I would be quite happy if I were never to see Mr Montague or that horrible store again. If you were to know the whole of it, you would not want it either.’
‘Then tell me the whole of it, and let me decide.’
For a moment, she was tempted to tell all. What would it feel like, to finally be free of the worst secrets of her life in Bath? Then, silently, she shook her head.
Margot gave a short, frustrated sigh, glanced out the window and smiled. ‘Then perhaps I shall ask Mr Montague what problem lies between you. I believe that is him coming up the drive right now.’
Justine had not thought of this possibility, when she had ceased going to the wood to wait for him. The last three days, there had been letters from Mr Smith in the morning post. She had thrown them away unopened, not wanting to read the demands for information, and the threats of punishment for disobedience. Once Margot was safe with her, what could the man do? She was sure he would not dare to come to the house and risk being seen by Will.
But Will was gone, travelling in a carriage past the very spot that Montague would have waited for her. He knew she was alone and unprotected. Thus, he had come to the house, knowing that she could not avoid him without raising suspicions.
‘Margot, go to your room.’ At the very least, she could prevent him from seeing or threatening her sister.
She had not counted on her sister having an opinion. ‘Certainly not,’ Margot said, settling herself in her chair to prove she had no intention of moving.
‘It is not wise that you remain,’ Justine said, firm but gentle. ‘We did not get his permission for this trip. It is quite likely he will be angry.’
‘Angry at you, more likely,’ Margot answered with a wicked smile. ‘Your crimes are far worse than mine, misleading this poor family and luring me away from school.’
‘It is not that way at all,’ Justine said, in a desperate whisper. The enemy was so close he might hear their argument through the half-open window of the morning room.
Margot gestured towards that same window. ‘It is he who deserves the explanation, not me. Since you have been trying to dissuade me from my goals all morning, I am not in a mood to help you out of this by hiding under my bed.’
She could hear the knocking on the front door, the butler opening and the approach of the footman to announce a guest. ‘Margot. Please. You do not understand.’
‘That is about to change, I think. We will all understand much more, if we speak to each other honestly. Now give permission to admit our guardian, or I shall call out to him that I am being held against my will.’
What was she to do? Justine gripped the edge of her lace pillow, twisting the velvet in her hands. Even the best servants were prone to gossip. To create a scene would make it all so much worse. When the footman announced Mr Montague, she gave the smallest of nods. And now the villain was in the room with them, his eyebrows arched in surprise at the presence of Margot.
He flashed a look in the direction of the servant, not wanting to speak until they were alone.
How much protection could the poor footman offer to them, should they need him? The boy was barely thirteen and Montague outweighed him by several stone. With another, helpless nod of her head, Justine dismissed him and instructed that the door be closed.
The moment it was, Montague dropped into a chair opposite them. His insolent slouch was meant to remind her how complete his mastery was over them and the situation they were in. ‘Well played, Justine. I see now why you have been ignoring my instructions to meet.’
‘I suspect she had been too busy, what with my arrival yesterday,’ Margot responded for her, fancying herself the diplomat between two warring states.
‘Silence, child.’ Montague did not even glance in her direction, making it clear that she was a point of contention rather than a part of the discussion.
‘I was ignoring your instructions because I did not wish to meet with you. In fact, I do not wish to see you, ever again. If you continue to threaten me, or my sister—’
‘Justine!’ The sharp rebuke came from Margot, who must think she was being overly dramatic.
‘—I will tell Lord Felkirk all I know and accept the consequences for it.’ She spoke louder, to be sure she could be heard over the protests of her sister.
‘That would be extremely unwise,’ Montague said, staring at her as though expecting he could shatter her resistance with a single icy stare.
‘It is the only choice I have,’ she said. ‘I am but a weak woman, unable to settle my disputes with violence, as some do. Nor can I survive any longer on a diet of lies and deceptions.’ To speak thus was the boldest thing she had done in her life.
She was rewarded with a flash of cold fury in his eyes and a momentary pause that told her he had no easy answer to this. It had never occurred to him that some day she might rise up and fight.
‘Honesty is the best way to deal, in life or in business,’ Margot said softly from her side, as though hoping her agreement would in some way bind the other two together.
‘Yes,’ responded Montague, seizing upon the words. ‘If we are all to tell the truth, it is time for your sister to be honest with you and tell you what she has been willing to do to secure her place beside me in the shop. There is much you do not know, I think.’ He looked to Justine then, in challenge. ‘Is honesty still so attractive to you, I wonder?’
‘We do not need to involve her in a thing which is just between the two of us,’ Justine said. Surely he would not reveal the sordid nature of their relationship. It would reflect just as poorly on him as it did on her.
‘If it involves the shop, it involves me as well,’ Margot interrupted. She looked at Montague pleadingly. ‘You have always promised me in your letters that I would help you there. I should have done so, long before now.’
‘I gave your sister the power over that decision and she has refused to allow it,’ Montague answered without hesitation.
She could not call him a liar, for the statement was at least a partial truth. ‘His offer is not as it appears,’ Justine said.
‘You will not allow me?’ Margot looked more than disappointed. She was furious. To her, it must appear as if Justine had no care for her wishes at all. ‘You tell me time and time again that you do not want the shop. You do not like Bath.’
‘Yet, she was willing to trade her virtue to keep her place there,’ Montague announced, then feigned sorrow at the sudden revelation. ‘You were always better suited to work at my side. But your sister would hear none of it. She used her beauty as a weapon against me. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but I could not resist.’
‘That is not true,’ Margot said. She was very still now, waiting for her sister to explain that it was all some horrible lie.
‘That is not the way it happened,’ Justine said. And it was not. She’d had no choice in the matter. To pick between her freedom or Margot’s had been no choice at all. ‘He forced me...’
‘As I forced you to come here?’ Montague countered. He turned to her sister again. ‘You know she is pretending to be married
