Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“Philip!” Beatrice gasped, rushing forward as the door closed behind them.
Leo watched as his wife embraced his cousin, a peculiar tightness gripping his chest at the sight.
Philip looked thinner than he remembered, his usually immaculate appearance now marked by several days’ growth of beard and disheveled clothing. Yet the relief in his eyes as he returned Beatrice’s embrace was unmistakable.
“I can’t believe you found me,” he said, his voice hoarse as he looked over Beatrice’s shoulder to meet Leo’s gaze. “How did you—”
“Your fondness for Thornfield wasn’t as forgotten as you might have hoped,” Leo cut in, stepping forward as Beatrice released his cousin. “Though it took my wife’s remarkable memory to bring it to light.”
Philip’s eyes widened. “Wife? Then you two—”
“Married, yes,” Leo confirmed, clasping his cousin’s hand firmly. “Though I would have preferred to find a duchess under less dramatic circumstances.”
Philip winced, guilt washing over his features. “Leo, I’m so sorry. I never meant to put either of you in such a position. But when I overheard Westbury that night…” he trailed off, glancing nervously at the window.
“Perhaps we should move away from the windows,” Beatrice suggested gently, placing a hand on his arm. “And you can tell us everything.”
Leo had to fight to rein in the urge to peel her hand off his cousin’s shoulder. Had to remind himself that he had been her friend first and, if not for his cousin, he would not have been so close to her at all.
Still, it was a terribly hard thing to do. He decided to look around to distract himself.
The cottage’s main room was simply furnished: a wooden table with three mismatched chairs, a worn settee before a small hearth, and shelves bearing the basic necessities for living.
Philip gestured toward the table, moving with the nervous energy of a man who had spent too long looking over his shoulder.
“I should have come to you immediately,” he sighed as they settled around the table. “But after what I heard at the Gilded Lion, I was afraid that involving anyone else would only put them in danger.”
“So, you chose to abandon your bride at the altar instead?” Leo couldn’t keep the edge from his voice, though he softened it when Beatrice placed a gentle hand on his arm.
“I know how it must seem,” Philip said, running a hand through his unkempt hair. “Cowardly. Dishonorable. But Beatrice, you must understand. When I realized what Westbury was involved in, that he might have seen us…”
“Anna told us what happened,” Beatrice revealed. “About Westbury’s conversation with the manager of the Gilded Lion.”
Philip nodded, his brow creasing. “It wasn’t just gambling.
The Gilded Lion is merely the facade of his enterprise.
He was discussing shipments, bribes to customs officials, profits that no legitimate business could generate.
When he mentioned eliminating someone who had become…
problematic, I knew I had to get Anna away from there. ”
“Yet you left her behind without a word,” Leo pointed out, watching him flinch at the accusation.
Philip’s face crumbled, his jaw tensing tightly.
“I thought she would be safer if we separated,” he said, misery evident in every line of his face.
“I sent a friend to check on her, to make sure she was all right. When he returned, saying she’d vanished, I assumed—” His voice broke. “I assumed the worst.”
“She’s alive,” Beatrice said quickly, reaching across the table to grasp his trembling hand. “And safe. Leo installed her in one of his properties in London.”
Philip’s head snapped up, his eyes wide as they landed on Leo. “She’s safe?”
“As safe as anyone can be while Westbury remains free to operate,” Leo replied. “Though she’s been terrified for your safety.”
A tremulous smile broke across Philip’s face, transforming him momentarily back into the carefree young man Leo remembered.
“Thank God,” he whispered. “I’ve been torturing myself with visions of what might have happened to her.”
“We need to end this,” Leo said, leaning forward. “Westbury must be brought to justice. With your testimony about what you overheard, combined with Anna’s corroboration—”
“No!” Philip blurted, the word sharp enough to make them both flinch. “You don’t understand the reach the man has. He’s not just some crooked nobleman dabbling in vice. The connections he mentioned, the officials he’s bought… half the magistrates in London might be in his pocket.”
“Then we go above them,” Leo countered, feeling the familiar rush of determination that came with a clearly defined challenge. “The Home Secretary. The Prime Minister. The King himself, if necessary. Westbury is powerful, yes, but he is not untouchable.”
Philip shook his head, fear etched into his features. “He threatened Anna directly. Said he’d kill her if she spoke to me again. What do you think he’d do if I testified against him?”
“He threatened her because he feared what you both know,” Beatrice spoke, her steady tone pulling both men’s eyes to her. “That fear is our advantage, Philip. It means he knows his position is vulnerable.”
Leo admired his wife’s insight. Where he saw only obstacles, she saw opportunity.
“Beatrice is right,” he agreed, meeting her eyes briefly before turning back to Philip. “Westbury’s threats betray his weakness, and I promise you that no one threatens my family without bearing the consequences.”
Philip looked between them, doubt warring with hope in his expression. “Do you truly think this is a good idea?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” Leo affirmed, surprised by the fierceness of his own conviction. “You are my cousin. Anna is important to you. And no one, nobleman or commoner, will harm either of you while I draw breath.”
