Page 28

F laherty scowled at MacReady when Cook walked into the room and ordered them out. “Ye didn’t have to send Mrs. Romney in to help me wife with her bath.”

The curmudgeonly Scot glared at him, then grinned as they walked toward the rear door. “Hah! It wasn’t that long ago that I was a man in my prime like yourself. You’d have forgotten all about your promise the moment the door was closed and you were alone with your wife and that piping-hot bath.”

Flaherty closed his eyes and moaned. “Now ye’ve done it. I’d just managed to get that particular image of me wife out of me head…and ye’ve placed it right back front and center in my brain!”

MacReady chuckled. “I always believed that your love for Mary Kate was strong. She deserves to be loved for who she is by someone who will protect, cherish, and love her. I know that you are that man.”

Humbled by the older man’s words, Flaherty thanked him. “I know ye understand how close the both of us came to dying earlier. What would be a more natural way of celebrating that we did not die?”

“Raising a fine glass of good Scotch whisky?”

Flaherty grunted. “Hah! Ye mean a glass of fine Irish whiskey.”

“I do not.”

“Ah, but ye should, as the Irish distill it best.”

“And any Scotsman worth his salt knows that it’s the aging in a proper wooden cask that is the secret to the finest Scottish whisky.”

“Are ye planning to continue arguing with me, MacReady?”

“I enjoy a good argument.”

Flaherty snorted. “Are ye sure you don’t have a bit of Irish blood in ye?”

MacReady shook his head. “Go take a bath and wash the soot, blood and sweat off you. The viscount asked you to come to the sitting room when you are finished.”

Flaherty nodded and retreated to the outbuilding, where he knew a hip tub was waiting for him. A short while later, he was once again walking toward the sitting room.

“Ah, Flaherty.” The viscount walked toward him. “Your wife will be along in another moment—she and Calliope were deep in conversation when I went to collect them.”

“As they are not here yet, there’s something I need to speak with ye about…Monroe.”

“MacReady filled me in a bit on the situation. What I do not understand is what the man hoped to accomplish by abducting your wife.”

“The man has no honor—why would the fact that Mary Kate and I exchanged vows and made promises to one another matter to him?”

“A salient point that occurred to me too, but not the first one. I was thinking about the money he apparently promised to Parks and the others to aid him in the deed. A farrier normally would not have that amount of ready coin. Where do you think he got it from?”

“Underhandedly, no doubt. As I said, the man has no honor. He could have robbed someone for all we know.”

The viscount slowly inclined his head. “The vicar recently reported that money from the poor box went missing.”

“How long ago?”

“A fortnight.”

“But the vicar has been supporting the poorer families in the village, and no one mentioned that they had to go without. Where else would he get the funds if not from the coin in the poor box?”

Chattsworth cleared his throat. “The vicar came to me explaining what happened, and I made a separate contribution to the church.”

Flaherty’s gut clenched. “What type of man steals from the church?”

MacReady shrugged. “The same man who tries to steal another man’s wife.”

“Darling, there you are. Sorry we are late.” Lady Calliope swept into the room, her arm linked with Mary Kate’s. “I do hope this won’t take long—Mary Kate needs to lie down.”

Flaherty was on his feet and reaching for his wife by the time the viscountess finished speaking. “There ye are, lass.” He stared into her blue-violet eyes, relieved that the size and shape of her pupils seemed to be normal. “Yer eyes are clear. Is yer head paining ye?”

She sighed. “A bit, but I’m not quite sure if it’s from whoever hit me, or the stitches.”

“Both, I’d imagine,” MacReady replied. “Speaking from past experience.”

“Ye’re right about that,” Flaherty had to admit. “Having suffered from more than one knock on the head, and stiches, I’d have to agree.”

“Well then, as we do not wish to tire Mary Kate out,” Calliope began, “why don’t we let her tell us what happened to her first?”

Chattsworth agreed. “Excellent idea, my dear.”

Mary Kate shared her story of the stranger seeking her out, and the urgency he expressed, and the bone-deep fear she felt knowing her husband was gravely injured.

Flaherty wanted to punch something—but now wasn’t the time. “I’d like a chance to wring the man’s neck for lying to ye, lass, but I’ll have to wait until I have a chance to speak to the prisoners. They’re at the constable’s cooling their heels behind bars.”

“What made you ride to Squire Dean’s, Flaherty?” the viscount asked.

It was Flaherty’s turn to explain how the stable hand from the inn arrived at Lippincott Manor with the news that Mary Kate had been taken.

The viscount did not blink when Flaherty described how he’d had an inkling that the man knew more than he was telling, and that he’d had to convince the stable hand to tell him where his wife had been taken.

“And that’s how you both ended up in Squire Dean’s abandoned barn—then it was set on fire.”

“Aye, but we had no idea because we were both unconscious,” Flaherty told them. “Thanks to Garahan, we’re both alive to tell of it.”

“Ye’d do the same for me, Seamus.” Garahan entered the sitting room. “What did I miss?”

“Mary Kate and me retelling the sequence of events,” Flaherty grumbled.

“I already heard enough to put the pieces together before we left the squire’s place. Are ye ready to hear what I know?”

Chattsworth and the others listened as the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

When Garahan finished, he turned to the viscount.

“So ye see, the farrier had put his plans into place the moment he settled in the village and spied Mary Kate for the first time. He had no idea she was spoken for at the time.”

“Did he bother to ask anyone of his numerous customers?” The viscount’s voice was hard.

“Not that came to light. Although the young lads working in the inn’s stables were quick to tell their side of the story when pressed about delivering messages and spying for Monroe.

” Garahan shook his head before continuing, “I heard something that cannot be true, but as one of the duke’s guard, I need to ask the question, yer lordship. ”

Chattsworth inclined his head. “What do you need to clarify?”

“The vicar hasn’t spoken of it, but I heard a rumor that the poor box has been robbed,” Garahan said. “Is it true?”

“I’m afraid it is. The vicar did not want to worry the villagers on the outside chance that it was someone who was in greater need than he or she let on. It isn’t always easy to accept help when you are in need.”

“Aye,” Flaherty said. “Pride gets in the way.”

“Only if one lets it,” Chattsworth reminded him.

“Noted, yer lordship.” Flaherty needed to speak to the constable and question the prisoners. “Yer lordship, may I leave Mary Kate here under yer protection?”

“Of course.” Chattsworth stared at him for a moment before asking, “Where are you headed?”

“Into the village.”

“Ah, to question the prisoners further. Noted and understood. I expect a full report from the constable and yourself. I’m certain the earl does, too.”

“Don’t be forgetting His Grace,” Garahan added.

“He is the reason the earl and I need to know everything. That way we can succinctly add the facts to our report to His Grace.”

Mary Kate reached for Flaherty’s hand. “Do you have to leave now?”

“Aye, mo chroí . I won’t be more than a few hours. Depends on how long it takes to convince the blackguards to spill their guts.”

“Do ye need me to accompany ye?” Garahan asked.

Flaherty shook his head. “I’d rather ye stayed behind to protect me wife along with the others.”

“Done.”

Flaherty kissed his wife’s forehead and rose from his seat. “I’ll be collecting a kiss from ye later, lass—otherwise I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the task before me. Stay inside.”

“I guess I’ll have to wait,” Mary Kate murmured.

“Aye, lass. I’ll make it worth yer while.” His wife turned a delicate shade of rose, and he drank in the beautiful sight. “I’m a lucky man, Mary Kate.”

“Hurry back, Seamus.”

“I’ll do me best, lass.”