Lady Falls (Black Rose Trilogy)

by Renee Bernard

  “Is not the boast of victory sweet enough?” Mrs. Carlton asked.

  Lord Morley scowled. “If you expect a man to gad about like a chimpanzee after insipid clues, it is not!”

  Some of Raven’s enthusiasm wavered but Lord Trent intervened smoothly. “What a crusty damper you are, Morley! If it distracts the women of the house in looking forward to the game and gives us the rest of the day to blessed peace to play cards or do as we wish undisturbed, then how can you not rally to the notion?”

  Lord Morley rolled his eyes in disgust. “God, party games!”

  “Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport! No one is making you play.” The earl stretched out his legs. “I think it’s a novel idea.”

  “I will see to everything!” Raven stood and once again, the men moved to politely echo the maneuver by rising; this time with the earl also participating as he rose from his chair. “If you’ll excuse me, I have quite a bit to do.”

  Her excitement was palpable and Phillip admired the deft way she had effortlessly shifted the group’s mood to a happy turn. In an elegant flurry of skirts, she left them and Phillip forgot not to stare at her beautiful hurried retreat.

  **

  Raven had to reach up to place a hand on her bonnet for fear of it flying off at the pace she set back to Oakwell Manor. The luncheon had been a near disaster thanks to her tendencies to speak too directly but the earl seemed pleased with her (even if Lady Baybrook was most decidedly not). Even better, Phillip Warrick had revealed that he might also approve of her wit and that was a new thrill she had no desire to forego.

  The scavenger hunt had been a stroke of inspiration. She would mend the bonds of their party with a bit of silly fun and prove to all, perhaps even Mr. Sheffield that she was not a revolutionary of any kind—rather a peacemaker.

  And inspire Mr. Warrick to continue to look at me with that heat filled intensity that makes my bones feel hollow?

  It was no small undertaking but Raven was determined to contribute to the party’s entertainment. As she gained the house’s main entry, she picked up her skirts and raced up the stairs. Ideas for clues and the wonderful twists of the quest ahead chased through her head and Raven began to hum to herself in delight.

  Even prickly and curmudgeonly company was compelling after so many years of semi-isolation. She had no friends her own age since the earl dictated that he preferred for her to have as few “country” associations as possible. Even her ventures into the village to shop provided only momentary relief. She always felt like an outsider looking at the lives of others, admiring their families and friendships. But her undefined social position made alliances difficult and none of the locals had attempted to cross the lines of formal conversation toward casual warmth for fear of offending Lord Trent.

  As she reached the first floor, she hesitated.

  Lady Morley.

  Thoughts of her own loneliness pushed her to recall that there was a guest under Lord Trent’s roof who may be suffering from the very same malady. “Poor lady,” she sighed. “Missing dinner and then our outing—a setting she can probably see from her bedroom window while we laugh and cavort without a thought to her comforts!”

  Raven turned to head down the hall toward the Jade bedroom which she knew the Morleys had been assigned. It was one of the manor’s best with a lovely vantage and when the house was largely unoccupied her favorite room to hide away to read a forbidden novel. She decided it would be a good secret to share with Lady Morley to form a friendship if the opportunity arose. Raven knocked on the door and awaited her welcome.

  But there was none.

  At last a faint sound like a muffled cry came through the door and Raven’s instincts recoiled in alarm. Was she truly ill? There’d been no word of sending for a doctor. Had her maid left her unattended? Was she in distress? Without hesitation, she turned the latch to open the door a few inches. “Lady Morley? Pardon the intrusion but I…”

  At first glance, the bedroom was empty but the stillness was broken by a single solitary figure in a dressing gown sitting at the vanity. A trifold mirror betrayed the woman’s state in three glorious angles and Raven’s blood turned to ice.

  Her eye was cruelly bruised and her upper lip was swollen from the violence of another blow. Lady Morley’s eyes widened as she realized her privacy had been violated and she came unsteadily to her feet, raw horror in her expression.

  “Please go!”

