by Joyce Alec
A smile spread across his face and he sat back in his chair, resting his head and allowing a sense of contentment to fill him. He would ask Lord Lansbury for his permission to court Lady Juliet and, thereafter, would allow himself to finally consider a future that he had never even felt was anywhere near his reach before.
A scratch at the door alerted him to the butler’s presence, drawing his thoughts away from Lady Juliet for the time being.
“Come in.”
Sitting up straighter and relieved that his body was a little less painful today, Duncan waited until the butler stepped into the room, reaching for the letter that the butler held out to him on a silver tray.
“Might I fetch you something to eat, my lord?” the butler asked, but Duncan shook his head.
“No, I am quite all right at present,” he said, turning the letter over and noticing the seal, aware of how his heart leapt wildly in his chest. “Was there any requirement for me to reply quickly?”
The butler shook his head and Duncan dismissed him so that he might read the note from Lady Juliet in peace. Would she speak of last evening? Would she give further explanation as to what she had said? With a broad smile settling across his face, he opened the note and read the page eagerly, only for his heart to slow suddenly, his smile fading to an astonished expression.
Your cousin has regained some strength, the note said. It seems he has insisted on returning to London. He will be here this very afternoon, brought to my father’s townhouse. Pray, join us if you have the strength.
That was all it said. There was no more, no expression of hope that they might be able to speak again privately at another time, no reiterating of what she had said last evening, but Duncan did not even permit himself to feel any disappointment. Instead, his anticipation instantly began to build.
He pushed himself from his chair and limped toward the door, throwing it open and forcing himself back toward his bedchamber with as much haste as he could. There was no time to waste. He would have to dress and prepare himself to call upon Lady Juliet in the hope that he would be present for his cousin’s arrival. Once more, he felt his heart fill with gratitude toward the Earl of Lansbury, grateful that the gentleman was the sort of man who would not simply stand aside whilst other men lay injured. Quite how he would explain to Lord Lansbury what had happened to his cousin and his knowledge of it, Duncan was not yet sure, but for the moment, that did not matter. All he wanted was to see his cousin again and to, finally, hear all that had taken place these last few, dreadful weeks.
“Lord Strickland.”
Lady Juliet practically breathed his name as he limped into the drawing room, rising quickly and making her way toward him, one hand outstretched. Whether or not she meant for him to take it, to kiss it as he had done last evening, Duncan was not certain, although, of course, he was more than eager to do so.
“Lady Juliet,” he replied, embarrassed when she caught his arm and made to help him to a chair. “I am quite all right, I assure you.”
She laughed softly and tilted her head so that she might look him in the eye a little better. “Your face is quite grey and there is a good deal of strain written upon it,” she told him with a knowing smile. “Do not think that you can hide the truth from me, Lord Strickland.”
He grimaced but allowed himself to chuckle as she twinkled up at him, only just realizing that they were alone. Once he had sat down, he looked back at her as she settled herself into a seat near to him, finding himself most contented to be in her company again.
“Mrs. Grey?” he inquired, and her cheeks burned a sudden, hot red.
“She is just about to join us,” she said, looking away from him as though embarrassed that he had noticed. “We will wait for refreshments until Lord and Lady Richmond arrive, however, if that is suitable for you?”
He nodded, not wanting her to feel any sort of mortification that her chaperone was not yet present but rather eager to make the most of such an opportunity.
“I am glad that we have a few moments with which to speak, Lady Juliet,” he told her, seeing how she looked back at him tentatively. “After last evening, I have been quite unable to remove you from my thoughts. They have swirled furiously all night, filling me with regret that I did not respond to you when you spoke to me last evening.”
Her gaze molded to his, a hope burning within her blue eyes as one dark curl fell forward across her cheek, as though everything within her was eager to hear what he had to say.
“Had I the wits, I would have told you, Lady Juliet, that I am more than delighted at your desire to remain so close to me,” he said honestly. “It is more than I could have ever hoped for. The truth is, I find myself eager for this matter to be at an end, not only for my own safety but also to give me the freedom to consider what I might now wish to pursue.”
A small, flickering frown danced across her brow. “What you would wish to pursue, Lord Strickland?”
A smile spread across his face before he could prevent it. “Indeed, Lady Juliet,” he answered gently, leaning a little closer to her. “To consider my future. To consider what it is I now hope for, what I might be eager enough to seek out.”
“Oh.” Her color faded to a gentle pink, adding to her beauty. Duncan smiled delightedly at her, feeling his heart warming all the more to the idea of being closer to her than ever before.
“Would you be amenable to such considerations, Lady Juliet?” he asked hopefully. “Once this matter is resolved, I had thought to speak to your father, to determine whether or not he might be willing to allow me to court you.”
Her eyes dropped to her hands that she now clasped so tightly in her lap, but Duncan did not miss the broad smile that spread across her face, the way that her cheeks warmed a little more. Settling back in his chair with a sigh of contentment, he waited for her to speak.
