Secret Pleasures (50 page)

“Don’t threaten me, my lord
.
The letter changes nothing.
”
Maddox straightened
.
“If you don’t mind, I have a wedding to arrange
.
What you do with the sodomite doesn’t concern me.
”

Jacobson blocked the door
.
Maddox paused and turned to Darien
.
“If you are going to shoot me, Lord Westhaven, then do so
.
Otherwise, I shall be on my way.”

“And what will we find when we exhume Philip’s body
?
The House of Lords takes commoners murdering their own quite seriously
.
I assure you, I will prosecute you in no less than an audience of Philip’s peers.”

Maddox balled his fist and appeared furious
.
Darien had finally found a warm vein under Maddox’s ice-cold exterior.

“Exposing our families’ unconventional relationship would not serve either of us, Lord Westhaven
.
Are you so willing to throw away the reputation of your title, something your father devoted the latter part of his life to preserving?”

“I’m not marrying your daughter
.
If I must, I will bring her maidenhood into question
.
Rumors can be so vicious.”

Ivy, who stood behind him gasped
.
“Darien
.
No.”

Darien ignored her, staring through Maddox in a ruthless imitation of his father.

“Very well.
”
Maddox nodded
.
“Am I free to go?”

“After you tell me what you did to Philip
.
You couldn’t have overpowered him and if you had shot him, surely someone would have noticed the wound.”

“I asked him for a final embrace and stabbed him in the heart.
”
Maddox’s smug grin and blank stare chilled Darien
.
“After the bleeding stopped, I retrieved a fresh shirt from his hastily packed satchel
.
A buttoned coat and some rearranged hay covered the rest of the evidence, not that anyone bothered to look
.
Using one of the stable’s pulleys to hang him from the rafters was a stroke of genius, really
.
Very shocking and dramatic.”

Darien could only blink in response
.
He wanted to believe Maddox invented such a story to torture him.

“May I be excused, now
?
You shall have your Lady Harlot and her bastard, and can live out your days in shunned isolation.
”

Darien tried to breathe
.
Ivy laid a comforting hand on his back
.
“You must turn this over to the magistrate, Darien.”

“An inquest will ruin our family name,” Lily said from their father’s bedside
.
“Not to mention Arianna and her mother.”

“And if you murder me, there will be a thorough investigation.
”
Maddox seemed to find his swagger
.
He gripped the lapels of his expensive coat and rocked on his feet
.
“I might be a commoner, but I am a wealthy one with interests throughout the empire
.
His majesty would notice my absence if only for the loss of taxable income.”

Darien lowered the weapon
.
“Be on the next ship to one of those interests
.
If I ever see your face again, you will be exposed for the fraud you are.”

Maddox bowed but his grin remained
.
He straightened to his full height, but slunk back at the force of the Elkhorn knife that suddenly imbedded in his chest
.
Both Darien and Maddox stared in the direction from which the silver blur came
.
Collin Jacobson remained in a crouched position
.
He must have pulled the hunting knife from his boot
.
Maddox fell to his knees with a hard thud
.

“He was not to be trusted, my lord.” Jacobson straightened
.
“He’d not stop until he’d seen you dead
.
I don’t intend to run from my punishment
.
I’ll admit to everything.”

“Someone should get Dr. Shipley
.
Maddox might not be dead.
”
By the copious amounts of blood spilling onto the floor, Darien should have added the word yet
.
He lowered his musket and placed an arm around Ivy
.
He hugged her to him tightly.

On his first day as earl, he had two dead bodies on his hands and a murderer, who in Darien’s opinion, did him a great service and should not be handed over to hang
.
He would be completely overwhelmed if he did not have Ivy by his side, now and forever.

He gazed down at Ivy
, amazed at her strength
. 
“You must be exhausted as I but we still have work to do
.
There is going to be another hunting accident. ”

Ivy eased out of his grip
.
“What are you going to do?”

“Only what my father would have done
.
Go change, Lady Westhaven, we’ll have an audience with the local magistrate as soon as someone can fetch him from the village
.
You’ll find him quite charming.
”

“I don’t understand.”

“Oh
.
Did I forget to mention that according to local custom, we’re practically married
?
We just need to stop by Robert’s room with a couple of witnesses to make our union plausibly legal.”

***

Ivy shouldn’t be so nervous
.
Darien and she sat like royalty upon a high-backed, brocade-covered settee in a cavernous formal receiving room that dominated the west corner of the first floor
.
Their inquisitors
—
the local magistrate from the village, a cheerful gentleman lawyer, and a thin-lipped bishop
—
perched upon short, small
-
seated chairs while balancing their refreshments on their knees
.
The magistrate, who had been offered a glass of champagne after his short journey, seemed more interested in congratulating Darien on his inheritance than questioning their story.

