A Mysterious Quest 0f A Seductive Lady (Regency Historical Romance)

by Lucinda Nelson

  They showed him the gold cufflink with the initials. “My lord, what can you tell us about this cufflink, please?” Caroline asked.

  The man placed the cufflink in a glass, took a magnifier, and closely studied the details of the small gold piece.

  “It seems to have been made for a prominent gentleman. It is of a rare design, something that is only made upon request by fine gentlemen of society.”

  “So, does that mean you know who owns it?” Caroline asked. Magnolia stood quietly, watching and listening.

  “Of course not,” the man replied. “It will take some time before I could learn who owns this. There is no way to know how many men might have something like this.”

  Magnolia sighed. “Are you saying there is no way to find out the owner?”

  The man frowned and looked at them suspiciously. “May I know where you found this?”

  Both ladies stared at each other, but Magnolia quickly responded. “We found it on the floor of a ballroom, at a party we attended last night. We know the owner must be looking for it and so we thought we should find him if we could.”

  Mr. Gulliver relaxed and went back to the magnifier. “In about a week, I should say, I should have come up with a list of prominent men that use such.”

  “Wonderful!” Magnolia cried excitedly.

  “We shall pay you handsomely well for your effort,” Caroline remarked.

  * * *

  Adam Avery, the Earl of Strickland

  “Here we are,” Richard said as the carriage stopped across from Mr. Gulliver’s shop. “Perhaps you could also make something nice for yourself.”

  “Oh, no!” replied Adam. “I do not like drawing attention to myself.” He turned to open the door of the carriage but stopped on seeing Magnolia and Caroline coming out of the goldsmith’s shop.

  “What are those two doing here?” Richard asked. “And why are they talking with Gulliver the goldsmith? How do they even know him?”

  Adam had no answer to his question, but he knew something was very wrong.

  “Why do you just sit and stare?” asked Richard. “Why do not you go ahead and talk to her?”

  “No,” Adam said. “I am hoping she will tell me what she came here to do when she gets home.”

  The two women got into their carriage and left, while Gulliver returned to his shop where the two men were already waiting for him.

  “My lords,” the man said, bowing excitedly. “It is good to see you again, Lord Waterston, and you too, Lord Avery. It has been a long time.”

  “Thank you, Gulliver,” Richard replied. “Can you tell us what those two ladies were here for?”

  “Oh – you mean Miss Caroline Johnson and her friend?”

  “Yes, please,” replied Adam.

  “They brought this,” Gulliver replied, showing them the gold cufflink. “They said they found it on the floor of a ballroom and would like to know who owns it. So, I promised to come up with a list of the prominent men who might have such a fine piece in a week’s time.”

  Both Adam and his friend exchanged glances, with Adam trying hard to suppress the disappointment building up in him. What was she doing with a cufflink, and where had she really found it? What ballroom? Why would she choose to hide it from him at all?

  “So . . . how may I help you, my lord?” Gulliver finally asked.

  “I shall be in the carriage,” Adam replied, and left the shop, ignoring Richard as he called his name.

  Adam opened the door of the carriage and sat down, fuming.

  “You must calm down,” Richard said, hastily climbing in after him. “She may tell you when you get home.”

  “What ballroom, Richard? You and I both know that was a lie. She must have found it yesterday evening in the library, while telling me she found nothing. No wonder she asked me to go home, saying she wanted to spend time with her aunt. It was all a lie!”

  “You must calm yourself,” his friend warned. “Go home and give your wife some time to bring it up herself. If she does not, then you can bring it up. But again: You must be calm about the whole affair. She must have a reason for hiding it from you.”

  “Well, we shall see.”

  * * *

  Later that evening, Magnolia returned home, and Adam made a point of behaving as though nothing had happened.

  “Aunt Dorothy is much better,” she said, walking to the bed and climbing on it. “She said the man attacked her, but she couldn’t see his face.”

  Adam said nothing, pretending to be deeply buried in the book in his hands.

  “Are you even listening to me?”

  “Of course, dear,” he responded. “I am glad that she is all right. We must be more careful.” Adam closed the book and straightened up. “So, did you tell Caroline?”

  Magnolia nodded, resting her head on his chest. “Yes, I did. She spent all day with me.”

  “That means you two spent that time indoors?”

  She frowned. “Yes, something like that.”

  “So, you did not go anywhere today?”

  “No. We had to spend as much time as needed with my aunt. We could not just leave her and go out.”

  “So, you did not go out at all . . . not even, by chance, to stop at a goldsmith’s shop today?”

  Magnolia raised her head to look at him. “What did you say?”

