The Earl with the Secret Past

by Janice Preston

  Adam sighed. ‘Nor I. Plus, the culprit was on horseback. If those hoofprints you found belonged to him. Although—and I’m reluctant to even think this—if Grenville and Tolly were in it together, it is possible that one of them made the journey in the carriage while the other switched to horseback and rode on to Fenton land with the sole purpose of trying to kill me.’

  His words repeated in his head, souring his stomach. ‘I cannot credit that but, if there is any chance my uncle and cousin were to blame, that is the only scenario that fits the facts. Surely it must make more sense for it to be poachers after all. The argument that wildlife would take shelter with a thunderstorm approaching does not apply to sheep. They cannot take refuge in the undergrowth or in burrows and there were sheep in the meadow next to the woods, all huddled together with their backs to the rain.’

  Robert paced the room. ‘I’ll be happier if we can fully eliminate Grenville and Tolly before we hang the blame entirely on poachers. I confess, I have never experienced poaching on that scale—it sounds more like an organised gang than the work of a local poacher wanting a bit of meat for the pot.’

  ‘Could ye send a man to make enquiries?’ Adam said. ‘I assume Grenville and Tolly are well known in the area—someone must have seen them pass and will be able to confirm at what time.’

  ‘I’ll do better than that,’ Robert said. ‘I shall go myself. I’ll ride south and enquire at the toll houses. The carriage has the Kelridge crest on its doors, as I recall, so I’m sure they will be remembered. Hopefully the gatekeepers will remember the time they saw the carriage as well as confirm both men were inside.’

  ‘I shall come with you.’

  ‘No. Please do not. It will not take two of us and, although I know you must now feel obliged to return to the Place as soon as possible, I really do hope you can finish those plans first, Adam. It is important to me.’

  Adam puzzled over that. Kitty had mentioned Robert had ideas of matrimony but, in consideration of the time it would take to build that new wing, what difference would a few extra days—or even weeks—make?

  ‘Very well,’ he said.

  As it happened, Robert’s words suited Adam, for his conscience demanded his immediate return to Kelridge Place and here was the perfect excuse to stay at Fenton Hall, the perfect excuse to stay near to Kitty and to use the time to persuade her to change her mind about remarrying. And if spending more time with Kitty meant those plans would take even longer to finish, then, so be it.

  ‘I shall leave immediately,’ Robert said. ‘In fact, rather than ride, I shall drive my curricle. There is no time to lose...the sooner I leave, the more likely it is that the gatekeepers will recall Tolly and your uncle passing through. May I leave you to inform my stepmother? And do not worry should I fail to return tonight. I intend to make damned sure they did not leave a false trail and double back.’

  ‘It sounds as though you are enjoying this, Rob.’

  Robert grinned. ‘Oh, I am. I love a mystery to solve. And if, as I hope, we find that Grenville and Tolly could not have shot you, then I am sure we will all breathe a sigh of relief.’

  He strode from the library, calling to his valet to pack an overnight bag. Adam—furnished with the perfect excuse—asked Vincent where he might find Lady Fenton.

  ‘She is in her sitting room, my lord. But she asked most particularly not to be disturbed.’

  Adam wanted to see her now. Right away. But a sly inner voice reminded him that if he told her too soon, before Robert left, she might very well persuade her stepson he must return that evening. The prospect of dinner with just Kitty for company, not to mention the entire evening together, was simply too enticing. He could wait to see Kitty until Robert had safely left the Hall—there was no need to disturb her rest.

  ‘Very well, Vincent. I shall be in the library. Please let me know when Lady Fenton is available.’

  * * *

  He lasted half an hour after Robert left the house. The Hall was quiet, the silence weighing down on him as he quit the library. He knew where Kitty’s sitting room was...and there was no sign of Vincent to disapprove of or prevent Adam disturbing his mistress. He climbed the stairs, then hesitated outside the sitting-room door. It was quiet within. He wondered if she was sleeping, but he convinced himself Kitty would want to know of Robert’s plan. He put his ear to the door and heard a faint scratching noise. He pressed the door handle down and eased the door open until the gap was wide enough for his head. Just one peep.

