by Unknown
She had a deep suspicion that Gregory's information had been wrong. The letters had not been in Noah's possession when he'd arrived here. He was too relaxed, too . . . unwatchful was the only word she
could think of. If Noah was all Gregory said he was, he would have been more suspicious when he had found her in his study. No, he was relaxed here, and she was certain he would not bring any problems here with his mother and his family at home. The letters were in London, in his own house. And she would have to go there to gain possession of them.
Charity and Beth settled into the coach in silence as it began the journey to London. Kathy would be with Noah and Elizabeth this morning as they too began the trip. Sofia, Kathy, and Elizabeth would legitimize the presence of two female guests in Noah's home.
"At least your Gregory will be close by should any trouble occur," Beth said.
"Yes." Charity smiled. "I'll feel much safer."
"Charity, you know we need only go back to the Round to disappear. Noah would never find you again."
"Beth, will you be my liaison with Amiee?" Charity asked. "If I feel any real danger, or"she laughed''if I get cold feet, I'll run back home like a scared rabbit. Until then, this might be my only chance to get what I'm after."
"I shall visit Amiee often," Beth said reassuringly. "Just to keep her informed of everything that's going on."
The two women lapsed into silence, each considering her own private thoughts, which were strikingly different.
Noah, too, was deeply engrossed in his own thoughts, and was quite unaware of the fact that although Kathy conversed with her mother and responded to Elizabeth's endless questions, she kept a close eye on him. The fact that Charity Gilbert had had such an effect on him continued to surprise her.
She also knew that for the past few weeks something sinister had been preying on his mind. She knew he was involved in something, but all her subtle inquiries had met with no success.
Noah and Lord Charles Brandywine had been the closest of friends through childhood, military service, and then their joint service in the court of Queen Victoria. Charles had been closer to the queen and her consort Prince Albert than most. After the first attempt to assassinate the queen, just before her first child was born, Prince Albert had put Charles in control of his and the queen's safety. Charles took this mission very seriously, for he knew what confusion and disaster would reign should anything happen to England's monarch.
That Charles had taken his childhood friend into his complete confidence was a matter of pride with Noah and deepening fear to his family.
Kathy also knew the Ferriers were involved in the matter somehow, and she was one of the few who thought that his rendezvous with Anne Ferrier were more to seek information than to bed the woman. Kathy had no doubts that both she and Noah knew Anne for what she was. It did arouse her curiosity as to how Noah was going to handle his affair with Anne when Charity was in his home. She had a feeling that
the duchess wasn't going to like it very much.
Charity had insisted she would stay with them only until a suitable place could be found for her and Beth. Despite Noah's insistence that she need not bother to look, Charity would not change her mind.
The two carriages drew up in front of Noah's townhouse within minutes of one another.
Sofia's mastery of the household was obvious at once. Things moved in an orderly fashion, and Charity was pleased when Kathy offered to give her a room-by-room tour of the house. She quickly memorized where every room was and singled out the ones she intended to search first.
Kathy and Charity walked down the hall stopping at each room, so Charity was surprised when they passed one by. Her face must have shown her curiosity because Kathy paused.
"This room is my father's private study. It's been locked since he died. One day, I suppose, Mother will relent and open it for Noah's use."
"It must be painful for her."
"Yes," Kathy said softly, but she didn't elaborate, and Charity had to swallow all her other questions and continue with the tour.
That night before dinner, Charity decided to take a walk in the garden. It was an exceptionally beautifully laid-out affair, and she wondered if it, too, had a maze.
Concentrating on her thoughts, Charity did not hear Sofia approach.
"It is lovely here, isn't it?" Sofia said. "Even this close to the city."
Charity turned to face her and smiled. "Yes, it is. I was just wondering if there was a maze."
"How surprising. There is. Noah seems to have a fondness for the dreadful things." She reached out a hand and motioned to a nearby bench. "Would you sit and talk to me for a while? I'm sure Kathy will be late for dinner; she usually is."
They sat together in the mellow twilight and for a time they didn't speak. In moments like this Charity was even more aware of the feeling of guilt she'd tried unsuccessfully to overcome.
"My husband was rather proud of this place," Sofia said thoughtfully.
"As well he should have been." Charity turned to look at Sofia. "He built it for you, didn't he?"
"Yes. . . . It seems so many years ago."
"Pardon my forwardness . . . but . . . you are not English."
"No" Sofia smiled"my family is from Seville."
"How ever did you meet?"
"Meet?" Sofia laughed. "We did not meet, we collided. Elliott was a rascal, and he made his fortune as a privateer. I was on my way home from France, where my father had sent me to school. Our ship was no match for his and so . . . we were his prisoners."
"Were you not frightened?"
"No," Sofia said quickly. "I knew when I first saw him that he was the man I wanted. He was beautiful. In fact, Noah is his image. I allowed Elliott to pursue me," she laughed softly, "until I caught him."
"And you've never regretted it?"
