by Amanda Quick
There was a moment of dumbfounded astonishment. Then all three women started to speak at once.
“That is quite impossible,” Evangeline said. “I realize that you feel a sense of responsibility for me because I am your tenant, and I do appreciate that. But surely you must see that I cannot move into this house.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Clarissa said. “You may be an experienced inquiry agent but you have never been faced with a situation like this.”
“Clarissa is right,” Beatrice said. “For heaven’s sake, Evie, someone is hunting you. Don’t you understand? Whoever this villain is, he clearly means to harm you, very likely murder you. You have been lucky enough to survive one attack, two if you count Mason’s attempt to kill you. You may not be so fortunate the next time.”
“Assuming there will be a next time,” Evangeline said.
“There will be,” Lucas said.
Evangeline must have sensed his certainty because she gave a resigned sigh.
“Yes,” she said. “I suppose that is a distinct possibility.”
“Listen to your friends,” Lucas said. “You know they have the right of the matter.”
“It’s not that,” Evangeline said. “It’s just—”
“The proprieties of the situation,” he said. “I understand. Believe it or not, I did consider the matter of your reputation, Evangeline. I have a sister, if you will recall. I am well aware that a lady cannot move into a house occupied by a single man and his male servant. This afternoon I sent a telegram to my aunt Florence. She will arrive on the noon train tomorrow. I can assure you that she will make an ideal chaperone.”
Evangeline opened her mouth but she evidently could not think of what to say. Clarissa gave a small gasp of astonishment. Beatrice shook her head in disbelief.
Evangeline finally found her tongue. “It is obvious that you have given the problem considerable thought, sir.”
“After I brought you back here last night I spent a great deal of time contemplating both you and your situation, Evangeline.”
And he would spend even more time wondering why she was not telling him the whole truth about what had happened that day when Douglas Mason had died on the staircase.
Ten
The following morning Evangeline saw Clarissa and Beatrice off to London on the eight-fifteen train. As they stood together on the platform, Evangeline was aware of Lucas waiting a short distance away.
“You will be careful, won’t you, Evie?” Clarissa asked for the hundredth time.
“Yes, of course,” Evangeline said. “Try not to worry about me. I’m sure I will be perfectly safe with Mr. Sebastian. You and Beatrice must promise to keep me informed by telegram of anything that you discover, even the smallest clue.”
“Yes,” Clarissa said. “By the same token, let us know whatever news Mr. Sebastian turns up in the course of his inquiries.”
“What he learns from his man, Stone, and Stone’s associates on the streets may be of use to us in our investigations,” Beatrice said.
“I will send word of whatever Stone has to report when he returns from London,” Evangeline said.
Beatrice looked unhappy. “I do not like leaving you here alone, Evie. I feel there is a great risk in doing so.”
Evangeline smiled. “You saw for yourself, Crystal Gardens is built like a fortress. I shall be safe there. Mr. Sebastian’s aunt will arrive this afternoon. Her presence will take care of the proprieties and I am convinced that the gardens will provide wonderful material for my novel.”
“The risk that Beatrice is concerned about is of a more personal nature, Evie,” Clarissa said bluntly. “When Mr. Sebastian looks at you there is a certain energy in the atmosphere.”
“I’m sure you’re imagining things,” Evangeline said quickly.
Clarissa shook her head. “No, Bea is right. You must be careful, Evie.”
Evangeline looked at Beatrice and then turned back to Clarissa.
“Why?” she asked, careful to keep her voice very low. “Let us be blunt about the matter. We have discussed this before and we have agreed that none of us are likely to have a great many opportunities to experience passion. I thought we had all vowed to seize the chance if it came along.”
“Yes, but this is different,” Beatrice insisted.
“I don’t see why,” Evangeline said. “If Mr. Sebastian is interested in a romantic liaison, why should I be concerned so long as we are discreet? And one could hardly ask for a more discreet location for an affair than here in Little Dixby. For goodness’ sake, after I return to London I will never see anyone in this place again.”
Clarissa and Beatrice looked at each other, uncertain.
“When you put it like that,” Beatrice said, “I cannot argue. I would just add that it is not your virtue I am worried about.”
“I’m very glad to hear that,” Evangeline said, “because I have decided that it is no longer worth worrying about, myself.”
“It is your heart that concerns us,” Beatrice concluded.
“Oh, for pity’s sake,” Evangeline said. “At my age I am hardly likely to fall in love. That is for romantic eighteen-year-olds. I promise you, I know what I’m doing.”
“But what if you make the mistake of falling in love with him?” Clarissa asked. “We do not want to see you hurt, Evie.”
Evangeline looked around to make certain that none of the other passengers had wandered within hearing distance and that Lucas was still safely beyond earshot.
“The thing is,” she said, “I have come to realize that my lack of experience in such matters may be hindering my writing.”
Beatrice’s brows shot up. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“I have concluded that I must experience passion firsthand if I am to write about it in my novels. But clearly one does not want to tumble into bed with just any man purely for the sake of research. I would much prefer to study the subject with a gentleman to whom I am attracted and who finds me attractive.”
