Summerset Abbey (15 page)

“Yes, actually.” Now that she was really here looking for her family, nerves bounced in her stomach.

He beamed. “And exactly what kind of book were you looking for?”

“I’m not actually looking for a book. I’m looking for some information.”

His face fell. “Well, if you need directions you can ask anyone on the street.”

“Actually, I’m looking for information on a person.”

“Oh.” He looked slightly mollified by this unusual request. “I’m not sure how I can help.”

She smiled apologetically. “You see, I’ve always thought that librarians have their fingers on the pulse of everything that happens in a town.”

He brightened at this for a moment and then looked at her glumly. “Well, that used to be so, miss, but not anymore. Seems like the young people aren’t interested in books. It’s all motorcars, aeroplanes, and telephones now. I’ve been in this library since it began thirty-five years ago and I’ve never had so few patrons.” His face fell into sorrowful lines.

Prudence felt a stirring of excitement. If he’d been here that long, he’d have to have known her mother. “I love books,” she assured him. “Next time I will see what you have, but today, I am looking to find someone.”

He sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I am looking for information about a family called Tate.” It shamed her that she didn’t know her mother’s maiden name or her father’s first name. How could she find out anything without those two simple names? Her stomach sank. “Or perhaps a girl
who grew up around here about twenty-five, thirty years ago. Her name was Alice?”

The change that came over the man was astonishing. His face shuttered like bay windows awaiting a storm. “I’m sorry. I know no one by that name.” He cast his eyes downward.

“Are you sure?” she pressed. “I know—”

“I’m very sure. Now if you will excuse me, miss. I am closing up now for lunch. A man has to eat.” He arose from his chair and, with a firm hand on her elbow, ushered her out the door.

Moments later she stood on the sidewalk as the man pulled the curtains across the front window.

R
owena lounged back on the chaise, waiting for tea to be served and thanking God that her cousin Colin and his friends had come to visit when they did. Her aunt kept making little comments about her disappearance the other day and Rowena didn’t want to talk about her experience with anyone other than Victoria. Somehow very nearly being hit by an aeroplane and saving a pilot’s life didn’t seem like polite dinner conversation. Plus, it went deeper than that. The time she sat with the injured pilot on the side of the hill seemed more real than anything else since her father died. Her time at Summerset seemed fuzzy and tinged with gray, while every moment from the aeroplane crash to carting the pilot up the hillside seemed infused with color. She didn’t want to share that with anyone because no one could understand.

Across the sitting room, her aunt held court, flanked by her daughter and her son. Uncle Conrad was nowhere in evidence, having gone to inspect some properties earlier in the morning.

Remembering how taken Lord Billingsly had seemed with Prudence, she observed him discreetly. There was no doubt he was exceedingly handsome with his dark curls and dark eyes, but Rowena had never trusted handsome men, especially those among the peerage. They always seemed to be too full of their
own sense of self-importance.
No doubt brought on by doting mothers,
she thought, as her aunt stared adoringly at her son. But there was little in Lord Billingsly’s mannerisms to suggest conceit. On the contrary, his mouth seemed to indicate a sense of humor and he behaved very politely to everyone he met, including the servants.

Unlike the other friend Colin had brought home. Kip? Kit? Whatever it was. Another handsome young man, tall and well built, with dark, ginger-colored hair and blue eyes. His nose was crooked and he seemed older than the other two young men, but that wasn’t what Rowena objected to, it was his barely concealed amusement at everyone and everything around him. It was disconcerting to meet someone and get the sneaking suspicion that he was laughing at you.

Victoria sat close to Elaine, looking more rested in spite of her outing last night. Where had she gone? Victoria had refused to tell her and Rowena hadn’t pressed her. It was enough that Victoria acted as though she felt better.

At least someone was feeling better. Rowena found herself avoiding Prudence, because she just felt so helpless about the situation, about everything, it made her hurt just to think about it. She was by turns frustrated by her apathy and resigned to it. She had the knowledge of her own cowardice, but couldn’t seem to overcome it. She hated conflict, and the thought of confronting her uncle made her skin crawl with apprehension. She envied Victoria her unassailable confidence that she could change things by the force of her own will. Where did that come from?

The footmen rolled in the tea carts loaded with delicate treats, from an ornate platter filled with the customary watercress and cucumber sandwiches to a Herculean platter of savory ham and beef sandwiches, no doubt in concession to the young men in
attendance. Scones with jam and clotted cream were plentiful, of course, along with sponge cakes, biscuits, and chocolate-covered strawberries, pickled kippers, and hard-boiled eggs. After everyone had been seated at a round table near a bay window, Aunt Charlotte turned to Elaine.

“Elaine, darling, would you please do us the honor of pouring tea?”

“Of course, Mother.”

Rowena intercepted an amused glance between Elaine and Colin and wondered what it meant.

“Sebastian, my dear boy, tell me, how is your mother?”

“She is doing well. Thank you, Lady Summerset.”

“And I trust you will both be coming for the holidays?”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Rowena caught another volley of amused glances, this time involving Lord Billingsly. Victoria’s forehead furrowed and Rowena knew her little sister had caught some odd undercurrents as well.

“I do hope you young people won’t be bored out here in the country. Elaine and I are planning some small gatherings, and of course our servants’ ball is always amusing. We will also be having a New Year’s Eve ball and I’m sure that will be delightful. Elaine is so good at that sort of thing, Lord Billingsly.”

“Oh, Mother, you flatter me.”

Rowena hid a smile at the tone of Elaine’s voice, so demure and grateful and altogether false.

Aunt Charlotte tilted her head as if she’d caught something, too, but wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. “Nonsense,” she said sharply. Then she smiled as if to soften her brusque tone. “You are a very accomplished young woman.” She stared hard at both Lord Billingsly and Kit. They avoided her gaze.