"Not for a moment."
"Did your parents ever forgive you?"
"When I held Noah in my arms and they saw him and how happy I was, there was no longer a question of forgiveness."
"How romantic."
"Yes, and rewarding. Noah and Kathy are the best of gifts, and Elizabeth has made my life complete."
Charity was silent again. Of course his mother adored him. It was unlikely that she knew that secret part of his life that might cause Gregory harm. Sofia's remarks only served to make her confusion worse. Noah was two separate people. Which was the true Noah?
"There you two are." Noah's deep voice interrupted Charity's thoughts. "I've been looking for you. Mother, it seems Elizabeth is not feeling quite well. She wants her grandmother to spoil her a bit more."
"She is no more spoiled than you were, my dear son, and the only harm it has done you is to make you firmly believe you should always get your own way. I expect one day you'll get a bit of a shock when what you want is unobtainable. I shall go and look in on Elizabeth."
Noah silently offered Charity his arm and they walked slowly together.
"Noah?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"Is this where you lived as a child?"
"Mostly. Here and at Whitebriar."
"And you prefer it here?"
"London . . . the court, they're exciting and challenging. For peace I'd rather be at our country estate." He looked at her with a warmth in his eyes that caught her breath. "I have found a very valuable thing there. It has a unique charm I'll remember always."
"Your mother was telling me about your father and how she met him." Charity tried to ignore what his words did to her heartbeat.
Noah laughed. "I'm afraid my father was . . . quite a colorful personality."
"He was a pirate," Charity laughed in return.
"Ah . . . but he got what he wanted . . . always. Even the woman he loved from the day they met to the day he died."
They stopped walking and turned to look at each other. Charity knew what his unspoken words meant, just as she knew that one step toward him was all he would need. She couldn't afford to take that step . . . in f
act, she was afraid to.
She was saved the search for words she couldn't find when a young maid approached to call them for dinner.
That night she began her search. One room was all that could be safely managed each night. The last thing she wanted was to come face to face with Noah under circumstances like before. She might not have the strength to say no.
Her search was a disappointment and she went to bed, not knowing that Noah had left the house several hours before.
It was in the wee hours of the morning that Noah returned. A gray fog shielded his arrival and the large object he carried. He came into the silent house without a sound, and carried the carefully wrapped object up to the only locked room in the house. From his pocket he withdrew the key, unlocked the door, and went inside. A few minutes later he came out empty-handed. He relocked the door and went to his room.
He lay in thought for a long, long time with a smile of satisfaction on his face before he went to sleep.
The next few days were to prove to Charity that she had been right in her decision not to stay with the Morgans too long. Finding a place of their own was a task she gave Beth while Noah began to show her a London she had never known before.
"London," he told her, "is a city used to absorbing outsiders and turning them into its own."
No, she thought, London had tried to turn her into something, but not one of its own.
From London Bridge to the Bloody Tower, to the fabulous art galleries and the great Saint Paul's Cathedral, all awed Charity. This was a side of the city she had never even imagined.
They shared lunches and picnics and laughter. But still Charity searched. Finally she concluded that the locked room was the only place the letters could possibly be. But . . . how to get in?
Noah was absorbing Charity the way he had said London would absorb her. She was a puzzle, a child's innocence in the body of a delightful woman. He enjoyed her laughter, her multitude of questions, and
the way she listened and understood. She was bright and intelligent, yet behind her eyes lingered that look. A look he wanted to change. He knew she had secrets, but he also knew that despite everything, he was falling deeper and deeper in love with her.
It was over a week before Noah announced he was going to present her at court. Beth had come back from visiting the Round and she and Charity were closeted in their room.
"What did Gregory say, Beth?"
"That he hoped you were all right, that he was proud of how capable you were . . . and had you found the letters."
"Is that all?" Disappointment filled Charity's voice.
"What do you expect him to say to me, Charity? He says if you can slip out he will meet you in the Round tonight."
"How can I possibly do that, how would I get there . . . and alone? It's impossible." It annoyed Charity that Gregory would consider her walking into such danger.
"When I saw Amiee today she thought you might want to send a message, so she is sending Piper to the garden gate at midnight."
"Good. That's better. I'll write a note and find a way to meet Gregory tomorrow." Beth nodded, and Charity went to her desk and sat down before another thought struck her. She turned again to Beth. "Why did you go to the Round today?"
"Just to visit Amiee and to see Jason. Charity . . . I feel so . . . scared here. I wish you could find the letters and we could go."
"Well, I think I've found where they are. I just haven't found a way to get to them. But I will."
"It can't be too soon for me."
Charity turned back to her desk. It had been weeks since she had seen Gregory and she was anxious to talk with him. She needed encouragement, needed to feel his love surrounding her. If he could just hold her for a while and rekindle her courage, she could go on.
Beth watched Charity slip the note into her pocket, cast her a quick smile, and leave the room. She knew Amiee had been as worried about Charity as she had.
