Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey, page 4
Phoebe jumped as if she had been pinched, her eyes widening. “Why, yes.”
Juliana ran her finger along the arm of the sofa, the bend of her lip contrary to her conciliatory tone. “I daresay you shall be equally pleased to meet my fiancé. The gentlemen are due to return from a short hunting expedition at any moment. And then, naturally, you will need to be introduced to everyone else who has come for the wedding. It is curious that none of my friends knew who you were. At least, they had never seen you at Almack’s during the season.”
I cringed. I hadn’t received vouchers to Almack’s in years. Of course, Juliana probably already knew that. I clasped my hands at my waist. Perhaps it was a good thing that Adrian’s eldest daughter would be departing at the close of the week. She was shrewd, yes, quite shrewd. Yet she had probably seen very little of the world. In many ways, she reminded me of a younger version of myself. The thought rankled, but I measured my response as my cousin Sybil would have done in the same situation. “I shall look forward to meeting all of your guests.”
Adrian touched my arm. “Yes, thank you, Juliana. I shall be pleased to introduce your new mama to the party tomorrow, but as I stated in my letter, she has been in a terrible accident and must not be kept up for much longer.”
Adrian helped me to a seat by the fire to await the preparation of my room as Phoebe hurried to bring me a hot cup of tea. My shoulders relaxed as the warm, floral aroma filled my nose, and I looked about. Middlecrest’s drawing room was a pleasant one with muted purple hues and thick brocade curtains. Juliana’s selections? Possibly.
The girls found adjoining seats on the long sofa and watched me with a mix of interest and caution until Phoebe sprang to life, agog with questions about our courtship.
“Won’t you please tell us where you met?” and “How long did you know one another?” was followed by Adrian’s lively version of our “love story.” Apparently we met by accident at an inn, and he was immediately smitten—not far from the truth, at least the inn part, but there was no mention of our recent highway robbery.
Phoebe’s curls bounced as she spoke. “Is that why you have been sneaking out of the house at all hours, Papa? How romantic.”
I looked up at Adrian only to be silenced with a diverting glance. He’d cleverly leaned against the fireplace mantel where he could watch me out of the corner of his eye, his arms folded neatly across his chest. Goodness, he was handsome. I was forced to steady my heart once again. He was amused, that was certain, but I wouldn’t allow it.
I raised my voice. “It was not clandestine if that is what you imply.”
Adrian coughed back a laugh. “Not at all.” Then he sobered all too quickly. “I simply knew how irretrievably lost I was the moment I saw her. Elizabeth and I decided it would be senseless to wait any longer. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.”
Juliana raised her chin, her next words layered in ice. “Yet the scheduling of this liaison was a bit odd, would you not agree, Papa?” No one could have missed the glance she tossed at my stomach, and I shrank back against the cold chair.
Adrian lowered his arms, the undertone of his voice suddenly callous. “You surprise me, Juliana—”
Footsteps reverberated in the hall, followed by the music of voices and laughter, which saved Adrian from completing his sentence. Juliana’s face brightened, and she pushed to her feet. “Never mind, Papa. The gentlemen have returned.”
Within seconds, a tall, lanky man strolled through the door, his skin flush from the spring air, his jacket a bit dusty. Before he ever bothered to assess the rest of us, his eyes focused in on Juliana and a bright smile overtook his features. Yet, when he peered over at me, the astonishment in his face echoed my own. “Why, Miss Cantrell! What a surprise to find you here.”
He strode across the room, and I rose to greet him. “Giles.”
Adrian drew up behind me. “You are already acquainted with my wife?”
“Indeed, I am.” Giles’s eyes widened, his smile doing likewise. “Your wife? Well, that’s famous. Famous, indeed. Miss Cant—er, I suppose I mean Lady Torrington. We know each other quite well. We spent several fine summers together as children. Well, not exactly children, I suppose.”
