Page 61 of Earl's Well That Ends Well (The Way to a Lord's Heart 5)

The outside space was chilly and empty at the beginning of the day. The spring sun had not risen high enough to warm it. The earl went over to the far side, well out of earshot of the entrance into the workshop. Teresa was on the verge of clutching the lapels of his so very fashionable coat and shaking him until he heard her when he said, “I wanted to inform…to tell you that you need not worry about the Conde de la Cerda any longer.”

“What?” Teresa’s mind was full of her own news, and the need to plan. For a moment, she simply stared at him.

“He has been…removed from the country.”

She shook her head, as if this would restart the gears in her brain.

“He was…put on a ship to the Indies. He will have no means to return.”

Was it her mind or her hearing that had gone astray? She looked at Tom. He grinned as if he was proud of himself.

“I realize this is a bit of a surprise,” the earl continued.

“Do you think so?”

“A shock,” he amended. “You should sit down.” He moved as if to help her into one of the courtyard chairs.

Teresa stepped away from him. She did not wish to sit. “Puton a ship. And you know this. Did you do it?”

He nodded. So did Tom. Oh so very proud, this smug pair. “For you,” added Lord Macklin.

“Forme. Without saying a word? For example, asking me if I wished it?”

“I wanted to save you…”

“Save?” She was shaken by a storm of anger. That word had been something of a refrain for her former “protector.” Along with gratitude, which he thought she should continually feel for his magnanimity in giving her refuge.

“To prevent trouble from coming to you,” replied Lord Macklin.

“Because I am incapable of solving my own problems.”

“No.”

“Like a child, really. With no power of rational judgment.” The grandee had said that about her too. Time and again.

“Not at all. You are putting words in my mouth.” The earl was beginning to sound annoyed. Tom looked uneasy.

Teresa felt a savage satisfaction at that. “You throw a man onto a ship.”

“It was a better plan than shooting the fellow,” the earl interrupted. “That sort of thing gets you sent to the gallows.”

“Shooting? You were going to shoot him?”

“Not I!”

“Who then? Tom?”

The latter made warding-off gestures.

“Rigby told us you asked him to get you a pistol,” said the earl sternly.

“Is no man on Earth to be trusted to keep his mouth shut?” Teresa exclaimed.

“He simply mentioned it when we were…”

“Agreeing with each other what was to be done! Of course he did. All the men planning, in their gracious arrogance, how tosaveme.” When Teresa saw Tom flinch, she realized that she’d shouted. She clenched her teeth and paced across the courtyard and back, regaining control of her temper. “I was not going to shoot him,” she said more quietly. “I am not a fool. I thought it might be necessary to threaten him.” Or satisfying, at the least.

“That would not have gone well,” Lord Macklin replied. “When you start waving pistols about, someone usually is shot.”

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