"She is making me crazy!" Madilyn shouted loudly. "And angry and annoyed and ready to kill her!"

"Who?" Thomas asked as he looked up from the piano. "Florence?"

She came to sit next to him, her arm touching his. "No, Eleanor. I wish it was only Florence," she added with a sigh.

The lady had arrived on their doorsteps a few weeks ago, asking for shelter. She had run away from her family, saying they want to marry her off to an evil man. Though Madilyn and Adelaide doubted the man was truly evil, Thomas believed it. Lord and lady Hayes had the tendency of marrying their children off to bad men.

In their defence, they did not know of the shady business of the two men. But everything was revealed to them when the lord of Colston – who Madilyn was supposed to marry – was caught. One would think that after those two bad marriages, the couple would have learned. But Thomas was not certain they had.

Lord Edgar and lady Martha were not the kindest people, and certainly not the best parents. They might have seen their first two daughters in ruins after their decision, but they might think that now they were doing the right thing by marrying their twenty year old daughter off to someone else completely.

Unfortunately, Eleanor did not feel like doing that, despite her strict education and her being the favourite daughter of the lord and lady of Woodward. She claims to have seen the destruction on her sisters and did not want the same to happen to her. Instead she wanted to wait until she had found true love so that she could be happy like Madilyn.

Madilyn and Adelaide did not share that dream with her, for it meant the lady must stay at their house.

The two sisters did not have a good relationship with their youngest, for she had always been the favourite of their parents. Thus Madilyn and Adelaide lacked the attention they wanted from their parents, for they only had an eye for Eleanor.

The lord and lady of Woodward had had great hopes for all three their daughters, but it would seem that not even their favourite was able to live up to them.

"I can send her away," Thomas told his wife, but she quickly shook her head.

"I cannot do that. Twould be bad for my conscience," she admitted with an irritated tone in her voice. "She is still my sister, no matter how much I dislike her."

"Is there no other place she can go?" he tried, though he already knew the answer.

Madilyn shook her head. "She does not want to go back to her parents, nor does she have any friends she can stay with. And I could not send her out into the streets. The poor thing would not last a week."

Tis true that the Hayes' were very rich and would not know what to do without their wealth. Thomas could indeed understand that Eleanor would not last long when she did not have beautiful dressed, nicely donned hair or decent food at a steady table. Yet he would not feel so guilty to throw her out. But then he could not do that to his wife, who would hate him for that. And he had seen her hate that. He did not want that again.

"Then I fear we will have to learn to live with her," Thomas admitted while he took Madilyn's hands in his. "And all the noise she brings, as well as Adelaide and our children."

Madilyn chuckled. "O how that is your only problem, I do not understand."

"It bothers me immeasurably," he told her. "I cannot work in silence in the study, for the children storm in, afraid of the aunt they do not know. And when that is not their reason, than it is Adelaide who is playing with them or the nanny who wants them to learn."

"They are afraid of Eleanor?" Madilyn asked surprised.

Thomas bit his lip. "I promised I would not tell you," he admitted.

"Why are they afraid?" she asked, ignoring his statement.

He turned to her and caressed her cheek. "They do not know her. They had never even heard of their aunt Eleanor. Of course they are frightened by the sudden lady in their midst. And let us be honest, she is not the kindest woman."

Madilyn sighed loudly as she shook her head. "You would think my parents taught her well, but if I see how she behaves, I truly wonder if she is truly my sister. The twelve year old Eleanor I remember, was a very different woman. Silent and sweet – too sweet – and very self-conscience. But this woman, she is the complete opposite. Rude and loud, and easily angry. I saw her shouting at Gwendolyn and Hazel the other day, because they were playing the piano while she wanted to sleep. It was noon! Who wishes to sleep at noon?!"

"Darling, calm down," Thomas told his wife. "You agitate yourself too much about her. Let her be. And hopefully, the children will bore her so much, she wishes to leave again. And then we will let her go."

"Gladly," Madilyn added.

Thomas chuckled and gave her a kiss on her temple. "Play something for me," he ordered her. Hopefully it would calm her down like it often did, though she did not look calm enough to concentrate on pressing the keys.

She shook her head. "I am not in the mood."

He leaned his forehead against her temple, then whispered: "mayhap you are in the mood for making another baby?"

A grin appeared on her face, and not much later, they were in their locked bedchamber, their clothing on the floor and their bodies entangled with each other.

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Making love was not truly relaxing, but it was calming for Thomas' mind. The amazing act of only thinking of his wife – her gorgeous eyes, her stunning lips, her beautiful hair, her sweet laughter, her heavenly body and everything else that made her who she was – was something truly magical they both enjoyed whenever they could.

One could say Eleanor was a blessing when it came to that. To calm down Madilyn, he would often drag her into the bed. But the young Hayes was also a sort of nanny – as was Adelaide – for when they were too busy "with work".

And of course, when something troubled Madilyn and she could forget it in the amazing act of making love to her husband, she allowed Thomas to be more adventurous and daring. But the details he would keep to himself. Those were his treasure, and his alone.

He had not wanted to let go of his wife, but he had known he had to. There was work he still had to do, and finally he could do the work he wanted to do. Arthur was still out there, and he must be caught.

Not for the first time, he had sent a letter to Andrew. Only this time, he used a fact that only the family knew about – Victoria's illness might kill her during childbirth. Somehow, their banished brother knew of that and shared his knowledge with them.

