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As Drew stood before the magistrate, accounting for his actions, the Duke of Arundel sat nearby watching and listening, with a face like stone. The pompous man who quizzed Drew grunted at his answers and scowled as he spoke, while a clerk scribbled every word on a roll of paper. Drew did not think he was convincing any of them of his innocence. The world believed too deeply in the reputation his birth had given him.

But incest… That was a hideous charge.

Drew’s stomach roiled as he fought anger and frustration. It disgusted him that people would think him so low.

His only counter was that he had been protecting Caro. But there is no law against a man beating his wife – and how the hell do I prove I have not had intercourse with my sister?

Hatred burned in his veins as he walked from the court to await an intermediate verdict on his fate. Where were his mother and brothers who should be denying this? The Duke of Arundel was the only one who sat beside Drew on the hard wooden bench outside the court room. Mary’s family, not his.

Drew’s elbows rested on his knees, his head held in his hands.

Fear bit into his innards as he thought of Caro. Where was she now? What would this mean for her?

‘Lord Framlington!’ His name echoed about the stone hall. ‘Please come with me.’

As Drew stood, he met Wiltshire’s gaze. His expression did not say he believed Drew’s fate would be positive.

In the dark wood-panelled courtroom, he stood before the magistrate again.

‘Lord Framlington, you will be held in custody until I have spoken with Lady Kilbride.’

Drew bit his tongue. He feared that Kilbride had influence over this man and he would use this to find Caro.

‘You will tell the clerk Lady Kilbride’s address. Lord Kilbride has assured me you know it.’

Drew’s back stiffened. ‘If you think I will give my sister into Kilbride’s hands, you may?—’

‘Lord Framlington!’ Wiltshire stood. ‘Have sense. Unless you wish a noose about your neck then you must agree, and I do not want to see my niece a widow when she is barely wed. Lady Kilbride is safe with John, tell them.’

Damn it. ‘I shall give you my sister’s address, sir, if you agree to the Duke of Arundel accompanying you and remaining present while she is questioned. Then I will be sure she is neither threatened nor coerced.’

‘I will ensure it,’ Wiltshire agreed. Yet it was not his decision.

The weight of a Duke’s voice exceeded any bar royalty, though.

‘Agreed,’ the magistrate said.

Wiltshire was a principled man, Drew trusted him.

Before Wiltshire left, he paid the prison officer, acquiring a solitary cell for Drew, with sheets on his bed and the provision of decent, if not nice, meals.

‘Thank you,’ Drew said. ‘Please tell Mary I love her.’

‘I will tell her I am doing my utmost to get you home to her.’

Drew had done nothing to deserve this man’s help, and yet he was helping him. This was the family who loved Mary.

‘Tell John to make sure she eats. She has a habit of not eating when she is distressed and she must think of the child.’

‘The child?’ Wiltshire’s eyebrows rose.

Andrew simply looked at him. What was there to say?

Wiltshire’s hand rested on Drew’s shoulder. ‘We will get you out of this.’

When he left, the key turned in the cell door, locking Drew in. The cell was private but it was probably only a yard and a half wide, and two yards long, and the grey stone was gloomy, slimy with damp and cold.

He hated silence and solitude; it encouraged introspection and he had always avoided that.

He lay down on the narrow bunk, with its uncomfortable straw mattress, shut his eyes and tried to sleep.

Sleep would be better than being alone with his thoughts.