  “Oh, you heard me. Did you or did you not go to Gulliver’s workshop today?”

  She was quiet and then shut her eyes. “I am sorry you had to find out, Adam. But there was a reason I hid the cufflink from you.”

  Adam sighed, and folded his arms. “I am listening. I’d like to know why you chose to lie to me and hide that from me. You also went to the goldsmith behind my back. I would like to know why you had to do that! But – ”

  He stopped and looked away from her. “It does not matter. From today on, you will have nothing to do with this investigation!”

  “You cannot tell me to stop, Adam!” she cried.

  “I am doing this for your safety!” he shouted.

  “And I can take care of myself. Stop treating me like a child!”

  “I have said what I wished to say, and that is final!”

  “No, that’s not final, Adam. You cannot tell me what I should and should not do!”

  Adam didn’t wait any longer but got up and walked out of the room, slamming the door after him. He walked down the stairs and met his mother down on the first floor.

  “Adam,” she said, “when is this constant disagreement going to end between you and your wife?”

  He sighed. “She does not understand me, Mother. All I want is her safety, but she’s so stubborn!”

  “Adam…”

  “Not now, Mother. Please. I need some time alone.” With that, he walked out of the house.

  * * *

  The Dowager Countess of Strickland

  For weeks, Elizabeth had been listening to every disagreement between her son and his wife. She had always chosen to ignore it, thinking they would soon outgrow it.

  But they never did. As a matter of fact, it worsened. She couldn’t understand what, exactly, the problem was, but she knew Adam was trying to protect his wife while Magnolia did not want him to do that. According to her, she did not want to be treated like a child.

  Elizabeth sighed. She would must speak to Dorothy before things become even worse than this. Thankfully, she was strong enough to walk around and even go outside the house, and so the very next day she would go to see her friend and they could discuss what was becoming a dire situation.

  * * *

  “Well, thank goodness you are so much better now,” Elizabeth said to Dorothy the following day. She had arrived at the Richmond’s manor house and gone straight up to Dorothy’s bedroom.

  “Adam told me everything when he returned. So, what was the intruder looking for?”

  Dorothy shrugged. “No one has an idea. Let us just hope he does not come back here again!”

  “You do know you can
always stay with us if you are afraid of staying here?” Elizabeth asked.

  But her friend chuckled. “Of course I know. But you have nothing to worry about. I am perfectly safe.”

  Elizabeth waited for a while before voicing her concerns. “Something has been going on for a while in that house. And I think you ought to know about it.”

  Dorothy adjusted her sitting position to listen carefully. “What has happened? I hope Magnolia is all right?”

  “Of course she is. But her marriage is not all right and I think you should talk to her. For some weeks, now, both of them have been at loggerheads for much of the time. In fact, I hardly see a day spent without fighting.”

  Dorothy gasped. “Oh, my goodness! What madness is this? What could have caused this? I daresay they love each other to death! What would prompt them to have such constant disagreements?”

  “It baffled me for a time, until I began to listen more to their conversations. Tonight, it was about Adam trying to keep her safe, to which she retorted he was making her look like a child.”

  “What?” Dorothy held a hand to her chest in bewilderment. “I cannot bear to think upon this! For so long I’ve been delighting myself, thinking she was happy with him. Why marry him when she wouldn’t be giving him a rest of mind?”

  “I do not think she is to be blamed. I think they both must be talked to. I shall talk to my son, while I want you to talk to her. They will both have to work things out. We must figure out where things have been difficult.

  “They are but young,” Elizabeth went on. “You and I are older and have seen far more than they. I believe all will be well when they voice out their grievances.”

  Dorothy nodded. “I appreciate you for this, Elizabeth. You are a very wise woman. Thank you. I shall send for my niece immediately.”

  Chapter 25

  Adam Avery, the Earl of Strickland

  Ever since their last rift, things had been a bit tense between Adam and Magnolia. Even though they still did everything together, it was apparent that their situation had changed.

  Two days later, Adam sat in his bed while a maid, Rachel, plaited Magnolia’s hair in front of the mirror. A knock sounded on the door and the maid answered it.

  “My lord, there is a letter for you,” Rachel said, giving Adam the letter a servant had brought.

  He collected it and went through it. He could feel Magnolia’s eyes on him, expectantly waiting for him to share the news with her. He instead stood up and left the room.

  It wasn’t really something worth keeping from her, since he was still going to tell her later on; but somehow, Adam felt like letting his wife realize how painful it was to keep things from one’s partner. It was childish, but he relished it all the same.

  The letter was from Spain. One of his businesses over there required his urgent attention the following day. But he could not leave with the way everything was between him and his wife, could he?

