If the Viscount Falls (24 page)

Then she heard the door open and close, and her heart constricted. Dom had more secrets than she'd guessed.

As soon as the sound of Dom's footsteps receded, Lord Ravenswood said, “Do you think Rathmoor really will go on to bed? Or will he set off for London on his own?”

“My brother is a careful man,” Tristan said. “It's not in his nature to be reckless.”

Except when it came to her. Dom was so determined to avoid her that he might just take his life in his hands for it.

“What do you think, Miss Vernon?” Lord Ravens-wood asked in a raised voice.

Miss Vernon?
Her heart sank into her stomach. Lady Ravenswood must have revealed Jane's intention to spy on the men. But then why hadn't the viscount said something sooner? Was he bluffing?

“No point in hiding in that chair any longer,” Lord Ravenswood added. “I know you're there.”

Definitely not bluffing.

With a sigh, Jane rose to face the gentlemen, who instantly stood, too. Tristan gaped at her. Lord Ravens-wood did not. As his keen gray eyes assessed her from beneath a pair of nondescript brown brows, his face showed no expression.

That troubled her. It reminded her too much of Dom.

“It's good to meet you at last,” the viscount said with a courtly bow.

“I wish I could say the same.” She gazed at him warily. “I assume that your wife told you what I was up to.”

“No, she's not one to tattle, but she
is
rather bad at deception. So when she insisted that we take our supper in the library, I guessed that something was afoot.” He nodded to the high-backed chair. “Especially when
I saw that the chair had been turned around. And since I doubted that the duke or duchess would have cause to eavesdrop, that left only you.” When she winced, he added, “Not for nothing was I appointed to my position, Miss Vernon.”

Having gotten over his initial shock, Tristan eyed her cautiously. “You heard everything.”

She shrugged. “As you said, your brother is obsessed with keeping things from me. You left me no choice.”

Tristan whirled on the viscount. “And you were aware she was listening in! Why didn't you say something sooner?”

“She has a right to the truth,” his lordship said simply. “You know she does, or you wouldn't be calling your brother a fool for keeping it from her.”

Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. “Dom didn't want to alarm her until he had all the facts.”

“No,” Jane countered, “he didn't want to argue with me over what he
considers
‘facts.' But that isn't his decision to make. I'm the one who involved him in the search. I never would have if I'd known he would push me out of it.”

The viscount's gaze shifted to her. “Still, I daresay you had your own reasons for involving him, given why you jilted him.”

As she gaped at the man, Tristan muttered, “Hell and thunder, even I don't know why she did that.” He slanted a glance at Ravenswood. “Dom wasn't lying when he said you have your finger in every pie.”

Lord Ravenswood's tight smile didn't reach his
eyes. “Hardly. But a man generally turns confessional under the influence of laudanum, and we had to give your brother a great deal the day he got that scar on his cheek. It wasn't the only wound he received. It's just the only one he can't hide.”

Her heart chilled. “He has other wounds? Where? How did he get them?”

“You'll have to ask him. If he won't even tell his family, I imagine he has his reasons.”

Yet Lord Ravenswood had roused their curiosity enough to ensure that they
would
ask. The man was almost as wily as Dom, though in this instance she was grateful for it. The thought of Dom injured so badly that he required “a great deal of laudanum” alarmed her more than she could say.

“But I'm happy to answer your questions concerning your cousin and Mr. Barlow,” Lord Ravenswood went on. “If you still have any after eavesdropping on our discussion.”

She ignored his sarcasm. Because one thing about what she'd overheard still worried her. “You mentioned that Samuel eloped with a young woman. So why did she end up married to someone else?”

“Because she changed her mind about the elopement on their way to Gretna Green. She told Barlow she couldn't go through with it and tried to get him to return her home. He refused, and when she attempted to get the coachman to stop, he—”

“Don't tell her that,” Tristan said in a low voice. “There's no reason to alarm her.”

