Page 58 of Her Daring Earl
Fitz waved a hand in the air. “Nothing has changed. It is the same threat that has been present since Madeline first tried to poison me. Go. Your wife should be home during her confinement and not in a place where she could be in danger. I am happy for you and appreciate you spending the last few weeks with us.”
“Of course,” Levi said with a nod. “You were there for me during trying times, Fitz. Anything you need, just tell me.”
“Hopefully nothing untoward will occur,” Fitz said. “But if it does, I know where to find you.”
CHAPTER 20
The next week was both one of the best and one of the hardest of Eliza’s life.
After bidding farewell to Siena and Levi, she spent most of her days relaxing with Fitz’s sisters and most of her nights becoming intimate with him – in more ways than just physical. She didn’t see him throughout the day for he spent most of it working in his study, but she enjoyed the special winks he would send her way when it was time to meet for dinner or the stolen moments in which he would touch her body or whisper sweet nothings in her ear.
He was so attentive that she nearly forgot there had ever been a time – or two – when she had been angry with him.
All of her belongings had been moved into the lady of the manor’s chamber a day after their wedding. It had been vacant, for Fitz’s mother had moved to another chamber years ago once Fitz had become Earl. Even so, Eliza felt like something of an interloper, as if she hadn’t yet earned her place there.
Fitz had been coming to her so regularly through the door that connected them that when he didn’t appear in her bedroom one night, she wasn’t certain what to think.
Had he assumed that she needed time away from him? Or had he grown tired of her?
Not one to sit idle and wait for answers, she opened the connecting door, peering around Fitz’s room to find that the fire was lit in the grate, Fitz’s nightclothes were laid out upon the turned-down bed, but the man himself was nowhere to be found.
Eliza yawned as she stretched her arms, ready to sleep, but first, she would find Fitz to say goodnight.
She knew exactly where he was likely to be – his study, hard at work. For a man who had been so well known for his rakish ways, his dedication was admirable. He must truly believe in his cause.
She tiptoed down the corridor and the stairs, not wanting to wake anyone as the hour was late, which was why she was surprised when she heard voices coming from within the study. Was his mother or one of his sisters not yet abed?
She paused outside the door, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, but then her brow furrowed at the unfamiliar voice.
It was female – low, sultry, and practiced.
“Why are you coming to me with this now?” Fitz asked with irritation in his voice.
“I was afraid before,” came the response. “For my life, for the lives of those I work with. I felt threatened. But now… his man keeps returning. Asking where you are, if you have returned. He wouldn’t believe that you hadn’t been to see us again, as you had been a regular guest for so long.”
Eliza’s insides turned to ice as she realized just who this woman likely was and what kind of business Fitz had frequented often enough to be known.
“So, finally…”
There was a pause until Fitz spoke in practically a growl. “Finallywhat, Madeline?”
Her response was so low that Eliza nearly didn’t hear it. “I told him that you were at your country estate.”
“Did you tell him where it was?”
“No,” she said quickly. “How could I? I had no idea.”
“This is not the entailed estate, so it might be more difficult to find, but it can be located eventually,” Fitz said. “Are you ready to tell me just who this man is?”
“Unfortunately, I cannot give you a name,” she said. “He didn’t come himself. He sent a man in his place to act as a messenger.”
“Do you knowhisname?”
“No, but I can describe him.”
“Very well,” Fitz said with a sigh. “Tell me as best you can, and I will write to the detective.”
There was silence but for footsteps that Eliza knew would be Fitz pacing back and forth as the woman was likely doing as he asked.