Also the letter was not send, meaning Arthur had been inside the house to lay on Andrew's desk. Thomas and Andrew were not certain Victoria realized that, but they preferred the keep the already frightened lady in the dark. She was going through enough already – as was Andrew – so it was better not to share too much with her.

This newest act of Arthur was worrying. For years no one had heard of the man, and now he suddenly showed up with a fearful letter. It did not mean anything good, Thomas was certain. But he did not know what it did mean. And that was another fearful thing.

Hopefully he would find it all out soon, as he finally could work on his bloody brother's deeds. He opened the door to his study and closed it behind him, his mind still at his previous thoughts.

But then he stiffened, immediately shot back to reality. A man was in his study – a tall man with brown hair. He had his back to Thomas, but his broad shoulders and muscled arms betrayed who he was. He continued taking papers off Thomas' desk and putting them in a bowl that was filled with other papers and fire.

Thomas should do something, he knew that. But he was too startled to move – or even say anything. He just watched the man take another paper and burn it. And then he turned around.

Green eyes met his, and though there was no doubt as to who the man was, Thomas stilled gasped at the sight of his brother.

"Thomas," Arthur said too happily. "I did not expect you to be back so soon. How is your wife? Still in bed?"

Thomas ignored the man's words and took a step closer to him. "What are you doing here, Arthur?"

"No need to try to appear so threatening, brother. I merely-"

"I am not your brother," Thomas interrupted. "Not after everything you have done."

Arthur smiled and sighed loudly. "If only you could prove that."

"I will," Thomas said confidently. "Soon, I will prove it."

"With what papers?" the mean man asked as he took another paper of Thomas' desk and laid it in the burning bowl. Thomas gasped, finally truly realizing what Arthur was doing. All the evidence he had gathered about his older brother was being burnt until there was nothing left but ash and dust.

With quick steps, he walked to his desk and took as many papers as he could, but Arthur merely laughed – a loud, unpleasant sound that send shivers up his arms.

"Do not even bother, Thomas," he said once he was finished producing the frightening sound. "I started with the most important documents. They are at the bottom of this fire, turned into nothing but black pieces of nothing. Gone, like these walls used to be."

The memory of the fire Arthur had started in Lindenberg in an attempt to burn all the evidence he had gathered about his brother and lord Colston hurt Thomas. His wife had been in the house, as had Gwendolyn and Hazel – little babies at the time. Arthur could have destroyed much more than only the house and some papers, and for that he could never forgive his banished brother.

"But now that I am here," Arthur said calmly as he took a seat on the coach Madilyn occupied when she was in his study, "we can have a talk. I have heard that my faithful wife is residing in your house. I believe she is within these wall at this moment, is she not?"

Thomas tilted his head, hoping he looked intimidating. But he was quite certain he was not, for he was too frightened to feel tough.

"Adelaide made her choice," Thomas said, "and I stand behind it. She is the sister of my wife and I shall protect her like I protect my entire family."

"She is also the wife of your brother," Arthur reminded him. "Would you even protect her from him?"

"Especially from him. And honestly, Arthur, I do not understand why you did what you did. You had her trust, for she had learned to be a faithful wife."

"Faithful?" Arthur asked. "Trust? That wench was writing to her sister."

"She could argue you were contacting your siblings too."

"Only I forbade her to do so. She never did to me."

"Because she feared you."

A smile appeared on Arthur's lips again. "And fear is a wonderful thing, is it not. Especially when it is not me feeling it."

"Fear?" Thomas asked surprised. "Is that what you want? I thought you meant to drive us away from each other – away from our siblings, away from our wives and husband, away from our children."

"Fear is only the beginning, my brother. Tis the fear that will drive them all away from you. Just look at Andrew. How long do you think Victoria will stay with him? And I am speaking of the odd chance she survives, of course."

"You have no right whatsoever to do such evil things to us!"

"If you call these evil things, than you must speak to Mother. She threw an eighteen year old boy out of her house. That is true evil."

"You deserved it," Thomas argued.

"I was eighteen! They did not know who or what I was going to become!"

"But they made the right choice, seeing the man you have become. I am glad I do not have to call you my brother anymore."

"Then mayhap I should wait with my plans," Arthur told him with slit eyes. "Mayhap I should wait until your oldest are eighteen. Mayhap then you will understand how lonely and powerful it was for me."

"Do you want my pity now?" Thomas asked with a frown. "Do you want me to tell you that Mother and Father made the wrong choice of banishing you? I believe they did not. If you wanted to things to be different, then that was a choice you must have made when you still had the chance to do so. Being banished is a consequence you must live with."

"And I am," Arthur said while he stood up. "Just not in the way you want me to."

Suddenly the door opened and Madilyn entered the study, smiling. But the smile quickly disappeared as she noticed two eyes too many on her. Before she could say anything, Arthur said: "I believe this is my time to leave. Thomas," he said, turning to his brother and bowing, "until we meet again."

While Madilyn watched him with open mouth, Arthur made his way out the door, casually walking like it was normal he was here. With her mouth still open, Madilyn turned to her husband. Thomas fell in his chair with a sigh.

"I believe," he told Madilyn, "that it is time to go back to London. Arthur will strike again soon, and I do not want my family to go through that alone."