He might as well wait for the cliffs of Dover to crumble to the sea.
Chapter 15
Heath flung himself into his work at the shipyards. Aubree scarcely saw him from one day to the next. She saw to it that a bath and a warm meal awaited him each evening, but their limited exchange of words extended only to the happenings of the day or preparations for the morrow.
Aubree knew better than to complain. Her father had the same single-mindedness of purpose, and she had learned to entertain herself, but each sundown found her waiting for the sound of horse’s hooves in the cobbled yard. She told herself she longed only for companionship, but those nights when she produced a gleam of approval in bleary eyes or a smile to tired lips were her happiest.
While her husband went about rebuilding and restocking his ship, Aubree turned her time and talents to increasing the comforts of his home. The task was not an easy one since he had diverted all funds and the only available workmen to his project, but Aubree was not without resources.
The local workers stubbornly avoided the abbey. Understanding only that gossip had painted her husband as some kind of ogre and that lack of funds encouraged this attitude, Aubree resolved to make wrong things right again.
With the help of Mattie and the twins, rotting draperies and wall coverings disappeared. Colonies of spiders and cobwebs were driven back to their natural habitat, and walls and floors were swept and washed clean of grime. Little could be done about damaged paneling and crumbling stone at this stage, but a careful arranging of furniture and remaining tapestries and portraits restored a comfortable look.
Knowing she was limited in what she could do with one lady’s maid and two pairs of unskilled hands, Aubree never lost sight of her goal to clear Heath’s reputation and return workers to the abbey. From various sources she learned of the excesses of the previous earl, but the more serious charges lay in her husband’s own past.
The dowager refused to speak of the past but surrounded herself with the comforts provided by a small trust her late husband had been unable to touch. Aubree found an unlikely source of information in Patience, the cook.
Incapable of comprehending the actions of others except as they applied to her, Patience spoke of the years of abusive behavior the household had suffered under the previous earl. She recounted tales of drunkenness and wild parties with the incomprehension of a newborn. Her main grief appeared to be the loss of friends as the servants left for better-paying, less-degrading jobs, or were sacked for various and illusory wrongs. Once only a lowly scrub maid, Patience eventually became the only remaining servant in the kitchen.
But there still had been servants employed at the abbey when Heath inherited the title. Patience spoke of his first wife with an awe that reflected fear as well as admiration. Perhaps after his wife’s death, Heath had let them all go, but that did not explain their reluctance to return. Aubree vowed to get to the bottom of this mystery if she had to confront Austin himself with it.
The villagers and tenants were taciturn, but not unfriendly. They watched her warily, but treated her with respect. Still, her hints of available positions fell on deaf ears.
One particularly discouraging day she succumbed to disgust and ordered the lowering of the crystal parlor chandelier with only the aid of Jamie and Joan. After every crystal had been washed and polished, they discovered the three of them could not raise it again.
Frustrated, Aubree donned her riding habit and rode into the village. Surely somewhere in all of Devon there ought to be one able-bodied man willing to work to feed and house his family. She could not offer a large salary, but there were rooms aplenty to provide housing, and the kitchen garden flourished. They would not starve. With that thought in mind, she aimed for the one place she had not been, the village tavern.
Jamie accompanied her, ineptly trying to dissuade her, but she ignored his protests. Aubree stepped from the humid summer heat into the musty dimness of the tavern interior with determination.
At this time of the afternoon, there were few occupants at the heavy trestle tables. A man with an open-necked and grimy cotton shirt polished mugs behind the rough-hewn bar, and several loungers sprawled in a far corner, nursing their cups of ale. They all looked up with interest at her entrance.
Weston, the young bartender hurried from behind the bar, wiping his hands on a worn apron. “My lady, I am honored by your presence, but I have no tea room to offer. Might I show you the way to Mrs. Croft’s? She would be delighted. . .”
Aubree gestured in impatience. “I know how to find Mrs. Croft’s, thank you. You are Mr. Weston, are you not? I was told you might be able to help me.” The few idlers in the room leaned closer. The bartender looked uncertain, but not uncooperative. Aubree addressed them all as one.
“I have need of aid. I am seeking able-bodied men willing to come to the abbey and work for me. I have coin and you will be paid. Is there anyone here, or do you know of anyone, who might help me?”
Fear flickered in Weston’s eyes and the men murmured among themselves. “She’s just a wee bit of a thing,” one of them said with what sounded like sympathy.
“Sure, and she is that, but it’s none of our affair,” another whispered angrily. “He’s like to murder us all if we stand in the way.”
“If we say her nay and aught happens. . .”
Weston snapped this speculation off in midsentence. “There ain’t a man among us, milady, who wouldn’t be willing to lend a hand should you come to us, but we’ll not be interfering with his lordship and his affairs at the abbey. You’d do best to go to those of your own kind and not bring trouble to the likes of us.”
Puzzled by this reply, Aubree started to protest, but the loud clatter of boots in the entrance intruded. An auburn head ducked under the low timber of the doorway, followed shortly after by Jamie’s anxious features.
