“Is this what you are doing, Eloise?” Edmund’s voice softened. His temper altered. “Do you want to return? Are you so unhappy here?”
“Unhappy?” she uttered in a low voice. “I doubt I’m destined for happiness.”
“Tell me, Eloise. Forget the past. You are my sister and in some twist of fate, I feel closer to you than the rest of our siblings. Can you not know Julia and I hold you dear? And the children love you greatly.”
Edmund walked around his desk. Sitting on the edge of his desk, he took his sister’s hand in his. “Do you not know I know the ploy you used with Lord Wessex? I sat and watched you bait the man until he exploded and in the same turn, you arranged Susanna’s happiness. The only question is why?”
Her chest tightened, refusing to look at Lord Lenister, who sat quietly listening to every utterance. “I want only not to be a burden on anyone, Edmund. I want…I don’t want judgmental eyes upon me. I’m not planning to leave—only to retire to the country, to live out my life quietly. I’m not good at this, Edmund. It is not the life I know.”
“Then what are your actions? You have me so confused. I thought well you sided with the Republic in France. Your family holds positions of power within the ranks, is my understanding. You have to know this and understand.”
“Of course, I do,” she retorted. “I know well the whole of the ton holds all against me for my mother’s family. For my words, I suppose, but I said only the truth.”
“Repeating the motto of the Republic and telling that equality of birth holds more importance than rank at birth,” Lord Lenister interrupted.
For a moment, she had forgotten his presence. Wishing he would disappear, she ignored him and focused her attention on her brother. “I said only the truth. The burden of the people was great. It is only understandable that they would reach an end point to their frustration. It is only the magnitude in which they have exploded that shocked me.”
“I beg your forgiveness, Lady Eloise,” Lord Lenister contrived once more to intervene. “I want to understand the whole of the situation. You have to understand I have only rumors to base my information on.”
“I want only to know why it is of importance to you.” Eloise’s tone cooled.
“I told you, my lady. I need your help,” he said simply, emotionless. “One uncle, Orville Leroy D’Arcy, serves upon the Council in Calais. Another, Jacques Rene D’Arcy, serves under the Committee of Public Safety member in Amiens.”
Eloise’s face drained of color. Her eyes flamed while her chest heaved heavily. “Do not tell me of my family, my lord. I know my own family who cared for me and loved me. We had not much. You do not understand the world I grew up within. It was far different from the comforts you enjoy. Do not…do not sit in judgment of those you have no knowledge of!” Her words rattled away in the French of her youth.
Unrelenting, Lenister continued, “Tell me then why do you do it? If you are a Republican? Tell me why do you smuggle the condemned out? The people you have just proclaimed brought their own demise upon themselves.”
Her head turned slowly. Her eyes hardened upon him. “Is it wrong to feel compassion? I may have felt the need for change, but not this. Not this. In that, I can’t change.”
Eloise didn’t notice that Lenister fell in front of her on his knees or her brother moving slightly away. Lenister reached up and with his handkerchief gently wiped back the tears from her cheeks. He placed his hand under her chin, raising her face to his.
“So you smuggle goods into the country and people out?”
She said nothing, but in her silence answered his question. She had no desire to tell him of her scheme alongside Captain Moreau.
“Lady Eloise?”
She swallowed hard and whispered, “So you have need of me. What do you want? To smuggle someone out? I have no control of who. I have no idea of whom I deal with. I only help when they land. In return, they help my family with supplies they might need. I don’t understand what I can do for you or why?”
Lenister nodded and glanced back up to her brother. The look upon his face told he had the information he needed. “All may well be better explained in the morning. Do you not think, Your Grace? I have taken too much of your time from your celebration tonight. It was not my intention. I’m afraid I became quite impatient.”
“I believe that will be acceptable. If you would like, I do have to go back or Julia will begin searching for me. Come, Eloise.”
She rose from her chair, but Lord Lenister stood between her and her brother. “If you don’t mind, I would be more than happy to escort you back to your cousin.”
