“I cannot quite see,” the Duke remarked quietly, “why everybody should be in such haste that I cannot personally choose for myself the moment to propose to my future wife.”
Because it was impossible not to realise that there was a rebuke in his voice, the Dowager shot a hasty glance at Kane Horn, almost as if she was asking for his support, before she said with an affected little cry,
“Dearest Duke, you are terribly angry at what we have done? The last thing we wanted was to upset you!”
“You must realise,” the Duke replied, “that I am not a boy of twenty who can be told what to do and what not to do, but a man. I naturally prefer to make my own decisions!”
“Of course you do and it was very very foolish of me to have allowed myself to be stampeded into acknowledging to our relatives that you and Jane were engaged. But they were so insistent that that was what they had come to hear and, of course, the McCarons felt the same, that I very stupidly took the line of least resistance.”
He felt her fingers tighten on his arm as she said,
“Forgive me, please say you will forgive me! I could not bear it that there should be any unpleasantness between us and it means so much to me that dearest Jane will be happy with you.”
The way she spoke made it difficult, the Duke thought, for him to be unpleasant.
At the same time, however, almost like a flash of lightning, it came into his mind that the Marquis of Lothian had said that the reason why Lady Jane had been sent to Italy was that she and her stepmother did not get on.
It was something he had forgotten when he was at Dalbeth House, but now he could remember the manner in which the Dowager Countess had put her arms round Jane’s shoulders and in what an affectionate way she had spoken to her.
He looked away from the Dowager’s pleading eyes and found that Kane Horn was regarding him with an expression that could be described only as speculative.
He therefore said nothing, feeling that silence was more eloquent at this moment than words.
Then after a pause, as if he had made up his mind, Kane Horn said,
“One thing I want to talk about to you, Duke, while I’m here is the money Jane will make over to her stepmother after she is married.”
The Duke raised his eyebrows.
“Are you saying that the Countess has not been provided for by her late husband?”
“Not adequately,” the Countess said quickly as if she could not bear to be left out of the conversation. “Keith loved me and left me everything he could, but the house, its contents and most of his money was entailed onto Jane. Of course now that she is so rich she does not need it and she suggested that she should tell you that she wished to make over some of her huge fortune to me in gratitude for all we have meant to each other.”
The Duke did not answer at once, but he knew how eagerly the two people sitting beside him were waiting for his reply.
Then slowly, as if he were thinking about it, he asked,
“What, in fact, is the sum your advisors have in mind?”
The Dowager glanced from under her mascaraed eyelashes at Kane Horn and it was quite obvious who her advisor was, before he said,
“Jane considered that it would be only fair, as she is so rich, to give her stepmother, whom she loves very deeply, the sum of two hundred thousand pounds!”
Because it was so obvious that the Countess and the man whom he would not have trusted with a few bawbees were intriguing together, the Duke almost laughed aloud.
Instead he said seriously,
“That seems to me to be a very large sum of money!”
“Not in proportion to what Jane possesses,” the Countess said swiftly. “I will be honest with you and tell you that, because my husband was not a very generous man, I paid for her clothes out of the very meagre sum of money I possess myself and also for the presents we sent to her in Italy. I also helped my husband towards the very expensive manner in which the house has been renovated because he wished it to look really attractive for when Jane came home.”
“I understand, of course, I understand,” the Duke said, “but you will have to give me time before I agree. This is, after all, a matter I should first discuss with my future wife’s Trustees, her Solicitors and, of course, as I shall be in charge of her money in the future, with my own.”
Again there was that exchange of glances between the two people he was talking to.
Then the Countess said,
“It would make me very happy now to know that you agree and, as such papers and documents always take such a long time to prepare, the sooner the Solicitors are instructed to do what Jane and you wish for me, the better!”
“I will certainly keep that in mind.”
“If you’ll forgive me for saying so,” Kane Horn intervened, “since my cousin is very out of pocket since her marriage to the late lamented Earl, she would like to have your firm assurance that this money will be hers as soon as your marriage takes place and you are in charge of everything that Jane possesses.”
As he spoke, he drew some papers from his pocket and went on.
“In fact, it will make it much easier, Duke, if you will just sign this very simple document, which in fact will also save you a lot of trouble.”
“How kind of you to think of it,” the Duke said, making no attempt to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
Kane Horn held out the papers towards him, but he made no effort to take them. Instead he looked the man straight in the eye and added,
“I think, Mr. Horn, you have forgotten that I am a Scotsman. The Scots are proverbially canny and that is what I intend to be both now and in the future.”
“It’s Jane’s money!” the Countess insisted. “She has said over and over again how much she owes me and how much she wants to help me. In fact the dear child said only last night, ‘never again, dearest Stepmama, will you have to worry as I know you have done in the past. I will look after you and so will my husband’.”
