If the Earl Only Knew (The Daring Marriages)

by Amanda Forester

  “If you were able to help my brother, then I am glad for it.” Kate inspected the wound with a critical eye. She had seen her share of wounds and had even been called upon once to stitch up a gash on the arm of the boatswain when she sailed with her brother. She’d never forgotten the ordeal, and she bet the boatswain never had either, since she had cast up her accounts on him during the process. Twice.

  Robert’s wound appeared to be clean and the stitches tiny, straight, and true. Much better than anything she had ever done.

  “You must forgive that Darington does not have a shirt at the moment. The wound bled a bit, and I fear I ripped the shirt to shreds, using it during my tending. It was important to clean the wound thoroughly, for I find it helps to prevent it from festering.”

  “Emma has been very helpful,” said Robert with genuine admiration.

  Emma? Well now, they were on intimate terms. She glanced again at Wynbrook, whose eyebrows rose considerably. Once again, she would have questioned romantic involvement, but her brother was clearly wounded and Emma’s maid stood silently watching in the corner.

  “But what of the men who abducted you?” asked Wynbrook.

  “Unfortunate circumstance, they came to the same inn as we,” said Robert.

  “It was a dreadful walk to the inn, I must say,” said Emma, who was clearly enjoying the memory. “We never knew when we would be set upon by robbers again, and Darington was so weak he could barely walk. I gave us up for dead several times, but somehow we made it through. We took a room at the first inn we found, which I’m sure is what those awful robbers did too.

  “Dare warned me not to use our real names, and so we have registered here under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Anders. I said my husband was dreadful ill, and they have left us alone ever since. We were quite despairing when we discovered our enemies had moved in down the hall. But now you have come, so we can make our escape!” Emma smiled brightly.

  “But how did you know it was me?” queried Kate, though she was beginning to believe Emma could do anything she wished with a flip of her golden ringlets.

  “Dare saw you from the window and asked me to fetch you. He said it would be dreadfully dangerous, so of course I went to collect you straightaway.”

  “Of course you did,” said Kate.

  “But how have you come to be here?” asked Robert. “How did you find me?”

  “Your sister has dragged me up one frozen, ice-caked road and down the other. I am certain that if we had not found you here, she would have knocked on every door and searched through the hedgerows until she did,” drawled Wynbrook.

  “After I was pushed from the coach, I ran back to the inn and found Wynbrook outside. We rushed after you in the coach, hoping to overtake you quickly, but it was not to be,” said Kate, leaving out the part where they had slept in the same bed. “Fortunately, we got a few good leads and eventually they led us here.”

  “Well now, we have all had such adventures! Sally, could you go down and bring us all up a good cup of tea?” asked Emma.

  Sally grumbled and left the room.

  “Forgive my maid. She has a low opinion of adventures.”

  “I’m not sure I don’t share her opinion,” said Kate. “But I am so glad that my brother met you and that you had the wherewithal to know what to do in a crisis.” Her praise was entirely sincere. She hated to think of what would have happened to her brother had Emma not been there.

  “I do hope I was a help to your brother. Truly a doctor does not do much more than patch things up a bit. It’s the patient who does all the healing. Dare has shown great forbearance and has been delightful company.” Emma gave the room a brilliant smile.

  So charming was she that Kate was almost inclined to believe her, but she knew that her brother could never be called delightful company. Most people considered him taciturn at best. Of course, Kate knew he was not foul-tempered but mainly shy. Considering everything, Kate was rather surprised Robert had been able to utter a word.

  “Forgive me for breaking up this touching moment,” said Wynbrook, “but I feel compelled to remind you that your adversaries remain at large. Shall we involve the local magistrate?”

  “Yes, that is just what I thought to do as well,” said Emma in her perpetually cheery voice. “Unfortunately, when I attempted to alert the local magistrate, I found the robbers had got there first and blamed the entire event on Darington, including the death of one of their number. The authorities are now on the hunt for him.”