Eloise’s eyes frantically looked over at her brother, who didn’t flinch. If she arrived at Cousin Beatrice’s side on Lord Lenister’s arm after being gone for an extended time in conference with her brother, rumors of a betrothal would quickly ignite.
Edmund walked toward the door. “I will see you in the morning, Lord Lenister.”
Eloise glanced to one side, only to meet the eyes of Lord Lenister, challenging her, daring her. She turned back to her brother. "Edmund, I assure you I have recovered enough..."
“I'm confident you have, my dear." He nodded his head slightly to Lord Lenister and walked out the door, shutting it tightly.
Eloise stared at the door in disbelief. Her brother had deserted her for this…this stranger. "Lord Lenister," Eloise said, taking a step back. Still shaken by his discovery of her activities, she found it hard to think clearly. Her stomach churned.
"Gerard, my name is Gerard. I would very much like for you to use it," he said simply. He stepped towards her.
"I don't understand what you think...I can do for you...or what you believe you caught me doing," she stuttered, refusing to comply with his request. He came closer, too close. She couldn't breathe properly. Annoying her to no end, he smiled faintly at her discomfort. "But I can assure you I have done little and know little else. But I do know what the tongues outside these doors will do if we exit together arm and arm. I don't know what Edmund was thinking!"
"Why concern yourself with anything tonight? I wouldn't worry about the whisperings of old biddies. From my understanding, I don't believe you have done so before. Tonight—tonight, let us enjoy your sister's happiness. Come," he said, offering his arm.
Hesitating, she patted down her ruffled dress. Then her hand instinctively went to her hair. His hand met hers, pushing a rosebud back in place. He held her hand and placed it on his arm. "You look quite lovely."
She had to call upon every bit of her constraint not to jerk back her hand, but the words she could not help escaped her lips. "My lord, I don't think you comprehend fully how your actions will be taken."
He looked down at her and said, "No, Lady Eloise, I comprehend well how my actions will be taken."
* * * *
Sleep had not come easy for Eloise when she finally retired for the night, but with the early morning light came a resurgence of confidence. She rose with only one thought in mind: returning immediately to Height Point.
She reprimanded herself greatly for her loss of wits. How dare he! He had all but announced their engagement last night with his behavior towards her. Dancing three dances with her! It was unheard of! Cousin Beatrice all but encouraged it. She had well seen the ladies whispering behind their fans. Why, even Susanna and Julia were giggling!
Oh, the arrogance of the man! If he thought for one minute she would allow herself to be cornered! She fumed. She had not worked so hard for the moment she would gain her inheritance to so easily let it slip through her fingers. She bit her bottom lip…thinking…planning.
How foolish she had been to have allowed herself to be seen by one of the émigrés from France. Edmund may have ranted at her for her part in a scheme, but if he only knew half of what she had done! How could he know what drove her? How could anyone of her family here in England? She had not met a soul of them until well after her seventeenth year.
A slight knock on the door brought h
er back to her dilemma she now faced. Jemma, her devoted maid, quickly entered. Eloise had learned long ago not to rely upon many, but Jemma she did. Jemma had been among the first of the émigrés she had a hand in helping—Jemma’s only crime, being a seamstress to the Comtess de Probilon. Since Jemma’s escape to England, her devotion to Eloise was never in question.
“My lady,” she announced. “His Grace has requested you come down and join him for breakfast.”
“Why on earth would he think me up at this time? I haven’t heard a rustling in the hallway. I doubt any would stir until well after noon this day.”
“I believe his exact words were Tell Lady Eloise she will need her energy to pack, for if I know my sister, she has already begun the process.”
“And why wouldn’t I?” Eloise huffed. “To be treated in such a manner. Thrown together with this man. Am I to be impressed he is an earl? Why, he does not look like any of the earls I have met! To be confronted as he did. What help could he want from me?”
Jemma looked at her mistress, unable to contain her troubled expression. “Help? Does he suspect?”
