Page 70 of When He Was a Duke
“You’ve enjoyed a comfortable existence, dearest. Why should you care how I provide it?” His voice turned to flint. “How dare you flaunt Lord Ashford before me.”
“It’s my inheritance you’ve squandered, or have you forgotten you were penniless when we wed?”
“Women cannot hold property, you little fool. Everything belongs to me now. You exist to bear me an heir and look decorative. Neither of which you’ve accomplished satisfactorily.”
“Rose should be sufficient. She’s perfect in every way.”
“She’s not a son.”
“You’re avoiding the subject, as always. What if I were to inform the magistrate of everything I’ve learned? What then?”
Lord Wentworth sighed, shaking his head as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. “No, you won’t risk that. You’d lose everything if I were arrested.”
“Youwould lose everything. Not I. I have Rose, and she’s all I require. I’d rather live in poverty than with a criminal.”
And then he moved, swift as a striking serpent. He reached behind him for the heavy silver candlestick, the one Rose had been warned never to touch lest she drop it on her foot.
She could still hear her father’s labored breathing as he stood over the motionless body. He crouched beside her mother for a long moment, tilting his head as if examining a painting, then violently stripped the mask from her neck.
In the wardrobe, Rose’s small fingers clamped over her mouth, her tiny chest rising and falling in panicked, silent gasps.Mummy. Mummy.
Lord Wentworth pried up the loose floorboard and thrust the mask into the hiding place before replacing the wood. Finally, he walked from the room as casually as if he were merely fetching his evening tea. She heard his footsteps fade down the corridor.
“He concealed the mask beneath a floorboard, then simply left her there,” Rose said to Sebastian, tearing herself from the past. “I crept from the wardrobe, desperate to reach Mummy, but Mary appeared. She told me not to touch anything and hurried me upstairs. She rushed me to my chamber and made me promise never to tell anyone what I’d seen. She said I must forget it all, that everything would be well again.”
“But it wasn’t,” Sebastian said softly.
“Mary must have heard the entire confrontation and rushed in to protect me from discovery.”
“We were right. She knew more than she admitted,” Sebastian said.
“She was only thirteen herself—barely more than a child.”
Sebastian took her trembling, gloved hands in his steady ones. “Two children who witnessed something so heinous that at least one of you buried the memory to survive it.”
“I remember everything now.” The words felt like liberation and condemnation combined.
“If we can locate that mask and convince Mary to accompany us to the constable with your testimony maybe we can finally have justice.”
A voice cut through the night air behind them, coldly precise and calculating: “How very touching.”
Rose spun around in horror.
Baron White stood at the garden’s entrance. His mask had been discarded, revealing a face flushed with exertion and drink. Yet, his eyes were sharp, predatory, entirely sober.
“I must confess, I’ve been listening for some time,” White said conversationally, stepping closer with measured precision. “Such a fascinating tale. Lord Wentworth’s confession overheard on the terrace. Your recovered memories of that tragic night twelve years past. The location of crucial evidence.” His smile was reptilian. “Most illuminating indeed.”
Rose’s blood turned to ice as understanding crashed over her. He had heard everything.
“You see, my dear,” White continued, his tone almost pleasant, “you’ve just provided me with the most valuable currency in existence—information that could destroy your father completely. The question now becomes—what shall I do with such power?”
Sebastian stepped protectively in front of Rose, but White merelychuckled.
“No need for heroics, gardener. I’m not here to harm anyone. Quite the contrary. I’m here to make a proposal.” His gaze fixed on Rose with calculating intensity. “You see, Lady Rose, I no longer require your father’s partnership. With what I’ve just learned, I can control him entirely. His smuggling operation, his fortune, his very freedom. All mine to command.”
“What do you want?” Rose whispered.
“Ah, the pertinent question.” White’s smile widened. “I want you to marry me tomorrow, exactly as planned. You will be the perfect, dutiful wife. You will never speak of what transpired tonight, what you remember, or where any evidence might be hidden. In return, I will allow your father to live out his days in comfortable ignorance rather than at the end of a rope.”