“Lady Aubree! What in heaven’s name are you about?” Harley nodded a greeting to the gathering. “Gentlemen, if you will excuse us, I believe the lady has gone astray.”
To the relief of his audience, he caught Aubree’s elbow and led her from the tavern, followed close behind by her servant. Outside, Aubree shook Harley off and glared at him.
“Who appointed you my keeper, Mr. Sotheby? I’ll thank you to explain this outrageous behavior!”
Smoky gray eyes regarded her with bemusement and curiosity. “Your groom came to me for aid, and rightly so, I expect. I cannot believe his lordship would approve of your frequenting taverns.”
Aubree knotted her fists in a rage of helplessness. “And what do you know about anything? Austin is busy and has not time to concern himself in my affairs. If I want something done, I must do it myself. Unless, of course, you are volunteering for the position.”
Harley gave her an odd look and signaled for Jamie to bring their horses. “Let us go somewhere where we are not quite so visible. I have no desire to hear the tale that would develop if we come to cuffs here in the street.”
Aubree contemplated telling him that problem would be solved should he leave her alone, but she resisted. She had so little company, she could not bear to drive off one of the few friends she had. Reluctantly, she obliged.
They rode toward the abbey and halted in a copse of trees. She resisted Harley’s insistence that they dismount.
“You are the stubbornest wench I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” Harley complained as he hauled her from the saddle.
“I am not one of your sisters to be ordered about in such a manner,” Aubree exclaimed, smacking at his hands until he released her.
“It is because of my sisters that I dare treat you in such a manner.” Harley pulled off his coat and spread it upon the grass. “Sit. Pretend I am your brother. Tell me why you felt called upon to enter a tavern seeking help.”
Refusing to sit, Aubree studied him in perplexity. Though less than half a score her senior, Harley acted with the maturity and wisdom of a much older man. She found it easy to consider him as an older bro
ther, but she could not forget that he had once attempted to “rescue” her from Austin’s company for reasons beyond her understanding. Perhaps now was the time to seek comprehension.
“I will tell you that when you tell me why you feel compelled to interfere in my affairs,” she demanded.
“Will you sit?” Harley crossed his arms and waited.
Feeling that he had learned much too much from Austin, Aubree flounced her skirts crossly and settled in the place indicated. “There.”
“Good.” Harley took a seat on a rock across from her. “You first.”
This was worse than playing Questions and Answers. Aubree felt grossly put upon to be in the position of answering instead of questioning.
“I cannot see where I did anything so wrong. I needed someone stronger than I am to lift the chandelier back in place and do other odd jobs about the house. I was not trying to hire a butler. I am not quite so giddy as that.”
Harley studied her in amusement. “You went in a tavern looking for someone to lift a chandelier?” he asked, laughter lighting his. “What on earth possessed you to lower those ghastly, monstrous creations in the first place? Were you planning on giving a ball?”
“Of course not. I haven’t even a butler to answer the door or a maid to polish the floor. How would I give a ball? I just wanted them clean. But I can scarcely expect a man to understand that. Now will you tell what is wrong with that and why you persist in interfering with my affairs?”
Harley sobered. “You should have sent Jamie or John on that errand. It is not proper for a lady to enter that kind of tavern. The men did not understand what dire peril had driven you to seek their help.”
“Dire peril?” Aubree looked at him as if he had gone mad. “One can only enter a tavern in dire peril? That’s exceedingly odd, I must say.”
“A lady of your circumstances would only enter a tavern in dire peril. And they had reason to believe you might be in such a state,” Harley said in exasperation
Aubree threw up her hands in surrender. “That makes no sense to me. Did you, too, think I was in ‘dire peril’? Whatever on earth for?”
Harley sighed. “Do you not know anything, Aubree? Surely Heath did not carry you here without some explanation of what you would find?”
Aubree made a face and plucked a daisy. “Oh, he was honest with me. And the gossips in London certainly didn’t lose time in informing me of his reputation. But I cannot see where Heath’s lack of fortune and evil gossip should lead to this excessive caution on your part. You must know he is the kindest man who ever lived, even if he is slightly irascible at times.” She punctuated this last with a mischievous smile, remembering Heath’s irked response to her cobweb clearing.
Shirtsleeves billowing in the breeze, Harley rose and paced to a nearby tree. “Aubree, your husband has been known to be more than irascible in the past. He has learned to control his temper, but in his youth he was involved in more duels than justified by the quiet life we lead here. There are men to this day who bear the mark of his wrath.”
Aubree digested the news and nodded in understanding. “That may be so. His father treated him cruelly. The scandal concerning his family would have eaten at the pride of a more placid temperament than Heath’s. He would have fought for his mother’s and sister’s reputations, even if he could not respect his father’s. That explains nothing.” She remembered guiltily the two duels Heath had involved himself in since meeting her, one with the man she spoke to now. No wonder he had not wished to marry. The burden of upholding his family’s reputation must be a heavy one.
Harley slid to the grass and braced his head upon his hands. “That is just the beginning. You must know there are those who say he carried his temper into marriage with him.”
“I have heard it said, but I do not believe it,” she replied scornfully, starting to rise.
