by Sandra Heath
“It is not quite as simple as that, Lord Lexham; indeed it is very complicated.”
“Goddammit, man, will you get to the point!” cried Dominic, his control snapping.
Mr. Jordan flinched as if he had been struck. “Y-yes, my lord, I will c-continue immediately.” He took a deep, steadying, breath.
That part is Lexham House itself, together with its contents, which are enumerated in the inventory appended to this document. The inventory is necessary in order to prevent anyone from removing any item from the house until such time as my conditions are met.
The person I am about to name will be subject to restrictions similar to those pertaining to Dominic’s portion of my estate. The house must be lived in for a period of six calendar months, commencing not later than one week after the reading of this will. During those six months the property must be opened up completely, no rooms may remain closed, and no debt must be incurred in order to do this, nor may there be any gift or loan taken out.
If the person should wish to marry during this period, then nothing may be received from the new spouse in order to finance the running of the house. The occupancy of the house must be completely respectable, with no hint of scandalous or licentious activity. If at the end of six months these conditions have been complied with in every detail, and provided that the inventory is complete down to the last spoon, then the house will become the full and undisputed property of the person to whom I now leave it.
However, if the conditions are not met with, then the house will revert to the rest of the inheritance and will become subject to the conditions I have placed upon my son. I have taken this drastic action in order to convince my son that I mean what I say. He prides himself upon being a gambling man, and so I trust that he appreciates that in these particular stakes, he is still the odds-on favorite, the new owner of the house having in truth little more than an outside chance of success.
Indeed, I have entered the new heir simply and solely to goad the favorite, to spur him into doing exactly as I wish. But an outside chance is still a chance, and I fully intend that my son should realize this and do all in his power to meet my terms and thus make sure that the delay before he receives his patrimony should only involve the first six months. All this having been said, I now tell you that the person to whom I leave Lexham House and its contents, is my niece, Caroline Mary Lavinia Lexham....”
Chapter 7
It seemed that as one the gathering gave a gasp of horrified disbelief, and Caroline could only look up in swift amazement at hearing her name. One of the gentlemen leaped furiously to his feet, shouting that the whole affair was an outrage and an insult, while the ladies looked at one another in dismay, obviously already concerned with the ridicule the family would be subjected to once the story began to circulate in the drawing rooms of London,
For a moment Dominic seemed stunned, but then he whirled about to face Caroline, his body as taut as a bowstring and his hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. An immediate hush fell over the room and Caroline could hear her own heartbeats as her cousin slowly approached her.
Incongruously she found herself remembering Hal Seymour’s description of him. His looks are deceiving, he has the appearance of an angel, but he is a harbinger of mischief and I warn you to be on your guard where he is concerned. But in spite of his golden, masculine beauty, there was little of the angel about the Earl of Lexham in that moment, for he was in the grip of ugly rage, his gray eyes as hard and unyielding as flint.
Before he could speak, she rose to her feet. “My lord, I promise you that I knew nothing of this!”
“No? I think you lie, madam, and I shall make you pay dearly for this incredible impudence. You wish to play the lady, do you? Well, it seems that for six months you may attempt to do just that, but you will never be a lady, coz, for you are nothing, an upstart who thinks she may claw herself up at my expense! You are wrong, so very wrong, for before I am finished with you, my dear, you will wish that you had remained in the safety and obscurity of Devon.”
She was trembling. “I swear that I knew nothing,” she repeated.
His eyes flickered. “The whole thing is purely academic anyway, is it not? You do indeed have only an outside chance of keeping the house, for in order to live in it as the will instructs, you will need money, which if I am any judge, is the one thing you most certainly do not possess.’’
He allowed his disparaging, contemptuous glance to move slowly over her plain bonnet, the voluminous, concealing mantle, and the laced ankle boots peeping from beneath its hem.
“Please, sir—”
“Save your breath, madam, for you will surely have need of it! But I warn you here and now, that notwithstanding the Prince Regent’s involvement, I shall do all in my power to prove the will to be invalid, and I shall also see to it that you find it utterly impossible to meet the conditions. The kid gloves are off, dear coz, and you would do well to glance frequently over your shoulder from this day forth.”
Turning, he went to the table where he had left his top hat and gloves, and then he looked for a last time at Mr. Jordan. “You have crossed me, lawyer, and that was very foolish of you.”
“My lord, I merely carried out the late earl’s wishes.”
Dominic smiled just a little, but there was no warmth or humor in him. “You have crossed me,” he repeated, and then he had gone. They heard his light, swift steps on the staircase.
For a moment no one else moved, and then the rest of the Lexham family followed in his wake. The gentlemen avoided meeting Caroline’s eyes, and the ladies flicked their costly black skirts aside from her as if they feared she might in some way contaminate them.
At last they had all departed, and Mr. Jordan did not disguise his sigh of relief as he sank into his chair, wiping his shining forehead with a large handkerchief. “Forgive me, Miss Lexham, but I fear I have long been dreading this morning, for I knew only too well how that will would be received. I fully expected to lose the Lexham family as my clients, of that you may be sure. However, at least now you understand why I wrote to you asking you to attend if it was at all possible.”
