Emily Hendrickson (28 page)

As she neared the study, she discovered the door stood ajar. Not wishing to intrude, she slowed her steps again. Mr. Fynes’s deep voice could be clearly heard. In spite of her resolve not to listen in to another’s conversation, she could not help herself.

“Marrying her is the best way out, my boy. You may rest assured, that is one area settled. Her dowry is respectable, and even if she is a trifle young, that is not so very bad. She is a lovely girl. Remember, a wife cannot testify against her husband.” He chuckled at this bit of wit.

Elizabeth froze, waiting to hear David’s reply.

“It was not what I had wanted.”

“Is anything in this life?”

Not wishing to hear another word—for she had certainly heard no good of herself, as she supposed was only just—she fled. A silent skimming across the hall brought her to the stairs, then up to her room. Fortunately, Aunt Bel had returned to her own quarters, and Elizabeth was quite alone.

Now she knew why David insisted they wed. The only feeling he possessed toward her was gratitude that she was so conveniently at hand. Confused and hurt, she paced about the room, threading a hand through her curls.

What a pity her parents had left such an acceptable dowry. Mr. Fynes might have counseled David to look elsewhere for a more eligible wife.

She wouldn’t do it. She would run away. Somewhere there must be a place she could hide. Perhaps Victoria and Edward would allow her sanctuary?

Then her common sense returned. She had shared lovely kisses with David, they had laughed together, and he did possess a sense of humor—something she felt important. Could she not take the risk of marriage with him, and try to build on the shaky foundation to achieve something more solid?

Then another thought occurred to her. Since she cared so deeply for David, could she not do this for him? Marry him to protect him from whatever he and his solicitor feared? She did not know what circumstances might be that she could testify against David. She did know she would never do anything to harm him. Not willingly.

“That is what I shall do. I shan’t say a word about what I have heard,” she declared to the vase of snowdrops. “I will proceed with the wedding just as he wishes, when he wishes. It will be my gift to him.”

Chin up, resolve quite firmed, she slowly strolled back downstairs, as though she had not just stormed back to her room in hurt anger minutes past.

“Elizabeth, there you are,” David exclaimed as he strode across the hall to her side.

She gave him a wary look, wondering what he would say. “Yes?”

“I have finished with the solicitor. I thought perhaps you and I could discuss the details of the wedding.”

She forced a brave smile to her lips. “That is precisely what I hoped to do now, why I was coming to look for you.”

Was that a sigh of relief from David? she wondered.

At the entrance to the office wing, Jeremy Vane watched the two lovers stroll arm in arm toward the drawing room. They ought not be alone, even though betrothed. But then, propriety had not been strictly observed in this house for a long time.

If he had the running of the place, things would be different.

On the other side of the courtyard, Egbert also watched David and Elizabeth walk to the drawing room, deep in discussion. Did his cousin know how lucky he was? What a treasure Elizabeth Dancy had proved to be. Egbert felt that his dear cousin did not fully appreciate his good fortune.

If he were in charge of affairs, things would be different.

“What are you doing, lad?” Lord Augustus spoke with unusual sharpness to his only son.

“Watching the betrothed couple head for the privacy of the drawing room. I fancy they want to plan the wedding. Shall we join them?” He gave a faintly malicious smile at the thought of disrupting a lover’s tryst.

“Someone ought to be there. Can’t think what that totty-headed Isobel is thinking of, to leave her niece alone with a rake like Leighton. Even if they are to wed. Were I in charge of things around here, they would be a good deal different, I can tell you that.”

With a nod to his son, the two men set off to the drawing room, virtuous condescension in their faces.

Elizabeth looked up in startled alarm when Lord Augustus entered the room, followed by Egbert, who wore a distinctly gleeful look on his face. She stood by the fireplace, David not far away. They had been about to set the time and place of the marriage when so rudely interrupted.

“Ho, what have we here?” Lord Augustus said with false jollity.

“The lovers, no less. Cannot have this, you know.” Egbert wagged a finger at the pair across the room. “Not at all proper. Would never want the servants to spread it about that the new Lord Crompton was less than honorable in his attentions to his future wife, now would we?”

