Page 70 of Her Heart's Rightful Earl
‘Oh yes, I have people on lookout for me. You underestimate my reach and power, Lady Spencer. As soon as I became aware my brother had illegitimately returned to London, I hired watchers to follow him.
But imagine how very disappointed I was to discoveryourdisloyalty! A lady who sits daily at my breakfast table, talking sweetly with my mother. That very same lady has betrayed my trust by conspiring with the enemy!’ Marcus spat.
‘Enemy?’ Arabella was so provoked by this accusation that the words came readily. ‘How can Alexander be yourenemy?He is your brother, who has always loved and nurtured you!’
‘Who now plans my capture, does he not? Aturncoat!’
Arabella dropped her eyes to the floor. Marcus seemed genuinely to believe it wasAlexanderwho was in the wrong! It was a preposterous suggestion, but Marcus was too dangerous a man to argue with.
‘You should know what happens to people who dare to stand against me!’ Marcus warned in a vicious whisper.
Arabella’s eyes, filled with fear and unshed tears, flicked back up to his face.
‘Edmundturned on me,’ Marcus clarified. ‘He investigated my father’s death with such spiteful conviction. How dare he assume such superiority? To think that mycousincould judgeme!I am the earl and not he! I couldnothave him reporting me, so he had to be poisoned.’
Arabella gasped, and a tear involuntarily dropped; she already knew the truth, but to hear it from the perpetrator’s mouth was shocking.
‘Genius, really,’ Marcus continued. ‘Poison manifests in a dead body as ‘death by natural causes’ unless they have some reason to further interrogate the circumstances—which of course, they did not.’
Arabella squeezed her eyes tight. ‘I cannot believe you could do that to dear Edmund.’
‘Believe it. I have no qualms in doling out severe punishments to traitors.’ Marcus grinned at Arabella maniacally.
Arabella gulped and took a deep breath, assuring herself that as Marcus was clearly not of a sane mind, there must be a loopholehe had missed, somewhere; a weak point in his plan that would allow her to escape.
As Marcus paced the floor in front of her, she worked the tie behind her back, at least loosening it a little. If she kept him talking, the rhythmic kneading of the fabric against her thumb should continue to slacken it.
‘Why have you brought me here, Marcus?’ She purposely no longer used his title; he did not deserve her respect.
‘Here? Why, do you know wherehereis?’ Marcus delighted at her question.
‘No,’ she admitted.
‘Nor does anyone!Hereis a little abandoned house I found that nobody knows about, and so nobody will find you unless they areinvitedto find you …!’ He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
‘What do you mean?’ Arabella asked, puzzled.
‘Your gallant Alexander may beinvitedto come and rescue you ...!’ Marcus grinned and laughed gleefully.
It dawned on Arabella at that moment that she had not been brought here explicitly for punishment, but she was here as bait.
‘No!’ she protested. ‘Do not bring Alexander here! Please!’
‘Ooh!’ Marcus feigned sympathy. ‘She loves him just as much as she always did—isn’t thatadorable?’
‘You have already hurt him enough!’ Arabella felt a rage swell up inside her at the audacity of this man, who had been given every privilege in life that a boy could wish for, yet only ever returned the sentiment with destruction and pain.
‘I have not hurt Alexander!’ Marcus seemed strangely affronted by the accusation.
‘You killed his father!’ Arabella could add more crimes to the list, but this singular statement had such impact that it was strong enough to exist in isolation.
A devious smile crept over Marcus’s face. ‘That is not what the world believes! The world believes it wasAlexander, the heir to the Wellwood estate, who murdered his father for the inheritance and grandiosity, who, when caught,ran!’
‘You instigated his exile, too!’ Arabella threw her words as the only weapons she had, as she desperately fiddled with the tie at her fingers behind her back.
‘I must say, he made himself look even guiltier by running away,’ Marcus observed.
‘Youtold him to run away! You said that he looked so guilty that a magistrate would not hear him out. You told him he would hang for it. Hetrustedyou!’