  Kitty sat at a table in front of the window, her back to the door. Not asleep, then, but writing. Letters, he presumed. He tapped on the door. She started. Glanced over her shoulder, her eyes somehow vague, shadowed by low, bunched brows. Then her expression cleared. She coloured, pushed her chair back and leapt to her feet. She stood with her back to the table, which he could now see was littered with dozens of sheets of paper covered in writing.

  Adam frowned. ‘What are ye doing?’

  Her nostrils flared. ‘Waiting for you to tell me why you are here. I left strict instructions I was not to be disturbed.’

  ‘I am aware of it. I assumed you were resting and, had that been the case, I would have quietly withdrawn.’

  ‘What can I do for you, Lord Kelridge?’

  Adam’s brows shot up. ‘Kitty? What is it? Why am I suddenly Lord Kelridge once again? Do ye...are ye...?’ He stopped. Sucked in a deep breath as he recalled her earlier coolness. ‘Kitty. Do ye regret what we did?’

  She stared at him silently for several moments. Then she gave him a rueful smile. ‘I have no regrets.’

  Adam waited for her to elaborate, wondering what was going through her head. What it would mean for him.

  ‘I am sorry for my reaction,’ she went on. ‘You startled me. My mind was...elsewhere.’ She walked towards him. He grabbed the opportunity to look at her table again, but he was no clearer about what she was up to. If she was writing letters, there were a great many of them. Unless...

  ‘Kitty. Are ye writing a novel?’

  ‘And if I am?’

  Adam shook his head. ‘Well...nothing, really. You are entitled to do as ye please. Does Robert know?’

  ‘He does.’

  ‘And he approves?’

  ‘He does not disapprove.’ Her tone suggested that she would not care even if he did.

  ‘Will ye tell me about it?’

  She glanced back at the table, then looked at him. ‘No. I would rather not.’

  She sounded defensive and he recalled their conversation about novels. What had he said? He could not remember, but he hoped he had not given the impression he disapproved of such books. Even though, if he were honest, he thought them a waste of valuable time.

  ‘Now, if you will excuse me, Adam... I have reached a critical point of the story and I do not wish to lose the thread of my narrative. Did you come here for a particular reason?’

  ‘Ah. Yes.’ He hesitated. ‘But it will wait until you have finished writing. I’m sorry to have disturbed ye.’

  Her eyes softened. ‘And—again—I am sorry for my reaction. I tend to get over-involved in my story and my characters are currently in the middle of an argument. The mood can spill over into real life at times, until I have adjusted from my fictional world to the actual world.’

  She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, looking contrite and far younger than her thirty-two years. Tenderness, spiced with lust, welled up inside Adam. He reached for her hand and raised it to his lips.

  ‘I shall leave you in peace.’

  ‘No. Wait. You wanted to talk to me...have there been any developments?’

  Adam smiled at her. ‘It will wait. We will talk later.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  The door clicked shut behind Adam, leaving Kitty staring abstractedly at the space where he had been. Her mind whirled, but she found no solution t
o her conundrum. Their relationship had changed and, whether she willed it or no, she had opened her heart to more pain. It was inevitable. Adam had spoken no words of love. Neither had he mentioned marriage, but the implication had been there, cutting her to the quick.

  She loved him. She could no longer lie to herself. And that terrified her because nothing could ever come of it. There was Charis to consider. And Robert. And...

  She growled low in her throat as she acknowledged the real reason there could never be a happy ever after for her and Adam. Children. Babies. An heir. She was barren and Adam was now Earl of Kelridge, and all noblemen needed an heir to follow them, to care for their estates and provide security and a living for their tenants and for the many local craftsmen who depended upon a thriving ‘big house’ in their neighbourhood.

  I can think of nothing more delightful than you holding our baby in your arms.

