Page 61 of Murder at the Seven Dials
His stare sharpened. “I have already commanded you to cease your investigation. After what happened with Bernadetto, are you so outright foolish that you would invite the killer’s attention?”
“No, not that. It’s something far less…obvious.”
He frowned. “How do you mean?”
She went a bit unsteady. The closet was hot and stuffy. She couldn’t possibly be thinking about admitting her secret, and to Hugh Marsden of all people! It had gotten her locked away at an asylum for two years. The last person she’d willingly discussed it with had been Philip. It had been one of the driving forces behind their marriage after all—he’d promised to keep her secret and in turn, she would keep his.
Mr. Marsden would think she was mad. He’d pull away from her. Look at her the way her mother had when Audrey had been seventeen and demonstrated her “special gift” with one of her mother’s rings. The images Audrey had seen, however, had left her speechless. Her mother and her uncle, her late father’s brother, had been standing much too closely in the study. When Audrey had narrowed her eyes and asked what was happening between her and Uncle Peter, her mother’s porcelain expression had cracked.
Voices from the corridor filtered into the evidence closet. Both of them stiffened. Mr. Marsden must have known that if he were found here, in a closet, with Audrey, he, too, would be in severe trouble. One accusation from the duchess and his complaints about her trespassing in the closet would be moot. He already had a blemish—a dire one—on his past. It wouldn’t take much to plunge him into another scandal.
However, the mere thought of lying about something so wicked, and hurting Mr. Marsden in such a way, made her feel ill.
As if he could read her mind and the terrible plot surging through it, he took a long step away. He tucked his chin.
“Perhaps I can loosen your tongue, Your Grace.”
Audrey sucked in a breath at the kindling of mischief in his eyes. Hugh Marsden would not roll over and show his belly. He was ready to go to battle.
“I would need a very good reason to tell you my secret, Mr. Marsden, and I don’t believe the peril of arrest holds weight any longer.” She swallowed her doubt and eked out the rest. “The fact remains that I am a duchess, cornered in a closet by a man with a tarnished reputation.”
Her throat closed around the greasy, repellent threat. It wasn’t who she was. Mr. Marsden’s nostrils flared. He stepped closer, apparently throwing caution to the wind.
“I’ll give you a very good reason, viperous woman.” Audrey parted her lips, aghast at his hostility. “Right from the beginning, you’ve been so certain your husband had not taken a mistress, and now, I understand why.”
A hollow space opened in her chest. Mr. Marsden’s wicked grin stretched wider. “He has a lover. A man. They were seen.”
A coldness spread throughout Audrey’s body, and yet her palms began to sweat fiercely. Her heart skipped. Breaths came slowly, sporadically. How had he discovered the truth?
“No one will believe you,” Audrey whispered.
Mr. Marsden cocked his head. “Do you want to gamble on that?”
He looked so smug. Audrey longed to crack her palm across his cheek.
“What do you want?” she said through gritted teeth.
“The truth. You’ve been keeping something from me. I want to know what it is.”
“And if it’s just as damning as what you think you’ve discovered about His Grace?”
The short candle trembled in her hand. Hot wax spilled onto her skin, and she hissed. Mr. Marsden pried the candle from her fingers and held it while Audrey rubbed the cooling wax from her burned skin.
“I give you my word, whatever you tell me will go no further than my ears.”
“Your word,” she said, shaking her head. “You arrested my husband, you’ve fought me every step of my investigation, and now you threaten to expose him. Why should I trustyour word?”
He raised the candle, and the flame brightened his face. “I don’t want to see you hurt.” His eyes held hers, steady and resolute. “So long as you follow the law, I won’t allow harm to come to you, and I certainly won’t be the one to bring it.”
There was no cunning there. Audrey found she wanted to believe him. Shedidbelieve him. As irritating and arrogant and combative as Officer Marsden had been throughout the whole of this ordeal, he had never once lied. He had never once given her any reason not to trust him.
Audrey stared at the flame, her lips quivering. She was out of options. She needed help, and Mr. Marsden was the only one offering.
“I’ll tell you.”
He let out a breath, causing the flame to jump. “Thank you. But first, we need to leave this closet.”
Mr. Marsden then put his lips together and blew out the candle. The closet plunged into darkness. Audrey drew up her shoulders, and the temperature in the closet grew to stifling.
