Why Earls Fall in Love (28 page)

“I’m nervous,” Georgie said to Con as he handed her up the stairs. “What if your aunt or cousins refuse to see me?”

“They wouldn’t dare with two duchesses, a duke, a duke’s son, and the head of their family escorting you,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I could have overridden my aunt’s orders earlier, of course, but it is technically her house.”

“I know that,” Georgie said, grateful that he’d agreed to come with them at all. He might just as easily cut up rough at Perdita’s plan.

When they handed the butler their cards, he gave a low bow and invited them into the hallway, and had them wait while he sent the cards to his mistress with a footman. In barely enough time for her to have glanced at the cards, the footman returned and the butler requested them to follow him upstairs to the drawing room.

“The Duke and Duchess of Ormond, the young dowager Duchess of Ormond, the Earl of Coniston, Lord Archer Lisle, and Mrs. Mowbray,” the man said in stentorian tones before stepping back to stand as still as a marble statue next to the doorway.

To Georgina’s amusement, the room’s occupants seemed flummoxed to be receiving a visit from such august personages. Even one of whom who was their own cousin.

“Your graces, my lord,” Lady Russell, said, her gout having improved to such a degree that she was able to stand upon her bothersome foot and offer a low curtsy. “Nephew,” she said, turning to Con. When she reached Georgina, she paused and her hands began to tremble. “Georg … ah, that is, Mrs. Mowbray, what a surprise.”

“Aunt,” Con said firmly, “I hope that you will see fit to welcome Mrs. Mowbray as a guest in this house.”

“It has come to my attention, your ladyship,” Perdita said with a slight inclination of her head, “that my dear friend Georgina was dismissed from this house yesterday for a crime she did not commit.”

Looking from Con to Perdita and at the other august guests in her drawing room, Lady Russell seemed perplexed. Finally she said, “I … I suppose you mean Mrs. Mowbray?” she asked, her voice timid. “For if it is I feel sure there’s been some sort of miscommunication. Mrs. Mowbray was guilty of stealing from me. Indeed, I didn’t believe it at first either. Not until I saw the evidence with my own eyes.”

“I believe I am capable of knowing whether I am or am not being fed a false tale, Lady Russell,” Perdita returned, her voice cool. “And in this case, I am being fed lies, but it is not from Mrs. Mowbray’s protectors. It is instead from the people who wish to do her harm. Perhaps in the name of protecting you.”

Georgie could see that the older woman was taken aback by the accusation, and it took all of her might to keep from going to her former employer at once.

“Might you tell us,” Isabella asked kindly, “how it came to be that Mrs. Mowbray was accused of so heinous a crime? After all, it isn’t every day that a lady is accused of outright theft. Was the item something that you held in great value perhaps?”

“It was a diamond and ruby bracelet that I had only worn a few times,” Lady Russell admitted. “I hadn’t even realized it was gone and I wouldn’t have known if my niece Lydia hadn’t pressed me to let her look through my jewel chest. At first I thought she was joking when she told me it wasn’t there. My next step, of course, was to figure out how the piece had been removed from my locked jewel chest and how this person was able to get into the chest without the key.”

“And did you discover how it was lifted from your jewelry case?” Perdita asked. “Did someone steal the keys perhaps?”

“I never did learn the answer to that question,” the elderly lady said with a shrug. “Before I could ask, my niece Clara came to me and informed me that the diamond and ruby cuff had been found. At first I was elated because I was so worried about losing such a precious item from my jewel collection that I didn’t realize just what the implications of where it was found would be.”

“Curious,” Perdita said, her lips pursed. “Are you saying that you might not have even held Mrs. Mowbray accountable for the appearance of the bracelet in her bedchamber, if you hadn’t been instructed to do so by someone else?”

“I don’t care for your tone, Duchess,” Clara said, patting her aunt on the shoulder. “My aunt just told you that she didn’t think of the implications at first. She said nothing about anyone else persuading her of anything.”

“Remember whom you’re speaking to, Clara,” Con warned. Turning to Georgie, he asked, “Was that the way you remember it happening?”

“Yes,” Georgie said calmly, feeling Clara’s glare on her as if it were a hot brand. “I had just returned from looking for the bracelet in Lady Russell’s dressing room and bedchamber when Mrs. Marks said that it had been found in my bedchamber.”

