A Sense of Purpose

by Soliman, Wendy

  ‘I can safely assure you, ma’am, that I find his charm easy to resist.’

  ‘So I should hope. The man’s a charlatan. I’ve met his type before. He has a handsome face and so assumes helpless females will swoon at his feet. Fortunately, there is nothing helpless about you and you have as little patience with scoundrels as I have.’

  Flora grinned. ‘You never tire of telling me about the exploits of the various scoundrels whom you associated with.’

  ‘Ah, but only after I had been respectably married then sadly widowed. Besides, I knew what I was getting myself into, and why.’

  Flora opened the door to her ladyship’s chamber and stood back so that she could pass through it first. ‘A case as do as I say, not as I did,’ she remarked, grinning.

  ‘Get away with you.’ The countess flapped a hand at Flora once Sandwell stepped up to help her into a chair. ‘You wear me out with your endless chatter.’

  ‘You would be less worn out if you had come up an hour ago, when I first suggested it.’

  ‘I never do what anyone tells me to. You ought to know that much about me by now.’

  ‘It’s never too late to change your ways. I will call in at eleven in the morning, as usual.’

  ’Do as you please. You normally do.’

  Flora bent to kiss the dowager’s cheek. ‘Good night, my lady.’

  *

  Charlie noticed the chair that Flora had just vacated, the one beside Miranda’s, the moment he walked into the drawing room. Miranda happened to look up and catch his gaze, which decided him. Matthew Cooper had been shooting daggers of disapproval at Charlie down the length of the dinner table all the evening. If he had a prior claim upon Miranda’s affections, she hadn’t mentioned it and she seemed impervious to his charm. Matthew was now attempting to engage Flora in light conversation, with what appeared to be equally discouraging results. Charlie chuckled. Flora was a remarkable female—not quite a servant, nor a member of the family, but invaluable and perfectly capable of seeing through the likes of Cooper.

  ‘I believe there is to be music,’ Charlie said, flipping the tails of his coat aside and seating himself. ‘Shall we be privileged to hear you play?’

  ‘Only if you don’t mind the assault on your ears,’ Miranda replied with a rueful smile. ‘You will think my education shockingly incomplete but I’m afraid that I’m tone deaf and the best music teachers money can buy have failed to instil an ounce of what they describe as instinctive feeling for music into me.’

  ‘I think it unfair of them to place the blame for that at your door. If you ask me, it shows a lack of understanding on their part. Instinct is…well, instinctive. One either has it for a particular subject or one does not. It can’t be taught.’

  She smiled at him, her pretty face with its delicate features and sparkling blue eyes enhanced by a gentle blush. ‘Very gallant, Charlie. But even so, now you know my secret and will want nothing more to do with me.’

  ‘On the contrary,’ he said softly, watching Mrs Cooper walk towards the instrument. ‘Your step-mother plays well?’

  ‘Everything Christina does she does well.’

  ‘You and she are close?’

  Miranda shot him an enquiring look. ‘How odd. Flora just asked me the same thing.’

  ‘Which demonstrates how much we all care about your welfare.’

  ‘But I have only just had the pleasure of making Flora’s acquaintance. Why should she care about me?’

  ‘Flora has the capacity to care deeply about the welfare of anyone she takes a liking to, and even some of those whom she does not.’

  ‘And your grandmother seems to like her, which is an added bonus.’

  ‘Indeed. We have seen remarkable changes in Grandmamma’s behaviour since Flora’s arrival. I hope she sticks to her guns and doesn’t leave us.’

  ‘Why ever would she? I cannot imagine that she would find a more comfortable position elsewhere.’

  ‘She is under pressure from her family, I believe. However, we were discussing your step-mother,’ Charlie said, his voice drowned by the admittedly skilful playing of the lady in question. ‘Luke quizzed Cooper on his business interests over the port. I gather he is into imports and exports.’

  ‘So I have been told. There is talk of reviving his father’s failed enterprise, but I don’t know what efforts have been made in that regard.’

  ‘Don’t let them gull you, Miranda,’ he said, an edge to his voice. ‘It is no business of mine, but you are in a vulnerable position and have a soft heart. You could easily be exploited.’

