by Sharon Page
“You think she was killed?” He hated to be brutal, but it seemed to be what the man was saying.
“Even if she just ran away, she were on her own. Prey to the cutthroats on the roads and the scoundrels who ravish girls. If she were alive, she’d ’ave written to me and the missus. The lass never did. No, in my ’eart, I know my Sarah is gone.” The old farmer put his pipe to his lips but tears welled in his bright blue eyes.
Cal pulled out a handkerchief, a fine soft square of linen, handing it to the man. In New York, any woman of the slum neighborhoods knew about Jack the Ripper and the New York murder of a woman in 1891. Cal wouldn’t have expected it here, on an English estate. Maybe the girl just ran away. Maybe she was ashamed to write home. She might have gotten pregnant.
“Is there any help I can give you?” he asked.
“We manage just fine, my lord. You may have heard some sorry tales from Mr. Pegg.”
The farmer looked defensive, and Cal was thrown off by the shift in conversation. Who in hell was Pegg? Then he remembered the lawyer had told him Pegg was the land agent of Worthington Park. Pegg had left before Cal arrived, taking a job somewhere else. Apparently offended to work for the impoverished American heir.
“Pegg was gone before I got here. Is it just you and your wife on the farm? Do you have other children?”
“Another girl, but she’s married. She married a lad from Stonebridge Farm. We lost our boy in the War. At Verdun, my lord.”
“I’m sorry. Many good men were lost.”
The farmer led him to the house. He ducked his head and went into a rough kitchen. A wooden sideboard held dishes. A teakettle whistled on the stove. Julia plucked it off.
Just as with Ellen Lambert, Lady Julia was making tea for a farmer’s wife. No airs and graces. No snobbery. Never once did she behave as if she were too good to make a cup of tea or too good to help these people.
Cal went to Julia and stood behind her as she poured tea in a pot. He had to ask her this privately, so he lowered his lips so they almost touched her ear. This close he could see the skin on her exposed neck looked satin-soft. “What’s wrong with Mrs. Brand? Has she lost her mind?”
* * *
His warm breath. The closeness of his body. In the Brands’ kitchen, Julia felt her knees go weak.
She was very close to crying—seeing the poor Brands always brought her to tears. For some mad reason, she wanted to press tight against Cal’s broad chest. She wanted him to hold her.
But she had been raised to always be cool and composed. To never break down, except in private. And to never fling herself into a man’s arms. She had never done that. Not even with Anthony or Dougal. She had been kissed but she’d never been comforted by a man.
She turned with the hot kettle of water, which forced Cal to step back.
Thank heaven. She could barely think with his hot breath on her neck. She hoped he thought it was the weight of the kettle that made her tremble.
“I do know the poor thing has been confused ever since her daughter’s disappearance,” Julia murmured to him as she poured hot water into the teapot.
“Brand told me that some days she believes Sarah is at home. Or she relives the time when Sarah first went missing and she lives through the pain all over again.”
“Yes.” Julia could understand how such pain could make you go mad. When she had lost Anthony, it hurt dreadfully. Then there was loss upon loss. All the other young men she knew who never came back from war. Will’s death. Her father’s passing. Her heart broke and broke.
Oh, she had been strong and stoic. She never let anyone see how much her heart had been shattered. But all that was left of it was bits and pieces inside her.
The only difference between her and Mrs. Brand was that the poor woman’s broken heart had broken her mind, too.
“Is there any way to make her understand what happened?” Cal asked.
“I explain it over and over, as gently as I can. But then she forgets what I’ve told her.”
“She just can’t face the fact her daughter might be dead. Maybe if she could be snapped into reality—”
“No!” Julia grabbed his arm. “What if that snapped her mind altogether? What if it made her so depressed she did something drastic? That would destroy Brand.”
But Cal left her. Frightened, Julia watched him walk to Mrs. Brand.
He dropped to one knee and clasped her hand. “Do you know where Sarah is?”
