Pamela Sherwood (27 page)

I
came
to
confirm
your
alibi, you ingrate!
Sophie bit back the angry words and glared at him instead
.
“I don’t care if they—or the whole county, for that matter—think I have more lovers than the Whore of Babylon, as long as you’re cleared of suspicion in Nathalie’s death! And I told you before, I mean to be your partner in all things, not some helpless infant who has to be protected all the time, so stop trying to wrap me in cotton wool!”

Robin’s eyes blazed back at her, burning blue, then just as quickly, the anger faded and he dropped his gaze with a sigh. “I
was
doing that, wasn’t I? Forgive me—old habits die hard.” He stared down at his horse’s neck. “I just—wanted to build something entirely new with you. Unconnected to the past, and untainted by it.”

“Well, that’s a lovely thought, but not exactly practical,” Sophie remarked. “Because what’s between us already has roots in the past, just as much as your marriage to Nathalie.” She urged Tregony closer to him on the road and added more gently, “Let’s not quarrel, dear heart. We
are
on the same side.”

“So we are,” Robin conceded, after a moment. He rubbed his brow under the brim of his riding hat. “Forgive me, Sophie. I’m like a bear with a sore head this morning.”

“Naturally you are, after yesterday,” she said, instantly remorseful. “And you look exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Oh, now and then. But Sara needed me, so I spent a fair portion of the night sitting up with her.”

“She must be devastated, to lose her brother and mother this close together.”

“She’s mostly confused and sad right now. And frightened—because of
how
her mother died. I’ve told her I want her to stay at Pentreath until I’m sure it’s safe for her to come home.”

“A wise decision,” Sophie approved. “And you’re staying there too?”

“For the next few nights, at least. But I must go to the hotel now, make sure things are under control. The guests will have concerns, as will the staff, and it wouldn’t be fair leaving Harry to cope with all this alone. There’s certain to be an inquest,” he added abruptly. “And anyone who might have seen or heard
anything
that night will be expected to testify.” He rubbed his forehead again, pinched the bridge of his nose. “God in heaven, how I hate this!”

Sophie reached across the short distance between them to touch his arm. “We’ll get through this, dear heart. I promise we will.”

A corner of his mouth lifted, ever so slightly. “Together?”

“Together,” she agreed, smiling back.

***

They parted, reluctantly but of necessity, at the crossroads marked by the hawthorn tree. Loath as Sophie was to let Robin go—especially after they’d so narrowly averted a quarrel—she had no wish to make things more difficult for him. He had a business to run, a wife to bury, and a child to comfort, all of which had to come first. She wouldn’t dream of adding to his burdens by thrusting herself to the forefront of his life and making demands he was in no position to fulfill.
Their
time would come, someday.

Sighing, she turned Tregony homeward. It was lovely to be back in Cornwall, she reflected as she rode. And lovelier still to be reunited with her family, who’d greeted her like the prodigal daughter, all but killing a fatted calf in her honor. But then, her mother had hoped for years that she would make an extended visit. How tall Peter, now in his first year at university, had grown! And how much more confident John appeared, newly established in his profession and soon to be a married man!

Absorbed in these pleasant musings, she rode up the drive to Roswarne, only to pull up short when she saw a woman in a dark blue habit dismounting gracefully from a white—or rather, grey—horse just before the front steps. The visitor’s hair glinted dark gold beneath the brim of her hat, and Sophie’s spirits lifted at once.

“Aurelia! What are you doing here?”

Lady Trevenan looked up with a smile. “I came to see
you
, of course. James told me you were back.”

“Yes, I arrived yesterday afternoon,” Sophie replied, alighting from her own horse and hastening to embrace her friend and cousin by marriage. “It’s delightful to see you again! Won’t you come in for some refreshment?”

“Nothing would please me more,” Aurelia assured her, returning the embrace.

Linking arms and talking animatedly, they entered the house together.