“Suspect? Why, he almost came out and announced my involvement in the middle of the ball!” Eloise walked to her window. There was a moment of silence. She raised her hand to her tired face. “Calm yourself, Jemma. I don’t think he knows of the extent of my involvement. He believes I give aid to the émigrés only…I think…oh, I don’t know.”
“From what I gathered, my lady, I don’t think he means you harm. Or at least it is what I’ve heard,” Jemma offered as she laid out a gown from the wardrobe. “He is intent upon marrying you. I believe the whole of the house is talking about it.”
“Tell me all that you have heard. I never even heard a whispering about this man,” Eloise insisted, eyeing her maid.
“Lord Lenister is quite the gentleman,” Jemma began. She snapped the gown out in length. “He became earl quite unexpectedly, no less than two years hence. He was third in line for the title, but his cousins died, one in a duel a few years ago, and then the late Earl of Lenister almost two years ago, who succumbed to a weaken heart. Scarlet fever, it was told the late earl had as a young lad. His death came while his wife was with child. It is said Lord Lenister treated his cousin’s wife with the utmost of respect and care. If the child had been a boy, the babe would have inherited the title, but it was a girl and the title went to the present earl. They said that everyone expected his lordship to send the woman packing. Instead, she resides still in his home, Ashforth Manor. He has made it known it will be her home for ever long she desires and the child also.”
“Impressive,” Eloise reluctantly admitted. “Most, I dare say, would have found a cousin’s wife an inconvenience. Perhaps that is what I felt when I met him. He doesn’t carry himself with airs—more on the line…”
“Of a soldier?” Jemma interceded. “He retired a colonel from His Majesty’s service when his cousin died. His grandfather bought him his commission when he was eighteen. That was before the scandal, of course.”
A wide smile emerged on Eloise’s face. She walked to Jemma. “I had thought for a moment I was dealing with a saint.”
Jemma tilted her head toward her mistress with a smile of her own. “Now, my lady, you know I saved the best for last. He took off with a vicar’s wife, it was said, after his return from war with the Colonies. A beauty from all accounts. Took her with him to West Indies where he was stationed.”
“What happened to her? The poor vicar!”
“That I can’t answer. I couldn’t find out except when he returned to England, she was no longer with him. They say he won’t talk about her to anyone.”
“Interesting,” Eloise said, sitting upon the side of the bed. “But it does nothing to explain his interest in me. Why? Why did he take the time to set up a meeting with the vicomte to expose me? Then parade me about as if we are engaged. Is he desolate? Has he squandered his inheritance? Surely there are better-suited ladies lining up outside his door, at least for his title.”
“Marty, the footman, told me the earl is quite wealthy. Perhaps he is looking to better his name with the daughter of a duke. Other than that I can’t answer, my lady.”
Eloise frowned. “No, that’s not it. I can tell. There are more suitable ladies without a doubt. I myself have a cloud over me for my birth. Why would an earl want an association of that kind? Not to better himself.”
“I have faith in you, my lady, that you will expose all. Hurry now and dress. His Grace is waiting for you and he holds better answers than I do.”
“At least now I won’t go in blind. Thank you, Jemma. Finish packing after I’ve gone to breakfast. I want to leave as soon as possible. Whatever the earl has in mind, it isn’t going to stop me from returning home.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Eloise wasted little time in her appearance, impatient to begin her journey home. Jemma quickly lifted the pretty travel gown over her head and tied it off, leaving only her misbehaving hair to contend with. Eloise sat and watched in the mirror as Jemma twisted her hair in a simple, yet flattering way, framing her face.
“There you are, my lady,” Jemma pronounced proudly. “I do believe I’ve developed a flair for arranging your hair. Will there be anything else?”
“No, thank you.” Eloise stood and smoothed her hands down over her skirt. “I had wanted to stop by the nursery. I had promised Rodney…”
“You can do so after, my lady,” Jemma suggested. “I doubt Lady Julia will be happy if you rile them up early this morning.”
