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‘You may go,’ the first man said. ‘Bon voyage.’ And with that he waved them on.
Lisette let out a huge sigh of relief and Jay laughed. ‘You continue to surprise me, madam wife,’ he said. ‘Suggesting so coolly that we humour the man left me with my heart in my mouth.’
‘But it worked. He was polite and waved us on our way when he might have delayed us for hours while he sent someone to check on us.’
‘Yes, but I am glad they did not find the livres I had hidden in the false bottom of my trunk.’ He let down the window in the door and put his head out. ‘Once we are clear, Sam, tickle the horses into a gallop. I shall not breathe easy until we are well away from Paris.’
‘You expect to be pursued?’ Lisette asked as he settled back into his seat.
‘Yes. It will not take them long to realise who is responsible when they discover they have neither Giradet in custody.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘I would not like to be in Wentworth’s shoes.’
‘Jay,’ she said slowly. ‘We have a long ride ahead of us, so do you not think that now might be a good time to tell me about Mr Wentworth?’
He put his arm about her shoulder and drew her to him. ‘It is not a pretty tale and not one I am proud of and I suppose I should have told you before asking you to marry me. You might have refused me under the circumstances. If you want to change your mind when I am done, I shall understand. It will break my heart, but I will not hold you to our engagement.’
‘It would take something very dreadful indeed for me to do that,’ she told him. ‘I am convinced Mr Wentworth was lying.’
‘Not altogether,’ he said. ‘But I will tell you everything and you may be the judge.’
She took his hand and cupped it round her cheek before kissing the palm. ‘Go on, I am listening.’
So he told her everything. How Marianne loved life, how she attracted people round her like moths to a flame, how she loved company, going to the theatre and balls and card parties, that he ought to have known from the outset that she would not like the quiet life at Falsham Hall, especially when he was away at sea and she could not indulge her fancies. ‘She took a lover,’ he said.
‘Wentworth?’ she queried, half-guessing what he was going to say.
‘No, he came later. This was a stripling of an earl’s son who had more money than sense. His father put a stop to the affair when he heard of it, threatened to cut him off without a groat. He was followed by a baronet she met at a hunt ball.’
‘You knew about it?’
‘Not at the time. That came to an end when the baronet died suddenly. Then came Gerald Wentworth, the second son of Earl Wentworth and prodigiously rich. I was away at sea at the time. She left our home and our children to live with him.’
‘Oh, Jay, how dreadful.’
‘There was the most awful scandal. They didn’t seem to care about it. I could not let it pass, so I challenged him.’
‘He told me that. He said he spared your life.’
‘I spared his. I cannot kill another human being, Lisette, not even when I am as angry as I was then. In a battle at sea it is different, it is done in the line of duty and I rarely saw my enemy at close quarters. Wentworth and I were well matched and the fight went on some time, but then I managed to knock his weapon out of his hand and he fell to his knees. I had him at my mercy, even held my sword above him, but I could not bring myself to plunge it into him. I threw it down and turned my back on him, expecting him to finish me off, but there were too many witnesses for him to do that. He has hated me ever since.’
‘And your wife?’
‘I left her to him and went back to my children.’
‘But she died.’
‘Yes. From time to time I heard that her life was not happy, that he treated her cruelly.’
‘Would you have taken her back, had she asked?’
‘No. Any love I had for her had died, but when a messenger came to tell me she had had an accident and I was wanted, I could not ignore it. I rode to Wentworth Castle, but I was too late, she was already dead. All I was needed for was to remove the body.’
‘Oh, Jay, I am so sorry.’
‘I have no one to blame but myself. I should have stayed at home with her, then perhaps she might have settled down.’
‘Do you really believe that?’
‘No, I do not think I do,’ he said slowly. ‘I realise now it was always in her nature to be wild.’
‘Then you are not at fault.’
‘Oh, Lisette, do you still say you will marry me?’
‘Of course I do.’
He laughed and kissed her again and went on kissing her until they were both almost carried away by their passion. They might have been if the coach had not come to a stop.
