you will go to the gallows, just as you wish. Do not think to run. You will not cross the borders of my brother’s land unnoticed.’
‘That is not much of a choice,’ Montague responded.
‘It is the only one I am prepared to offer. With one, you stand a small chance of success and I can have my vengeance. If not, I shall turn you both over to the law and not think of it again. Although I would most like to be responsible for your death, I can live without the chance.’
‘Then of course we shall duel,’ Montague replied. ‘And since Justine tells me you are weakened since the accident, I will choose swords. They are a weapon of a man with finesse. Very hard to handle when one’s hand still shakes.’
‘They are also more difficult to handle than a fireplace poker,’ Will said, pleased to see Montague flinch as the shot hit home.
By the time he answered, he had regained his aplomb. ‘Very well, then. Swords at dawn. Send word of the location to the inn. Now, if you will excuse us?’
Will gave a slight tip of the head.
Montague stood and gestured to Justine. ‘There is no need of a spy in your house, now that you are aware of her. Come, Justine.’
‘The girl stays.’ Will did not want to look at her, afraid of what he might see. Even now, she might be stirring on the couch, ready to return to her master.
Montague dropped his hand and shrugged. ‘If you wish to keep her, she is yours. Until tomorrow, of course. Then I shall kill you and she will return to me. She will have no choice. Send word to the inn where you wish to meet and I shall see you at sunrise.’ And then he was gone.
* * *
With the departure of Montague, a terrible stillness fell over the room. As if there was anything Justine could say that would explain or justify what had happened. Instead, she said the first words that came to her mind. ‘How long have you known?’
‘Just today,’ Will said, still looking at the closed door. ‘The coachmen found Jupiter yesterday, while bringing your sister to you.’
‘And your memory came back?’
‘All of it,’ he said, turning to her with a grim smile. ‘Including the memory of you doing nothing to stop him, as he struck me down.’
That must be how it appeared to him. He would never believe her true feelings for him, if he remembered her from that day in Bath. Her future was destroyed. But perhaps there was a way that some good would come from this whole sordid mess. ‘Margot had no part in any of it. She did not even know of my...intimate association with Mr Montague.’
‘Is that all you have to say to me?’ he said, with an ironic lift of his eyebrow. He took a seat on the opposite side of the room from her, as though he would keep as much distance from her as was possible. When he looked at her it was with the same, cynical appraisal he had used on the day they had met, in the shop in Bath, so many months ago.
She stared back at him, although not nearly as boldly. ‘I have many things to say,’ she admitted. ‘But I can think of none that is more important than the welfare of my sister. What good would an apology do? There is no way to say I am sorry for the deception I have perpetrated. Mr Montague’s assault on your person was so sudden that I did not know how to prevent it. To stop him from striking the second blow to finish you, I suggested that it would be better to bring you home so that I might steal the diamonds you claimed to have found.’
‘And if you had found them?’ he asked. ‘Would you have gone back to him?’
‘I meant to steal from him as well,’ she said. ‘To take them and escape with Margot, to a place where he could not find us.’
‘And the rest of it?’ he said. ‘Our elopement? My tragic accident?’ He was sneering now, as though the very idea of a past with her disgusted him.
‘I could think of no other way to explain myself.’
‘And so you lied.’
‘I lied,’ she admitted.
‘I suppose the things that happened when we were alone together were lies as well.’
‘Would you believe me if I said they weren’t?’
‘Probably not,’ he admitted.
Had she been hoping for a different answer? If so, her time here had made her foolish and overly optimistic. Perhaps it had been her imagination that his voice had softened, just for a moment, as though he, too, wished there could be a different end to this.
‘Then all I can say to you is that I am sorry,’ she said, at last. ‘For hurting you and for tricking myself into believing my own lies. I should have admitted all, the day you awakened. I knew, from that moment, that this day would come. The longer I waited, the easier it became to pretend that there was a chance for happiness here. And now you hate me. I do not blame you.’
He said nothing in response and, in her mind, she cursed herself for wishing that he would offer some sop, to tell her she was wrong about his feelings. ‘Now that we are at an end, I have but two requests.’
‘You are not in a position to bargain with me over anything,’ he said, emotionless.
‘I know that. I deserve nothing, just as I have told you from the first moment we met. But I know you to be a good man, a kind man, a man of honour. As I said before, my sister had nothing to do with any of this. What I have done, from the first, I did for her.’ She bowed her head. ‘Do what you will with me, but do not punish Margot. At the very least, do not let her fall to the same unfortunate depths I have.’
He stared at her, without answering. Then he said, ‘Your second request?’
‘Do not duel with Montague.’
Will gave an incredulous laugh. ‘You wish me to spare his life?’
‘I wish you to protect your own.’
He made another disgusted noise. ‘You have no faith in my abilities to defend myself.’
‘On the contrary, I have infinite faith in Mr Montague’s ability to turn a situation to his advantage. He will find a way to cheat. And then he will kill you.’ She rose from the chair and sank to her knees before him. ‘I would not see that happen for all the world. Have him arrested and be done with this.’
‘They would take you as well,’ he said. ‘Do not think that I can protect you from this, for I do not know if that is possible.’
‘Then let them take me,’ she said, taking his hand in hers. When she squeezed it, she felt an answering grip. But there was no sign in his face that it was anything other than a reflex. ‘Since I’ve been with you, I’ve had a lifetime of happiness. But that is over now. I must be punished for what I have done to you and your family. Let me go.’
It seemed he might not want to, for the grip on her hand was even stronger than it had been. Still, when he spoke, there was no sign of it in his voice. ‘No matter what you might wish, I cannot go back on my word to Montague. If I could offer a challenge, and then take him unawares tonight, I would be no better than he is.’