In contrast, the bishop, summoned by Henry Maddox with the special license, arrived earlier in the day
,
hot and irritated
,
from London
.
His mood had not seemed to improve in the least
.
He continued to read over the yellowed, hand-written schedule for a Sunday service performed in the estate’s small chapel over a decade ago
.
The scowl that had settled over the middle-aged clergy’s long face when he’d learned he would not be performing a wedding had not softened with his third glass of sherry.

Ivy stared down at the ruby and pearl-clustered ring on her left hand
.
Darien had slipped his mother’s ring on her finger during their brief but well attended ceremony in Robert’s bedroom
.
Despite the cheers of Darien’s immediate family and the entire Westhaven House staff lining the hall and spilling down the formal staircase, Ivy still could not believe that she could actually claim Darien as her husband
.
She had read the fading script more times than the bishop, though she plainly recognized her own name scrawled in bold letters.

“Now if you don’t mind, my lord, I’ll need to speak to a few of the parties involved.
”
The magistrate drained his champagne and carefully returned the crystal glass to the silver
tray
held by the butler who hovered like an armed
guard
behind the guests
.
“Just for the records, you understand
.
This is the second hunting accident on the Westhaven estate
.
Not that I consider the incidents anything but terrible tragedies.”

“Please, speak to whomever you must
.
My brother-in-law, who witnessed the accident, should return shortly
.
Considering the circumstances, the last of the guests have chosen to leave
.
Except for my father’s close friends, who will all stay for the funeral, of course.
”
Darien bowed his head and covered his eyes with his manicured hand
.
A large monogrammed ring weighed heavily on his finger
. 

“And what of Mr. Maddox
?
He remains the victim here, even if you claim that your father accidently shot him then collapsed from the shock.
”
The bishop neatly folded their only written proof that their banns had been officially called in Westhaven’s chapel, then moved to slip the fraying paper into the overlarge pocket of his bl
ack
wool frock coat
.
“I find that quite odd, especially considering that Henry Maddox was not a regular outdoorsman.”

Darien cleared his throat and held out his hand
.
The bishop laid the notice gently upon Darien’s open palm.

“Surely you are not accusing his lordship of wrong doing?
”
The magistrate, who was dependent on the Blackmore family for the majority of his livelihood, feigned utter shock
. 

“I believe, dear bishop, that you personally consoled both Mrs. Maddox and her daughter
.
Did either of the women cast doubt upon my father or me?”

“No, they did not, my lord.”

Darien nodded with a smug smile
.
He’d been trimmed, groomed and properly dressed by his father’s valet
.
He made a stunning earl in a black velvet jacket and blindingly white ruffled shirt
.
The stockings he had not complained on wearing complimented his muscular calves so often hidden by boots.

“Well, then.
”
The magistrate clapped his hands together
.
“I’ve already spoken to Doctor Shipley, who promises to have the death certificates for our records before I leave
.
I’ll just speak to a few of the servants, and Major Fitzgerald upon his return, of course
.
I believe that’s all we shall need.
”
The magistrate bowed
.
Darien stood and so did Ivy.

Her gown seemed completely too opulent for the solemn occasion but Darien had convinced her that she was better suited to bold statements rather than demure ones.

“I’ve asked that a meal be prepared for you both
,” Ivy said
.
“
Any of the servants will be glad to show you to the dining room when you are ready.
”

“Thank you, Lady Westhaven
.
May I say on behalf of the village and surrounding hamlets that we are pleased to see a Lady Westhaven again in residence
.
And my condolences on your loss, my lord.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lawson
.
We shall be seeing much of each other
.
Lady Westhaven and I prefer the country to London and will reside on the estate much of the time.”

“Very well, my lord
.
Very well, indeed.
”
The local magistrate bowed and exited the room.

The bishop from London watched him go
,
then turned a harsh gaze on Ivy
.

“This marriage is all rather unusual, Lord Westhaven
.
Surely you are aware that the law changed with the marriage act some decades ago to prevent just such complications
.
Even so, I don’t see why you would keep your union a secret for so long?”

“My brother had been killed
.
My family was grieving
.
And I will admit, my father did not approve of the marriage after I became the heir
.
My darling, Lady Westhaven, agreed to the secrecy for everyone’s sake.”

The bishop nodded, but he kept his harsh gaze on Ivy
.
“How convenient for the child in the nursery
.
I don’t suppose the sudden outing of your secret marriage had anything to do with her?”