Page 14 of One Wicked Secret
“I wanted to follow you and build a picture of your life before you discovered I was in town.” She looked directly at him, despair a gathering storm in her gaze. “You live like a bachelor. No wonder your friends were so shocked to learn you’re married.”
“I don’t live this way by choice.” If not for that one tragic event, he would spend every night in bed with her.
“No, I forced you to behave like a scoundrel,” she mocked. “You think I bedded Mr Carver and then murdered him in cold blood. What beggars belief is why you agreed to marry me.”
“We’ll talk inside. In bringing Clara here, you’ve placed her life in jeopardy. It’s only right she hears the truth, so she might take every precaution.”
Elsa gulped. “I would never hurt Clara. I didn’t know?—”
“None of this is your fault,” he pressed.
“Yet you think I killed a man.”
Daniel didn’t reply. The sooner he confessed, the sooner he could move his family to a safe location. Ever vigilant, Jarvis knew to watch for Lord Denby’s men, though, with any luck, the peer remained unaware of his marriage to Elsa.
Still, Daniel scanned the dim street the moment he alighted.
A couple lingered in the shadows. One man loitered in a shop doorway, his collars raised to keep out the cold. Two dogs played chase in the road, darting in front of a carriage en route from Finsbury Square.
“Stay alert,” he instructed Jarvis.
“Aye, sir.”
Clara peered through the window before opening the door and greeting him with a beaming smile. “Daniel!”
He stepped inside, and she threw her arms around him.He held her tightly, breathing her in like a balm to a broken spirit.
Her happiness faltered when she welcomed them into the hall and saw the mud on Elsa’s dress. “What happened to your gown?”
Elsa removed her grass-stained gloves. “I ran through Hyde Park, but Daniel caught me, and I fell.”
“Oh.” Clara shifted nervously, unsure how to respond. “Never mind. The countess knows a laundress who will restore the gown to its former glory.”
“I doubt the countess will welcome us back at The Jade now she knows I lied about being unmarried.”
Clara cast Daniel a sidelong glance and gently touched his arm. “She will understand why you kept your marriage a secret. Besides, yours isn’t a marriage in the true sense; you’re practically estranged.”
“Elsa is my wife,” Daniel replied sternly, “as the parish record at St Andrew’s clearly states. I’ll hear no talk of an annulment or a legal separation.”
“Magnus is in Geneva,” Elsa informed Clara, leading them into a quaint drawing room where the furnishings were old and threadbare. “Once Daniel has explained the reason behind his shocking claims, I plan to leave for Switzerland, too. You’re welcome to join me.”
“What shocking claims?” Clara stepped into the candlelight. While one eye gleamed bright blue, the other was clouded, veiled in a milky haze. The scar slicing through her brow had softened with time, a silent reminder of the whip’s cruel bite.
Daniel inwardly winced. No matter how often Clara insisted he was blameless, guilt ate away at his soul. “No oneis going to Geneva. Clara, do you have sherry or something stronger to drink?”
“We have port. It was a gift from the countess.”
“Excellent.”
Clara raised a stilling hand when he offered to pour the drinks. “Sit and warm yourself by the fire.” She opened the cupboard of an oak dresser, removed three small claret glasses and poured a generous amount of port into each.
Elsa was right. Clara didn’t slouch or walk as if the floor were made of quicksand. Her ebony hair wasn’t draped over one eye but neatly scooped back in a bun.
He looked at Elsa as she prodded the coals, a wave of gratitude filling his chest. She was good for Clara. Genuine kindness healed wounds. It restored hope and soothed a battered spirit.
Elsa felt nothing for him now.
Still, his heart swelled for the love she had shown Clara.