“I beg your pardon, Lady Clara,” Archer said, his expression one of heartfelt sincerity. “Could you possibly tell us where you were during all of this? It’s just that Mrs. Mowbray has said you were such a friend to her. I wonder if you didn’t perhaps go to visit her rooms while all of this was going on?”

Georgie could see that Clara was torn. On the one hand she was annoyed at being put on the spot, but on the other hand she could not help but preen under the solicitous gaze of Lord Archer. Lady Russell, Georgie noticed, was watching her niece breathlessly.

“I might have done,” Clara said with a slight shrug. “Mrs. Mowbray was searching my aunt’s rooms for the bracelet, and I wanted to ensure that dear Mrs. Mowbray hadn’t unknowingly brought the bracelet into her bedchamber the night my aunt gave her the sapphire and diamond choker.”

“Ah, what’s this?” Isabella asked, leaning forward, her gaze on Lady Clara’s every move. “This is the first I’ve heard of a sapphire and diamond choker. Why would Lady Russell lend such a valuable gift to her companion? Surely that’s better suited to keeping safe within the family?”

“Which is what I thought as well,” Clara said, her appreciation for Isabella’s justification making her puff up with the rightness of it. “Obviously Mrs. Mowbray has been very helpful to my aunt on any number of issues, but surely nothing that warrants her receiving a family heirloom as a gift. I mean, she’s barely known my aunt for six months. She doesn’t deserve to have the sapphires.”

Clara’s dismissal of her made Georgie’s blood boil. She behaved as if Georgie had wheedled the sapphires from Lady Russell. And they weren’t a gift. They were loaned to her for the evening. Though it would seem that Clara hadn’t known that.

“But, Clara,” her aunt said, her gaze troubled, her eyes darting from here to there, unsure of where to look. “I already told you that the sapphires were not entailed. Do you believe I should hold on to the necklace for posterity’s sake? Or perhaps did you wish me to bestow it upon your daughter so that she might have it instead of my dear friend Georgina who has been with me these many months when you and your family haven’t seen fit to visit me once? Is that what you wish?”

“That isn’t what I was saying, Aunt,” Lady Clara said, turning a bit red. “I was merely suggesting that you may have been a bit premature about the sapphires.”

“They are my sapphires to dispose of as I wish,” Lady Russell said, stamping her walking stick upon the floor in a manner that resounded through the room like a bullet. “Really, Clara, I had no idea you were harboring such resentments against Georgina. Next you’ll say that it was you who planted the ruby cuff in her bedchamber.”

“It was not!” Clara said, looking stricken. “I was not pleased that you gave her the sapphires, but that doesn’t mean I would stoop to plant the bracelet in her bedchamber. What I was going to say is that I didn’t see it there.”

Everyone in the room stared at Lady Clara.

“Oh, Clara,” Lady Russell said with a sigh. “How could you?”

“Are you suggesting, Clara,” Con demanded, his voice deceptively calm, “that while Mrs. Mowbray was in Lady Russell’s bedchamber, you searched Mrs. Mowbray’s bedchamber and found nothing—only to be informed some minutes later that the bracelet had been found in Mrs. Mowbray’s bedchamber? And did not see fit to inform the rest of us!”

“Yes,” Clara cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “Yes, that’s precisely what I did, so there is no possible way that Mrs. Mowbray could have stolen the bracelet.”

“I have never been more ashamed of a member of my own family than I am today,” Lady Russell said with tears in her eyes. “And that includes all the terrible times with your uncle, Clara. All that included.”

She held her handkerchief up to her mouth, as if to stop a cry of distress from erupting from her. Unable to let Lady Russell suffer alone, Georgie went to her side and slipped a comforting arm around her. Leading her to a settee, she helped her sit and patted her on the hand as they sat side by side.

“Who was it that first said the bracelet was found in Mrs. Mowbray’s bedchamber?” Isabella asked calmly. “Because it seems to me that it’s that person who is most at fault.” She looked at Lady Clara. “Though there is plenty of blame to attribute to you, my lady, given that you allowed an innocent woman to sustain an accusation that might very well have ended any sort of means for her to earn her own living.”

Lady Russell shook her head miserably. “I simply cannot believe it,” she said again. “When I think of how I treated you when you left, Georgina. When I consider how cold I was to you. You, whom I’ve loved like my own daughter. What a wretched fool I’ve been.”

