Page 65 of To Tempt a Scandalous Lord
“I’m here,” he enunciated, “because I know your secret and I will happily reveal it to all of polite society if you do not do exactly as I demand.”
…
It seemed like mere minutes had passed since Niall had laid his head on his chair back for a quick repose when a sharp knock on the door tore him from his slumber. Scrubbing a hand across his eyes, he took a moment to straighten his cravat before he called out, “Come in.”
The door swung open to reveal Guillermo Torres. The color was high in his cheeks and his chest moved up and down as he panted for breath.
“It looks like you’ve been out for a run,” Niall remarked, hoping to offset the sense of alarm that was building in his blood.
“I have been. I stopped here first an hour ago, and you were not in.”
Niall cringed. “I was in a meeting until a short time ago.”
Torres ripped his hat from his head and ran a hand through his black hair. “Yes, well, I stopped at Campbell House, but the butler said you were not in. I stopped at Little Windmill, as well as your favored coffee shop, with no success. I’m glad I thought to check back here again.”
With the man’s agitation bleeding through to him, Niall slowly rose to his feet. “What’s happened?”
“I’ve discovered the identity of your writer.” The man swallowed. “And I fear I may not be the only one who has.”
He leaned forward to plant his hands on the desktop. Uncovering the writer was what he wanted…right? So why did his stomach churn at the prospect of this most awaited reveal? “Who is it?”
The name that fell from Torres’s lips wiped all thoughts free from his mind.
Niall did not remember gathering his things and leaving the office. The carriage ride home passed in a blur. If his secretary had said anything to him when he departed, or the driver asked him a question, he knew not. Niall hadn’t even thanked Torres or bid him goodbye.
All he had been able to think about was how he’d been lied to.
For months now, he’d lived with a liar.
Because his gracious, brave, indomitable Alicia was the chapbook writer.
The woman he had given his name to—his heart to—had criticized him for months in front of the entire country, and had not had the decency to tell him of her anonymous exploits.
He tried to swallow, but the lump in his throat would not budge.
Niall stared out the carriage window, the scenery black and white, indecipherable from the chaos of his thoughts. The flashes of memories. Alicia’s wide eyes when he announced their engagement in front of theton. How she’d choked at the breakfast table when he said she sounded like the tract writer.
He croaked a dry laugh.
Alicia must have thought him a fool.
When the carriage came to a halt in front of Campbell House, Niall pushed open the carriage door and hopped out, taking the front steps two at a time. Stewart met him when he stepped into the foyer.
“Where is her ladyship?” he asked, handing the man his hat and coat.
“Lady Inverray retired to her chambers as soon as Viscount Matthews departed.”
Niall hesitated. “Matthews was here?”
“He was, my lord. When I informed him you were not in, he said,” the butler cleared his throat, “he had come to see her ladyship.”
“Thank you, Stewart,” he murmured.
He climbed the stairs in a daze. From what little he’d heard of Torres’s explanation, Alicia had met with Miss Assan in public; others may have seen them together and made the connection between the two women. Niall had to assume it was why Matthews had visited Alicia…but why not approach Niall and ask if he knew instead? His heart thundered in his ears.
Coming to a stop outside Alicia’s chamber door, Niall cracked his knuckles as he rocked back and forth on his feet. He wanted to prowl into the room and…do what? Rant and yell and demand an explanation? Pull her into his arms and ask why she hadn’t confided in him?
Order her belongings packed and send her directly to Scotland?
