“They meant everything to me, Charles. Much more than I can ever explain. But there’s no future. I’m still the ex-mistress of your brother, and I can’t keep a relationship with you secret and hold my head up. No.” She held her hand over his lips. “It would have to be secret. I may be welcome in certain houses now, but only because I know my place. As your mistress, that place would not be in respectable homes. You would be laughed at. People would say I had cuckolded you, or coerced you into an arrangement. And oh, Charles, I love—yes, still love you—too much to do that to you.” Molly twisted out of his arms, turned, and began to walk back to the folly. The end of her shawl caught on a stone and slipped down her back.
In the moon light the crisscross lines of scars stood out starkly on her pale skin.
What?
“Molly?” Charles hurried toward where she stood, gathering the shawl around her. “Who did it? Your back? Was it Ash? I’ll kill him.” He clenched his hands into fists, and resisted the urge to hit something hard.
“No, no! Never would Ash do something like this.” Molly turned around and put her arms around him. The soft gentle touch was a balm to his senses. The look on her face was the opposite.
“If not Ash then who?” Charles’ stomach heaved at the thought of someone doing such a thing. “How did he accept this?”
“Ash never ever saw them. I became adept at keeping them covered. No.” She shuddered. “It was my payment.”
“Payment?” Charles was confused. “For what?”
“Loving you.”
Chapter Five
“Molly you need to snap out of whatever is ailing you. Remove the dark dog from your shoulder and tell me what is wrong,” Adriana said forcefully. “Even your godchildren do not put a smile on your face. I thought to see Harry pee all over Ash would make you laugh, but it barely made your lips curve. Now tell me, please, what is wrong? Before I set Ash to find out. I had to threaten him with ordinary boring sex before he’d let me come to see you alone. Are you with child?”
Molly shook her head, unable to even raise a grin at the thought of Ash and ordinary boring sex. Those words and the Earl of Addersley could never be spoken as an entity. “If it were only that simple. I would gladly be so. No, I’m blue devilled and see no end to my misery. Oh, Adriana, I’m a pitiful specimen of womankind at the moment. Don’t worry, it will pass. I will make it pass, but I need time to mourn. And, no, it is too sore to share yet.”
Adriana patted her shoulder and Molly gulped. “Don’t be too nice or I will crumble. Maybe one day it will lose the rawness and I will be able to share my dismals, just...” She swallowed heavily. “Just not yet. So? Apart from the necessity to shake me up, why are you here? Are the children all right? Ashley? Ch—” she stuttered. “Charles?” A bolt of dread filled her and for one awful moment Molly thought the stars in front of her eyes and the drumming in her ears meant she was about to faint. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and the sharp pain and metallic taste took her mind off her shaky state.
She glanced at Adriana, who had the most peculiar expression on her face. Part worry and, Molly was convinced, part satisfaction. Surely not? Adriana wouldn’t be so cruel as to take pleasure from Molly’s unhappiness. She was too kindhearted.
“Charles? Why should he not be?”
Molly shrugged. “No reason. I merely asked to be polite.”
“Hmm.” It seemed Adriana wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t probe further. “As for the babes and Ash? All are disgustingly healthy and the twins have appetites for two. Each of them. However, I’m talking about you. If you’re not increasing, why the fit of the dismals?”
Molly shrugged. She felt like a recalcitrant schoolgirl hauled in front of her headmistress and about to receive a punishment for some misdemeanor. “Oh, the end of summer. A need to be able to get out of town more. Missing the babes now you are at Addersley. Silly things like that.” Missing Charles like a severed limb. “Take no notice of me, Adriana. I need a tonic.”
“Or a new pupil?” Adriana said. “That’s one reason I’m here, along with your dark demeanor. A possible student for you has approached me. The work needed with them will challenge you, but I’m sure you are equal to any problems thrown your way.”
“Probably.” Molly wished she sounded more interested. Nothing garnered her attention these days. She gave herself a mental shake. This was her livelihood they were discussing. “Yes, yes, I am fit and able. So who, what, and how?”
