Laurie Brown

by Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake

  “Her?”

  “Mrs. Binns.Your chaperone.Now, when you...”

  “Whoa.” Josie held up her hands.“How did she get into the carriage?”

  “The usual way, I imagine.”

  “You know what I mean. How did she get in the carriage with us? She wasn’t here when we started out, was she?”

  “Of course not.Technically the question should be, how did we get into the carriage with her? since we joined en route when we traveled back in time.”

  No. It couldn’t have worked.And even if it had, there would have been...something other than a bump in the road to signal it happening. Josie pinched herself on the arm.“Ouch.”

  “We really are in the year 1815.You can believe it.”

  “Stop reading my mind.”

  “I’m not...”

  “Well, stop whatever it is you’re doing.” She knew she was being unreasonable, but how could she be rational at a time like this? She needed a few minutes to wrap her mind around the whole time travel thing. Time travel! Oh my God. Could it be true?

  “As I was about to say,” Deverell continued in a quelling tone, “Mrs. Binns, a cousin of my mother’s, was engaged to act as your chaperone. The letter, ostensibly from your father, was penned by me.”

  Josie ignored his aggravating royal proclamation tone in favor of her other concern. “Won’t Mrs. Binns notice that we...popped in mid-ride?”

  “She’s quite absentminded. If we tell her she picked you up at the dock straight off the ship from America, she’ll believe it. She also tends to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, which makes her perfect for the job.You will be free to complete your investigation unimpeded.”

  “What investigation?”

  “Of the gypsy seer’s methods. The reason for coming here.”

  Oh yeah. The gypsy. Josie had almost forgotten about her. Reasonable since she never expected to make the...trip.“Where’s my equipment?”

  “We couldn’t bring any of your gadgets.”

  “Then how am I supposed to investigate the claim to contact the spirits of the dead?”

  “Surely you have other methods at your disposal?”

  “Like what?”

  “How should I know? You’re the ghost hunter.”

  “Paranormal investigator,” she corrected automatically.

  The carriage slowed even more on the final approach to the house. Mrs. Binns stirred and sat up with a start.

  “We’re almost here,” Josie said gently so as not to startle the woman even more. Mrs. Binns blinked rapidly.

  “I can’t thank you enough for meeting my boat and agreeing to be my chaperone.”

  “Well, yes, of course.Although I did hesitate once I learned Honoria is trying to speak to the dead. She was raised to have more sense. Any reasonable person would be terrified of ghosts. But don’t you worry, my dear.” Mrs. Binns rummaged among the packages until she found a large red velvet case. She hugged it to her ample bosom. “I’ve enough anti-spirit potions and charms to protect us all.”

  The carriage pulled to a halt.The door opened, and Mrs. Binns alighted with more spryness than Josie would have suspected.

  “Come along then,” she said,waiting for Josie at the bottom of the stairs to the front entrance.

  Suddenly the enormity of it all crashed in on Josie. Everything she’d learned fled her brain. She cringed back into the corner. “I can’t. I’m not ready. I don’t know how to act.”

  “Nonsense,” both Deverell and Mrs. Binns said at the same time.“You’ll do fine,” she added.“Now come along.You can’t stay in the carriage forever.”

  Josie could not refute that logic, although a few hours would be welcome.

  “Let’s get through the introductions, and then we’ll settle in for a little nap before tea.”

  Josie convinced herself she could make it if she could escape to a bit of solitude after the introductions. What choice did she have? She alighted from the carriage, entered the grand front door, and immediately faced Deverell’s mother.

  Honoria Thornton was the epitome of cool elegance. Not too tall—about Josie’s height—and slim, she had medium brown hair highlighted with attractive streaks of gray and twisted into a chignon at the back of her head.Although friendly, she made Josie feel clumsy and disheveled by comparison.

  She was led through the double doors to the left and into the parlor, which was decorated in navy and cream toile. The dark wood of the Queen Anne furniture matched the paneling, but the room was saved from being gloomy by the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall. As Josie entered, she glanced over her shoulder at Deverell. How could he help her if he stayed outside?