  Raven started to retreat, numb and unsure of herself but then stopped. “Can I send for a doctor? Or—“

  “No! My husband would be furious if I…made a fuss. Please.” Lady Morley’s composure began to crumble. “It’s my own fault for… I made him angry. Please say nothing.”

  “As you wish but...I will say nothing to anyone else. Although—“

  “Swear it. Swear you will tell no one what you’ve seen!” she said, an edge of desperation cutting into Raven’s soul.

  It was all she could do to nod her assent. “I swear it.”

  And then Raven ran from the room, with every light hearted spirit she’d known swallowed by the chasm of pain at her back.

  Chapter Four

  Geoffrey walked back toward the house with Phillip as the rest of the group broke up to spend the afternoon as they wished. Sheffield had headed toward the stables to make what he could of the earl’s animals and no doubt formulate his suggestions for where improvements could be made. Lord Morley had mumbled something about resting before dinner and the Carltons had strolled off holding hands into the manicured wilderness that extended off from the crushed gravel pathways.

  “What do you think of it all so far, Warrick?”

  Phillip smiled. “I think if I stay out of the fray, I’m bound to have a very lively and entertaining time of it.”

  “Wise man,” Trent said with a chuckle. “Though I confess, I didn’t remember Morley as being such a crab. But he was always good at the tables and I invited him with an eye to making sure you had a skilled opponent. What a misfire!”

  “I’m sorry for it. Gambling was well and good when I had extreme youth to blame but when the IOU’s outweighed my purse, I just couldn’t be that fool anymore.”

  “Have you recovered financially then?” Geoffrey asked with keen interest.

  “I have, though I would be content with more of a cushion against any unseen turns in my fortunes.”

  Geoffrey deliberately let the statement go, aware of how painful it was for any man to beg. He’d lured Warrick in with hints of a new investment scheme, already guessing that the younger man needed more capital, but to hear it was nothing short of a delicious thrill.

  “But Sheffield! What an ass!” Geoffrey exclaimed. “It doesn’t take a seer to predict that he and that bulldog faced Lady Baybrook will be making their excuses before the week is out!”

  “You never know. Sheffield may decide it is his duty to convince you all of his brilliance after that luncheon. And while this is my first meeting with Lady Baybrook, I suspect she never leaves the field of battle without being carried off.”

  “Good eyes, Phillip! We’ll push through and win them back. Sheffield has money to burn and can help me keep Morley at bay and Millicent may yet settle down and get some enjoyment in providing my Raven some guidance with the gift of her experience. In her day, Millicent was the toast of London and I had hoped for better stories from her.”

  “She may just need some gentle prodding.”

  “I’ll assign that task to you then. Tame the old bird and see if she can remember how to smile.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “You always did have a talent for bringing a woman to heel.” The words tasted like bile in his mouth. God, he hated Warrick. Smug in his youth, Geoffrey saw only arrogance and ignorant spite that could justify the sins of his past. I took you under my wing, Warrick. And for my generosity, you repaid me with treachery as you helped yourself to the banquets in my home, the benefits of my company and the favors of my mistress’s bed!

>   Of course, it was that last trespass that had set all in motion and Geoffrey smiled at the simplicity of his plans for revenge. Warrick had stolen from him like a child and received no punishment. So the lesson had gone unlearned. He had failed as a mentor to demonstrate to his charge the natural course of things but now, he would set things right.

  Warrick would learn. He would learn that there was a price to be paid for every wrong.

  “Enough! We’re too clever to stand about and flatter each other’s prowess, sir. Only fools need to preen,” Geoffrey said firmly. “And I am no fool!” He brushed off his coat and stepped back.

  “No, and only a fool would mistake you for one,” Phillip said. “I’m off to see about exploring your library. Would you care to join me, your lordship?”

  Geoffrey shook his head. “I’ll pass. My pride in the collection extends only as far as its hefty monetary value. It’s only my ward who becomes dreamy eyed over those dusty tomes. Perhaps you should ask her for a tour.”