She nodded. “It was in fact that phrase, ‘if at all possible,’ which made me feel that I should make the journey. But in spite of the will, Mr. Jordan, I feel that I can only agree with my cousin, the earl.”
“Agree with him?” The lawyer looked taken aback.
“Oh, not with his conduct, merely with his statement that my tenure at Lexham House can only last for the initial six months, for he is quite right, I don’t possess sufficient funds.”
“That is a grave obstacle,” he admitted. “But at the same time I feel I must advise you to think most carefully about the whole matter. Have you any idea of the value of the house and its contents?”
“No.”
“Well, the building itself is worth a great deal, for it is a first-class property occupying a prime Mayfair site. The contents comprise many art treasures, paintings by great artists, an irreplaceable collection of jade and Chinese porcelain, magnificent silver and gold plate, furniture from Versailles itself ... At the end of six months all that would be yours, if you could meet the terms of the will.” He held her gaze. “Miss Lexham, you would be a considerable heiress.”
She was silent for a moment. “That’s as may be, Mr. Jordan, but it will be quite impossible for me to achieve, because my uncle laid his plans with great care. He calls me an outsider, but what he really means is that I have no chance at all. He had no intention at all of allowing me to slip through, for he has effectively tied my hands by imposing conditions which present an insoluble problem. I am cast in the role of goad, no more, and no less, and to judge by my cousin Dominic’s reaction, I would say that my uncle chose his goad with admirable skill.”
“And so you mean to give up without a fight?”
“I do not have any choice. Besides, if I am honest, I do not think that I have any right to the property, for in spite of my cousin’s odiousness,
he is the new earl, the new head of the family, and Lexham House should go to him.”
Mr. Jordan was appalled at this sentiment. “My dear Miss Lexham,” he exclaimed, “you have every right to the house, for it has been left to you. It does not matter what ulterior motive your uncle may have had, it is an indisputable legal fact that for the next six months at least, Lexham House belongs to you and only to you. And I tell you here and now, that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see Philip Lexham’s daughter as mistress of the house in which he was born and from which he was so cruelly excluded by his own flesh and blood. Of all the Lexhams, he alone was worthy, he alone could really lay claim to the title of gentleman. I know that at the moment it seems impossible that you can win, and indeed I have been putting my legal mind to the problem ever since I knew your uncle’s intention and I have been unable to see a way through—but there is still one week left in which to solve matters, and in law I promise you that a week can be a very long time.
“Your uncle used you heartlessly and deliberately, with no thought of your feelings, but he forgot one cardinal rule in racing, Miss Lexham, and that is that sometimes outsiders romp home by a distance. My advice to you is that you thumb your pretty nose at your disagreeable family, and at the new earl in particular, that you take your deceased uncle on and play him at his own game. Fight for your inheritance if you can, my dear! You owe nothing to any of the Lexhams, except perhaps to yourself and to your father’s memory, which has been so cruelly disparaged here today. Don’t give up just yet, Miss Lexham, I beg of you.”
“And if I do,” she said quietly, “the result will still be the same—the week’s grace will pass and still I will not have thought of a solution.”
He rose to his feet, coming around the desk to take her hands, “But you will at least think about it, won’t you? You have so very much to gain by trying to meet the conditions, and so very much to lose by throwing in the towel.” He smiled. “But you will be in Town for a while, won’t you? You wish to see the city, and that will allow me time to show you over your inheritance in Mayfair Street.”
“Not if that means any risk of encountering my relatives, sir.”
“The house is closed, I promise you, for they lodge at present at the Clarendon in New Bond Street. The house is in the care of the housekeeper, a Mrs. Hollingsworth. Look at it this way, Miss Lexham, you have an opportunity now of seeing over the house in which your father was born, the house which bears your name. Does that not mean anything?”
She smiled. “It means a very great deal, Mr. Jordan, and so I thank you and will indeed be pleased to see it whenever it is convenient. But my first priority must be to find somewhere to stay.”
“You do not need to worry about that, my dear, for it has already been attended to.”
She was a little alarmed, fearing that his choice might be expensive and beyond her poor purse. “Mr. Jordan, I do not have a great deal of money....”
He smiled in a way that could only be described as both sleek and satisfied. “Your stay in London will not cost you one penny, Miss Lexham, for it will be paid for by your late uncle’s estate.”
She stared. “But how can that be?”
“I made it my business to point out to your uncle that if he wished to use you to spur his son, then it would be achieved to greater effect if you were present—which would entail your coming to London and so on. He thought this a capital notion and instructed that a clause be entered. He intended me to install you in the meanest accommodation available, but there was nothing in the wording of the clause to indicate any such thing; I saw to that. I have reserved for you a suite of rooms in one of London’s finest hotels, Miss Lexham, the Oxenford in Piccadilly.”
She heard the name with something like a jolt. The Oxenford! Her first thought was that she would be seeing Hal Seymour again after all, but such notions were immediately replaced by more sobering considerations.