  Deverell had not been unduly disturbed when Mrs. Binns had not acknowledged him in the carriage. After all, his reputation had preceded him and she would not be the first proper lady to ignore his presence. But just now his own mother had given him the cut direct. Shaking his head, he followed the group into the parlor.

  While Mrs. Binns completed the introductions, he cast his mind back on the day he’d chosen for their arrival.What had he done in the weeks prior that would cause his mother to be so upset with him that she couldn’t spare a greeting? Admittedly his memory of that time was a bit fuzzy. He’d wanted to get as close as possible to the time of his death so that he didn’t accidentally reveal something that hadn’t happened yet.

  No despicable deed came to mind—at least nothing out of the ordinary.

  Josie had taken the indicated seat next to Lady Honoria, but she had a difficult time concentrating on the conversation as the two cousins caught up on mutual acquaintances. As they drank tea and discussed the house party and scheduled ball, Mrs.

  Binns seemed especially interested in the men who were invited.

  Deverell lounged with one elbow on the mantel. Whenever Josie looked to her right at Lady Honoria he was directly in her line of sight, yet both of the other women ignored Deverell and his comments.

  “Hargrave is still grieving his lost fortune. He’ll be jolly company,” he said. “Wingate? Gad, you’d better hope he keeps a rein on his wife.”

  No response to his comments.

  “You can always count on Barstow to show up for a free meal. I’m surprised at Caster. He must be more desperate to marry a large dowry than I’d thought.”

  “Hardly the caliber of prospects I’d hoped for,” Mrs. Binns said.“However, it will allow my charge to dip her toes in society before the season starts.” Learning that a number of responses for the ball had not yet been received appeared to placate her.

  Then she made a comment about Deverell as if he wasn’t standing right behind her.“I assume Lord Waite will come up to snuff this weekend and do his duty as host,” Mrs. Binns said, her tone indicating the futility of such lofty expectations. “Miss Drummond is quite anxious to meet him,” she added much to Josie’s surprise.

  “No...I...”

  Honoria touched Josie on the arm as she leaned forward and spoke toward the door to their left. “There he is now. Dev, dear, come meet Miss Josephine Drummond from America.”

  Josie turned. He stood in the doorway, dressed for riding in a dark brown coat, tan buckskins, and knee-high boots.Yet something more than his outfit was different. She automatically looked back to where he’d stood a moment before. How had he done that?

  He stepped into the room. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Drummond.”

  His voice, full and rich, sent shivers down her spine. Mrs. Binns hissed at her and motioned for her to stand. Josie jumped up and managed a creditable curtsy despite her unsteady legs.

  “I hope you enjoy your visit.” He took her hand. His fingers were warm.

  But Deverell—

  He grazed his lips across the back of her hand, setting up a vibration inside her like the lowest note on a cello.

  Something was wrong.

  She jerked her hand away and took a quick step back. Too quick. Her heel snagged on the thick carpet and she lost her footing. He ca
ught her before she landed on the floor.

  A person happening upon them at just that moment would have thought he held her bent backward in a lover’s embrace, his arms around her, his lips inches from hers.Without conscious decision, her hands slipped up his arms to his shoulders. The vibrations inside her kicked up a notch, adding bass fiddles and maybe a violin or twelve.

  “How very nice to meet you,” he whispered.

  His scent surrounded her, bay rum and faint aromatic tobacco and something else that seemed to shout male animal, something distinctly his own. His warmth created an answering inferno inside her—a feeling she’d never felt before. But it was his eyes that made her certain. They were the same deep blue color, but this Deverell’s eyes sparked with vivacity, excitement, and...passion. This was not the ghost of Lord Waite.This was the real man. Familiar and yet...not.

  “For goodness sake, Dev. Give the girl room to breathe,” his mother said.

  As if Josie remembered what breathing was.

  Dev set her on her feet and stepped back. She expected him to make some smart comment on her clumsiness, but he looked as stunned as she felt.

