The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [5]
“Oh, that’s—” Lisa paused and glanced out the window as the carriage jerked forward and they set off. She then glanced back to Suzette and asked uncertainly, “Is that even possible?”
“If we both agree to it,” Suzette said, but wasn’t as certain as she tried to sound. The only thing she was certain of was that she was going to do her damnedest to achieve that end.
Chapter One
“What is taking so long?”
Daniel Woodrow raised his eyebrows at his friend’s impatient words. It was rare to see Richard Fairgrave, the Earl of Radnor, so impatient, but then the situation was a rare one indeed. In fact, he suspected it was a one of a kind situation. Certainly, Daniel had never before heard of a set of events that would lead to a man confronting himself over his own murder.
A wry smile curved Daniel’s lips at the thought. It wasn’t really an accurate description of what was about to occur, but it was how every single person attending the ball would see it. As far as society knew, a year ago George Fairgrave, the younger twin by a matter of moments to Richard Fairgrave, the Earl of Radnor, had died in a tragic fire. However, George hadn’t died. It was Richard who had been meant to die in the fire, one George himself had arranged so that he could take Richard’s place in the world and claim his title and wealth. But even Richard hadn’t died that night. He had managed to bribe his would-be killers into letting him live and had instead landed in America, penniless, half starved and near death, but alive. Richard had recovered slowly with the aid of kind homesteaders, and then sent a letter to Daniel requesting his help in returning to England and regaining his title and position.
Daniel supposed Richard had sent him the letter because any of their other friends might, understandably, have ignored his warnings not to approach the man parading as Richard Fairgrave to verify the situation. But then most of those men did not have a secret like he had, one that Richard knew and had mentioned in his letter. At least Daniel didn’t think they did. Whatever the case, he had known at once that it was Richard’s hand writing the letter, and had wasted no time booking a ship to America to find and bring back the man.
“What the devil is the holdup?” Richard fretted again, looking ready to bolt from the carriage and walk the rest of the way to their destination.
“The Landons’ ball is the first of the season. Everyone attends it, so the lineup of carriages with passengers waiting to disembark gets long,” Daniel pointed out. Hoping to calm him, he leaned out the window to inspect the number of carriages remaining before they would be able to disembark, and sighed his relief as he sat back in his seat again. “There are only two carriages left ahead of us. We shall be able to alight presently.”
Richard grunted at this news, but rather than relax, tensed even further and muttered, “I am counting on you to keep me from killing my bastard brother before he confesses all.”
“Of course,” Daniel said solemnly, not doubting for a moment that Richard was struggling with the desire to pummel the man on sight. Certainly, George deserved it for what he’d done. However, killing him before he confessed all and Richard was assured of regaining his title and position again would not be good. It was why they’d decided to have the confrontation here at possibly the best-attended ball of the season. They needed to startle George into a confession and with as many witnesses as possible. Fortunately, they’d arrived in time to attend it, barely. The ship they’d returned on from America had only set anchor that morning and then they’d had to arrange for the appropriate clothes for both of them to attend.
“Finally.”
Richard’s heartfelt murmur drew Daniel’s attention to the fact that they were now pulling up in front of Landon House. The other man waited just long enough for the carriage to roll to a