The Handmaiden's Necklace (21 page)

“Well, if it isn’t the little tart who tricked the duke into marrying her.”

A cold chill swept down Dani’s spine. Turning, she came face-to-face with a woman she hadn’t seen in years but certainly hadn’t forgotten. The Marchioness of Caverly, Oliver Randall’s mother. Through the buzzing in her ears, she heard Grace’s voice coming from beside her.

“Well, if it isn’t the mother of that rotten, good-for-nothing swine whose abominable scheming nearly destroyed two innocent lives.”

Dani gasped. “Grace!”

“Well, it’s true,” Victoria chimed in, then she, too, turned her wrath on Lady Caverly. “Your son’s jealousy brought
him to the end he has suffered. He has no one to blame but himself, and neither do you.”

Danielle just stood there, scarcely able to believe what her two friends had just done. Still, their courage bolstered hers. Lifting her head, she spoke directly to the marchioness.

“I am sorry, Lady Caverly, for what your family has suffered, but it was Oliver’s doing, not mine.”

“How dare you! After the lies you have told, you aren’t good enough to speak my son’s name!”

“I told the truth. Perhaps one day your son will have the courage to do the same.”

“This is your fault. Oliver would never—”

“That is enough, Margaret.” The Marquess of Caverly walked up beside his wife. “There are better ways to handle matters than a public display in front of half the
ton.
” A tall man with iron-gray hair, the marquess had an arrogance about him that made clear his position as a high-ranking member of the peerage. “Come, my dear. I believe it is time we went home.”

Dani said nothing more, and the marquess led his wife off down the hall. Dani started walking, praying the weak knees beneath her gown would continue to hold her up.

Victoria hurried ahead, said something to Rafe as he strode toward them.

“Victoria told me what happened.” He captured her hands, a worried look on his face. “I’m sorry, love. I didn’t know they would be here. I thought they were still in residence in the country.”

“I would have run into them sooner or later. Perhaps it is better it happened now.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I am fine.” And thinking of Grace and Victoria, who had come to her defense like a pair of young tigresses, she discovered she actually was.

“I think it is time we went home,” Rafe said, but Dani shook her head.

“We have weathered the worst of the storm. I refuse to run for cover now.” She flicked a glance at the gaming tables. “Anyone for cards?”

Rafe smiled, and she saw the pride in his eyes. “That sounds like a splendid notion…
Your Grace.
”

There was something in the way he said it, something that warmed her insides.

Placing her hand on the sleeve of his coat, she let him guide her across the Persian carpet toward the row of green baize tables.

T
wo days passed. Robert McKay was released from prison, and as Rafe had promised, a carriage waited out in front to return him to Sheffield House.

Robert never appeared.

When the coachman checked on the man’s whereabouts, he discovered McKay had left Newgate more than an hour earlier. He was gone, nowhere to be seen. Not quite certain what to do, the driver, a heavyset man named Mullens, drove the carriage back to Sheffield House.

“I’m sorry, Yer Grace,” Michael Mullens said. “The bloke never showed up. They released ’im, though. I checked with the guards to be sure.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mullens.” Clamping down on a surge of anger, Rafe turned toward the two women standing anxiously behind him in the entry.

“You heard what the coachman said. McKay left the prison but he didn’t return here as we had planned. There isn’t much more I can say.”

Caro started crying, turned and raced up the stairs.

Dani just stood there. “I can’t believe Robert lied to all of us—even you.”

“Either the man is the best actor in London or there is more to the story. I think we should wait a bit longer before we jump to conclusions.”

“Yes…of course, you are right.” But Rafe could see she was upset. In that moment, if he had known where to find Robert McKay, he would have hauled the fellow up by the lapels of his ragged coat and given him a beating far worse than the one the guards had dished out.

Instead, he glanced up the stairs and watched Caro run down the hall. “Perhaps you should speak to her.”

Danielle’s gaze followed his and she sighed. “I only wish I knew what to say.”

“Tell her I plan to wait another day, give McKay one last chance to prove himself before I go to the authorities.”

“I’ll tell her.” Lifting her skirt out of the way, Dani climbed the stairs.

Rafe watched her disappear down the upstairs hall and thought of the pain he had seen in Caro’s eyes when McKay had not arrived as she so hoped he would.

Then again, the man had never actually agreed to the arrangement, only adamantly sworn his innocence in the murder of the earl.

Recalling his conversation with McKay and how convincing the man had been, Rafe was only mildly surprised when an hour later, the footman, Mr. Cooney, arrived at the door of his study with a pair of notes, one addressed to the Duke of Sheffield, the other to Miss Caroline Loon.

“Thank you, Cooney,” Rafe said, taking the notes from
the footman’s blunt fingers. “Did you see the man who delivered these?”