  He shook his head as if to remove unwanted thoughts. “I...I just stopped by to let you know I have an engagement for the evening. I won’t be home for dinner.”

  “But I’ve already made plans.Tonight is the”— Honoria paused to look at Mrs. Binns—“the you-know-what.”

  “I’ll be home by midnight.” Dev kissed his mother on the forehead and left. He paused at the door for a glance back in Josie’s direction before he continued on his way with another shake of his head.

  “Just as well,” Mrs. Binns said.“We’re exhausted from our journey and would not be fit company. We’ll take dinner in our rooms and won’t disturb whatever plans you’ve made.”

  Josie figured Honoria must have referred to a séance scheduled for that very night.The fact that Mrs. Binns spoke for her rankled Josie just a bit, but she decided it was best to go along with the program. Once Mrs. Binns was tucked in for the night Josie could sneak downstairs and hopefully wangle an invitation to participate.

  Maybe Deverell could help with that. Where was that pesky ghost anyway? He wouldn’t have abandoned her in this time, would he?

  She looked in every nook and alcove as she followed Mrs. Binns and the housekeeper up a grand staircase and down a long carpeted hall lined with artwork to a lovely suite of rooms. The two bedrooms were connected by a sitting room decorated in sage green and soft gold.

  No ghost.

  After Mrs. Binns expressed her satisfaction with the accommodations, they were introduced to Dora, their assigned maid, and Nellie, another maid who was helping unpack the trunks that had been delivered while the ladies had tea.

  Still, no Deverell. “Materialize, damn you,” she whispered under her breath. Nothing. Not an ethereal image. Not even an intangible presence.

  As Mrs. Binns dozed in the chair, Nellie worked in the other bedroom and Dora finished unpacking for Josie.

  The maid oohed and aahed as she took dress after dress from the trunks designated as Josie’s. She was just as awed as the maid because she’d never seen any of the beautiful gowns before.

  “I had them made to order and shipped to Mrs. Binn’s residence to include with her own luggage,” Deverell said as he appeared lounging against the windowsill.

  “Don’t do that!”

  Although Josie had spoken to Deverell, it was the maid who reacted with dismay.

  “What? Don’t do what?” Dora asked, her eyes wide.

  “Don’t put that dress in the wardrobe,”Josie said to cover her outburst.“I’ll wear that one this evening.”

  “But this is a day dress.”

  “Well, it doesn’t make sense to get all dressed up to have dinner in my room, now does it?”

  “I suppose not,” Dora said, laying the dress on the bed and brushing it smooth. “It could use a good pressing.”

  “Fabulous idea.Why don’t you do that now and I’ll finish the unpacking myself.”

  “Oh, no. I couldn’t...”

  “Go on.” Josie scooped up the dress and shoved it into the maid’s arms. “Take your time. I’ll be...resting—that’s it. I’ll take a nap in the meantime, so don’t rush back.” She shooed Dora out the door and then spun around to face Deverell.

  “Where have you been, Mister I’ll-be-there-to-help-you-with-any-difficulties?”

  “This isn’t working out as I’d planned.”

  “What was your first clue? Is that why you disappeared when I needed you most?”

  “I had no choice.”

  “Oh really?”

  “I—meaning the flesh and blood me—am already here.”

  “Yes. I met him, I mean you.” She didn’t want to elaborate on that, still didn’t understand her visceral reaction. Nothing of the sort had ever happened to her before.“And you didn’t know he, I mean you, would be here at this particular time.”

  “My memory is a bit foggy where my final weeks alive are concerned. And it was a very long time ago. It’s not as if I called on my mother in the country all that often. I much preferred my townhouse in London. Most of my visits were short and unremarkable. It’s no wonder I didn’t remember this particular date.”

  “Great, so you’re both here. What does that mean to your plan?”

  “Well, I, meaning the ghost me, apparently cannot be in the same room as myself.”

  “I’m getting a headache. You can’t be in the same room as you?”