Adriana laughed. “Who? You’ll need to wait. What? A need for self-belief. How? Ah well, there’s one problem.”
There would be. Nothing is straightforward these days. Molly almost wished she were increasing. At least it would give her something positive to focus on, and lift the fog she seemed to exist in.
“Which is?” Damn, I should sound more enthusiastic. Luckily Adriana chose to ignore her lack of passion.
“The pupil will need to be helped outside of the capital. This is yours.” Adriana held a large brass key out.
Without knowing why, Molly took it from her and turned it over in her hands. The metal was warm and smooth, and a tingle of something akin to excitement began to trickle through her.
“Eyebrook Hall. One of Ash’s lesser properties. Correction, no longer one of Ash’s lesser properties.” Adriana smirked, obviously well pleased with what she was about to impart. “Here are the deeds. Eyebrook Hall now belongs to you.”
Molly burst into tears. Goodness I’m worse than a leaky pump. What on earth has got into me? It was more a case of what—or who—hadn’t got into her.
“Ah, Molly, I thought you’d be pleased.” Adriana sounded horrified.
“I am pleased,” Molly said between sobs. “These are tears of pleasure.” It wasn’t strictly true, but she wasn’t going to throw such a gift back by showing how upset she was. She was happy, and overwhelmed at such a magnificent gift. However, she didn’t feel she deserved it. Ash and Adriana had done so much already.
With a watery sniff and a cough, Molly blew her nose and took a deep breath. “I feel somewhat shaky. You mean you have given me, given me a house?”
Adriana shook her head. Molly’s skin crawled. She’d committed a grave faux pas.
“Oh I apol—”
Adriana shut her up by putting her hand over Molly’s mouth. If her mouth were free Molly would have gawped. It was so unlike Adriana’s normal manner.
“Molly, stop it now and listen. Not a house, an estate. Small, compact, but it pays its way. We decided you needed somewhere secluded, somewhere to work without the chance of prying eyes. Eyebrook fits the bill perfectly. Tomorrow you and I will go there. Oh, and the babes, and Ash. Towse, and Dorothy, and a select few staff. And the nursemaid and...well, you know what I mean.”
Molly did. The three of them, and an entourage of twelve. “As long as you promise that if it becomes too much for you to have given away, you will say so. And I have the chance to hold my godchildren.”
“Oh, always. As I am unfashionable and feed them myself, I will travel with them and Martha. If my milk comes in and there is no one to suckle, it is beyond soreness.”
Molly rolled her eyes.
“And stop looking like that. You know fine well what I mean. Suckled by a babe. My poor Ash is feeling neglected in that area. No matter, he and I both know we will make up time later. Once we arrive, you can have all the cuddles you wish. But perhaps for the journey you’ll keep Ash company? Martha, the nursemaid, can’t see him without flushing and stammering like a toddler. As she told me once, ‘the master is all-over man, and puts me all a quiver, my lady.’ I hardly dare tell her he does it to me as well, though in our case it’s on purpose. And thank goodness he is ‘all-over’ man. I dread to think what else he could be.”
Adriana’s drollness and mimicry lifted Molly’s mood and she gurgled her appreciation. “It does beggar belief. And as neither you nor your husband has any intention of following etiquette and tradition, why should I? Of course
I’ll keep Ash company and the tabbies in gossip.”
“Good. We leave at ten.”
~~~
For all that Molly thought it unlikely to happen, they were on the road no more than thirty minutes after the hour. She sat next to Ash in a very well sprung carriage, and settled down for the journey.
“If Eyebrook is not more than a couple of hours, why such an early start? Surely even leaving around lunch time would let us arrive in daylight?”
“Oh yes, but you know my wife.” Ash stretched his legs across the carriage as he sat next to Molly.
It was strange without Adriana accompanying them, and Molly wondered how many ex mistresses, husbands, and wives could behave comfortably as they did. However, it worked for the three of them, and Molly could only be thankful.
