“Not yet. There are a few things I need to discuss with you before he arrives.” He gestured at the table. “Won’t you sit down?”
Even though her knees were shaking, Marguerite held her ground. “I don’t believe there is anything we have to say to each other.”
Minshom strolled across to the table and took a seat, crossed his booted feet and looked up at her. “Well, there you are wrong, my dear. In order for you to see Sir Harry, I have a few conditions of my own.”
“Then perhaps I’ll leave.” Marguerite curtsied low. “I resent being played like a fool. I think I’d rather not know your little plans.”
“Really? You’d rather my version of the events surrounding your marriage were made public than hearing the truth from Sir Harry? He certainly had some very interesting things to say about you.”
Marguerite moved closer to the table and grabbed the back of a chair for support. “And you expect me to believe you’ve talked to him? I doubt that.”
He reached inside his coat, drew out a folded parchment and laid it on the scrubbed table top. “Not only did I talk to him, but I got him to write down exactly what happened between him and Justin.” He met her gaze, his pale blue eyes hard. “All of it, from the very beginning. The poor fool thought I meant to help plead his cause.” His soft laughter chilled her. “As if I would.”
“Then what do you want and why are you doing this?”
“Sit down.”
Marguerite complied, her knees giving way gracefully as she sank onto the hard rush seat. Minshom toyed with the blue ribbon wrapped around the folded parchment.
“There are two reasons. The first is that I want justice for my cousin. Justin didn’t deserve to die, and Sir Harry will pay for that. The second is more personal.” He looked at Marguerite. “I want to deal with Sokorvsky once and for all. Luckily for me, you are rather intimately connected with both men.”
“So I am actually irrelevant?”
“Well, hardly that. You are an interesting woman, Marguerite, as is your mother.” He paused as if waiting for a reaction. “You always reminded me of someone and eventually I worked it out. You are Helene Delornay’s daughter.”
“That is scarcely a secret, sir. I’m very proud of my mother and have never tried to hide the relationship.”
“But everyone else has, haven’t they? Between the meddling Duke of Diable Delamere and Viscount Harcourt DeVere, your origins have been kept quiet, haven’t they?”
A cold ball of fear settled in her chest like a tight fist, but Marguerite didn’t say anything. Lord Minshom smiled.
“In truth, I only realized who you were when I caught a glimpse of your mother visiting you at home. It was enough for me to make the connection and follow up with some more solid investigating of my own.”
“So?”
“So, I wonder how the Lockwoods felt about their precious son and heir marrying the bastard daughter of a whore?”
“The Lockwoods knew everything they needed to know.”
“I doubt that.” He held her gaze. “And even if they did, I’m not sure they’d wish the rest of the ton to know the kind of woman their son chose to marry, do you?”
Marguerite gathered her courage, wondered how many minutes had passed since she’d walked into this emotional battlefield.
“If you spread this gossip, the only person you will hurt is Justin and the Lockwoods, not me. I’m already considered a pariah; this will certainly not alter their opinion of me.”
Minshom raised his eyebrows. “I must commend you, Marguerite—your calmness is remarkable, especially for a woman.”
“I suppose I should thank you for the compliment, but I’d rather finish this conversation as quickly as possible and leave.” She half-rose from her seat. “Have you finished trying to blackmail me?”
“Not quite.” His smile disappeared. “If we ignore the feelings of the surviving Lockwood family, there is also the little matter of your marriage and Justin’s reputation to consider.”
“What do you mean?”
“You cared for Justin, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. I loved him.”
“And yet you slept with his best friend.”
There it was, the accusation she’d been expecting. And as she had always feared, it was far more devastating to hear it spoken out loud rather than whispered behind her back.
“If you asked Sir Harry about his relationship with Justin then you know what I did, and why.”
“I do know, but I’m quite willing to make you the scapegoat for Justin’s death. A jealous husband tries to shoot the best friend who has cuckolded him with his own wife and ends up dead. Now that is something the scandal sheets would love to hear the details of. It’s the story that everyone has been gossiping about for the last two years, why not bring it out in the open and make it the truth?”
“Because it isn’t the truth.”
“It’s the truth I intend to tell if you don’t agree to my conditions.”
Marguerite stared at Lord Minshom and saw no hint of compassion on his hard face. “Why would you do that to me? As you said, I am nothing to you.”
He shrugged. “And thus disposable. In one single blow I can ruin you, protect Justin, and destroy Sir Harry’s chances of ever being accepted back into English society again.”
Marguerite licked her lips. Her mind seemed to have frozen into ragged shards. There must be a way out of this trap, but she could no longer see it. She couldn’t betray Justin, but the thought that all the blame for what had happened should rest on her was intolerable. She’d just started to find herself, to believe she was worthy of love, to breathe without fear . . .
“What do you want Lord Minshom?”
“In order for me to keep me quiet about Justin and to get your own chance to speak to Sir Harry?”
“Yes.”
Minshom leaned forward. “I want you to call Sokorvsky. I know he’s out there. And when I’ve finished with him, I’ll tell you where to find Sir Harry.”
“And what guarantee do I have that you’ll leave me and Justin alone afterward?”
He patted the pile of parchment. “I’ll give you this to burn and leave Sir Harry to his own conscience, as long as he stays out of my way.”
“Anthony is worth so much to you?”
“Anthony is . . .” He paused. “Anthony deserves to pay for daring to leave me, for thinking he could have you instead.”
“Are you jealous, Lord Minshom?”
“Jealous of you?” He stood and loomed over her, forcing her to look up at him.
“Why would I be jealous of a woman? Sokorvsky needs a man to master him, and he knows it.”
“And yet, he chose to be with me.” She tensed as Minshom’s expression went blank. He slowly produced a pistol from his coat pocket and pointed it at her.
“Go upstairs and into the first bedroom on the right. Take off your dress and sit in the chair facing the door.”
“Are you going to shoot me if I don’t do what you say?”
“Do you wish to take the risk?”
Marguerite shook her head. One thing had become clear to her: in order to safeguard both the past and her possible future, she was willing to endure his confrontation with Anthony. “Do you give me your word that Lord Anthony will survive your encounter?”
He pointed toward the door, taking her elbow to help her up the narrow stairs. “You care for him, then?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll survive. I’ve never killed one of my lovers yet, although I’ve come close.” He laughed, the sound echoing up the stairs. “Sokorvsky would probably like being fucked to death.”
Marguerite stumbled, and he shoved her up the final steps and into the bedroom. A fire had been lit and candlelight illuminated the small space. A four-poster bed draped in brown quilts dominated the room. A wooden chair sat opposite the bed facing the door.
“Take off your dress.”
“Why? Are you intending to rape me too?”
“I try not to fuck women. In my experience, they cry and break far too easily.” He turned her around, pulled off her cloak and tugged at the laces at the back of her bodice. He bit her throat, and she jerked her head away.