  Phillip’s expression was hard to read but Geoffrey knew where his thoughts would turn.

  Trying to imagine that lovely creature reclined with a book in her hands, or flirting with you over a few open pages, dear boy?

  “Well, I shall leave you to manage. Time enough to talk business.” Geoffrey touched his hat and left Phillip without another word. His mood improved as he turned back toward the gardens to the east of the house.

  It was as if God Himself was on his side and Geoffrey was more than happy to give the Maker a good view of one of the best games ever played.

  Phillip sighed and continued on toward the house’s main entrance. He was making slow progress with Lord Trent but it was progress all the same. At least he’d gained the man’s favor again and the earl was as friendly as they’d ever been. But asking Raven Wells for a private introduction to her guardian’s library seemed a dangerous undertaking fraught with peril.

  She was a beauty. There was no denying it. Phillip accepted that he would be wiser to do his best to avoid her in the next few days. He’d already made too much of a show of her effect on him as Mr. Carlton had whispered to him when he rose to leave, “Watch yourself, young sir. I had that same look on my face when I spotted my wife at her first dance and I have never lost it in all the years since.”

  Lucky man.

  But let’s see if a delightful conversation or two with the ‘charming’ Lady Baybrook doesn’t cure me of every romantic notion I’ve ever had… and remind me that I’m not here to fall in love.

  **

  Geoffrey walked the paths of his gardens without really glancing at a single plant, his mind mapping paths of vengeance without any attention to his feet.

  “Your Lordship?” Raven’s voice interrupted his reverie and he turned, surprised to find her back outside.

  “I thought you’d bolted in to work on your scavenger hunt.” Geoffrey looked around her, curious to note if Warrick had driven her out. “What goes then?”

  “It is—Lady Morley. I am breaking a promise but I fear for her. I think her husband has…injured her…and…” Her voice was unnaturally halting and unsure and her lack of confidence irritated him.

  He held up a hand to stop her. “What nonsense! A married woman’s tears are as much a cause for concern as the color of the sky. Mind your step, girl, and see that you change your dress before tea is served. I confess I was boasting to Lady Baybrook about your talents for pretty turns.”

  “How can you be so callous? So cruel?”

  “Oh, was I?” Geoffrey said, genuinely startled at the notion. “I am a practical man, Raven. Who can fathom the inner-workings of the private and inviolate fortress of someone else’s marriage? You are young, my dearest. I’m sure you’ll choose more wisely than Millicent when it is your time and every happiness awaits you in a good match. When some delightfully rich man has won your hand, what further worry could you have?”

  “Surely marriage is based on more than coin, Lord Trent.”

  “Is it?” He shrugged his shoulders, nonplussed. “Perhaps in novels, but what do I know? A confirmed bachelor speaking of marriage makes me a pigeon advising a lioness how to hunt. When that tasty gazelle comes by, feel free to use those claws, my lovely.”

  She sighed. “And Lady Morley?”

  “I will say nothing and shield the woman from knowing that you have failed to keep your promise. If there is one thing no one appreciates, it is a person who lacks integrity, dearest. No worries! Your misstep goes no further and we won’t speak of this again.” He smiled, pleased at the simple solutions that life provided and continued down the path.

  Raven raced up to her room, shaking off the disquieting affect of Trent’s notoriously convoluted metaphors. Her plea for Lady Morley’s safety had gained her nothing but a strange serving of natural and bloodthirsty images from the African plains. Even so, she knew better than to push any harder. He’d made his position clear enough and Raven didn’t want to risk one of his darker moods.

  There would be no support from her guardian if she interfered with Lady Morley.

  Since when has that ever stopped me from doing as I wish?

  “Kitty, did Lady Morley bring her own lady’s maid?”

  “She did. A trim and tidy woman by the name of Mrs. Lindstrom.” Kitty said as she began to pull out dresses for her mistress to choose for dinner, along with the next day’s selections.

  “Do you get on with her downstairs?”

  Kitty shrugged. “Well, enough. She’s a bit of a tight-lipped creature but courteous enough.”

