Free Why Earls Fall in Love by Manda Collins

he’d faked his death in some sort of trick.
    But yesterday at the ruins he’d seen the man who seemed to be following Georgie and the fellow had the same light brown hair and build that Georgie had described. Never having met the man himself, of course, Con had no idea whether the man resembled Robert Mowbray, but he believed that Georgie thought so.
    As he stared moodily at the impression in the soil, he heard the sound of Georgie’s slippers on the stone walk. Standing, he brushed his hands off on his breeches and looked up as she approached.
    “I somehow hadn’t expected you to begin investigating so soon,” she said by way of greeting.
    “I would have begun last night, but my aunt demanded my attention,” Con said with a raised brow.
    “I am sorry,” Georgie said, her eyes troubled. “I did have a headache last night, but I should have been there to entertain her.”
    “Easy,” Con said with a smile. “I was merely teasing you. Of course you are allowed an evening off. Especially when Aunt Russell’s house is filled to the rafters with relatives who should spend more time with her.”
    “Oh.” Georgina blushed. “In that case, thank you.
    “Now,” she said, indicating the area around them with a wave of her hands. “What are you doing here? Investigating the man I saw from my bedchamber?”
    Con nodded. “Look at this,” he said, gesturing for her to squat next to him on the path as he showed her the footprint.
    “There is an easy view of your bedchamber window from here,” he said, pointing up toward her room. “And after seeing that fellow following you at the ruins, I am convinced that someone wishes you to think your husband is alive, or haunting you at the very least.”
    “But why would someone do this?” she demanded with a puzzled frown. “I admit that I was rather…” She paused and Con could see that it was difficult for her to force out the words. He tensed as he guessed what would come next. “I was frightened of him. There at the last, I mean.”
    “I know it is none of my business,” Con said quietly, “but could you tell me why he frightened you? I only ask because it might shed some light on why someone would wish to make you think him alive.”
    Georgina stood but Con remained where he was, close to the ground, instinct telling him that she needed to feel superior to him in this small way in order to tell her story. She rubbed her palms on her gown—she must have removed her gloves while she was in her bedchamber—and swallowed.
    “The truth of the matter, my lord,” she said, her voice strong despite her obvious nerves, “is that my husband was a brute. He had a temper and he didn’t mind venting his spleen using his fists or his belt or anything that came in handy. It didn’t much matter what I did to annoy him, he dispensed punishment for small infractions with as much force as for large ones. Though I was never quite sure what would set him off from day to day.”
    Though he’d suspected something along these lines, Con couldn’t help but grind his teeth at her words. He knew that such men existed. He doubtless played cards with them at Whites or fought with them at Jackson’s. But he found it difficult to believe that someone as measured as Georgina would fall prey to one.
    “Why did you marry him?” he asked, unable to stop himself from voicing the question aloud. “Why put yourself in the hands of a man like that? You grew up following the drum. Surely your father or the other women following their regiment could have warned you.”
    Georgina’s laugh was bitter. “Yes, you would think that a girl raised with the army as I was would have noticed the signs, wouldn’t you? But you’d be wrong.
    “Robert was a master at hiding the truth of his real nature from everyone,” she went on. “Except of course the men he killed in battle. It was there that he was able to truly release whatever monster lurked beneath his mask of civility. When he was