Page 57 of A Sense of Injustice
‘I cannot abide interfering hussies who fail to understand their place,’ he growled at Flora. Paul went to step forward but Luke caught his arm and held him back.
‘Give it a minute,’ he whispered. He could see that Flora wasn’t harmed, that Cleethorp hadn’t touched her and knew he could intercede before he could get close enough to do so. It would be better to hold back and see if Flora could get him to condemn himself with his own words. It was just the sort of thing that she would attempt to do.
‘Really?’ Flora raised an imperious brow. ‘And I am supposed to learn better manners from a scoundrel and a rapist.’ She turned away from him. ‘You disgust me.’
‘And you, for some obscure and annoying reason, entice me.’ Luke clenched his fists and willed himself to remain where he was. ‘No wonder you warm the earl’s bed.’She does?Luke glanced at Paul, who simply shrugged but couldn’t conceal a smug grin. ‘I can quite see what the attraction would be for him.’
Flora, instead of denying the conclusion Cleethorp had jumped to, merely gave a disinterested shrug. ‘Don’t judge everyone by your own standards.’
‘You turned Louise against me.’ Cleethorp’s voice had adopted the whine of a petulant child. ‘She was ready to capitulate. She had no choice, and yet you encouraged her to take the moral high ground. I cannot abide double standards. You spread your legs for the earl but pretend to be the epitome of respectability. Well, if you do it for him, you can do it for me.’ A sharp gust of wind suddenly swirled through the barn, knocking Cleethorp’s hat off. ‘Where did that come from?’ he asked, picking up his hat and looking a little bemused as he waved a hand in front of his face, as though warding off a physical attack.
Flora chuckled. ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’
Luke decided it was time to intercede but Flora surprised him by laughing in Cleethorp’s face. ‘You are really rather dull-witted, aren’t you,’ she said, sounding bored. ‘We are not ten minutes from Beranger Court. My horse will have run home and the moment he arrives a search party will be sent out for me. The earl cannot be without his paramour. Surely you of all people must realise that. They know where I went and where to look for me, and you can be sure that unlike Louise Pearson I shall not keep quiet for fear of being disgraced.’ She sent him an arch look. ‘What do you suppose the earl will do when he finds out what you’ve presumed to inflict upon his favourite? Short of killing me, there really is no way out for you. We know all about you and Felicity Brigstock, you see.’
‘Oh God!’ Much to Luke’s astonishment, Cleethorp rested his elbows on his splayed thighs and dropped his head into his hands, groaning with despair. ‘I’ve been an idiot.’
‘True, but in your own defence you fell in love and were led astray by a strong and vindictive woman. Love makes people behave in strange ways, so I’m told. I don’t speak from experience, you understand. Even so, that doesn’t justify what you did to Louise and I would strongly advise against compounding your error by attempting anything of a similar nature with me.’
‘I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,’ Cleethorp said, shaking his head from side to side. Luke thought he looked pathetic.
‘But it did, and you must take responsibility if you ever want to be free of Mrs Brigstock.’
‘How did you know about her?’ His head shot up. ‘You didn’t say.’
‘Louise told me.’
He looked astounded. ‘How did she…’
‘She overheard the two of you arguing in your brother’s garden. She went to return something your sister had left behind and heard what you said about her.’
Cleethorp gave a slow nod. ‘Which is when she lost interest in me. Now it makes more sense.’
‘Did you kill Brigstock?’
His eyes bulged, whether with anger or fear Luke was unable to decide. ‘What the devil sort of question is that?’
‘A perfectly reasonable one, given the circumstances, and one you can be sure the local magistrate will ask if the matter comes to his attention.’Oh Flora, don’t goad an unstable man!‘Felicity discovered that he intended to leave her destitute so he had to be got rid of before he could put the arrangements in place.’
‘She knew nothing about the distribution of his fortune until after his death.’
Flora flexed a brow. ‘Is that what she told you?’
Luke had the satisfaction of seeing Cleethorp’s expression when he realised he had been hoodwinked. ‘Dear God,’ he muttered.
‘It must have come as a bit of a shock when you discovered what he had done.’
Felicity swore she didn’t know in advance and I believed her. Seems I believed far too many of the things she told me.’
‘Once you fired the shot that caused her husband to fall and break his neck she had you right where she wanted you, albeit without a fortune to live on. So she came up with a madcap scheme for you to marry an heiress.’ Flora sent him a speculative look. ‘Tell me, how long would Louise have survived after you married her? I mean, I cannot imagine Felicity being willing to share your questionable favours for long.’
‘There was never any intention of killing Louise. I rather like her, as a matter of fact, and wish I had behaved better. What I did wasn’t gentlemanly, but in fairness she did lead me on, then went cold on me. I felt insulted. I get these terrible rages when I feel slighted, everything goes black and I have to do something extreme in order to be able to think straight again.’
‘If you don’t mind my saying so, that sounds awfully like an excuse.’ Flora shook her head. ‘It’s time to take responsibility for your actions. The only thing you can do to make things right is to leave Louise and her family alone. As you can see, we’ve been one step ahead of you all the way. Felicity Brigstock is poison and has manipulated you into doing her dirty work.’
‘She really loves me, that’s the problem.’
‘I can quite see that it would be,’ Flora replied conversationally, ‘but mark my words, no good can come of it. My advice, for what it’s worth, is that you attempt to mend bridges with your brother, the marquess, before it’s too late. Of course, you might have to work for a living, and I expect that will be a nuisance, but at least you will retain your status as a gentleman, which obviously means a lot to you.’ Flora paused, her expression deadly serious. ‘If you insist upon sticking with Felicity then she will eventually destroy you.’