Relief flashed in Beatrice’s eyes. “Is that why you are contemplating an affair with Mr. Sebastian? For the sake of your writing?”
Evangeline flushed, very aware that Lucas was watching her. She knew he could not overhear them above the rumble of the steam engine and the general commotion on the platform, but she was horribly self-conscious nevertheless. One did not, after all, usually discuss such matters at a train station.
“I am trying to explain that there is no reason for the pair of you to worry about my heart,” she said.
“If you’re sure you know what you are doing,” Clarissa said.
“I am absolutely positive,” Evangeline said, lying through her teeth.
The whistle sounded, announcing the imminent departure of the train.
“Come, Clarissa, we must go aboard,” Beatrice said. She looked at Evangeline. “Promise that you will be careful.”
“I promise,” Evangeline said.
She watched Clarissa and Beatrice go up the steps of the first-class car. Lucas came to stand beside her.
“You have interesting friends, Evangeline,” he said.
“Yes,” she said. “I am fortunate in that regard.”
Fortunate, indeed, she thought, because regardless of whether or not she engaged in an affair with Lucas, she was probably going to lose her heart to him. She would need her friends very badly when she returned to London.
“LOOK AT THE WAY he is standing with our Evie,” Beatrice said. She raised her senses and studied Evangeline and Lucas through the window as the train pulled away from the station. “It is as if she belongs to him in some fashion. I can see the heat in their auras. It is as if they were already lovers.”
Clarissa looked at the pair on the platform. “One can sense the energy that surrounds them when they are together. For all Evie’s talk of sacrificing her virtue for the sake of her writing, I fear she is wading into some very deep waters.”
“He is going to break her heart.”
“Evie has plenty of spirit.”
“Yes,” Clarissa said. “But on the positive side, I think that, even while he is in the process of breaking her heart, Mr. Sebastian will keep her safe.”
“Assuming he is capable of protecting her.”
Evangeline and Lucas disappeared. Clarissa sat back in the seat and looked at her friend.
“There is much we do not know about Mr. Sebastian but I am sure of one thing,” she said. “He knows a thing or two about violence. Evie could not have a more capable bodyguard.”
Eleven
Extraordinary.” Lucas stalked into the library and slung his coat over the back of one of the chairs. “I’m trying to save your neck and all you seem to care about is putting this monstrosity of a house in order.”
Evangeline followed him into the room and shut the door firmly behind her.
“Not the entire house,” she said. “Just this wing. It appears that most of the abbey has been closed up for years. And to make matters crystal clear, I do appreciate your efforts to protect me, sir. I just do not see any reason for us to live as if we were on a camping expedition in the American West.”
There was a series of faint, muffled thuds. Lucas glanced up at the ceiling. Evangeline’s daily maid, Molly, and an assortment of Molly’s relations were working on the floor above. In addition to the furious activity overhead, it sounded as if a battle between ranks of armored knights were taking place in the kitchen. The clash and clang of iron pots and steel cutlery reverberated down the long hallway.
“I thought I explained to you that my uncle and his housekeeper were the only people in residence,” Lucas said. “They had no need to keep more than a few rooms open.”
“According to Molly, your uncle rarely employed anyone from the village. Mrs. Buckley was the only servant in the household. No wonder she shut most of the rooms.”
“Uncle Chester did not entertain and he didn’t encourage visitors,” Lucas growled. “He was devoted to his research and he did not like interruptions. I am not in a mood for them, either. I need to stay focused on the problems at hand.”
“I understand,” Evangeline said. “But don’t worry, the bulk of the heavy cleaning will not take more than a couple of days.”
“A couple of days? Damnation, woman, I want everyone out of this house by the end of the day, is that clear?”
“Perfectly clear, sir,” Evangeline said. Her tone was suddenly quite chilly.
I’m growling at her, Lucas thought.
Annoyed with his own bad temper, he went to the desk and turned up the lamp. Although the sun was shining outside and the curtains were open, the library was cloaked in deep shadows. The windows faced into the gardens. The glass was almost entirely covered by the thick mat of twisted, tangled vines. The heavy vegetation effectively cut off most of the light. It was the same with all of the windows on that side of the house.
Lucas angled himself onto the corner of the old desk, one foot braced on the floor, and looked at Evangeline. A deep prowling thrill of awareness whispered through him. He was growing accustomed to the sensation. It struck every time he was in Evangeline’s presence. But while he had become familiar with the urgent ache of desire, he was not finding it any easier to suppress or ignore it. And maybe that is why I am so short-tempered with her today.
It wasn’t her fault that having her so close aroused his senses and left him feeling edgy, he thought. He had convinced himself that he would feel more in control and more focused once he knew that she was safe within the walls of Crystal Gardens. Evidently he had miscalculated. Not that he’d had any choice. He would not have gotten any sleep at all if he had left her alone at night at the cottage while the unknown bastard in London plotted to kill her.