“Don’t do this,” Julia hissed at him. “Please don’t.”
Slowly Cal told the woman who he was. “I’m so sorry to tell you that your daughter is missing. She might have gone away. That’s what we hope. I’m going to find out what happened to her. For you. I promise.”
He couldn’t promise that. How could he find out now, so many years later?
He was gentler with Mrs. Brand than she expected. She had to admit that. He had been that way with Ellen and Ben. Kind. She could see they all liked him.
Of course, they had no idea what he planned.
She bustled forward and gave out cups of tea. “His lordship is worried about you trying to manage the farm,” she said to Mr. Brand. “He wonders if you would be happier to leave it. You could be given a cottage—”
“Pensioned off?” Brand exclaimed. His cup rattled, spilling tea. “Nae, I’d not like that at all. This is our home. I won’t leave until they carry me out. Brands have farmed this land for over a century. It should have gone on to me son—”
“We can’t go.” Mrs. Brand looked up suddenly. “We can’t! We have to be here for when Sarah comes home! We can’t have her come home and we’re not here. She’d never find us! If I leave here, she’ll never come home to us!”
Julia saw Cal soothe the woman, a look of raw panic on his handsome face. She wanted him to see what it would do to these people to be forced out. Though she hated to make them upset.
“You won’t have to leave,” Cal said. “Don’t worry about it.”
Mrs. Brand stared at him, shaking. “Who are you?” she demanded. “I don’t know you.” The woman looked up helplessly. Then saw her. “Lady Julia! Good afternoon, your ladyship. Is the wedding to Lord Anthony going to be soon? I saw him yesterday. Driving his fancy horseless carriage, he was. All the silver on it shone in the sun. Brilliant red, it was, like a ripe apple. It’ll be a lovely wedding, I’m sure.”
Julia hated this moment. She didn’t want to remind the woman that Anthony died in the War. That would lead Mrs. Brand to remember she’d lost her son, too. But she must be honest.
Then Cal said, “I’m afraid Lord Anthony was killed in the War. He was a brave young man. I am the Earl of Worthington now, Mrs. Brand.”
“But you’re Lord Anthony. I see it now. You’ve changed so much, but I do see—”
“No, Mrs. Brand. I’m not Lord Anthony.” He gently squeezed her hand. “I’ll find someone to help you here, with the farm. How does that sound?”
“We’ve got our son. And Laura and Sarah. We’re just fine.”
Cal flashed a helpless look. Julia mouthed: You can’t do anything.
He stood and reiterated to Mr. Brand, “You need help around here. I’ll see that you get it.”
He was lying to Brand, surely. And she hated that. As they left, she whirled on Cal. “You aren’t going to get them any help. Your plan is to sell their farm out from underneath them. It will probably kill them.”
“And it’s better to let them die there?”
“I look in on them almost every day. Though, I do agree they need help.”
“I will look after them. I gave them my word. And, when I sell this place, I won’t leave innocent victims.”
“You were kind to Ellen and to the Brands. I can see you really do care about their welfare. You could be a good lord for Worth
ington Park.”
He grimaced, as if in pain. “I couldn’t live with myself, angel, if I stayed here and lived like an earl.”
* * *
Rain came hard that night, slamming against the paned windows of his bedroom. Cal undid his right cuff link and tossed it into a silver dish on the dresser. By rights, he would be undressing Lady Julia right now, exposing her lush, creamy skin, kissing every delicious inch of her. But she kept taking him places where he had no right to be thinking about seduction.
He was going to have to fix that.
Removing his other cuff link, he tossed it, but it bounced out of the dish, landed on the polished floor and skidded beneath one of the wardrobes.
Cal squatted down, reached under the decorative wood skirting and found his cuff link. But his fingers touched something else and he pulled that out, too.
A small photograph, faded and curling.
He looked at it and almost dropped it in shock. Lady Julia gazed back at him with parted lips and enormous innocent eyes, and she was wearing almost nothing at all.