I couldn’t stop the heat that stormed into my cheeks. He’d made our innocent play sound as if the two of us were involved somehow. And after what Juliana had implied, I could have hit him. Goodness, it was my cousin Evie he had always cared for, not me. I stole a glance at Adrian, hoping the comment had gone unnoticed, but he had cleverly turned away. Considering Isaac did not have a father publicly, I certainly did not want anyone to think—
Giles took my hand, clearly missing the awkward exchange. “I assume you’ve heard the news about Miss Radcliff’s and my betrothal, but I know nothing of you. Tell me everything. How is Lucius? I’ve not seen him around town in months.”
Great, another person unaware of my brother’s absolute betrayal and his arrest for smuggling. My favorite topic of conversation.
I took a deep breath. “Lucius is in Newgate at present.”
His mouth fell open. “You don’t say.”
My shoulders felt heavy. “He was caught smuggling goods to France.”
Adrian was no doubt aware of Lucius’s misdeeds, or perhaps he noticed my discomfiture, for he routed the conversation at once. Thankfully the discussion turned to Giles and Juliana’s wedding, and I was spared the uncomfortable conversation of explaining my brother’s fall from grace. It wasn’t long until Mrs. Coombs arrived to announce the readiness of my room.
Astute to my headache or more than likely ready for an escape, Adrian begged our leave at once and headed to the door. Giles, however, delayed me near the fireplace. It was almost as if he had been waiting for just the right moment to speak with me without being heard by the others. Juliana had moved to the far side of the room, but I could feel her eyes bearing down on us.
“Elizabeth, I—”
I shook my head. “Tomorrow, Giles. I am not well.”
His voice was a mix of necessity and resolve. “Dash it all, Elizabeth. You cannot know what it means to me that you are here. There is something I simply must discuss with you.” He paused to look back at the room. “Perhaps you are right. Tomorrow then, but it’s terribly important, mind you, and I’m not certain whom I can trust. Juliana is a good girl, but I don’t want to burden her so close to the wedding.” He dipped his chin. “Your sudden arrival is nothing short of a godsend.” He moved in close. “Tomorrow, after the garden party, meet me in the south woods behind the rear wall. Will you promise to come?”
My chest tightened. “But why?”
He shuffled in place as his glare settled on Adrian and the door. “Can’t say right now. Just please, tell me I’ll find you in the woods after the party.” There was a palpable urgency to his words.
I nodded slowly and then quickly as if to reassure him, but a fresh wave of anxiety washed across my arms. As if to appease me like he’d done as a child, he nudged my chin before walking away, leaving me to gather my nerves before facing my new husband.
Slowly, I turned back to Adrian with a smile fixed neatly across my face, but I knew in my heart that whatever Giles meant to tell me I did not want to hear.
Chapter 4
The housekeeper was right to cringe at Adrian’s room selection. Though the bedding had been replaced and the room hurriedly gone over, I could sense the depressed state of the blue bedchamber. It was almost as if the furniture itself had retreated to the room to be lost and forgotten.
A slender wardrobe hid behind the poster bed, an empty desk sat to the side, and a settee was angled perfectly beside the newly lit fire in the fireplace. Yet it all felt cold somehow, as if hovering beneath the watchful eyes of the powder-blue printed walls.
I had slept a few hours at least, yet I hardly felt rested after waking to the distant sound of dogs barking beyond the walls. The gray haze of late afternoon had taken over the lonely room. Eventually I rose, crossed the well-laid carpet, and thrust open a pair of heavy chintz drapes. Far below, Juliana and Giles strolled the front lawn as Phoebe dutifully trailed behind, busy amusing two large foxhounds. I watched them until something alerted the dogs, and the happy group headed out of view.
It seemed a long time before I stepped away from the glass and retreated into the silence of my thoughts. I had been isolated many times in my life, but this forced intimacy with a family of strangers did nothing to relieve the tightness in my chest. I moved quickly to tidy my dress and hair. Isaac would be missing me by now.
Earlier in the day, Adrian showed me to my room to rest; however, he had only indicated the direction of the nursery. While I was certain many would be willing to guide me, I set out unescorted down the wide hallway from my room in the family wing.