Evangeline looked quite different this afternoon than she had this morning. The fashionable blue walking dress, matching gloves and bonnet and the high-button boots she had worn to see her friends off at the station were gone. She was dressed for the grimy work she was overseeing in a severely plain housedress and an apron. Both were outdated and much too large, especially in the bosom. He wondered which of Molly’s more buxom female relatives had loaned them to her. Evangeline’s amber hair was tightly pinned beneath a white cap. The apron was stained with what looked like dirty water from a mop bucket and there were sooty smudges on her cheeks. She gripped a feather duster in one hand.
She looked altogether entrancing, he thought.
“From what I can tell, your uncle did not even bother to use the dining room,” Evangeline said. “It appears he took his meals in the kitchen, if you can believe it.”
“That is precisely what Stone, and I have been doing since we arrived,” Lucas said. “The arrangement has worked quite well. Stone does the cooking. He finds it more efficient to eat in the kitchen.”
“That is all very well for Stone, but you can hardly expect your aunt to dine in the kitchen and you certainly cannot tell her that she must sleep in a bedroom that has been shut up for years.” Evangeline pointed one finger toward the ceiling. “There’s an inch of dust on everything up there. Thankfully the furniture and carpets in all the rooms were well draped and your uncle’s housekeeper appears to have taken care of the linens. Nevertheless, there is a great deal to be done before your aunt arrives later today. Thank goodness Molly’s relatives were available to help out.”
Lucas folded his arms. “Do you know, Evangeline, I thought I had accounted for even the smallest details when I concocted the plan to move you here, but it never occurred to me that you would insist on scrubbing the house from top to bottom.”
“Only a few rooms, not the whole house.” Evangeline walked halfway across the room and stopped. “You sound as if you are annoyed, sir. No one is asking you to pick up a mop bucket.”
“Now why would I be annoyed? Perhaps because I have been forced to take refuge in this room while my house is turned upside down by strangers? Maybe because I had your safety in mind, not a spring-cleaning, when I brought you here today? Or do you think it might just possibly have to do with the fact that I don’t like being confronted by someone wielding a broom every time I go around a corner? I’m trying to solve one murder and prevent another, yours, to be specific. Damn it, I don’t have time to dodge people armed with mops and buckets.”
“Ah, so that’s it,” she said calmly. “I thought so.”
“You thought what?”
“I’m sure that you long ago learned to take a well-run household for granted. However, like a piano, a house must be properly tuned if it is to function smoothly and efficiently.”
“This particular household does not have to function at all. With any luck we will not be here more than a few weeks at most.”
“That is far too long to sleep on pallets, eat cold meals and go without a fire in the evenings. You are welcome to do all those things, if that is your preference, but as long as I am living here I must insist on the basic trappings of civilization. Those include, at a minimum, a clean kitchen, a well-stocked pantry, a proper bath and fresh linens on the beds. I’m sure your aunt will agree with me.”
“No offense, Evangeline, but given your current predicament, I’m surprised you are so obsessed with maintaining such high standards.”
She gave him a cool smile. “Where would we be without standards, Mr. Sebastian?”
“An excellent question. Never mind, it is obvious that I’ve lost this battle. What’s done is done. Just see to it that none of Molly’s relations wander outside beyond the terrace, is that clear?”
“Yes, of course, but I really don’t think there will be a problem in that regard. The Gillinghams, like the rest of the good people of Little Dixby, are terrified of your gardens.”
“With good reason,” he said. “And speaking of the Gillinghams, I want every last member of
the family gone by sundown. As I have explained, the gardens are more dangerous after dark.”
“I understand. Trust me, no one except Molly seems to have any inclination to remain on the grounds at night. Molly had considerable difficulty persuading her relatives to come here to clean during the day. I had to promise that you would pay double the usual wages.”
“Did you, indeed?” He raised a brow. “Spending my money rather freely, aren’t you?”
“Nonsense, you know perfectly well that as the owner of Crystal Gardens you are expected to contribute to the local economy. Hiring workers is one way to do that.”
“I will not argue the point.”
Evangeline frowned. “Why are you so set against having any servants in the house at night? I’m sure I could persuade Molly to stay. She is much more adventuresome than her relatives.”
“I plan to carry out my investigations of the gardens after dark, when the energy is at its height. The last thing I need is for young Molly or one of her relatives to see me wandering around outside at midnight. There are already too many rumors of occult activities circulating about this place as it is.”
“Oh, dear, I do see what you mean.” Evangeline gave him a sympathetic smile. “But I’m afraid it may be too late to convince the locals that you are not eccentric like your uncle.”
Lucas winced. “I was afraid of that.”
“Is that why you happened to be outside the night before last when I arrived in the gardens at two in the morning? You were conducting your investigations?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Well, that explains it then.”
He frowned. “Explains what?”
“Clarissa and Beatrice asked me why you happened to be so conveniently at hand when I needed help. I was forced to tell them that I was so rattled at the time that I had neglected to inquire why you and Stone had more or less magically appeared, fully dressed in the gardens, at such a late hour.”
“There is no great mystery involved. As I told you, we were outside already and heard you enter the grounds.”