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Authors: Shirlee Busbee

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BOOK: Lovers Forever
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Nick had forgotten that, for all her frailness and small size, when Pallas got an idea into her head it would be easier to stop an invading army than to sway her from her path. He tried. At his most winning, he charmed, he teased, he cajoled, but she just smiled at him and patted him fondly on the cheek. “Oh, what nonsense! You know that I am right. It will be much better for you and Tess to have the court to yourselves for the first several weeks of you marriage. You'll have to put up with me and her aunts long enough when we all return.”
Momentarily diverted, he asked, “You don't mind the aunts living with us here at Sherbourne?”
“Of course not! Hetty is a dear—always so cheerful and helpful—and Meg and I have much in common. Until she arrived I never realized how much I missed having a companion nearer my own age. Athena did her best, but . . .” Her smile faded, and her eyes clouded with pain.
Nick's heart sank. “Does it distress you that Athena and I cannot share the same house?”
She shook her head. “I was greatly troubled yesterday evening when she told me what had happened between the two of you. I had always hoped that you two would resolve your differences, but I see that there is too wide a chasm between you.” She gave him a twisted smile. “I think that having Athena live in the Dowager House will probably be best for all of us.” A flicker of hope entered her eyes. “Who knows, without having to rub shoulders with each other all the time, you still might learn to live amiably together!”
Nick didn't want to disillusion her, so he dropped a kiss on her soft, lined cheek and murmured, “Perhaps. One never knows.”
It was apparent that nothing short of telling her of the discovery of the diary was going to sway Pallas from leaving. Having decided to keep the diary a secret until he knew whether or not his suspicions were correct, Nick didn't have much choice but to give in gracefully. He told himself it didn't really matter—they would have had to wait until Avery had left the area anyway, and who knew when that might be. Nick had been considering having an urgent summons sent to Avery from London, demanding the baron's appearance in the City to speed things up a bit, but regretfully he laid that idea away for a while. His grandfather had disappeared nearly seventy years ago, and except for Pallas, all the principals were dead—waiting a short while longer wasn't going to hurt anything. Avery was, no doubt, home for the winter now, and it would be after the first of the year before they'd be able to explore the dungeons anyway, so what did it matter if the others went off to Cornwall? He didn't want to wait, but he forced himself to be patient.
Nick did make one last attempt. Cornering Rockwell in the gaming room, he said with deceptive indifference, “Well, since you are deserting me so cavalierly, I guess I'll have to finish exploring those tunnels at the gatekeeper's cottage by myself. I only hope I don't run into any returning smugglers.. . .”
Rockwell looked alarmed. “Now, Nick,” he began agitatedly, “that ain't such a good idea. Better wait until we come back after the first of the year.” Inspiration struck, and with blue eyes gleaming he said triumphantly, “Besides, you said that we had to desert the place for a while to give them time to decide to use it again. Need to wait—you said so yourself!”
Nick smiled ruefully. Rockwell was right. He had said just that very thing, and while he had been thinking in short terms, he knew that he had lost the argument. He and Tess were being deserted and going to be in solitary possession of Sherbourne Court—whether they liked it or not. Which, the more he thought about it, didn't seem like such a bad idea after all. . . .
He was able to steal a moment alone with Tess and bring her up-to-date. While, like him, she wanted an immediate resolution, she realized that they were just going to have to wait. She certainly wasn't going to let him go poking around in the dungeons of Mandeville Manor by himself!
Having been informed of her grandmother's imminent departure, Athena appeared at the court to say good-bye. She and Nick greeted each other stiffly, but under Pallas's eye they were exceedingly polite to each other. When the plan had first been concocted the previous evening, Athena had been invited to come with the others, but she had declined. She needed, she said, to get more settled in her new home before dashing off for an extended visit to Cornwall.
Pallas had been a little uneasy about leaving Athena behind, particularly considering the situation with Nicolas—who knew what might transpire between them without her around to keep the peace? But she decided that the pair of them would just have to work it out themselves.
