by Sandra Heath
He drew back slowly but firmly. “I wish to speak with you in private,” he said.
Edward stepped quickly forward. “De Lacey, I suggest that this other business is too important to delay. You have many guests here tonight, the house is filled with valuable jewelry and so on, and I hardly think it wise to ignore the fact that there is a thief among us.”
Imogen took the cue. “He’s right, Guy, she has to be removed, and as quickly as possible.”
“I would prefer to speak to you first.”
“No!” she replied angrily. “I insist that you throw Leonie Conyngham out of this house!”
Guy looked at her for a long moment and then at Edward. “If she is a thief, I will deal with the matter in my own way.”
“I demand—” began Imogen furiously.
“You aren’t in any position to demand yet, madam!” he snapped.
She recoiled as if he’d struck her, and she looked with alarm at Edward, who gave her a barely perceptible shrug.
Guy turned wearily to the nearest footman. “Have Miss Conyngham come to see me immediately.”
“Yes, Sir Guy.”
“Imogen, I suggest you and your brother wait elsewhere.”
Edward inclined his head coolly. “We’ll wait outside her apartment, for that is where you will find the proof, de Lacey.” Taking Imogen’s cold hand, he drew it through his arm and they moved away.
Guy leaned his hands on a console table, his head bowed. A nerve flickered at his temple, but beyond that he didn’t move. It seemed an age before at last he heard the rustle of Leonie’s skirts. He turned quickly then, to see that Stella had come out with her.
“Stella, I would prefer you to go back to the ball,” he said.
“No, Uncle Guy, because I know what they’ve told you. I’ve been waiting for you to come home so I could tell you what they’ve been doing. I didn’t tell Leonie because I knew how upset she’d be.”
Leonie stared at her. “What are you talking about, Stella?”
Guy nodded as well. “Yes, young lady, I think you should explain.”
Stella took a deep breath. “I heard Edward and Imogen plotting this morning. I was listening in the next room and they almost caught me. Edward saw you and Leonie in the library, Uncle Guy, and he saw that you’d left the key on the table. He took some earrings and then he and Imogen hid them in a candelabrum in Leonie’s bedroom while she was out walking. I saw them through a crack in the door, and when they’d gone I took the earrings out again. Here they are.” She went to him and pressed them into his hand. The diamonds flashed and winked in the soft light.
Stella looked anxiously at him. “You do believe me, don’t you? Leonie isn’t a thief, Edward and Imogen did it all. I’m not fibbing because I don’t like Imogen, truly I’m not.”
Guy smiled, ruffling her hair. “I believe you.”
She turned gladly to Leonie. “There, I told you it would be all right, didn’t I? Now will you believe me?”
“Stella,” said Guy, “you’ve helped a great deal, but now I want you to go back to the bail.”
“Oh, Uncle Guy!”
“Please, for I would rather you were out of the way for the time being.”
“I want to see what happens.”
“I’m sure you do, but you’re not going to. Now, then, will you go back, please?”
She sighed. “I suppose so, but it isn’t fair.”
They watched her walk slowly back into the ballroom, and then Guy turned to Leonie. “I’ve been thinking a great deal today, Leonie.”
“Guy—”
“No more talk of wrong, Leonie, for I’m about to do what’s right. There is something I have to do now, but afterward I must speak with you. Will you wait in the library?” He put his hand gently to her cheek. “Please do as I ask.”
She nodded. “I will wait there for you.” His fingers seemed to burn against her skin.
* * *
It was very quiet in the library, which was one of the few rooms in the house not bright with lights. Only firelight flickered over the shelves of books, the gallery, and the spiral staircase.
How long she had been waiting, she didn’t know, but it seemed a very long time. She could hear the sound of the ball echoing through the house, but then, quite suddenly, everything was silent. Several more minutes passed, and then she heard cheers, after which the ball proceeded as before.
A carriage was brought to the front of the house and she looked out to see Edward Longhurst hurriedly entering it. It drove away at speed, and as she watched, she saw another carriage coming toward the house. It too was being driven swiftly, its panels travel-stained and its horses tired. It came to a standstill before the house, but she heard the library door opening behind her and she turned away before she saw who alighted.
