Gillian shook her head. “Not Noble.”

“Noble, my lady. I saw him with my own eyes, swooned with bloodlust, lying in a pool of his wife’s blood, the pistol that killed her still clutched in his hand.”

Gillian shook away the terrible picture Carlisle so vividly painted. “Not…Noble?” she whispered. “Perhaps…perhaps he just happened upon the scene and was struck down by…or perhaps he was defending her and accidentally…my lord, Noble would never hurt someone weaker than he, never!”

“I can assure you that I speak the truth, Lady Weston. I saw the marks, you see. I saw the marks that fiend had left upon her body—bruises from beatings, stripes on her back where he had taken a lash to her, and…and worse. I won’t be specific about the other things he did to my fair Elizabeth, other than to say that they were the most unnatural of sexual practices.” The earl’s face darkened as he was again swept up by the remorse and helplessness he had felt that night. “If I had been a peer then, I might have had a chance to bring him to justice, but as it was, I could do nothing. Your husband escaped unpunished for that heinous crime.”

Gillian looked at two children running along the graveled footpath, a small terrier at their heels, barking excitedly as he chased the pair. They were so young, so innocent, so new and untouched and clean. Was she just as young and innocent as they were? Had she allowed her feelings for Noble to override her common sense? Was she being blind, not seeing him for what he really was?

Random images of him came to mind: Noble grinning at her the night he was shot, Noble ruffling Nick’s hair as the two walked together toward the garden at Nethercote, the exasperated patience in the wry twist to his lips when he saw her blue hands, the love shining out of his beautiful silver eyes when they joined together as one.

“No.” She turned back to Carlisle. “No, my lord, you are wrong.”

“I saw him with the pistol! I had seen the marks—”

“Then they are from another, not Noble. If he had a pistol in his hand, there must be an explanation for it. An explanation other than the one you offer.”

Carlisle shook his head. “You are allowing affection to blind you to the truth, my dear. Your husband is a consummate liar, a concealer of secrets of the most heinous sort, a vicious, cruel man who will think nothing of destroying you as he destroyed my Elizabeth. You are in danger, Lady Weston, grave danger, and I wish to help you before it is too late.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I could not…I could not help Elizabeth, but I will not fail you.”

“Secrets and lies,” Gillian said softly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Secrets and lies. That’s what Palm…a gentleman told me.” She looked up into the earl’s face. “Secrets begetting lies. But what is the secret that started the lies?”