Chapter Twenty-Four

Lord Geoffrey rode out to Serena’s lakeside retreat arriving about midnight. He waited for her and Adonis to come down the path. After some time, he looked at his watch in the moonlight and saw that at least an hour had passed. He walked partway up the path holding the horse’s reins until the house was in view.

He thought it strange when he saw no lights. He surmised that Henry might have called upon her to serve as his hostess and she’d spent the night at the manor house. Or she might be unwell and had gone to sleep foregoing her nightly swim.

He walked his village horse to the stall and noted Sheba wasn’t there. He tethered the animal and headed to the front door.

Locked. Odd again. Why wasn’t Adonis barking? He remembered the little-used back door, walked around to it and found it unlatched.

Geoffrey groped around. The full moon glowed through a windowpane, revealed a table and a taper. He knocked on the door to roust Emma, so he might go inside and surprise Serena when she returned.

No answer.

He knocked louder.

Emma did not come. No dog barked.

After lighting the candle, he cracked the door and peeked inside to see the bed made, the room empty. He ascended the steps to find an empty studio and Serena’s bedroom unoccupied.

The easel, on which his portrait always rested, held no canvas.

What the hell? Something was awry. But what?

All within him wanted to pound on the doors of Henry’s manor house and demand to know where Serena was, but that would only cast suspicion on them both.

Geoffrey sat in the chair, clothed in his great coat, and waited for the sun to rise. His patience dwindled as the clock chimed each hour. An eeriness rained over him. When at last the sun dawned, he left, took his horse, and rode to the manor house stables. The groom, John, took the animal from him.

“I search for Lady Serena.” He noticed Sheba in a stall. “She is here?”

“No, your Grace. She left with her maid and Lord LeBran two days ago.”

“Lord LeBran?” His heart quaked. “Where did they go?”

The groom gazed behind him. He turned to see Sir Henry walk toward him.

“Henry. Hello.”

“Geoffrey, what a surprise to see you. Judging from your unshaven face, you’ve visited your wench in the village?”

Geoffrey’s smile accommodated Henry, but he sensed a cat and mouse game once again.

“Join me inside and breakfast with me. You’ve come a long way and must be hungry.”

“Coffee would do me fine.”

They walked to the manor house and into the breakfast room. Henry helped himself to sausages and eggs. A servant poured coffee into Geoffrey’s cup.

“Is Lady Serena here with you?” he asked, in an attempt at nonchalance. “I saw her horse in your stable.”

“No. She’s gone.”

“Gone?” He arched a brow.

“I might as well be truthful with you,” Henry stated. “She went to her betrothed’s estate. She will stay with his mother and sister prior to her marriage to Lord Leland LeBran in three weeks.”

A barb pierced Geoffrey’s heart. His fists clenched. He fought the urge to bash them against Henry’s smug face, which expressed his perverse pleasure.

“She left no word?” Blood pounded in his head like an anvil hammer.

“Serena can be a fickle woman, Geoffrey. As you know, she has a certain allure. She toys with men. You are a noted knave and it appealed to her vanity to use you. No harm came from it. She has wanted to marry LeBran for a long time, but he did not seem amenable. I do believe she used you as a ploy to make him jealous. It worked. He proposed. She accepted. I approved.”

He couldn’t believe the words Henry had spoken.

“Geoffrey, she played you for a fool. Forget your misfortune and go back to your wench in the village.”

He wanted to wipe the smirk off Henry’s face with a quick blow to the jaw. Sir Henry stuffed a sausage into his mouth. “Serena and her maid are at his Portsmouth estate in preparation for a salubrious marriage. I have never seen her happier.”

A second arrow ripped Geoffrey’s heart. Had she truly played him for a fool? If she could love that cold-hearted prick, LeBran, then she wasn’t a woman he could trust. Had he misplaced his affections?

“I am surprised he would be her choice, but I too, wish her happiness. Did she finish my portrait, do you know?” He needed time to think, and not betray his inner emotions to the arctic Henry.

“I am sorry, but she burned it and ordered the puppy drowned. She said it was a reminder of her foolishness. John, the groom, has taken care of it. Serena wished to start her new and proper life as the wife of an important man with a clear conscience. Henry wiped the residue of eggs from his plate with a slice of bread and popped it into his mouth. “I am thrilled at the prospects.”

It did not escape Geoffrey that Henry smirked and chortled his delight even as he tortured him.

Not little Adonis. He couldn’t release his breath. His chest threatened to burst. How could this be? Serena never acted in any way that revealed she possessed such cruelty. He remembered her words. This is a living present and I will cherish him as I treasure you. Diamonds could not compare to a gift like this.

“I am sure she told you about her scars, did she not? She is a flawed and damaged woman, her prospects not great, but LeBran agreed to overlook them, as any true gentleman intrigued with a well-dowered temptress would do. I do believe he indicated it would not matter because he would keep Serena on her back until she produced a child for him.”

Geoffrey silently screamed to the angels. Hear my anguish. Give me control so I will not kill this heartless bastard.

He arose and walked toward Henry, leaned in and towered over the chair where he sat. The veins in Geoffrey’s neck corded, his knuckles white where he squeezed the arms of the chair.

“That is a terrible thing to say about your sister, Henry. You are despicable. We are no longer friends. I leave today and never wish to see you again. If we meet in public, give me no notice. I have been known to fight a duel over lesser things. I, for one, thought you loved Serena.”

“In my own way, I do care for her, Geoffrey. This is an important marriage to the family. It will make us all powerful—Serena, LeBran, and me. You realize in our culture, marriages as such are arranged between willing partners. Believe me, Geoffrey, Serena was willing.”

“So you say. I suppose I have no reason to doubt your word.”

Geoffrey didn’t want to hear Henry’s reply. He went to the stables, mounted his horse, cantered to the village and returned the horse. He headed for the village pub.

“A pitcher of ale,” he ordered. “Make it two pitchers. I have much to wash from my memory.”

Geoffrey gulped down a tankard. Serena once told him she would never leave Sheba behind, but she had. As he drank the brew, he recalled just before he rode out of the stable, Sheba whinnied, as if wanting to catch his attention, to tell him something he did not know.

Serena spoke kind words about Adonis and yet she ordered the puppy drowned. Feckless, evil woman—he would like to strangle her, and the groom who drowned the puppy.

He imbibed more, but the ale refused to dull his senses.

The memories hurt as they came and went from his mind. He remembered Serena had once stated, I will bring you to your knees one day.

True, I kneel now. You have done that, dear Serena—and more.

Her words and his weakness to them clawed at his gut like the underbelly of a snake slithering over sharp stones. She surely had played him for a fool.

Geoffrey stumbled to his waiting carriage, got in and laid his head against the padded back cushion. Serena, Serena, Serena, why would you go away with him, but not with me? He knew the answer. He could not, would not, make a commitment to her, and now she was gone from him forever. The agony in his body, eternity’s chill and hell’s fiery heat consumed him. There could be no solace.

Serena had used him to acquire the skills to please her new husband in their wedding bed. Would LeBran believe her deceased husband had taught her so well?

Geoffrey shook the image of a panting Serena, sprawled beneath him, from his mind. She was a monster in her own right with her cunning, clever lies, and her tempting body. She had inflicted scars Geoffrey thought he’d carry until he took his final breath.