Chapter 34

Isabella fell to her knees beside her sister and clutched Felicity’s hand. “Are you all right?” she asked, anxiety bubbling up within her.

Felicity managed a smile. “I’m all right,” she assured Isabella. “My head hurts a bit. Nothing more. You haven’t anything to worry about.”

Isabella felt the tears that had been threatening for so long break free at last. “You can’t imagine how worried I’ve been, Felicity, waiting for you to awaken. I didn’t know whether you would.”

“The physician told us that everything was going to be quite all right,” Arthur reminded her gently, taking a seat on Felicity’s other side. “How do you feel now, Felicity? You said that your head was hurting—how bad is it?”

“It isn’t too bad,” Felicity assured them both, beginning to sit up.

Arthur reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, restraining her. “You ought to stay in bed,” he said firmly. “Take your time and recover a bit before you try to get up.”

“I’m really fine,” Felicity said. “There’s no need for all this worry.”

“Arthur is right,” Isabella said. “I want to have the physician examine you again before you try to get up, Felicity. You could have been seriously hurt, and even though everything seems fine, I want to be sure before we start taking chances with your wellbeing.”

“Should we let your father know what’s happened?” Arthur asked.

“Oh, must we?” Felicity asked. “He’ll use it as an excuse to prevent me from coming over here again. I know he’s going to be anxious to find an excuse anyway. He barely wanted to allow me to come over this time. I think he’d be much happier to draw a boundary between the two of us, Isabella. He thinks I’ll be easier to control now that you’re out of the house.”

“Don’t worry,” Arthur said firmly. “I’m not going to allow your father to stand between the two of you. I know how important you are to one another—how important it is to have your family by your side. If it would help, Felicity, you may come and live with us here until your marriage can be arranged.”

Isabella gasped. “Would you really be willing to do that, Arthur? To have my sister live here with us?”

“Of course, I would,” Arthur said. “I know how lonely you’ve been, Isabella.”

“But you said that things were going to be different between the two of us now,” Isabella reminded him. “That means…doesn’t that mean that I won’t have to be lonely any longer?”

“It does. But there will be some time before I’m able to fully return to the household.”

“What do you mean?” Isabella felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Surely, he wasn’t about to take back his promise. Surely, he couldn’t mean to disappoint her again.

He took her hand. “You needn’t worry, Isabella,” he said softly. “I meant everything I said. I intend to make you the focus of my life from now on. But it’s necessary to wrap up the past first.”

“You mean to go on seeking revenge? Even now?”

“It’s not about revenge anymore,” he said. “It’s about your safety. Think about it—someone was able to get into this house, to do you both harm. That means someone who works here, someone who I have trusted, is helping Lady Reeves.”

Felicity gasped. “You mean someone here in your household let that masked man in last night? The man who nearly kidnapped my sister?”

“It has to be so,” Arthur said. “There’s no other way he could have gotten past my staff. I need to conduct an investigation and discover who is in league with Lady Reeves. I know that I promised you I was going to put the whole affair to rest, Isabella, and I mean to do exactly that. But as long as someone is helping Lady Reeves, none of us are safe.”

Isabella was hardly listening. “Lady Reeves,” she said softly. “I’ve heard that name before.”

“Have you? I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned it to you,” Arthur observed. “That’s something I’ve always tried to keep private, for the sake of protecting you. Although I suppose it’s possible that you might have overheard me talking about her. You’ve always had a habit of knowing more than you ought to.”

“No, that isn’t it,” Isabella said. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you speak of her, Arthur. And yet, that name…it’s so familiar. I feel as though I must have heard it somewhere before.”

“Oh, my goodness!” Felicity exclaimed. “I know where we’ve heard the name, Isabella.”

“You do? Where?”

“We met her!” Felicity said. “We both did. Father introduced us to her at the ball—don’t you remember?”

“That’s right,” Isabella realized, the memory coming back to her now. “We did speak to her. I do remember that. She seemed pleasant enough.”

Arthur looked astounded. His jaw dropped, and he raised his eyebrows so high that Isabella wondered if he mightn’t be exaggerating it for the effect. “You spoke to Lady Reeves?” he demanded. “She approached you?”

“No, no, she didn’t approach us. She was talking to Father,” Isabella recalled. “We approached him, and he made introductions. Why? What has she to do with all of this?”

“She’s the one behind it all,” Arthur said. He glanced at Felicity as though unsure of exactly how much he should say. “She’s the one who committed the crimes I told you about,” he said at last. “And she’s the one who sent that man here to abduct you. That’s how I knew to come running. I was in the middle of confronting her, and she told me that she had sent someone to do you harm, and that I was going to have to choose between my hopes of revenge against her and my desire to protect you.”

