by Amanda Quick
That first afternoon tea together had become a regular Wednesday affair. After they had obtained posts, Wednesday was the one day of the week that each of them had free.
For the past few months they had been meeting here in the parlor of Lucinda’s elderly employer, Mrs. Blancheflower. It was not an environment calculated to lift one’s spirits, in Elenora’s opinion, and she knew the others did not find it particularly cheerful either.
The atmosphere was one of intense gloom due to the fact that Mrs. Blancheflower was dying somewhere upstairs. Fortunately for Lucinda, who had been hired to keep the lady company in her remaining days, her employer was taking her time about making her transition to a higher plane.
As Mrs. Blancheflower slept most of the time, Lucinda had found her post to be quite undemanding. The chief drawback was that her employer’s relatives, who seldom came to call, had decreed that the housekeeper maintain a suitably funereal décor. That meant that there was a great deal of black cloth hung everywhere. In addition, the drapes were always kept pulled tightly closed to ensure that no hint of cheerful spring sunlight could squeeze into the somber rooms.
While the gloom weighed on one, Elenora and her friends endured it every Wednesday because there was one very significant advantage to holding their visits here: The tea and cakes were free, thanks to Mrs. Blancheflower’s unknowing largesse. That meant that the three women could all save a few pennies.
Elenora had asked St. Merryn to allow her to tell her friends the truth about her new post and had assured him that neither of them went about in Society. Lucinda’s employer was on her deathbed and Charlotte’s was an elderly widow who was confined to her house by a failing heart. “Not that either of them would breathe a word about my role even if they were to encounter someone who was acquainted with you, sir,” she had added with great certainty.
St. Merryn had seemed quite satisfied, even unconcerned with her friends’ ability to keep silent about her role as his phony fiancée. He truly was not the least bit worried about them spreading gossip, for the simple reason that he knew full well that no one in Society would pay any attention to such a wild rumor put about by a couple of impoverished paid companions. Who would take Lucinda’s and Charlotte’s word over that of a wealthy, powerful earl?
Lucinda and Charlotte had at first been astonished by the news that she was to play the role of St. Merryn’s fiancée and live in his house. But after learning that she would be properly chaperoned by one of his lordship’s female relatives, they had concluded that the post was a very exciting one.
“Just think, you will be able to go to all the most exclusive balls and soirées,” Charlotte said, looking dazzled. “And you will wear elegant gowns.”
Lucinda, ever the pessimist, affected an air of dark foreboding. “If I were you, I would be very cautious around St. Merryn, Elenora.”
Elenora and Charlotte both looked at her.
“Why do you say that?” Elenora demanded.
“A few months before I met you, I was employed as a companion to a widow who had connections in Society. She was unable to leave her bed, but in the months that I was with her, I learned that her chief pleasure was to keep up with the affairs of the ton. I recall some gossip about St. Merryn.”
“Go on,” Charlotte pressed eagerly.
“At the time he was engaged to marry a young lady named Juliana Graham,” Lucinda continued. “But the on dit was that she was terrified of him.”
Elenora frowned. “Terrified? That is a rather strong term.”
“Nevertheless, she evidently regarded him with great fear. Her father accepted St. Merryn’s offer, of course, without bothering to consult with Juliana. After all, his lordship is extremely rich.”
“And then there’s the title,” Charlotte murmured. “Any papa would want such an alliance in the family.”
“Precisely.” Lucinda poured herself another cup of tea. “Well, as it happened, the young lady was so frightened of the prospect of marrying St. Merryn that one night she climbed down a ladder from her bedchamber and fled into the teeth of a terrible storm with a man named Roland Burnley. At dawn, Juliana’s father found the pair in the same bedchamber at an inn. Naturally the two were wed immediately.”
Charlotte tilted her head slightly. “You say that it was the young lady’s father who pursued the couple? Not St. Merryn?”
Lucinda nodded, her face somber. “The story is that when he received the news that his bride-to-be had eloped, St. Merryn was in his club. He calmly announced that the next time he chose a fiancée, he would go to an agency that supplies paid companions and select one. Then he went into the card room and played until dawn.”
“Good heavens,” Charlotte breathed. “He must be as cold as ice.”
“He is, by all accounts,” Lucinda confirmed.
Elenora stared at Lucinda, dumbstruck. And then the humor of the situation overtook her. She started to laugh so hard that she was forced to put her teacup down before the contents spilled onto the carpet.
Lucinda and Charlotte stared at her.
“What is so amusing?” Charlotte asked sharply.
Elenora clutched her sides. “You must admit, St. Merryn has certainly made good on his vow to obtain his next fiancée from an agency,” she managed between giggles. “Who would have thought the man had such an ironic wit? What a great joke he is going to play upon Society.”
“No offense, Elenora,” Lucinda muttered, “but your new employer sounds even more eccentric than Mrs. Egan. I would not be at all surprised if he proved to be the type who will attempt to perpetrate outrages upon your person.”
Charlotte shivered, but her eyes were very bright.
Elenora grinned. “Nonsense. I have interviewed a sufficient number of truly lecherous employers to know one when I see one. St. Merryn is not the sort who would force himself on a lady. He possesses far too much self-control.”