“So where did you disappear to this morning, Billingsly?” Colin asked.

“I had an errand to attend to.” Lord Billingsly spread jam on a scone so nonchalantly that Rowena was instantly suspicious.

“An errand in that little town?” Kit’s voice held amusement. “Whatever could there be to do in Summerset?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” He glanced toward Rowena and then reddened as if she might know something of it.

Again with the double meanings. Unless . . . it couldn’t have anything to do with Prudence, could it? She viewed Lord Billingsly with renewed interest.

The rest of the tea passed without incident and the group seemed to exhale as the footmen wheeled away the carts and Aunt Charlotte returned to her boudoir.

“Good grief, I thought she’d never leave,” Colin said, lounging back on the settee.

“Watch your tone, young man,” Elaine said. “I’ll have you know you’re talking about my sainted mother.”

Colin laughed. “True. Our sainted mother could flirt with our dearly departed King, outwit Confucius, and make the pope cry, all before breakfast. A most formidable woman.” He gave a mock shudder. “Do me a favor, little sister, and bring us a drink, will you?”

“Cocktails for everyone,” said Kit. “Since you’re so accomplished at these sorts of things, Elaine.”

Elaine curtsied and turned to Rowena. “Would you like one, Ro? Vic?”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Victoria no, but she looked so interested that Rowena didn’t have the heart to disappoint her. “Yes, please. Thank you.”

Kit stood up to help her and they soon had glasses all around. “What shall we drink to?”

“How about the Cunning Coterie?” Colin said, raising an eyebrow.

“How about a reunion of the Cunning Coterie Christmas?” Elaine countered.

“I do love me a clever alliteration,” Colin approved.

“What’s the Cunning Coterie?” Victoria asked.

Rowena let the warmth of the spirits lull her into even deeper listlessness, allowing her to watch the activity around her without actually participating in it. No wonder people took to drink, she thought. It was a wonderful way to dull unwanted feelings.

“Ah, we have novices,” observed Kit.

“Greenhorns.” Sebastian smiled.

“Perhaps they would like to join us?” asked Elaine.

“Would that make us Cunning Coterie Cousins?” Victoria asked with a smile.

Colin clapped his hands. “Clever!”

“Crafty,” added Sebastian.

“Confusing,” Rowena roused herself to answer, and the others laughed.

“The Cunning Coterie, as it’s most commonly known—” Kit began, sotto voce.

“But also can be called the Corrupt Coterie or the Cosmopolitan Coterie,” Elaine interrupted.

Kit continued as if Elaine hadn’t spoken. “Started at Kings College and has grown to include the fairer sex, because any club without women is not worth belonging to. Because there are so many of us who are pressured by well-meaning—”

“Or not-so-well-meaning,” Colin added.

“—relatives to attend all the same parties, balls, and sporting events, we started our own society to ward off death by boredom.”

“But what do you do?” Rowena asked, interested but perplexed.

Kit shrugged a shoulder. “Play pranks.”

“Make merry,” said Elaine quickly.

“Cut capers,” Sebastian added.

“Authorize antics,” Victoria murmured, and they laughed.

“In other words, not very much,” Kit said. He took a long drink.

“But we talk about it a lot. Which is what clubs usually do, isn’t it?” Colin asked.

Kit nodded. “Talk about how wonderful they are.” He held his glass up, signaling to Elaine that he was out.

She got up and made him another drink while he lounged indolently on the settee.

“It’s fine by me if they want to join, but we should wait until the holidays to make it official. The others will be here by then and we can do a real old-fashioned initiation.”

Victoria leaned forward, animation lighting her face. “It’s a secret society, isn’t it? What kind of initiation? Would you make me walk the plank? Bring you back green cheese from the moon? Fight dragons?”

Kit regarded her with an almost predatory smile and Rowena shifted uneasily.

“You are the perfect candidate,” he said. “Imaginative and beautiful. And I would never have someone as lovely as you fighting dragons.” He reached for her hand and kissed it.

Victoria tilted her head and flashed him an audacious smile.

“Perhaps since we’re keeping it all in the family, we should
find out what kind of society the old granddaddy earl belonged to and see what their initiations were like,” Kit said with a sidelong glance at Colin.

Colin shrugged but Rowena could tell that a nerve of some kind had been touched. “If he did belong to any kind of club, it was no doubt the club of one. No one else could stand to be around him for any length of time. My sister and I certainly couldn’t.”

“Neither could Vic or I.” For some reason Rowena was compelled to shake off her lethargy and rise from her seat. Though her father and his brother had often butted heads, family loyalty was important to him. She stood behind Elaine and in a casual show of fidelity, as if they’d been best friends for years, she laid her hand on her younger cousin’s shoulder. “Amongst ourselves, we used to call him grandpapa with the icky nose.” The Buxtons broke up laughing.

“What was that thing growing on the side of his nose?” Colin asked, the tension forgotten.

But Rowena saw that Kit’s sharp eyes had caught her movement and discerned its meaning. “On second thought, perhaps adding more Buxtons to the fray would cause us to be lopsided. Family loyalty and all that.” His voice was light, teasing, but Rowena detected the warning underneath.

Elaine’s eyes narrowed, but Victoria beat her to it. She leapt up onto a highly tufted Turkish ottoman and came to a halt in front of Kit. She waved her drink under his nose. How many drinks had Victoria had? Of course, Vic was so petite; one drink for her was more like two for a larger person. “No, you don’t, Mr. Kit,” Victoria said. “You promised me a bona-fide club and I intend to have one, unless you want me to tell your mother that you don’t keep promises to a lady?”

“The horror,” he cried, waving his arms about. “Someone save me!”

“You got yourself into this mess, now get yourself out,” Colin said, laughing.