“Yes, sir. Come to the back door. Nice-lookin’ chap ’cept his eye was all swolled up and his face was black-and-blue.”

“Brown hair, brown eyes?”

“That’d be him, sir.”

Rafe broke the wax seal and skimmed the message.

After reading the note a second time and for reasons he couldn’t explain, Rafe believed as he had before that McKay was telling the truth. Still, it was just as likely the man was a complete and utter fraud.

With a sigh, he set the message down next to the one that had been penned to Caroline Loon.

“Ask Miss Loon and the duchess to come down to my study, will you Mr. Cooney?”

“Yes, sir, Yer Grace.”

The women appeared a few minutes later, and he could see faint traces of tears on Caro’s cheeks.

“What’s happened?” she asked, unable to maintain her usual reticence. “Have you heard from Robert?”

“I did, indeed. Your friend has sent us both a message.”

He handed the note to Caro, then turned the one he had received over to his wife.

Caro’s eyes briefly closed as she finished reading the message. She clutched the paper fiercely against her breast. “He didn’t run away. He is trying to prove his innocence.”

“I realize the note is addressed to you, but I should like to read it, if you don’t mind.”

Only a bit reluctantly, Caro handed it over, faint color rising in her cheeks.

Rafe finished reading the message and handed it back, trying to ignore the dampness in Caro’s eyes.

“I’ll send a message to Jonas McPhee. If anyone can discover the truth of the murder, Jonas can.”

Caro came forward and caught his hand. “Thank you so much, Your Grace. I will never forget what you have done.”

“I give you a word of caution, sweeting. If McPhee dis
covers your friend is guilty of murder, I’ll have no choice but to inform the authorities.”

“I know that.”

“He is innocent, Caro,” Dani said firmly. “He would not have sent the notes if he were guilty. He would simply have run away.”

But of course he might have done it just to stall for time, and all of them knew it.

“It there anything else, Your Grace?” Caro asked.

“Actually, there is. I’ve been thinking for some time now that you have hidden yourself away long enough. You are a gently reared young woman who fell on hard times, but you are also Danielle’s friend, and through your loyalty to her have become my friend, as well. There are any number of social functions you might enjoy and I think it is long past time that you did so.”

Caro’s eyes rounded. Danielle smiled up at him so brightly something tightened in his chest.

“She would need an entirely new wardrobe,” Dani said.

“Without question.” A corner of his mouth edged up. “I imagine the two of you are up to the task.”

Caro just stood there, too stunned to speak. Then she shook her head. “I am sorry, Your Grace. I know you have nothing but the very best intentions, but I simply cannot accept your generous offer. I have always paid my own way. It is a vow I made to my mother before she died, and that is how it must remain. If you cannot accept me as I am, then I must leave your household.”

Dani’s face fell. “Rafael did not mean to insult you, dearest. As he said, you are our friend.”

Caro managed a smile. “I am happy as I am. But I want
you to know that I cherish, above all things, the friendship the two of you have given me.”

Rafe cast Danielle a glance. It was clear Caro wouldn’t change her mind. An offer of marriage from Robert McKay would alter the situation, of course, but so far McKay had not voiced his intentions. For Caro’s sake, Rafe hoped they were honorable. Then again, if, indeed, the man were an earl and Caro but a lady’s maid…

“The offer stands open,” Rafe said. “If you change your mind—”

“I will not.”

Rafe just nodded. He couldn’t help admiring the girl. And he thought that any man would be lucky to have Caroline Loon for a wife.

Even an earl.

Still, there was every chance McKay was nothing more than the murderer he was accused of being.

Time would tell.

Time and Jonas McPhee.

The Christmas holidays passed. Rafe’s mother left her apartments and traveled to the country to spend the next several weeks at Sheffield Hall, the family estate in Bucking-hamshire. Danielle and her husband spent a good deal of time in society, which, little by little, had begun to welcome her into its esteemed company.

The days marched steadily forward, but no word came from Robert McKay. Dani knew the runner, Jonas McPhee, was working hard to discover the truth of the murder but so far had found little of use.

People who knew McKay liked him. Before the murder,
he had been a solicitor in the town of Guildford, a respected member of the community. They were reluctant to give up information that might cause him harm.

It was the ninth of January. The weather had been abominable, cold and windy with a chilling frost over the ground that refused to melt before noon. But yesterday the sun had shone and warmed the air, and Dani’s spirits had brightened.

She and Aunt Flora decided to visit the orphanage, which they did as often as they could, bringing the children toys or a small gift of sweets. Dani was especially looking forward to seeing Maida Ann and Terry, who had become her favorites. It had been too long since her last visit, not since before the Twelve Days.

