But he knew. There was only one possibility, really. Little though his mind wanted to acknowledge it…it had to have been Lord Keenward.
It was he who had been sending the herbs for Madeleine. That must have been the poison. Whether it had been meant for Thomas, he did not know, but he was the one who’d gotten his hands on it in the end.
Yesterday’s herbs had been fine, of course. She had consumed them without a problem. There had been no attacks of unconsciousness following that tea. She had even told him that her nightmares had gone, leaving him to believe that they had actually worked. Why would they have been good yesterday and toxic today? That didn’t make sense.
But then, Rachel had said that the herbs today were different. She hadn’t wanted to taste the tea. She’d pushed it away because it had smelled bad.
But Madeleine hadn’t done that. Madeleine hadn’t rejected her tea…
Suddenly, he found himself in the grip of a panic so all-consuming that it allowed him to shake off his grogginess and sit upright in bed. He felt as if someone had lit a fire in his gut at the realization he’d just had.
Madeleine!She had had the herbs in her teacup!
His mother and his sister hadn’t had any to drink, but Madeleine was different. She’d had the tea! She had wanted it to help combat her nightmares—even if it had smelled odd, there was no way she would have refused it. She’d been about to take a sip, and—his memory failed him there. What had happened?
Rachel had caught sight of him. She pushed past her mother and came hurrying over. “Oh, Thomas, you’re awake! Thank goodness. We’ve been frightened out of our wits about this. How are you feeling? Are you all right? Does anything hurt? I think you hit your head when you fell—”
“Where’s Madeleine?” Thomas demanded. He looked around the room—now that he felt more alert,surelyhe would see her—but she didn’t seem to be anywhere.
Rachel darted a frightened look at their mother. “You should try to relax,” she said. “There’s nothing to be alarmed about right now.”
But of course, there was, if Madeleine was missing. Any number of things could have gone horribly wrong. Thomas tried to get to his feet. “Is she all right? Tell me!”
The man his mother and sister had been speaking to at the door came over and put a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “Everything is all right, Your Grace, but you’re not to get up yet,” he said. “You’ll have to stay in bed, at least for now.”
“You don’t give me orders in my own home!” Thomas exploded. “I am the Duke of Westcourt, and this is my estate! I don’t know who you think you are—”
“My name is Doctor Montgomery,” the man explained. “I’m the physician who’s been seeing to you. Your family sent for me after you collapsed because they were worried for your well-being. And they were quite right to be. This situation could have been much more dangerous than it was, you know. You’ve been very lucky. You were dosed with a powerful toxin, but you’ve ingested a small enough amount that I think you’re going to be all right.”
“I didn’t ask about me. I don’t want to talk about what’s going on with me. Where is my wife?”
“Doctor, perhaps we ought to speak to him privately,” Thomas’s mother interjected. “I think this is a conversation best managed between myself and my son.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Doctor Montgomery agreed. “If anything is needed, you’ll know where to send for me.”
“Thank you so much for your assistance.”
“Make sure he drinks plenty of water,” Doctor Montgomery said. He gathered his things together and left.
Thomas was about to jump out of bed and start demanding answers if they weren’t given to him. He couldn’t believe they were making him wait for the answer to such an urgent question. This was Madeleine they were talking about. “Well?”
“Calm down,” Rachel said urgently. “She’s all right. She didn’t drink the tea, Thomas.”
A quick stab of relief. She hadn’t been poisoned.
But something was wrong. That much was clear. If it hadn’t been, she would have been here at his side. Or, failing that, if she couldn’t be here, his mother or his sister would have answered quickly when he’d asked them where she was. There wouldn’t have been all this delay.
“Then where is she?” He felt unable to relax. All he could think about was that something in his life had fallen badly out of place while he had been asleep.
“She’s gone back to Kellet,” Rachel explained. “She went back to her uncle.”
“I don’t understand.” He shook his head. “Why would she go back there?”
“She didn’t explain it,” Rachel said. “She just told me she had to go. She’s been gone for hours now. I don’t think she’s coming back.” She sounded tearful.
“But we’re married. She can’t just leave.”
“All I know is what she told me.”
