“And this is where he left you?”
“Only so that I could have a little rest. And he said it was quite all right for me—”
“Chloe?” Fleur leaned closer. “What’s that on your face?”
The girl touched her cheek and giggled. “He painted it on from a little pot. It’s a cat. Isn’t that funny? He makes people laugh at the party gardens. A clown, that’s what he said he is and he wears funny clothes.”
Lord Dominic snapped his fingers to get her attention and indicated he would join them.
“Here comes Uncle Dominic,” Fleur said. “Come to help me take you home.”
Lord Dominic crouched beside them and gave Chloe a kiss on the cheek. He lingered long enough to look up at Fleur with fury in his eyes. “Are you sure the man didn’t say, pleasure gardens, or Vauxhall Gardens.”
“He might have.”
“What else did he tell you?”
“Mmm. That he can play a trick on anyone he wants to. He can even make people disappear, but he didn’t do that to me this time. P’raps next time, he said.”
Lord Dominic took Chloe from Fleur’s arms. He settled the child in the crook of his arm and offered Fleur a hand. When she took it he held her firmly and didn’t let go while they climbed away from the pond and walked toward Heatherly House.
Chloe fell asleep and Lord Dominic said to Fleur, “You and I have a great deal to discuss. I’ll have Snowdrop bring you to me later. It’s time you showed me your silly list. The sooner we get that out of the way, the better.”
“Yes, my lord,” she said very formally.
“Now, my timing may be a mistake, but I have to find ways to make you trust me—and do as I tell you. I’m well aware of what is or is not the done thing but I hope you will call me Dominic.”
She paused at once. “That would be disrespectful.”
“Not if it’s what I want.”
Fleur felt strange, light-headed and oddly warmed. “You are so generous. Very well, I should very much like to call you by your given name when it’s appropriate.” He was generous—and confounding—and if she wasn’t careful he would reduce her to a spineless creature who always did what he wanted. Pah! That would never happen.
“I have decided it will always be appropriate and the devil take anyone with another opinion. You are the most resourceful woman I’ve ever met, and the least concerned with her own safety. I think you may prove worthy of calling ‘friend.’”
“Thank you.” She was grateful the darkness hid her blushes. “Who do you think this clown person is? He could have done Chloe great harm. He did do her harm and think how easily she could have rolled into the pond and drowned.”
“I know.”
“I will not tell anyone you are such good friends,” Chloe murmured and Fleur had to laugh—with Dominic’s help. “The silk cat meant me no harm. That is his name, you know, Le Chat Soyeux. He said I could tell Hattie and Grandmama about him.”
“Did he now?” Dominic said.
They reached the house and he held a door open for Fleur to enter. “I’ll send for you later, remember. And I warn you, our interview is unlikely to be pleasant. You try me severely and that must stop. But I see your strength and I’m willing to see if you can be trained.”
“How kind of you.”
“Kindness has nothing to do with it. I have to try to maximize your worth on the marriage mart—it’s important to my mother.”
14
Snowdrop hurried Blanche from the room telling her, “The Marchioness knows what she wants and knows how to ask for it. I’m to take your place with Miss Fleur because she isn’t quite so sure of herself.”
“I know what needs to be done for ’er,” said Blanche, puffing at stray wisps of hair and sounding flustered. “And you ’ave to look after that—Miss Chloe.”
“Don’t you worry about Chloe,” Snowdrop said, sounding grim. “Lady Granville’s expecting you now.” She closed the door almost before Blanche was completely outside.
Snowdrop had arrived with a vase of spring flowers which she carried to a table between the two blue chairs. “Shall I put these here?” she said.
Bemused by all the coming and going, Fleur nodded.
With her hands on her hips, Snowdrop stepped back from the flowers and turned around. She smiled broadly and stood in front of Fleur. “I’m so pleased I’m to be your maid for the next few weeks and I’ll do my best to ’elp make sure we ’ave fun.”
Fleur said, “Thank you,” but she was at a loss to understand what was happening, and why such a change was being made.