  “We need to set the record straight,” said Wynbrook.

  “No,” said Robert in a soft but firm voice. “I fear as soon as our presence is revealed, our friends shall make short work of us. We need to get Emma out of danger.”

  “We have been trying to think of a place to retreat where Dare can regain his strength. I fear he is not yet strong enough to fight them at this point, though I will say he is a fast healer,” said Emma with a warm smile.

  “Actually, we may not be far from Greystone,” said Kate, surprised the suggestion would emerge from her lips. Greystone Hall. A place that haunted her memories. A place to which she never wished to return.

  “Greystone?” asked Emma. “Is it a nearby village? Have you friends or relatives who can help?”

  “Greystone Hall is our…” Robert paused as if not sure what word came next. “Home.”

  Twenty-six

  Kate stared out the window of the inn at the growing gloom. The sun had set and the sky had lost its battle against the encroaching darkness, turning from brilliant orange to dusky blue then muted gray, and finally fading into black. Even as night fell, it was not without its little beacons of hope, the stars twinkling white. As the darkness grew, so did the number of the sparkling lights spread out haphazardly across the dark night sky. It was strange to think that those faraway stars were always there, but it took the coming of the night to see them.

  Four sharp raps at the door broke her reverie. It was the appointed signal. Emma’s maid roused herself to answer the door.

  “It’s done,” said Wynbrook in apparent high spirits as he entered the room.

  The maid looked suspiciously back and forth in the hallway before closing the door and locking it tight.

  “Here are some clothes to make you decent.” He tossed a bundle onto Robert’s bed.

  “It is fortunate you have arrived with my clothing.”

  “Fortunate for you but think of poor Tristan, whose portmanteau I still have in the coach.”

  “He will track you down.”

  “Yes, I’m sure of it!” said Wynbrook with a laugh.

  “Are they hitching up the coach?” asked Kate.

  “Yes. I’ll bring it ’round as soon as the company is ready to depart and drive you to Greystone myself. Safer not to engage a coachman, who could tell the wrong people where we have gone. I also had the distinct impression we may need to deny ever being here.” He gave Robert a knowing glance. Of course, it would never do to have the general public know Darington and Emma had spent the night together, even with his gunshot wound and her maid present.

  “Thank you, Lord Wynbrook. You are very conscientious.” Emma gazed up prettily at Wynbrook and batted ridiculously long eyelashes at him in a manner that made Kate’s blood run cold.

  “I even asked them to warm a brick for you so you might ride in comfort,” said Wynbrook with a winning smile.

  “We have no time for such frivolity. This is hardly the time to think about enjoying oneself,” said Kate severely.

  “Oh yes, one should never think of comforts when one is in mortal danger,” agreed Wynbrook dryly. “For one runs the risk of enjoying the last few moments of one’s life. I cannot think of anything more tragic than to arrive at the gates of heaven with a smile on my face.”

  Emma laughed out loud and dazzled the company with such a radiant smile that Kate bit
her own tongue before she said something reminiscent of an outraged sailor, rather than a lady of society.

  “If we are to leave this place, we should go now,” said Robert in a humorless tone. Though she doubted anyone else in the room noticed, Kate knew Robert also was not pleased by any hint of flirtation between Emma and Wynbrook.

  Kate had to admit, Wynbrook and Emma would be a good match for each other. Both were of pleasant dispositions, and had easy smiles and comfortable manners. Wynbrook was terribly handsome, and Emma was bright, merry, and undeniably lovely. They would make a nice couple and produce adorable little children.

  Fortunately, she didn’t care about such things. It made no difference to her what he did with his spare time. If he wanted to marry a girl who looked like an angel and had a bosom that quivered with every step, it was entirely his affair. She didn’t care in the least.