Harley caught her hand, his gray eyes pleading for understanding. “I was just a school lad then, Aubree, but Louise was my elder sister. I adored her. She was reckless, full of life, and had a temper to match Heath’s, but I loved her. I came home one summer and saw the fading bruises on her face. If Heath had not been gone to sea, I would have killed him then.”
The knowledge that Harley’s sister had been Heath’s first wife shocked Aubree. While the woman had been a nameless, faceless figment of the past, she had presented no problem. Knowing now that Austin had married a young woman of wealth and breeding and intelligence like Anna and Maria made her too real for comfort.
“I did not know, Harley. I am sorry,” she whispered, responding to his grief and not his implications. She still did not believe Austin could hit a woman, and she did not think Harley believed it any longer, either.
Harley continued as if she had not spoken. “Louise never told us how she acquired the bruises. She tried to hide others, but you know how gossip flies. She and Heath did not get along well. She liked to spend money and Heath had none. We were poor once, and I once heard her vow she would never go without again. She must have thought marrying an earl would make her wealthy forever. Whatever silliness went between them, the whole county heard sooner or later. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the vicinity when both of them got their tempers up. War would have been quieter.”
Aubree tried to imagine this scene and found it easy to do. Austin was a forceful man who acted on the strength of his beliefs. She would not have him any other way. Although they had exchanged cross words upon occasion, she had never deliberately tried to interfere with his goals, and he had likewise respected hers. But should she ever step out of line, he would let her know it, in no uncertain terms. If Louise had tried to persuade him to act differently than he had expected of himself, the fireworks would be plentiful, indeed.
“Harley, you need not tell me this. Whatever happened then is over and done. I cannot believe Heath would hit a woman, but I can understand where others might think it. He is not like that now, I assure you. You need not worry for my sake.”
He studied her face thoughtfully. “You are right, of course. I cannot know the truth of it, but now that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know your husband, I know he is a gentleman. He may have felt called upon to thrash Louise for her behavior, my father did often enough, but he would never strike her in a manner that would leave such bruises. No, I am not worried on that account, but only explaining the attitudes of people around here.”
“And your father? He would believe he married his daughter to a man who would beat her?” Aubree couldn’t resist asking.
Harley lifted her hand. “He and Heath were once the best of friends. But the manner of Louise’s death and my father’s gradual blindness has made him a bitter man. We have never discussed it, but I am certain he blames Heath for everything.”
“How did Louise die?” Aubree knew better than to ask, but she had to know, had to get to the bottom of this barrel of misinformation and rumor that blackened their lives.
“I was away at Cambridge. I know only what I have been told, and I carried my anger like a burning torch for too many years. I wanted to kill Heath, but he would never have accepted a challenge from a schoolboy. Besides, he was gone to war before I came home. I spent many years learning to fight as well as he so I might kill him when the opportunity came. And he still bested me. He could have killed me then, but he did not. That was when I knew he could not have killed Louise, either, no matter what she did to him.”
Aubree widened her eyes with horror. “Killed Louise? You thought he killed your sister? Whatever made you think such a horrible thing?”
“It is what they all think, Aubree. That is why Heath is not welcome anywhere. There can be no proof, he cannot be brought to trial, but he has been found guilty by word of mouth. I am sorry, I thought you knew.”
Dazed, Aubree watched the dappled sunlight playing over the lush grass. So many things became clear now. She must prove the whole world wrong to free Heath from the prison they held him in. The task seemed enormous. “How did she di
e?”
“There was an argument, a violent one, from all reports,” he said reluctantly. “Louise ran from the house. My sister was an expert horsewoman, and her mount had just been saddled. She apparently rode off in a fury. Heath had just come home and his horse had not yet been unsaddled, so he followed her. I have never heard Heath’s side of the story. All I know is that Louise was a skilled rider and knew every inch of the abbey grounds. She would never have tried to jump the quarry that they found her in. By the time Heath found help to carry her out, she was dead. So was the child she carried, a child that must have been conceived while Heath was at sea.”
A thick silence fell between them, a silence broken only by the mournful call of a dove. Aubree squeezed his hand, sensing his pain but lost in her own dizzying whirl of discovery.
Heath was a proud man, younger than Harley at the time of his wife’s death. He had worked to overcome the ruin and decadence of his father’s life, fought with hands and wit to keep his family alive and together, had every reason to believe he could carve his own future and happiness. And his wife had killed it all, bankrupted and cuckolded him, made the heir to his title a bastard. What sane man would believe he hadn’t thrown her off that cliff? Perhaps it had not been intentional, perhaps they had argued and he had hit her and she had fallen, but her death was at his hands, nonetheless.
A great sadness permeated her heart. By whatever means Louise had died, Heath had suffered enough for her death. She could not bring herself to believe that he was directly responsible, but she understood why it lay heavy on his heart. What chance had she to throw off that burden and make him live again?
She touched a hand to Harley’s cheek. “Thank you for telling me. Your sister and Heath cannot be faulted for marrying for the wrong reasons or loving where they shouldn’t. It happens every day. It is not our place to judge them.”
Indigo Moon Page 15