The door opened behind him. Michael watched with immense satisfaction as the marquess’ butler appeared wearing a fearful expression on his face. And behind him were two powerful names in the House of Lords—the Duke of Hainbury and the Earl of Lowely.
Michael had met with these men during his investigation years ago and, as men of honour who had not believed in the late duke’s conviction, had promised to aid Michael when the time came for him to reveal the truth. The time had come. The only difference was that he was at Lord Grovington’s residence rather than Suthenshire House.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lord Grovington roared.
“It should be quite simple,” said Lord Lowely in his slow manner of speaking. “His Grace brought us with him, statingthat we were finally going to learn the truth of what happened four years ago. I must say, Lord Grovington, I should have known you were behind this.”
Lord Grovington whirled on Michael. “You tricked me!”
“Wrong, my lord.” Michael smiled a little. “I liberated you.”
“Nicely done, Your Grace,” said the Duke of Hainbury. “Now that we know the truth, Lord Grovington shall be brought before the House of Lords for his crimes. I assure you, he will not get away with it this time.”
Michael nodded. He made his way to the door, resisting the overwhelming urge to ram his fist into Lord Grovington’s stomach as he went by. It would have been satisfying but he was bigger than that.
“Thank you, Your Grace, my lord,” he said. “Finally, justice will be served.”
“You cannot do this to me! No one will believe you!”
Michael looked over his shoulder at the marquess. He was a pitiful thing, shaking in his rage and horror. “This is the end for you, my lord. You may as well say goodbye.”
The marquess might have thrown something at him in his departure but Michael was already out of the room. His steps felt lighter than ever, a perennial weight finally lifted from his shoulders.
Now, he only had one last thing to do.
Chapter Twenty-One
Michael and Clarissa walked through the front door of Suthenshire House at the same time. Time seemed to slow. Elaine held her breath, the rest of her sentence fading the moment her eyes fell on Michael. And James seemed to do the same, his attention going straight to the blond-haired beauty by Michael’s side.
But then he seemed to remember his anger a moment later and stepped forward, “What are you doing here?” he began but Clarissa slid between him and Michael.
“James, may we speak alone?” she asked. Elaine scarcely heard her and she certainly didn’t hear James response. All she knew was that, within seconds, she and Michael were alone.
He didn’t come any closer. But his eyes…oh, the look in them made it so hard to maintain her anger.
“May we speak?” he asked gently.
She put on a mask of neutral wariness, knowing her response before she allowed herself to speak it aloud. “Very well.”
“I wish to speak with Lord Suthenshire first,” he continued. “And I need you to be there.”
Elaine frowned. “Why do you want to speak to my father?”
“Because it is time you learned the truth.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. So she simply nodded, turned, and began making her way up the staircase. A shiver washed over her skin as he followed. He was close enough for her to smell his cologne, close enough that she knew he would collide with her if she stopped suddenly. Her heart thundered against her chest but she didn’t allow herself to consider what he could possibly want to say to her father.
As it happened, Edward was awake when they entered his room, being fed his afternoon meal by one of the maids.
“Leave us please,” Elaine ordered softly and the maid quickly complied. She kept her eyes on her father, watching as bemusement turned to panic.
“Pa.” She approached slowly, her tone soft. “The Duke of Ryewood would like to speak with you.”
Behind her, Michael approached as well. “Good day, Lord Suthenshire.”
Edward’s eyes remained wide, as if he was looking at a ghost. And then tears were suddenly streaming down his face.
“Pa!” Elaine flew to his side. “Michael, you should leave. I do not know what you’ve done, but you’re only upsetting him.”
