Page 42 of A Masked Lady for Mr. Kenworthy
Mayson snarled, putting his face inches from hers.
“Have I?” he asked. “Perhaps it would make more sense for you to be hiding something near your bed. After all, you were too weak to hold up your head just days ago. You would never have made it all the way over here all by yourself.”
Mayson began walking backward toward her bedside table. She did not try to stop him, but something flickered in her eyes. Something like worry. Mayson guessed he must be close to discovering her secret. Without hesitation, he began flinging the contents of those drawers aside as well, even though there was very little in them, and he could see immediately there was nothing suspicious in any of them.
Frustrated and growing angrier by the second, he rose and faced the dowager countess. Her smug look was becoming more confident, and his hand ached to strike her and rid her face of that expression. He took a step back, pondering his next move. He felt sure that a further search of the room would prove just as fruitless, but he considered it anyway to release some of his agitations. He put his hands on his hips and turned his face away from the countess to escape her infuriating smirk. When he did, something shiny and brown caught his eye.
As he bent down to reach for the brown flash between the bed and the table, the dowager countess gasped, but he hardly noticed. He pulled up a dark bottle that, as he suspected, turned out to be medicine. It was his turn to smirk as he turned back to the fragile woman, holding the bottle up triumphantly.
“What have we here, Iris?” he asked, strutting back toward the dowager countess as he rolled the bottle from one hand to the other.
Iris rose quickly from her seat and made to grab the bottle. Mayson sneered at her, raising it well out of her reach. He laughed as she tried, too late, to compose herself and act as though she was disinterested in his discovery.
“So?” she asked, clearly very defensive. “You found an old woman’s medicine. Congratulations.”
Mayson was highly amused. However, he could hardly allow her to get away with such insolence. He raised a hand to her, causing her to flinch and cower before him.
“I certainly did, Iris,” he hissed. “And now, you are going to tell me how you came to get such medicine. And I will warn you not to lie to me.”
Much to his infuriation, the dowager countess did not answer him. She set her jaw and lifted her chin, but her gaze shifted to the side ever so slightly. Clearly, she was refusing to give him any information, but that was all right. Her reaction told him everything he needed to know, and his blood began boiling hotter than ever.
“That little witch,” he murmured under his breath. He knew, without a doubt, that his blasted cousin must have managed to sneak a physician in to see to her mother at some point when he was away. But how had she managed to pay for it? She had no access to the money left by her father. She still did not even know there was any money to spend. Mayson chortled to himself as he considered the options his cousin had for making enough money for a physician in such a short period of time. Perhaps she was not as innocent and respectable as she would have everyone believe.
When the dowager countess still would say nothing, he walked back over to her, curling his lips up so that nothing but his teeth were visible.
“Very well,” he said, growling. “I do not need you to tell me what I already know. Since you and your precious daughter think yourselves so clever and have shown me no respect and defied me at every turn, you shall now pay the price.” His face changed, suddenly becoming sunny and bright, though he felt nothing but cold vengefulness and hatred. “And if you do not do precisely as I say, your daughter will pay a very high price, indeed. What say you to that?”
Once more, the dowager countess said nothing, but now her lip was trembling, and there were tears in her eyes. Though he was certain he could force her to start talking, and he was terribly tempted to so, simply to remind her who was boss, he felt it best to save his physical aggression until later. However, he felt the need to deter any future attempts at rebellion from the old woman. It would be a few days before Faye returned, and he needed to be sure he had her completely under his control until he could deal with her daughter.
He knocked a rather expensive-looking bottle of perfume off the vanity, causing the old woman to jump and inhale with an audible sharpness. He chuckled, taking great pleasure in her apparent terror.
“You will do as I say, do you understand?” he hissed again, sneering once more at the woman. “Or else your daughter’s blood will be on your hands.”
This time, the dowager countess nodded vehemently. She covered her face with trembling hands as Mayson turned on his heels and stormed from the room. The doorframe groaned in protest as he slammed the door behind him. He felt confident the old woman would not do anything to jeopardize her daughter’s safety, so he did not lock her inside the room. Besides, it might be beneficial to him if she did try to sneak out of her room and attempt something clever. That might just give him the leverage he needed once Faye returned.
He walked down the stairs, thinking through these recent developments. He was glad he now had the dowager countess at his mercy, but he had truly been counting on her death. He felt that, with her dead, Faye’s spirit would be mostly broken and, therefore, more susceptible to following his every command with no resistance. Now, he would have to figure out another way to make them both bow to him.
He was getting ready to go to his study and rethink his plans to prepare for the countess’s death. But, on his way, he caught a glimpse of something lying just inside the front door of the manor. He stopped, approaching it hesitantly, as though it might bite him once he got close enough. He soon realized it was a folded note, and he frowned. Why had it not come in with the mail Huston had brought to him that morning?
Cautiously, he picked up the paper, noting the bent edge of the folded page. He realized then that it had been slid underneath the door. Quickly, he flung open the door, hoping to catch the person who had left the note, but, of course, there was no one outside. He shut the door again, looking back at the note. When he turned it over, it occurred to him that he recognized the handwriting. With no more hesitation, he pulled open the letter and began reading:
Mayson,
I know you asked me not to contact you through written correspondence, but this was too important to wait until our weekly meeting this weekend. You have agents of the Crown spying on you, and they are using your little cousin, Faye, to do it. I was watching from across the street, and I saw them leaving your manor. I have every reason to believe that your entire mission has been compromised.
I trust you will know what to do with this information. And, please, do let me know if there is any way I can assist.
Gabriella
Mayson did not realize he was roaring out loud until he lifted his head from the note. He crumpled it in his hand, trembling with rage. His cousin was certainly braver than he had ever expected. But she only thought herself clever. Ever since he had begun working with Gabriella, Mayson was a difficult man to trick or fool. And now, Faye had made the mistake of trying to do exactly that. He laughed sardonically, thinking of the conversation he had just had with the dowager countess. Now, it mattered not whether she cooperated with him. No, he was well past showing either of the women mercy at that point.I will make little Faye pay for double-crossing me.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Faye hurriedly dressed the following morning. She had had very little sleep, which made the task ahead of her seem simpler still, as she felt very weak and fatigued from resting so little over the past few days. The countess did not assist her, but that was for the best. Even though she had not expressly mentioned any specific plan for helping them leave Lord Turlington’s country home before the house party, Faye suspected the countess would be keeping a close eye and ear out for any cue from her. In truth, her plan had not been fully laid out until she had readied herself for the day. But now that it was, she knew she needed to act quickly.
As soon as she was reasonably presentable, Faye exited the room. She looked around to ensure she was alone on the upper floor of the mansion, then moved silently toward the staircase. She took a firm hold on the banister, listening carefully for an indication that the marquess was out of his bedchambers and somewhere on the first floor of his home.
After a moment, she heard what she had been hoping for. She could hear Lord Turlington’s voice wafting up from somewhere down in the hallway. Though she could not be sure, she thought he was relatively nearby. She saw servants rushing past one another in the opening leading from the entryway of the manor to the hallway. She decided that would have to suffice if the marquess himself missed what was about to unfold. With a deep breath, she maneuvered herself down the stairs, careful to not move too quickly lest someone be watching.