***

As always, Sophie was struck by how similar and yet how different Aurelia was from her twin, Amy: both tall, slim, and golden-haired, with brilliant blue eyes. Aurelia bore a faint scar on her cheek from a riding accident some years before, and there was a slight hitch to her step at times of fatigue. But a more significant difference was the expression in her eyes—more pensive and reflective—and her smile, which held a wistful sweetness every bit as captivating as Amy’s ebullience. Both were loyal to the bone, however, and Sophie knew just how fortunate she was to have their friendship. While Amy had provided her with a safe haven when her world had fallen apart, Aurelia had been her confidant and advocate during those halcyon days when she’d first discovered her love for Robin.

“So, how are the children?” she asked, pouring out tea for them both. “Jared must be all of four years old now.”

“Four, and the very image of James,” Aurelia reported with pride. “Dark hair, dark eyes, and the same—well, intensity, for lack of a better word.”

“And the new one, Alexandra—does she favor you or James?” Sophie inquired.

“She has dark hair, but my eyes, and James swears she has my smile too. She’s got him wrapped round her little finger already. And how is my niece? I gather you saw her in town.”

“Oh, Bella is thriving. She’s fair like Amy, but she’s got Thomas’s green eyes. And the sunniest nature too. Amy hopes to bring her down to Cornwall later this summer.”

“So she’s informed me. I count it a victory that she wishes to spend her summer holiday here, city girl that she is!” Aurelia declared, smiling. “By the way, she wrote that your concert at the Albert Hall was a great success. I’m sorry we never got up to London to see it, but there was so much to do here.”

“You saw me in
Figaro
last year. And, under present circumstances,” Sophie hesitated before continuing, “perhaps it’s just as well that you and James were
here
.”

Comprehension flickered in Aurelia’s eyes. “You may be right. I don’t like to think what might have happened to Sara if we
hadn’t
been here.” She paused in her turn, then ventured, “I gather from what James has told me that you and Robin are—reconciled?”

Sophie nodded. “When he was in London, we… talked. The bond we shared is still there. He told me he’d decided to proceed with the divorce, because he’d learned Nathalie was unfaithful again. He asked me if I would wait for him.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “I did not take long to decide.”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” Aurelia squeezed her hand. “I know how much you loved each other, and how it broke your heart to leave him, even though you had no choice back then! But now you have a second chance.”

“I know. I just wish it hadn’t come at such a price,” Sophie confessed. “It’s terrible that this should have happened. I know Robin did not want to remain married to Nathalie, but he never wished anything like this on her. He never wanted her dead.”

“Of course he didn’t,” Aurelia said swiftly

Sophie wished her own conscience were as clear. But was wishing your rival gone really the same as wishing her brutally, senselessly murdered? On further reflection, she thought not. If Nathalie had succumbed to an illness, like Cyril, or died in some sort of accident, it would have been a tragedy still—but a clean tragedy. The sort of misfortune that could befall anyone.

But this… strangled in her own chamber by some unseen intruder and left to lie there undiscovered until morning? She suppressed a shiver at the thought.

“And
you
needn’t feel guilty either,” Aurelia added, as though reading Sophie’s mind. “You would have had to be a saint not to resent Nathalie for taking everything you wanted. But I know you’d never have wished such a fate even on her.”

Sophie took a deep breath. “No, I wouldn’t. I just hope—Robin isn’t regretting his choice.” And there it was, the unspoken fear that had gripped her from the moment they’d heard the news but which she hadn’t been able to utter, until now.

“Good heavens, why ever would he? You
know
he loves you.”

“We were—together, when his wife was murdered.” Sophie bit her lip. “I can’t help worrying that it might be an ill omen, somehow.”

Aurelia laid a hand on hers. “You
mustn’t
allow yourself to think that way. What happened to Nathalie was tragic. But Robin could have been anywhere in England at the time. And at least he needn’t fear being blamed for it, because he
was
with you.”

Sophie didn’t know which surprised her more: that Aurelia showed no shock on hearing that Sophie and Robin had been together or that she’d instantly grasped the advantages of such an alibi. She choked down a lunatic giggle: Americans were nothing if not practical!

Regaining her composure, she managed to say, “I thought it might help if I could vouch for his whereabouts over the last week or so.” She recounted her visit to the police station that morning. “They did seem inclined to believe me. At least, they found nothing to contradict what Robin had already told them. So—they had no choice but to let him go, for now.”

