Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

C hauncy was deeply shaken.

Anna had nearly fooled him. First, by being convincing enough that he'd thought she was a neglected wife seeking pleasure in his bed for no return other than her attraction for him.

She'd satisfied him that her so-called madness had been overblown by a lackluster husband and he'd fallen for the alluring, elfin creature who'd reveled in his attentions.

But she was not Sir Edward's wife. She was doxy?

Nor was she mad, as Lady Saunders was now declaring loudly while she paced in front of the fire in the drawing room?

Lady Boothe, he'd been told by his friend, Saunders, had been locked in an antechamber.

Other claims filtered through to him as he sat, trying to appear alert, yet dazed at the incredible claims from Saunders and Sir Simeon that Sir Edward and Lady Boothe had tried to assassinate him.

Or rather, Lady Boothe had paid money to an assassin to murder Chauncy, furnishing him with the drawing he'd done of her.

But why? It didn't make sense, he told his friends and colleagues who'd gathered in the drawing room.

"Because she is insane," Lady Saunders told him. "It doesn't need to make sense."

"Bring the drawing to me," Chauncy now demanded of Sir Simeon, who'd just entered the room.

Obediently, the baron handed him the rolled paper.

"And a looking glass."

"Good lord, Chauncy! You surely don't believe that insane creature?" asked Saunders. "Why, of course, she'd say the first nonsense she could to deflect blame from her husband, who is clearly behind this terrible attempt upon your life."

"I recall her saying she was his sister. And why would this unknown woman—or the brother—wish me dead? I have nothing they want. They can have no motive." Chauncy frowned as he took the looking glass offered to him and held it over the drawing. He hoped Sir Simeon wasn't about to add his suspicions that Anna was in fact Sir Edward's mistress rather than his wife and further sully matters in public.

"Motive?" repeated Catherine. "Might Sir Edward have objected to the way you looked at his wife?"

She'd said it dismissively but Chauncy stiffened.

Could the lily-livered Sir Edward really have concocted a means to be rid of Chauncy through jealousy having discovered that his paramour had been in Chauncy's bed?

Why, that made Sir Edward the madman, not his wife.

"Give me that drawing!" snapped Catherine, trying to snatch it from his hands. "The pair of them have quite lost their minds. Surely there are dungeons in this draughty old castle. They can be thrown in there while the matter is dealt with."

Chauncy, leaning over the drawing and now armed with a magnifying glass, looked up at Saunders and Catherine. "You are very quick to condemn the pair. I'm surprised. Surely there are other suspects?" He narrowed his eyes at his old friend. "Would not our three suspect plotters come to mind first?"

"Those three were in the drawing room, where we were, when the bullet was fired," said Saunders. "And Sir Edward drew a second sketch of you. Why would he do that unless he wished to give it to someone else? He was jealous of you and his wife. Oh yes, he certainly had a motive to kill you."

"And Lady Boothe's defence is nothing but empty words," said Catherine, pacing in front of the fire, having tried unsuccessfully several times to take the drawing away from Chauncy. "Lady Boothe is nothing but a liar."

Slowly Chauncy moved closer, bending his head and squinting through the magnifying glass. Suddenly his body felt very cold and leaden as he asked, slowly, "Then why is she right in claiming the existence of the very words she said were there, in handwriting that is too small to discern with the naked eye?" He tapped the drawing and rose to confront his former lover. " Stolen by Lady Saunders! That's what it says."

Catherine drew back, horror marring her lovely face before she said quickly, "She was trying to frame me ? So, it is not her husband—or brother—who was behind an attempt on your life." She hesitated, searching Chauncy's face. "This is proof that it was mad Lady Boothe. She has tried to get close to you, Chauncy, using whatever means she can. Clearly, she is…the instrument of someone who wishes you dead!"

Chauncy frowned.

Then he said to Sir Simeon, "I think that Lady Boothe should be brought here so that you and she, between you, can tell me what really are the facts behind why this drawing was found in the hands of the man who tried to kill me."