Page 95 of Trouble

Emily’s mind stalled. Captain Edwards had spoken to Charles? Had banished him from thehouse? She suddenly recalled the note that he had given to her, all those weeks ago, addressed to Captain Edwards – foolish as it was, she’d not considered since what might have been inside.

‘Yourgovernessand I are in fact acquainted, Captain,’ said Charles. Emily noticed that he seemed somewhat cowed in Captain Edwards’s presence, in a way he had never been with her. ‘You cannot begrudge her a private conversation with a friend, can you?’

‘A friend?’ Captain Edwards said, uncertainty creeping into his tone.

‘No,’ Emily said, unable to bear this a moment longer. ‘We are not friends.’

‘Miss Laurence?’ Charles said. Emily wished she could have enjoyed seeing him falter, genuinely wrong-footed by the turn things were taking, but she was too busy ruining her own life to do so.

‘He has come here to blackmail me,’ Emily said, addressing Captain Edwards, who was watching her with acute focus.

‘To blackmail you,’ Captain Edwards repeated slowly.

‘Yes. I wanted to talk to you first, I came here to tell you .?.?. but that doesn’t matter now.’ She turned to Charles. ‘Charles. Mr—Mr Pine. If you could just give us a moment to speak privately.’

‘Oh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,’ said Charles. He seemed to believe that he was taking charge again. ‘I am more than happy to relay our agreement to the captain; I can ensure that no details are left out.’

Captain Edwards looked lost. ‘What .?.?.agreementcould possibly exist between you?’

‘I can explain,’ Emily said, knowing she sounded panicked – but Captain Edwards shook his head.

‘This man is a villain and a reprobate. He was dismissed from the Royal Navy when I reported his appalling conduct – abject cruelty, inflicting suffering on others for his own amusement. He has been attempting to extort money from me for months, threatening to reveal information about my personal life and my dealings in the navy, and requesting that I buy his silence. While I am very interested in the prospect of never having to hear him speak again, I wasnotinterested in purchasing what he was selling. I have never believed him truly in possession of any information at all.’ Emily’s heart was racing. If he knew Charles Pine to be a villain, he was only about to receive the disappointment of a lifetime when he realised that Emily was one, too. ‘If he isblackmailingyou, Miss Laurence, then I feel certain that he is the only one at fault here.’

Emily took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Charles cut in.

‘The game is up, I’m afraid, Miss Laurence.’ He turned to the captain. ‘The truth is that Emily here came to me almost the moment she started in your employ, Captain, looking for somebody to sell your secrets to. I was only too happy to oblige.’

‘That’s not how it happened,’ Emily said desperately. ‘I was .?.?. I was only looking to—’

‘We have been meeting in the Rose and Crown every fortnight to discuss your exploits, your transgressions, your private life,’ Charles said. ‘You can ask around, if you’d like. There are plenty ofwitnesseswho would attest to that fact. Emily here was just about to rummage around in your correspondence and bring me some proof.’

Captain Edwards’s face didn’t fall, but it looked as if the last of his hope had drained away, leaving him devoid of any feeling at all.

‘Miss Laurence,’ he said stiffly. ‘Is this true?’

‘I have been meeting him,’ Emily said, bitter with hatred for both herself and Charles goddamned Pine. ‘I did .?.?. I did make an .?.?. agreement with him. But I haven’t told him anything of substance, I swear. I met him before I got to know you, and I thought you would be somebody else entirely, and then by the time Ididknow you it was far too late. It was .?.?. I needed money, and I .?.?. I did it for Amy.’

Shock passed over his face like a wave, and then was gone. He turned to Charles.

‘Get off my land, Mr Pine, and away from my house, and my family, and my staff, or I will call for the constable.’

‘Oh,pleasedo call for the constable,’ Charles said, staying where he was. ‘Then we can discuss the crimes your homely governess hasn’t shared with you. There is no civilising gutter scum, Captain, and the sooner you realise that—’

Captain Edwards stepped neatly forwards and punched him in the face. Emily had just been considering doing the same thing, and was so surprised to see the captain’s fist connect instead that for a moment she almost believed she had done it herself.

Charles staggered backwards towards his horse, hands groping for nothing, blood pouring from his nose in a steady stream.

‘I thought I had made myself clear,’ the captain said, his words like thunder. ‘Remove yourself from my land or I will be obliged to remove you myself.’

‘She’s a liar and a thief,’ Charles said, spluttering scarlet through his fingers, ‘and she’s made a fool of you,Captain. If you have any sense, you’ll see to it that she’s hanged.’

Captain Edwards and Emily both moved towards him, but he was already scrambling inelegantly on to his horse. Emily stood with balled fists and a heart full of venom and watched as Charles rode away, putting off the moment she had to look at Captain Edwards again.

When she did, he was staring right at her, his jaw set and his eyes tight. He might have looked almost neutral to somebody who didn’t know him.

All the venom in Emily’s heart drained away.

‘Come with me,’ she said quickly, before he could speak.