“Yet you expect me to believe him innocent?”
“Yes.” Her lips twisted. “Or rather I expect you to believe me when I say that I know my brother and he would never kill any man, let alone his friends, in a drunken rage.”
He looked at her, so fiery, so brave in her defense of her brother and he felt jealousy that she might feel such strong emotion for anyone but him. “I’ll think on it.”
She frowned. “You can’t keep him locked up—”
“I can and I will until such time as I am satisfied in my own mind that he won’t do someone a harm. I promise to consider it. Don’t ask more of me now.” He saw her hurt and tried to grasp her hand, but she stood and her fingers slid away from him.
“I hope you’ll not bar me from seeing Apollo once he’s well,” she said stiffly.
He didn’t like her near anything that might harm her.
She must’ve seen his hesitation in his face. “You do know I’ve been visiting him in Bedlam by myself for years?”
He sighed. “Very well.”
She inclined her chin, as haughty as any queen. “You’re too kind.”
His blew out a breath in exasperation. “Artemis…”
But she’d already gone out the door.
He threw a pillow at it anyway.
Maximus sighed and quickly dressed before exiting his rooms in search of an answer.
Kilbourne was lying on the cot when Maximus entered the cellar, and at first he couldn’t tell if the man were awake or not, but as he drew near he saw the shine of open eyes.
“My lord,” he said, making sure to stop outside the reach of the chain he’d attached to the man’s right ankle. “Where did you get the emerald pendant you gave to your sister on her fifteenth birthday?”
Kilbourne simply stared.
Maximus sighed. The man might be insane, but somehow he didn’t think him unintelligent. “Look, Artemis says—”
That got a reaction—a growl. Kilbourne rose, a monolith of shifting rock, and reached for the notebook and pencil on the floor beside his cot. He scribbled something and held out the notebook.
Maximus hesitated.
The other man smirked as if aware of Maximus’s wariness, his eyes daring him to come closer.
Maximus stepped forward and took the notebook, stepping back before dropping his eyes to read.
You haven’t the right to call my sister by her Christian name.
Maximus looked the other man in the eye. “She herself has given me that right.”
Kilbourne sneered and lounged back on his cot, staring defiantly.
Maximus frowned. “I haven’t the time for your sulking. I need to know who you truly got the pendent from. I rescued you from Bedlam. Is this not a small fee for your freedom?”
Kilbourne cocked one eyebrow and looked pointedly down at the chain on his ankle.
Maximus remained unmoved. “You killed three men. Do not expect me to let you run free in a house with my sister—and yours, for that matter.”
The look the viscount sent him was filthy, but he took up the notebook again to write. Then he once again extended his arm.
Maximus looked at the offered notebook. This man was accused of a horrific crime, had been incarcerated in Bedlam for over four years, and had shown him no friendship. Then again Kilbourne hadn’t shown him violence, either. And he was Artemis’s brother.
Maximus stepped forward to take the notebook and this time he didn’t back away again as he read:
I would never hurt my sister. You insult me to insinuate it. I got the pendant when I was a boy at school. Another boy, in the same house as I, bet it in a game of dice and I won. The boy was John Alderney. I know not how he had it. Even though I thought the necklace was paste, it was pretty, so I gave it to Artemis on our birthday. Have you seduced my sister?
Maximus looked up to find that the other man had leaned near, his muddy brown eyes glittering with threat. Maximus held his gaze and began backing away.
Something changed in the other man’s eyes.
He lunged, fast for such a big man, his whole weight hitting Maximus in his middle. Maximus went down, Kilbourne on top of him, as the chain screeched across the floor. The viscount heaved himself up, his right arm pulled back, rage masking his features. Maximus thrust with his right palm while at the same time kicking out. He missed the other man’s balls but kneed him in the belly. Kilbourne’s breath whooshed out and Maximus shoved him off as hard as he could.
He scrambled back, out of the reach of the chain.
For a minute the only sound in the cellar was the panting of both men.
Maximus looked up.
Kilbourne was glaring at him, and there was no need for words or writing to know what the other man meant. For a moment Maximus wondered if this was the last thing those three men had seen that bloody night: Lord Kilbourne with a feral look of violence on his face.
He stood. “Whatever happens, be assured that I’ll take care of your sister.”
Kilbourne lunged. He was already almost at the end of his chain, so the additional movement merely brought him to his hands and knees. Still, he glared at Maximus steadily and Maximus knew that if the other man had been free, he’d be fighting for his life right now.
He turned away. He couldn’t blame the viscount. If it had been Phoebe and someone had seduced her… His hands clenched. He ought to feel guilt, he knew, but all he felt was an odd, poignant sorrow. If only things were different. If only he weren’t the Duke of Wakefield.
He straightened his shoulders. But he was the Duke of Wakefield. He’d assumed the title because of his own stupidity and cowardliness. To give up his duties, his standards, as the duke would be to let his father’s death mean nothing.
His father had died for him, and he owed him the best stewardship of the dukedom possible.
Maximus shook his head and concentrated on the matter at hand. Kilbourne claimed that Alderney had lost the pendant to him.
Obviously he needed to question Alderney.
ARTEMIS HADN’T SEEN Maximus since she’d left his bed this morning. She couldn’t help brooding on that fact even as she made her way to a table laden with tea and cakes that afternoon. Overhead the sun was brightly shining as ladies mingled and drank tea in Lady Young’s garden. Lady Young was holding a small party, presumably to show off her autumn garden—though the only flowers Artemis saw were some rather bedraggled daisies.
The sad fact was that there wasn’t much reason for her and Maximus to be together during the day. Not if they didn’t want to arouse suspicion, that is. She supposed that if she became his official mistress then he might spend more time with her during the daylight hours. Maybe. And in return she would no longer be welcome in places like this.