“She wanted this start and who are we to deny her?” Ash continued. “I assume she wishes to get us all settled and give you a chance to look around your new abode before nightfall.”
“At this rate we’ll have time to redecorate.” The small traveling coach was moving at a spanking pace. That thought gave Molly a few somewhat erotic thoughts and she wriggled. Ash gazed at her with mild interest, but opted not to query her discomfort. Instead he gave a bark of laughter.
“Feel free, ‘tis your house now.”
Molly gripped his arm. “Ash, are you sure? I mean, ‘tis a lot to hand over.”
Ash shook his head in mock despair. “Dearest Molly, have you ever known me to do something I do not wish?”
He had a point there, Molly allowed. She shook her head.
“Exactly, and Adriana likewise. This is something we both wish. If it worries you so, say ‘tis for services rendered...” he paused and grinned in a manner designed to make an impressionable Deb quiver and swoon. Even Molly, who now considered herself immune to it, felt a faint tingle. It wasn’t for Ashley. The look he had given her reminded her of Charles.
“Then I thank you both. As I can now allow myself to be excited, I have questions. Lots of questions.”
Ashley groaned in mock dismay. “When did you ever not?’ He sighed in a most theatrical way. “Then if you deem me most suitable to answer them instead of my beloved, fire away.”
“Well, you are here, are you not?” Molly asked him rhetorically. “Adriana isn’t. So you, my lord, are in the firing line.”
Ash mimed the cocking of a pistol with his thumb and forefinger. “Bang, ask away.”
“Oh, very droll, my lord. Why Eyebrook?”
“Because it’s far enough from town for privacy, but not so far it is a long or arduous journey. It is secluded, but accessible, and easily reached from Addersley. Next.”
“Why is it important for this pupil?”
“The pupil needs complete privacy I expect. Next.”
Molly gritted her teeth. Ashley was being perfectly pleasant and totally reasonable in an insufferable manner.
“Who is it?” If he could be brusque, so could she. “My prospective pupil.”
“No idea. Next.”
“Do you want me to hit you?” Molly asked through clenched teeth.
Ashley laughed and crossed his feet at the ankles. The movement stretched his pantaloons tight over his cock and thighs. Once it would have created interesting thoughts in Molly’s mind. Nowadays she generally spared no thoughts on how he looked. He was no more than a good friend and she was immune to his charms, even if his smile had just made her body quiver. It wasn’t for him specifically, but that of a connoisseur who could admire something or someone exceptional. Sometimes she felt it was as if their liaison prior to his marriage had never occurred and it bothered her not one jot.
“I thought it should be the boot on the other foot, my dear. And not us.” He raised one eyebrow and winked. “Do you wish me to find you a willing subject?”
In spite of her annoyance, Molly laughed. “No, I thank you. Ah well, how long until we reach our destination? Do we stop for refreshments?”
“No refreshments. They will be ready for us on arrival.” Ashley took out his fob watch and consulted it. “Which will be in around an hour. We’ve made good time. The roads are in perfect condition.”
It was true. A dry summer with just enough moisture to dampen but not muddy the surface ensured most thoroughfares were easily passable and offered a smooth ride. As the coach turned a sharp corner, the vista through the windows changed from fields and crops to a landscape of hills and woods. Molly glimpsed a church almost hidden by trees and then a village, tinier than Addersley, but just as well kept.
“Where is that?” she asked.
“Eye Village, where the brook runs though and your house takes its name from. You are not responsible for it though.”
“That’s a relief. I may be solvent, but my school couldn’t pay for the upkeep of a village.” It would be hard enough to keep another house in good repair, but Molly had no intention of mentioning it.
“As to your solvency. Why have you never touched the allowance I set up for you when Adriana and I married?”
Molly’s mind went blank. “Er? Allowance?”
“Money. In Coutts. Paid into your account, just as it was when we were together. However, it is no longer for services now being rendered. It’s, shall we say, for those that had gone before.”
“Pardon? Ashley, must you talk in riddles?”