“I think, Lord Strickland, that I would be very glad of such a thing,” she answered after a few moments of quiet. “In fact, it would make my heart very happy indeed.” Finally, she looked back at him, her eyes glowing, her smile dazzling him, and Duncan felt his contentment grow all the more.
“Wonderful,” he found himself saying, as though he had been searching for the right words but had been quite unable to find more than one. “Then let us hope, Lady Juliet, that this will soon all be behind us so that we might consider the future together.”
“I shall leave you, of course.”
Duncan made to rise but the earl gestured for him to remain sitting.
“You will have many questions to ask of your cousin, I am sure,” Lord Lansbury continued as he made his way to the door. “Had it not been that I have many pressing matters of business, then I would have remained a little longer, but as things are at present…” He shrugged but Duncan could not help but feel a great deal of relief.
“I thank you, Lord Lansbury,” he replied gratefully. “You have shown my cousin great kindness and, had it not been for Lady Juliet and I being so acquainted, it might have been some time before I came to know of his presence here in London.”
The earl nodded and smiled toward his daughter who, much to Duncan’s delight, was sitting in a most demure fashion, looking back at her father with a small smile gracing her lips. She said nothing to him, did not give a hint that there might have been more to her acquaintance than Lord Lansbury knew, but instead simply watched her father depart. The moment he left the room, however, Duncan felt relief wash all across the room, flooding each and every person as they sat a little more easily in their chairs.
Ayles, however, did not look as relieved as Duncan might have hoped. In fact, he had been rather shocked by the appearance of his cousin when he had first arrived, taking in the man’s pale face, the dark shadows around his eyes, and the way that he had been helped into a chair by not one but two footmen. It had been a struggle for him to remain sitting straight, for Duncan had seen the strain ripple across his cousin’s face, but he had been silently proud of such determination.
“Please, Mr. Ayles, do not feel you need to sit on ceremony any longer.”
Lady Juliet’s voice was kind, making Duncan wonder if she, too, was aware of the struggle that Mr. Ayles was currently enduring.
“Sit back, if you wish,” she continued kindly. “I can see that you are fatigued and, after what you have endured, there is no shame in resting a little.”
It took a moment but Ayles eventually did as she suggested, sitting back with a sigh and resting his head on the back of the chair.
“You are very kind, Lady Juliet,” he rasped, his voice thick with tiredness and pain. “Very kind indeed.” Slowly, his gaze returned to Duncan’s, giving Duncan the impression that his cousin was desperate for a moment to speak to him alone.
“I received your letter,” Duncan began, seeing how his cousin’s eyes widened. “Although I only discovered the truth of it yesterday.”
Mr. Ayles smiled painfully. “I had hoped that it would remind you of what we did as boys, whenever our fathers had reason to call upon each other,” he said as Duncan nodded. “Then you know you are in danger?”
“I do,” Duncan replied, noting how Ayles’ eyes went around the room. “But Lady Juliet was the one to overhear it being spoken at the first. She informed me of it, and with Lord and Lady Richmond’s help, we have surmised that it is Lady Ridgedale who wishes to bring harm to me.” Seeing his cousin nod, Duncan leaned forward in his chair. “Might I ask how you discovered it?”
“I received a note,” Ayles replied, his voice still hoarse. “She requested to know whether or not you were returned from the continent, although gave no indication as to why. I did not respond to her, however, for there was something about the note that did not sit well with me.” He shifted a little in his chair, a grimace pulling at his mouth. “I soon received another, which was, in its tone, a good deal more demanding. I did respond to that one, telling Lady Ridgedale that I was not at all certain of your plans.” Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. “It was then that she came to call upon me.”
There was a moment or two of silence.
“You mean to say that Lady Ridgedale called upon you to speak to you about Lord Strickland?” Lady Richmond asked, breaking the quiet. “What was she asking you about?”
Ayles’ lips tipped in a wry expression. “There was the belief that I might wish to take on the title,” he said heavily. “Lady Ridgedale made it quite plain that she thought very poorly of my cousin and insisted that I should be much better suited to such a thing. I believe she was quite astonished when I refused.”
“You are a good man, Ayles,” Duncan murmured, but Ayles shook his head.
“I should have written to you of her visit almost at once,” he said softly. “Then you would have been aware of it. But I believed her to be quite foolish—almost, perhaps, a little mad. And thus, I dismissed it. It was not until I received another note from her, warning me away from speaking to you of her visit and her intentions, that I realized the truth.”
“That she fully intended to remove me from this earth,” Duncan muttered, and his cousin nodded. “You could not know, of course, that she held a great deal of anger toward me.” Seeing his cousin frown, he quickly explained all that Lady Ridgedale had sought from him and how he had refused time and again, leaving her to become rather furious with his lack of agreement.
“And her anger has become so great that she wishes to take on some sort of revenge,” he finished as Ayles’ eyes widened with shock. “I did not expect it, of course, and had it not been for Lady Juliet, then I might well have succumbed to one of her schemes.”
