Reese's Bride by Kat Martin

the earl. Did Edmund care nothing for the boy?
    “Go on,” he simply said.
    “Along with being an earl and wealthy in the extreme, Holloway led a secret life. After the first few years of his marriage, he began seeking the company of prostitutes. He had a reputation for cruelty, especially when he drank. The women didn’t like him and he was banned from several places.”
    Something stirred inside him. What sort of life had Elizabeth led? How badly had Edmund treated her? Reese warned himself not to feel pity.
    “What about Elizabeth? Were you able to discover anything about her relationship with Aldridge?”
    “From what I learned, the earl and his wife did not get along. Over the years, his drinking became worse and worse. Their fights were loud and vocal. The servants said Lady Aldridge often argued with her husband about the boy.”
    He didn’t like where this was headed. “What else?”
    “Not much. Just that when Mason and Frances moved into the house three years ago, things got markedly worse. Edmund set himself against his wife and now he had the support of his brother and sister-in-law. Life must have been hell for Lady Aldridge.”
    Reese glanced over at his brother, whose jaw looked hard. No matter what Elizabeth had done, neither of them believed in treating a woman the way Aldridge had treated Elizabeth.
    For the first time, Royal entered the conversation. “You’re aware Lady Aldridge believes Mason and Frances were drugging her in an effort to gain control of the boy and his fortune.”
    “Lord Reese told me.”
    “Is there a way we might be able to prove it?” Royal asked.
    Morgan’s long fingers came up to rub his chin. “I can do a little more digging. Maybe one of the servants knows something, but the odds aren’t good. I doubt anyone but the Holloways knows how it was being done and they sure as hell aren’t talking.”
    “Give it a try,” Reese said, rising from behind his desk. “The boy must be protected. If we can prove the Holloways were drugging Jared’s mother, there’s no way they could ever get custody.”
    Morgan came to his feet, as well. “I’ll give it a try, my lord. Maybe something will turn up.”
    Morgan left the study and Reese sat back down across from Royal.
    “What a coil,” Reese grumbled, running a hand through his wavy black hair.
    “Lily likes her,” Royal said.
    Reese just grunted. “Your wife is the sort who brings home stray animals. Is there anyone she doesn’t like?”
    Royal laughed. “Point taken.”
    Reese managed a smile, but it gradually slipped away. “The boy…Jared. He had a real bastard for a father. I wonder if he was mistreated.”
    Royal leaned back in his chair. “Hard to say. He seems a nice enough lad, awfully quiet though. I have a feeling he’s better off with his father gone.”
    And so was Elizabeth. Reese wished it didn’t bother him to think of all the years she had been forced to live with the drunken earl.
    Then again, as his father always said, “Lie down with dogs and you will get up with fleas.” Elizabeth’s drive for wealth and position was to blame for the life she had suffered.
    The man she had married had been of her own choosing.

Nine
    D inner that night was strained. Now that the duke and duchess were returned to Bransford Castle, only Elizabeth, Reese and Lady Tavistock dined at the supper table.
    The dowager had excused herself early, saying she suffered a bit of indigestion, and brawny young Corporal Daniels had escorted her upstairs. Reese suggested a glass of sherry in the drawing room, but thinking what had occurred the last time they had been alone together, Elizabeth had declined.
    Now she was upstairs in her bedroom, the household mostly retired for the night, and she discovered she could not sleep.
    Instead, she sat reading before the fire, only a single lamp burning to light the pages. An autumn storm had begun to build and she could hear the wind whistling through the leafless branches of the