Yes, Maggie had concluded all this to be true since she’d started working for Henry Rivers. He was an absentee father and a cold employer. Though she’d yet to see an example of him being openly cruel, he couldn’t exactly be called forgiving. He had a short temper, and he didn’t accept failure from his staff. That much was clear, because each of them were extremely diligent. Even the nurse, who seemed to have the trickiest position of all. Keeping Alicia from disappearing.
It had been a week since Maggie and Joseph had started working at Radingley. And in that time, the nurse had lost Alicia three times. Usually, she didn’t bring this to the master’s attention, because he was so accustomed to his daughter being missing. But when she was gone for more than a few hours without being found, as she was today, the master had to know.
Maggie pitied the nurse.
She pitied herself.
But most of all, she pitied Henry’s daughter. Alicia was a sweet, bright child, but she liked to make mischief with the nurse. With Maggie, however, Alicia might have been easily mistaken for the least mischievous child in the world.
In the week that had passed, Maggie had spent every session with Alicia trying to get her to speak, or to smile. But Alicia would only look down at her feet, occasionally glancing up at her nurse, who was usually knitting in the corner.
Maggie couldn’t understand it. She was usually so good with children. But this one was clearly resistant to change. All she’d said to Maggie in that past week was, “Can you take me to papa? Nurse won’t take me to papa.”
“I wish I could, Alicia,” Maggie had said. “But I can’t. We can have some fun together though, if you’d like?” She’d try to tempt her with a game, but Alicia wouldn’t engage. She’d just look away, with such awful sadness in her face.
Maggie knew that if she promised her time with her father, Alicia would cooperate and perhaps be an enthusiastic student. But she couldn’t promise her that. She hardly saw Alicia’s father, except in passing from time to time. And when she did, it was always clear that Henry was in a rush somewhere and that he didn’t want to be bothered.
He was an uncaring man, as far as she was concerned.
That day, Maggie hadn’t been lying when Henry had asked her what she was doing in the stable. She had been looking for the nurse and Alicia that morning. She’d been searching for them for hours, when Alfred had brought her a letter.
When Lord Rivers had offered them their jobs, Joseph and Maggie had been forced to move into Radingley. Brambleheath was too far to journey from every day. They didn’t know what their plan was for the future when they left it behind, uninhabited. All they knew was that they didn’t have a choice. Maggie suspected that once their finances were a little bit less dire, Joseph would try to marry her off and seek a wealthy wife for himself. Then he could return to Brambleheath, where he belonged.
Until then, Radingley had to be their home. And she had to admit that, though she missed Brambleheath terribly, Radingley was remarkable. Every day she discovered something new and elusive about it that made her smile.
Since moving to Radingley, Maggie had written to her few friends, who almost exclusively lived abroad, to tell them that she was currently visiting Radingley. She asked them to direct any correspondence there, instead of to Brambleheath. She chose not to tell them the truth of her circumstances. She couldn’t bear for them to know.
When Alfred brought her the letter, she suspected who it might be from before she opened it. She smiled and cut open the envelope. It was surely from Sarah Marrow. Sarah had been her maid before their parents had died.
When they’d realized the extent of their debt, they’d had to dismiss the staff. It had broken Maggie’s heart to send Sarah away. She may have only been a maid, but she’d been her dearest friend. Sarah had decided to go to America, to stay with some family members, and had secured a position in a Duke’s household. The Duke was a peculiar man, who’d left England for America rather abruptly and seemingly on a whim.
Her letter didn’t bring good news.
When she read it, Maggie put a hand over her mouth, and she paled. With a sense of urgency, she went to find Joseph and begged him to speak to her in private. Joseph had always been fond of Sarah Marrow. Too fond, their parents would have said, if they’d known. But Joseph was a marvelous actor, and he’d always managed to evade their suspicion.
Maggie had always known, of course. She’d seen the way they looked at each other. The way Sarah blushed whenever he was within her line of sight.
“What?” He whispered to her, when they’d met in the stable.
Maggie had shown him the letter and watched his face drain of color as he read. “We must do something,” she whispered.
“What can we do?” He’d answered, his voice shaky. “Oh God.”
Joseph had looked like he was about to cry.
Sarah’s letter told the story of the duke she’d been working for. How he’d take the maids into the kitchens at night and do unspeakable things to them. When Sarah had discovered the truth, she’d fled, taking one of the victims with her. Now she was afraid that the duke would find her, and she begged Joseph and Maggie for their help.
“She says she wants to come back to England, but she doesn’t have the money. She can’t stay with her family. He’ll find her there,” Maggie had said, as she touched Joseph’s arm, trying to steady him.
“Who is this duke?”
“She doesn’t give his name.”
“We don’t have anything to send, Maggie. Our wages this week have gone to paying off the debt collectors.”
“Then we’ll have to ask for an advance.”
“From Lord Rivers? Are you mad?”
