A Devil Named DeVere (The Devil DeVere)(35)

"Of course, my apologies for keeping you." She gave him a nod.

Diana then took herself out to the back terrace where she would have a view of anyone approaching from across the park separating the house from the stables. She wondered if Reggie had confronted DeVere and how he might perceive the situation. Would he believe that she had set out deliberately to seduce him to give Reggie grounds to sue? After all, it was she who had come to him in the dead of night. Dear God, she was out of her depth!

After a half hour of restless pacing, she'd had enough. With her skirts in hand, she sallied forth across the park with a distinct sense of foreboding.

They came together near the yew maze. Although she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms, she halted in her tracks at the grim lines that hardened DeVere's features the moment he saw her. They faced each other for an interminable moment, each silently struggling to read the other. Her heart sunk. "You've seen Reggie," she said, certain now that he suspected her of conspiring with her husband.

DeVere's cobalt gaze bore into her. "I've seen him all right."

"I told you earlier there was something you needed to know, but you never gave me a chance to speak. Please believe me. It's not what you think." She noted with dismay the sudden tension that gripped his body and the distance he maintained between them.

"Not what I think?" He sounded like he would choke on the words. "And what precisely am I to think, Diana?"

"That Reggie is a desperate and unprincipled man who would use anything at his disposal to achieve his ends," she answered.

"Yes," he said with an accusing look that made her throat go dry. "Desperation does, indeed, bring out the very worst in all of us."

"Please, Ludovic." She grasped his sleeve, praying he would believe her. "I have nothing to do with this. I came to you for reasons of my own."

"By God, but you're good! I was completely taken in last night when you played the reluctant seductress. You would be a credit to the stage."

"You accuse me unjustly!" she said.

"Unjust! It's a bit late now to play coy, don't you think? I thought briefly in the beginning that you might have used the race as an excuse to lure me, to reclaim the deed, not that I really gave a damn because I wanted my cock inside you so badly. But then another better alternative occurred to you, or did you have this planned all along? I never would have suspected you of such duplicity, such ruthlessness. Did you come to me last night purely for my protection, thinking I might actually shield you?"

His harsh words struck her as a blow, yet she pressed on, determined to make him understand. "I hoped it would not come to that, but then I imagined how I might never be free of him without your help. I don't believe he would ever agree to a divorce, Ludovic. Thus, I did consider seeking your protection—if it became necessary to do so."

His gaze hardened. "Then you take much for granted, Diana."

She looked away with dismay. "After last night, I thought perhaps you might wish..."

His gaze narrowed, his jaw twitched. "I wished many things after last night, but matters seem to have taken a rather disconcerting turn. I may be a libertine but this? This, madam, is far beyond even my level of tolerance."

Her lips quivered. "Then I'm a fool." She had felt such a connection, such intimacy with him last night, that it had never occurred to her it wasn't mutual. But now it was clear she meant nothing to him beyond an evening's entertainment.

He laughed, a harsh sound. "No, my dear. Fool is the last word I would use to describe you. I would rather call your solution exceedingly clever. The set up. The timing. The alibi. All of it is quite brilliant, actually."

Set up? Alibi? Diana was baffled. "I don't understand you, Ludovic. Are you implying I had something to do with fixing the race? How can you suggest such a thing when your own brother rode my mare?"

"The race?" It was his turn to look confused. "My dear, the race is inconsequential at this juncture. I'm only concerned about how I'm supposed to deal with the dead body in my stables."

Diana felt the blood drain from her face."D-dead body? Dear God, Ludovic, what are you talking about?"

***

"Your dead husband's body!" he snarled. "What the devil other body could we be talking about?"

Diana looked stunned. "R-Reggie? Dead?"

"Yes, dead."

"But how can that be? Was there an accident? Is that why the horse didn't run?"

"An accident? I suppose one might call it that if one could mistakenly place a pistol in one's mouth and pull the trigger." Her horrified expression made him instantly regret the blithe remark. He feared she might collapse.

"A pistol? In the mouth?" she repeated woodenly and sank to her knees in the grass.

With a groan of frustration abetted by sheer confusion, Ludovic squatted down beside her. "Do you mean to say you truly didn't know?"

"Know?" she whispered. "How could I possibly know such a thing?"

He clawed a hand through his hair. "Then what the devil were you saying just a moment ago? Please believe me, Ludovic. It's not what you think. Bloody hell! What am I to think when you just confessed to seeking my protection!"

"Protection as in becoming your mistress! Not as in shielding a murder! You think I killed him?" she answered incredulously. "How? How could I have done such a thing? I was with Edward and Annalee the entire time."