Page 78 of Secrets of the Marriage Bed
‘What are you thinking, Alistair?’ Julia asked.
‘I am thinking you need your rest.’ He glared at Robins. ‘Give me the key to your room.’
The woman fumbled in her pocket and handed over a key. ‘What will you do with me?’
‘I will decide that in the morning.’ He walked over to the door. ‘For tonight I am going to lock you in your room where you can do no more harm.’
‘Please, Your Grace,’ Robins said, looking at Julia, her eyes wide. ‘Don’t hand me over to the magistrate. My daughter...’ She started sobbing again.
‘Do as His Grace ordered,’ Julia said, but pity for the child made her soften her tone.
The woman scuttled from the room followed by Alistair, who returned a few moments later.
‘Alistair—’ Julia said. Her knees felt suddenly weak. Fear, anger, even relief all warred with each other for attention.
‘Hush.’ He picked her up in his arms and carried her into his bedroom. ‘It is all right. She’s safely locked away. She cannot hurt you.’
He gazed down into her face and she saw he was worried. For her? All at once she felt safer than she had for days. ‘It is so hard to believe that someone wants me dead.’ She shuddered.
He nodded tersely. ‘You’ve had a shock. You need to rest.’
Tenderly he lay her on his bed and pulled the covers over her. ‘Sleep now. We will talk in the morning.’ He snuggled in beside her and held her close, gently running his hand over her back in circles.
She felt cherished. And strangely happy. As if she had drunk too much champagne, something she had done only once as a girl at her very first house party.
She lifted her head and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you for coming in time.’
‘Sleep,’ he said and his voice was gruff.
* * *
Alistair put the breakfast tray on the end of the bed and leaned over his wife. Pride filled him as he saw she slept soundly. Trust. It was a heady thing, even if he hadn’t truly earned it. The idea that she had feared he might be the one causing her harm had been a bitter but not undeserved blow. He struggled with his sudden urge to tell her the truth, expose his guilt, yet it wasn’t his secret to share.
‘Wake up, sleepy head,’ he said, jostling her shoulder.
She opened her eyes. The moment her gaze focused on him she beamed. The beauty of her smile went straight to his groin, robbing his brain of all but lust. Now was not the right time, for so many reasons. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand.
‘Sit up. I brought breakfast on a tray so we can talk without interruption.’
Once they were settled with the tray between them and she had a cup of tea in her hands, Alistair took hold of his courage in both hands.
‘I sent Robins away,’ he said.
Her teacup rattled in the saucer and he steadied it, letting go only when he saw she had pulled herself together.
‘I put her in my carriage at four this morning and sent her off with Jaimie to collect her family. Jaimie will hide them away until we discover who is behind this plot to have you harmed.’
She frowned. ‘Why?’
He hadn’t slept a wink all night, thinking about this very thing. ‘One thing I know for certain, if we involve the magistrate it will create a great scandal. A blot on the family escutcheon.’ Not to mention bringing Julia into the limelight where her past might be revealed. ‘Her child is an innocent in all of this and she would suffer greatly if the mother was convicted of a crime.’
Her eyes widened in surprise. ‘That is generous of you.’
‘No matter what people say of me, I am not completely heartless.’ He wondered if she believed him but suspected she did not and that hurt more than he liked to admit. ‘Jaimie will get them away before the people involved realise what happened. He’ll spread some rumours at the local watering hole of a death in her family.’
Julia sipped at her tea. ‘And so you pre-empt any strike at the child they might make in retaliation.’ She sighed. ‘As angry as I am with Robins, I would not like the child to suffer. But we still do not know whotheyare. Or why they are doing this.’
Shadows of doubt remained in her eyes. Did she doubt him? How much more could he say to assure her he meant her no harm? That her welfare was important to him.
His mind went back to the deliberate sabotaging of his saddle. He could not help surmising that whoever was behind this attack was using his wife as a means to destroy him. Who, other than him, would have been accused of her murder, if Robins had succeeded?
Whatever the case, he would bet his title that his brother was involved, possibly with the help of his stepmother. And, Alistair admitted, with an arrow of pain that pierced his soul, his brother had good reason to hurt him. However, coming after Julia was a huge mistake. An act of aggression he would not tolerate.
He toyed with the idea of telling Julia his suspicions. Of easing her suspicions about him, but then he would have to tell her the whole story and she’d know exactly how badly he’d misled her. How shameful he really was. Self-disgust roiled in his gut. If she ever learned the truth he would likely lose her entirely.
‘I think we should talk to Digger. She might have some ideas.’
