Lord Melvedere's Ghost (26 page)

Cecily
rubbed her eyes and stared at the now empty space. No sooner had
the spectre disappeared than the temperature within the room began
to climb back up again. She sat in frozen confusion wondering what
it had all been about. Was she tired? Or, were the events of the
past few days playing tricks on her mind? She didn’t know, but she
eventually lay back down and pulled the covers up to her ears once
more. Somehow she didn’t think that she would be getting all that
much more sleep tonight.

She was
right.

She
didn’t.

Jamie
had also had very little sleep. Having left Cecily last night, he
had changed his clothes before heading out to search the passages
again. He had retraced his steps to Cecily’s room but hadn’t found
anything amiss. Without asking the staff, he couldn’t be sure
whether any of the ornaments or paintings had gone missing. Even
without knowing for certain, his gut feeling was telling him that
there was something wrong. He had checked the boxes in the secret
room again, but was fairly certain that they had remained untouched
since the last time he had checked them.

This
time though he had dug deeper into the boxes, and had located six
books that looked suspiciously like they may have come from his
father’s library. Unfortunately, without being able to locate the
originals on the shelving, it was impossible to be entirely sure.
Jamie couldn’t lose sight of the fact that the books could have
also been stolen from somebody else’s house. A small voice warned
him that the items could still have been old unused items from
Melvedere’s past. It wasn’t inconceivable that he wouldn’t remember
them from his childhood. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look deeper
into the curious Miss Emstridge.

He had
discussed matters at length with Jonathan, who had agreed that Miss
Emstridge did need to be monitored. Although they had yet to follow
her, it was evident that she left the house late at night and
rarely came back before dawn, just before the staff brought the
house to life for the day.

They
agreed that Cecily needed to be protected and arranged to keep a
watch on the library between them. Jamie would take the days,
giving Cecily the freedom to use the library should she wish to
where Jamie could watch her too. Jonathan would watch the library
from the passage, and monitor any activity around the secret room
throughout the night. They agreed that the best way in and out of
the passage was through Jamie’s study. It wasn’t anything unusual
for Jamie and his guests, many of whom were from the Star Elite, to
spend their evenings before the fire in his study. Nobody would
think anything of Jonathan entering late at night and leaving at
first light.

He had
confirmed for himself that Miss Emstridge hadn’t spent the night in
her own bed, but seriously struggled to accept that anyone so dour
as the spinster could attract the advances of even the most amorous
of men. Nevertheless, that was just his personal opinion. The woman
could be working in disguise.

Frustrated at his own inability to get the answers he needed,
and Miss Emstridge out of the way, Jamie was tired and grumpy by
the time he crawled out of bed. He was used to getting by on only
short cat naps and dozes, but not while he was at home. This should
have been the time when he was busy sleeping the day away and
getting as much food as he could, not creeping around in the night
looking for devious librarians.

Rubbing
a hand down his face, he frowned at his breakfast tray and shoved
it aside with a grunt. What he really wanted, or rather who, was in
the room next door and right now he didn’t have any answers as to
how to get that problem resolved either.

One
moment she was fine and returning his kisses with gusto and the
next, it was as though someone had flicked the candle out and all
of the passion he knew she had buried deep inside, suddenly
disappeared. Shaking his head at the complexity of females, he
briefly wished he back on duty undertaking another dangerous
mission for the Star Elite. At least then, he knew that when he had
solved all of the problems, he could go home where he would be safe
and sound and take a well earned rest.

He
jerked out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. Dragging his
breeches on, he yanked the door open. The dark scowl on his face
was enough to make Warren take a couple of steps backward and stare
at him warily.

“
Sorry sir, but this just arrived. It is marked urgent.” Warren
glanced furtively up and down the corridor. “Given everything that
is happening, I thought it best not to leave it on your
desk.”

Jamie
studied Warren carefully for several moments. “Anything
happen?”

“
Nothing, sir, everything is as it should be.”

Jamie
wasn’t surprised. He had only come off his nightly prowl a couple
of hours ago, there hadn’t been enough time for too much to happen.
“When Miss Emstridge appears, can you tell her that I want to see
her in the library?”

Glancing
at the parchment in his hand, Jamie immediately knew who the
missive was from, and was glad for Warren’s forethought. It was
indeed urgent.

Tearing
open the seal, he stood in the middle of the room and read the
short note. He swore, tossing the parchment on the rumpled sheets
of his bed in disgust. Rubbing a hand down his face, he sighed, and
wondered just how much worse things could get.

Grateful
that Warren had left, he moved to the connecting door and knocked,
taking a few moments while Cecily answered to roll up the parchment
and shove it in his pocket. He didn’t want her to read all of it.
There were things in there that related to the Star Elite. Dreading
what he had to do next, he drew his shirt over his head, ignoring
his rumpled state and waited for her to answer the door.

Cecily
opened the door and gasped at the sight of him. He was dark beneath
the eyes, and his face was nothing short of weary. His hair was
wildly rumpled and he hadn’t even bothered to tuck his shirt into
his breeches. She wondered if he had just stumbled out of bed and,
if so, what had put him in such a bad mood.

“
What’s wrong?” Cecily stood back to allow him to enter the
room.

Jamie
walked past her, shut the door and locked it, before he drew her to
sit on the edge of the bed.

“
I have heard from Hugo,” he announced carefully.

Cecily’s
heart lurched wildly before immediately dropping to her toes. The
severe look on his face did not look good.

“
Tell me,” her voice was soft, but was filled with hope and
expectation for her sister’s wellbeing.