  Those words had flayed her, bringing harsh reality to the fore after she had successfully banished all thought of the future from her mind. And if he were to ask her to marry him, what reason could she give for a refusal? How could she tell him the truth—speak out loud those brutal, final words I am barren—without falling apart in front of him? How could she bear his sympathy or, worse, his pity? And what if he still felt obliged to urge her to marry him, even when he knew the truth? A man such as he might see it as a matter of honour. He might break down her resistance. And he would be stuck in a childless marriage and would come to resent her...blame her.

  And that she could not bear.

  Feeling sick, she turned back to the table. She would lose herself in her work once again and worry about Adam later. But, mere minutes later, she slammed down the quill in frustration, causing ink to fly and speckle the nearby sheets of paper. The magic was lost. Her head was full of Adam. And her heart was full of that pain she had so carefully protected herself from all these years. She pushed back her chair and went in search of Adam.

  * * *

  ‘He has gone to the stables, milady.’

  She recalled his plan to ride out that afternoon. ‘Is Lord Fenton with him?’

  ‘No, milady. His Lordship is driving to...well, he is driving towards London.’

  ‘London?’

  Vincent lowered his voice. ‘His Lordship did confide in me before he left, milady. After the occurrence yesterday, and the letter Lord Kelridge received, His Lordship is determined to track the movement of the Messrs Trewin yesterday. Gresham has gone with him and they hope to ascertain at what times the Kelridge carriage passed through the toll gates. His Lordship did say he may not return tonight and Lord Kelridge would have informed you immediately but—as you instructed me no one was to disturb you—I asked him to wait.’

  ‘I see.’ But Adam had come anyway, knowing she would want to know Robert’s plans. And she’d given him no chance to tell her. ‘Thank you. And Lord Kelridge has gone to the stables, you say? With the intention of riding out, even after what happened yesterday?’

  ‘I did try to reason with him, milady. But he was in no mood to listen.’

  And that is my fault.

  Her first reaction had been dazed, as it always was when she was interrupted in the middle of a scene in which she was fully immersed. But afterwards...she ought to have insisted on knowing why he had interrupted her.

  ‘Very well. Send word to the stables to saddle Herald, will you please? And if His Lordship has not already left, ask him to wait for me to join him. I shall change into my riding clothes right away.’

  ‘Milady... I do not think—’

  Kitty, already on the fourth stair, paused. ‘Vincent. You are not paid to think. Now do as I ask without further ado. Please.’

  The butler executed his stiffest bow before stalking towards the back of the house. Kitty ran upstairs and to her bedchamber to change into her riding gown, her heart pounding with fear.

  * * *

  Within ten minutes, she was clattering down the stairs again. She grabbed her leather riding gloves and crop from a stony-faced Vincent and hurried out of the already open front door. Davey, one of the grooms, waited outside, holding the reins of both Herald, Kitty’s chestnut gelding, and a brown gelding that went by the uninspiring name of Brownie.

  ‘His Lordship left word that one of us must accompany you if you go out, milady.’ Davey touched his cap. ‘On fear of dismissal if we don’t follow his order to the letter.’

  ‘Very well, Davey. I understand.’

  Normally she insisted on riding alone—it gave her imagination the perfect opportunity to wander. But normally there was absolutely no danger. She remained on Fenton land and Robert trusted her to do so. She couldn’t fault such an order after yesterday and it would be unfair to blame Davey for following his master’s instructions.

  The groom cupped his hands to help her mount. As she gathered the reins and settled into the saddle, she said, ‘Had Lord Kelridge already ridden out when my message reached the stables?’

  ‘Yes, milady. About quarter of an hour since.’

  ‘And did anyone accompany him?’

  ‘Yes, milady.’

  Kitty breathed a little easier.

  ‘He told us he would head up to Fenton Edge.’

  ‘Then let us go.’

