a place called Virginia for the foreseeable future. That place is not refined like here and his life will be hard without his society.”
Nicolas gently scoffed. “Your son is a traitor to the crown. With the right agitation, he will never be able to return to England’s shores.”
The earl’s eyes grew cold. “My son never was a bloody traitor. And should you start such a scandal, I will see you finished,” he roared.
“You could try,” Nicolas said with infuriating calm. “I promise I will extend my arms of influence across the oceans and ensure his life is miserable. And you…you I will absolutely kill.”
The earl did a credible job in retaining his composure, but Nicolas saw the flicker of apprehension in the man’s gaze.
“I believe you,” the earl said with a vein of shock. “I declare you are more savage than I believed. What did my son do to—”
“It was what you did,” Nicolas hissed, pushing from the wall. “You attempted to harm Lady Maryann without any regard of her person.”
“This…this is about her?”
An inexplicable feeling blossomed inside Nicolas when he realized all the emotions rioting through him since the earl had revealed himself and had clearly been responsible for the danger that had almost shattered Maryann. Because this man had plotted such a vicious attack against her when she was innocent in this whole mess. “You arranged for a carriage to run her over.”
The earl scrubbed a hand across his face. “I gave orders that she should not be harmed. It was meant only to scare her.”
“Is that so?” Nicolas said with soft menace. “If she goes to Hyde Park tomorrow, stubs her toe, falls and hurt herself, I will believe it was done by your hand. If anything happens to her, blame will be laid at your feet.”
“Do not be ridiculous—”
“And I will kill you.”
“You speak of murder so casually—” the earl began with seething outrage.
“I will kill you.”
“By God, you mean it!” The earl frowned. “She means that much to you,” he said with cold calculation.
“She means nothing to me.” Maryann is becoming my world. But no one must know it until everything was done.
Incredulity filled the earl’s gaze and he shook his head, sharply as if disconcerted. “Do you know who I am?” the earl snapped, his light gray eyes darkening. “You dare threaten me?”
“Of course,” Nicolas said, his tone one of icy civility. “But it has become clear to me you do not know who I am. I am the man willing to do anything and destroy everything you hold dear if you even think to harm Lady Maryann. The only thing that is important is you believe this to be possible, Lord Tremelle.”
The earl faltered, and they stared at each other, the only sound in the room the ticking of the clock on the mantel. Lord Tremelle glanced away, and a deep sigh of wariness rolled from him. “It was a mistake sending those ruffians to Lady Maryann. I assure you, such a mistake will not happen again.”
The earl whirled around and walked away. His hand on the doorknob, he hesitated and said, “Let my son go out of your scheme, Rothbury.”
“When your son was finished with the girl he attacked, she flung herself into a river to her death. She was only sixteen.”
Lord Tremelle stiffened and he sucked in a harsh breath. “My son would never act with such rank dishonor.”
“The lord with the blond hair and blue eyes with a scar splitting his lower lip. He laughed through my screams, ’tis a sound I shall remember on my way to hell, for I am no longer worthy of heaven. It was a sound that demeaned and ridiculed…it was a sound that found humor in my torment.” A harsh chuckle slipped from Nicolas. “That is what she said in her letter about your honorable son.”
The earl’s knuckles whitened on the doorknob. “Let his exile from everything that he loves, his children, his mistress, his mother, and his sisters, all his vices and the balls and races to attend will be no more. I will exile him for ten years. He will feel the pain of it all. Let that be punishment enough.”
Then he wrenched open the door and vanished down the hallway.
…
Precisely three days after Lord Tremelle’s visit, Nicolas admitted himself to another town house in Mayfair gardens. Keeping his hat firmly on his head and tugged low, he padded down the hallway, and then made his way up the winding staircase. For