Page 115 of The Lady Needs a Rogue
With swift movements, he closed the distance between them. His broad back blocked the doorway.
“You’re as stubborn as that old mule was, aren’t you?” he said, nearly under his breath. “I’ll tell you when we’re done.”
“I don’t much care for your tone,” she said, unwilling to betray the sudden fear coursing through her veins. She tightened her grip on her parasol.
“This is all your fault.” His eyes narrowed. “If you’d packed up your camera and come along with me, I would’ve have had this place reduced to ashes before you returned... an accident waiting to happen.” He shoved a pile of her grandfather’s old books to the floor. “So much old, dry paper. So much fuel for a fire.”
“Why are you saying this?” she asked, deciding on the optimal spot on his body to aim her blow.
“You are a beautiful woman.” A tone akin to regret filled his voice. “If I’d had my way, you and I might have soon been warming a bed in Italy. But now, you’ve destroyed everything.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying. You must tell me what this is about.” She tried to keep his attention on her words and not on the subtle movements of her hands as she gripped the parasol.
“Miss Mason, you are a poor liar.” He raked his fingers through his hair again, as if he were agonizing over his thoughts. “If your grandfather had simply let sleeping dogs lie, none of this would have happened.”
“My grandfather trusted you.” Macie gulped against a sudden bitterness in her throat.
“Not enough.” Aylesworth stared at her, contempt in his eyes. “The old fool came to me with his conclusions, and I dismissed his suspicions. But like you, he wasn’t convinced.”
Old fool.The words seemed like a slap to the face. Macie swallowed her anger. She had to know the truth. “What happened then?”
“By the time I went after the evidence, he’d hidden the documents. No one knew where his blasted safe was concealed in this monstrosity of a house.”
“What did you do to my grandfather?”
He slowly shook his head. “Not a blasted thing. My efforts to convince him to entrust the documents to me did not work. Before I could convince him to cooperate, his heart gave out.”
Macie let out a breath she’d been holding. At least her grandfather had not suffered at this cad’s hands.
“So, you are not a cold-hearted murderer.”
“Blasted shame I cannot confirm your theory.” A slight smirk played on his mouth. “If only your grandfather had not shared his suspicions with Professor Smythson.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath Macie’s feet. “You... you killed him.”
“He left me no choice.”
“But why?”
“The day before your grandfather died, he went to Smythson with a document that confirmed the antiquities were not authentic. Trusting fool that he was, Smythson sought my expertise on the matter. After the professor gave me the letter, I destroyed it. For months, I thought my problem had been solved with the strike of a match. But when Smythson got word that a major piece sold to a collector was believed to be a fraud, he remembered what your grandfather had told him. There were more letters, he told me. More evidence. And he intended to find them.” Aylesworth gave his head a dramatically rueful shake. “A bit of poison in his tea did the job. If I’d had more experience, I would have better estimated the proper dose.”
“Dear God.” Macie gripped the parasol tightly. “Why are telling me this?”
“I intend to offer you a choice, Miss Mason. Together, we will take this pile of rubbish your grandfather so carefully assembled, place it in the fireplace, and watch it burn down to the last ash. And then, you will take me to his safe and prove nothing else remains. Then, and only then, will you walk out of this house.”
She struggled against the fear surging through her. “I don’t believe you.”
His eyes gleamed with venom. “I won’t even try to stop you from leaving this room. Unless you’re afraid of what will happen when you reach the stairs. A nasty tumble in all those bulky skirts... I doubt your dainty neck would withstand the fall.” His mouth curved into a serpentine smile. “Shall I prove it to you?”
She dragged in a calming breath. “You don’t have all the documents.” Macie forced herself to meet his contemptuous gaze. “There is another safe. I will take you to it.” Her voice trembled, but she kept her voice strong.
“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you now?” He cocked his head, studying her. “We both know what happens when people betray me, don’t we?”
Macie gripped the handle of her parasol. A strike in the face might disable him. But she couldn’t chance it. Not yet.
“My uncle knew,” he went on. “The surly old bastard figured it out. He knew what I’d done. And what I was going to do to you. He thought he could persuade you to sell your grandfather’s papers, as if that would solve this problem. Fool that he was.” His hands went to his throat, nervously toying with his necktie. “I let him meddle in my affairs. Until he went to warn you.”
A fresh wave of horror washed over her. “At the theater?”