“He certainly does not appear to be a very passionate or romantic gentleman, either,” Charlotte said, clearly disappointed.
“Why do you say that?” Elenora asked, startled by the observation. She thought about what she had glimpsed in the earl’s smoky green eyes. Something told her that the reason St. Merryn wielded so much self-control was precisely because he did possess a passionate nature.
“Any other gentleman endowed with even a modicum of romantic sensibilities who had been told that his fiancée had run off with another man would have given chase,” Charlotte declared. “He would have snatched his lady from the arms of the man who had carried her off, and then challenged the other gentleman to a duel.”
Lucinda shuddered. “They say St. Merryn’s blood runs cold, not hot.”
5
Perhaps it was the steady drizzle that made the mansion in Rain Street appear to loom on some other dark, metaphysical plane. Whatever the reason, there was an air not only of gloom but of neglect about the place, Elenora thought. It reminded her of the house where Lucinda kept watch over her dying employer, but on a far grander scale. It was as if something had expired inside the St. Merryn mansion a long time ago and the big house had begun to decay.
Elenora checked the card St. Merryn had given her to make certain that the hackney had brought her to the right address. Number Twelve Rain Street. There was no mistake.
The door of the hack opened. The driver handed her down and then unloaded the trunk that contained her personal possessions.
On the point of leaving her there in the street, he eyed the front door of the mansion with a dubious expression.
“Yer certain ye’ve come to the right place, ma’am?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you.” She smiled, grateful for his obvious concern. “Someone will be out to collect my trunk in a moment. There is no need for you to hang about.”
He shrugged. “If ye say so.”
He clambered back up onto the box and let out the reins. Elenora squelched her own serious misgivings as she watched the vehicle disappear down the street.
Just as well, she told herself as she went briskly up the steps. Better that no one had witnessed St. Merryn’s new fiancée arriving in a hack. This way her sudden appearance in Society would be all the more intriguing and curious in the eyes of the Polite World. At the end of this business she would simply disappear in the same mysterious fashion.
A small thrill swept through her. She was about to become a woman of mystery, an actress. She had the oddest feeling that she had spent her whole life waiting in the wings, preparing to take the stage, and now the moment had arrived.
She had donned her favorite gown for this occasion, a deep, claret-red walking dress that Mrs. Egan had ordered for her from her own personal dressmaker. Pinned to the bodice was the elegant little watch that her former employer had given her as a parting gift.
“You’ll do just fine, my dear,” Mrs. Egan had declared with maternal satisfaction when she had given Elenora the watch. “You’ve got spirit and nerve and a kind heart. Nothing can keep you down for long.”
She reached the top step and banged the heavy brass knocker. The sound seemed to echo endlessly deep inside the big house.
For a moment she heard nothing. Then, just as she was starting to wonder if she had, indeed, made a mistake in the address, she caught the faint patter of footsteps on a tile floor.
The front door opened. A young, very harried-looking maid looked out at her.
“Yes, ma’am?”
Elenora considered how to proceed. St. Merryn had told her that he intended to maintain their charade in front of his servants. But she was well aware that the staff of any household generally paid considerably more attention to the doings of their employers than said employers realized. She had a hunch that even if the maid and the other servants had not already realized that there was no genuine fiancée, they had, at the very least, deduced that there was something distinctly amiss about the situation.
Nevertheless, there was no use going about this in a half-hearted manner, she decided. She was being paid to act, and she must do so as convincingly as possible. The maid, like those in the Polite World to whom she would soon be introduced, was part of her audience.
“You may inform your employer that Miss Elenora Lodge has arrived,” she instructed in a polite but authoritative tone. “I am expected. Oh, and please have one of the footmen fetch my trunk from the street before it is stolen.”
The maid managed a hasty little curtsy. “Yes, ma’am.” She stepped back to allow Elenora into the hall.
Elenora waited until the young woman had vanished through a doorway before allowing herself to breathe a small sigh of relief.
She turned slowly on her heel, taking stock of the front hall. It was just as bleak and forbidding as the outside of the house. Very little light penetrated through the high windows above the door. The heavily carved wooden panels darkened the interior still further. A number of classical statues and Etruscan-style vases occupied the shadowy niches around the room. The place had the musty, dusty air of a museum.
Curious, she stepped to the nearest marble pedestal and drew her gloved fingertip lightly across the surface. She frowned at the distinct line that appeared and brushed her hands together to get rid of the dirt that had accumulated on the tip of her glove. No one had cleaned thoroughly in here in quite some time.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, heavier than those of the maid. Elenora turned around.
She found herself gazing at the most astonishingly handsome man she had ever seen in her entire life. From his high, noble brow to his finely chiseled features, smoldering eyes and artlessly curled hair, he was a vision of masculine perfection.
If not for the fact that he wore a butler’s formal coat and trousers, he could have modeled for an artist seeking to paint a vision of a romantic poet in the style of Byron.
“I am Ibbitts, madam,” he said in a deep voice. “I apologize for any inconvenience you may have suffered. His lordship is waiting for you in the library. If you will follow me, I will announce you.”
