Page 40 of The Lost Lord
“But you haven’t told her about our child, have you?” Again, Lizzie angled her body away from view.Tap tap tap. The sinister sound of half boots on wood floors echoed Livingston’s. Despite his pistol and whiskey, Richard recognized Lizzie as the greater threat. He remained silent, confirming what his former lover already knew.
“I thought not. Unless you want me to write an intimate note to my dearest and oldest friend about the existence of our child, hand me that letter from your brother. Now.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.Still, he hesitated.
“How did you know?” Richard demanded. Shame and guilt swirled within him, tinged with a darker note of fear. Absurd. This woman’s head barely came to his bicep. Yet her brazen blackmail had Richard trussed with his own sense of worthlessness.
He could free himself from the trap with a few words to Miriam but in doing so he would crush the warm trust in her eyes. Telling the truth meant losing her. Richard couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not now, when there was so much at risk. Howard’s business. His own self-regard. He’d lose Livingston Walsh’s grudging measure of respect, too.
Lizzie smirked, though Richard detected tension in her jaw and a shadow behind her eyes. He did not like to think what measures a desperate Lizzie might take compared to a merely conniving one. Fear threaded through him like a needle trailing a long thread, binding him in this mess.
“How did I know what?” Lizzie asked, deflecting.
“How did you know I am leaving America?”
Lizzie’s fever-bright eyes widened. Her foxlike features lent her a feral appearance. The hairs on the back of his neck rose.
“I didn’t, until you told me.” Lizzie chuckled. “Your landlady caught me looking through the house mail. I knew you had received a letter from the earl. The true earl, if I recall correctly.”Tap. Tap. Tap.“The brother who banished you for killing your own father.”
Twist the knife deeper, dearest.Richard swallowed his anger so hard it choked him. His fists curled against his thighs. But letting Lizzie get the better of him was not going to happen today. Nor tomorrow. He wouldn’t touch her again, and she wouldn’t come within five miles of him if he could help it. He just needed to pack his few remaining things and board theNew Hopewith his bride.
Lizzie didn’t blink. She was a basilisk. A demon.
“Get out,” he growled.
A hint of trepidation tinged Lizzie’s eyes. He flinched at his own anger. Lizzie saw it and smiled in her vulpine way, predatory and fey at once.
“You’ll regret this,” she snapped.
When she was gone, Richard fisted his hair and collapsed on the bed where he’d lain with Lizzie for months. Richard must keep his departure secret from Lizzie at any cost. He feared what she might do if she found out.
* * *
Two weeks later…
Miriam strolled arm-in-arm with Richard around the deck. The setting sun bled giddy streaks of color over the water. Gulls flapped and called hoarsely into the air. Miriam inhaled deeply. Fresh, clean, life-sustaining air rushed in until her bodice strained to contain her body.
She loved the sea. This was the adventure – albeit a tedious section of it – that she had awaited. At least, the beginning of it. As much as Miriam missed her father, she enjoyed her newfound freedom even more. If only her husband wouldusethe key she’d pressed into his palm. Why wouldn’t Richard make her his wife in truth?
It was true in every respect that mattered, Mrs. Kent had reminded her. Legally they were husband and wife. The thought never failed to send a shiver down her spine.
“Are you all right?” Richard asked, his brow crinkled slightly with concern. Miriam nestled against him. A warm glow suffused her body. Once he took her to bed, Miriam planned to tell him the depth of her feelings.I love you. There were moments when she could hardly hold back the words. She smiled up at him and folded her gloved hand over his where he held her arm to steady her from the roll of the ship.
“I am perfectly all right. More than perfect. I am so happy to be with you that I could burst with joy.”
Richard met her smile with a kiss.
“Ahem.” Mrs. Kent’s gentle interruption, one of many, had become something of a game. Richard smirked and they continued on their unhurried way around the deck, dodging a pile of rope or a busy sailor. A secret smile played over her lips as though they shared a joke only they understood.
They rounded the stern and began walking directly into the sun. Miriam was forced to keep her head tilted downward to keep the strong light from scalding her eyes. For a few moments there was only the sound of his footsteps on weathered wood, their shadows cowering behind them. A bell clanged nearby. The ship tilted. Richard’s hand gripped her arm. Miriam felt him steadying her against the sudden shift in balance.
The light shifted, momentarily blinding Miriam. When she looked up, the shape of a woman in a fashionable traveling dress swam into focus.
“Hello Richard,” Lizzie smirked. “Miriam.”
Miriam’s mouth hung open for a moment. Lizzie’s nimbus of hair had stolen color from the sun’s palette. It licked about her face in the wind glowing like a hellfire crown. She looked fierce and confident and not a little arrogant. Lizzie wrapped one hand around Richard’s forearm.
“Mind if I join your little stroll? I have been cooped up below-deck for days.”
