Mistress - Amanda Quick [118]
Hannah stared at him as though she were seeing a ghost. “Dear God, no.” Her hand went to her mouth. And then she crumpled to her knees, sobbing.
“Lady Sands.” Iphiginia hurried toward her.
“Hannah.” Sands dropped his shoes and started toward his wife.
“One would think,” Marcus said to the room in general, “that one would be able to get a simple medical treatment done with some degree of privacy.”
EIGHTEEN
LADY SANDS, PLEASE, YOU MUSTN’T CARRY ON SO.” Iphiginia pulled a hankie out of her little white satin reticule. She bent down and thrust it into Hannah’s shaking fingers. “Everything will be fine.”
“Thank you.” Hannah blew her nose and risked an anguished look at her stony-faced spouse. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Bright. I never meant for this to happen. Marcus was right. I could not conceal the truth forever from my husband.”
“What truth? What the devil is going on here?” Sands looked at Marcus, his face twisted with rage and pain. “And don’t give me any more rubbish about taking one of Hardstaff’s treatments, damn your eyes.”
“Hannah is the only one who can tell you the truth,” Marcus said. “I have given her my word that I would keep her secrets.”
“What secrets do you share with my wife?” Sands exploded. “Did you trick her into coming here so that you could seduce her in that brothel bed over there?”
“No,” Marcus said calmly.
“Of course he did not do any such thing.” Iphiginia straightened and glowered at Sands. “Really, sir, that is beyond anything. Masters would never seduce another man’s wife.”
Sands turned on her, his face still tight with fury. “How would you know?”
“Because I know him very, very well.” Iphiginia patted Hannah’s shoulder. “He is incapable of that sort of unprincipled behavior.”
Marcus gazed at her with an unreadable expression.
Sands eyed Iphiginia intently. “How do you come to be here tonight, Mrs. Bright?”
“I received a note, just as you did, sir,” Iphiginia said. “I arrived only moments before you and hid behind the curtain.” She swept a hand out to indicate the bed, the erotic paintings, and the statuary. “Obviously, someone intended that I discover Masters together with Lady Sands in a compromising position. I suspect you were meant to do the same.”
“Someone staged this entire affair?” Sands set his jaw. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s the only logical assumption, is it not, Masters?”
“Yes.” Marcus regarded the small group thoughtfully. “Hannah and I both received notes, too.”
“They could not have come from the blackmailer,” Iphiginia said. “Mrs. Wycherley is dead. Besides, there was no demand for money in this night’s work. Some other malicious person is behind this.”
Sands stared at each of them in turn, more frustrated than ever. “What blackmailer?”
Hannah raised her head with sad dignity. “Someone blackmailed me, my lord. We believe it was Mrs. Wycherley from the Wycherley Agency. She also blackmailed an acquaintance of Mrs. Bright’s. She was murdered by one of her other victims.”
“That was our initial conclusion,” Marcus said.
“Good Lord,” Sands whispered. He glanced at Marcus and then strode toward his wife. He pulled Hannah up into his arms. “Tell me everything, Hannah. For God’s sake, the truth can be no worse than what I have been forced to imagine for the past fortnight.”
Hannah’s eyes filled with tears. “You will turn from me in disgust.”
“Never,” Sands vowed. “Never, my love. You cannot have done anything that will give me a disgust of you. The only way in which you could break my heart would be to turn to another.”
“Oh, Edward, I killed him.” Hannah pressed her face into his shoulder. “I shot him dead. And I do not regret the murder. I only feared your discovery of it.”
“Who did you kill?” Sands moved his hand gently on her shivering back.
“Spalding,” Hannah blurted.
Sands frowned. “Your first husband?”
“I killed him one night when he came home drunk and started to beat me. I could not endure any more of his rages.” Hannah sobbed heavily. “I could not