“No, I don’t suppose she would,” Eloise agreed. “I will make breakfast quick. I want only to be done with Edmund before the disagreeable earl makes his appearance.”
“Yes, my lady.” Jemma opened the door for Eloise.
Eloise descended the stairs as quietly as a mouse. She gripped the smooth-turned railing and scampered down the steps. She slowed her progress. The house seemed to have taken an iridescent quality in the early morning light.
She hesitated when she advanced into the foyer. She heard voices coming from the open French doors of the drawing room. Edmund must be having breakfast served on the terrace. She walked outside into the middle of a glorious morning. The sun shone brightly through the newly awakened trees. All seemed green, sprinkled with freshly blooming assortment of colors.
She turned the corner. There on the terrace, sitting and laughing together, sat her brother with Lord Lenister. She stopped immediately, but too late not to be noticed.
“See, Lord Lenister, I told you that she would be up well before any of the other ladies in my household,” Edmund exclaimed. He pushed back his chair. “Now if you excuse me, I will go see to the arrangements.”
“Edmund,” Eloise uttered under her breath as he walked by her. “Do not leave me! What of proprieties? If you expect me…”
He paused for a brief moment. “I do expect you to remember your manners. Lord Lenister has an important issue to discuss with you. All respectable. He has my full blessing, Eloise.”
His eyes conveyed his meaning. His voice resonated his intent. She had no choice. She nodded and curtsied formally while she raged inside. Her attention turned to the earl. He gestured to a seat beside him.
“Won’t you sit? If we are going to talk about this here, you may as well be comfortable.”
She accepted the invitation, but chose the seat across from him. He smiled at her attempt at defiance.
“You have me confused, my lord.”
“It is my hope to enlighten you with my intentions this morning. I hope you slept well last night. I found I slept the best I have in months. I had quite an enjoyable night.”
“I’m pleased. I, on the other hand, tossed and turned all night, wondering, worrying about your actions.”
“How so?”
“You had me at quite the disadvantage last night. I’m not usually so easily upset, let us say. Why, Lord Lenister, did you find it necessary to confirm my identity as you did
?”
He laughed. Mockery sparkled in his eyes. “You astonish me with your frankness. It is only fair that I reward such frankness with my own. I apologize for the swiftness of my actions. It is not how I would have chosen to proceed if time allowed.”
“Swiftness of actions? It is one of the many questions that I have, my…”
“Gerard,” he corrected her. “Please. All will go smoother if we lose the formality.”
“I am not certain I want to.”
“Then allow me to put your concerns to rest. I have only the most respectable intentions. I need your help, Lady Eloise.”
She fought the profound irritation that he had already bested her. Exasperation surged. Her cool calm cracked. She crossed her arms. He glared at her in a way that made her flinch.
“You said that last night, but for the life of me I don’t understand what I can do for you.”
“I do understand your frustration. I can only assure you I have the best of intentions. Quite by accident, I discovered your connections to the French Republic. You can understand that not many of my friends here in England have a connection such as yours, especially with the knowledge that the Republic holds aristocrats in such low esteem.”
She stood. She concluded that his stance required that she respond from a better advantage than from her seat. He immediately stood also. Taking her hand, he led her to the garden.
“This will serve better,” he said with smug satisfaction.
“What do you mean?”
“I have determined that any response you don’t want to hear, you run. This way, I well have hold of you.”
Worry crept in her expression. “Tell me quickly so I can be done with this.”
“As you wish,” he said. His hand reached over and held her hand on his arm. They began to stroll. “Eloise, I desperately need your help. I’m in search of children. Two, to be exact. Their grandfather, Colonel George Ralston, found himself in need of my services. His daughter, Miranda, a few years ago became the mistress of one Comte Alexande de Dubois. The children are from another affair. They are young, nine and seven. Catherine and Darcy.
Broken Legacy (Secret Lives Series) Page 2