Page 37 of Drawn to the Duke
Coming face to face with the portrait Selina had done of the duke was as confronting as facing the duke’s anger in person.
Lord Chauncy obviously didn’t see her in the crowd as he looked accusingly at brother who stammered, “I…don’t know, Your Grace.”
“Sir Simeon!” Lord Chauncy petitioned a stocky, scarred man to his right. “Explain to everyone what has happened. We need anyone who saw anything suspicious to speak up.”
“A terrible crime was about to take place. No, we’re not talking about this man’s death, for he is the would-be murderer.”Sir Simeon pointed first at the dead man before snatching the paper from the duke’s grasp and waving it before him.
His shadow wavered over the flagstones making him appear much taller than he was while his voice was loud and harsh.
Selina was still reeling when his next words cut through: “And His Grace was his quarry.Youdrew the likeness of the Duke of Chauncy, Sir Edward, and gave it to the man who has just tried to kill the duke. This drawing was to furnish the murderer with the means of identification.”
Selina gasped and brought her hands to her mouth.
Sothatwas the reason the picture had been stolen? To furnish a would-be assassin with an accurate likeness of his target?
And the Duke of Chauncy was to be assassinated?
Well, for all Edward’s failings, her brother was not a murderer. And he certainly bore no grudge against His Grace.
Selina pushed her way through the crowd, not thinking as she hotly defended Edward.
“My brother knows nothing of all this, for it was Lady Saunders who stole the original drawing I made of His Grace because I found it on her desk!”
A second’s silence was followed by a collective murmur as the crowd glared at Selina. They did not know her. She was not one of them, whereas Lady Saunders was?—
“Take her away! The woman is mad!”
Of course! It was Mrs. Piggott who squealed the accusation, backed up immediately by Lord and Lady Saunders, who materialized by the duke’s side.
“Remove her!” barked Lord Saunders and Selina was only able to keep her balance because she thrust out her hands to grip Lord Chauncy’s coat tail.
He regarded her a moment, clearly unsure. But there was no warmth in his expression as he murmured, “And why should Ibelieve you now,Anna, when everything else you’ve told me is a lie? No, your brother drew and signed this copy which was used by this assassin to identity me in order tomurderme!”
“Stop! I can prove I’m telling the truth!” Selina cried, swinging round to intervene as Lord Saunders and another man seized her brother. “There’s proof on the drawing thatIdrew the picture and that Lady Saunders stole it!Shewas the one who gave it to the assassin. You can see it in the wording on Lord Chauncy’s collar.Stolen by Lady Saunders, it says! Find a looking glass! Drawn by Selina Boothe! That’smyname! Find a looking glass and see for yourself, Your Grace. I beg of you!”
But she managed no more before Lord Saunders clapped a hand over her mouth, saying, “Mad Lady Boothe is merely complicating matters with her ravings. I shall take her away!”
CHAPTER 23
Chauncy was deeply shaken.
Anna had nearly fooled him. First, by being convincing enough that he’d thought she was a neglected wife seeking pleasure in his bed for no return other than her attraction for him.
She’d satisfied him that her so-called madness had been overblown by a lackluster husband and he’d fallen for the alluring, elfin creature who’d reveled in his attentions.
But she was not Sir Edward’s wife. She was doxy?
Nor was she mad, as Lady Saunders was now declaring loudly while she paced in front of the fire in the drawing room?
Lady Boothe, he’d been told by his friend, Saunders, had been locked in an antechamber.
Other claims filtered through to him as he sat, trying to appear alert, yet dazed at the incredible claims from Saunders and Sir Simeon that Sir Edward and Lady Boothe had tried to assassinate him.
Or rather, Lady Boothe had paid money to an assassin to murder Chauncy, furnishing him with the drawing he’d done of her.
But why? It didn’t make sense, he told his friends and colleagues who’d gathered in the drawing room.
“Because she is insane,” Lady Saunders told him. “It doesn’t need to make sense.”