  “Lord Wynbrook, maybe we should go prepare the carriage and bring it around to the inn while Miss St. James and her maid ready Robert for travel,” said Kate. She was just trying to be efficient and logical; the fact that she recommended Wynbrook to remain with her and away from Emma was completely coincidental.

  Despite some anxious moments, particularly since they did not know where their attackers were, they all made it into the coach. Darington managed with some slight assistance to make it down the stairs on his own power but collapsed onto the velvet squabs as soon as he entered the coach.

  Kate did not like to see her brother injured, though he seemed in competent hands. Emma did not reveal any anxiety regarding the eventual recovery of her patient, which helped Kate to be more at ease—at least when it came to her brother. Traveling to Greystone Hall was another matter entirely.

  The mere thought of returning to Greystone filled her with foreboding. She had not returned since her father had died. The place represented all the misery of her childhood. She had never wanted to return.

  After several hours of jarringly rugged terrain, they turned down a drive that, no matter how long she had been away, Kate would never forget. The carriage began to climb, winding its way up to the top of the bluffs where Greystone Hall held dominion, overlooking the ocean. They turned a tight corner, and the imposing house came into view, a yellow moon hanging low behind it.

  Greystone Hall stretched five stories high and, true to its name, was made of gray stone. At night, however, it was a monstrous black tower. The tower dominated the scraggly bushes and windswept trees that dotted the landscape along the bluff overlooking the coastline.

  “My, but that is a striking hall,” said Emma, leaning next to her to see out the window. “This is your home?”

  Home? It was a long time since she’d thought of Greystone Hall as home. “This is where we were born and we spent the first few years of our life here. We have not been back since our father died thirteen years ago.”

  “Thirteen years?” asked Emma. “But then, you haven’t been back since you were children. Is this not your countryseat?”

  “It has been more financially advantageous for us to rent the property.” Kate did not mention that it had been the only way to try to overcome the immense debt they found themselves in once orphaned. “We’ve had a series of respectable families who have lived here, though it is vacant at the moment. We have kept the house fully staffed, as we expect our land agent to find a new tenant soon.”

  “How fortunate it is that your home is staffed, as if it was waiting for you to return.” Emma smiled brightly at the prospect.

  Fortunate? It would not have been the word Kate chose. She did not even bother trying to return Emma’s smile.

  They pulled into the dark drive, a knot tightening in Kate’s stomach. She was not sure whether she was more concerned for her brother, who was clearly pained by the journey, or wounded by the memories that flooded back as they pulled slowly into the shadow of the great house cast by the bright moon.

  “It is certainly quite a large house,” commented Emma with clear determination to be cheery.

  “Yes, it is a very large house.” So large that Kate would never be free of the ghosts that haunted it.

  The carriage rolled to a stop, and a moment later, Wynbrook opened the carriage door and helped the occupants out. “I trust I found the right place,” said Wynbrook through chattering teeth.

  “Oh, you must be chilled through,” said Emma sympathetically. “What you need is a good bowl of wine punch.”

  “Make that rum punch and I think you’ve about got it.”

  Kate glared at Wynbrook and Emma. Yes, they would be very happy together. She, on the other hand, would never be free of the legacy of Greystone. She steeled herself to face the beast of a house. This was not so much a house as a mortuary. This was where her mother had died. This was where her father had died. She had no interest in having it be the final resting place of herself or Robert.

  There was no one to greet the carriage, of course. At this hour, no one in the house could be expected to be awake. Wynbrook assisted Robert out of the carriage, who, between the pain and medication Emma had given him, was unsteady on his feet.

  “Let us rouse the staff,” said Kate, wondering what sort of reception they would receive. To suddenly appear in the middle of the night without one word of advance warning was inconsiderate, even if one was going to one’s own house, but it could not be helped.

  “Yes,” agreed Wynbrook. “I’ve hitched the horses to a post, but they should not be standing outside long.”

  Kate walked boldly up to the door and rapped loudly on the dark wood. They waited for a while but heard nothing. “I fear the servants’ quarters are not close to the front door and they were expecting no one this evening,” muttered Kate.

