Page 21 of Her Heart's Rightful Earl
Alexander cleared his throat.
“I cannot ask your forgiveness. I understand you have endured too much trauma for it would be unfair of me to request such an impossible notion. But I am grateful for the opportunity to explain to you.”
Arabella remained still. Any movement might see her falling into him with the abandon her body wanted to make. Every tendon was stressed and tense, steeling herself.
“The night my father was killed, I was so afraid. It would be a life behind bars or execution for me, and either one would steal me away from you, so when Thomas suggested refuge with an associate of his–”
“Thomas?” Arabella erupted. “Not only does Marcus know, butThomas also?”
Alexander faltered, realizing he had unintentionally landed blame at his best friend’s door.
“Yes, but all he did was out of loyalty to me. I asked him to lie for me. Thomas is not culpable for these falsehoods. Please, Arabella, all liability ends with me.”
Arabella breathed heavily through her nose, scarcely repressing her rage.
“I must tell you, though, that as I departed—in a grim wave of grief and disbelief—my dominant feelings of loss were for you.”
“Then why did you not first collect me?” Arabella hissed. “Your fiancée! If you were relocating to Scotland—underanycircumstances—certainly your intended wife should travel with you!”
“It was not an orthodox change of residence, Arabella …”
“That doesnotimply that I should not have been incorporated into your plans!”
“I intended to contact you …” Alexander stepped forward on a flagstone nestled in the grass, and one moment after his advance, Arabella deliberately stepped back, maintaining a distance from him. He winced; her physical statement stung, but he breathed deeply, accepting her reasons.
“Then why did you neglect to contact me? Did you meet some beautiful Scottish maiden ...?” Arabella quizzed him bitterly, tilting her head, goading him.
“No!” Alexander’s protest was a little too loud, and they both turned fearfully towards the house.
“Sssh!” Arabella warned, drifting further into shadow to ensure she could not be seen. Alexander followed, to obscure himself, whilst remaining respectably distanced.
He smiled a little, teasingly. “Then youdocare if I get caught ...?”
His flippancy in the light of such seriousness provoked a torrent of anger through Arabella’s veins. “Onlyif the magistrate apprehends you before I getmychance to do so!”
Even as she spoke the words, she recoiled at her bitter delivery. Alexander’s smile dropped, and he kicked idly at a stone on the ground.
“Ididintend to contact you. To explain the volatile predicament. To suggest you join me …”
Hope flickered in Arabella’s eyes, for that was the exact fantasy she had entertained whenever she dreamed their lives had played out differently. Despite her determination to remain stoic with him, her words betrayed her.
“That was my dream,” she swallowed as she softened. “That you had to immediately escape but would send for me after. When I was called aside by Marcus days after your disappearance, I believed it was for him to communicate your location and that you were asking for me. I would have gone, Alexander. Certainly, I would have missed my sister and my friends terribly, but in truth, I would willingly have left everything behind to follow you.”
Alexander stepped towards her again, misjudging her affectionate words. Arabella’s face fixed back to a stern frown as she stepped away again.
“But that wasthen,Alexander. Can you imagine the pain—believing I was being summoned to plan our reunion, only to be told of your death? It was utterly devastating.”
“I am so sorry, Arabella, to have put you through such turmoil–” Alexander balanced his weight on the tips of his toes, poised to go to her, yet holding back, knowing that any physical attempt at consolation would be rebuffed.
“No matter with all that now.” Arabella whisked her hand brusquely through the air, dismissing that time that felt too painful to recall. “Whatchanged, Alexander? Why did a plot for integration develop into a conspiracy to have everybody believe you were dead?”
Alexander shook his head with regret. “Marcus made that call. He decided it was better for the authorities to classify me as deceased so that they wouldn’t persist in hunting me down. He was protecting me.”
“He couldn’t have installed me with you before declaring you dead?”
Arabella’s eyebrows were raised in consternation, and her vocal pitch was high as she appealed to him.
“Truly, Marcus had already announced my death before his letter reached me, asserting that he intended to do so. I had no say in the design.”