Ayles blew out a long breath and ran one shaky hand across his forehead. “I wrote to you,” he said heavily. “I wrote many a letter, but I did not receive a reply. Afraid that my letters were being stopped by someone as yet unknown, I took leave of my wife and children and made my way to London in the hope that you would be there for the Season.” A wry smile lifted one side of his mouth. “As I said to Lady Ridgedale, I was quite uncertain as to whether or not you would be in London this year. But I went in the hope that you would be present and that I might warn you of her intentions.”
“But you were prevented from doing so,” Lady Juliet added as Ayles’ turned his head toward her. “Highwaymen?”
Nodding slowly, Ayles frowned hard. “I believed them to be, yes,” he said slowly. “Although one did not appear to be so. He stood behind as the other three men attacked me, as well as the other men within the carriage.” His voice became thin with anger, his eyes narrowing as he looked away from them all, his gaze fixed to the floor. “We were all left for dead and, indeed, I believed myself to be so.”
“Except,” Duncan said quietly, “I do not think it was highwaymen, Ayles.”
His cousin looked up sharply. “No?”
“No,” Lord Richmond said, getting up from his chair in order to refill brandy glasses. “We believe it now to have been Lady Ridgedale’s intention to prevent you from reaching London. Someone must have been watching all that you were doing, Mr. Ayles. Someone must have prevented your letters from reaching Lord Strickland. And someone, knowing of your intentions to come to London, made every preparation to stop you.”
“All on Lady Ridgedale’s orders,” Duncan muttered darkly. “And I believe I know precisely who it was.”
His cousin sucked in a breath, his eyes wide. “Then you are able to prevent them from injuring you further?”
“More than that,” Duncan replied, a flare of anger burning in his chest. “I have every intention of making quite certain that their plans come to nothing but failure, Ayles. It is time that the truth is made known in its entirety. And I have just the way to do it.”
“Might you take my arm?”
Lady Juliet nodded but did not smile and Duncan could feel the tension radiating from her.
“It shall all be well,” he assured her as best he could, taking in the seriousness of her gaze as she looked up at him. “Nothing can go wrong this evening.”
“But it may still be that…” She swallowed hard but did not finish her sentence, slipping her hand under his arm.
“All will be well,” he said again in an attempt to reassure her. “All I need do is make certain that Lord Brookmire hears what I have to say. He will not attempt to injure me here, not in front of so many patrons.”
Lady Juliet let out her breath slowly, nodding as she did so. Her eyes roved around the drawing room as though searching for those who might step out to attack him at any moment.
“You must try and smile, my dear lady, else no one here will think you glad to be in my company.”
This brought a lightness to her expression that had not been there before, her lips quirking gently. “And surely that must apply to you also, Lord Strickland?” she asked as he grinned at her.
“I have no difficulty in expressing my delight in having you on my arm, Lady Juliet,” he replied truthfully. “In fact, I shall be very glad indeed to walk about this room with you next to me. I shall not care one whit if anyone remarks upon it, for I am glad to be beside you.”
This made her expression light up and Duncan smiled back at her, seeing the happiness in her eyes despite the tension that she must still surely feel.
“Then shall we make our way to what is certainly the loudest group of gentlemen and ladies that are present this evening?” she asked, tilting her head just a little. “They will, no doubt, be more than willing to listen to what you have to say and, in a short time, will spread it throughout everyone in this room.”
Duncan laughed and patted her hand with his free one, fully aware that Mrs. Grey would remain close by, just as she was at present. “Very good, Lady Juliet,” he said, beginning to walk across the room, his limp only slight as he pushed aside any pain that came with each step. “Then let us begin our plan.”
Making his way slowly toward the large group and quickly spotting at least one gentleman he was acquainted with, Duncan bowed quickly and greeted him, being quickly
welcomed into the group. Introducing Lady Juliet and fully aware of the knowing glances that were quickly shot between one lady and the next, he listened for a few moments to the amicable conversation, before managing to inject himself into it.
“Speaking of matters of interest,” he said, quickly commanding the conversation, “I have only just discovered something that has greatly distressed me.”
This, of course, caught almost everyone’s attention and Duncan was left with a most attentive audience who all watched him with interest flickering in their eyes.
“My cousin—one Mr. Ayles—has only just written to me to inform me that he has been attacked on his way to London,” he began as one or two ladies let out a startled exclamation. “He was left for dead but has, thankfully, begun to recover.” Taking a small step forward, he leaned in a little more, keeping his voice low. “He states that he has something of great importance to tell me but that he cannot write of it, such is its seriousness.”
“Good gracious!” one lady exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Whatever shall you do, Lord Strickland?”
“I am to go to him tomorrow afternoon, of course,” Duncan replied as murmurs immediately began to rise from those within the group, speaking to each other about what he had only just revealed. “He is too unwell to travel to London and thus I am to make my way to an inn named ‘The Owl and the Hound’ which, I have been informed, is not too far from London. Less than a day’s travel, I believe.”
Lord Miller cleared his throat, his expression grave. “I do hope that you find him recovering well, Lord Strickland,” he said. “Is there any suggestion as to what this dire news might be?”
Duncan shrugged and shook his head. “No, I have very little idea,” he lied. “But I am eager to find out what it is, of course.”