Elizabeth cast about for some means of changing the subject. A glance at Lord Augustus gave her the idea. “Would anyone care for tea?” She had scarce touched the food set out at noon, and would welcome something to nibble.

“Allow me to ring for the footman. I trust a slight repast will be an acceptable way of passing the time?” she begged, hoping that Egbert would not be nasty about it.

“Ain’t proper, my boy. Dallying with a young lady don’t show respect befitting your station as the new earl,” Lord Augustus declared with more than a hint of pomposity.

David raised his brows at this bit of reproach. His uncle had lived a life anything but decorous, according to what Elizabeth had heard.

“Begin as you mean to go on, perhaps?” David reached out to draw a reluctant Elizabeth to his side, for she stood not all that far from him.

“Do not mock, David,” Egbert scolded in a serious voice all of a sudden.

“I wasn’t.”

Not understanding what was afoot, Elizabeth was about to walk away when she found herself firmly held. It was impossible for her to leave without an unseemly struggle. She remained, deciding to add her bit to the scene by snuggling up to David. If he wanted to make a particular impression, it behooved her to cooperate. Besides, she rather enjoyed it. Oh, what a wicked girl she was, to even think of her desires when the poor earl lay dead upstairs.

The footman who answered the summons could not fail to take note of the proximity of the betrothed couple. She was all but enfolded in David’s arms, for pity’s sake.

Feeling distinctly at a disadvantage, Elizabeth requested a tea tray, with a substantial repast included. She was curious to see if the cook repeated the accident of unburnt food.

With Lord Augustus and Egbert playing chaperone, it was impossible to discuss the coming wedding in a way they would like. When Aunt Bel strolled into the drawing room, it made the group complete, for immediately behind her came Jeremy Vane.

“The funeral is tomorrow morning,” observed Aunt Bel. “Do you intend to have your wedding before you go to Crompton Vale?” she added with a delicate reference to the trip north with the corpse.

“That would be the following day, I believe. How do you feel about it, Elizabeth?”

“Sooner you wed, the better, in my opinion,” Lord Augustus inserted, his corsets creaking as he leaned over to select something from the tea tray just delivered by the young footman.

“You ought to know,” David replied with dangerous quiet.

Aunt Bel glanced up sharply at this note, and with a horrified look at the footman, who seemed to have turned into stone, she said, “I do hope the rain stops. It would be nice to have sunshine on your wedding day.”

Elizabeth settled against David, knowing that somehow her aunt would take matters in hand, and that tempers would not be permitted to flare out of control.

Trapped by the look David sent him. Lord Augustus harrumphed twice, then nodded, as he accepted a cup of tea from Lady Montmorcy. “Dratted stuff,” he murmured before taking a tentative sip.

“Well, it seems to me,” Egbert said sometime later, “that one should be prepared for the past to return to haunt him.” He was looking at David when he spoke, rather than his father.

Elizabeth suspected what was in his mind, and she said, before David might utter something he’d regret later on, “If you refer to anything my future husband may have done in his past, imagined or real, I daresay there is little I do not know, or have heard about. And if there is something I do not know of, I do not wish to be told.” She gave Egbert a cold stare, aware that he could ultimately cause a great deal of unhappiness if she did not make this point crystal clear at the outset.

“Well, well,” David murmured at her side. “My little valentine has claws.”

“That’s not all,” she whispered back quite daringly.

* * * *

The following morning the family, along with Aunt Bel and Elizabeth, assembled in the entry hall. The servants, given the morning to attend the modest service in the village church, joined the procession.

There was a hearse of sorts, more of a dray pressed into service, given the lack of proper notification to the undertaker from the nearest town. This was followed by carriages bearing the relatives, then Aunt Bel and Elizabeth, and last, the vehicle containing Filpot, Hadlow, Rose, and the Sidthorps. The remaining servants drove along in a somewhat antique coach.

The service was blessedly short, and the casket remained closed, much to Elizabeth’s surprise, for her aunt had informed her it usually stayed open so that others could pay their respects.