Cal rubbed his eyes. Sure enough, it was not Julia. It was a grainy photo of a black-haired young woman in a corset. The corset gave the woman a generous swell of bosom and the picture showed a stretch of fleshy bare thigh. Her hair was loose and thick. All that dark hair and the huge eyes made the woman look like Julia.
The photograph probably dated from the War, from the look of the corset.
Julia had said John Carstairs was just a boy during the War. So had this naughty photo belonged to Anthony? He flipped it over and there it was—written in careful handwriting. A, with love. No initial or name for the woman. Considering he’d sketched and painted dozens of naked women, Cal had to smile. He could imagine a repressed Englishman being titillated by the picture—
“My lord, when do you wish to begin a search for a new valet?”
Cal looked up. He held the photograph in his hand, and Wiggins stood in the doorway. “I told you I don’t need one. I’m capable of taking off my own clothes.” He held out the picture. “I found this under the wardrobe. Lady friend of Lord Anthony’s?” He was teasing, expecting to make the butler blush.
He was surprised when Wiggins turned white. “I apologize, my lord. I did not realize the apartments had not been thoroughly cleaned. I shall have Mrs. Rumpole reprimand the maids for their carelessness.” The butler yanked the picture out his hands. “Let me dispose of this, my lord.”
Cal didn’t want to see a maid getting in trouble. “It’s not a problem.”
“It is my duty to deal with the matter, my lord. If you will excuse me, I will take my leave.”
Wiggins retreated so fast that the door slammed behind him. Lightning forked outside the window, illuminating the room in a flash of silver-blue, then thunder boomed.
It was then he realized that Anthony had never been earl, so had never slept in this room. So why was his picture under the earl’s wardrobe?
7
The Gypsy Curse
“I’m to give cooking lessons to the kitchen maid of another house?” Mrs. Creedy, the cook at Brideswell cried, leaning rather fiercely on her rolling pin. Then she suddenly appeared to remember who she’d just barked at. “I mean, if that is what you wish, my lady, of course I would want to do so. But how would I fit it in with the tight schedule of Brideswell? What will Her Grace say?”
Julia smiled, moving back to let the kitchen maid scurry past with pot in hand. “We’ll find a way, Mrs. Creedy. And Her Grace has already approved.” Zoe was all for the idea, to help Hannah Talbot. “It might not be necessary at all. I shall speak to Mrs. Talbot today. She may not feel she needs help at the moment, but I want us to be there to support her.”
“All right, but it seems a strange business to me. A kitchen maid elevated to cook in one afternoon? And I’ve heard the new earl wants simpler food and less of it.”
Julia nodded. “Yes, his lordship is concerned about waste of food, which is quite admirable and noble.”
Mrs. Creedy snorted. “His lordship has no idea what needs to be done in a kitchen.”
“But he is in charge. And I want to ensure Hannah does not suffer as the new earl endeavors to bring American ways to his kitchens.” In the depths of her heart, she did see why waste would appall him. After all, he had been starving. But she would not let him hurt or frighten the poor kitchen-maid-turned-cook, Hannah, even if he believed he was helping her. He had claimed she had produced excellent meals, but rumors had come to Brideswell from the other kitchen maid, Tansy, that poor Hannah was quite out of her depth.
Cal’s anger at Mrs. Feathers was justified—Julia had been shocked by the bruises on Hannah’s arm—but he had used Hannah as a pawn to score a point on Julia. And she intended to make that right.
“Thank you, Mrs. Creedy,” Julia said. But as she walked away, she saw she was as bad as Cal. She was using Brideswell’s cook to score her own point on him.
But she would ensure Mrs. Creedy was rewarded for helping, and it would make things much better for Hannah.
She had reached the bottom of the servants’ staircase when Bartlet, Brideswell’s butler, stepped out of his room and looked at her in surprise. “Lady Julia! I did not expect to see you here. There is a call on the telephone for you. The dowager duchess. I fear she believes she is already speaking to you, my lady. There appears to be sound emanating from the receiver.”