A tiny warning bell clanged somewhere in her mind. There was nothing objectionable about his words, she thought, but she was convinced that there was a thinly veiled disdain buried in them. Perhaps it was her imagination.
“Thank you, Ibbitts.”
She handed him her bonnet. He immediately turned to set it on a dusty marble-topped table.
“Never mind,” she said quickly, snatching the hat out of his hand before he could put it on the grimy table. “I’ll keep it with me. About my trunk. I do not want it left out there in the street.”
“I very much doubt that anyone would steal your trunk, madam.” Ibbitts could not have made it plainer if he had tried that he was certain her trunk contained nothing of value.
She had had enough of his polite sarcasm. “Send a footman for it now, Ibbitts.”
Ibbitts blinked owlishly, as though confused by the unsubtle reprimand. “Any thief with a bit of common sense knows better than to steal from this household.”
“That is only somewhat reassuring, Ibbitts. I fear that there are a great number of thieves who lack common sense.”
Ibbitts’s expression tightened. Without a word, he reached out and yanked hard on a velvet bell pull.
A tall, thin, gangly-looking young man of about eighteen or nineteen years appeared. He had red hair and blue eyes. His pale skin was sprinkled with freckles. He had a nervous, rabbity air.
“Ned, fetch Miss Lodge’s trunk and take it upstairs to the bedchamber Sally prepared this morning.”
“Aye, Mr. Ibbitts.” Ned scurried out the front door.
Ibbitts turned back to Elenora. He did not actually say, there, are you satisfied now? But she was certain he was thinking the words.
“If you will come with me,” Ibbitts said instead. “His lordship does not like to be kept waiting.”
Without waiting for a response, Ibbitts led the way along a dimly lit hall toward the back of the big house.
At the far end of the corridor he ushered her into a long room paneled in heavy, dark wood. She was relieved to see that the windows in the library were not covered by heavy curtains as they were at the front of the house. Instead, the thick, brown velvet drapes had been tied back to frame the view of a wild, chaotically overgrown, rain-drenched garden.
The library was furnished with a murky carpet badly in need of cleaning and several items of substantial furniture in a style that had been out of fashion for several years. The high, shadowy ceiling had been painted with a dreary scene of a twilight sky at some point in the distant past. Bookshelves lined most of the walls. The leather-bound volumes were old and dusty.
A narrow, circular staircase studded with wrought iron balusters twisted upward to a balcony that was lined with more bookshelves.
“Miss Lodge, my lord.” Ibbitts made his announcement as though he was reading Elenora’s name from an obituary notice.
“Thank you, Ibbitts.” At the far end of the room, near the window facing the unkempt garden, Arthur rose from behind a heavily carved desk.
Silhouetted against the poor light his hard face was unreadable. He came around the front of the desk and walked toward her down the length of the room.
“Welcome to your future home, my dear,” he said.
It dawned on her that he was playing his part in front of the butler. She must do the same.
“Thank you. It is so good to see you again, sir.” She made her best curtsy.
Ibbitts backed out of the room and closed the door.
The instant the butler disappeared, Arthur halted midway down the room and glanced at the clock. “What the devil took you so long? I thought you would be here an hour ago.”
So much for his role of gallant fiancé, Elenora thought. Evidently her new employer did not intend to maintain the charade when they were private.
“I apologize for the delay,” she said calmly. “The ra
in made the traffic quite difficult.”
Before he could respond, a woman spoke from the balcony overhead.
“Arthur, please introduce me,” she called down in a warm, soft-spoken voice.
Elenora looked up and saw a tiny bird of a woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties. She had delicate features and bright hazel eyes. Her hair, dressed in a simple chignon, was the color of dark honey. Her gown appeared to be relatively new and made of expensive fabric, but it was not in the latest style.
“Allow me to present Margaret Lancaster,” Arthur said. “She is the relative I mentioned, the one who will be staying here while I conduct my business affairs. She will go about with you and lend her services as a chaperone so that your reputation will not suffer while you are in this household.”
“Mrs. Lancaster.” Elenora dropped another curtsy.
“You must call me Margaret. After all, as far as the world is concerned, you will soon be a member of the family.” Margaret started down the circular staircase “My, this is going to be so exciting. I am quite looking forward to the adventure.”
Arthur went back to his desk and sat down. He looked at Elenora and Margaret in turn.
“As I have explained, I want the pair of you to do whatever is necessary to distract the attentions of Society so that I can conduct my business affairs with the greatest degree of privacy possible.”
“Yes, of course,” Elenora murmured.
“You will make arrangements immediately to attend the most important and most fashionable balls and soirées so that everyone in Society will see that I really do have a fiancée.”
“I understand,” Elenora said.
He looked at Margaret. “As Elenora’s chaperone and female guide, you will deal with the details involved in making certain that she creates an immediate and convincing impression on the Polite World.”
“Yes, Arthur.” Margaret’s expression seemed somewhat strained.
“She will need suitable gowns, hats, gloves and all the fripperies that go with them,” Arthur continued. “Everything must be in the most current mode, of course, and purchased from the right shops. You know how critical fashion is in Society.”