Mistress - Amanda Quick [119]
Sands looked at Marcus over the top of Hannah’s head. “Masters? How are you involved in this? The old rumors always labeled you as the killer.”
“I walked in five minutes after she had shot him,” Marcus said evenly. “I got rid of the body for her. Tossed it into the river. Made it appear as though he had been killed by a footpad.”
“That was the least of what he did.” Hannah sniffed back tears. “He also bore the brunt of the suspicions and the gossip afterward. Everyone believed that Marcus profited from Spalding’s death. But the truth was, my husband had cheated him and many others. The investment pool they had formed was on the verge of bankruptcy.”
“I came to London that day to confront Spalding with the facts of his deceit,” Marcus explained. “I arrived late in the evening and went straight to his house on Fulston Street. I discovered Hannah with the pistol still in her hand.”
“I was in a state of near-collapse.” Hannah looked at Sands. “Panic-stricken would be a better word. I was relieved that Spalding was dead but terrified of what would happen next. Masters took care of everything.”
“I see.” Sands gave Marcus a speculative look. “You kept quiet not only about Hannah’s involvement in Spalding’s death, but also about the financial state of the investment pool, did you not?”
“I had little choice,” Marcus admitted. “There was too much at stake.”
Hannah pushed a strand of hair back behind her ears. “If word of the instability of the pool had gotten out, there would have been panic. The investors would have sold their shares at a terrible loss. So many people would have been ruined.” She smiled wistfully. “Marcus took charge of the investment pool and salvaged everything.”
“And got very rich in the process,” Sands observed neutrally.
Marcus shrugged but offered no further explanation.
“Oh, Edward, I am so dreadfully sorry that you had to learn the truth this way,” Hannah whispered. “Marcus insisted I should tell all. He claimed it was the only way to remove the venom from the blackmailer’s fangs, but I was afraid to confide the truth to you. I loved you too much to risk turning you against me.”
“I always suspected what sort of man Spalding was.” Sands gripped her arms gently and pulled her against him. “I heard the rumors. But you know how such things are ignored by Polite Society.”
“I know,” Hannah mumbled.
“Listen to me, Hannah. I am glad that you shot him. Do you hear me? I only wish that I had had the privilege of doing so myself: If I had been acquainted with you then, I would have done so.”
“Edward.” Hannah held him more tightly.
“I told you, Hannah, there is nothing on the face of this earth that could turn me away from you except to learn that you loved another”
“Never,” Hannah vowed. “You are the only man I have ever loved. The only one I will ever love.”
Sands touched her hair. “Then from now on, will you also trust me?”
“Yes.” Relief and joy were mingled in Hannah’s voice. “I am so sorry that I did not tell you everything long ago.”
Sands looked at Marcus. “It would appear that I am in your debt, sir. Not only for helping Hannah that night, but for shielding her from all the questions and suspicions that ensued.”
Marcus shrugged. “It was nothing.”
Iphiginia smiled proudly. “That is Masters for you, Lord Sands. A gentleman to his fingertips.”
“It was Hannah who made me into a gentleman.” Marcus thrust his legs out in front of him and leaned back against the seat of his coach. He stared out the window into the night and thought about the past. “She taught me everything I needed to know so that I could move confidently in Society.”
“One cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” Iphiginia said. “Lady Sands may have given you a polite polish, but the truth is, you must have been born with the proper instincts for noble behavior.”
Marcus glanced at her, amused. “I was born a farmer, Iphiginia.”
She dismissed that with an airy wave