by Ella Edon
All he wanted to do after helping the stable lads move the bodies onto a cart, so they could be taken away, was hide away in his room and not have to interact with anyone. Unfortunately, Levington had come into the room and told him that he needed to dress for dinner.
Apparently, even though he was an unwanted guest, Alexander had to be present at dinner. Of course, at the table as far away from Jane as possible.
If they wanted him to keep away from Jane, it was best to leave Alexander to have meals in his room, not dangle her in front of him and not expect him to be tempted. It just made him want her more.
But, Alexander wasn’t about to get on Lord Crawley’s bad side. At least, not more than he was already. He was going to have to go to dinner, take a deep breath, and just eat. Maybe he could talk to Robert. The second son was, essentially, left alone. Lord Crawley talked to his wife and Lord Tiverton, keeping a close eye on Jane and ignoring Robert. Perhaps if they were down at one end of the table, they could have a conversation.
He could only hope.
Begrudgingly, Alexander got himself ready for dinner. Levington was helping, but he didn’t appear to be focused on his work. He kept making simple mistakes, dropping things and not looking Alexander in the eye. It was confusing. Alexander didn’t think he had been that unkind towards his temporary valet. He and Levington appeared to have gotten along.
Or so he thought.
“Levington?” Alexander asked after the servant dropped his cufflinks, sending them scattering across the table and onto the floor.
“Yes, sir?”
“Are you all right? You’re a little...agitated.”
Levington’s face went bright red and he started to scramble for the cufflinks, nearly knocking over the table.
“I’m perfectly well, Mr. Harrison.”
“You don’t appear to be.” Alexander frowned. “I’ve not seen you like this.”
“I…” Levington hesitated. Then he sighed and shrugged. “I suppose I’m just trying to recover from the shock. It’s not every day that we end up with three dead bodies in close proximity.”
“I can imagine.” Alexander held out his hand. “Give me the cufflinks. I’ll do them.”
“I can do…”
“We’ll be here all night if you try to fix them for me. I’m not completely inept.”
Levington bit his lip, and then he dropped the cufflinks into Alexander’s hand. Alexander began to fasten up his cuffs, glancing at the valet.
“You knew Rosemary Wray well, then?”
“I did. She was like a mother figure to a lot of the younger staff here. So kind and thoughtful.” Levington looked like he was about to cry, but kept himself together. “Whenever one of us was unwell or we were upset, she was the first one there to look after us. She was a wonderful woman.”
Alexander had heard that from all the servants today. Nobody had a bad word to say against her. Even the stroppy housekeeper and the grumpy butler had soft spots for her.
“Sounds like Rosemary left a lasting impression.”
“She did.” Levington sighed. “I’m going to miss her.”
Alexander grunted and fastened one cuff.
“What about Miss White and Mr. Elliott?” he asked, switching to his other cuff. “Are they going to be missed?”
“Certainly. Mr. Elliott was a good man, and a good physician. And Miss White was a godsend for anyone who’s had a baby in the last twenty-five years. They certainly made me have faith in the medical profession again.”
“I didn’t realize there was a lack of faith in medicine around here.”
“There was when I was a child. About twenty years ago.” Levington shuddered. “The physician before Mr. Elliott, Mr. Ransome, was not very nice. He had some...obscure and dangerous ways of making people better. I don’t think he followed the usual conventions. It killed a lot of people, my little brother included, and all he had was a cough.”
Alexander blinked. He knew that medicine could be temperamental in certain areas of the country if the physicians weren’t trained properly, but he had no idea that people were dying because of these dangerous practices. He had only known the best-trained physicians and surgeons, not the other side of the coin.
“I...I had no idea,” Alexander murmured. “Did no one complain?”
“No. They didn’t think anyone would believe them, seeing as the last physician was very well-connected. After one of the ladies at Crawley was…” Levington stopped himself and cleared his throat. “Well, there was an incident twenty years ago involving the family, and Lord Crawley went after the physician. All the blame was placed at his door, and he was run out of town. Mr. Elliott was in training at the time, and that was when he took over.” The valet then gathered Alexander’s coat and helped Alexander put it on. “You’d better get downstairs. Dinner will be ready any moment.”
Alexander was silent as he was helped into his coat. He had noticed the way Levington had stopped suddenly at the mention of one of the ladies at Crawley. Had something happened to her? It couldn’t have been Jane, she wouldn’t have been born then, surely. It could have been Lady Crawley. Or, had something happened to his aunt Elizabeth twenty years ago? But she was living in Ireland at the time, so it couldn’t have been her.
Who did he mean? And what was going on?