And so it was that at precisely one o'clock that afternoon, Nick, Tess, and Athena waved farewell to the others. Watching them disappear down the driveway, the coach and wagon piled high with luggage and half the staff and the Rockwells riding a pair of striking black thoroughbreds, Tess felt a pang. Should they have revealed what they knew? She was suddenly conscious that she and Nick were on their own with a secret that had remained hidden for nearly seventy years and that if something were to happen to them . . .
Athena sailed up to them just then. She felt Nick stiffen at Athena's approach, but keeping her hand firmly on his arm, she said in friendly tones to her sister-in-law, “What upheavals you have been faced with lately! Are you very much vexed by it all?”
Athena smiled. Something in her black eyes, so like Nick's, increased Tess's uneasiness. “Vexed?” Athena asked softly. “Oh, no, my dear, I am not upset at all.” Her smile deepened. “Actually things couldn't have worked out better! Just think, you and I shall be able to get to know each other without everyone else hovering about. It'll be just the two of us. . . . I'm so looking forward to entertaining you at the Dowager House. We shall have
such
a wonderful time together!”
“Can it be,” Nick asked dryly, his eyes watchful, “that you are resigned to living at the Dowager House?”
“Oh, my, yes!” Athena fairly purred. “It really is for the best—I've always liked my privacy, and having an entire house to myself is just so exciting.” She hesitated, looking contrite. Then she said in a rush, “Nick, I hope you'll overlook my outburst last night. I said some things that I shouldn't have, and upon calmer reflection, I'm very sorry for them.” She gave him a winning smile. “Will you forgive me? I really don't want to be at daggers drawn with you and certainly not with your bride! Shall we try to do better? And perhaps, if we work diligently at it while grandmother is gone, we can settle our differences.”
It was a handsome apology, and Nick could do nothing but accept it. He muttered something polite in return and even managed to keep a smile on his face when Tess innocently invited Athena to go riding with them tomorrow afternoon. All smiles, Athena departed a few minutes later. Watching her ride away on the raking chestnut gelding she had arrived on, Nick was suspicious. His eyes narrowed. He didn't trust this sudden about-face of hers. Despite all her avowals of friendship and goodwill, Athena was up to something.
Chapter Twenty-six
D
espite his suspicions, in the days that followed Nick could not fault Athena's behavior—or her warm manner with Tess. She seemed fairly to dote upon Tess, cheerfully pointing out some of her favorite aspects of Tess's new home and inviting her to come visit at the Dowager House. Since the Dowager House was a scant mile down the road, Nick could hardly raise any objections. But those infrequent afternoons when Tess would ride through the extensive woods to spend some time with Athena always made him particularly uneasy. Unable to explain himself, he insisted that Tess take a pair of grooms with her, and they had strict orders from the master that they were never to return to Sherbourne Court without their mistress. Tess thought him silly and teased him, but then he reminded her of the near fatal attack she had suffered and she did not tease him anymore.
Fine weather prevailed into November except for the random stormy day, and for Nick and Tess it was a wondrous time. Though they saw Athena frequently, there were hours and hours of pure magic that they spent by themselves. By the time a month had passed and December was drawing near, Nick had come to the conclusion that his grandmother had been right in departing from Sherbourne. It wasn't precisely a honeymoon, but they had only to please themselves, and please themselves they did. There were long, passion-filled nights as they explored and discovered every facet of each other's bodies, and there were lazy afternoons, weather permitting, spent wandering over the vast lands amassed by earlier earls of Sherbourne. There were intimate dinners for two and happy meals eaten al fresco as they roamed the estate on brisk but pleasant days—or, on inclement days, hours spent in the library before the roaring fire, reading and talking and falling more and more deeply in love with each other with every passing moment.
As news of their marriage spread, there was the occasional local caller. Squire Frampton came to visit and offer congratulations, Dickerson having returned to London. Admiral Brownell and his wife and Lord and Lady Spencer also called briefly, and cards and letters began to trickle in, but beyond that, the newlyweds were left to their own devices, and they were quite happy that it was so.
