“Elise,” Celia said at last, putting out her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Elise balked and her hand fell away from the other woman’s. Celia’s expression softened. “Oh, I meant from Rosalinde. She has written me a few times since you and Stenfax renewed your engagement.”
There was a true kindness to Celia’s voice that put Elise at ease despite the utterly awkward situation. She nodded. “Of—of course.”
At that moment, Rosalinde rushed up to the group, and she and Celia exchanged a fierce hug before she lifted up on her toes to buss Dane’s cheek. “You look wonderful,” Rosalinde said. “The beard really does suit you.”
That elicited a quick smile from John Dane that entirely changed his serious face. But Elise’s attention was drawn away as there were other introductions to be made and everyone buzzed politely for a while as Elise stepped back. She felt a little out of place here, with this group of people who knew each other so well. Funny since once she’d been in the inner circle.
“Mama,” Felicity said when the chatter had faded a bit. “Rosalinde said you were tired on the way in. Why don’t you go up to your room and have a lay in? I’ll make sure you’re woken before supper.”
Lady Stenfax arched a brow at her daughter. “Trying to get rid of me, are you?”
Felicity laughed. “Indeed not!”
Lady Stenfax didn’t look completely certain, but she shrugged. “I am tired—I do hate to travel. You all have fun chatting about whatever you all talk about when your old mother isn’t around.”
They moved into the house where Lady Stenfax and her maid left them for the family quarters. Once she was gone, Stenfax’s smile fell and he faced the rest. “We’ll have some privacy in my offices. Gray, will you take everyone there?”
Gray did so as Stenfax stayed to speak to his servants. Elise followed the others slowly, allowing herself to look around as she went past familiar portraits and furniture.
Suddenly Stenfax was at her side. “Are you well, Elise?” he asked, startling her with his presence and his question.
“I am. Why?”
“You are not with the group,” he said, motioning to the others, who were now entering a room at the end of the hall.
She glanced at him. She had promised herself days ago that if she wished to earn his trust, to show him hers, she would be honest with him in every way she could. Now she shook her head.
“I feel silly saying it, but when I was a girl, I thought of this house as a friend. When I knew my parents were bringing me here, I was always excited. And yes, it was because I was thrilled at the idea of seeing Felicity and Gray and Asher…and you. But it was also because I felt so at home here. When I believed I’d never return, it was heartbreaking.”
He tilted his head. “You are reacquainting yourself with Caraway Court?” he asked.
She nodded. “I suppose I am.”
He took her arm, and the touch of him against her was enough to make her knees weak. He smiled at her. “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know the place again. After all, you will be mistress over it soon enough.”
She caught her breath at the idea. Every time she was reminded of it, it took her off guard. It seemed she’d never get quite accustomed to this new reality.
They entered the office, and Stenfax released her and pushed the door partly shut. “My servants are bringing refreshments momentarily,” he explained, all the softness gone from his voice. “So we won’t be able to truly talk about this matter until they’ve left us alone. I trust your travels were not too hard, Dane, Celia?”
Dane shook his head. “Not too difficult, no. And Gray, the matter with the canal port was resolved.”
Felicity stepped up to Elise to whisper, “Once Celia married him, Gray made Dane as a partner in his businesses.”
Elise nodded. She’d heard plenty about Gray’s success over the years. Kirkford had complained mightily about it when he was deep in his cups. She, on the other hand, had been pleased for him. He was a hard worker and deserved success.
“I’m surprised he didn’t partner with Stenfax,” she said softly.
“He tried,” Felicity said with a sigh. “Especially since our brother has fought so hard to rebuild the family coffers after the excesses of past generations. But when Gray first took his small inheritance and began to build his empire, Stenfax saw it as too great a risk.”
“Gaming was never his style.”
“He feared it, in a way. Later, when Gray was making money, he asked Stenfax again, but Lucien was stubborn. He felt it was charity from our brother.”
Elise’s lips parted. “So he refused?”
Felicity sighed. “He was determined to do things his own way, almost as penance for what our father and grandfathers gambled away. As I said, stubborn.”
The servants came into the room with food and drinks and Felicity moved forward to greet the housekeeper warmly. Elise watched as Stenfax did the same. His stubbornness was what she feared, after all. That he would deny them both a chance at happiness because he refused to trust her.
She could only hope she’d find some way to climb those walls. If not, her future would be dashed.
Stenfax closed the door behind his servants and faced the room with a great sigh. Everyone looked as pensive and on edge as he felt, but his gaze didn’t seek comfort from any of them except one.
Elise.
She was who he looked for in the group. She was who he took some level of strength in. Perhaps that made him a fool. He didn’t know. Right now wasn’t the time to analyze it.
“All right, now we can really talk,” Stenfax said with a motion toward Dane. “What have you discovered?”
Dane stepped forward. “My contacts in the War Department are troubled by the diary page you gave them. The code is…complicated.”
Felicity wrung her hands. “Does that mean it cannot be broken?”
