he nodded, as if he were aware of the fact. ‘You’ve been there?’
‘I went to ask a friend if he knew of your former governess and was taken into the house to meet her. Sally was there helping with the baking. She looked for you, but could not find you, then Mr Jenkins recalled seeing a woman walking towards the village. I came at once to find you and thank God I did. Another few minutes and I might have been too late. What made you venture out alone without telling anyone?’
‘I called to tell them, but perhaps they did not hear me. It is too difficult to explain, but I felt...so useless and thought a walk would do me good. I did not think anyone would know I was here.’ Madeline felt the shudder that ran through him at the thought of what might have happened. She gazed up at him, her eyes wet with tears. ‘Oh, Hal, I thought you might have been killed. I wrote to you, but you did not come...’
‘I was wounded and laid low of a fever for a few days.’ He gazed down at her, an expression of hurt mixed with bewilderment in his eyes. ‘Why did you not tell me where you meant to go? I could have been here so much sooner.’
‘I was not sure...’ Madeline looked away from his searching gaze. How could she explain the doubts and fears that assailed her whenever he was not by? ‘We were afraid my husband might discover where I had gone—and it seems he has.’
‘No,’ Hallam said and frowned. ‘Those men did not come from Lethbridge.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because he is dead.’ She gasped in shock and he held her hands tighter. ‘We fought a duel, Maddie, but it was not I who killed him. He fired on the count of fourteen, but I turned as he did so and his shot struck my arm. Had I not turned, he would surely have killed me—just as he was murdered by an assassin’s ball that struck him in the back.’
‘He fired too soon in the hope of killing you? How could he be so vile?’ Madeline was stunned and amazed. ‘My husband was murdered, you say...but by whom, do you know? Have they caught him?’
‘No one saw who did it. He was just a shadow in the trees. I was injured and my friends thought first of me—Lethbridge’s seconds of him. The rogue had the advantage of surprise and disappeared before anyone thought of going after him.’
‘But who could want him dead?’ It did not seem possible that such a thing could have happened.
‘Lethbridge may have had many enemies. He was a cheat, a liar and a murderer himself, Maddie. Do not waste your pity on him.’
‘No, I shall not,’ she said and shivered, her hand trembling in his. Whoever had killed Lethbridge had released her from a marriage she had never wanted and her stunned mind could not quite take it in. ‘It is a horrible thing to say, but I can only feel relieved that he can no longer command me.’
‘You will never be at his mercy again,’ Hallam said. ‘I would have killed him had I the chance, for your sake—but the assassin struck first.’
‘For that I am glad. I should not want his blood on your hands, Hal.’
‘I admit that it would not have been pleasant, but I would have done it to set you free.’
‘Thank you...’ She gazed up at him, looking puzzled as she began to think more clearly. ‘But if those men who tried to kidnap me just now were not sent by my husband, who sent them? I cannot think who would want to kidnap me.’
‘I am not certain, for there might be several men who would wed you for your fortune,’ Hallam said.
‘My fortune?’ she asked in a bewildered tone. ‘I have nothing but a few clothes and trinkets Sally packed for me.’
‘I do not know exactly how your fortune stands after your husband’s death, but I believe he has no other family—unless there may be a distant cousin. I imagine that much of what he owned will come to you once any debts have been paid, though of course the title will lapse since there was no son, unless a relative is found.’
‘I think he had none...that I’ve heard of.’
‘A distant cousin could inherit the title and the estate if it is entailed—but your settlement, jewels and carriages would belong to you and you might have a claim on at least one of the houses.’
‘I want only my jewels and sufficient to live on,’ she said, instantly repulsed by the idea of a fortune from her late husband. ‘The settlement that should have been mine on marriage is all I require.’
‘I think your father may have other ideas about what is your due. After I told him of the way you were treated, he said that you were welcome to return home and he would claim your rights on your behalf.’
‘I am glad Papa accepts that I was not treated fairly but...’ She looked up at him. ‘I do not wish to live with my family. I fear that Papa might try to marry me to another rich man when my period of official mourning is done. If I place myself under his jurisdiction he can command me to obey him once more.’
‘Yes, he might,’ Hallam agreed. ‘You alone should decide what you wish to do about your husband’s fortune, but I imagine your father has already claimed it in your name. I know he intended to contact the count’s lawyers immediately.’
‘Please, do not ask me to go home,’ Madeline said, her throat catching with emotion. ‘I would prefer a house of my own if I can afford it.’ She could not beg him to take her to his home unless he asked her to be his wife. Yet had she the right to ask so much of him? Would he want her if he knew what the count had made her suffer—and its terrible toll on her?
‘No, I shall not take you to your father’s house,’ he said, thinking that he would not truly trust Sir Matthew to take proper care of his daughter. ‘I want to make you safe, Maddie. I want to protect you and care for you—if you will let me?’
‘Oh, yes, please, Hal,’ she said on a sob. ‘Take me somewhere safe. I cannot stay here after what happened this morning. Who do you think sent those men to kidnap me?’
‘I cannot be certain, but I suspect the Marquis of Rochdale.’
‘Lord Rochdale...’ Madeline’s throat tightened and she swayed towards him. ‘No, oh, no. I could not bear to be his prisoner, Hal. I fear that man more than my husband...he will not forgive me for leading him on and then repulsing him in the garden that night. It is surely his reason for trying to have me kidnapped. He wants to punish me.’
‘That may be part of his reason for wanting you in his power,’ Hal said thoughtfully. ‘But there may be others.’
‘You think he wants Lethbridge’s fortune?’
‘Perhaps. I think your husband may have owed him a large sum of money from a gambling debt.’
‘He shall be paid somehow. If the estate passes to me, I shall pay all his debts.’
‘You are owed something after the way he treated you, Maddie. You must keep enough for yourself.’
‘I wish that I need take nothing from Lethbridge. I hated him at the end. My settlement is mine by right and it would surely be sufficient—if my husband has not already spent the capital. He was deeply in debt to Rochdale, I believe...’
‘I