“Naturally, you had to clear his name,” Aurelia agreed. “The only thing to do with ugly rumors is nip them in the bud before they grow into even uglier scandals. And goodness knows what’s happened is ugly enough!”

“And there’s certain to be more ugliness, when the inquest is held,” Sophie said, sighing.

Aurelia pulled a face. “Robin’s going to have his hands full keeping Nathalie’s little—indiscretions a secret.”

“Her affair with Sir Lucas, you mean?”

“Among others. I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but Nathalie had an eye to several women’s husbands.” A hint of frost crept into Aurelia’s voice. “Including mine.”

Sophie dropped her teaspoon with a clatter. “Nathalie went after
James
?”

“On more than one occasion. We wished to remain friends with Robin, and that meant being civil to his wife. No easy task, especially after she set her sights on James. Oh, she didn’t slip into his bedchamber at night or disrobe in front of him, but she’d flirt with him at dinner parties and contrive to catch him alone. Or stand too close to him when they were in the same room. James didn’t want to make anything of it, at first, but she finally overplayed her hand—by suggesting that he might enjoy the novelty of making love to an
unblemished
lady.”

“Oh, Aurelia…”

“Not to worry. James set her to rights in no uncertain terms.” There was no mistaking the satisfaction in Aurelia’s voice. “I was privileged to overhear him, in fact. It was—wonderful.”

“I’m so glad,” Sophie said fervently. “Not that James would ever betray you—”

“Oh,
I
know that.” Aurelia dismissed the incident with the assurance of a wife wholly confident of her husband’s fidelity. “The strange thing was, I don’t think it was James’s looks or fortune or even his title that made Nathalie act as she did. I think she was doing it to cause trouble for
Robin
. To drive a wedge between him and James.”

Sophie remembered what Robin had told her in Oxfordshire. “Sadly, I find that all too easy to believe. It would have been about power for her, not love. Not even lust.”

Aurelia nodded. “That’s it exactly. Robin doesn’t know,” she added. “James never told him—he thought Robin had enough on his plate without having to deal with this. Fortunately, Nathalie never tried again, and James and I took care to avoid her whenever possible, unless Robin or the children were present.” Her voice warmed and softened. “Now
they
were darlings, Sara and Cyril. Has Robin told you about them?”

At Sophie’s nod, she continued, “Robin would bring Sara to Pentreath to play with Jared. She adored Cyril, but it did her good to have a healthy playmate now and then. James and I like to think that Sara had a chance to be a little girl during her visits to us.”

“And Cyril?”

“We’d visit him at the hotel. And it wasn’t easy for him, being unwell so often, but he tried to be patient, and he really was good as gold most of the time. And Robin was—well, he was just what a father should be, to both of them.”

Sophie blinked her stinging eyes. “I could tell he loved them very much.”

“Oh, no question of that,” Aurelia asserted. “There was talk, of course, about poor Cyril, and who his father might have been—especially since most of the county knew Robin couldn’t possibly have sired him. But Robin would not have any of that in his hearing. He accepted Cyril as his own from the first day, and never swayed from that.”

“It wouldn’t have been fair to blame a child for his mother’s failings.”

“And Cyril adored him too. I think, in spite of everything, Robin, Sara, and Cyril managed to form a fairly happy unit.” Aurelia paused, her expression clouding. “I’m worried about Sara. Robin left her with us when he went up to London. He said he thought it would be good for her to spend time in a happy place. But she still misses Cyril terribly, and now—”

“Now her mother is dead as well,” Sophie finished, then winced at the starkness of it.

“Yes,” Aurelia said on a sigh. “Granted, Nathalie wasn’t the most attentive of mothers—even to Cyril, whom she favored. Robin was the one who played with them, took them for outings, and sat at their bedsides. But all the same, it’s a huge loss for a child of seven, especially so soon after losing her brother. Nanny Odgers has been wonderful with her, and Sara knows she has only to ask if she needs something. Jared doesn’t quite understand what’s happened, but he’s being very solicitous of her, lending her all his toys and books to cheer her up. They’ve become good friends, in spite of the age difference.”