Page 64 of Choosing Her Earl at Last
“Always, my love. I will always find you,” Colin promised, as he held her to him with such tenderness that it caused a pain in Michael’s chest.
Reaching his hand down, Colin helped Rebecca crawl up out of the hole in the floor. Bending down, Michael lifted up Martha from her prone position on the ground and freed her from her bindings as well. The moment that Colin’s feet hit the wooden floor, he pulled Rebecca back into his arms. Rebecca went gladly.
It looked as though the women had been given food and water, as neither of them appeared to have lost any weight, but it was clear that neither woman had been given the comfort of bathing.
“Let us get you home,” Michael offered, motioning toward the open door. Both women nodded and began to move toward the sunlit portal. Rebecca and Colin moved as one, each afraid to let go of the other.
As they emerged into the daylight, Bow Street Runners came running the moment that their eyes beheld the two women.
“You found them,” the head Runner stated with surprise. “Where were they?”
“There was a hidden hole under the floorboards. The women had been bound and gagged, unable to cry out for help. If Colin had not noticed a change in the sound of the wood beneath his feet, we would still not know where they were being kept,” Michael explained.
The head Runner looked both women up and down. “Miss Rebecca Frampton.” He nodded his head in respect to Rebecca, clearly the higher ranking of the two women by the look of her attire. When his eyes fell on the laundress, his face turned to stone. “Martha Gouldsmith, I presume.”
“I am.” Martha nodded in confirmation, tears of fear and regret spilling down her cheeks.
“You have much to answer for,” the Runner warned her. “The magistrate would like a word with you.”
Martha gulped air as she attempted to fight back the sobs that erupted with increased frequency. “I had no choice,” she sobbed. “He threatened my family if I did not introduce them. I did not know that he planned to take Miss Rebecca captive. I swear it! I would never have put her in danger.”
“It is not your fault, Martha,” Rebecca reassured her friend. “I will speak to the magistrate on your behalf,” she promised.
“Who is thishethat you speak of?” the lead Runner demanded to know of Martha.
“Norman Livingston, Marquess of Worthington,” Rebecca answered, dark shadows passing over her eyes.
Michael’s eyes shot open in shock. “But he is dead,” he protested, not knowing what else to say.
Rebecca shook her head. “No, he is not. He faked his death.”
“Why would he do such a thing?”
“He was in debt and wished to be free of the burdens of his title,” Rebecca explained.
“Why did he take you prisoner? He could have spoken with you at any point in the past. I do not understand,” Colin said, the anger in his eyes crackled as fierce as a fire with the thought that anyone would lay a hand on the woman that he loved.
“Emmeline had something that he wanted, but he believed that I had it. The only way that he could think to get what he wantedand preserve his faked-death story was to take me and demand it in ransom,” Rebecca informed them. “I fear I may have said too much when he questioned me about Emmeline’s inheritance.”
“Do not fear, my love. Emmeline is safe at home and her inheritance is intact,” Colin reassured her.
“You are certain?”
“I am,” Colin replied.
Rebecca looked up at Colin with such adoration that it broke something within Michael’s soul.
Emmeline’s husband is alive. She is still a married woman. She is no longer available to receive the attentions of another man.It was in that moment that Michael realized just how much he had been hoping for a second chance with Emmeline, even though he had not admitted it to himself.
Her words describing the way that her marriage had been arranged echoed through his mind, and his entire way of thinking about the choice that she had made all of those years before shifted within his mind.
She had sensed the evil in this man and had saved her sister from a terrible fate. The woman has the courage of a warrior,and I treated her like a coward, a fool even. I am ashamed of my thoughts and actions now.
Did she suspect all along that Mr. G was truly her husband in disguise? Is that why she was so very terrified of not being present at the time of the exchange?A myriad of questions swirled through Michael’s mind.
“We should return to the Frampton household to inform Emmeline and Theodocia of Rebecca’s safe recovery,” Michael spoke aloud, his need to see Emmeline growing stronger with every moment that passed.
“I do not believe that you are going to find her there,” Martha stated quietly.
