Page 90 of A Scandalous Bargain
“Where is my sister?” Beatrix asked without preamble.
“In the garden room, miss.”
Beatrix strode partway through the hall and stopped abruptly to say, “Thank you,” before continuing on. Once she reached the garden room, she closed the door.
Thankfully, Harry was not present. Selina looked up from the table where she sat reviewing correspondence. “How was the picnic?” As soon as the question left her mouth, she paled. “Something happened.”
Beatrix hurried across the room and sat at the table opposite Selina. “Deborah was there. She’s Lady Burnhope now.”
Selina stared at her. “Tell me everything.”
Beatrix described the encounter down to the last detail, including the ghastly triple-ruffled hem of Deborah’s gown. When she was finished, she leaned back in her chair, suddenly exhausted. Or weary. Or both.
“Do you think she believed you?” Selina asked.
“I can’t say, but my instinct says no. All she has to do is tell everyone we were at Mrs. Goodwin’s. There must be records.”
Selina exhaled as she put her elbow on the table and propped her hand beneath her chin. “We should have changed our first names. We were stupid to want to retain that small piece of ourselves. It won’t be much of a stretch for people to believe that Miss Selina Blackwell and Miss Beatrix Linley are our real names.
“And what does that reveal about me? My maiden name before I married Sir Barnabus?”
Beatrix grimaced. “God forbid someone tries to find your nonexistent marriage certificate.”
“Yes, well hopefully they won’t,” Selina said darkly. “As for your name, they may discover you are the bastard daughter of the Duke of Ramsgate. Would anyone blame you for changing your surname to avoid being judged or shunned?”
“That’s a good explanation, actually. Too bad Society won’t care. It’s much more entertaining to believe I’m a thief, which I’m sure she’ll tell them.”
“Well then, she’ll tell them I am too, because I took the blame once.” Selina shrugged. “Let her try to besmirch us. We must be strong, Trix.”
“Will you tell Harry?”
“Of course. I have no secrets from him. Not anymore.”
Secrets. It was time for Beatrix to share hers too. “That isn’t all that happened.”
Selina lowered her hand to the table, her eyes rounding briefly. “Goodness, what else?”
“The Bow Street investigation into Lady Rockbourne’s death has gotten out. The picnic was abuzz with the charge that Tom pushed his wife to her death.”
“Tom?”
“That’s the other part, and please don’t be angry with me. I do know Rockbourne—Tom—more than I admitted to you. In fact, I met him the night his wife died. I saw the entire thing. She fell after she attacked him with a knife. Well, I didn’t actually see the knife, but I apparently stole it afterward.”
“You don’t remember.” Selina didn’t ask it like a question, because she knew.
“Yes. I sold all my stolen items last Sunday, and that’s when I found it. I didn’t realize what it was until the next day.”
Selina gave her a dubious look. “What do you mean by all your stolen items?”
“I kept everything I’d taken over the years—most things—in a box. I decided it was time to get rid of them. Besides, I wanted to buy you a wedding present.”
“That’s how you did it. I was afraid you’d stolen it, but when you said you got it at the Golden Lion, I realized you’d simply gathered some funds together. But I did wonder how.”
“I would never steal your wedding present!” Beatrix wasn’t offended, but she wanted Selina to know that for certain. “Honestly, I don’t want to steal anything ever again. The thought of it makes me ill. If I hadn’t taken the knife, the constable would have found it beneath the balcony in Tom’s garden, and it would have corroborated his story about Lady Rockbourne attacking him.” She looked at Selina in anguish. “They don’t believe him. I can’t let him go to prison.”
“If they convict him of murder, he won’t go to prison. He’ll hang. Probably.”
Beatrix gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. Tears burned her eyes.
