Deadly Beloved by Alanna Knight

been afraid?"
    "Of course she was afraid, Stepfather. Of her husband's brutal ill-humour."
    Faro shook his head. "A storm in a teacup, lad. Hardly an uncommon occurrence., even in the most civilised of families. Situations regarding ruined food and the feeling that the wife is totally to blame for the servants' shortcomings. Happens all the time, lad. The only difference was that Kellar didn't bother to restrain his wrath until the guests were gone."
    "They quarrelled, Stepfather. In front of all of us."
    "Not they — he quarrelled. The high words all came from Kellar. His wife uttered a few tearful protests. No, lad, quarrel is definitely a misnomer. Besides, all married couples bicker over domestic details."
    Vince regarded him steadily. "Do they indeed? Then that makes me all the more eager to embrace permanent bachelordom."
    Faro laughed. "If you do, then you will be throwing away an extremely valuable parcel unopened simply because the wrapping is slightly torn. You will never know the good things inside."
    "From what Mabel Kellar told me ... " Vince began darkly.
    "My dear lad, I beg you not to read too much into the revelations of an aggrieved wife. They do tend to exaggerate."
    How to tactfully point out to his young stepson his invidious position — that women, especially childless women of a certain age and social standing, were too often bored with a busy husband's neglect and discreetly sought male attention elsewhere. And what better opportunity for a gentle romance than a husband's handsome young assistant brought into their orbit? He looked at his stepson with compassion. This young and vulnerable lad still walking the cloudy dreams of chivalry, more than ready to be flattered by an older woman's interest, eager to lend a sympathetic ear and — perhaps a little too obviously — wear his heart on his sleeve.
    Vince looked uncomfortable and growled. "You know me too well, don't you."
    "Almost as well as I know married couples." Faro laughed. "An unholy row which sounds like pistols at fifteen paces to the embarrassed onlookers would be dismissed by the couple themselves as a harmless tiff, an almost everyday event which ends in a tearful reconciliation on the wife's part, with both firmly believing they have the victory. Such matters as a housekeeper's incompetence, lad, don't usually lead to murder."
    "If the shoe had been on the other foot, however ..."
    "Mrs Kellar didn't strike me as a woman of such pride that she would want to commit murder because she had been made to look an idiot before their guests."
    "You forget one thing, Stepfather. She adores — adored him." Vince closed his eyes tightly as if to shut off the realisation that he would never see her again. "Incredible as it may seem and despite his abominable treatment, she would always go back for more. God alone knows why. And she would never look at another man." Vince sighed heavily and added dramatically. "I would have taken her away, you know, Stepfather. Protected her, worshipped her."
    "Then you would have been the world's greatest idiot," said Faro furiously, thumping the table. "Marriage with a woman more than twice your age."
    "I wasn't talking of marriage," said Vince softly. "Besides, age doesn't matter."
    "Not at twenty and forty, but what about in ten years', twenty years' time. When you are my age, and she is sixty. A mistress of sixty." Faro laughed harshly. "Chivalry is all very well. Be a knight in shining armour in theory but, I beg you, don't make me angry by talking absolute nonsense, lad."
    There was a moment's silence then Vince said contemptuously, "Kellar is just the kind of man to marry for money, knowing she was the Mad Bart's heiress."
    "So that was the reason."
    "I know exactly what you're thinking," was the defensive reply. "Mabel isn't in the least pretty. But once you get to know her, you forget all about looks. She has such a divine nature, such a delicious sense of humour. So wise and warm-hearted. So different