“It was Lady Granville’s idea for me to cheer you up, and Lord Nathan agreed. Try not to think badly of Lord Dominic—he’s just a deep one, and takes himself too seriously. He’s a fine man and I’ve heard as he does a lot of good for people who need it.”
“What sort of good?” Fleur asked and instantly wished she hadn’t.
Snowdrop, whose skin was as pale as…snow, and very lovely, raised her pointed chin while she thought. She wore her black hair, of which there was a great deal, wound into a heavy chignon. “I can’t exactly tell you details because I don’t know ’em, but I know it’s true and I also know his concern is for those less fortunate than ’imself—or it mostly is, I think.”
Fleur recognized that Snowdrop had worked to pronounce her aitches but didn’t always manage perfectly. Fleur found the result endearing, but she wasn’t convinced by the young woman’s explanations.
“I suppose you’re here to take me to Dominic—Lord Dominic,” she said.
“Not for a little while,” Snowdrop said. She batted at her gray velvet skirts. “Isn’t this a lovely dress? My Albert picked out the material—with her ladyship’s help, of course. He will have me wear pretty things. Lady Granville’s the best person I know—apart from Albert, of course. And her John, the Marquis, well, I hope you meet him because he’s a prince among men.”
“I should like to,” Fleur said, waiting to find out the actual purpose for Snowdrops’s invasion. “I expect you’re helping make sure Blanche doesn’t find out where I’m going tonight, just to keep down gossip among the servants, and she’ll be back later, after all—”
“No, no, no.” Snowdrop rushed to Fleur. “Oh, you poor thing, you’ve been through so much. Lord Nathan’s angry with himself for shouting at you outside the orangeries, you know.”
Fleur’s head spun. She realized her mouth was open and snapped it shut.
“He said it was a good idea for me to look after you while you’re here, with Lady Granville’s help, of course. Blanche will do the necessary things for her.”
“Chloe—”
“She’s got to be guarded,” Snowdrop said quickly. “Lady Granville had to rest after they told her what happened, but she’s angry now and organizing things. It’s been decided my Albert will guard Chloe by day, and Butters, one of the underbutlers, will sleep outside her room. You know what a strapping man he is.”
“Yes.” Fleur had been introduced to Butters. But she couldn’t concentrate. All she could think about sensibly was the meeting Dominic had already told her would be unpleasant.
“I’ve got to put a smile on your face—and wipe the smile off Lord Dominic’s. Not that he’s likely to do much smiling in his present mood. He’s ordering people around, accounting for every key. You should have heard him lecture Mrs. Chambers and McGee! There’s to be a list kept all the time and everyone’s to be accounted for. Who’s in the house and who’s not. And nobody’s to be admitted without approval from himself, Lord Nathan, Lady Granville or the Dowager.”
While she chattered, Snowdrop pulled clothing from Fleur’s wardrobe and spread it on the bed.
“Surely I don’t need to change,” Fleur said. “As soon as Lord Dominic’s finished with me, I’ll be going to bed.”
“Finished with you? There, it’s just the way I thought. He’s cowed you.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Fleur said, indignant. “I wouldn’t allow
it.”
Snowdrop smirked. “That’s what you think. But you tell me this—is your tummy wobbly?”
Fleur breathed deeply. Her stomach flipped over as it had many times since she’d come upstairs. “Yes. But that’s only because of all the upset this evening.”
“What upset you most?”
“Discovering what had happened to Chloe,” Fleur said. “It frightened me.”
“She’s safe now.” Snowdrop raised one eyebrow and looked exceeding haughty. “What upset you most after Chloe’s trouble?”
“I—” She felt alone here. “Very well, but I shall deny I said it if you tell anyone. Lord Dominic has been strange. He has told me he…He’s been pleasant to me but he has also made me nervous. There, now I’ve told you.”