It was at this moment that Lord Rivers had joined them.
Maggie hadn’t wanted to leave Joseph alone, not with the news she’d just given him. But when Lord Rivers had started interrogating them, and with Alicia missing, she didn’t have a choice but to leave him. They couldn’t raise suspicions, and Maggie didn’t trust Lord Rivers with such sensitive information. Sarah had made it absolutely clear that no one could know.
So now she walked through the gardens, gnawing the inside of her lip, thinking of Sarah. Wondering how she would ask Henry for the advance and dreading his answer.
Chapter 7
Miss Magdalene Riley, Daughter of the Baron of Brambleheath
The hunt went on for several hours and became more intense as time passed. The grounds were extensive, which meant that they regularly had to meet back at the house to discuss where each of them would go next.
When she returned back to the courtyard for the third time, Henry had lost his cool. Given what she’d seen of him so far, she imagined him flying into a rage. And there was certainly some new urgency in his countenance but, when she looked closely, she realized that he was overrun by fear.
“Perhaps she has gone to the gardener’s cottage?” the nurse proposed, in a quiet voice.
“I checked there,” said the gentleman Henry had been riding with.
“We’ll have to go further out,” Henry breathed, his voice sounding unsteady. He was wringing his hands together in front of him, and he had this distant stare. Maggie’s brow furrowed as she looked at him. It was strange to see this side of him. She almost couldn’t believe it was genuine. “Further out into the grounds,” he added.
They all concurred and Maggie made her way out into the grounds again, just as the sun was starting to set. When she reached the end of the one paths, where it merged into woodland, she paused and looked around herself.
She tried to imagine where Alicia would have gone. Where a five year old would want to go. Surely she couldn’t just be wondering around for hours. All that walking, all that distance and isolation… that was bound to frighten a young girl. Which made Maggie think that the girl must have found a place to sit down and hide out.
That’s what Maggie would have done when she was a child.
But what would she have wanted to see?
She sat down on a fallen tree trunk and thought about this for a while. She considered everything she knew of Alicia, but the girl had been so reluctant to share with her that it was tricky to put herself in the girl’s shoes.
Then Maggie recalled a moment just two days earlier, when she’d been trying to inspire Alicia’s interest in geography. She’d shown her a globe and remembered how the girl had pointed at the blue and said, “What’s that?”
“It’s water,” Maggie had said. She’d smiled, because it had been the first time that Alicia had shown any curiosity or interest in learning.
Water.
Every moment that Maggie had to herself since she’d arrived at Radingley had been spent walking these grounds. Though she’d only been here a week, she knew them well. And she knew her favorite spot too. The lake.
If she’d been a young girl wanting to hide from the world that’s where she would have gone. Maggie stood and started walking, keeping her pace brisk. She felt a sudden sense of conviction that she was right. That she’d break out into the clearing and see Alicia by the lake. She was sure of it.
But when Maggie reached the clearing and saw the lake, Alicia wasn’t there. Maggie’s shoulders slackened as her eyes scanned the shoreline. It was only a small lake, very still and clear. Maggie looked up at the sky, seeing that the sun was setting. It was getting a little dark, which worried her enormously. A five year old girl alone in the dark.
At the thought of going back to the estate, Maggie shivered a little. She rubbed at her arms and sat down beside the water. She didn’t want to go back and face Henry’s temperament. Maggie wasn’t exactly frightened of him, but there was certainly something about him that unnerved her. Something about him that made her stomach feel tight and unsteady.
She didn’t want to see him afraid. And she didn’t want to even think about leaving Alicia out here. Her brows drew together and she wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them against her chest. She tried to imagine where else the girl might have gone, when she heard the crack of a branch under someone’s foot.
Maggie sucked in a breath and looked back over her shoulder, towards the woodland she’d come through to reach the late. The trees were cast in so many shadows. In the breeze, the darkness seemed to be swaying. “Hello?” She called, as her heart lurched uncomfortably. “Is there someone there?”
Maggie squinted into the dying light, trying to persuade herself that it had just been a squirrel or a bird. But the hairs on the nape of her neck rose, and she imagined a man cloaked in black stepping through the trees towards her. As that fear manifested, she realized that she didn’t envision that man being Henry. Despite how uneasy their interactions had been, and how unsettled he made her feel, she wasn’t frightened of being hurt by him.
If she was honest with herself, she’d admit that she wished Henry was there with her. She’d feel a great deal safer if he were. That realization surprised her.
No one emerged from the trees, and Maggie expelled a soft breath of relief. But before she turned to look at the lake again, she saw a sudden movement. A movement that couldn’t possibly be an animal. Maggie stood abruptly and took a step back, towards the water.
But what she saw between the trees wasn’t a man.
It was a little girl. It was Alicia. Maggie saw her peek out from behind a tree, then duck back again. Maggie thought of calling out to her, but was worried that the girl would disappear again.