  ‘My money, you mean.’ Charlie nodded. ‘Don’t worry. I can spend very little without the approval of my late father’s lawyer. Christina received a generous annual allowance, which she always overspent, until she remarried. I don’t pay her husband’s or brothers’ personal expenses, although I do still sometimes help Christina with hers, if only for the sake of Papa’s memory. She made him so very happy, you see.’

  ‘But you pay the men’s daily living costs,’ Charlie replied, an edge to his voice. ‘I cannot abide men who live off women’s generosity. There is a name for people like that, and it is not a pleasant one.’ He noticed her brow crease and wondered if he had gone too far. ‘Does Cooper or any of his brothers have a residence of their own?’

  ‘I believe there is an apartment in London, but I have never seen it.’ She turned beseeching eyes upon Charlie. ‘Why all the questions? Do you know something about my father’s death that you are not telling me?’

  ‘You think it suspicious?’

  ‘I don’t know what to think. Well, I didn’t at the time, but now I sometimes wonder…’

  She broke off abruptly. Charlie looked up and saw Matthew approaching. ‘Call and see Emma tomorrow,’ he said, standing. ‘I have monopolized you for too long, but we need to continue this conversation.’

  He kissed the back of her hand and sauntered away, leaving Matthew standing in front of Miranda, looking rather stupid. Before he could take Charlie’s vacated seat, Miranda stood and crossed the room to join Mary.

  Chapter Seven

  ‘Good morning.’ Flora smiled as she leaned into the stall in which Romulus has been contained. The dog almost knocked her from her feet, wagging up a storm as he jumped onto his hind legs and placed his front paws on top of the half door, anxious to lick any part of her that he could reach. ‘I can see that you’re a great deal better.’

  ‘He is that, miss,’ the groom allocated to look after him assured her. ‘He just wolfed down a huge plate of scraps and is fitter by the minute.’

  ‘His lordship will be pleased. He’s taken a liking to him.’

  ‘Well, that’s his lordship all over. He’s always been one to support the underdog.’ Jed laughed at his own wit.

  ‘You have known the earl since he was a boy?’

  ‘Oh aye, I have that.’ Jed scratched his ear. ‘He was always finding wounded critters in the woods and bringing them back here as a lad, insisting upon getting them well again. He did it an’ all, more often than not.’

  ‘Well, Romulus hasn’t taken long to recover. One might almost call him a fraud,’ she said, rubbing the dog’s big head affectionately. ‘He might not be a pedigree but he does have a noble presence about him, wouldn’t you agree?’

  Jed chuckled. ‘I can see that you think so, miss.’

  Flora opened the door and was almost flattened when Romulus launched himself at her. Fortunately she had anticipated such a welcome and worn an old gown—one that would make the dowager countess tut and frown if she caught sight of her in it. She made a fuss of the dog, who eventually settled down, panting at Flora’s feet as she probed his wound with gentle fingers.

  ‘It’s healing nicely and doesn’t seem to be causing him a great deal of pain,’ she said, nodding with satisfaction. ‘And now that he’s had a bath and his matted coat has been brushed I can tell just how handsome he actually is. I think I shall take him for a short walk, Jed, and see if he
prefers to stay here or takes himself off again to wherever he came from.’

  ‘I’ll wager he knows where he’s well off.’

  Romulus seemed to understand the word and woofed, running in excited circles round her legs, threatening to tangle himself in her skirts.

  ‘Come along then, my fine fellow. I’ll show you the woods.’

  But she had lost the dog’s attention. He loped off, tail spiralling, having seen someone else approaching. Flora felt a moment’s annoyance. It was early, only just after dawn, and she didn’t think anyone else would be about yet. Then the earl strode into view and her heart gave a stutter. In shirtsleeves, with his hair tousled, he looked anything other than aristocratic. He looked accessible. Her equal.

