Noble Scoundrel - Amy Sandas Page 0,98

Shelbourne, keeping a tight grip on the older man, who didn’t show any inclination to struggle. Something about the gentleman’s behavior felt off. Had the arrogant lord resigned himself so easily to his fate, then?

Upstairs, Mason was happily surprised to find Newton standing watch over the trussed-up guards, some of whom had started regaining consciousness.

“Jack. Good to see ya, mate. How’d you make your way here?” Mason shoved Shelbourne toward the staircase, where the lord silently took a seat. “Don’t move.”

“I caught sight o’ ye hoppin’ into that fancy curricle. I knew ye wouldn’t’ve left the lady unguarded, so I reckoned she was in danger. Being too far back to follow, I stopped for a chat w’ the butler, instead.” The older man grinned. “It took a bit o’ convincin’ but he decided to show me where ye were headed.”

“I’m grateful to you, mate,” Mason said with a clap on the other man’s back.

“What will happen to Lord Shelbourne?” Katherine asked, glancing toward the hunched old man sitting on the stairs.

“He’ll answer for his crimes,” Mason assured.

“Never,” the man gasped roughly. “My sins, my secrets, my darkness...die with me. Loyalty...beyond life...and...death.”

A swift suspicion flared and Mason lunged forward to grasp the man by the shoulder. Shelbourne’s head lolled to the side and his grey eyes stared unseeing up at Mason as a white foam tinged with red began to bubble from his pale lips.

“Fuck.”

Mason released his hold as the lord’s eyes rolled back and his body was seized by violent tremors.

“What’s happening?” Katherine stepped forward in alarm, but Mason turned to block her.

“Don’t watch, luv,” he said gently, looking into her eyes as understanding dawned and horror lit her features. “There’s nothing you can do. It won’t be a pretty death.”

Chapter Thirty

Mason would have preferred to get Katherine out of there and leave Warfield to provide whatever explanation he deemed appropriate to the authorities. But she insisted on staying to provide her accounting of the evening’s events and all that had come before to the constable. The man wasn’t confident anything could be done to recover her father’s journals but assured the writings would be returned to her if they were ever found.

Mason got the sense that with Shelbourne’s self-induced death and Katherine being unharmed, the authorities were happy to consider the case closed. Considering it involved a man of wealth and prestige, he doubted they’d put much effort into investigating the many questions and mysteries surrounding the entire plot.

It didn’t surprise him. It took a lot of power and influence to go against Britain’s aristocracy.

Mason, however, wasn’t prepared to let the matter get swept out the door. After listening to Katherine’s recounting to the constable, he was convinced there was something deeper and darker going on with Shelbourne’s involvement. There was a lot more to this story, and the missing journals remained a link to the Blackwells. Something had to be done about that.

It was also clear that Warfield knew a lot more about the situation than he’d let on to them or the authorities. Mason intended to put a bit more pressure on the evasive lord at the earliest opportunity. Luckily, Katherine insisted her cousin join them for dinner the next night, after they’d all had a chance to rest and recover from the ordeal.

It was nearly two hours after the constable’s arrival before Mason managed to get Katherine back to the mansion in Mayfair. Together, they went to the third floor to look in on the children before going to bed.

They found Frederick sprawled carelessly across his bed, a soft snore echoing through the room. And Claire was tucked safely in her bed, curled on her side in the light of early dawn, her hands tucked sweetly beneath her cheek.

As they descended the stairs to the second floor, Mason could sense the weight of worry in the woman beside him. Though some things had been resolved through the drama of the last several hours, there remained a heavy shroud of uncertainty over the whole thing. When they paused at her bedroom door, she looked up at him with an unreadable shadow in her eyes even as she tried to form her lips into a smile.

Mason lifted his hand to trail his fingertips over her temple and down along the strong line of her jaw. She closed her eyes with a weighted sigh, and he allowed himself the luxury of soaking in the lovely lines of her face. There was so much more to be seen and admired