“Mr. Jordan, I thank you for your kindness, but there is no way at all that I may stay at the Oxenford; it is far too exclusive and I am not at all the sort of person they wish to have as their guest. I am traveling without a maid—because I do not possess one—and I am obviously far from fashionable. No, the Oxenford is quite out of the question.”
“My dear, you are the first cousin of the Earl of Lexham, whether or not that gentleman appreciates the fact, and you are also the new owner of Lexham House; of course you are worthy of the Oxenford. Besides, the apartment has already been paid for and all arrangements made. I am sure you will not regret staying there, for it is acknowledged to be one of the foremost hotels in Town.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes, although until this morning I had never even heard of it.”
He was puzzled. “But how did you learn of the Oxenford, Miss Lexham?”
“Sir Henry Seymour told me all about it.”
Now he was startled. “You are acquainted with Sir Henry?”
“He was kind enough to convey me to London in his carriage; indeed, but for his kindness, I would probably still be stranded in Devon.”
Mr. Jordan looked at her. “Am I to understand that you traveled all the way to London with Sir Henry Seymour?”
“Yes.”
“There was another lady present, of course.”
She colored a little. “No, I’m rather afraid there wasn’t.”
He was appalled. “Oh dear, I do not think that that was at all wise or proper.”
Her color heightened. “It came about quite by accident, sir, for I truly believed Lady Chaddington was to travel with us. By the time I realized my mistake it was too late and we were leaving the inn. But Sir Henry was a perfect gentleman in every way, Mr. Jordan.” She had to look away, however, for she remembered Hal’s last words to her only too clearly, and she could almost feel again the warmth and excitement of his lips over hers.
The lawyer shifted a little uneasily. “Miss Lexham, I know it is none of my concern and you would be perfectly justified if you told me to mind my own business, but I feel a little responsible for you, because you are not only Philip Lexham’s child, you are also here simply because of my invitation. Forgive me for saying so, but it was not at all proper for you to have been alone with a gentleman like Sir Henry, especially as you can have had little experience of the ways of such men. Those like Sir Henry can be so very charming, attentive, and amusing; they are rich, intent upon the pleasures of life, and they are only too skilled in the pursuit and flattery of the fair sex. You are a young lady of great loveliness, my dear, and that fact will not have been lost upon Sir Henry, for he is no laggard when it comes to such things, that much I promise you.”
Her cheeks were aflame now. “Maybe so, but he was a gentleman toward me, Mr. Jordan.”
“Well, perhaps I wrong Sir Henry by implying that he could be otherwise, but you were still very much at risk, for you did not know him at all, did you?”
“No.”
“You were alone with a stranger in his carriage, you traveled overnight with him a distance of some two hundred miles, and had he chosen to behave like a blackguard and a libertine, there would have been very little you could have done to defend your honor. Please do not think ill of me for speaking so bluntly, my dear, but I would not feel I had myself behaved with any honor if I had not said something.”
He smiled then, determined to set such a disagreeable topic aside. “Come now, I do not wish to sound as if I enjoy lecturing, especially as I hope to have the pleasure of dining with you tonight at the Oxenford.”
She returned the smile, the uncomfortable flush dying away from her cheeks. “I do not think you are lecturing me, Mr. Jordan, for I know that you are truly concerned about my welfare, and of course I would be delighted to dine with you tonight.”
“And you do not still object to the Oxenford?”
“No.”
“Excellent.”
She briefly lowered her eyes. “Mr. Jordan?”
/> “Yes?”
“Is Sir Henry to marry Lady Chaddington?”
He looked surprised at the question. “Why, I believe such a betrothal is soon expected, and rumor has it that her ladyship has been endeavoring for some time to win him.”
She looked up at him. “What do you know of the banquet he is arranging for the Duke of Wellington?”
He seemed amused. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, I overheard Lady Chaddington express extreme surprise at his involvement in such an affair, and I must confess that I too am most surprised, for he does not seem at all the sort of man to bother with banquets.”
He nodded. “It is indeed a strange affair, especially as until recently there was a very curious, although utterly discreet, rumor that Sir Henry was involved in things of grave national importance—grave things.”
“What do you mean?”
“I will tell you, but you must remember that it is a rumor and probably has no foundation whatsoever; indeed, I do not see that it can have, in view of Sir Henry’s subsequent activities. It was being said that he was working on behalf of the government, involved secretly with matters on the Continent, in Brussels and Paris. There was even one suggestion that he was assigned to guard the Duke of Wellington!”
The lawyer chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, if he is guarding the Iron Duke, then he has a very strange way of doing it, for he returned to England, promptly decided that his already excellent town house must be completely refurbished from cellar to attic, and then he and his delightful sister, Miss Seymour, took up residence at the Oxenford, where he took over the arranging of the banquet from poor Reggie Bannister, who is so sadly indisposed with the gout at the moment. Now then, Miss Lexham, does that sound to you like the movements of a man who is involved in life-and-death affairs of state?”
She smiled. “No.”
“I agree. Now, however, I will take you to the Oxenford, for you must be tired, and then this evening we will dine together there, and you can sample the exquisite cooking of Mr. Duvall—which, I trust, will prove an unforgettable experience and which is to blame for the immense amount of weight I have put on in recent months.”