Floor-length windows lit my path on one side while large paintings of men stared at me from the other. Adrian’s family, no doubt, and a stern lot at that. I rounded the corner and heard a cluster of giggles, which to my delight I knew could only belong to my son. I followed the laughter down a narrow corridor, all the way to an open door.
There in the center of the rug stood Isaac, quite pleased to have pushed himself into a standing position, one hand grasping the rim of a tiny table. A young maidservant knelt at his side and smiled.
“I think you look quite smart, Master Isaac. What a wonder you are at only eleven months old.” She gave his tummy a tickle, and he laughed once again.
It was only a moment before he saw me lingering in the doorway, and an immense grin spread across his face. He plopped to the floor, crawling as fast as his little knees and pudgy hands would allow. I met him halfway and scooped him into my arms before giving him a flurry of kisses.
“My lady.” The maid curtsied then smiled. “Ah, what a good lad you have there. He has been showing me all the things he knows how to do.”
“Did you hear that, Isaac? She thinks you are brilliant.” I rubbed his nose with my own, drinking in his scent before turning back to the waiting maid. “I must thank you for looking after him so well.”
“It has been my pleasure.”
“And you are?”
“Forgive me. I’m Miss Alice Barton, my lady.”
Isaac appeared rested and quite recovered from our little adventure. He wriggled in my arms, and I set him back on the floor. “Isaac is a busy boy these days. No time for his mama.” I took a moment to glance about the room. “Will you be the one who is to look after him every day?”
“Oh yes. Well, only till you employ a head nurse and she agrees to my help, of course.”
“I see.” Lazily, I ran my finger across a book of poems on the table. “Finding a head nurse will be a difficult process, I’m afraid, for Isaac was quite close to his last one.” I sighed. “She was like a member of the family and so good with him.”
“I understand. Long ago, my mother was head nurse here at Middlecrest. She was always quite particular with ‘her boys,’ as she called them.”
“You grew up on the estate?”
“I did, your ladyship. And I assure you, there’s no other place like it. Life took me away for a short time, and I was never more glad to come back. No other place would feel like home to me.”
Tension ebbed from my muscles as I regarded Isaac playing on the floor. My darling boy was in good hands. “You seem to have put Isaac at ease after a difficult time. I thank you for that.”
“Isaac and I have had a grand afternoon. In fact, I was just thinking it time to head to the kitchens to arrange his supper. Does he have a schedule you’d like me to follow? It might assist with the transition.”
I nodded. “Certainly. Allow me to pen it out for you, as I assume there will be several nursemaids watching over him in the coming days.” I started across the room, then hesitated. “You do read, Miss Barton?”
“Oh, yes, my lady.”
“Wonderful. Have you a quill pen?”
She scurried past a slew of Isaac’s luggage to a desk before motioning me over to the seat. I settled in the chair before reaching into Isaac’s little brown bag where I knew I had a few pieces of scratch paper. Securing a loose page, I took prodigious care to pen out Isaac’s daily routine.
Waking time, eating time, nap time, playtime, bedtime.
Miss Barton watched as I finished the last line with eight o’clock. “There now. Where shall we put it?”
She scanned the room. “Oh dear. I’ve never been a nursery maid before. Wherever you think is best.”
I followed her searching gaze to a blank space on top of a dresser and left the schedule there. “This shall do nicely. It will keep everyone informed of my expectations.”
“Yes, my lady, and don’t you worry. I’ll do my best to see the little master taken care of.”
“Thank you, Miss Barton. It is a great relief to leave him in your capable hands.” I turned to the door, all too aware I couldn’t hide in the nursery forever, not on my first day at Middlecrest, not when Adrian and I had so much to discuss and there were people I had to meet.
My stomach clenched at the thought. How many guests had come for the wedding? And more importantly, how many would I have to deceive?
* * *
“But what shall we do?”
I heard Phoebe’s gentle voice from the hall, a few steps before the sitting room doorway. Her question was immediately followed by Juliana’s swift words.
“There is nothing to be done now. Father made his choice without even consulting us. I suppose we must live with the ramifications. Well, you must live with them. I have never been happier to be departing in a few days.”
