The Baron's Wife by Maggi Andersen

Author:Maggi Andersen [Andersen, Maggi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical, Romance
Publisher: Papeair.com
Published: 2017-05-06T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Nathaniel rode with Hugh into the village. In The Sail and Anchor tavern, Mallory lay on his bed in his rented room, dressed in a richly patterned dressing gown decorated with yellow dragons. There was a paucity of furniture, just a wooden table and chair on bare boards. The rank smells of unwashed bodies, stale ale and smoke from the tavern below fouled the air. Mallory’s coat and a spare shirt hung neatly on the chair back. A basin, clothes brush, hairbrush and razor were lined up over the table along with an empty tankard.

A red mist passed over Nathaniel’s eyes at the sight of him, and his hands formed fists at his sides. He steadied himself. His aim was to get this man behind bars and see him hang.

Mallory rolled off the bed and stood. Running his hands through his hair, his bloodshot eyes flickered to Hugh’s face then back to Nathaniel’s. “Good of you to return my call, Lord Lanyon. I trust you’ve brought my money.”

“For what?”

His fingers wrestled with the top button on his shirt. “I was called away before I was paid my wages.”

The man had gall, he’d give him that. He also had grandiose ideas above his station. But would he have taken a chance and come back if he’d murdered Amanda? It was hard for Nathaniel to dispel his long-held belief that the man had pushed Amanda over the cliff. What else might have caused him to run? Had he been scared off by Amanda’s murderer, suspecting he was next? Or was it fear that one of the gang would give him up to the police? Mallory was certainly scared now. It was in his stiff shoulders and the way he refused to meet Nathaniel’s eyes. He’d gotten the gardening job because of Mrs. Madge, but Nathaniel had never liked the man. Thought the world owed him a living. And he no doubt saw Amanda as a means to better himself.

It might be two years ago, but recalling the chain of events leading up to Amanda’s death brought it back fresh and stark. After Nathaniel had returned from a trip to London, he suspected Amanda’s relationship with Mallory had progressed to an affair, although she’d denied it. The trauma he suffered as a child because of his parents’ breakup and his mother’s subsequent death, and then his taciturn father who’d ignored his existence, came rushing back. It almost brought him to his knees and left him hopelessly sad, hollow and empty.

Having wrestled his emotions into some semblance of order, he eyed Mallory coldly. Nathaniel was damned if he knew what Amanda had seen in him. Was it his blond looks? Surely not his oily charm. It surprised him that although he wished to serve bloody justice on this man, he did so without a twinge of jealousy.

Nathaniel rested his booted foot on the chair and leaned his arms on his knee to distract himself from grabbing Mallory by the scruff of the neck. “Glad to see that you had the good sense to return to Wolfram.

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