As she finished speaking, the Countess raised a small lace-trimmed handkerchief to the corner of her eye.
It would have been very moving if the Duke had not been aware that, as her eyelashes were mascaraed, she took the greatest care not to actually touch them in case they should smudge.
“I heard Jane say that,” Kane Horn agreed, “and I don’t mind telling you, Duke, she’s that fond of her stepmother that she’d find it hard to accept any husband who was not closely in accord with her own wishes where the Countess is concerned.”
This was a threat and the Duke was well aware of it.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
“You must forgive me,” he said in a tired voice. “I find all this very wearying, but in a day or two I shall be able to make a decision. Now – ”
His voice trailed away as if he were too weak to say anything more.
He was aware that the Countess was looking frantically at Kane Horn.
“I understand,” Kane Horn said. “Of course I understand and I have always been told that malaria is damned unpleasant. So what I suggest is that you just sign this paper and I’ll help you by guiding your hand. Then you need not worry about it anymore.”
The Duke was wondering what he should reply without antagonising them into open warfare, when the door of his sitting room opened and Ross came in.
He was carrying a tumbler half-filled with some liquid on a silver salver.
He came to the Duke’s side to say,
“It’s time for your medicine, Your Grace, and I can see that you’re lookin’ tired. If you ask me, you need a rest.”
It was difficult for the Duke not to laugh, knowing that Ross had been listening at the door to everything that had been said and had come in in the nick of time to save him from having to make himself unpleasant.
“Thank you, Ross, thank you!” he said, taking the glass with what appeared to be a shaking hand.
As he did so, the valet said to the Countess in a low voice,
> “I think, my Lady, he’s overtired and it’d be a mistake for him to have a relapse after all he’s been through.”
“Yes, of course,” the Countess agreed.
At the same time she gave a despairing look at Kane Horn.
As if he knew that for the moment he was defeated, he put the paper that he had been pressing on the Duke back into his pocket and rose reluctantly to his feet.
Then, as if he thought that Jane herself might prove more effective than they had been, he said,
“We’ll leave you now, Duke, but I think you should have a word with your future wife. She’d be broken-hearted if she had to go away without seeing you.”
“Of course,” the Duke replied weakly. “Of course I must see her, if she will forgive me for not coming downstairs to her.”
“No, no, of course not,” the Countess said. “We will send her up to you with strict instructions to stay for only a few minutes.”
Ross escorted them to the door and, as they went outside, the Duke heard him say,
“It must only be for a few minutes, my Lady. You can see His Grace’s exhausted. He’s doin’ too much and I don’t know what the doctor’ll say aboot it!”
The Countess did not answer, she only walked quickly along the passage and, when they were out of earshot, she put her arm through Kane Horn’s and started whispering so that only he could hear what she said.
Ross went back into the room to find the Duke holding the tumbler up in his hand and looking at it.
“It’s all right, Your Grace,” Ross said. “It’s only a wee dram of whisky!”
The Duke drank a little of it.
“I needed that!” he remarked.
“I thought you would, Your Grace, I didna like the look of that man from the moment I saw him.”
“Nor did I,” the Duke replied, “and we were right!”
There was no need to say more.
He knew that Ross was aware, as he was, that the Dowager Countess and Jane were being manipulated by a crook in the shape of Mr. Kane Horn.
This was something that the Duke had not expected and he was working out how he should deal with it when Ross, who had gone outside into the passage, opened the door and announced,
“The Countess of Dalbeth, Your Grace!”
Jane came in and the Duke saw at once that she had completely changed her appearance from the first night he had met her.
Now she was dressed in elegant black, which undoubtedly had come from an expensive dressmaker, but her hair was arranged very simply under a small bonnet and his first glance at her face made him see that she was not made up.
Her lips were natural, so were her eyelashes, and her skin was devoid of rouge and powder.
He had to admit that she did not look nearly as attractive as she had when they had first met.
Only as the sun illuminated her as she came towards him did he realise that the only artificial thing about her now was that her hair was dyed.
A man less experienced in the art of makeup would not have been aware of it, but, when his life rested so often on the smallest detail in the art of disguise, the Duke could never be deceived about anything so fundamental as dyed hair.
Because of her eyelashes he guessed that her hair was the light rather dull brown that was very much more commonplace than the fair pale gold that her hair was now.
He had time only for a very quick impression of her before she had rushed to his side and was kneeling down beside his chair.
“You have been ill!” she cooed in a soft, compassionate manner that was very touching. “I have been so worried and so upset about you and can only pray that you are better.”
“I am better,” the Duke said, “and it was kind of you to worry.”
“Of course I worried!” Jane said. “I could hardly believe it was true when I learnt you had left Dalbeth House for your own Castle. Why did you not wake me up? Why did you not let me help you? You know I would have been only too willing to do so.”