“Oh, you poor thing. There, there, you don’t ’ave to be nervous anymore because you’ve got good friends to help you.” She took a break from going through clothes and patted Fleur’s hand. “Good gracious me, I’ve crumbs in my brainbox. This is for you. It goes with the flowers.” She took an envelope from her pocket, gave it to Fleur and returned to the wardrobe.
Her own name was written in large script on the front of the envelope. The initials NE on the back meant nothing to Fleur. She slipped out a card and read: I was wrong to shout at you. Have courage, Fleur. You are special and will be cherished here. Remember that you can always come to me—Nathan Elliot. The kindness of it brought tears to her eyes and she slipped the card between the flowers.
“Ooh, look at this.” With one of the dresses Fleur had brought with her from the country held high, Snowdrop spun around on her toes. “Now this is a no-nonsense affair if ever I saw one.” She shook the white cambric dress out and turned it for Fleur to see. “Very high in the neck—I hope it doesn’t choke you—and enough flounces on the bodice to hide any hint of a bosom.”
Fleur laughed and it felt good. “I’ll have you know that my mama made that dress for me with her own hands. It’s her favorite.”
Snowdrop minced across the carpet with the gown pressed against her. She twirled this way and that. “I should think it is. No man would have amorous thoughts with you wearing this. Not unless he already knew what was underneath. It’s perfect. Let’s get it on you.”
Curious she might be, and caught up by Snowdrop’s energy, but Fleur held her ground and made no attempt to change. “You’ll have to tell me why I should do this first. I’ve been told not to wear any of my own clothes while I’m here.”
“What you do in the privacy of your room is your own affair,” Snowdrop said. “Here you can be the person you want to be. When you came back to your room this evening you changed into familiar clothes because they comforted you, and made you feel the person you really are. And if Lord Dominic behaves like an overbearing…If he’s overbearing about your dress, ’e needs to find out he’s no right to be. The Dowager wants you here and she wants you to be really happy. So does Lady Granville. And so does Lord Nathan. Now we have to teach the other one to stop thinking of you as a beautiful, empty-headed child.”
He had already said he thought of her as resourceful and that he’d like them to be on friendly, first-name terms. “I don’t think he considers me empty-headed.” And he had kissed her as he would a woman.
“Let’s make sure. Hattie—Lady Granville—says you are to put him firmly in his place. Remind ’im why you’re in London and tell ’im you don’t want him as a bodyguard because you can look after yourself.”
Fleur’s mind turned blank.
“That’ll be one of the things he says tonight,” Fleur said. “He says he’s going to know where you are every minute and if he thinks it’s necessary, he’ll guard you himself—whatever that means.”
“He’ll do no such thing,” Fleur said, growing angry. “Why should he worry about my safety?”
“Because of the kidnappings, of course.” Snowdrop clapped a hand over her mouth and her black eyes grew huge. “Oh, dear, what a paperskull I am. Her ladyship talks about everything with me but she’d be ever so angry if she knew I’d said something that could frighten you.”
“You haven’t. And you’re not a paperskull because you told me the truth. Honesty is always to be admired. But there’s no need to be concerned for my safety. That dreadful Silken Cat must have changed his mind about taking off with Chloe even though the family would have paid whatever he asked to get her back.”
Snowdrop clutched Fleur’s dress tightly. “He must ’ave done it to send a message. Why else wouldn’t he take her?”
“Perhaps he has some scruples. But my family has very little money. They couldn’t pay a ransom so Lord Dominic needn’t worry about me being taken. The Cat’s only interested in the wealthy…” Her voice trailed away. He had taken Jane Weller and now she was free again. Someone must have paid. It could have been Dominic doing one of his good-hearted deeds for a poor person. Since it was known that Dominic championed the needy, The Cat could well decide to strike at another person of lowly means again. Perhaps someone who was close to Dominic—in the same house.
The thought of Jane Weller made her tremble. Jane had seen the man. What if he decided to come for her once he found out where she was? He’d been here, at Heatherly, and for all anyone knew he’d come for Jane in the first place.
Snowdrop cleared her throat and Fleur jumped.