“Do not think of it for another moment, my lady,” Georgie said to the older woman. “You were deceived. Most horribly.”

“I should hate to be the person who did this,” Con said conversationally to the room at large, “if she should fail to admit as much right now.”

“It was I,” Lydia said, standing up from her chair where she’d been watching the rest of the room’s conversation like a cat at a tennis match. “I found the bracelet in Mrs. Mowbray’s bedchamber. Or rather, I put it there.”

“But why?” Clara demanded of her daughter. “I thought you liked Georgina. As much as you can like anyone, that is. Was it because I complained about the sapphires?”

But Lydia shook her head in denial. “No, Mama, it was not your fault. It was mine. I allowed someone to influence me. A friend, when I should have known better than to be such a fool.”

“A friend?” Clara asked, shocked. “Which friend?”

“Well, not a friend exactly,” Lydia said, looking ashamed. “I received a letter.”

“Of course,” Con said with a groan. Turning to Lydia, he asked, “What did it offer you in exchange for framing Georgina for stealing the bracelet?”

“F-five hundred pounds,” Lydia said, her eyes wide. “How did you know?”

“Let’s just say this person has been practicing his penmanship on some other people in Bath this week,” Con said with disgust.

“Does that mean I won’t be getting the five hundred pounds?” Lydia asked, looking disappointed. “He said nothing about telling the truth later, so I thought I’d still be able to collect it.”

“I simply cannot believe the two of you,” Lady Russell said, looking from Clara to Lydia. “When I think about how I might have been deceived into believing the worst of poor Georgina forever. It’s enough to give one a disgust of one’s own family.”

“Aunt,” Clara said, her expression stricken, “I truly am sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Other than that I was growing a bit jealous of how close you and Mrs. Mowbray had become.”

“I am sorry too, Aunt,” Lydia said, coming to stand close to her mother. “I was going to use some of the five hundred pounds to buy you a truly wonderful birthday present.”

“You are both too much for me to endure at the moment,” Lady Russell said finally, rising from her chair with the assistance of Con and Georgie, looking much older and more tired than she’d appeared at the beginning of the interview. “I thank you for your time, your graces, my lord.”

Assuring Con that she was able to return to her bedchamber on her own, Lady Russell left the room.

When she had gone, Con turned to Clara and Lydia. “I think it will be for the best if you removed yourselves from the house and from Bath altogether.”

Lydia’s brow furrowed. “But what about Aunt Russell’s birthday party?”

With a snort of disgust at her daughter, Clara led her by the arm toward the stairs so that they could retrieve their bags. “What did I say?” she could be heard asking her mother as they hurried away.

Twenty

“Remember,” Con said later that afternoon as he and Georgie arrived at the house in Westgate Buildings where Lowther had been staying. “Look for anything that might tell us who sent him after you.”

“I know,” Georgie said, impatience creeping into her voice. “I hope that you won’t be this nervous once we’re inside. One look at the worry in your face will alert the landlady that there’s something havey-cavey about us.”

Knowing she was right, Con squeezed her hand. It wasn’t so much that he expected one of Lowther’s compatriots to arrive and assault them, but that he didn’t wish her to be involved in any of this business at all. She wasn’t meant to be digging around in rented rooms in Westgate Buildings, no matter how much she might think she was. “You are right, my dear,” he said. “I will school my features to look less worried.”

“Con,” she said with a warning note in her voice, “we agreed that I should come with you because I might be able to recognize handwriting or other clues that would not seem important to you. And vice versa.”

“There was never the possibility of vice versa,” he insisted firmly. “I would never have let you come here alone.”

“I might take objection to that,” she said with asperity, “but I know how uneasy you are. Kindly do not make a habit of thinking yourself capable of ‘letting’ me do anything.”

Grateful his ploy to divert her attention had worked, he nodded. “Of course. I must have misspoken.” Before she could retort, he tucked her hand into his arm and knocked firmly on the door of number 13. “Remember, you’re his sister-in-law.”

“I remember,” Georgie hissed.

Before they could speak further, the door was answered by a large woman in a gray serge gown. She looked them both up and down before saying, “I don’t expect you two will be after a room, then. I ’ope you’re not from them charity folk, for I’ve ’ad my fill ’o them.”