“All codes can be broken,” Dane said, almost apologetically. “It’s easier if one has a key, and certainly there must have been one at some point. Still, my former superiors wonder if this book of yours contains more than just nasty secrets the old Duke of Kirkford held over the heads of his peers.”
Gray wrinkled his brow. “They think it’s related to something bigger?”
“It could be,” Dane said. “So they’ve given me permission to investigate the case in an official capacity.”
Rosalinde gasped and her gaze moved to Celia. Stenfax followed it, but found his former fiancée looked calm in the face of this news.
“Celia, is that…” Rosalinde began.
Celia nodded. “Of course I approve. John may be retired from that life, but in this instance, I think his investigative mind is just what we need. And to protect this family, our family, we’ll do anything.”
Stenfax heard Elise suck in a quiet breath through her teeth, and when he looked, he found her staring at Celia, her expression unreadable. He wished it weren’t. He found himself wondering what she thought of the young woman he’d once planned to marry.
“What about this cousin who committed the murder?” Dane asked. “What do we know about him?”
The attention of the room swung to Elise, and she swallowed, as if the intensity of it was troublesome. Slowly she shook her head. “You must understand that my husband’s entire family are a rotten lot, with the exception of Marina’s branch. They were raised with a great deal of entitlement, so when they’ve felt slighted in the past, they lash out. The situation with Lucien was a perfect example. Toby was willing to marry me, which is a permanent solution, just to cut Lucien down.”
Dane’s focus remained on her, as if he were reading her as much as the situation. Stenfax wondered what he saw. “Would Roger have considered Ambrose getting the title to be a slight?”
“Indeed,” Elise said immediately. “The fight they put up over the lineage was all out war. Roger felt that Ambrose was fraudulent in how he pro
ved he was born first.”
“And was he?” Celia asked.
Elise shook her head. “I kept myself out of most of it, but I would believe it. Ambrose was a bastard who would do anything to get what he…wanted.”
She paled slightly and her fingers lifted to her eye. Stenfax flinched at the motion. Her bruise was nearly gone at last, but he could well imagine the emotional response to the violent attack against her would last a while.
Dane pulled a notebook from his jacket along with a stubby piece of charcoal pencil. “Let’s start with your late husband. Why do you think he collected secrets like whatever is in this book of his?”
Her lips pinched, like thinking about the family was entirely unpleasant, but she did it nonetheless. “Toby liked hurting people. He liked having something over someone. Collecting the secrets, even writing them down, would have given him pleasure.” She shivered. “I can well imagine he saw this book of his as a trophy of his misdeeds.”
Dane was scribbling, but he was also shaking his head. “Still, he would have to be the source of the code,” he murmured. “Would it have been something he learned or was taught? Something he shared?”
Elise blinked. “Are you asking me?”
Dane lifted his gaze with a brief smile. “It’s an old habit to muse out loud on these details. My apologies. Now, what about Ambrose? What would he have done with the secrets, in your opinion?”
“Ambrose was more about proving his worth,” Elise said after she pondered the answer. “From the moment he was given the title a few months ago to the last moment I saw him, he was very attached to, almost obsessed with the idea that he should be respected. I can speak more plainly about this motives to do with me…if it would help.”
Dane leveled his gaze on her again. “Would it be too difficult to tell us what you know?”
Her cheeks flamed bright, and Stenfax strode over to her in three long steps and placed a hand on the small of her back. Her tension was clear in the way she held herself and he stroked her there gently in the hopes his presence would be of comfort.
She glanced up at him, almost in surprise, but then her expression softened. “It is difficult but I’ll do it.”
Stenfax shut his eyes. Here she was, surrounded by strangers and people who had despised her up until very recently, and yet she was willing to risk herself by telling them personal and embarrassing facts.
But was he so willing? Could he give of himself as freely as she was at present? Could he be so brave? When he asked himself those hard questions, standing next to Elise as she gathered herself, he found he didn’t know.
But he’d better decide quickly.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lucien’s gentle hand on Elise’s back was unexpected but so welcome. His fingers brushed there, warm through the silk fabric of her gown, connecting them physically so she could share his strength.
And she felt it, pulsing there, flowing through her in this difficult moment where she would have to lay out the humiliation of the months since Toby’s death. But if it saved Felicity, if it spared Stenfax, it would be worth it.
She’d certainly done far worse in order to fulfill those goals of protecting them.
“Ambrose always…wanted me,” she said at last, her heart throbbing so hard in her chest that it hurt. “He made that very clear in both words and deeds for the entire time I was wed to Toby.”
She shivered as she thought of Ambrose cornering her in parlors, insisting on dancing with her. She thought of him whispering inappropriate things to her. Of him making sure he would connect physically with her, despite any protests she made.
When she’d dared mention it to Toby, he’d flown into a rage…at her, and implied she had enticed his cousin. She had kept her anxieties to herself after that.
Stenfax’s fingers gently stroked on, bringing her back to the present, and he whispered, “It’s all right.”