Julia couldn’t help but smile. “I will take it on one of the upstairs extensions.”
Zoe had insisted Brideswell would have more than two telephones—it sported four. Most people were mystified. They all rang at once, for a start. And who needed so many? Their peers dismissed it as American vulgarity.
When Julia lifted up the telephone in the foyer, her grandmother was saying, “That is what I think, Julia. Of course you agree.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “Grandmama, I just got to the phone. I haven’t heard a word you said. But how are you?”
“Fine, fine, but let’s not bother with that. If I shall have to say it all over again, I will.”
Julia knew Zoe had given Grandmama a telephone to be cheeky, for the dowager duchess had first approached it as if touching the receiver would mean certain death. Now Grandmama was addicted to the thing. She’d realized its power. On any whim she could make a telephone call and disrupt the entire house.
“You have made a conquest, my dear!”
“A what?”
“A gentleman is smitten. Really, dear, do keep up. I invited the Earl of Summerhay to tea, and he would talk about nothing but you, Julia. All you must do is give a nudge in the right direction—”
“No nudging, Grandmama,” Julia broke in. “I do know Summerhay is interested—”
“Then what on earth are you doing about it?”
“I told him I was not ready.”
“Not ready? What are you waiting for, dear?”
Julia opened her mouth but the dowager rushed on, “If it’s Dr. Campbell, I’m afraid he is out of the picture. If he isn’t strong enough to defy all of us to pursue you, he isn’t good enough for you.”
Julia almost dropped the telephone. For she had not thought of Dougal when her grandmother asked the question. The first face that had come into her head had been Cal’s.
But she wasn’t in love with Cal.
“Grandmama, I must go. I am taking Cal—the new Earl of Worthington—around the estate so he can meet his tenants.”
“You call him ‘Cal,’ do you? And what does he call you? Please tell me it’s not ‘Julie.’”
“I can safely assure you it is not that.”
“Do not be too familiar with that man,” the dowager declared, over the wires. “I think he’s one who would need no encouragement. And since Nigel was overcome by madness and married an A
merican, I dread to think what folly you might slip into if you are not properly guided.”
“I’m rather old to be guided.”
“That is often said by people who feel they are capable of living with their mistakes. The problem is that they have no idea how miserable that will be. Now I shall need to speak to Zoe. I think a dinner party is in order and I must convince my granddaughter-in-law to hold one.”
Oh, she must stop this. “What of your romance, Grandmama?”
“What romance, dear? At my age, a woman barely remembers what romance was.”
“That is not true. You can’t deny Sir Raynard is courting you. Did he not invite you to a musical revue in London?”
“He invited me to a jazz club, my dear. Of course I said no. Next thing, he would be wanting me to dance the Black Bottom with him.”
Julia had to clap her hand to her mouth. She had to smother the giggles that came from picturing her grandmother dancing a primitive-style dance with her bottom sticking out. “I’m sure he just wanted to introduce you to the new jazz music.”
“I fear not. An older gentleman in love can be utterly exhausting. The first thing he wants to do is prove how young he is.”
“Please don’t discourage him. I think it would be rather lovely for you to have a gentleman in your life.”
“I won’t discourage Raynard, dear, if you don’t discourage Summerhay. Now—to plan a dinner party. Toodle-oo, my dear.”
She heard the dial tone. Grandmama was rushing off to scheme. Oh dear.
Julia set down the receiver, and someone cried, “There you are!” right behind her, making her jump. Before her heart slipped down from her throat, her mother grasped her hand and towed her into a drawing room.
Mother carried a letter. Her green eyes sparkled and she looked filled with life. She had not glowed with such happiness for a long time. Not since before Will had died. Losing her youngest son had devastated Mother. A Catholic, Mother prayed every day at the small chapel Father had built for her on the estate. Julia was happy that whatever news Mother had gotten was good.