The words cut straight into her heart. Madeline found it hard to swallow for the tightness in her throat. It seemed small consolation that Rayne compressed his lips as if regretting his biting reply.
After a moment, he changed the subject, using a softer tone. “So what is your plan, Madeline? You say you are waiting here for Gerard to collect his funds.”
“Yes. According to his letter, he plans to arrive today at one o’clock.”
“An hour from now.”
“Yes,” she answered, keenly aware of how slowly the hours had crawled by.
“You don’t know where Gerard might be at the moment?”
“I haven’t a clue. I went to Claude Dubonet’s cottage last evening and again this morning, but no one was at home. And the innkeep does not know where Claude has gone, or where Gerard is hiding.”
A long silence ensued. Madeline held her tongue, waiting for Rayne’
s next questions, yet she was beginning to feel sick inside at his damning allegations. Even though his face remained stark and expressionless, she suspected he didn’t fully believe her, that his angry suspicions were still simmering.
With his former profession making him justifiably mistrustful, Rayne was predisposed to think the worst of her, especially when the evidence pointed to her guilt. But still it greatly upset her that he considered her capable of such nefarious deeds—being in league with her brother’s theft, and worse, betraying her holy vows by taking a lover. Her head might understand his logic but her heart did not.
“So you intend to confront Gerard when he arrives,” Rayne continued.
“Yes.”
“What if he is right—that Ackerby’s henchmen are on his trail? You realize you could be putting yourself in danger.”
Dully, Madeline glanced down at her reticule. “I have my pistol with me.”
“What good will a single shot do against determined thugs?”
“I will make do somehow.”
Rayne muttered a low oath. “A foolish tactic if I have ever heard one. You should not even be here.”
“What choice did I have?” she asked. “Gerard is my brother. I could not simply abandon him.”
“You could have come to me,” Rayne reminded her rather fiercely.
“I thought I could handle the situation on my own. Besides, I wasn’t sure you would see Gerard’s side of the matter.”
“What side is that? That he is not only a thief but a reckless idiot as well?”
Madeline bit her lip, although Rayne’s charges were nothing more than she had made herself. “Until now Gerard has never violated the law, but he is in love, Rayne. Sometimes love makes people do idiotic things.”
“And treacherous things as well.”
She opened her mouth to speak but paused because her throat suddenly hurt with the need to cry. To her great shame, hot tears burned at the back of her eyes.
Not wanting Rayne to see, she turned and moved blindly to the window.
Behind her, he observed, “If you are watching for your brother, you shouldn’t bother. He is unlikely to enter by the front door.”
“I know,” Madeline murmured. “I asked the innkeep to inform me when Gerard arrives.”
“And you trust him to oblige?”
Unwillingly, she glanced over her shoulder at Rayne. “I paid him a generous sum.”
“Yet he may double-cross you and warn Gerard.”