Lady Vice Read Free Page B

willful murder by person or persons unknown.”
    “Oh dear Lord,” she said.
    “He was shot through his manhood. The killer aimed well. Vaile died within minutes. Just after, a cloaked woman was seen rushing from the mews at the back of Vaile House.” His eyes softened. “I am so terribly sorry. Vaile’s cousin is insisting that you fired the shot.”
    She yanked back her hands. Panic and anger spiraled through her chest and coalesced into a tangible lump in her throat. She swallowed convulsively and squeezed her eyes closed.
    The night she had finally summoned the strength to leave Vaile’s wretched home, she’d pointed her lady’s flintlock directly at his cock, and his cheeks had paled to pea-soup green.
    “I am leaving now ,” she had said. “If you come after me, I will shoot you and, I promise, you will die in the worst possible way a man can die.”
    The threat had risen from the darkest place in her heart, but her hands had been as steady as a Piccadilly pickpocket’s. Every two weeks since, she had faithfully changed the powder in that flintlock, reloaded the ball and sealed it with wax—always on guard. Never had she believed herself safe, but neither had she dreamed someone else would carry out her threat.
    Her once steady hands shook like leaves in a squall. “The murder of a husband is petty treason. And the sentence is still burning at the stake.”

Chapter Three
    Max hammered his fear into resolute certainty. Arguing that the last woman convicted of the charge had been merely symbolically burned after death by hanging would hardly bring Lavinia comfort.
    “It will not come to that,” he said.
    “It could!” Her gaze flitted back and forth, reading his face like a worn letter. “The truth is there in your eyes.”
    His chest clanged with a sharp, cutting clapper. She could still decipher his thoughts. Yes, he did fear for her life. Why else would he risk so much to be here? How could he live with himself if he let her face such a threat alone?
    He steadied his voice and gentled his expression. “They cannot charge you without two witnesses.”
    “But there will be questions.” A crease crumpled her brow. “Oh, by all that is holy, answers to questions about Vaile will only lead to scandal and judgment.”
    “Your innocence can be proven.” Again, he clasped his hands behind his back. He would not give in to weakness and touch her again.
    “But how? What little is left of my reputation will be shattered.” She scowled as if he were a boy who understood nothing. “Gossips will gather like bees to a hive. The court might as well sell tickets. They have before—”
    “Lavinia—”
    She cut him off with a hand-wave and paced. “I am not a peeress in my own right, but the duchess of Kingston was a peeress-by-marriage, and they tried her for bigamy in the House of Lords. And when Lord William Byron was tried for murder, over four thousand tickets were sold.” She laughed, a harsh and choking sound. “A lady murderess would be such a better draw, don’t you think?”
    “Lord William Byron was not sentenced to death.”
    “Lord Ferrers was! Though, when he was hanged, they used a silken rope. Silk, I suppose, proved respect for his station. What would be the equivalent? Hard wood, perhaps, to ensure a hot, consuming burn?”
    “Stop!”
    She stilled and grew quiet, though her chest rose and fell as if she were pursued by the Reaper with scythe drawn and sharpened.
    His heart beat against his ribs, bucking with wild commands: Help her. Solve this. Bloody well act! But how? The distress in her eyes acted as a poultice, extracting his strength.
    “You have not been charged. I say again, the coroner’s court will need witnesses before making a decision. Even then, there will be time before an actual trial.”
    She placed her fingers to her forehead. “Witness testimony can be bought.”
    He sighed. “Yes. But bribing witness testimony will be harder in a case where the stakes are so