She nodded slowly. He was right, of course. The past she was currently addressing no longer existed. “When my husband died, his cousin began hinting he would like to…” She turned her face and wished she could melt into the ground. “I’m sorry, this is difficult.”
“Take your time,” Dane said, his voice very gentle and deep. It was rather soothing, actually, and without a hint of judgment. It helped.
“Ambrose wanted me in his bed,” she admitted. “I refused, of course, but over time he became more and more insistent that he would have what he wanted since the barrier of his cousin was gone. When he at last told me about the existence of the book, it was clear he wanted to find to use it to compel me to his will.”
Felicity made a soft sound of pain. “I know how difficult it is to live in that kind of constant fear. I’m so sorry, Elise.”
Elise gave her a gentle look, for she knew their two situations had not compared in the slightest. “It isn’t your fault, dearest. I assure you, the only people I blame for this situation are Toby and Ambrose.”
Dane was making notes again, just as he had done when they spoke of Toby’s motives. “So two men with personal reasons to collect secrets. Still wonder about larger implications, but there it is. Now tell me what you know about Roger.”
Elise cleared her throat. This was an easier topic. “I’ve been thinking about that since I was told he murdered Ambrose and took the book. I don’t know him as well, but I do think he’s less emotional than Toby or Ambrose were.”
“How so?” Dane pressed.
She shrugged. “Just more…pragmatic, I suppose. He wasn’t as quick to anger, the situation with the title aside. He took his time more when he responded to things. And even his motives were different when it came to the title.”
“What do you mean, different?” Gray asked.
“I remember Toby making a big fuss over the fact that Roger came from a poor part of the family tree. He and Ambrose were horrible to him when it came to his place. The reason Roger wanted the title so badly after Toby died wasn’t about respect or even power. He was about money. I could see him using anything he uncovered for blackmail to grow his coffers even larger than the funds available to him as duke.”
Dane stopped writing and lifted his gaze. “I see.” He turned without another word and paced to the fire where he seemed to be considering everything he heard. The room was quiet as he did so, everyone seeming to be poised on the edge of a cliff as they awaited his next statement.
Slowly he turned and looked at them. “Are you waiting for me?”
Celia laughed. “You do have an air about you, love, that says you’re on the verge of something great.”
Elise smiled at the easy way they interacted. She was still uncertain about Celia Dane, but there was no doubt the young woman adored her husband.
He ran a hand through his hair absently and said, “Oh, well, I may be, but it’s going to take some thinking and some research to get there. If Roger truly is interested in blackmail, though, that may make our job easier. We can trace a money trail better than a wispy guide of vengeance or respect. Tracking money was never my strongest suit, but I can do it.”
Elise let out a long sigh. This seemed to be a terrible nightmare that would never end. Dane couldn’t just wave a wand and magically fix it. Not that she had expected it, but in that moment she realized she had secretly hoped it would be true.
Stenfax cleared his throat. “Dane, you have something to start with. As for tracking the money, I have some thoughts on how we can make that easier. But for now, I think we should all rest. It was a long two days of travel following a very tense time before. There is weight to this situation and I don’t want anyone collapsing under it.”
Rosalinde smiled gently at Elise, always the first to offer tacit or spoken support. “And there are the final preparations for a wedding to plan anyway. We all need to be well rested for that.”
At that, Stenfax dropped his hand away from Elise’s back. She stiffened at the loss of his support and tried hard to ke
ep her reaction from her face.
Stenfax said, “Yes, of course, the wedding, too. Why don’t we all rest a while and regroup in a bit?”
Dane was looking at his notes. “Yes, I can start gathering this and…”
He roamed from the room absently and Celia laughed. “Well, he’s off to solve a puzzle now. You know, I’m not very tired. Stenfax, perhaps we could speak as the others go up to lay down?”
Elise jerked her face toward his at that suggestion. She was shocked at how much jealousy rose up in her at the thought that Stenfax would be alone with a woman he once intended to marry.
That the same woman was now married and seemingly in love with her husband made no difference. Elise still wanted to rush forward and hurtle herself between Lucien and Celia.
Of course, she did no such foolish thing. She had some tiny bit of pride left, after all.
“Certainly,” he said as the others gathered themselves to go up to their chambers. “I’d love a moment to catch up.”
Elise set her jaw. There was no argument she could make against this plan that wouldn’t make her look like a foolish ninny. So she forced herself to say, “I look forward to a bed, I admit.”
Stenfax broke his gaze away from Celia and his eyes flashed with brief want as he looked at Elise. She tensed at the sight of it. They had barely touched for so long, her body ached for missing him. And judging by his look, it seemed he had his needs, too.
That gave her some small sense of triumph, and she clung to that as she followed the rest of the group from the room and left Stenfax alone with the woman he’d once intended to marry not so very long ago.
“So,” Celia said as she settled into a chair by the fire and took the cup of tea Stenfax had prepared for her. “You have had a very busy summer since I left London two months ago.”
Stenfax smiled despite himself and sat down across from her. “It has been quite a thing, yes.”
One Summer of Surrender Page 18