Page 16 of One Wicked Secret
He sat forward. “Elsa, you were destined to marry LordDenby, as per the contract. It never occurred to me that we might marry.”
A snide snort escaped her. “Do you think I wanted to marry Lord Denby? I had no choice. His father loaned my father money years ago, and that’s how the agreement came about. My hand was worth more than a measly two shillings.”
Daniel looked at Clara. “You told Elsa I won her hand in a wager. Why do you think that? You’ve lived at The Grange for two years.” Ever since their father died, weeks after accidentally striking her with a riding crop in a fit of temper.
Clara shifted nervously. She kept her own secrets. “I—I received an anonymous note.”
Daniel almost dropped his glass as he sprang to his feet. “Curse the saints! You should have informed me. What exactly did it say?”
“That you won your bride for two shillings in a wager.” Clara firmed her tone. “I was angry with you for leaving Elsa at The Grange. She was so confused that I showed her the letter.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I screwed it up and threw it in the fire,” Elsa confessed, “while cursing you to Hades.”
He began pacing, his mind darting from one possibility to another. Could Magnus have sent the note? No, he knew the truth. Did Lord Denby know that Daniel owned The Grange in Henley? Possibly.
“Have you received any other letters?” he said, panicked. “Has anything unusual happened either before or after you came to London? Think. It’s important.”
Clara’s hand fluttered to her throat. “I received a letter stating you keep a mistress in town. That went in the fire, too.”
Why send the note to Clara, not Elsa?
Was the villain testing Clara’s loyalty to drive a wedge between the women? Feeling betrayed and alone, was Elsa supposed to leave The Grange? Or did the villain not know Elsa lived there?
He turned to Elsa. “I don’t have a mistress.”
“Someone thinks you do.”
“I didn’t win you in a wager for two shillings.”
“The suggestion sounds too precise to be a lie.”
“Two shillings represent the bond of friendship. An alliance I made with Magnus when we were younger men.” When they despised the world and needed someone to trust. “The shillings are tokens: one for honour, the other for loyalty. When I gave Magnus two shillings, I gave him my life. I swore to protect you until I drew my last breath.”
Their eyes locked.
He saw the wall she had built shake but not crumble.
She did not trust his word completely. Perhaps she never would.
“You should have told me months ago.”
“The vow to protect you had to come before my personal desires.” She had no idea how hard it had been to leave her. “Be assured, none of this was my choice or design.”
Elsa nodded. “I wish I had known that.”
“Do you think I enjoy playing the scoundrel?”
“I haven’t known what to think.”
He tossed back his port, placing the glass on the mantel. The wine’s potency failed to soothe the pain of regret.
“You asked about unusual incidents,” Clara said while Elsa stared at the crimson liquid in her glass. “Finnegan caught a vagrant trying to enter the property. The man had adirty face and wore ragged clothes, but Finnegan was sure he caught a whiff of expensive cologne.”
He firmed his jaw. “And Finnegan didn’t think to alert me?”
“We convinced him he was mistaken.”