Pursing her lips thoughtfully, Maggie sat back down, slowly. She faced the lake and sat quietly for a long time. Something like ten minutes must have passed before she heard the crack of another branch, closer this time.
She waited.
It was hard not to turn around, but she knew that Alicia could be skittish at times, and Maggie daren’t risk scaring her off. A few minutes later, Maggie saw Alicia emerge out of the corner of her eye. The girl shuffled closer until she was sitting beside Maggie, looking out at the water.
Maggie turned her face and smiled softly. “Hello, Alicia.”
Alicia put her chin on top of her knees, which she was holding against her chest, and smiled a little.
“Are you not cold?”
Alicia shrugged a little, but wouldn’t meet Maggie’s gaze.
Maggie took off her cardigan and wrapped it around Alicia’s shoulders. She put her arm around Alicia and squeezed her against her side. Alicia’s body stiffened a little, but when she felt the warmth of Maggie’s body, she melted like butter. She must have been so tired from walking. And so hungry.
“Is papa very angry?” Alicia whispered, after a long silence.
Maggie felt a pang of sympathy and gently stroked Alicia’s back. “Men get angry when they’re afraid,” Maggie murmured. “So you needn’t let that worry you.”
Alicia tipped her head back and looked up at Maggie. “Papa doesn’t get afraid.”
Maggie smiled and shook her head. “That’s what he’d like you to think.” She touched Alicia’s nose as she said this, which made the girl smile. “When last I saw him, he was shaking with fear.”
“Why?” Alicia asked, with furrowed brows.
“Because he is frightened you might be hurt.”
Alicia blinked, as if this hadn’t occurred to her. “We should go back then,” she said, as she stood. Maggie stood too and put her hand out for Alicia to take.
“That’s a very good idea.”
Alicia looked at Maggie’s hand, as if she wasn’t yet entirely convinced by her. She’d spent the past week keeping Maggie at arm’s length, with obvious wariness. But something had changed between the pair of them now.
Alicia threaded her fingers through Maggie’s. Maggie smiled, squeezed her hand, and they started walking. The walk back to the estate was long, and the darkness deepened. About halfway, when Alicia started lagging, Maggie crouched down and put her arms out.
Alicia draped herself across Maggie’s chest in clear relief. Her cheek rested on Maggie’s shoulder, and her breathing deepened as she dozed.
When Maggie approached the courtyard, with a sleeping Alicia in her arms, the search party had reconvened again. They had lanterns and were scattered around Henry, who was standing extremely still.
When Maggie was close enough to see his face, it reminded her of a specter’s, so fraught and ghostly. She could see the bloodshot whites of his eyes and overheard him ordering Alfred to call an official search party and involve the police. His voice was shaky, explosive and barely coherent.
When he saw Maggie, and the girl she was carrying, his face twisted up as though someone had gutted him with a blade at that very moment. “Alicia.” His daughter’s name spilt from his lips like the sigh of the sea pulling away from the shore.
He crossed the distance between them in fast, long strides. The sight of him practically running at her gave her a strangely intense feeling that she couldn’t describe. And when his hands curved around Alicia’s small body, they brushed her ribs and her inner arms. The warmth of him on her cold skin made her shiver.
The girl came awake in his arms, still swaddled in Maggie’s cardigan. Henry put her down on the ground and crouched in front of her. He held her upper arms in his hands and gave her a small shake.
“Where the devil have you been?” His voice was hoarse and urgent. His teeth were bared, but Alicia didn’t flinch.
“Lord Rivers-” Maggie said, as she stepped forwards, feeling a sudden urge to protect the girl from his anger. But before she could come any closer, Henry flashed her a fatal look.
“Well?” He snapped, turning his gaze back to his daughter. “I have asked you a question. Where have you been?”
Alicia just stared at him through sleepy eyes. Then after a moment, she touched his cheek with her hand and said, “It’s okay, papa. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
Henry blinked, and his face slackened. He looked up at Maggie, with a small furrow of confusion between his brows. When Maggie saw the surprise in his face, it made her smile in amusement. In
an effort to keep him from seeing, she lowered her face and shifted her hand so that it covered her mouth.
Henry parted his lips to say something more, but nothing came. It was clear that he’d wanted to shout at Alicia, but she’d stolen the wind from his sails. Because Henry had been afraid. Desperately afraid. And he’d been called out on it by a five year old girl.
Expelling a gruff breath, he picked Alicia up and held her against his broad chest. She looked so small against him. “I think it’s about time we all retired. Alfred, have the cook bring Alicia some dinner in bed.” He then turned to face his gentleman friend. “Thank you for assisting in the search, Jeremy. I suggest that you spend the night, given the lateness of the hour.”
The gentleman, Jeremy, inclined his head. When Henry turned to walk back to the house, Maggie caught the man looking at her. His expression was oddly calm, given how dramatic the past few hours had been.
Title Sinful Tales of Desirable Ladies Page 63