  “That’s about the gist of it.”

  Josie paced and rubbed her temples. “If you are both in the same room, it would create an anomaly.” She looked at him. “What happened to you when he, the other you, walked into the parlor?”

  “I was...pushed by...something into another room. Right through the wall as if I had no substance at all. And that’s another thing. I can’t fully materialize. No matter what I try.”

  “You look pretty solid right now.”

  “Only to you.That maid didn’t see me at all.My own mother can’t see me.”

  His voice broke a little on that last statement. She hadn’t thought about how he would be affected by revisiting his youthful reality. She sat beside him on the windowsill.

  “We’ll think of something,” she promised. She wasn’t sure what, but something. “Maybe we should leave and come back later, or earlier?”

  “I’m afraid we only have this one chance.”

  “Why? Can’t you remember how you did it? You do know how to get us back, don’t you?”

  “I can get us back, but the trip will use a great amount of energy. Even if we left right now, I most likely will be out of contact for a number of years, ten or twenty, maybe more.”

  “That’s not so bad,” she lied. She could be forty the next time she saw him.

  “That will be too late to help Amelia save the castle,” he continued.

  “No it won’t. I’ll help her all I can. The Regency-themed inn is actually a great idea.We can invite visiting professors and get certified for guests to earn college credits.We’ll have special events for Jane Austen fans.We’ll...”

  “It won’t be enough to save the south wing. I’m afraid even Amelia is unaware of the extent of the damage years of neglect have caused.”

  “Then when you come back I’ll...”

  “Stop,” he said gently. He hadn’t wanted to tell her the rest of the consequences. But she was making plans that would deprive her of the life she was meant to have. A life he couldn’t give her.“When Amelia dies without a direct heir, the property will go to a distant cousin. I’ve never met him, but if he has a lick of sense, he’ll tear down the decrepit south wing.”

  “And you won’t be there to stop him.”

  “More than likely I won’t be there to ask him to preserve it. I’ve always returned to my suite of rooms in the south wing, and when it’s gone...”

  “Limbo forever?” Josie blinked back tears.

>   “I’m not sure what will happen.”

  Josie jumped up. “Then we will have to make this chance successful.”

  “Without my help, you can’t...”

  “I’ve managed so far.”

  “Two whole hours.”

  She resumed her pacing.“This might even work out better than having you here...in the flesh, no, in the materialized...oh, you know what I mean. In the way you’d planned.Think about it.”

  “I am trying not to.”

  “Stop sulking. Look, since no one else can see you, you can go anywhere.You could snoop out stuff I would never know without my gadgets.”

  “Do you mean eavesdrop?”

  “Oh, don’t give me that lemon-sucking face. You’ll be doing it in the name of science, or rather in the name of...oh, never mind. Just remember you’re doing it for Amelia.”

  “And myself. Self-service is hardly noble no matter how you phrase it.”

  “When you protect your family, you protect yourself at the same time.You are a Thornton.”

  “If I agree,what sort of information do you need?”

  Josie grabbed her reticule and pulled out her notebook. Making lists helped her organize her thoughts.“I’ll need to know where they’ll hold the séance. I can examine the room before it starts to check for hidden wires and trick furniture.Then...”

  Six

  “TO WHOM ARE YOU SPEAKING?”MRS. BINNS asked as she entered Josie’s bedroom. “No one. Just myself. Bad habit.”

  The older woman stopped stock-still in the center of the room. She turned slowly around, sniffing the air.“Do you feel a presence?” she whispered.

  “No,” Josie lied. Deverell was very much present.

  “Don’t move,” Mrs. Binns said and hurried out. Josie shrugged at him and went back to her list. Before she had time to think of a step three, Mrs. Binns rushed back in carrying her red velvet box. She set it on the bed, threw open the top, and pulled out a twisted bunch of weeds, which she proceeded to set on fire with a wooden match. After blowing out the flames, she carried the smoking remains to every corner of the room.

  “What is that crazy woman doing?” Deverell asked.