However, she had little time to dwell on this, for the procession was reversed, and they all trouped back to Penhurst Place.

“Most peculiar, I say,” Aunt Bel pronounced when she and Elizabeth were once again in Elizabeth’s room.

“What does it matter? I must look to the wedding now. I do hope that people will not look too askance at our haste.” Elizabeth stared at her aunt from her comfortable chair by the fire. She uneasily twisted the diamond that David had placed on her finger.

“No, no. If there is gossip, something else will come along to catch their ears. It usually does. I must send a note to Chloe and Hyacinth. They will think themselves sadly neglected. Poor Hyacinth has declared Lord Norwood too stuffy. She announced that he can take himself off to his landscaping and fertilizing for all she cares. Not only that. Some fool told her that he is a shocking rake when in London. She is totally undone.”

Elizabeth smiled at that, then said, “Surely they understand the circumstances?”

“True. I would wish them to find suitable gowns to wear to your wedding. Which brings me to another matter. What shall you wear?” Aunt Bel leaned against her chair, studying her niece with a careful gaze.

“I detest wearing black, for it is so gloomy, but I expect I must.” Elizabeth sighed, then turned her gaze to meet that of her aunt, who frowned.

“Perhaps not. Pale lavender might be acceptable, or dove gray. I fail to see the haste, my dear. I cannot think why David does not wish to wait the proper six months of mourning before marriage.”

“I do not know, but I have my suspicions.”

Beyond that, Elizabeth refused to confide. There were some things a woman did not share with anyone, not even a favorite aunt. There was something decidedly smoky going on at Penhurst Place. She didn’t know what it was, but she would support David in any way she could. It was the least she could do for the man she loved.

“I wonder what will happen at the reading of the will. Mr. Fynes said something about meeting in the library this afternoon. I suppose he is anxious to return to his office.”

Elizabeth also wondered. Would they learn at last who had poisoned the earl? She had the feeling that it was not a stranger, but one known to them all. Which one? Jeremy Vane, Lord Augustus, or the dreadful Egbert Percy?

Or could there be another?

Chapter Sixteen

He had to be the most provoking man alive. Elizabeth glanced at the man who nearly drove her mad, one way or the other, and sighed with discouragement. He had not sought her out for further discussion regarding their wedding, even though they’d had a bit of time to themselves. Perhaps all he had truly wished to know was that she did not plan to jilt him.

Then Mr. Fynes cleared his throat, gesturing to those assembled in the library to be seated. He had taken a place behind the large desk at the far end of the room. Behind him was the fireplace, the damp patch now reasonably dried out, thanks to Elizabeth’s diligent efforts.

Lord Augustus settled on a high-backed chair to the right, amid the usual corset-creaking accompaniment, with Egbert lounging immediately behind him and to the side.

Ranged on the other side were David and Elizabeth, with Aunt Bel sitting discreetly behind them, although neither of the women actually needed to be present. David had requested them to come. Elizabeth wouldn’t have missed it for anything, and she suspected that Aunt Bel had itching ears as well.

By the time everyone had gathered, the afternoon was nearly past and the room was dim. Sidthorp supervised the lighting of a good many candles, plus an Argand lamp for Mr. Fynes. This delay was tolerated by all, for each appeared to want to see the others.

Jeremy entered late, taking a chair near the far end of the room, not far from where the Sidthorps and other servants clustered.

While Mr. Fynes shuffled papers on the desk, Elizabeth spent her waiting moments studying the faces of the three men she suspected. Lord Augustus looked uncomfortable, and she wondered if his corset was too tight today, or if he felt guilty. Egbert wore his usual expression of boredom, tinged with curiosity. Knowing more of his relationship with his uncle, she surmised that he really did not have great expectations.

By turning her head a bit, as though to listen to something Aunt Bel might be saying, Elizabeth could see Jeremy Vane. He puzzled her. That newly acquired demeanor of his could not be liked in the least. Whereas he had been so kind and polite before, he how wore a sort of sneer on his face and held himself aloof from the others. Well, she hadn’t liked that sort of timid-rabbit expression he’d worn in the past. But surely he should have been able to figure out something halfway between?