“I agree,” Duncan said. “We’ve known him for years, and we’ve never seen anything like this kind of behavior. I think the Henry we knew was real, but when he was rejected by Valeria, something within him snapped.”
“But I never rejected him,” Lady Valeria protested. “He never asked me for anything.”
Thomas ached to go to her. She was sitting beside the fire with her hands wrapped around a cup of tea, looking as though a strong wind might blow her over. He wanted to sit with her, to put an arm around her and console her, but he knew that it would be inappropriate to do so. They weren’t courting. She had given no indication that she was interested in resuming their courtship.
And I can’t ask her. Not now. Not while she’s trying to process all this shocking information. It would be wrong to expect her to deal with a difficult decision like that on top of everything else.
“He may not have asked you for anything,” Duncan said, “but in his mind, he expressed an interest in you.”
“How can you be sure?” Lady Valeria asked.
“I did the same thing,” Thomas said. “I was interested in you, and I thought I had communicated that to you. Of course, I know now that you were unaware of my intentions, but at the time I thought you were refusing me.”
“And that’s why Richard is in gaol?” Lady Valeria said incredulously. “Because Lord Harlston thought that I was refusing him?”
“It’s a terrible thing to have done,” Thomas said. “There’s no excuse for his actions. And even if youhadbeen refusing him, Lady Valeria, there would be no justification for this response.”
“Thomas is right,” Duncan said. “You mustn’t blame yourself for anything.”
“No,” Lady Valeria said quietly. “I know. I don’t blame myself. Regardless of the terrible nature of Lord Harlston’s actions, Richarddoesdeserve to be in gaol for his crimes. The fact that he was pressured doesn’t change what he did.”
She looked at Thomas, and he wondered what she was thinking. Was it possible that she was considering the fact that, when pressed with the same choice, he hadnotgiven in? That he hadn’t chosen the path Richard had?
He couldn’t ask her. Not now. Not until this matter was entirely resolved.
“We’re going to search for Henry,” Duncan said.
“No, you mustn’t!” Lady Earlington said. “He’s a dangerous man, Duncan. You can’t go anywhere near such a man. Stay here, where it’s safe.”
“I don’t think Henry would actually hurt us,” Duncan said.
“We don’t know what he’ll do when he’s cornered,” Lady Earlington said. “He isn’t the man you thought he was, Duncan. You know that. You can’t assume that you know anything at all about him now. For all you know, he’ll pull out a weapon.”
Duncan glanced uneasily at Thomas. Thomas could tell that his friend was remembering the same thing he was—that Henry had, in fact, been carrying a pistol when he had fled from Woodsford Manor.
“I’m sure we can handle him,” Thomas said. “Someone has to find him and bring him in.”
“But why you?” Lady Earlington asked.
“Because we know him best,” Thomas said. “We’ll be able to guess where he might go better than anybody else will. We’ll be able to find him the most quickly, and that matters, because as long as he’s out there, you’re both in danger.”
“We aren’t in danger,” Lady Valeria said. “Not if we don’t see him.”
“But he’s proven himself to be unstable,” Thomas said. “He will try to see you.”
“We won’t allow him into the Manor,” Lady Earlington said firmly. “We’ll set footmen at all the doors to make sure he doesn’t find a way in.”
“You can’t do that forever,” Duncan said. “He knows this place well, Mother. He has spent years visiting me here. He knows all the ways in and out, and all the little hiding places out on the grounds. All he has to do is wait for you or Valeria to step out the door, and he can act against you. And you can’t simply choose to never go outside. That’s far too much to commit to.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Lady Valeria said.
She was looking directly at Thomas.
He was sure she meant her cousin, too. But it was him she chose to focus on.
He returned her gaze. “I have to,” he said quietly. “I can’t allow him to get away with this.”
“But Aunt Alberta is right,” Lady Valeria said. “He could be dangerous. You could be seriously hurt. You could be—” She broke off, seemingly unwilling to say what she was thinking.