Chapter Thirteen
Alexander was still trying to figure out what Levington had been talking about as he made his way downstairs. Something had happened to a lady twenty years ago, and that had resulted in a physician being run out of town. It wasn’t Lady Crawley, and his aunt wouldn’t have been in Surrey. As far as Alexander was aware, she hadn’t been back to see her family in several years at that point.
This left Jane and she was just twenty. Perhaps something had happened at her birth and Jane had almost died. That could be the reason Lord Crawley had been so angry, if he almost lost a child due to incompetence. That was the only thing Alexander could think of from Levington’s slip.
But it still didn’t make sense. Something wasn’t right, and Alexander had a gut feeling that something much bigger than a physician almost killing a member of Lord Crawley’s family was going on.
Was the Earl of Crawley really behind this? Would that explain Megan White’s death if she was involved? If that was the case, would what had happened result in someone wanting to kill them twenty years later? Maybe Mr. Ransome had come back vowing revenge.
That didn’t make sense, either. The physician was more than likely dead by now, and he wouldn’t have waited twenty years.
Alexander’s head was hurting from attempting to figure it out. He reached the bottom of the stairs and was crossing the foyer to the drawing room when he heard someone bark his name behind him.
“Harrison.”
Alexander turned. Anthony Malcolm was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, and a dark scowl on his face. Alexander sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for another confrontation. Lord Crawley was bad enough without going toe-to-toe with his son. The two men were so much alike.
“Lord Tiverton.” Alexander did his best to act pleasant as he approached the older gentleman. “What can I do for you?”
Lord Tiverton looked Alexander up and down with a sneer. It was like being back in his first London Season and trying to impress people in his supposed social circle.
“I don’t like that you’re here,” Lord Tiverton growled. “And I don’t like the fact that you’re hanging around my little sister.”
Alexander sighed and folded his arms. This again.
“Oh. So, I’m going to be getting a warning from you as well, am I?”
“We all know of your reputation, Mr. Harrison. It isn’t something that can be kept a secret.” Lord Tiverton arched an eyebrow. “For someone so young, you’ve really made a name for yourself.”
“What I do in my private life is none of your business.”
“I believe that it is.” Lord Tiverton pushed himself off the wall, drawing himself
up to his full height, making Alexander take a step back before they bumped chests. “My father tried to warn you off her before, and it doesn’t seem to have sunk in. So, I’m going to do it now.”
“Are you?”
“I am.” The Viscount’s lip curled in a snarl. “Jane is not one of those women you want seduce into bed, and she is not the sort to be associated with you.”
Alexander snorted.
“So, just who is she supposed to be associated with? Stuffed shirts like you and your father where we’re told to do exactly what you want. Jane wouldn’t cope with that lifestyle, and you know it.”
“Don’t pretend to know what my sister would cope with.”
“I’ve learned a lot more about her in two days than you have in her whole life,” Alexander shot back. “Because I actually talk to her like a person, not a child. Besides,” he added with a sly grin, “At least while we’re all stuck here until we find out who killed those three people, she will have someone her age to talk to.”
Lord Tiverton looked like he was about to explode. He bared his teeth and jabbed a finger in Alexander’s face.
“You need to keep away from her. I won’t have you around Jane.”
“I think that’s up to Jane to decide, isn’t it?”
Lord Tiverton snorted. “After what’s happened with her lately, it’s not up to her to decide anything. Keep your hands to yourself, Harrison.”
Then he stormed past Alexander, knocking hard into his shoulder. Behind them, the door to the drawing room was opening, and Lord and Lady Crawley were coming into the hall, closely followed by Rachel, Jane and Robert. The Earl and Countess gave Lord Tiverton and Alexander odd looks, but they didn’t comment. Instead, the Viscount gave them a curt nod before falling into step behind them.
Alexander sighed and rubbed his shoulder. This was going to be a long evening.
He was right. He was in for a very long evening. At the dining room table, the family sat at one end of the table, while Alexander was pushed to the other end on his own. Well, not entirely on his own. Rachel was also there, stabbing at her food like it had done her a personal wrong. She wouldn’t look Alexander in the eye, and she ate her dinner with a bright red face.
Alexander couldn’t blame her for being angry. He wasn’t impressed with the situation, either. He found himself glancing down the table at Jane, who was sitting quietly beside her brother Robert, not contributing to the conversation between Lord Tiverton and Lord Crawley. She did glance down at him a few times, giving him a small smile, but then Lady Crawley sharply got her attention and told her to eat her dinner. Jane didn’t argue.
Alexander could tell she didn’t want to be there. He wanted to stand up and go to her, ask if she wanted to go elsewhere while her family talked, but he knew that if he so much as tried to converse with Jane that he would be forced out of the room.