“Miss Vernon strikes me as a sensible woman not given to hysterics, one who can handle the facts,” the viscount said. “Besides, just because Barlow forced himself on an heiress he was scheming to marry doesn't mean he would force himself on a widow when there's no need for it.”

Horror gripped her. “Samuel
raped
a woman?”

“Hell and thunder, Jane!” Tristan cried. “What do you know of rape?”

She glared at him. “I am not the china doll wrapped in cotton that you and your brother think me. Women hear of these things—from the streets, from the broadsheets, from accounts of crimes and trials. We know that men rape women.”

With a lift of her chin, she stared down the viscount. “
That
is why I involved Dom in this, sir—because I'm not fool enough to go off searching alone. But I didn't realize that he would take over the investigation to such an extent that I'd be kept out of it.”

“Still, you understand why Dom did that, don't you?” Tristan put in. “He didn't want you worrying that Nancy might be in danger.”

“But she might.” Jane's heart stuck in her throat as she looked toward Lord Ravenswood. “What happened to this other woman after Samuel . . . assaulted her?”

“He thought he'd cowed her into submission—but when they stopped to change horses, she got away from him and found someone to help her get back to her family.”

“Was he charged with a crime?”

“No. Her father feared that a trial would ruin her, especially since Barlow continued to insist that
she'd
seduced
him
. A family friend who was enamored of the girl stepped in to marry her, and then challenged Barlow to a duel. But Barlow fled instead of meeting his accuser on the field. That's when Barlow's family disinherited him.”

No wonder Edwin had never told her this. It must mortify him. “And nothing was done about Samuel's crime.”

“Nothing
could
be done. All parties involved agreed to let it go because it was unlikely that a trial would serve the lady well.”

“Or so the men told her, I assume,” Jane said bitterly.

“And she agreed with them. After having her idyllic life ripped from her, she didn't also want her pain exposed and picked over by the crowds.”

Jane supposed she could understand that, but wondered if she could have done the same, given her own vindictive streak.

“The husband of the injured girl was able to get Barlow dismissed from his post in the navy,” Tristan said, “which is why he now arranges prizefights for a living. But that's where the matter ended.”

“Until he found another woman to assault.” Jane couldn't breathe for thinking of Nancy at Samuel's mercy.

“He won't hurt your cousin,” Lord Ravenswood said firmly.

“You don't know that!”

“I do. He'd be a fool to harm her when she is carrying the child who can make his fortune.”

“And if she isn't?” she asked.

“We're fairly certain that she must be,” Tristan said. “A servant overheard Barlow telling her about a doctor they could see in London. And the servant said she looked very ill, which she would if she's suffering morning sickness.”

“Or if she'd already lost the baby,” Jane said.

Lord Ravenswood steadied a gentler gaze on her. “Then why would she go with him?”

“You said yourself that a man can force a woman to his will without brute strength.”

“Yes. But they were friends, according to what Bon-naud here discovered from the shopkeepers in York. That argues for her not being forced. Were you aware of their regular meetings in York?”

“No.” She hadn't known any of that.

That's why it was more important than ever that she talk to Dom. She had to find out what he was thinking, hear what he was planning. She had to elicit his promise that he wouldn't cut her out of things anymore.

She forced a smile for Lord Ravenswood's benefit. “Thank you for telling me this. It's more than Dom would do.”

“You're welcome.”

“Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, it's very late and I'm very tired. I think I shall go up to bed.”

“I'll take you up,” Tristan said.

“No, that's all right,” she said, fighting to sound ca
sual. “I know where my room is. You stay and enjoy your brandy with Lord Ravenswood. Besides, I believe he still has something to discuss with you.”

“I do, indeed,” Lord Ravenswood said.

But the viscount's eyes followed her as she walked out of the room, and the whole time she traversed the hall to the staircase she worried that he or Tristan might come after her.

