The Redemption of a Rogue (Dark Regency Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

Four
     
    Michael went to the garden, where the scream had originated. Most of the other guests had arrived before him. They gathered around the fallen body of Lord Allerton. Michael knew immediately that his skill as a physician would not be required. Lord Allerton had been struck about the head repeatedly. Blood had already stopped flowing from the gashes, but enough of it was pooled beneath him to indicate that the loss was catastrophic.
    He felt the weight of suspicious stares. It didn’t help that he’d been one of the last to arrive and that his disappearance from the drawing room had been noted. The local magistrate, Squire Blevins pointed an accusing finger at him. “You quarreled with this man prior to his death, Lord Ellersleigh. What have you to say for yourself?”
    “I did not quarrel with him. He attempted to quarrel with me, and I walked away,” Michael said succinctly.
    It was Lavinia who spoke next. Spite tainted her words, “You came here to the garden, Lord Ellersleigh, after he all but accused you of cheating. Perhaps he followed you in an attempt to force a confrontation. It would appear that he succeeded.”
    That was more than enough for the squire. He puffed out his chest before turning back to face Michael. “If you cannot provide someone to account for your whereabouts, Viscount Ellersleigh, I will have no choice but to take you into custody,” the squire said, his tone quite firm.
    A sick feeling settled into the pit of Michael’s stomach, along with a sneaking suspicion. Lavinia had been in the garden as well. He didn’t doubt that she possessed the necessary coldness to do murder, but did she physically possess the strength to bludgeon a man to death? Of course, it wouldn’t really matter who was guilty if the local constabulary had decided to see him hang for it. “Squire Blevins, there are any number of guests here with whom Lord Allerton was on less than harmonious terms.”
    “Yes, and I was in the same room with the lot of them excepting yourself, my lord.”
    “That is hardly a sound reason to convict a man, Squire.”
    It was his Juliet’s voice that split the darkness. Michael turned to see Abby strolling into the garden. She had donned a heavy cape over her nightgown and wrapper. He could see the familiar lace hem beneath the cloak. Her hair had been hastily re-braided, and a few errant strands curled against her neck. She gave him a sidelong glance, and it spoke volumes. If he needed an alibi, she could provide it, but at what cost?
    “Begging your pardon, Miss Barrows, but legal matters are a bit beyond your expertise,” the squire responded, his tone condescending.
    Michael watched as she leveled the Squire with a look that made the man squirm. She lifted her chin and managed to look down her lovely nose at him though he stood inches above her. “Are you suggesting, Squire, that I lack the necessary intelligence to grasp that it requires more than that to convict a man of murder?”
    The man stammered an apology, “Never meant to imply any such thing, Miss Barrows. I only meant to say that you hadn’t heard the whole conversation and might not have all the facts straightaway… Viscount Ellersleigh disappeared from the drawing room, and no one has laid eyes on him since. His clothes are mussed too, and that could well have happened in a struggle with poor Lord Allerton, here.”
    Climbing a bloody tree would see him swinging from one, Michael thought. He looked back at Abby, and she gave the slightest of nods as she stepped forward to stand directly beside him.
    With her tacit approval, he made a confession that would forever alter both their lives. “My clothing is mussed, Squire Blevins, because I climbed the tree beneath Miss Barrows’ window.”
    There were gasps all around as everyone turned to her with accusing eyes. As married men and women, they could engage in all sorts of licentious behavior in full view of one another in the drawing room. Because she was