She mumbled something unintelligible between sobs. It was then that he looked down.

It was his turn to pale. It felt as if every drop of blood suddenly rushed out of his body. Her gown was covered in blood.

“My God, you’re bleeding!”

He immediately reached for her, searching for signs of trauma, but she shook him off. “N-not mine.”

He relaxed—infinitesimally. Leading her to the edge of his bed, he forced her to sit and went to the sideboard to pour her a drink of whisky to calm her. A memory jarred in his head, but he pushed it aside for later.

“Here,” he said, holding the cup out to her.

She accepted it without argument and took a big gulp before putting it aside with the choking cough of someone not accustomed to the harsh drink.

The next few minutes while he waited patiently for her to tell him what had happened were some of the hardest of his life. And when the story did emerge, in choked sobs and heaving sighs, he felt a rage unlike anything he’d ever known take hold.

That bastard had tried to hurt her. If Phillip Gifford wasn’t dead already, he was about to be.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said finally.

“You did the right thing. I want you to stay here. I will take care of everything.”

“But—”

He stopped her. “Let me handle this, Joan. I need to handle it.”

“Please, Alex. No one can find out. I don’t want anyone to know!”

He could see her rising panic and understood, but if that bastard was still alive, Alex was going to see him pay. “He needs to be punished, sweetheart,” he said gently, trying to calm her down. “The king will have his ball—” He stopped. “The king will see justice served.”

“Will he?” she demanded frantically. “Or will there just be more questions? Even if he is alive . . .” It was clear she didn’t think that the case. She turned to him earnestly. “Please, Alex, I can’t talk about it. Don’t make me talk about it. I’m begging you.”

Alex’s mouth fell in a flat line. He couldn’t deny her anything when she was like this, but he wasn’t happy about it. He nodded. “I will do as you ask, but in return you are going to tell me everything that you just left out.”

If possible, her face paled even more. Their eyes held. She didn’t try to feign ignorance—they both knew she’d been holding something back in her retelling.

After a long pause, she nodded.

“I will be back as soon as I am able. Lock the door and wait for me here.” He noticed her glance at the tub of water. “You can use it if you wish. You’ll find soap and a drying cloth and whatever else you might need in the trunk.”