewhere nearer to her.

A small silence followed in which Minnie thought perhaps she heard a struggle. She hoped and prayed it was Lawrence wrestling Clarence back from Owen.

“You will leave me be!” Lawrence bellowed at last. “If you wish to do anything, take this man of the cloth you have brought with you and give him your confession for all the sins you committed against the dear, late Lady Minerva. Ask for his forgiveness, and say prayers for Minerva’s departed soul.”

“You are being false with me,” Owen shouted. “The village woman said Lady Minerva was alive. What have you done with her? Is she concealed in the village?”

A dozen curses for Mary hovered on Minerva’s lips. Neither she nor Lawrence had noticed when she’d left the church earlier. Minnie should have known she would reveal all.

“The woman was mistaken,” Lawrence continued to lie for her. “How much money did you pay her to tell you precisely what you wanted to hear?”

“I—”

Minnie’s eyes went wide at Owen’s stilted answer. Thank God he had paid Mary. It was a thin straw, but it was something shecould grasp onto. That sliver of doubt might just convince Owen to go away.

“Leave me be now, sir,” Lawrence snapped. “I am returning home to my family at Godwin Castle to mourn in peace. Silas!”

“Yes, my lord,” Silas answered Lawrence’s order.

A moment later, the carriage jostled as Lawrence climbed back in. It continued to move as Silas climbed up to his place. A few seconds after that, they were on their way once more.

It was another minute or so before Lawrence pulled the seat back so that Minnie could breathe deeper and emerge from her concealment.

“He’s let us go?” she asked, her head and nose full, as Lawrence helped her climb from her place. Minnie noted Clarence sitting on the seat beside him with a rush of relief.

“He has,” Lawrence said, still frowning.

She slumped to sit on the forward-facing seat with him, moving Clarence to the floor, as Lawrence replaced the seat cushion. She would have been content to stay there, pressed against Lawrence’s side, perhaps even hugging him, but Lawrence immediately moved to the seat opposite her. He regarded her with a frustrated frown that she could only just see in the light of the moon shining through the window.

A different sort of worry filled Minnie as she searched for a clean handkerchief and blew her nose. She wanted Lawrence to come out and tell her why he was suddenly so cold, but it seemed as if the cat had his tongue, even though something that required much discussion had just taken place.

“It was a good thing you told Owen we were heading to Godwin Castle,” she said once her nose was adequately clear. “He will travel in the wrong direction.”

“Wearegoing to Godwin Castle,” Lawrence said stiffly.

Minnie blinked at him in the dark. “You cannot be serious,” she said. “Owen will continue to pursue us. He will follow and follow until he has me cornered.”

“And what will you do then?” Lawrence asked. “Feign your own death and sail away to Stockholm?”

Minnie snapped her mouth shut and sank back against the seat. She felt as though she’d been hit in the chest with a crossbow bolt, or perhaps a silver stake.

“How did you know?” she whispered.

“Lord Owen discovered your arrangements with the fishermen in Bristol,” Lawrence said. “They revealed that you planned to stage your own death, then take passage with them to Ireland before continuing to Sweden.” He paused, then asked, “Is it true? Were you truly planning to leave me and make me believe you were dead?”

The way his voice faltered with the question told Minnie that her duplicity and possible disappearance was, indeed, the reason he was now out of sorts with her.

“I made those plans before I knew you,” she said quietly.

“And did you intend to follow through with them after you knew me?” Lawrence asked. “After we—”

He grew suddenly silent, and if the light in the carriage had been brighter, Minnie would have been certain he was flushed. She knew full well he was referring to their night at Tidworth Hall. They had not spoken of what happened between them since then. They had not had a chance.

It suddenly occurred to Minnie that Lawrence must have thought their night of passion meant nothing to her. She had already felt ill that morning, which had taken her thoughts. With her illness and everything else in the last few days, she had almost forgotten the deep change in their acquaintance.

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