Hopefully, Lee would be able to find the killer soon. Alexander was going to go mad if he stayed here for too much longer.
As soon as everyone had finished eating, Alexander stood and left the room. He had suffered through dessert, and the tension in the room was unbearable. Right now, he just wanted to be left alone.
This was going to be harder than he thought. Alexander wished he had left as soon as he dropped Jane at her door that first night, and had taken a room in town. Then he wouldn’t be here feeling like he was the criminal.
Then again, Jane would be on her own. She wouldn’t have him on her side. He probably was not the best person to be on her side, but Alexander had made a promised his uncle. He wasn’t about to break it.
Alexander decided to head into the library. It was quiet in there, and the family would withdraw to the drawing room. They wouldn’t come to this part of the house, he hoped. He could be left alone for a while. Maybe he could do some reading. Alexander had developed a love for reading when he was younger, and he liked to sneak a book into his luggage whenever he could. Practically all of his books were first editions, and Alexander took a lot of pride in having them on display in his home in London. They were a temporary escape from the life he had brought upon himself, a lifestyle he hadn’t expected to adopt and one he couldn’t get out of.
Not yet, anyway. Alexander knew it would be difficult to change his ways and make people believe he had changed, but he could do it. He just needed the right incentive.
As the day had moved on and Alexander found himself sitting in Jane’s bedchamber, watching her sleep, he had been beginning to think that he had found the perfect incentive.
Jane was humbling to listen to once she talked some sense. She had figured him out pretty quickly. Alexander had never told anyone what had happened between him and Nicole, or why he was such a cad. It was something he had inadvertently adopted, and then he had to carry it on. Lots of sex could be fun, but lots of sex with lots of women could also get incredibly boring.
What would it be like to have sex - make love - with just one person? One special person? Alexander was willing to find out. That is, if he could bring himself to take that next step.
His hands drifted across the books, feeling the stiff, cool spines under his fingertips. This was a library that he could only dream of. The Earl of Crawley and his family were certainly big readers, and their range of books was enormous. Alexander could spend days in here and never get bored.
If he wasn’t helping Lee, maybe he would be able to lose himself in books here. Or take a few to go upstairs to his room. The Earl couldn’t be upset about that, could he?
“I thought I might find you here.”
Alexander jumped and spun around. Robert had entered the room and he hadn’t noticed. Alexander righted himself and shrugged. “It was getting a little too tense at dinner. I didn’t want to cause any further arguments.”
“I don’t blame you. It was getting a little stifling.” Robert closed the door and crossed the room. “Father and Anthony are strange creatures. They tend to dislike outsiders. Especially young gentlemen who have a reputation they disapprove of.”
“I’m their living nightmare,” Alexander grunted. “Do they approve of anything?”
“Only on their terms,” Robert chuckled. “It takes a while to figure out what those terms are, though.”
“I take it you’ve been on the receiving end of their judgement before. I did notice that you weren’t getting too involved with the conversations.”
Robert shrugged and spread his hands. “I was a lot like you when I was your age, believe it or not. I had a rakish opinion on everything, thought nobody could touch me because of who my father was. He was furious that I chose to bring shame on the family.”
“You were a little rebellious, then.”
“More than a little bit,” Robert assured him. “I suppose that’s why I sympathize with you. Been there before. It can be painful, even when you’ve vowed yourself not to be part of that lifestyle years later.”
Alexander could imagine. Even though Robert didn’t seem to care about it, he was being sidelined a little by his father and brother. That had to hurt, even just a bit. But he appeared to be quite content with himself right now, so maybe it was just a case of living with the situation for so long that he was used to feeling a certain way.
“How did you stop?” Alexander asked. “What made you stop being such a scoundrel?”
Robert paused. His smile faded a little, and he looked slightly pensive. He sighed and shrugged. “I guess I just did. Especially when Judith died.”
“Was Judith the lady you loved?”
That would make sense if Robert found a lady to love and then she died. That would certainly straighten anyone out. Or put them on a path of destruction. Nicole hadn’t died, but she had certainly put Alexander down the second path.
Robert paused for a moment. Then he stepped around Alexander. “Come with me.”
Confused, Alexander followed him through a door at the far end of the room. This brought them into a dimly lit gallery that ran along the back of the
house. It looked like a secluded area, intimate. Perfect for assignations. Why was he even thinking of that? Alexander pushed the thought to one side. Now was not the time.
There was a huge painting hung up on the wall. It was the only painting in the whole gallery. Robert stopped in front of it, Alexander slowing beside him.
“This is kept out of the way as Mother and Father are unable to look at it without getting emotional.”