Page 4 of The Highlander's Princess Bride
“Yes, I saw to that, didn’t I?” Victoria’s little attempt at insouciance fell horribly flat.
“You don’t have to finish if you don’t want to,” Vivien said in a warmly sympathetic voice.
Victoria mentally shook herself. The deed was done and shewassafe, at least for now. There was no point in indulging in self-pity or guilt.
“No, I’m fine,” she said. “Fletcher grabbed for my legs, but I was able to step back and give him a good shove with my foot. The next thing I knew he was tumbling head-over-heels down the staircase.”
It had all happened so quickly. A few moments after she pushed him, Fletcher lay in an inert heap on the tile floor below, his head and neck at a hideously incorrect angle. Victoria had suspected instantly that he was dead, but had run down in the vain hope that he might have survived the fall. When she crouched over him and saw the fixed, lifeless look in his eyes, she’d come to the wrenching realization that she’d killed a man.
A vile one, to be sure, but still a human being, one whose life she’d ended.
“And that was it,” she awkwardly concluded. “It was over so quickly I could hardly believe it had happened.”
“You did what you needed to do, Victoria,” Aden said gently. “Never second-guess yourself on that score.”
“Aden is correct,” Chloe said. “It’s a perfectly dreadful story, but we’re all grateful you were able to overcome him. Some women are not physically strong enough to defend themselves, or would have been paralyzed with fear.”
“I almost was paralyzed,” Victoria confessed. “But I had the advantage of growing up in a coaching inn, where one does learn to deal with unruly or drunken males.” Her grandfather had insisted that she learn to defend herself, and she would bless his memory every day for that lesson.
“After you ascertained that Mr. Fletcher was deceased, what did you do?” Dominic asked.
“I ran upstairs to the nursery and woke one of the nursemaids. I told her Mr. Fletcher had suffered an accident and asked her to fetch the butler and housekeeper. Then I went to my room for a shawl to tie around my bodice.” She grimaced, recalling how disheveled she’d looked. “For all the good it did me. The nursemaid made a point of relaying her impression of my appearance in the most lurid terms to anyone who would listen.”
“Did either the housekeeper or the butler set any store by the girl’s description?” Dominic asked.
“No, but others in the household were only too happy to listen.”
Lady Welgate had certainly believed the nursemaid. Her ladyship had been all too happy to listen to the girl’s version of events, one that had grown more salacious with each retelling. That particular nursemaid had never liked Victoria, accusing her more than once of “putting on airs.” It was a common complaint about governesses. They were often looked down upon by their employers and often resented by other servants for their somewhat privileged role in the household.
“Lady Welgate arrived home shortly afterwards, did she not?” prompted Dominic. “And Lord Welgate also returned from London that evening as well?”
Victoria nodded. “Both came home to a total uproar, I’m afraid. Two of the footmen were carrying the body upstairs to an empty bedroom when her ladyship arrived. She immediately fell into hysterics.”
By that time Victoria had managed to change her dress and brush her hair after giving the butler and the housekeeper a quick recitation of events. Mercifully, they’d believed her. The senior staff had disliked Mr. Fletcher, although they would never have openly expressed such an opinion. When it came to running the household, Lady Welgate ruled the roost, and she’d been devoted to her brother. Complaining about his unfortunate proclivities would have only resulted in finding oneself out of a job without references.
“You told me, however, that Lord Welgate kept his head,” Dominic said.
“Yes. He convinced his wife to lie down in her room, then he sent for the magistrate. Lord Welgate made it clear to him that Mr. Fletcher had importuned me in the past, and that he did not consider me at fault in the accident.”
Chloe let out a relieved sigh. “I shudder to think what might have happened without Lord Welgate’s support.”
“I owe him a great debt of gratitude,” Victoria said. “Initially, the magistrate was not inclined in my favor, since Lady Welgate was so insistent that her brother’s death was a deliberate act on my part.”
“How did she arrive at such a ridiculous conclusion?” Aden asked.
Victoria glanced down at her folded hands, a mortified heat rising in her cheeks. “She accused me of trying to seduce her brother in the hopes of luring him into marriage. According to her, when he refused me, I murdered him out of spite.”
“That is insane,” Vivien exclaimed. “Why would she invent such a tale?”
“Lady Welgate was several years older than her brother,” Victoria said. “Their mother died when Mr. Fletcher was quite young, and her ladyship all but raised him. She was devoted to him and devastated by his loss.”
“Her grief is understandable,” Chloe said in a clipped voice. “But that’s no reason to accuse you of murder, against all evidence.”
“It could have been worse,” Dominic said. “Despite his wife’s accusations, Lord Welgate allowed Victoria to send me an express, asking for assistance. That was quick thinking, my dear,” he added, giving Victoria a warm smile.
“I didn’t know to whom else to turn,” she confessed. “My family wouldn’t have any idea how to help me in a situation like this.”
Actually, they would be mortified by her predicament. Her mother’s family held a degree of affection for her, especially Aunt Rebecca, who’d essentially raised her. But they also found her existence rather an embarrassment, and would not welcome being pulled into the middle of a scandal.
