The Problem with Seduction - By Emma Locke Page 0,106

see her. Not just through the iron grates, but in the private room where a husband may see his wife. His wife.

Bart nodded, seemingly confirming whatever idea he had in his head. “Marry her and it all won’t seem so underhanded.” He slid Con a sardonic glance. “You should have done it to begin with.”

Con agreed. Not because of the circumstances—he truly hadn’t known her then, and Oliver hadn’t been his concern at the time—but because looking back, he wished he’d have spent the last few weeks getting to know her even more intimately. Building a life with her. “I will. As soon as you post my bail. Bart,” he said, feeling a bit lighthearted given the awfulness of his incarceration and the indeterminate future that awaited him, “would you mind very much finishing it now?”

Chapter Twenty

ELIZABETH AWOKE the next morning, her cheek was pressed against the desk. No, not the desk. A folded parchment that must have been there the night before. She peeled it from her cheek and looked at the address. Then she fumbled with the seal, opening it as fast as her stiff fingers would fly.

Miss Spencer,

I thought you would want Lord Constantine Alexander to know that a significant deposit of granite has been found on his family’s property. The Company has tried to keep the find a secret as there appears to be some question of the boundary line, with one cartographer claiming the quarry is on open farmland and one claiming it to be on the home farm. I advise Lord Montborne to become involved immediately. It is not a situation he will want decided without his input.

Your faithful servant,

Thomas Cartwright

Elizabeth’s hands trembled. This could change Lord Constantine’s tides permanently. Assuming his brother was able to clear the charges—and she couldn’t let herself think anything else—this could be the windfall his family so desperately needed. At least it must be enough for a living, if not a fortune.

She ought to be overjoyed for them. Instead, it scared her to death. This was the finishing touch. The last puzzle piece he needed to distance himself from her permanently. She’d cost him his manhood, then his freedom. He’d been exposed for a liar in front of his entire family. It was only a matter of hours before the gossip spread and everyone in London knew of the charges against him. Then it would be not just his freedom he’d lost, but his reputation.

She gripped the parchment until it crackled. Oliver was less than hers in the eyes of the law. She couldn’t be imprisoned for stealing her own child, but she also had no right to take the child from his father. The law didn’t even consider her a threat; that was the insignificance of her role in the eyes of the men who’d drafted it.

There was no doubt in her mind that Oliver wouldn’t have been with her this last month without Con’s claiming him. If she were to have any hope of getting him back, it would only be with Con’s help. If he continued to hold up his end of the bargain.

She clapped a hand to her mouth. Was she asking him to perjure himself during the trial? He was already charged with fraud! What kind of woman would ask that?

The answer was simple. A mother who desperately, desperately wanted her child.

It was settled, then. Con couldn’t know about the granite deposit, not until after the trial. A quarry gave him the means to walk away from her. He could repay her and wash his hands of the whole, sordid affair. She couldn’t risk him doing so now. But the moment he was cleared of the charges, she’d fall to her knees and confess everything. She’d beg for his forgiveness and that of his entire family.

Until then, he mustn’t know. She couldn’t chance him deciding she wasn’t worth the price she’d paid him for his dignity.

She took the missive and haunted her hallways in search of a room with a fire. The one in the breakfast room had been stoked for the morning, but no other evidence of her servants was visible. She entered the small room, holding the paper between two fingers as if it were a disgusting bug. Then she dropped it into the crackling flames and watched as it singed into a brown, fluttering piece of ash.

Instantly, she feared she’d just watched her future burn with it. Shame overwhelmed her and she dropped to her knees on the floor. This