“Decided to put him in his place, have you?” Snowdrop asked.
“I most certainly have,” Fleur told her. “But I won’t need a different dress to make him believe I mean what I say. I want to go at once.”
Snowdrop turned the corners of her mouth down and sighed. “Ah well, it would have been such fun. I wanted to see his face when you went in.” She produced a beribboned, white satin cap. “This would have been the finishing touch.”
Fleur giggled. “I think we’ll have other opportunities for fun.” She smoothed her hair in front of a mirror. The Dowager had given her a cream sarcenet stole—among many other things. Fleur found the stole and tied it around her neck and shoulders. She draped it with care to make sure no skin showed.
“He’s met his match in you and that’s what Lord Dominic needs, to learn that even if women can’t be as strong as he is, they can be his equal in every other way. He’s got an eye for a pretty body. That shawl’s covering too much and it’s going to make him cross.” She gave Fleur a quick hug. “Come on then.”
How unfortunate that men were so captivated by certain parts of a woman’s body, but Fleur knew it was true. “Snowdrop, please do one little thing for me and turn around.”
Instantly Snowdrop faced the wall and she covered her eyes for good measure. Fleur retrieved her journal from beneath the mattress and tucked it under her arm before joining Snowdrop for what felt like a very long walk to the third floor.
“Good evening, Fleur. I’m glad you finally decided to join me.” Dominic did his best not to let his annoyance at being kept waiting show.
Fleur glanced at Snowdrop, who accompanied her, and the latter reached up to whisper in Fleur’s ear.
With a sharp nod, Fleur said, “Snowdrop would like to see if Lady Granville needs her. Then she’d like to join her husband. But she’ll send—”
“She’ll send nothing and no one.” A pox on the wretched, meddling woman. “Kindly inform Lady Granville we need to discuss arrangements for picking up Gussy Arbuthnot on the way to the musicale at the Herberts’ in Berkley Square tomorrow evening. There is no need to worry about Fleur’s well-being when she is with me. It’s my job to make sure her time in London is successful.”
“But—”
“It’s all right,” Fleur said. Dominic would have preferred to hear her reprimand the meddler.
“Very well,” Snowdrop said. She dropped him a perfunctory curtsey and actually gave Fleur a light kiss on the cheek. Upstart. She went on her way but not before she had the audacity to say, “Don’t hesitate to send for me if you need me. At any time. The pull is by the fireplace. Otherwise I’ll see you
in the morning.”
“She’s a menace,” he said when she’d left. “Watch that woman carefully or she’ll take advantage of you. She’ll have you thinking she lives and breathes for the family.”
“From what I’ve seen—and been told—she does.”
Dominic seethed. No doubt his brother had found a way to take Fleur aside and turn her mind. God knew how Nathan might have pressed his advantage by using the earlier debacle when he, Dominic, had been overheard speaking harshly to Fleur on their return to Heatherly with Chloe. Not that it mattered, really, since bringing Nathan and Fleur together would solve a great many of Dominic’s problems. It would set him free.
He wanted to be set free.
There was no room in his life for a woman. Absolutely not a spare inch.
“My lord, you wanted to see me. You told me our meeting would be unpleasant. I’m here but I’m tired. May we please get through our interview quickly?”
He walked slowly closer to her, his hands clasped behind his back and his head thrust forward. “Please take a seat.”
“I’d rather stand.”
This would go even worse than he’d expected. “Stand, sit, do whatever you please. It’s of no interest to me.”
She flinched and he turned his back on her. “Why must you deliberately plague me with your contrary behavior? It’s as if you deliberately set out to vex me.”
“Because I don’t want to sit down?”
Her voice wasn’t quite so confident. Good. “Because you make yourself unattractive when you talk like an unmannered chit of low station.”
“I am of low station. I am not unmannered, which is more than I can say for you, my lord. You are obviously making a special effort to insult me and make me feel unworthy of being here, and certainly unworthy of your attention.”
He smoothed the scowl from his features before facing her again. “Impudent. You astound me.”
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