  They rode at a fast trot, breaking into a canter where they could, and before long they saw two riders ahead of them, heading up a track over the heathland that led to the Edge, an escarpment with views over the relatively flatter land to the north—a view that included Kelridge Place and its parkland. Before long, Adam halted and looked back, presumably alerted by the thud of horses coming up at speed behind him. His hand had already withdrawn a pistol from his pocket and more relief flooded Kitty that he had at least come prepared.

  When they drew to a halt, Adam’s expression was as menacing as yesterday’s thunderclouds. His horse—a piebald gelding called Jester—danced sideways, made skittish by his rider’s clear annoyance.

  ‘Why are ye here?’

  Kitty, somewhat breathless from their fast pace, ignored him to speak to Dexter—Adam’s companion and second in rank to Gresham in the hierarchy of the stable yard.

  ‘Kindly drop back with Davey, will you, Dexter? And stay alert for anyone else in the area.’

  Dexter, a man of few words, nodded and touched his cap. The two grooms held their horses still as Kitty nudged Herald into a walk. Adam, audibly grumbling—although she couldn’t make out his words—followed, ranging his mount alongside hers.

  ‘Why are ye here?’ His demand was quiet, but no less forceful. ‘He could be out there anywhere.’

  ‘Precisely! And I am not his target. Or so we agreed yesterday. Why are you putting yourself at such risk? What do you hope to achieve by this...this act of stu—bravado?’

  ‘Ye shouldna have come.’ His tone milder now. ‘I can look after myself, but you...’

  She glanced up at him. His stern profile as he stared straight ahead. The tightness of his lips and the frown that creased his forehead.

  ‘But I...?’

  His lips quirked then, in a brief smile, and he flicked a sideways look at her before turning his attention once again to their surroundings.

  ‘Ye’re a terrible distraction and ye ken it. How am I meant to concentrate when your scent is weaving through ma senses, firing ma blood?’

  Her heart thumped at his words. As if she wasn’t already hot enough after that ride. ‘Why, Lord Kelridge...’ she strove to keep her tone light ‘... I never imagined that gruff exterior concealed such a poetic soul. You kept that well hidden.’

  He smiled at her. Such a sweet smile. ‘I canna help it, lass. You have that effect on me...ye’re a woman to turn any man inside out.’

  The track they were following up the gentle southern slope of the Edge petered out as they reached the open land at the top. Kitty reined in and twisted
to look all around. There was no sign of life other than a few sheep grazing the sparse, coarse grassland on the top. Adam pointed.

  ‘There. That is Kelridge Place. My new home—’ he pointed at a speck in the distance, a light-coloured cube that perched on a rise in the land ‘—and that is the boundary—that woodland. South Kell Wood.’

  Kitty had never been to Kelridge Place even though there was only six miles between it and Fenton Hall.

  ‘Ye canna see it very well at this distance, I ken, but after what Carter told me I felt the need tae come and see it for myself.’

  ‘What did Carter tell you?’

  She’d never even thought to ask him earlier about the steward’s visit and now she listened as Adam told her about the sheep that had been shot and butchered.

  ‘But...is that not good news? Oh, not for the poor sheep, or that they have been stolen from you. But does it not support the theory that poachers shot you by mistake? And is that not better than believing the worst of your uncle and cousin?’

  ‘Well, aye. Of course it is.’

  ‘But I do not understand why Robert has gone haring off after Mr Trewin and Tolly.’

  ‘We need to be certain, Kitty. It is no use our lowering our guard on a supposition. Rob will, I hope, find the evidence to confirm it was impossible for either my uncle or my cousin to have fired that gun. And, in the meantime, he has ordered the men to keep watch and even to patrol the outer reaches of the estate to look out for strangers or for further attempts to steal sheep.’

  ‘That makes sense, I suppose.’

  Kitty stared across to the distant Kelridge Place, the knot of fear in her stomach easing for the first time since the shooting. But she was still burdened—not by fear, but by anxiety. There was still the conundrum of what the future held for her and Adam. She had made matters worse by succumbing to her desires and was unsure how to handle what their relationship was now and what it might become.