Page 123 of When We Touch

“It’s Arianna.”

“Lord above us!” he raged. “Arianna, Arianna! Madam, the girl was left to your guardianship! What, are you jealous of the lass? What is your problem with her! Sit down, have a heart to heart talk. You married Charles, you rule a fortune, and you have every possible luxury at your disposal. Don’t come to me. You have no desire, ever, to be told what to do. Therefore, madam, you’re on your own! Whatever it is, deal with it yourself!”

He turned again, leaving her there, staring at him openmouthed.

This time, he slammed the door to his bathroom.

And instantly, he felt regret.

No one else could understand what he was feeling this morning—unless it was one of the men who had witnessed the discovery of the body last night. No one could understand his sense of failure and helplessness—except for those who walked the streets as well, and came up empty-handed.

And still . . .

He was sorry. So very sorry. She had enraged him because of the night of sadness and horror he had just endured....

And because he was so very much in love with her, and it was simply so very wrong.

He swung the bathroom door open, ready to step out and apologize, beg her pardon, try to explain, even if he couldn’t really tell her everything.

But when he stepped out that time, Maggie was gone.

* * *

Maggie paced the library, staring at Mireau. “He was awful, horrible! I couldn’t talk to him.”

“Maggie, in this situation, you simply have to behave in a very mature manner. Whatever your problems are—”

“Mireau, you’re not listening. He refused to talk to me. He just started screaming at me, and slammed the door.”

“But Arianna’s life is at stake.”

Maggie stopped dead-still and nodded grimly, her arms folded over her chest. “That’s why I decided, after I left, that what happened was the best possible thing.”

“What?”

“Mireau, we don’t dare bring Jamie in.”

“Now you’ve really lost your mind.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand just how frightened Arianna was. I know she believes that if anyone so much as reaches for her, she’ll be shot or stabbed on the spot.”

“But you just explain that to Jamie and—”

“I’m afraid. Afraid that she’ll panic. Don’t you see, Mireau? We can go in there with big guns blazing . . . a half dozen policemen, good heavens, we could get the military! But it wouldn’t help anything because Arianna might well be dead before we could even begin to attack.”

“You’re losing me,” Mireau said. “What on earth are we going to do then?”

“I’m still working on it. But honestly, it will be best if Jamie is not involved.”

“Um, sounds best to me. We’ll just go in and get ourselves killed.”

“No, you see, what we have to do must be incredibly clever and—subtle.”

“All right, Maggie, go ahead—explain to me how we’re going to subtly handle a pack of thugs and murderers.”

“We have to make it appear that Arianna is dead.”

“Maggie—”