“
I am afraid there is good news, and bad news,” Jamie replied,
taking a deep breath. His mind was racing to find the best way of
telling her, but he knew there was little else for it. He couldn’t
soften the blow.

“
The good news is that Hugo has heard from Archie. He, and
Portia, are alive and well and currently residing in a place of the
upmost security,” he paused only briefly at Cecily’s low cry. His
lips twisted wryly at the smile and tears of joy in her eyes.
Clasping her hands in his, he dropped to his knees before her,
staring at the floor while she gathered herself.

Cecily
fought hard to quell the many questions that tumbled through her
until the gravity on his face made her pause.

“
Are they both well?”

“
They are fine but they cannot get in contact with you because
they are due to move on to their final destination. When they have
reached it, and are given the all clear, then Portia will be in
touch. She is eager to see you too.” He had no doubt that was the
case, although Hugo hadn’t said as much in his note.

“
What is the bad news?” Her voice dropped. Her hands trembled
with nerves. It was like waiting for the axe to fall. If Portia was
indeed alive and well, there was no bad news, surely?

“
I am afraid your father has been arrested for treason,” Jamie
announced carefully. His eyes met and held her startled ones. His
hands tightened on hers for several long moments. She struggled to
absorb the import of his words. Confusion warred with
disappointment that was quickly replaced with wariness.

“
He has been arrested for
treason
?”

“
You know I was in Tissington because of the Star Elite,” he
could see no reason to pretend otherwise.

“
Yes, I am aware that you offered for my hand to get into the
house.” Her voice was brisk and matter of fact. She was proud of
the fact that it held no trace of the deep hurt she felt, and that
helped her find the inner strength she needed to straighten her
spine and return his stare.

Jamie
remained silent. He wanted to deny the allegation. In all honesty,
he wasn’t sure what had driven him to offer for her hand that day.
Part of him had just known it was the right thing to do, even if he
was glad when her father threw him out. But, the other part of him
also wanted to be able to keep her. She had plagued him since the
night at the ball, to the point that he had been unable to get her
off his mind whether it was morning, noon or night. He had
contemplated marrying her, bringing her to Melvedere and going back
to his work with the Star Elite secure in the knowledge that his
wife would be waiting at home for him when his next mission was
over, and he had a wife of his choosing, who was beautiful, smart
and endearing.

If only he knew then what he knew now, he would have kicked
their father’s blasted door in and carried her
off
, he thought fiercely, wishing he had
done just that.

“
I had been sent to Tissington to help Archie look for
information on French spy smugglers. The contacts we had been
following led us to Tissington. There were a lot of stolen goods
appearing in the area, and being smuggled ashore by someone near to
Tissington. We discovered that those smuggled goods included
spies.”

“
You mean my father was involved in smuggling?”

“
No, he was involved in accepting smuggled goods, handing them
over to his business contacts who were selling them and making
themselves a nice tidy profit. Your father was receiving his fair
share of stolen goods and made a lot of money from it, some of
which went to finance the French spies’ operation. I don’t know if
your father planned to retire to France, or was amassing himself a
small fortune from his share of the proceeds of the sales of the
smuggled items, but it has gone horribly wrong. The spies have had
a network of people who have helped to give them new identities,
find them somewhere to live and been helping them to disappear into
the English way of life. We have lost some of them, but have
managed to take out some of the leaders like the one Portia killed
in the church. He was the worst of them all.”

“
But why are they chasing us?”

“
Because of the connection to your father who knows a lot about
their operation, and has been paying the English money back to the
French spies to use in our country.”

“
So my father and his friends were selling their goods for
them, pocketing some of the money and handing the rest back to the
French?”

Jamie
nodded slowly. He wanted to tell her the rest; that the men their
father had picked out for them were two of the men who had sold the
most goods, but knew there was no benefit in her knowing about it.
Jamie had no idea if there had been any sort of business agreement
there, or whether their father had just wanted to improve his
business connections by being related to wealthy men. It didn’t
really matter now, because none of them had any wealth or any
freedom to make choice about their own lives, let alone anyone
else’s.

“
I am afraid you cannot see him,” Jamie sighed, feeling
slightly uneasy about her silence.

“
I never want to see the man again,” Cecily declared quietly.
“He is a father by blood only, and has certainly never considered
us.” She struggled to absorb just how devious and grasping her
father had been. Her own flesh and blood was a traitor to king and
country.

She knew
she had no involvement in any of it, but she still felt ashamed
being associated with him.

“
Are you alright?” Jamie whispered, alarmed by the fine
trembling in her fingers.

“
I am so angry right now that I could hit him,” she ground out.
“How could he do this? How could he lose all of his morals, and
turn traitor on his own country? On all of us?”

“
He is on his way to Bodmin jail soon for
questioning.”

“
Good, I hope they throw away the key,” Cecily snapped,
releasing her hands from his and stalking toward the window. She
had always tried to do her best by her father. She had always
minded her manners and tried to be a good daughter. In return he
had been mean, miserly and about as cold hearted as anyone could
be, but this was a new level of selfishness that was impossible to
ignore.

Cecily
felt as though she had just been slapped across the face. Her mind
raced. A sickening wave of shame swept through her. She was a
daughter of a traitor. She shouldn’t even be in Jamie’s house, let
alone eating his food. She folded her arms across her waist and
cupped her elbows in her hands, but it did little to stop the chill
that had swept through her. She felt so very cold now; so very cold
and alone. She ached to be able to speak to Portia.