“I beg your pardon, my dear. It’s your retirement fund, pension, thank you—however you wish to style it.”
Molly blinked. What on earth was he talking about? “Ashley, you are speaking in riddles. Why would I still get money from you? You did so much for me, and I never used all of which you gave me when we were involved. I had my business. I got by more than adequately.”
Ash spun on his seat to look fully at her. “Did you get no correspondence from the bank or Fisher, your lawyer?”
“My what?” Heavens I sound like a complete simpleton. But this is somewhat perturbing.
“Lawyer. The person who looks after your dealings.”
“Ashley, I have had no dealings with anyone, either from Coutts or elsewhere since we sep...well, you know. I assumed when we finished our liaison, all help ceased, and was content it was so. Remember, I moved accommodation soon after, and thence to my present abode. I have managed very well, especially as you and Adriana insisted on underwriting the school.”
“That is something different. I will make enquiries. Someone has been lax at the least and dishonest at the worst. Anyway.” His voice changed to brisk and business like instead of annoyed. “This house comes with an allowance for upkeep and it is written into the deeds. See it as an extension of the London school if it helps. But please, by all you hold dear, accept and don’t upset Adriana. She is once more in a delicate condition.”
“Eh? You mean? My, Ash you have been busy.”
Ash laughed and colored a little. “I am potent.” He sounded just a little smug. “We want a large family, and now. I’m not getting any younger.” He didn’t sound as if the fact bothered him. “But my lady is suffering somewhat.”
“And you are letting her travel here? Why? Should she not be resting?”
“Ah, I feel we may have deceived you a little. Adriana is remaining at Addersley until she can travel without suffering severely. I’ll return once I show you around. You will be welcome back as soon as you wish. Although, I’ve been told that this pupil is most desirous of your help. And, Molly?”
She looked up at his interrogating tone, just as the carriage drew to a halt outside a pretty hall. Its stone walls were warm and welcoming in the early afternoon sun.
“Your staff has been handpicked by Towse. So you have nothing to worry about. Welcome to your new home.”
Chapter Six
Ash had been correct in everything. After showing her around, explaining her finances, and extracting a promise that she would spend the following weekend at Addersley, Ash left her to explore her new home further. Not before handing her a file holding several epistles from pro
spective pupils. A quick glance showed that none were from whoever was imminently due at Eyebrook. Indeed, none specified a country lesson, although Molly could see several that could potentially benefit from tuition away from the capital. She put them carefully into her desk and locked the drawer. It was a habit she had no intention of changing. Confidentiality was something she prided herself on. Molly picked up a lightweight shawl and left her study to see just what she was now the proud owner of.
She couldn’t help but be enchanted. The house overlooked a gently sloped valley dotted with copses and fields, and boasted the perfect kitchen garden. Plus, she noticed from her snug bedchamber, a rose garden surrounded by two hot houses and an old stone wall up which espalier fruit trees climbed. The house had six good bedrooms, each somewhat unusually with its own bathing chamber. A dining room, morning room, drawing room, and a sewing room, as well as the servant’s wing, and kitchen, and three large rooms under the attics completed the accommodation. It was perfect.
Her new staff was overseen, she was relieved to note, by Towse and a homely lady called Mrs. Symmons. She, Towse explained, was his first cousin three times removed. All the rest—new faces and new names to learn—were friendly and helpful. Molly wandered from room to room, mentally changing the furnishings around and adding or subtracting pictures and vases. The large rooms on the top floor she earmarked for anything needed school-wise, and resolutely kept her mind away from any interesting equipment she may need Ash and Adriana to arrange for her. It would only make her wistful.
By the time she returned to the room she’d earmarked as her study, excitement had overcome her initial apprehension. Now all she needed was information about her new pupil. It wasn’t forthcoming. No new mail, even though Towse assured her a groom had ridden to the posting office. It was infuriating. How could she plan when she had no idea how and for whom? Molly ignored the voices in her head, which said it was often thus. Out here, away from the capital, she needed to know how to proceed.
Miss Simpkins' School: Molly Page 3