A Fine Caprice - A Regency Romance (21 page)

Which was really quite absurd for
they had been acquainted for less than twenty-four hours.
But he had made a profound impact on her and by the look of
it,
he had made a similar one on the sultry Maria. I
t was
surprisingly hard to see
the pair of them kiss. Caprice
drew a deep breath, scowled at her own foolishness and prepared to apply her eye to the crack once more, bracing herself for what might very well be the sight of his lordship in a passionate embrace. Before she
could do so, however, he spoke again.

‘Forgive me,’ that deep voice said softly, but not so softly that she could not hear it
for it had a carrying quality
, ‘that was utterly unforgivable of me.’

‘Forgive you?’ Maria sounded a little breathless. ‘But it is I that kissed you, my dear sir.’

‘Yes, but you are my cousin’s fiancée and I acted shamefully.’

Hastily, Caprice bent to look
and saw that his lordship was standing up and had managed to put a respectable amount of d
istance between himself and his pretty houseguest. The Grand Duchess did not seem inclined to increase this distance. In
stead, she patted her chestnut
curls coquettishly while giving him an arch smile.

‘Sometimes the attraction between two people is unescapable, yes?’

‘That is true,’ he said slowly. ‘But I would be loathed to cause my dear cousin any heartache. He is of a very delicate constitution. Or so he often tells me. If he thought I was behaving inappropriately with the woman he loved I am sure he would be devastated.’

Maria paused at this and Caprice was struck by the fact that she did not know how to proceed. Clearly this confounded her a little.
She p
robably isn’t used to this kind of stalemat
e.

‘You
really
are all that is
honourable
,’ the Grand Duchess said finally, dropping a little, mock curtsey.
‘
Sensible enough for both of us.
I
suppose I
must let you return to your chores. Unless you would like me to help?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Merridew gave her a charming smile. ‘I would find your presence far too distracting. It would quite destroy my concentration.’

Which brought a smi
le to Maria’s lips. With a linge
r
ing
glance at him, she left the room. Caprice hesitated for a moment, unwilling to take her
eyes off his lordship but he remained where he was
, staring in the direction that the Maria had disappeared in, expression thoughtful. With a small sigh and, mindful of her duties, Caprice hurried towards the door and went quietly in search of her quarry.

Just as well she did for the Grand Duchess went directly in search of Mr. Ravener. In fact, as she was a little late in giving chase, Caprice almost ran into the pair of them. Fortunately she heard the low murmur
of voices before she rounded a
corner and came to an abrupt stop, listening intently.

‘But did you find out anything?’
Ravener’s voice, sounding pettish.

‘Shh! For God’s sake, keep your vo
ice down. It feels like there are
a dozen people about the place now.’

‘There are. The bloody fool must have hired half the village.’

‘Italian, please. Nobody but Anna will understand it and it is safer if we mean to keep our business private.’

And to
Caprice
’s astonishment, the conversation switched to Italian.

‘Very well,’ Ravener’s voice had dropped but he still sounded sulky.
‘But what of my damned cousin?
Did you find out how long he intends to stay?’

‘I am thinking he is in no hurry to leave. He has papers to look through. Tell me… you know him better than I. Is he in any trouble? Gambling debts? Money problems?’

There was a rather bitter laugh from Mr. Ravener.
‘Not Merridew! The whole
family is rolling in green and he’s the worst of them all. If you’re thinking of offering him a bankroll then you can forget it. Unlike me doesn’t need the ready.’

Feeling decidedly vulnerable, Caprice looked around her quickly then squeezed into a shallow recess that was meant for a suit of armour and, with a certain amount of wiggling, managed to accommodate her as well. Such a hiding place would have been impossible if she had been wearing her usual petticoats but a boy’s clothes were far more agreeable to being tugged and pulled. The niche was not so deep that she wouldn’t be discovered by anybody really paying attention but fortunately the windows of Abbey Cross were dimmed through years of neglect and she would probably be missed by anybody passing by. She
cocked her head, straining to hear. They must be jus
t around the corner but
they were speaking so softly it was
lucky she had managed to get
close
enough to hear
.

‘A pity.
A man of his station would have been useful.’

‘More useful than me, do you mean?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Maria said, voice sh
arp. ‘You will get what we arranged
.
Do not let your dislike of your cousin cloud your judgement. He at least seems to care for
you
.’

‘The hell he does,’ Ravener returned sourly. ‘Do you think to seduce him? You might succeed, but don’t think it’ll get you far. Merridew is used to having women throw themselves at him.’

Caprice was impressed by Mr. Ravener
’s fluency in Italian. Her mother might correct his style but his grasp was excellent
.

‘He isn’t used to a woman like me throwing myself at him,’ Maria
replied smugly. ‘If I had more time, perhaps
.’

‘But you don’t have more time
,’ they were moving away from Caprice now, their voice’s
growing fainter. ‘We only have tonight
… before the… and then it will…’ There was the sound of a door opening and closing. And then silence.

