Page 77 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding
‘Of course not.’ He cast an admiring glance at her. ‘Motherhood suits you, Rosina. You look very well. Blooming, in fact.’
‘Flatterer!’ she scolded him, blushing at the same time and clearly mightily pleased with his compliment.
‘Now then,’ said Conham, watching this exchange with a mock frown. ‘When you have finished flirting with my wife perhaps you will tell me what has happened to you.’
‘A slight altercation with a rifleman,’ said Matt.
‘Not a very good one, if you are still alive,’ observed the Earl, handing him a glass of wine.
‘Conham, do not be so unfeeling!’ Rosina protested.
‘No, he’s right. The man hadn’t fired a gun in anger for ten years and was…er…out of practice.’
‘You mean he intended to kill you?’
‘He was ordered to do so, certainly.’
A momentary silence met his statement.
‘And do you know who ordered him?’
‘Yes. Viscount Whilton. The man who currently possesses my—our—Rysbrack statue.’
‘I think you had best tell us the whole,’ said the Earl, refilling his own wineglass and sitting down.
Matt obliged, although he did not tell them everything. It was necessary to mention Flora, of course, but he tried to concentrate on his dispute with the Viscount over the ownership of the statue.
When he had finished, Rosina laughed.
‘And you have put your would-be assassin to work at Bellemonte? If that isn’t just like you, Matt Talacre!’
‘What else could I do with the fellow? He hadn’t wanted to kill me. He is an ex-soldier and has been working as a groundsman at Whilton Hall. I thought he might do well in the gardens.’
‘And what of the Viscount?’
‘Ah.’ Matt hesitated. ‘Well, that’s where I need your help, Conham.’
Once he had told them his plan, the Earl was only too eager to help him. It was Rosina who picked up on something Matt would rather have left unexplained.
‘It seems to me you are going to extraordinary lengths over a statue, Matt,’ she remarked.
‘It’s a matter of principle.’
‘But why the urgency, why must you challenge the man with all this evidence before his wedding?’ Shewaited, watching Matt as he struggled to find a satisfactory answer. Then she smiled knowingly. ‘Could it be that you have an interest in the bride?’
‘She deserves better.’
Matt felt his cheeks growing warm, for now Conham was watching him, too.
‘I want to save the lady from making an error,’ he went on. ‘I cannot think any woman would want to marry such a man.’
‘And do you think she would rather marry you?’ asked Conham. He laughed. ‘Oho, it’s a Case! Look at him, Rosina. I never thought I would see Matt Talacre lose his head over a woman, but I am pretty sure it has happened.’
Matt fought with himself. He considered trying to laugh it off, but the Earl was an old friend. And Rosina was too shrewd to be taken in by a fudge.
‘Aye, well, there is a little more to it than I have told you.’
‘Then tell us now,’ she invited him.