  Perdition, such thoughts constantly wormed their way beneath her defences when she found herself alone with him. It simply wouldn’t do. He glanced up, saw her, and briefly stopped walking. For a moment their gazes remained locked and there was absolutely nothing that Flora could do to prevent her rogue thoughts from escalating. Then Romulus broke the tension by jumping up at him, Luke switched his attention to the dog and Flora was herself again.

  After a fashion.

  ‘He’s looking almost back to normal.’ Luke ran a hand over his black and white coat.

  ‘So it seems. He also has energy to spare, so I was about to introduce him to the woods.’

  ‘I will come, too. We need to talk.’

  We do? ‘Have you discovered where Romulus came from?’ Flora asked, strolling along at Luke’s side.

  ‘Not yet, and I’m tempted not to keep looking too hard.’

  Flora smiled. ‘You have grown fond of him.’

  ‘It’s hard not to.’ He bent to pick up a stick and threw it. Romulus woofed and bounded after it. ‘If anyone was keen to have him back, Paul would have picked up word in the village by now.’

  ‘Anyone leaving an injured dog in the hedgerows doesn’t deserve to own him.’ She smiled as Romulus dropped the stick at Luke’s feet, watching him expectantly and wagging his tail. ‘It looks as though he’s found a home where he will be well cared for. A bit like me.’

  ‘I am glad you have decided not to return to Salisbury. Your character would be stifled there.’

  They laughed as Romulus abandoned the stick and chased after a rabbit instead. Tiring quickly, he flopped onto the ground, tongue lolling.

  ‘He isn’t as fit as we assumed. Let’s sit for a while and give him a moment to recover.’ Luke steered her to a stout fallen tree that hadn’t yet been cut into logs by his foresters. ‘You didn’t wear a gown that you care about, so I hope you will find this seat acceptable.’

  ‘Perfectly so.’

  She perched on it, conscious of the imposing figure Luke cut, even when at his most relaxed, and of his distractingly close proximity as they shared the uncomfortable log. He stretched long, muscular legs out in front of him, perfectly at his ease, whereas she was a bundle of nervous expectation. Nervous about precisely what she could not have said. It wasn’t her first interlude alone with her sophisticated employer, but never before had she been quite so conscious of his size, his masculinity, his athleticism, his…everything.

  Such thoughts had no place in her dealings with her employer but something stronger than her self-will had taken control of her brain. Not that it mattered. She would be herself again as soon as they went their separate ways. In the meantime, Luke couldn’t possibly know what she was thinking, so her dignity remained intact.

  ‘You are wondering what I learned from Miranda last night, I dare say.’ She turned to examine his profile. ‘You wanted me to quiz her.’

  ‘I did.’ His expression darkened. ‘I didn’t take to the Coopers.’

  She shuddered. ‘Nor I. There was a tense atmosphere in your drawing room that made me uncomfortable. I have never known anything like it before. Ordinarily, everything is so easy-going. But the Cooper men, strutting about as though we should be grateful that they’d deigned to set foot on your estate.’ She tutted. ‘In fairness, the youngest one, Theo, wasn’t like that. He seemed natural and polite, but the elder two…there was something about them that set my nerves jangling.’

  ‘Your dependable sixth sense at work again,’ he said in a gentle tone.

  ‘There’s no need to take that attitude,’ she replied, lifting her chin. She wished he could have more faith in her abilities, and wondered what he would say if she told him about Remus. Most likely he’d put her on the first train back to Salisbury. Be that as it may, fighting with him made it easier to harness her emotions. ‘I think we both agree that the eldest two Cooper men, and Mrs Cooper, are to be treated with suspicion, even though I cannot think of any way that they could harm you or your family.’

  ‘Then we are in agreement on that point.’ Luke paused. ‘I have asked Paul to look into their circumstances. They were very tight-lipped about their affairs.’

  ‘When they should have been open with you in an effort to gain your patronage. Miranda tells me that they are attempting to revive a family export business, in which case they require customers, as well as gentlemen like you who might be persuaded to act as guarantors or sponsors.’

  ‘Precisely.’

  ‘Well, for what it’s worth, Miranda told me they tried very hard to persuade her not to come back to England when she received Emma’s telegram.’

  Luke arched a brow. ‘Did they say why?’

