The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,32
to the road ahead and tipped his hat to a couple walking the path. He remained so at ease while it felt like a weight had been pressed to her chest now.
“They are both good women,” she said, and heard how defensive she sounded.
He glanced toward her and arched a brow. “I don’t think anyone ever said differently.”
“And yet you still suspect them of murder,” she said.
He tugged on the reins, and the meandering horses came to a stop by the side of the road. He pivoted in his seat, resting his arm along the back of the bench, tantalizingly close to her own shoulder, though he never touched her.
“The two things do not have to be so separate,” he said. “Celeste, I have seen murder before. It’s always ugly. But the motives behind it range from horrific to understandable. If either Abigail or Phillipa had uncovered Montgomery’s trickery, if they had been pushed to the brink by his behavior, or even threatened by him when they confronted him…those would be understandable motives. They wouldn’t indicate that either woman was evil or bad or indecent.”
Celeste swallowed. “I suppose that is true. But what would you do if one of them did kill Erasmus? What if it had been done out of self-preservation? If one was threatened, as you described?”
He arched a brow. “Is that what happened?”
She drew back. “I don’t know. I have observations, not answers.”
He nodded slowly and she felt him reading her. He always read her, but this time he was looking for a lie. She didn’t like that. It sat heavily on her skin.
“Then tell me those,” he said, and she noted he didn’t answer her question.
“Pippa is angry,” she said softly. “She pretends she isn’t, but I sense it there under the surface. She said she was looking for Erasmus before his death. Trying to get him to respond to her. When he wouldn’t, she came to London looking for him.” She worried her lip because what she had said now painted her new friend in a poor light. “I don’t know if she is capable of harming anyone, though.”
“Nor do I,” he said. “I knew she’d come to the city before the death. Well done sensing the anger, though. She hides it well, but I’ve felt the same from her. Did you notice how she jumped to look at the paper this afternoon, too?”
Celeste nodded. “I did, though barely through my own fog. It was when I said our names were listed. It could be she just felt the same sting I did, knowing our secret would be out.”
“But you think it was more.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps.”
“What about Abigail? Anything to say there?”
Celeste shifted. Abigail had welcomed her into her home. She hadn’t yet made Celeste feel anything but accepted into their odd sisterhood.
“She is clever,” she whispered. “And observant. She knows you suspect her of the death. She seems…oddly resigned to that. I don’t know if she remains so calm about it because she is certain of her innocence…or because she is equally sure you will eventually catch her and that will end her freedom. It could be either thing.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
“She doesn’t hate the Duke of Gilmore as much as she acts like she does,” Celeste said.
“Why do you say that?” Owen asked.
“She stood up for him when we discussed Erasmus’s death, if only for a flash of a moment,” she explained. “She doesn’t want him to be the guilty party. It matters to her that he isn’t.” Owen was silent for a beat, and she examined him more closely. “How did I do?”
“Very well,” he said. “I’m impressed, Celeste, and I don’t say that lightly.”
She saw the truth of that on his face, and her chest swelled with pride. Impressing him was a pastime she could surrender herself to. The outcome felt so good, it was addicting.
“So what do you think of my fair city?” he asked with a wider grin. The dimple popped and her entire body clenched with a desire that was so strong it was unseemly.
“It is everything I could have dreamed of and more,” she said. “I’m sure I sound like a bumpkin when I go on and on about what I’m seeing.”
“You sound excited, you sound like you’re open to new experiences and sights and sounds. There is nothing wrong with that. It has made me see my own city through new eyes. I ride around the streets we rode today all the time.