Page 56 of Choosing Her Earl at Last
“What does he want? Why would he take Rebecca?” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Why would he perpetrate a lie about his own death? None of this makes any sense.”
“He would not be the first man to run from his debts and turn to criminal activity to pay for his lifestyle. He would most certainly not be the first man to abandon his wife either, my lady.”
Emmeline sighed, leaning back in her chair. “This is unimaginable.” She rubbed her brows to relieve the headache that she was swiftly falling prey to. “These are not the actions of a sane man.”
“No, they are not, my lady,” Mr. G agreed, “but they are the actions of a desperate man.”
Emmeline closed her eyes. She needed to think about what to do. In the end, there was only one way to know for certain whether her husband was still alive.I will have to face him myself.
“Speak of this to no one,” she commanded her faithful servant. “We cannot cause a scandal of this magnitude without evidence that your suspicions are correct.”
“I have already mentioned to the Earl of Ravenshollow and Mr. Barrington that the man looked familiar to me, but I did not at the time know why or how, so they do not have his name,” Mr. Hardy admitted.
Emmeline nodded in understanding. “Let us not elaborate on it further with them until we know for certain that it is indeed the marquess.”
“As you wish, my lady,” the butler acquiesced to her request. He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by a knockat the exterior door. Bowing respectfully, he turned and left the room to do his duty by the household.
Emmeline sat in the drawing room, staring into the empty fireplace, her mind lost in another time and place. When Mr. Hardy returned, he had Michael and Colin in tow.
“The Earl of Ravenshollow and Mr. Colin Barrington to see you, my lady.”
Emmeline nodded absently. “Show them in, Mr. Hardy.”
The gentlemen entered the room and came immediately to stand before her.
“He has told you, I see,” Michael noted with a disapproving tone, as he took a seat across from her.
“Told me what?” Emmeline turned her attention to her guests, concerned that Mr. G’s identity had been revealed before she had had a chance to confirm it for herself.
“About Mr. G’s request to speak with you,” Colin answered, taking a seat next to his cousin.
Emmeline looked at Mr. Hardy for confirmation.
“I was just about to inform her ladyship before your arrival, my lord,” Mr. Hardy replied, not rising to Michael’s ire.
Michael’s brows rose in surprise, then he frowned once more, this time apparently in frustration with himself for saying anything. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “There are times when practicing silence would serve me better.”
“Tell me,” Emmeline commanded. Michael shook his head, either unwilling or not ready to share the details of their visit to the tavern with her.
Colin, frustrated with his cousin’s delay, charged ahead, informing her of everything that had happened during their conversation with the criminal known as Mr. G. “He has threatened Miss Rebecca’s life if he is not granted an audience with you,” he ended his explanation. “He claims that you have something that he wants.”
Emmeline’s eyes darted back to Michael, anger and fear battling for dominance within her. “You would have kept this from me?”
“I would,” Michael replied, his eyes holding hers with steely determination. “Sacrificing yourself will not bring Rebecca back to you.”
“That is not your decision to make,” Emmeline emphasized every word as it fell from her lips. She spoke with the authority of a woman who had finally had enough of having her personal boundaries crossed, tired of being underestimated and treated as a fragile child. “I will go and meet with this Mr. G, and nothing you say or do will deter me from doing so.”
“Absolutely not!” Michael nearly shouted with the intensity of his emotions. “We may not always agree, Emmeline, but I never once thought you to be a fool.”
Anger flared hotter within Emmelin’s breast. “How dare you,” she seethed so quietly, so dangerously that he very nearly did not hear her. “Who do you think that you are to decide my life for me?”
Colin, clearly fearing what might be done or said next, intervened. “Please do not argue. This course of conversation serves no one, least of all Rebecca.”
“At the very least, we should inform the magistrate of our discoveries. He should know about our conversation and that Mr. G’s attention appears to have turned toward the marchioness,” Michael suggested, his teeth grinding together in frustration with Emmeline’s determination to place herself in harm’s way.
“Mr. G said that he would have Rebecca killed if we went to the authorities,” Colin reminded his cousin. His eyes implored Michael to hear him out and not unleash his rage upon him as well.
“I know that you care about Emmeline’s safety, Cousin, but I cannot allow you to take actions that will result in the death of the woman that I love. We can protect Emmeline from harm as long as we can keep her within our sight. We cannot say the same of Rebecca when we have no notion as to where she is being held.”