  ‘They made vague excuses about business commitments. I got the impression that they had been able to make her do whatever they wanted easily enough before then. She was still young when Christina remarried, but she’s grown up to be independently-minded, which must have come as a bit of a shock.’ Flora frowned. ‘Why do you suppose they were so keen not to return to England? The Coopers, that is. If they had a hand in Mr Defoe’s demise, it can never be proven after all this time. What else are they afraid of? Why don’t they want to cultivate your friendship?’ She wrinkled her brow. ‘It makes no sense.’

  ‘Hopefully Paul will unearth something to point us in the right direction.’ He smiled at her. ‘What else did you learn from Miranda?’

  Flora flashed an impish smile. ‘Well, she is very favourably inclined towards Charlie.’

  ‘Which won’t go down well with Matthew. I got the impression that he hopes to marry Miranda and get his grubby hands on her fortune himself, which makes me wonder why he spent so much time pursuing you.’

  Flora felt her cheeks flood with colour. ‘Your grandmother said something along those lines, but I will tell you what I told her. I didn’t notice any partiality on his part, I did not encourage the man and took him in strong dislike.’

  ‘Good! Anyway, you won’t be bothered by him again. Miranda is welcome here at any time, but the rest of her adopted family are most emphatically not.’

  ‘If Matthew does intend to have Miranda for a wife, she is unaware of it. Well, she refrained from mentioning the fact to me and didn’t display any personal interest in him. She won’t take him, I can assure you of that much, even though I am not well acquainted with her. She has a romantic nature and wants to be swept off her feet.’ She grinned. ‘And I am sure she won’t object if Charlie does the sweeping.’

  ‘Matchmaking, Miss Latimer?’ Luke asked playfully, raising one disapproving brow.

  ‘Merely making an observation, Lord Swindon. And on the subject of observations,’ she added, her expression sobering, ‘Miranda said something else that I thought significant. She told me that Christina made her father very happy and that she didn’t seem surprised or upset when she learned that Miranda was to inherit the bulk of his fortune. Under the terms of his will, she received a generous allowance, permission to continue residing at Ashton Lodge and the funds to maintain the place. All that came to an end when she remarried, which—‘

  ‘Which makes you wonder why she gave all that up to marry a penniless nobody.’

  ‘Perhaps she married for love. In fact, I am sure of it. Did you noti
ce the way that her gaze followed her husband like a devoted puppy wherever he moved to in the drawing room last night?’

  ‘I cannot say that I did, but I agree with you, women can be emotional and often let those emotions override common sense.’

  ‘Not all women,’ Flora replied crisply.

  ‘Present company accepted, of course,’ Luke said with an extravagant bow that made her smile. ‘But, of course, there could be another reason why she married Cooper.’

  Flora immediately caught on. ‘They were lovers before Mr Defoe died, and plotted together to do away with him, always intending to marry as soon as decently possible and inherit Defoe’s wealth. It must have come as quite a shock when the widow discovered that she was not the beneficiary. That means the love was not one-sided, otherwise why would Philip have gone through with the match? Although, if Christina was determined to have him and had proof of his involvement in Defoe’s death, then he had to take her or risk exposure.’

  ‘But that would have exposed Christina’s part in it, too. They would both have hanged.’

  Flora shrugged. ‘There are times when women are a good deal more cunning than their male counterparts.’

  Luke winced. ‘A good point. It puts me in mind of the black widow spider, famed for eating her mate after…well, consummating their relationship. Even so, such is the strength of the male’s desire that he goes through with it anyway.’

  ‘A good comparison. I didn’t take much of a liking to Mrs Cooper, although I will be the first to admit that she is very beautiful and very plausible. No one watching her with Miranda would doubt her affection for her step-daughter. If she feels resentful, she was careful not to let it show.’

  ‘Quite.’

  Flora threw back her head and closed her eyes. ‘The Coopers went ahead and married, despite their disappointment when their financial expectations were not met. Perhaps they assumed that all was not lost because they would be able to manipulate a grieving fourteen-year-old. If they showed her kindness and exercised patience she would grow to depend upon them.’