In Bed With the Devil(95)
Luke looked at Marcus, with his gaping mouth and the stunned look in his eyes that signaled he remembered the jewelry. He knew what was coming next. They were the only two who did.
“You’d read Ivanhoe to us, Auntie Clara,” Luke said quietly, rushing on before she could object to the intimate name he’d used. “Marcus and I took the necklace—”
“That’s not true,” Marcus said, coming to his feet. “I alone took it. You were only six, I was eight.” He looked at his mother. “We embedded the stones in our wooden swords, but after Father got so furious and was questioning the servants about the missing piece, we threw away the evidence of what we’d done. He took the cane to me more than once. I wanted to avoid another blistering.”
“What does all this prove?” his mother asked.
Marcus looked at Luke. “It proves he’s my cousin. I never told anyone what we did.”
“Neither did I,” Luke said. In truth, before yesterday, he’d not remembered. He turned his attention back to Mrs. Langdon. She seemed to be in shock. He could hardly blame her. “I have no intention of revealing the true nature of your husband, but if you persist in trying to take from me what is rightfully mine, it will all come out. I will not give up easily what my father fought to hold, what my grandfather entrusted to my care.”
Marcus cleared his throat. “I shall talk with my solicitor this afternoon and see that our claim is removed from the courts.”
Luke nodded. “Very good.” He turned to go—
“Claybourne?”
He looked back at Marcus.
“May I have a word in private?”
“Certainly.”
“You can’t possibly believe him,” Mrs. Langdon said.
“We’ll talk when I get back, Mother.” He followed Luke into the hallway and studied him as though only just then really looking at him. “It truly is you. I think I knew, I think I always knew.”
“I didn’t,” Luke admitted.
“I’ll speak with Mother. She’ll come around.”
“I appreciate it. It’s been a difficult few years. I’d like to put all the difficulties behind us.”
Marcus licked his lips, darted his gaze around the hallway as though he expected danger to be lurking about. “That’s what I wanted to talk with you about. You said you were attacked one night.”
“Yes.”
“It was Avendale’s doing.”
Luke knew that, but how had Marcus known? Luke stared at him, suspicion creeping in. “Avendale? What would make you think that?”
“Apparently, he’s lost a good deal of money to you. He’s in financial straits and he’s quite angry about it.”
“And how do you know all this?”
“Because he approached me and told me that he would help me regain my title if I promised to pay him what you’d stolen from him once I inherited.”
“Help you regain it by having me murdered?”
“I didn’t know that was part of his plan. I told him that I wanted to do it legally through the courts. I thought he understood, but I learned too late that he is quite the madman.”
“And you didn’t think I needed to know this when I came before?”
“I was ashamed that I’d become involved with him. And quite honestly, I was terrified. He indicated that he’d killed before, and I have little doubt he spoke the truth.”
“I appreciate your honesty.”
“For what it’s worth, I always thought you were a decent chap—well, except for killing my father, of course.”
“He brutally raped a twelve-year-old girl. That’s the reason I killed him. And while until recently, I had no memory of my parents’ murder, maybe a part of me did recognize him—for I hesitated not at all in delivering what I considered justice.”
“You can’t always tell from looking at a person what he’s really like.”
Luke placed his hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re like your father.”
“Thank you for that. I’d best get back to Mother. While it’s not obvious, I suspect she’s taken all of this news rather hard.”
After watching his cousin disappear into the drawing room, Luke turned his thoughts to the problem of Avendale. He was going to take a great deal of pleasure in dispensing with the fellow.
Chapter 21
Midnight.
My library.
–L
The missive went out to three of them. There was a time when it would have gone to four.
They slipped into Luke’s library as quiet as the night, coming into the residence through their various preferred entrances. Bill entered through the kitchen. Jim climbed a tree and came in through a bedchamber window. Frannie preferred slipping in through a door that led off of the terrace.