As her personal carriage, smaller than the ducal coach but carrying the distinctive Sheffield crest, rolled up in front of the redbrick building that housed the orphanage, Dani spotted two familiar heads racing ahead of the other children—little Maida, blond and grinning, Terry’s red hair sticking up in tufts on his head.

Dani’s heart squeezed at the sight of them. Kneeling on the walkway, she gathered them into her arms.

“I am so happy to see you!”

Maida Ann hugged Dani’s neck. “I was so hoping you would come. Every day I said a prayer and now you are here.”

Dani hugged her again. “I promise I won’t stay away so long the next time.” A slight tug on her skirt and she looked down to see little Terrance gazing up at her with big brown, hopeful eyes.

“Did you bring us a sweet?” the boy asked.

Dani laughed. “Of course, I did.” She handed him sev
eral pieces of hard sugar candy, then gave the same amount to Maida Ann.

“There is enough for everyone.” Aunt Flora spoke up from behind them, passing Terry a small cloth sack. “Take these round and pass them out to all of the other children.”

“Thank you, milady, ever so much.” Terry grinned and Dani saw that he was missing a tooth. He held his own candies as if they were pieces of gold, then raced off to distribute the precious gifts to his friends.

Maida Ann clung to Dani’s hand. “You’re so pretty.”

“So are you, sweetheart,” Dani said, meaning it, and little Maida, in her dress of coarse brown wool, blushed and shyly smiled.

Dani gave her a last hard hug and rose to her feet, holding on to Maida’s hand. Dear God, how she wished she could take the children home with her! Her heart ached for the child she would never have, but it was too soon to speak of adoption. Rafe might grow suspicious, and if he did, if he somehow discovered she was barren and that she had known before they were wed…

She swallowed, unable to finish the thought.

The women stayed for a while with the children, Dani promising Mrs. Gibbons, the head mistress, to speak to the duke about the money for new spring clothing, then she and Aunt Flora left the orphanage.

The carriage rolled through the crowded streets, Aunt Flora’s short, bulky figure perched on the opposite seat, complaining, which she rarely did.

“Thank God the sun is shining at last.” Flora pulled her heavy fur lap robe more securely over her plump knees. “I thought I should never see it again.”

“Yes, it’s amazing how a bright day can lift one’s spirits.”

“I’m afraid it makes me yearn for home, my dear.”

Dani’s gaze sharpened on her aunt. “You’re not thinking of leaving?”

“I have decided to leave, and soon. London is abysmal this time of year. I cannot manage another week.”

“Are you sure the roads are dry enough to travel?”

“Dry enough to get me there. You and the duke seem to be rubbing on well enough. My presence is no longer needed, and at any rate, it is past time I returned.”

Dani studied her aunt’s kindly face. She thought of Rafael and how the two of them were now man and wife, as her aunt had once believed they should be. Dani couldn’t help wondering how much of what had transpired had been engineered by the older woman.

Aunt Flora sighed. “It will be so good to be home.”

Whatever the truth, Dani hated to see her go, but Aunt Flora missed the open spaces and clean country air, and Dani couldn’t blame her for wanting to escape the dark skies, sooty fog and dirty streets of the city in winter.

That night at supper she relayed her aunt’s decision to Rafe, who surprised her by suggesting they see her aunt home.

“It’s not all that far and we could use a bit of time away ourselves. McPhee has gone north to speak to Robert’s cousin, Stephen Lawrence. While we’re waiting for news, perhaps a journey to the country will take Caro’s mind off Robert McKay.”

It was such a marvelous notion that Dani couldn’t help a smile of warmth that Rafe would be so thoughtful. It had
happened a great deal lately, which made it harder and harder for her to keep her distance, to hang on to her resolve not to place her trust in him as she had before.

Harder and harder not to love him.

The notion worried her greatly. What would happen when he realized she wouldn’t be able to give him a child? When he discovered that he would never have a son? At least not with her?

She couldn’t help thinking of Arthur Bartholomew, Rafe’s wastrel cousin, and how desperately his family needed an heir.

Divorce was rare, nearly unheard of, but occasionally it happened. The scandal lingered for years. But Rafe needed a son to carry on his name, and divorce would be his only option. Dani shivered to think of facing the terrible gossip, the ostracism that she had suffered before.

And losing Rafael a second time… She didn’t think she could survive it.

A jolt of pain tore into her heart at the thought of Rafe sharing his life with another woman, and in that moment she knew the awful truth.

I’m in love with him!

It was too late to save herself, too late to protect her heart. She had fallen in love with him—just as she had before.

Fear shook her. The road ahead was fraught with danger, a landscape of pain that could destroy her.

God in heaven, how could she have let it happen?