  Perhaps he only needed some time to think about everything. Even though he would miss her terribly, he could not shake the feeling that each time they seemed close, something always happened that came between them and pushed them apart.

  Adam was tired of fighting. Tired of pretending all was well.

  “My son, may I see you for a moment?” his mother asked, as he got to the parlor.

  She was sitting down, reading from a book. For two days, Adam had been dreading – and avoiding – this conversation with his mother. It was too embarrassing that she had heard everything that transpired between him and his wife.

  “Yes, Mother,” he said, sitting next to her.

  The woman closed the book in her hand and faced him. “I believe you know why I summoned you?”

  He nodded.

  “That letter in your hand. Did you share its contents with your wife?”

  Adam shook his head.

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “I will tell her eventually. I just decided to keep it to myself.”

  His mother shook her head with a slight smile. “Do not push your wife away. And do not be too hard on yourself. You are punishing her, are you not?”

  “I suppose that is exactly what I am doing, Mother. You see – she lied to me. She kept something very important from me, all because she wanted to have her way. I do not know how long we can go on doing this!”

  His mother took a quick breath. “I want you to listen to me carefully,” she continued. “Marriage is different from friendship. You both agreed to be together for better or for worse. No matter what she does to you, you must learn to forgive for the sake of peace. And she as well must do the same. You both are still young! Why do you want to live your life in misery? Do you not love her anymore?”

  “But I do love her, mother. Very much. It only pains me that she is beginning to take that for granted. What is so wrong in trying to keep her safe?”

  “There is nothing wrong in it. But you must understand her point of view. Whatever you are keeping her from, is it important to her? Why do not you two talk about it in a better way, instead of fighting about it all the time?”

  “I would much prefer to talk about it. But – ”

  “You can take her out. Go on a picnic. Do something good. Buy her gifts. Shower her with love and affection . . . and then bring it up. Marriage is very sensitive, my son. You must be wiser than you have been . . . and as I said, you must stop taking things so very personally.”

  Adam nodded. “Thank you, Mother. I shall look into everything you have said.”

  * * *

  Magnolia Richmond Avery, the Countess of Strickland

  Shortly after Adam left, Magnolia received a letter from Aunt Dorothy, and she left for Richmond’s manor house immediately. There, she found her aunt sitting in the garden, waiting for her.

  “Aunt Dorothy! Is everything all right?” Magnolia asked, walking to join her in the garden.

  “Of course, dear,” replied her aunt. Magnolia kissed both her cheeks and then sat down next to her.

  “I got your letter and I came as quickly as I could. I hope the library was not ransacked again! If you are no longer safe here, you know you can move in with us?”

  “The manor is safe, and the library was not ransacked, Magnolia. That was not why I called you here.”

  Now she frowned. The tone of Aunt Dorothy’s voice implied that something was very wrong.

  “Well, then, what is it, Aunty?”

  The woman sighed. “First, how is your husband?”

  “He is well,” Magnolia replied, still looking puzzled.

  “Maybe I should rephrase that,” continued her aunt. “How is your marriage?”

  Now Magnolia knew Aunt Dorothy must have heard something. Did Adam report her?

  “I am waiting for your response, dear,” said her aunt.

  “It has been full of challenges,” she replied, looking at her feet.

  “And why is it so?”

  Magnolia sighed. “Adam does not understand me. I don’t think I am the kind of woman he wants. He wants to control every movement of mine, all of my actions, everything!”

  “Have you tried to talk to him about this?”

  “So many times, Aunt Dorothy,” she replied. “Sometimes I feel he is not listening to me. He only cares about what he wants.”

  “What do you think is the cause of this attitude?” asked her aunt.

  “I think it is because he has known me as the little girl that used to follow him and James everywhere. That is the problem. He still sees me as that little girl who needs his control and minding.

  But he must realize that I am a grown woman now. He cannot always have his way and he should understand that I have my life to live as well.”

  Aunt Dorothy sighed. “Why is succumbing to what he wants such a problem for you?”

  “Are you suggesting I should push my own wishes aside and simply do whatever he says, as though I were a servant or a soldier?”

  “Of course not,” replied her aunt. “D
o not misinterpret my words. I am only asking why you find it so difficult to do what he says.”

  “Because we each have a different notion on how to handle things,” Magnolia replied, careful enough not to reveal anything about the investigation going on. If her aunt knew about that, she would probably die out of shock.

  “All those times that you discuss it . . . have you tried talking about it while you both were not arguing? Perhaps while kissing, or while doing other things in the bedroom?”