Page 70 of The Icy Duke Claims a Bride

“Oh, but tell me what has happened first, dear Hugh! Look at you, so distressed and disheveled. I can see that something is wrong. You must have ridden all the way from Redbridge at a gallop. Is it Catherine? Has something happened to her?”

The brimming concern in his aunt’s large brown eyes irked him beyond bearing at this moment, and as she reached out a hand towards him, the idea of her touch disgusted him.

“Uncle Edwin!” he shouted violently enough to make everyone else in the hallway jump, and to keep his aunt at a distance.

“What is the meaning of all this…” Edwin snapped, emerging from a room further down the main hallway while pulling on his jacket. “Hugh! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“That’s exactly the question I’ve come here to ask you.” Hugh drew his pistol and pointed it towards his uncle, who looked angry rather than afraid at this gesture. “I suggest that you answer my questions honestly so that we waste no time and your crimes do not multiply further.”

As he had been instructed earlier, Elmore, too, drew his pistol but kept it pointing down. Lady Georgina let out a little scream when she saw the firearms, and the sound only grated further on Hugh’s nerves.

Hugh admitted to himself at that moment that he had never liked his aunt. He had only tolerated her, first at his father’s instruction, and then out of good manners.

“What poison did you use, Uncle?” he asked curtly, pointing his pistol steadily at Edwin’s head.

“Poison? Have you finally gone completely out of your mind, Hugh? What poison?”

Edwin continued to stare Hugh down, the cold strength of his rather colorless features now fully apparent to his nephew. This was indeed a ruthless man—a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his aims.

“The poison you blackmailed our maid into giving to my wife. What was it?”

“What?!” Edwin said incredulously. “I’ve been accused of many things in my life—some of them fairly—but I thought I’d already made clear. I don’t go around poisoning people. You’ve taken leave of your senses, Hugh. I want you out of my house now before I call the constables.”

“Dear Hugh, please listen to your uncle. I know how hard your life has been and how much you love Catherine. If she has been taken ill, you must not blame him for that. Just put the pistol down. We’ll all talk, and then we can find a good doctor for you and Catherine and put everything right…”

The over-sweet, sing-song quality of Lady Georgina’s voice was very much at odds with the deadly nature of the confrontation in the hallway.

“Stop talking now, Aunt Georgina,” Hugh gritted out. “It won’t do any of us any favors.”

“So, you’re going to shoot me, are you, Hugh?” Edwin asked, still calm and beginning to walk slowly towards his nephew with his hands up, their gazes locked.

Hugh almost had to admire his uncle’s fearlessness, but he couldn’t afford even a second of weakness now. “No, I’m not going to shoot you, Uncle. I’m going to escort you to the constables in Bow Street, where I expect you to make a full confession to the magistrate on the basis of the considerable evidence in my possession and the credible witnesses I can produce to testify against you.”

“What evidence? What witnesses?” Edwin scoffed, but then he paused, put his hands on his hips, and frowned. “You’re talking nonsense, Hugh.”

With equal self-possession, Hugh briefly listed the letters, testimonies, and financial and logistical records in his possession. Edwin continued to shake his head but now looked bewildered.

“This must be a joke. Or a conspiracy against me. Has someone in the City put you up to this? I know there are men out there who’d love to ruin me because I ruined them.”

“I’m not laughing, Uncle. If Catherine dies, you may well be hanged, but if you cooperate, I’d put in a good word for you and try for a life sentence.”

From the corner of his eye, Hugh saw his aunt cease the wringing of her hands and look intently at her husband.

“Lady Georgina would be disgraced, of course, and would have to leave the country,” he continued. “Ireland, perhaps. Or Holland. She would have to provide for Andrew there on her own. I’d have nothing more to do with either of them after this. You should also know that if Catherine dies, I’ll remarry and sire an heir with my next wife.”

Saying those words hurt Hugh deeply, the thought of Catherine dying or of his ever remarrying both equally unthinkable. Still, it was necessary in order to test his theory, in order to make the facade in front of him crack and reveal what lay behind…

“No, Edwin! You must confess,” Lady Georgina suddenly declared. “It is the only thing to do. Think of Andrew!”

“What?” Edwin looked at his wife with consternation. “But I haven’t done anything, Georgina. I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

“Of course, you did. Hugh has all the records, and there’s no point in denying it now. I won’t have things ruined by your cowardice!”

I won’t have things ruined… I won’t have things ruined… I won’t have things ruined…

Lady Georgina’s motto rang in Hugh’s ears, reminding him of the parrot’s ramblings in Mr. Bennett’s house.

“Cowardice?!” Edwin echoed, looking like a man whose world had gone entirely mad. “After all these years together and everything we’ve worked for, you say that to me? You of all people… I’m no coward, damn it, and I’ll do whatever is best for my son. But why should I confess to something I haven’t done?” He folded his arms and looked expectantly at Hugh, but Lady Georgina wasn’t finished.

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