While he delighted in his bride and fell more fully under her sweet spell every day, Nick could not forget about the terrible secret that might lie waiting to be revealed in the dungeons of Mandeville Manor. He wanted to get in those dungeons so desperately that he even rashly considered slipping away from Tess and doing some reconnoitering on his own, but common sense prevailed—that and the certain knowledge that he would be confronted by a raging violet-eyed virago upon his return. There was the added fact that he seemed unable to be away from her for any length of time. Those occasions when she visited with Athena, he found himself pacing the floor, longing for her return and waiting impatiently for the moment he heard her voice and step in the hall. He was, he admitted, thoroughly besotted and no doubt firmly under the cat's paw, but it bothered him not a whit.
Thoughts of the elusive Mr. Brown also nagged at him, but until the smugglers returned to their haunts at the gatekeeper's cottage there was not much he could do. In his darker moments he feared that they had heard the last of Mr. Brown.
The diary and the dungeons occupied a great deal of both his and Tess's thoughts. They discussed them endlessly, and both became increasingly impatient with the waiting.
One good thing grew out of their semi-isolation—Nick and Athena came to know each other in a way that had not been possible before. To his surprise, Nick found his sister a charming companion. They had seemed to work out a truce that boded well for the future, and seeing the two siblings together, no one would ever have guessed of the deep hostility that had once lain between them. In the beginning, they had been scrupulously polite to one another. But as the days passed, both had become more relaxed in each other's company, and Nick began to see some of the more admirable qualities in his sister that his grandmother had alluded to on several occasions. He actually found himself appreciating Athena's sharp wit and, to his astonishment, enjoying himself—even if a part of him still held warily aloof from her.
The move to the Dowager House appeared to have lessened Athena's bitter resentment, and she seemed to have come to grips with her rancor against him; the fact that she got along so well with his wife made him look at her more kindly and made him more willingly to extend the hand of friendship. She respected their privacy, and while she did not run tame through the house, she did visit with them frequently. It was inevitable that she learn of the diary.
It happened by accident. One rainy Monday afternoon when Athena came to call, Tess and Nick had been going over the diary, clarifying for the hundredth time the sequence of events that had led up to Benedict's disappearance with Theresa. Athena found them in the library, the little black leather book lying between them on the burgundy silk sofa upon which they sat.
She had entered the room unannounced, as was her habit, and the obvious look of dismay that crossed their faces made her halt halfway across the room and look at them with open curiosity. “What is it?” she asked slowly. “Has something happened?” Anxiety etched her handsome features. “You have not heard bad news from Grandmother?”
Nick shook his head quickly and rose. “No, nothing like that! We were just having a ... uh, intense conversation.”
Athena looked arch. “A lovers' quarrel?”
Nick smiled and, turning back to the sofa, reached over and casually lifted the diary and placed it inside his jacket. “No, we weren't quarreling—just discussing something.”
Athena's eyes narrowed. “Something in that little black book that you are at such pains to hide from me?”
There was such an expression of guilt on Tess's lively face that Athena burst out laughing. “Oh, come now, what is it? If you don't tell me, I shall think the worst.”
Nick and Tess exchanged glances. “Perhaps we should tell her,” Tess said slowly. “She has as much right as any of us—only your grandmother has more right.”
Nick sighed and looked back at Athena. “Swear that what I am about to tell you goes no further until I say so.”
Athena's smile faded and her features became serious. “What is it? You both look so solemn.”
“Swear it,” Nick said grimly.
Athena sat on a chair near the fire that was leaping in the fireplace. After arranging the skirts of her fine ruby red merino wool gown to her satisfaction, she studied each of their faces. “Oh, very well,” she said finally when it became obvious that they would not budge. “I swear it. I shall not let a word of what you tell me escape my lips.”
Reluctantly, and with great misgivings, Nick told her of the diary and what they suspected. Athena was stunned, excited, and appalled. For several moments the room was quiet as she digested the enormous discovery that had been made. Her face softened. “Grandmother will be so pleased, so thrilled to learn that he loved her and that he had not left her. She
always
believed in him. Always protested when our father spoke ill of him. This will make her deliriously happy.” Tears gleamed in her eyes. “She will be devastated to learn of his fate, but in the end, she will have the knowledge that he had not deserted her.”
