Earl's Well That Ends Well (The Way to a Lord's Heart #5) - Jane Ashford Page 0,62

a stream of Spanish curses, vowing he would never do anything like this again. He was having trouble believing that he was doing it now.

They drove on toward the docks. After a bit, their captive’s eyelids began to droop. By the time they reached the ship where Rigby was waiting, the Spaniard was snoring.

Arthur distracted his coachman while the fellow was transferred to the vessel. As he handed over the payment, he extracted a further promise from the ship’s captain that the conde would not be harmed on the voyage. Both the sailor and Rigby seemed annoyed that he would doubt their word on this, and strangely enough, he did not.

* * *

As soon as she entered her house, Teresa realized that she couldn’t stay. She was fully primed for action, vibrating with the need to do something. She went over to the theater and found that Jeanne had indeed not returned for the performance. The reproachful gazes of the other dancers were almost too much to bear. She couldn’t offer them empty promises, any more than she could answer questions about Tom’s continued absence. She departed before the play was half-done.

Back home, she sat down to write her letter to the earl, trying to find words that satisfied in her borrowed language. But writing was more difficult than speaking, and the hour grew late as she didn’t find them. Finally, she shoved pen and paper aside. If he did not appear at the workshop tomorrow, she would go to his house. And she would not allow his servants to refuse her entrance. Teresa rose to seek her bed. She spent a restless night.

He did come. Lord Macklin arrived at the workshop with Tom early the next morning. And he came directly over to speak to her. “I have some news for you,” he said before she could speak.

Now he wished to speak to her? When he had practically run from her yesterday? The man made no sense. “I have something to tell you,” she said. “I have found…”

“May we talk privately?” He indicated the door to the courtyard with a gesture.

“No one is listening,” replied Teresa impatiently. There were only a few people in the workshop, and they weren’t paying attention. “Yesterday I discovered…”

The earl shook his head and beckoned as he walked toward the courtyard door. Tom shrugged and followed him. Teresa went after them.

The outside space was chilly and empty at the beginning of the day. The spring sun had not risen high enough to warm it. The earl went over to the far side, well out of earshot of the entrance into the workshop. Teresa was on the verge of clutching the lapels of his so very fashionable coat and shaking him until he heard her when he said, “I wanted to inform…to tell you that you need not worry about the Conde de la Cerda any longer.”

“What?” Teresa’s mind was full of her own news, and the need to plan. For a moment, she simply stared at him.

“He has been…removed from the country.”

She shook her head, as if this would restart the gears in her brain.

“He was…put on a ship to the Indies. He will have no means to return.”

Was it her mind or her hearing that had gone astray? She looked at Tom. He grinned as if he was proud of himself.

“I realize this is a bit of a surprise,” the earl continued.

“Do you think so?”

“A shock,” he amended. “You should sit down.” He moved as if to help her into one of the courtyard chairs.

Teresa stepped away from him. She did not wish to sit. “Put on a ship. And you know this. Did you do it?”

He nodded. So did Tom. Oh so very proud, this smug pair. “For you,” added Lord Macklin.

“For me. Without saying a word? For example, asking me if I wished it?”

“I wanted to save you…”

“Save?” She was shaken by a storm of anger. That word had been something of a refrain for her former “protector.” Along with gratitude, which he thought she should continually feel for his magnanimity in giving her refuge.

“To prevent trouble from coming to you,” replied Lord Macklin.

“Because I am incapable of solving my own problems.”

“No.”

“Like a child, really. With no power of rational judgment.” The grandee had said that about her too. Time and again.

“Not at all. You are putting words in my mouth.” The earl was beginning to sound annoyed. Tom looked uneasy.

Teresa felt a savage satisfaction at that. “You throw a man