It had surprised her when Amiee had voiced some strong reservations about Gregory. Amiee had confessed that she'd checked his background thoroughly but found nothing. Gregory was, it seemed, exactly what he said he was. Still, both of Charity's friends worried.
Dinner had been the laughing affair it always was when Elizabeth and Noah ate at the same table. Occasionally Charity would glance up and see Noah watching her with a puzzled and somewhat speculative look. It made her shiver with the strangest feeling.
After dinner Charity felt as if her nerves were stretched to the point of breaking. Why tonight, of all nights, did the entire family decide to spend a relaxing evening at home?
It seemed to her as if the minutes were hours. She grew more and more aware of Noah every second they were together. She needed Gregory! She felt as
if she would burst out crying if she didn't get away from that penetrating blue gaze soon.
Finally it was Noah who made her breathe a sigh of relief.
"I have a great deal of work to do," he said as he rose and went to kiss his mother and sister good night. Then he gathered Elizabeth up in his arms. "And you, little one, it's been a long time since I tucked you in."
Elizabeth giggled and clung to him, and Kathy rose to follow them.
"I'll go with you, or else you'll tell her stories all night and she'll never get to sleep."
"I believe it is time for me to find my bed also," Sofia said. "Tomorrow night we must attend the queen's ball and if we are going to celebrate we'd better get some rest tonight. Charity?"
"Yes, I think I'll retire too." She glanced at Beth, who rose at once.
In her room, midnight seemed an eternity away and Charity waited with little patience. Finally when she thought she could bear the waiting no more, midnight came.
"Beth, look and see if the hall is dark," Charity said as she took up her cloak and put it about her shoulders. She put the hood up so her face could not be seen.
"There's no light. Charity, please be careful. If someone sees you, it will look very strange for you to be running around the garden at midnight."
"I'll be careful," she replied, and then was gone. Beth looked at the closed door and wished she had
found some way for Charity to get out of the situation she was in.
Charity moved down the darkened hall slowly. She had paused outside her door for several minutes to let her eyes become accustomed to the darkness, then moved slowly to the top of the stairs.
She looked down, but the bottom floor was like a dark well of shadows. With one hand on the banister, she moved down step by step.
She shook with tension. Beth had been right. All she needed was to be found creeping around the house after midnight, dressed as she was. Noah would have no problem understanding that she was no longer a casual guest.
She slipped out the large French door that led to the garden, paused, then moved across the garden to the back gate.
There seemed to be no one about, and she whispered Piper's name. Charity almost shrieked when Piper stepped out of the darkness a foot or two from her. She had seen no sign the girl was there.
''Piper, Lord, you frightened me out of a year's growth."
"I seen you comin'." Piper looked up at the huge house before her. "What a bloody big place. How do you find your way about?"
"Like you find your way about the Round," Charity answered. "For heaven's sake, Piper, be quiet. Voices carry on a night like this. Here," she added as she took the note from her pocket and handed it to her. It vanished beneath Piper's dark rags before Charity could
blink. "Piper, if . . . when there is an answer to my message, where will you put it?"
"Right here, behind this gate. I was lookin' about while I was waitin' for you. There's a stone back of it that has a nice hollow spot. I'll leave the message there."
"Fine," Charity replied. She didn't relish the thought of slipping down here every night to see if anything had been delivered.
"Amiee says to be careful. If you need help, you just holler."
"Tell Amiee
that I'll try to find a way to see her in the next few days, but that there is only one place left to search and I have to find a way to get into it. When I do . . . if I find what I want, I'll come running back to the Round as fast as my legs can carry me."
"All right. Is that all?"
"Yes."
Piper nodded, stepped back away from Charity, then silently vanished into the night.
Charity felt the darkness folding around her, and the night seemed to be filled with threatening shadows. She moved back across the garden and into the house.
She was quite unaware that curtains had been held back and serious eyes watched her progress into the house until she disappeared inside. Only then did the curtain drop back into place.
Charity was excited about the ball and couldn't deny it. No matter what the circumstances, she delighted in her beautiful gown and the honor she
might never know again of being presented to the queen.
She hadn't been able to find a way into the locked room, but she had her eyes open for any opportunity.
The day passed without one and she found herself, with Beth, dressing for the ball. With his usual perfect taste, Gregory had chosen the gown she would wear, and this one was unique. It was of a deep amber shade that seemed to shift color to a burnished gold as she moved. It was a gown meant to be seductive. The ivory of her shoulders combined with the pale soft gold created an illusion of pulsing warmth that would draw men like moths to a flame.
She had jewelry, but nothing seemed to quite fit the gown. In desperation she wore only a strand of pearls with matching earrings.
Beth wore pale blue that was a cool and complementary color with her dark hair. Charity was the only one who knew that Beth would rather have been anywhere else this night except where she was.
"Just think," Charity said with a soft laugh, "we are actually going to meet the queen. Aren't you excited, Beth?"