I stood in the shadow of the wall as the ugly truth dawned. It seemed Adrian’s daughters had gathered for a meeting about their new mama. I knew full well I shouldn’t remain hidden, but I desperately needed to know what I would be dealing with in the coming weeks—even if their words proved painful.
Phoebe spoke next, her voice much more conciliatory. “But with Papa in love, I don’t believe he would bother asking what we thought. After all this time, don’t you think his sudden attachment romantic?”
“Ha.” Juliana gave a harsh laugh. “Is that what you think? That they are in love? I don’t believe it for a second. Did you see the way she flinched before taking his arm? I would never act that way around Giles. I cannot help but think something is going on that we are not aware of.”
So, I had indeed failed Adrian’s request. Figures. Intimacy with him would not come easily. Not after Brook.
Phoebe piped up. “Perhaps she is only shy. I thought—”
“Not everyone is a mouse like you, darling,” Juliana said. “And I don’t find her the least bit shy. Conniving more like.”
“Why do you say that?” I could hear the disappointment in Phoebe’s voice.
Juliana’s tone dropped as if she spoke between her teeth. I had to take a step forward in order to make out what she was saying. “. . . that son of hers. I have it on good authority that she has never been married.”
I pressed my eyes shut, my shoulders heavy with the mistakes of my past, waiting for the inevitable condemnation. I’d heard it a thousand times before. Trollop. Wanton. Bird-of-paradise. The names I’d been called were never far from decent people’s lips.
Phoebe broke the silence. “Then who do you suppose is the poor dear’s father?”
“Wouldn’t we all like to know?” I heard light footsteps within the room, and Juliana began again. “I thought it only right to ask Giles that very question this afternoon, but he is uncertain. She’s had several seasons, mind you . . . and several admirers. I don’t know what Papa was thinking bringing a woman like that into this house. The scandal will surely follow her to Middlecrest. I’m only glad everything between Giles and me is firmly settled. But for you . . .”
Phoebe’s voice shook. “Are you implying that Father’s marriage might have an impact on my upcoming season?”
Juliana’s answer was sharp and quick. “That is precisely what I’m saying. How could it not when there is so much more you don’t even know? Giles’s mother swore me to secrecy, but I daresay you should be made aware of the whole. You are the one who must live with it, in any case. I would be remiss as a sister to withhold such vital information.” She paused. “What I am about to tell you does not leave this room. Do you understand?”
I tipped my head back against the wall. Fanny Harris, Giles’s mother, was at Middlecrest as well and already running her wide mouth. How different she had always been from her kindhearted son. My feet itched to flee down the hall, to take the first stagecoach bound for Dover. How could I live in Adrian’s house knowing what his daughters had decided about me?
My toes curled in my half boots as Juliana’s next words splashed a fresh dose of embarrassment and disgust over my wounded pride. Yet what did she say that wasn’t true?
“You heard earlier that our new mama’s only brother is a prisoner in Newgate, having been caught smuggling goods to France. As if that wasn’t bad enough, years ago their illustrious parents died a pair of debtors, leaving their children to attempt to gamble their way back into solvency.”
One gasp, then a second echoed, each hitting my ears like a musket ball. Slowly, I retreated from the door, nursing the emotional wound that never seemed to heal. The ghosts of my past had set up residence in my new home before I even arrived. Would I ever be rid of them?
I crept back up the grand staircase and stumbled down the hall of the family wing, certain that time alone would prove the best medicine for my battered soul. Steps from my closed doorway I felt the callous eyes of the corridor’s darkened corners, followed by a sudden puff of shifting air. A flash of unease filled my chest, and I cast a quick glance behind me. Had someone followed me? Surely not. The conversation I overheard had only set me on edge, nothing more. I looked over my shoulder once again. No one was there.
Fighting the niggling fear that I was being watched, I thrust open my bedchamber door and escaped into the sanctity of my room—yes, my room. The wretched blue bedchamber with its sparse furniture and lonely walls. I collapsed against the door’s hard wood, realizing too late there was really no escape from my mind.
