Page 30 of Needs Must
The only alternative would be for her to take up a paid position as a governess, he supposed, and that thought was almost as unpalatable.
Cal reached home, relinquished Emperor to his groom’s care and made his way into the house. He found Jules in his library, going through some accounts.
‘I was about to send out a search party,’ Jules remarked. ‘How did it go?’
Cal reached for the decanter and poured whisky for them both. ‘Sit down and pin back your ears,’ Cal replied, flicking a spot of mud from his face and turning his back to the fire in an attempt to dry his backside. ‘This you are not going to believe.’
‘Do you accept her account?’ Jules asked, scratching his head and looking astounded when Cal finished recounting her story.
‘Actually, I do. I think she is misguided, but perhaps that’s understandable, given the manner in which she’s been treated.’
‘She has had everything taken from her so it’s only natural that she thirsts for revenge,’ Jules reasoned, echoing Cal’s earlier thoughts. ‘But surely she realises how dangerous her ridiculous plan is and what little chance she has of gaining financial recompense.’
Cal scowled. ‘The irresponsible female has not thought it through at all.’ He threw up his hands. ‘As though a cold-blooded murderer will admit to what he has done and risk meeting the hangman. It beggars belief.’
‘What do you intend to do about it?’
‘We need to involve Bagshott and entice Harte here by that means.’
‘Do you think that Harte is already ahead of your lovely widow and ?’
‘I did not say she was lovely.’
Jules laughed. ‘You didn’t need to. Your entire expression comes alive whenever you mention her name. I have never known you to be so ?’
Cal held up a hand to cut off Jules’s flow of words. ‘Save it!’ he snapped. ‘I am responsible for law and order in the area, and I fully intend to protect Mrs Harte from her own impetuosity. If we can bring her brother-in-law to book at the same time, it will be an added bonus. But that is as far as my interest in her extends.’
Keep telling yourself that.
‘Do you think that Ian Harte was aware that Mrs Harte was in the district when he made contact with Bagshott?’
Cal shook his head. ‘If he did then he would have found a way to get to her. She is currently residing in a public tavern and would be easy enough to corner, despite being under the care of a robust maid in possession of a stout rolling pin.’
‘Eh?’
Cal smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘She won’t be much safer in Denmead Cottage,’ Jules remarked, pointing out the obvious. ‘Anyway, she sounds like a fiery individual. I should very much like to meet her.’
‘You shall. I have invited her to dine here tomorrow evening.’
Jules looked highly amused. ‘How will that go down with the ladies?’
‘The last time I checked this was my house and I can invite whomsoever I please into it. I shall warn the ladies that if they know what’s good for them, they will make her feel welcome.’
‘She will be embarrassed.’
Cal smiled and shook his head. ‘You are not acquainted with her, Jules.’ Cal leaned back in his chair, still smiling. ‘If they attempt to look down on her, she will see it as a challenge and hold her own. She certainly will not be intimidated. Anyway, my brothers will make her feel welcome, as will you and I.’
‘Without question.’ Jules paused. ‘Will you summon Bagshott again tomorrow and discuss this latest development with him?’
‘Not yet. Mrs Harte wants to be involved in the planning and I think she has earned that right at least. Besides, if I leave her out of it she’s likely to go off on a tangent of her own, and I can’t take that risk.’
‘Of course you can’t.’ Jules smiled broadly as he drew Cal’s attention to an anomaly in the accounts he’d been checking.
Jules’s prediction that the ladies in his family would be scandalised proved accurate when Cal mentioned that he had invited Mrs Harte to dine.
‘Who is this female?’ his mother asked with a suspicious sniff. ‘If she is planning to live in that hovel then surely we do not wish to know her.’