Fortunately, they did not. As she neared the bottom of the stairs, she wondered if Dom might already be in his bedchamber. Somehow she doubted it. She'd be very much surprised if he intended to stay here tonight, no matter what he'd told his brother.

As she came into the foyer, a footman rose to ask her, “Were you just with the gentlemen, miss?”

“Yes. They're still in the library.” She hesitated a moment, then asked, “Has Lord Rathmoor come in yet? The gentlemen wanted to know.”

“No, miss. I believe he's still in the stable.”

“Thank you. I'll tell them.”

With a smile that she hoped hid her consternation, she headed down the hall as if she were returning to the library, but she passed it up to go toward the back of the house.

She hurried through halls and rooms. Somewhere there must be a rear entrance that led to the stables, and she meant to find it. Because there was no way she would chance Dom's running off again without her.

♦ ♦ ♦

D
OM STOOD IN
the harness room of Ravenswood's stable, trying his hand at repairing the carriage lamps for his phaeton. Since neither the coachman nor the groom had succeeded, Dom had sent them on to bed with the assurance that if he got the blasted things working again, he'd rouse the men to put the horses in their traces.

He still hoped to go on to London tonight since it was only a few hours away. Although Ravenswood was right that it was foolish to drive without lamps on such a dark night, if they could be fixed, Dom saw no reason to stay.

Especially now that he'd learned why Barlow was disinherited.

“I knew you would ride off again to avoid me.”

At the sound of the familiar female voice, he spun around, then groaned to see Jane standing in the harness room entrance. She was still dressed for travel, which was odd, given the footman's claim that everyone had retired.

Leave it to Jane to defy expectation.

“I'm not avoiding you,” he said. “You wanted me to investigate, so I am.”

She came closer, and he tried not to notice how lovely she looked despite her frilly, flouncy gown. As far as he was concerned, it gilded the lily. He itched to haul her into his arms and strip away the furbelowed green gingham and flimsy undergarments until only pure, unadulterated woman was left, standing naked in all her heartbreaking beauty.

Judging from her accusing scowl, that wasn't going to happen.

“I wanted you to investigate on my behalf,” she said, “not go running off to do it on your own.”

He returned his attention to the carriage lamp. It was the only way to restrain his impulse to tear off her clothes. “I wouldn't exactly call it ‘running off,' ” he said curtly to hide his agitation. “If I can't get these working again, I'm not going anywhere.”

Coming up behind him, she peered around his shoulder to watch what he was doing. She smelled of lavender and honey, a scent that had haunted his nights for years. Now it nearly brought him to his knees.

He trimmed the wick too short, then cursed under his breath.

“I didn't know that repairing carriage lamps was one of your particular talents,” she said.

“Obviously it isn't,” he snapped, “since I've had no more success at it than Ravenswood's coachman.”

“Yet that hasn't stopped you from trying,” she said in an arch tone. “God forbid you should trust a mere coachman to handle anything so important.”

Refusing to be baited, he stared coolly at her. “Is there something you wanted, Jane?”

“You know what I want. To be told what's going on. To hear why you're ready to risk life and limb to go on to London tonight when even your friends are against it.” Her gaze, dark with anxiety, struck him hard. “Are you
that
worried about Nancy's being alone with Samuel? Lord Ravenswood says she's not in any danger, but clearly
you think otherwise. His tale about that lady Samuel assaulted must have upset you as much as it did me.”

“It didn't upset me so much as—” What she'd said registered, and his heart jumped into his throat. “Ravens-wood told you about all that? When?”

“I . . . I . . . well . . .” A fetching blush stained her cheeks. “I . . . um . . . sort of listened in on your conversation with him and Tristan in the library just now.”

God save him. He ran through what they'd said in the library, trying to figure out if any of it had been damning. “I don't recall Ravenswood's mentioning Barlow
assaulting
the lady.”

“No, his lordship told me that later. Apparently, he'd already figured out I was in there and was just waiting until you left to rout me from my hiding place.”