Page 131 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
This time, Fawkesdidsmile, there and gone in a blink of an eye. “I didnae kill her. But Blackrose approached me when I was at University with Effinghell, and made threats. It was his word against mine, a bastard boy against a mere bastard. He wanted to use my skills, my knowledge…” Fawkes shook his head. “I couldnae take the chance.”
“He called youDuke,” Ellie realized out loud, “To remind you of what he knew. Did he think you killed her to become the heir? The next Duke of Stroken? That was impossible.”
Across the room, Thorne snorted. “What’s it like, cousin, to be in love with a woman smarter than ye are?”
Fawkes ignored him. “I never wanted to be the Duke, Ellie. But aye, Blackrose chose the sobriquet for that reason. A reminder of what he thought he kenned of me and mine.”
“Hethoughthe knew…” Ellie repeated, then gasped as it all clicked into place.Oh, it was so obvious.“He did not threatenyou! Yourmotheris the herbalist! She is the one who grows your herbs, she understands how the foxglove and deadly nightshade work. Blackrose was threateningher.”
“Holy shite,” Thorne burst out, his hands slapping to the arms of the chair. “Fawkes, ye’re saying yermotherpoisoned the Duchess of Stroken? Aunt Louise?”
Fawkes glared at the blond man. “I’msayingthat’s what Blackrose claimed. He had plenty of evidence that—after making threats against me—she died of what we both kenned was poisoning. And as my mother and I were the only two who kenned poisons, and had a reason to kill her…”
Georgia had been watching with wide eyes, her palm pressed to her chest. “And you did not kill her,” she whispered.
Fawkes held her gaze for a long moment before looking away.
Estella MacMillan poisoned someone? That sweet old lady? The one you trust with Merida? The one who brought you such joy?
Well…why not? If she’d done it to protect her son, could Ellie understand that? Wouldn’t she herself commit horrible deeds to protect Merida?
Hadn’t Fawkes committed horrible deeds, time and again, to protect his mother?
“He said he’d go to the Crown,” muttered Fawkes. He took a deep breath, his voice louder, but his gaze locked on Ellie. “Blackrose said, time and again, that if I refused to do his bidding, or I hesitated to follow an order, the law would receive all the evidence he had against my mother. A disgraced, shunned sister of an earl, who’d borne a bastard son…murdering a duchess?”
“She would hang,” Rourke said evenly.
And Ellie felt her breath whoosh from her lungs.
HadEstella killed to protect her child? The thought of such a sweet woman hurting another was almost as hard to imagine as Estella dying for her crime.
“You protected her,” Ellie whispered, reaching up and clasping his cheeks in her palms. “You protected your mother, the only way you could.”
And with her words, she felt his muscles loosen, felt the tension drain from him. It was as if her acknowledgement—acceptance?—had finally allowed him to breathe.
“I’m sorry, Ellie.” His eyes flicked to Georgia, then back to hers. “I didnae want—I never wanted…” Fawkes swallowed. “I’ve caused so much hurt.”
Her heart broke for him.
Behind her, Rourke cleared his throat again. “We all have. That’s why we’re working to bring down Blackrose.”
“Aye,” growled Demon, abandoning his syrupy-sweet tone. “None of us are proud of our pasts.”
Suddenly, Thorne was beside her—no, besideFawkes, clapping him softly on his shoulder. “And that’s why we need ye to stand with us, cousin. Help us right these wrongs.”
She saw the confusion in Fawkes’s green gaze, saw the way he kept coming back to her, as if she was his anchor. So Ellie smiled, willing her love to shine through her. “Together, Fawkes?”
His eyes closed. “Christ, I love ye,” he rasped.
Georgia clapped her hands together, drawing everyone’s attention. “This is the moment where we get up and leave, because I am quite certain my sister has something of a private nature she needs to say. But considering it took four footmen and an elephant to get me down here, I suggest we give Ellie and Fawkes leave to excuse themselves.”
Fawkes didn’t wait. He grasped Ellie’s hand and spun toward the door. Behind her she heard Thorne ask, “An elephant?” before she stumbled after Fawkes into the foyer.
Chapter 23
Fawkes feltas if he couldn’t breathe.
Hell, hecouldn’tbreathe, not until he got her out of there, not until he made her understand how sorry he was. How much he loved her.