“You are very kind,” the Duke answered. “I was, in fact, ashamed of succumbing to an old ailment that strikes down the strongest without any warning.”
“That is what I have always heard and, of course, you caught malaria through being so long in India. When you have time, you must show me your medals.”
“I think there are a lot more important things for us to discuss before we talk about my medals,” the Duke said, smiling.
“Yes, of course,” Jane agreed, “and I know you will understand that I want to do something for dearest Stepmama. She has always been so very kind to me.”
“As you were so happy at home,” the Duke commented slowly, “why did you go to Italy? There must be many schools much nearer that you could have attended.”
Jane was silent for a moment and he sensed that she was searching her mind for an answer.
Then with a radiant smile she replied,
“Papa wanted me to be clever. And because I have learnt so much, think how enjoyable it will be for you.”
She gave him a provocative little glance as she had done the first night they met before she added,
“Nevertheless, I shall be terrified of marrying anyone who has done so much as you have.”
The Duke had the strange feeling that she had been rehearsed in what she was to say to him. The flattery was certainly too blatant coming from a young girl, who was expected to be shy and tongue-tied.
Jane was still kneeling at his feet and now she slipped her hand into his before she said,
“May I come over and see you tomorrow? Then we can talk over everything we will do together and I can ask your advice over some tiresome papers they have asked me to sign.”
The Duke’s fingers closed sharply over hers.
“You must sign nothing,” he said quickly. “Nothing at all without the advice of somebody you can trust and who was a friend of your father’s.”
“But Colonel Macbeth and Macbeth of Macbeth, who are both my Trustees, will agree to anything I want,” Jane replied. “Stepmama has talked to them and they were so excited that I am going to marry you that they will make no difficulties.”
“I still don’t want you to sign anything!” the Duke said firmly.
He was thinking not of the two elderly Macbeths, who he was certain knew nothing about business, but of Kane Horn.
Then, as if his curiosity could not be contained, he asked,
“Tell me about Mr. Horn. Who is he and why is he dealing with your affairs?”
He thought that Jane’s eyes flickered before she answered.
“He is kind and very clever and Stepmama has known him for years, so they are very fond of each other.”
She paused, then, as if she was remembering that there was something else she should say, she added,
“I think that he could help you and me to make a great deal of money, if you were interested in doing so.”
The Duke almost laughed out loud.
It was exactly what he had expected. Kane Horn would suggest get-rich-quick schemes and investments where the money slipped away into his own pocket.
Aloud he said,
“We will certainly talk about it and I am sure that it will be very interesting, but, of course, there are other things we will want to discuss. Meanwhile don’t do anything until I am well enough to cope with it all.”
“But you will be kind to Stepmama?”
“Of course!” the Duke replied. “Why should I be anything else?”
Jane rose to her feet and said,
“You are wonderful, as I knew you would be, but do hurry up and get well! I want to show everyone what a handsome exciting husband I am going to have!”
She bent forward as she spoke and kissed him on the cheek.
Then, before he had to find some response, Ross once again came to the rescue.
“Now, my Lady,” he said, “you promised me you wouldna stay more than three minutes and it’s over ten, or I’m a Dutchman!”
Jane laugh
ed.
“No one could accuse you of being anything but a Scot! I will leave your Master now to have a rest, but I am coming back tomorrow, make no mistake about that!”
“I won’t, your Ladyship,” Ross replied as he held open the door for her.
Jane turned back to blow a kiss to the Duke.
“Hurry, hurry and get better,” she said smiling, “and I will see you tomorrow.”
She waved her hand to him again and then hurried away down the passage with Ross escorting her to the top of the stairs.
The Dowager Countess and Kane Horn were waiting for her in the hall.
She ran down the stairs towards them and Ross stepped back into the shadows where he could not be seen but could listen.
“Was it all right?” he heard the Dowager ask.
“Of course!” Jane replied. “What else did you expect?”
They went through the front door and climbed into the carriage that was waiting for them.
Ross went back to the sitting room.
The Duke had thrown off the rug and was standing once again at the window.
Now he did not see the beauty of the moors, but only that everything was far more complicated than he had dreamt it could be.
He had already made up his mind that Kane Horn was a crook and the Dowager was not much better.
They were certainly determined to get their hands on as much of Jane’s money as they could and it was difficult to know how he could prevent them from doing so without making himself extremely disagreeable.
If he simply ordered them away, it might be a disastrous beginning to his marriage.
It was something he did not wish to discuss with Ross, even though he was quite certain that his valet had a shrewd idea of what he was thinking.
In the afternoon Sir Iain McCaron called and on his instructions was brought upstairs to his rooms.
“You are better, Talbot?” he asked.
“Much better,” the Duke replied, “but you will understand that I have to take things easy for a day or so after one of these attacks.”
“Of course, of course!” Sir Iain agreed.
The Devilish Deception Page 6