  “Was there…any mention of Lady Morley being unwell?” Raven pressed.

  “Only in passing. Walters said she’d complained of a headache but when Mrs. Keller asked if Mrs. Lindstrom required a headache powder for the lady, it was refused. John thought it strange but I told him if my mistress suffered headaches often enough, any maid worth her salt would pack her own powders and remedies.” Kitty held up a blue dress with velvet piping. “For dinner?”

  Raven nodded without even looking at it. “Yes.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “I am not up to anything.” Raven crossed to her writing desk. “I have a scavenger hunt to organize and a great deal on my mind.” She took out a few sheets of paper but abandoned them, too agitated to consider sitting down. “I think I’ll go downstairs to ask Mrs. Keller personally if she doesn’t mind me asking the staff for a bit of help with the game.”

  “I can take her a message if you’d rather.”

  “No. I don’t mind and I want to make sure that my silly diversion doesn’t create any fuss if everyone is already overworked.”

  “As you wish, miss.” Kitty said and then began to pull out a day dress. “Here, let’s get you changed for the afternoon and—“

  Raven balked at the delay. “Must I?”

  Kitty’s entire demeanor changed as she slowly turned back to study her mistress with new eyes. “Out with it.”

  “What?”

  “Not in all the years I’ve known you have you ever hesitated to happily change your frock and glowed at the prospect, Raven Wells. Not once!”

  “There is always a first instance, Kitty. Not that I am accepting your claim. I’m sure I’m not such a shallow thing!” Raven crossed her arms, then immediately regretted it since it only made her look like a petulant child.

  “Out with it.”

  Raven weighed it all out before she spoke. She’d made a promise to say nothing but the threat to Lady Morley’s health felt far heavier. “I need to ascertain if Mrs. Lindstrom is the ally of her mistress or more loyal to Lord Morley. I need to discern where her sympathies lie.”

  Kitty’s face tightened in confusion. “Is there a rift between the pair? If so, then I can tell you plain, no servant will betray such a thing or make the mistake of choosing any side that might put them out of a position. Such is the way of it, Miss Wells.”

  “It is more than a rift.”

  It took a few seconds but
Kitty’s expression softened. “How badly is she hurt?”

  “Badly enough that I don’t think we’ll see her at dinner for at least another day or two.” Raven dropped her arms, all pretense at bravado gone. “Will you help me?”

  Kitty nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. “I’ll do what I can. But you can’t be burning the man alive with hateful looks at dinner!”

  “Easier said than done,” Raven confessed.

  “You say one word or make one sniff at Lord Morley and he’ll blame his wife for throwing herself on your mercy. He’ll punish her all the worse and leave this house with his wife bundled screaming under his arm; and then what will you have to say for yourself? You’ll have done more harm than good and disgraced the earl!” Kitty said firmly and then retrieved the saffron colored day dress from the bed. “Change your dress for the afternoon and trust me to see to it at the servant’s dinner tonight. I’ll give you a full report when I come up to help you to bed.”

  “Very well.”

  The ritual of changing was a welcome distraction. The layers to be shed, the new layers added, it was a choreographed dance between mistress and maid. The bright yellow set off Raven’s coloring and even with the anxiety of the day’s discovery, her mood lifted a little. She watched Kitty in the mirror and lifted her long hair to keep it out of the way of the maid’s nimble fingers. “Do the servants talk, Kitty? Downstairs. I mean, how open is their gossip and manner?”

  “You know they do! It is understood that there will be gossip to be shared or hoarded almost like currency.”

  “Like currency,” she echoed in fascination.

  Kitty went on, encouraged. “Think of it like a secret mirror beneath your feet. The same layers of class and hierarchy but on a lesser scale, guarded with the same zeal and fraught with some of the same political dangers.”

  “As above…” Raven whispered.

  Kitty nodded. “So it is below.”

  She eyed Kitty from a fresh vantage point. For here, standing in grey muslin and a white apron, was her counterpart and her reflection to the “world below”. She had new respect for her maid.