“Provided,” Nick said somberly, “we can get inside those dungeons and prove what we suspect. Until then, I don't want her to know about the diary. It would plague her unmercifully not knowing if his body really does lie in those dungeons or if he did indeed leave with Theresa. Only after I have managed to explore those dungeons and have determined his fate will I tell her about the diary. Until then, this information goes no farther—it remains amongst us three.”
An odd expression crossed Athena's face, and Nick found himself trying to interpret it. Triumph? Or regret? He couldn't tell. It seemed a mixture of both, and it troubled him, and the feeling returned to him almost instantly that Athena was up to something. Something, he felt instinctively, that boded ill for him and Tess. . . .
Athena looked away from him. Staring into the fire, she asked, “How do you intend to get into those dungeons? Avery is in residence, and I doubt he would allow you to drive up to his house and boldly march in and start demolishing the brick wall that Tess has said exists.”
“We intend to wait until Avery has gone back to London or is away visiting. We plan to strike after the first of the year, when Rockwell and the others return from Cornwall—provided Avery is gone from the manor.”
“Do Rockwell and the others know of this plan?” Athena asked idly.
“No,” Nick answered. “At the moment, no one except the three of us even know of the diary's existence, let alone what we suspect.”
Her eyes fixed on the fire, Athena said slowly, “The first of the year is an awfully long time to wait to find out the truth.”
“We know,” Tess said regretfully. “We have discussed nothing else these past weeks, but we can think of no other way to do it.”
“Suppose Avery were to leave—to go to spend the holidays with friends. . . . Would you still insist upon waiting for the return of the others?”
Nick rubbed his chin. “It would be very tempting, but Tess and I have agreed to wait for the others.” He smiled at Tess. “She has this fear of Avery returning unexpectedly and trapping me in the dungeons.”
“But if we all
three
went in together,” Athena began excitedly, her fine black eyes gleaming, “there would be no danger.” She looked at Tess. “You don't really believe that once Avery has departed, he would return so unprovidentially, do you?”
Tess wiggled uncomfortably on the sofa. “I don't know—I just know that I don't want to give Avery any chance to hurt Nick—and he would, if he caught him at Mandeville Manor.”
“But not if we all were there,” Athena said soothingly. She smiled brightly at Tess. “After all, he could hardly murder all three of us!”
Nick laughed. “I said much the same thing to her some time ago, only then it was five of us.”
Even Tess laughed, albeit reluctantly. “I know that I am being silly, but I just don't trust Avery.”
“Oh, pooh on Avery,” Athena said gaily. “The three of us will outsmart him.”
“Yes, no doubt we could,” Nick said, “but before we can do anything, Avery has to go away.”
“Hmm, yes, that is a problem, isn't it?” Athena purred. “But who knows, he might just take it in his head to go away—or he might already be planning to do so. Shall I find out for you?”
“
You?
” questioned Nick with astonishment. “How do you know him?”
Athena smiled serenely. “Oh, the new baron and I have often met in London. Considering who he is, we are not friends by any means, but I know him well enough to exchange polite conversation with him when our paths cross.” She looked thoughtful. “Now where did I hear that he goes riding every morning? . . . Ah, yes, I remember. It was from Squire Frampton. He said something about the two of them often meeting on the marsh road. I think I shall ask the squire to escort me upon that same ride tomorrow morning.” She looked mischievous. “Who knows whom we may meet?”
Neither Nick nor Tess was completely won over by Athena's scheme, but they could find no fault with her discreetly questioning Avery about his plans for the holidays, even though something about Athena's feverish enthusiasm for the project struck a jarring note with Nick.
They had left the subject at that, but that night as Nick and Tess lay abed together, their arms entwined, Nick said slowly, “I hope we haven't made a mistake by including Athena in our plans—although under the circumstances we could hardly have avoided doing it. I know things have been easier between us of late, but I just don't quite trust her. . . .” His lips twisted. “Yet I cannot think of what harm she could do, and if there is one thing I do know, it is that she genuinely cares for Grandmother and would want to help solve the mystery of Benedict's disappearance.”
Tess angled her head upward to look at his dark face. “You don't believe that she would betray us, do you? Somehow be in collusion with Avery?”
BOOK: Lovers Forever
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