Page 97 of His Stolen Duchess
Lady Eastbeck was sitting at the small table in the middle of the greenery, pouring herself a cup of tea.
“Ah, Your Grace, what a pleasant surprise,” she called when Lysander entered. “Won’t you come and join me?”
Lysander walked over to the table. Imogen Lockridge, the Marchioness of Eastbeck, didn’t look at him once as he approached the table. The tea looked like it was piping hot, and there was a meager assortment of cakes on a small plate, as if everything had been put together at the last second.
You want to seem in control and have me believe you were out here, but all of this is to give us some privacy because you know there are some things you don’t wish the staff to hear.
“That will be all,” she said to the butler, not looking at him either.
And there it is. We will be all alone. You are doing well to keep your composure, Lady Eastbeck.
“Won’t you sit down and join me?” Lady Eastbeck offered.
“Gladly,” Lysander replied. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“I hope I can be of some assistance. My husband takes care of our business, and I don’t know a lot about that. Perhaps I should have been more involved, but he never needed my help.”
“You can drop the act, Lady Eastbeck,” Lysander said.
She looked up at him blankly. “I don’t have the first clue what you mean. Won’t you have some tea?” She didn’t wait for a reply and poured some into a second cup. “Please, help yourself to some cakes, Your Grace.”
“Is this really how you want to play it?” Lysander asked. “I don’t expect much of you, Lady Eastbeck, but I thought you might take some responsibility for what you did. What were you going to do once you had her? Hold her here for as long as your husband is away? Then what? What are you capable of?”
Lady Eastbeck frowned. She tilted her head like a puppy struggling to understand a command. “Perhaps I missed something, but this sounds like some weirdly constructed fairytale. I don’t understand a thing you are saying, Your Grace.”
“Your husband doesn’t know about any of this, does he?”
She tilted her head in the other direction. “About what, Your Grace?”
He might have been annoyed if he didn’t believe he was getting the truth from her, but he could see her fear bubbling just below the surface. He had to admire the way she continued to pretend, but she wouldn’t last much longer.
“Were you with Lord Abbington before or after he was betrothed to Georgina?” Lysander asked.
“LordAbbington?” She queried in a tone brimming with mock astonishment and confusion. “Whatever has he to do with anything?”
“It’s better for him to be on the Continent, isn’t it? What a disappointment he turned out to be.”
“Don’t you—” Lady Eastbeck clamped her mouth shut and grunted. “Please don’t come into my home and try to rattle me with some stories you have in your head, Your Grace. Perhaps it’s best if you take your leave.”
“No, not yet.” Lysander picked up the small jug of cream and added some to his tea before dropping in two sugar cubes and stirring them. “You brought me out here, you sent your staff away, and you know exactly what all of this is about.” He took a sip of the tea and placed the cup back down on the saucer.
“Then perhaps I should go,” she said, picking up the napkin and wiping her hands.
She was about to stand up when Lysander commanded, “Sit down, Lady Eastbeck.”
She did as he said, looking him in the eye and swallowing. She didn’t speak.
“Here’s what I know,” Lysander said. “It took some time to put it all together, but you can learn almost anything when you put coin in the right pockets. You are in love with Lord Abbington.This poses a problem, of course, because you are married. Happily married by all accounts. When Lord Abbington left the country of his own volition, you blamed Georgina for that. That is why you accosted her at the ball. From what I can tell, you have been sending him money. I don’t know what your end goal is. Do you intend to be with him? Do you hope he returns to England, or will you go overseas to be with him? How much do you love him, Lady Eastbeck?”
Lady Eastbeck sighed, and a calm seemed to wash over her. “Your Grace, I will admit that you have a flair for the creative, but I must ask you to leave my house. It is not right that I am here alone with you, and I may have to call a constable. I don’t wish to cause any trouble for either of us.”
“Oh, it’s far too late for that,” Lysander said. “When you caused trouble for Georgina, you caused trouble for yourself. You sent three men after her. You sabotaged my coach, didn’t you? So your hired ruffians could go to the townhouse where we swam, the one with no staff present, to kidnap her and bring her back here.”
Lady Eastbeck tried to pick up her tea, but she put it down again when her hand shook. “I am beginning to become offended, Your Grace. I have been nothing but gracious since you arrived, and you have insulted me at every turn. I don’t know who told you these things, but they were clearly lying. I did hear a rumor that you were at a townhouse where three men were burgling it, and I’m sure that they would have said anything for more leniency. They obviously mentioned my name as a scapegoat, and you were taken in by it. I feel sorry for you, Your Grace.”
Lysander reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded document. He placed it on the table and pushed it toward Lady Eastbeck.
“This is a full sworn confession from Douglas Harding, one of the three men who attempted to abduct my wife. He swore on the Bible that you paid him handsomely for the job, and that they were to bring Georgina here to you. You can read it if you wish, and then I can supply you with the sworn testimonies of the other two men, and before you claim there was some collusion, three men made their testimonies separated from each other, supplying the same details each time. I’ll give you a moment to read the document and then state your piece.”