Guy had come to her at last. He wore his evening attire now, almost as if he’d been at the ball throughout the evening. He took her hand, drawing it palm uppermost to his lips, and then he pulled her into his arms, kissing her on the lips.
She drew breathlessly back, staring up at him. It couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t….
He smiled at her. “It’s no longer wrong, Leonie,” he said softly, “for I am no longer going to marry Imogen. All thought of the match has been dropped. No, don’t say anything, for I have so much to explain to you. I’ve ended the match with Imogen not only because of what she tried to do tonight but also because I no longer love her. Neither she nor her brother denied what they had done with the earrings, and I ordered Edward to leave Poyntons immediately. I could not deal so harshly with Imogen, for although she is guilty of a great deal, I cannot with all honesty say that my own conscience is clear.”
“Your conscience? But surely—”
“Oh, I haven’t schemed and plotted, at least not in the same way. I have done things I shouldn’t, though, and if I wasn’t unfaithful to her in fact, I was a thousand times over in my thoughts after meeting you. That was why I spared her tonight, and why everyone at the ball was told only that she and I had come to a mutual agreement not to proceed with the betrothal. If you noticed a silence a little earlier, it was when she and I were making our announcement. It was greeted with a little initial astonishment, but they were all more than glad to toast our good sense with my best champagne, I assure you.”
“Where is Imogen now?”
“At the ball.”
“She loves you, Guy.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think she is capable of real love, not the sort of love which will make sacrifices.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You would have left here in the morning, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I could not have borne it without you. I’ve been selfish, I’ve wanted to be with you, I’ve been jealous, I’ve been all manner of things, but I haven’t been honest. I’ve known for some time that I was falling in love with you. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t. This morning I at last gave in to temptation, a temptation which has been there since the first moment I saw you. If I hadn’t known before that you loved me, I certainly knew then. If only you’d looked into my eyes, you’d have seen how I felt about you.”
She still hardly dared believe that it was happening. Her fingers crept slowly up to rest over his. “I thought you loved Imogen, that I was merely—”
He stopped her words, his lips as warm and filled with desire as they had been earlier. “I love you, Leonie,” he whispered, “and if I haven’t been honest with you before, I’m being honest now. I want you to be my wife, the mistress of my house, and the mistress of my heart. Will you have me?”
In answer she raised her lips to his again, clinging to him as if she feared even now that she would suddenly awaken and find it all a dream.
There was a sound at the door and they drew quickly apart when they saw Stella peeping in, a smile of delight on her face at having caught them together in a passionate embrace. She came farther in. “Sir Henry Fitzjohn has called, Uncle Guy, he sa
ys it’s very important.”
Leonie held her breath. Sir Henry Fitzjohn? Did he have word about her father?
Stella stepped aside and Harry Fitzjohn came in, grinning a little sheepishly at Guy. “I trust I haven’t called at an inconvenient time, Guy.”
“Is it about Richard Conyngham?”
“It is indeed.”
“Then this is the lady you should talk to. Leonie, this is Harry Fitzjohn, of whom I’ve spoken. Harry, this is Miss Conyngham.”
Harry’s quick glance noticed how Leonie moved closer to Guy, her hand slipping into his. “Miss Conyngham, it’s a privilege to meet you, although I vow you’re much more beautiful than even Guy admitted to me.”
“You have news for me, sir?”
“Yes, and I’m glad now that I came rushing out here into the sticks at this time of night, for it’s very good news. Your father’s name is cleared, for his partner has confessed to being the guilty party. Your fortune is fully restored to you and you are once again a very wealthy young lady. That is it, in the proverbial nutshell. Congratulations.”
Tears of joy leapt into her eyes and she flung her arms around Guy, who held her tightly to him.
Harry grinned again as he watched them. “Evidently congratulations of another sort are in order as well,” he said, turning to wink at Stella.
Copyright © 1985 by Sandra Heath
Originally published by Signet (ISBN 9780451138545)
Electronically published in 2016 by Belgrave House/Regency
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.