Page 59 of Married to the Earl

Her body shivered in his arms, and he realized she was crying. “I know you,” she said quietly. “I know who you are, Conor, and I know you’d never hurt anybody. Remember that, all right? If they try to make you feel badly about yourself, if they accuse you of things…just remember who you are. And remember that I love you.”

He kissed her only briefly because he couldn’t stand to make a spectacle of it. He couldn’t stand to pour his heart into it, as if it was a real, lasting goodbye. He had to pretend to himself that he would be back with her tonight, even though he wasn’t at all sure that that was true.

Then he turned back to the constable. “All right,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”

Fitzroy walked him out of the manor and down to the waiting carriage with one hand firmly gripping his arm. Conor wouldn’t have tried to run away. He knew enough to know that that would only make him look more guilty in their eyes. But apparently Fitzroy wasn’t going to take any chances.

The carriage ride was all too short. Conor couldn’t help thinking of it as his last moments of freedom. When he was led into the police station and taken to an interview room to be questioned, he felt as though he might as well have been locked away already. He was sure that this wouldn’t lead to anything good for him, and that he would find himself in a cell before he saw sky again.

Fitzroy took the seat opposite Conor’s. “Where were you last night?” he asked. “Take me through your whole night.”

“There’s not much to take you through,” Conor said. “I planned an indoor picnic lunch to share with my wife. We ate in the parlor of Middleborough Manor, in front of a fire. We were there for several hours. Then we went to bed.”

“Can anyone testify to any of that?” Fitzroy asked.

“Well,shecan,” Conor said, feeling somewhat testy. “She did, in fact, and you rejected her testimony. You said you didn’t want to hear from her.”

“You must have known that would happen,” Fitzroy said. “You’re a wise man, Lord Middleborough, and an Earl to boot. You know I can’t take the word of your wife when it comes to something like this. Did anyone else see you? Any of your household staff?”

“No,” Conor was forced to admit. “I’d asked them to give us privacy for the evening.”

“Well. That’s rather convenient.”

“It’s actually veryinconvenient. If I’d had my butler in the room with me, he could tell you the truth, and we could end this charade.”

“You’ve been married for several weeks, Lord Middleborough, have you not?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Your business partner tells me you’ve stopped coming in to work.”

“Is that relevant?”

“It reflects a change in your behavior,” Fitzroy said. “Often, something like that can be a precursor to violent crime.”

“I stopped coming in to work because I’d just gotten married and I wanted to spend time with my new wife,” Conor said. He could hear the irritation creeping into his voice now. He took a deep breath and made an effort to compose himself. “She was a commoner,” he said. “She’s new to my lifestyle, and I wanted to make sure the transition was comfortable for her.”

“Things are said about you, you know,” Fitzroy said, looking down at the notepad in his hand as if reminding himself exactly what those things were. “Things are said about your behavior with women, for example.”

“I’m aware of those rumors. There’s no truth to them.”

“Is that why you chose to marry a commoner, perhaps? Because of the rumors that circulate about you?”

“I married her because I wanted to,” Conor said. “I’d admired her for some time before we married.”

“I see. And I wonder why she marriedyou?”

“You would have to ask her that. Although I suppose, since you’ve decided to disregard her testimony, that you won’t be doing that.”

Fitzroy frowned. “Are you aware of the source of the rumors about you, Lord Middleborough?”

“I believe there are several sources. Isn’t that how rumors generally work?”

“Are you aware that Lord Hayward was one of those sources?”

“That doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” Conor said.

“Nor, I suppose, will you be particularly sad to have one source of ill gossip extinguished?”

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