I Thee Wed by Amanda Quick Read Free Book Online Page B

herself. If Edison intended to turn her over to the authorities, she was already dead.
    She looked at him over her shoulder. His enigmatic eyes told her very little. But when she saw his gaze go briefly to the bedwarmer, she knew that he understood exactly what had happened.
    This was a man who was not overly concerned with fine points of law, she told herself. He climbed through windows, hid in wardrobes, and made deals of a less than scrupulous sort with ladies such as herself.
    “Yes,” she said. “We could certainly do with some assistance, Mr. Stokes. Mr. Crane, here, attempted to force himself on Polly. I hit him with the bedwarmer, as you can see. It appears that I struck him a bit too hard.”
    Polly moaned. “She killed him.”
    Edison ignored her. “Are you certain that he’s dead?”
    Polly whimpered. “He collapsed real sudden like, sir.”
    “He does feel quite limp,” Emma agreed.
    “Let’s make certain of our facts before we do anything so rash as to toss him down a flight of stairs,” Edison said. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it.”
    He closed the door behind him. Then he crossed the small room to where Crane lay on the floor. He went down on one knee and pressed two fingers to Crane’s pale throat.
    “A strong pulse.” Edison looked at Emma. “A very hard head, no doubt. He will live.”
    “He will?” Emma dropped Crane’s ankles. “Are you certain?”
    “Quite certain.”
    “Oh, ma’am.” Hope leaped in Polly’s face. “We are saved.” The hope vanished again in the next instant. “But when he comes to his senses, he’ll surely complain to the authorities. He’ll say you attacked him with that bedwarmer, Miss Greyson.”
    “No one,” Edison said calmly, “least of all Chilton Crane, will be complaining to the authorities. I thinkboth of you have done enough. You must be quite exhausted after all your efforts. Allow me to tidy up in here.”
    Emma blinked. “How do you intend to do that, sir?”
    “I’ve always found that the simplest stories work the best, especially when one is dealing with creatures who possess simple minds.”
    “I don’t understand,” Emma said. “What will you do?”
    Edison bent down, grasped Crane’s inert body, and hoisted him over one shoulder with astonishing ease.
    “I shall take him to his bedchamber,” he said. “When he awakens, I will tell him that he suffered an accident. In my experience, people who have been knocked unconscious, however briefly, rarely recall the precise events leading up to the event. He’ll be obliged to believe whatever I tell him.”
    Emma pursed her lips. “He did not see me before I struck him, but he will surely remember that he dragged Polly in here and that he was attempting to abuse her when he had his, uh, accident. He may very well know that my chamber is on this floor. Mayhap he will guess that I—”
    “All will be well,” Edison said quietly. “Leave this to me. The only thing you and Polly must do now is keep silent about what went on here in this closet.”
    Polly shuddered. “I won’t say a word. I’d be afraid of what my Jack might do to Mr. Crane if he found out what almost happened here.”
    “Rest assured, I won’t discuss the matter,” Emma said crisply. She frowned at the sight of Crane’s body draped across Edison’s shoulder. “But getting him downstairs to his own bedchamber will not be easy. Someone will surely notice you on the stairs.”
    Edison looked unconcerned. “I shall use, the back stairs.”
    A profound sense of relief swept through Emma. “I must say, this is really very decent of you, Mr. Stokes.”
    He raised his brows and gave her a disturbingly thoughtful look. “Yes, it is, isn’t it?”

C HAPTER S IX
    C hilton Crane moaned weakly on the bed. “My head.”
    Edison turned away from the window where he had been keeping an impatient vigil. He drew his watch out of his pocket, opened the gold case, and glanced at the time.
    “I do not think you were