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"I stopped at the old town house on the way to ask Lady Ainsley’saunt and uncle how long they had determinedto stay I had a prospective renter to take theirplace I found Thurborne there, exa a man who had apparentlybroken his neck and died in a falldown the stairs When I recognized him as that wastrel servant ofyours, Addams, I returned ho nervously, then suddenly dug inside and ca a pistol "Get out of the way, John"
"Blanche? " Megsaiduncertainly"What? "
"Oh, do shutup, Margaret, " Blanche snappedi Ifonlyyou had died in Port Royaleas I hadhoped andprayed all thisti"
Valoree threw her hands up in disgust "Let you justsaid was a lie You arethe one after all, and John is innocent"
"Not quite, " she said grimly "I told the truth about what happened in the past"
"Well, bully foryou, " Valoree answered
"How could you do thatto my father? "
"You shut up too, John I hadher convinced that you were behind the attacksand that it was allher fault Givena few more moments, Iwould have had them both convinced to keep quiet about it all andsimply to slink back to the islands"
"Ido notslink, "Valoree protested, and Lady Beechammade a face
"Nay, but you would have keptyour ed, because sheprobablywould have After all, it hardly benefited her to have Meg’s true identity exposed There would be questions then about where She had been all her life andhom
Lady Beecham turned backtoJohn"Yousee? If youhadn’t interfered, this would all have gone well Butnay You had to interfere Like mother, likeson, " she said with a sneer
"But why didyouwantaskedinconfusion, and Blanche turnedon her in fury
"Because you would not die, damn you! Time after time Addams triedto kill you, and tih the attempts Andnow heis dead"
"Hewas quite inept, " Valoree told her dryly"I presume it was hewho knocked me out in the kitchens? "
"AyeHeheard and he crept off to the kitchen, but it was you who entered"
"Hone down to the docks andhired someone from there to doyour dirty work
No one down there would havemuffedthe jobI do not suppose you would care to share the naht? "
"Why on earthwould I do that? "she asked irritably
Valoree shrugged "We o easieron you e decide how to deal with you"
"Dealwith me? " LadyBeecham peered atherwith asort of amused horror "Who are you? Do you not see that I have a pistol? Do youwantto be shot? "
Valoree gri she had re soft, else she would havewornit But it wasso difficult to carry about now thatshe nolonger wore boots Agrimlyup the hall, Henry, One-Eye, Pete, and Bull at his heels "Oh, hello, husband, " she greeted him cheerfully
Lady Beecha’s son proun froood, "Valoree ile , Beechahtmeasure upto Daniel sohtly at the praise, then turned thegun on the woman who had stolen him from histruemotherShe started tosidle toward the door "What do we do with her? "
They were allsilent for a ested, "Well, that depends Who hascontrol of theBeechammoney? "
"I do, "Johnadmitted, obviously perplexedasto the relevance of that
"GoodI suggestyou hire someone to take herto PortRoyale
Set her up in a teeny little cottage there, andgive her asmall stipend, just adequateto seeher fedand able to buy a new dress once ayear"
"Nay!" Lady Beechae, obviously horrifiedby the idea "NaySon, you could not be so cruel"
"Actually, I think I could, " John to likethe idea"Afterall, itis no more than the life yousentenced atDaniel’s irate growl, she raised her eyebrowsat John"Itake it youbroughttheseetically"As soon as I said that Addams was my mother’s servant, theywere determined to co here? " Daniel asked, slipping past John to er"How did youget here? "
"Visiting? " she suggested, laughing as John dragged Lady Beecha followed her son Valoree’s crew Valoree to peek at Daniel’s black expression andsigh "I decided towalk over to thetown house after you left, but when I gotthere, Meg was slipping out So I followed herhere"
"You walked? " He stared at her in horror "At night? By yourself? Valoree, you should notbe taking suchrisks in your condition"
"Iam with child, Daniel Not ill"
"You know? "
"I knohat? ThatIam with child? Well, of course I know
What sortof idiot do you take me for? "