of your attackers. How she must have laughed, to find him so easily manipulated.
‘Who knows if there is any truth at all in what she said? But fear not. I will call out the watch and we will take her into custody immediately. Then we shall have the real story out of her. Her sister as well. The girl is likely an accomplice to whatever happened.’
‘You will not.’ At last he had found his voice. With a final pat, he turned away from the horse and silenced his brother with a look. ‘You will get in the carriage, ride home and say nothing to anyone.’ Then he looked at Jenks. ‘Find out what you can of the man who left the horse. If he is still here, set someone to watch him. Follow him, if necessary. But do nothing until I give you direction.’
‘And what do you mean to do, while this is going on?’ Adam was still angry and using a warning tone to remind him that a man who was both a peer and one’s older brother should be given the respect he had earned.
‘I mean to saddle my horse and ride home.’ He held up a hand to silence objections. ‘And I will tolerate no nonsense about my being too weak to ride. It is not as if I am likely to fall off of Jupiter, now is it?’
His sarcasm shocked the two other men to silence. But the horse answered with a soft nicker of amusement.
He turned back to Jupiter, stroking his face. ‘Do not laugh at me. I thought you dead. I grieved over your loss. And all the while you were eating oats and snapping at stable boys.’ He looked up to see the other two, still staring at him, as though trying to decide if his current behaviour was a sign that the recent injury had driven him mad.
‘Go,’ he said, more softly to his brother. ‘Please, keep what you have learned to yourself for a time. A day or two, at most. I need time to think. And to speak with...Justine.’
He had almost said my wife. And what a bitter lie that was. He put it aside and continued. ‘I will send word when I have decided how best to proceed. You needn’t worry. Now that I am aware of the situation, there is no risk.’
No risk at all, now that he knew not to turn his back on Justine de Bryun or her lover.
‘I don’t know why you bother attempting to teach me this,’ Margot said, looking at the mass of knots that was her first attempt at lacemaking. ‘Of all the skills I might wish to develop to honour our family, this is not one of them.’
Justine bit her lip in frustration. Margot was still talking of the shop and her desire to return to Bath as soon as Mr Montague allowed it. While her younger sister might deny any allegiance to a father she had never met, she seemed to have inherited that man’s business acumen. ‘It is better that you cultivate virtues that might attract a husband. With Lady Colton’s offer of a Season and the sponsorship of the Duchess of Bellston...’
Margot laughed. ‘It is a lovely dream, of course. But no gentleman will want to marry the daughter of a merchant.’
‘You would also be a member of the Felkirk family,’ Justine reminded her.
Her sister responded with a surprised look. ‘You know that I am not. Have you forgotten what you told me, just yesterday? You are not truly married to Lord Felkirk.’
For a moment, she had forgotten. The truth was becoming increasingly clouded by what happened each night, when she was alone with Will. Today, all she could remember was the sweet kiss he had given her in parting. Then he had gone off with his brother in the carriage, saying something about the possibility of purchasing a horse.
That would be good for him, she was sure. He still pined for the one he had lost. While no other animal was likely to take the place of Jupiter, it was better that certain, unexplainable parts of his past be put aside.
She was thinking like a wife, again. It left her unsure whether to smile or frown. If love were all that was necessary to make a marriage, she would be his true wife. ‘For the moment, you are right,’ she admitted to Margot. ‘I am not Will’s wife. But you were also right when you said that I must find a way to explain to him. For I do so wish...’ She bit her lip again. She wished that their meeting had occurred, just as she had imagined it. For how could she ever tell him the truth?
‘You love him?’ Margot said, softly.
‘Very much,’ Justine admitted. ‘I cannot imagine life without him. And I am so afraid, when he learns what I have done...’
Her sister rose and put an arm about her shoulders. ‘Do not distress yourself. I am sure you will find a way through this. Once you have told him the truth, he will forgive you for the ruse and all will be well again.’
‘You cannot know that,’ Justine said.
‘Nonsense. It is clear that he adores you,’ Margot said. ‘But it will not change my opinion on the matter of a marriage for myself, or my plans for the future. With you married and living here, someone must go back to Bath and be the second half of Montague and de Bryun.’
‘That will not be possible,’ Justine said, in a tone she hoped would brook no argument. After all she had sacrificed to keep the girl safe, she seemed intent on throwing herself from the frying pan into the fire.
‘Sometimes, I think you are simply jealous of my interest,’ Margot said. ‘If you did not enjoy your place there, it was unfair of you to exile me, so that you need not share our birthright.’
Justine set her lace aside and turned to take her sister’s hand. ‘It is not from jealousy that I keep you away. I do not want the place that I have, Margot. I would be quite happy if I were never to see Mr Montague or that horrible store again. If you were to know the whole of it, you would not want it either.’
‘Then tell me the whole of it, and let me decide.’
For a moment, she was tempted to tell all. What would it feel like, to finally be free of the worst secrets of her life in Bath? Then, silently, she shook her head.
Margot gave a short, frustrated sigh, glanced out the window and smiled. ‘Then perhaps I shall ask Mr Montague what problem lies between you. I believe that is him coming up the drive right now.’
Justine had not thought of this possibility, when she had ceased going to the wood to wait for him. The last three days, there had been letters from Mr Smith in the morning post. She had thrown them away unopened, not wanting to read the demands for information, and the threats of punishment for disobedience. Once Margot was safe with her, what could the man do? She was sure he would not dare to come to the house and risk being seen by Will.
But Will was gone, travelling in a carriage past the very spot that Montague would have waited for her. He knew she was alone and unprotected. Thus, he had come to the house, knowing that she could not avoid him without raising suspicions.
‘Margot, go to your room.’ At the very least, she could prevent him from seeing or threatening her sister.
She had not counted on her sister having an opinion. ‘Certainly not,’ Margot said, settling herself in her chair to prove she had no intention of moving.
‘It is not wise that you remain,’ Justine said, firm but gentle. ‘We did not get his permission for this trip. It is quite likely he will be angry.’
‘Angry at you, more likely,’ Margot answered with a wicked smile. ‘Your crimes are far worse than mine, misleading this poor family and luring me away from school.’
‘It is not that way at all,’ Justine said, in a desperate whisper. The enemy was so close he might hear their argument through the half-open window of the morning room.
Margot gestured towards that same window. ‘It is he who deserves the explanation, not me. Since you have been trying to dissuade me from my goals all morning, I am not in a mood to help you out of this by hiding under my bed.’
She could hear the knocking on the