“And that’s when you decided to come back,” Isabella realized. “You came home because you knew I was in danger.”

“That’s right. I chose you over my need for revenge.” He squeezed her hand. “Please know that I always will from this moment forward. I’ve learned that it was a mistake to ever choose anything else.”

Isabella nodded. “I believe you,” she said. “But Lady Reeves…how could she be behind it all? She seemed perfectly kind to me when we met.”

“She struck me, when we met, as the sort of lady who is very good at putting on a false act,” Arthur observed. “She was nearly kind to me, even as she was confessing to the crimes that have haunted my entire life.” He turned to Felicity. “What did you think of her?”

“I thought it was odd to see her so close with Father,” Felicity said. “I hadn’t realized the two of them were friends. I hadn’t realized he had any close friends like that at all. But when I saw them together, it made me wonder if perhaps he meant to court her and simply hadn’t said anything about it yet.”

Isabella frowned. “Father hasn’t courted anyone since Rosalind’s mother died,” she pointed out. “I didn’t think he was interested in that side of life—or perhaps it was more believable that no ladies were interested in him. I always rather had the feeling that he blamed us for that fact. I know Rosalind’s mother never got over the fact that he had daughters from an affair with one of his maids. Perhaps no other ladies could look the other way about that either.”

“A moment,” Arthur said. “Do you mean to tell me that your father seemed to be engaged in a courtship with Lady Reeves?”

“Well, it looked that way to me,” Felicity observed. “Don’t you think it might have been that, Isabella?”

“It’s possible,” Isabella agreed. “They certainly did seem close to one another.”

Arthur drew a breath. “If that’s the case, he finds himself in a very precarious position,” he warned the sisters. “Lady Reeves is like a spider. She uses her beauty to ensnare gentlemen—she has no real interest in those she spends her time with—and then she threatens them. That’s what happened to my father.”

“Your father was involved with Lady Reeves?” Isabella was stunned.

“Years and years ago,” Arthur said. “From what I’ve been able to piece together, it was a one-night thing, a mistake he made after having too much to drink one night. I pity him for it.”

Isabella nodded. “Anyone can make a mistake,” she said gently.

“Afterward, she threatened him,” Arthur explained. “I don’t know whether she wanted to spend more time with him, as she claims, or if she hoped to extort money from him. All I know is that he refused to comply with her demands, and shortly after that, he was dead. And she has confessed to me now that he died at her hands.”

“You must alert the authorities,” Isabella urged.

“But I have no evidence. I’m sure she wouldn’t repeat her confession to them. And besides, I don’t know where she is anymore. The house we met in—I’m sure that’s not truly her home. It didn’t look as if anyone really lived there. And she went on the run as soon as I chose to come back for you. I don’t think she will allow me to get anywhere near her again. Even if I told the authorities what had happened, I don’t think it would do me any good.”

“You ought to try, at least,” Isabella said. “Don’t you think that would be for the best?”

Arthur smiled. “Now you want me to seek revenge?”

“I don’t want her out there if she’s someone who can do harm to my loved ones. You and Felicity have both suffered at her hands, and if she’s getting close to my father, it means that she’s still to near to our lives.”

“I agree with you,” Arthur said. “And that’s why I have to see this through to the end. I have to make sure there’s some sort of resolution so that we can feel assured that she won’t trouble us ever again because I want to make sure that you’re safe from her machinations. And that goes for your whole family as well. As soon as she’s out of our lives, I’ll be able to relax. I’m no longer devoted to the idea of vengeance the way I once was—but I’m determined to make sure that you’re safe, Isabella. That’s the only thing that matters to me. I won’t allow her to harm you.”

Isabella nodded. She didn’t want Arthur to be involved with this Lady Reeves any more than he already had been. It seemed entirely too dangerous. But on the other hand, she understood his reasons. If it had only been the two of them at risk, she might have tried to persuade him to let it go. But if Lady Reeves was getting close to her father, that meant Felicity would be at risk, and that was something Isabella couldn’t live with. Whatever was going on, it had to be resolved. There was simply no other alternative.

“Felicity,” she said, “you had better eat something. You need to get your strength back. And we should write to Father and tell him something, even if it isn’t the truth. We should let him know that you’re going to be staying here with us for several nights.”

“I’ll make those arrangements,” Arthur said, getting to his feet. “You two should take some time together.”

He left the room.

Isabella was grateful for a moment of privacy with her sister. But at the same time, she hated to see her husband leave. Being parted from him now was very difficult, and she could only hope that the matter of Lady Reeves would be settled quickly.