Beatrice nodded, her eyes shining with determination as she added, “We will help you both, Philip. Together, we can make this right.”
Philip’s shoulders slumped, not in defeat but in relief, as though a burden he had carried along for too long was finally lifted.
“I don’t deserve such loyalty after what I’ve done,” he mumbled.
“Perhaps not,” Leo acknowledged with brutal honesty. “But you have it, nonetheless.”
Silence fell between them, broken only by the soft crackling of the small fire in the hearth.
Outside, birds called to one another in the late afternoon sun, the peaceful sounds of the countryside a jarring contrast to the dangerous conspiracy they discussed within the cottage walls.
“You know,” Philip said after a moment, a ghost of his usual mischievous smile touching his lips, “you two make a remarkably convincing couple.”
Beatrice’s cheeks flushed, and Leo felt satisfaction spreading through his chest.
The memory of the previous night flashed vividly through his mind. Beatrice’s soft skin beneath his hands, her sweet taste on his tongue, the way she had trembled at his touch, the warmth she had offered that chased away his perpetual chill—
But now was not the time to get lost in that memory. He had no intention of indulging in front of his cousin, no matter how much he wanted to scream that Beatrice was now his.
His irrational jealousy was eager to make a fool out of him, it seemed.
He cleared his throat. “We should focus on the matter at hand.”
Philip’s smile widened slightly, his eyes flicking between them with growing curiosity.
“Of course,” he agreed, though his tone suggested he had noted far more than either of them might wish. “What’s the next step, then?”
Leo pushed aside the discomfort of his cousin’s perceptive observation and considered their options. “You’ll need to return to London with us. Disguised, of course. Our driver can remain here; I’ll give him enough money to make his way back in a day or two.”
“And once in London?” Philip asked, his earlier fear returning. “Westbury has eyes everywhere.”
“You’ll stay with Anna at my property,” Leo replied. “Few know of its existence, and those who do are loyal to me alone. Meanwhile, I’ve engaged the services of Bow Street Runners who report directly to me. They’ve been gathering evidence of Westbury’s operations.”
Philip hesitated, then nodded slowly. “I don’t see that I have much choice,” he sighed. “Hiding hasn’t exactly proven effective.”
“No, it hasn’t,” Leo agreed, though he softened the words by clasping his cousin’s shoulder. “Gather what you need. We should leave within the hour if we’re to reach the next coaching inn by nightfall.”
As Philip moved about the cottage, collecting his meager belongings, Leo found Beatrice at his side, her presence a quiet comfort he had not known he needed until she provided it.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice pitched low for his ears only.
He glanced down at her, momentarily caught by the clarity in her eyes, the sincerity that shone there without guile or calculation. “For what?”
“For this,” she replied, gesturing subtly toward Philip. “For helping him.”
Leo felt oddly exposed by her gratitude, as though she had glimpsed some part of him he usually kept hidden.
“He’s family,” he said simply, because that explained everything.
The smile that curved her lips suggested she understood far more than his words conveyed.
“Yes,” she agreed. “He is.”
Philip returned with a small bundle wrapped in oilcloth, looking more resolute than before. “I’m ready,” he announced. “Though I must look a sight for London Society.”
“The ton won’t see you,” Leo assured him. “Not until Westbury has been dealt with. I have clothes that can be altered to fit you at the house.”
Philip nodded, then hesitated, his gaze darting between them once more. “I truly am sorry,” he said quietly. “For the position I put you both in. For running when I should have stayed. For everything.”
Beatrice stepped forward, taking his hand in both of hers. “It’s done now,” she said with gentle firmness. “We move forward together.”
Leo watched them, these two people who had changed his life. His cousin, whose rash actions had triggered a chain of events that still unfolded around them. And Beatrice, the woman who had become his wife through necessity but was rapidly becoming… something else entirely.
Something he had neither planned nor anticipated, yet found himself increasingly unwilling to relinquish. Something he still did not wish to name.
But he knew she was his. He knew that much.
Leo caught Beatrice’s eye, his heart fluttering at the way she smiled back at him.
God, how he had been able to resist her all this time… he couldn’t quite comprehend. Something had shifted between them, something he didn’t have words for.
Whatever had begun at that storm-lashed inn would need to be addressed, eventually. But first, they had a cousin to save and a criminal to bring to justice.
“I’m going to call for the driver,” Beatrice announced.
Leo blinked, his hands clenching. “Be careful,” he said, seeing no use in stopping her from doing whatever she had already conceived in her mind.
His wife, he had come to know, didn’t look all that headstrong, but her disposition was but a mere smokescreen.
And you enjoy it.
Yes. Yes, he did.
“Of course,” she replied, “I am always careful.”
And always wanting to have the last word, too. How he wanted to kiss that sharp mouth of hers.
The door closed behind her, and Leo was left alone with his cousin.