  She banged on the door several times more before she finally heard footsteps. The door opened a crack. The butler, with his white wig askew and hastily donned robe, stood next to the housekeeper with her wide eyes and quilted robe.

  “Who goes there?” demanded the butler.

  “It is I, Lady Katherine, with my brother the Earl of Darington, master of this house. Quick, man, let us in at once, for it is dreadful cold.”

  The man at the door stared in surprise, then stepped back, opening the door wide enough to allow entrance, closing the door quickly behind them to keep out the cold. “Lord Darington?”

  “We had no word that the master was coming,” said the housekeeper, much suspicious.

  “Yes, Mrs. Brooke, you would not have, for we did not know we were driving here ourselves until earlier this day.” Kate quickly recalled the names of her staff. “Thank you, Mr. Foster,” she said, handing the butler her wool coat and bonnet.

  Kate had considered the story she would tell on the drive here, and now came time for her performance.

  “There’s been a terrible accident,” she began. “We were traveling to Portsmouth and our coach was overcome by robbers. Lord Darington defended us bravely and scared them off, but he was shot in the process.”

  “Oh my stars and garters.” Mrs. Brooke gasped, staring at Darington who was being held up by Wynbrook. “I can see he is not well. I shall call for the doctor at once.”

  “I do not believe that is necessary. He has already been seen by a capable physician, but we were not in a place where we could stay comfortably and we judged that we must bring him back to Greystone as quickly as possible so he can recuperate.”

  “Oh, my dear. Such goings-on.” Mrs. Brooke looked from Robert to Kate to the others, clearly unsure how to proceed.

  Kate quickly took command. “Send a groom to take care of the coach and horses, for they should not be standing out in the cold. Please prepare rooms for myself and my brother, and our friends, the Earl of Wynbrook, and Miss Emma St. James. Miss St. James is traveling with her maid, Sally Winters.”

  “At once, milady,” said Mr. Foster with a bow.

  “Thank you, M
r. Foster. And if a bowl of punch”—she glanced at Wynbrook—“rum punch could be brought to the drawing room where we shall rest until all is provided for, it would be much appreciated. It has been tremendously cold and we are all chilled to the bone. My brother in particular needs his spirits revived.”

  “Yes, milady. At once, milady.” Mrs. Brooke had always seemed through her letters and various correspondence to be an efficient, clearheaded sort of woman. Kate was glad to find that this impression was not false, for after she had recovered from her initial suspicion and shock, Mrs. Brooke brought the household to action at once. Fires were laid in the grates, beds were turned down, maids and footmen appeared to take care of every need, and, most gratifying, warm punch and biscuits were provided as a welcome reprieve from the chill.

  Despite all the excitement of the past few days and the discomfort she felt on entering the house, Kate had difficulty keeping her eyes open over her punch, and she noted the others were no better. They soon all retired to their respective bedrooms.

  Once she had seen to Robert’s care, ensuring that he was safe, Kate retired to her bed, which had been deliciously heated with a warming pan. Allowing herself to relax, she realized how tired and sore she was. The excitement of the past several days had afforded her very little rest. In spite of the nagging concerns she felt for all the turmoil in her life, she fell quickly into a deep and abiding sleep.

  Twenty-seven

  Wynbrook awoke to a bright January day with the knowledge that he needed to speak to Lord Darington. He had been much too long in the company of the man’s sister to do otherwise. He generally found Darington to be a decent sort of man, but he also could be imposing, with a hint of danger to him. Wynbrook was well aware that even the most rational of men could become irate if his sister’s reputation was at stake.

  Wynbrook rapped gently on the door of Darington’s bedroom, not wanting to wake the man, especially considering he was still recovering. A voice from the other side bade him enter at once. Wynbrook turned the knob and entered the room, finding Dare sitting up in bed, looking pale but better than he had the night before.