For a moment Caprice hesitated, on the brink of following and perhaps trying to hear more by applying her ear to the door. But that kind of behavior was risky and instead she decided it was t
ime to update his lordship. It
had been a very interesting conversation.
More than that; it had been a revealing one.

He was still in the study, staring ruefully down at various piles that had taken over the surface of his uncle’s desk. Hea
ring the door, he glanced up. ‘Damned if my uncle wasn’t
crossed with a pack rat.’

‘Is it all a
dreadful
mess?’

‘Of epic proportions.
What have you been doing?’

‘Spying.’ Coming forward, she dropped into a chair. ‘I just heard a very interesting conversation between Mr. Ravener and the Grand Duchess.’

‘Just now?
Th
at was quick. She just left me
.’

Caprice forbore to tell him that she knew perfectly well th
at the woman had just left
. She didn’t want him to think she’d been spying on
him
.
‘Yes, well,’ she said vaguely, ‘I was hanging about in the hallway.’
She recounted the conversation she had heard, pausing at the end of it, eyes on his face. ‘I think they’re expecting something to happen soon, don’t you?’

‘It sounds like it,’ he a
greed, sounding intrigued. ‘
I wonder what that might be?
What would our two little spies be interested in?
’

‘They went into a room together,’ Caprice said regretfully, ‘and I didn’t see how I could hear more without
being discovered
.
Your cousin speaks very good Italian, by the way.
’

‘He does. He has spent some time there
as a child
and has a
bit of a
knack for languages. Why?’ he looked at her curiously. ‘Were they speaking Italian?’

Too late, she realized
that once again she had
said too much. She spoke fluent Italian, of course. Her mother had seen to that. But she was really stretching the bounds of credulity to suggest that a bastard son would be taught languages. Still, it was too late to go back now. If she said that she recognized the language without actually admitting that she could speak it, it might very well come back to haunt her later.

‘They were.’

‘
You
speak Italian?’ Was there a hint of incredulity in his voice? It was hardly surprising.

‘My mother was from Italy. One of the maids.’

There was a pause while he considered this, eyes fixed on her. Caprice looked back steadily, probably looking every inch as ingenuous as the Grand Duchess had. After a moment he smiled, a little wryly. ‘It seems I keep learning new things about you by the hour. It’s really quite remarkable. For a stableboy.’

‘I have explained my circumstances -’ she began.

He shook his head, holding up a hand. ‘Oh I don’t disbelieve you, if only because there is really no other way you could know how to speak Italian. Now is there?’

A small beat of silence, which she rushed to fill. ‘No.’

‘No.
And how very fortunate for me.
They will hardly suspect that you can speak the language which means they might say something of significance in front of you.’

‘I was thinking much the same thing.’

‘
Of course you were
.’ He grinned at her
. ‘It was a
providential
circumstance that sent you in my direction, I must say
.
You’re proving to be
a remarkably useful ally
.
’

Caprice felt herself color a little and was ridiculous pleased by the compliment, certainly the first she had ever received of its kind. ‘
I wonder what they might be waiti
ng for?’ she said quickly
, to cover her embarrassment.

‘Someone or something?
It can’t be a consignment of brandy. Why would the Grand Duchess be in
terested in brandy
? I know that Hadley hasn’t been down here enough to have become involved in Uncle Abel’s smuggling business so its unlikely he would even know when the next consignment is due.’ He frowned and shook his head. ‘Did they seem to be discussing something in particular? I mean, did you receive the impression that they knew when whatever it is, is supposed to occur?’

Caprice thought
back to what she had heard and
nodded. ‘Definitely. I distinctly heard
Mr. Ravener say “We only have tonight
”… and then he might have said
few days
, but I can’t be certain.’

‘It seems likely enough. Are they
expecting something to take place here
tonight?
In a few days?
How the devil am I supposed to find out
?’

‘You co
uld always ask her ladyship
.’ The words slipped out
before Caprice could
stop them. It wasn’t so much what she said as the way she said it, in a rather waspish tone and she glanced at his lordship quickly, hoping he’d missed it. Of course he ha
dn’t. He didn’t
miss much.

‘How long did you follow the Grand Duchess Jem?
Might it have been into this very library?
’ he inquired with a raised eyebrow. She wanted to prevaricate but i
nstead felt color flood
her cheeks
. He chuckled. ‘You don’t approve of my methods?’

‘She might be a
spy
.’

‘Exactly.
I’ll tell you one thing. Her heart wasn’t in that kiss.
’

‘It didn’t look that way to me!’

‘I think I know what I’m talking about in this instance.’

‘
Then
s
he
was
trying to get information out of
you
.’

‘It’s rather amusing, isn’t it?
Like a play by Moli
è
re.’

C
aprice found it hard to agree. No matter what he said, t
hat kiss still rankled, the sight of Lord Merridew’s lips connecting with the Grand Duchess’ making her feel decidedly cross. ‘S
o you’re saying s
he doesn’t really like yo
u?
’

‘
I’m saying that she was after something.
A female doesn’t
necessarily have to like a man
to kiss them
, young Master Morris,’ his lordship said cheerfully. ‘In fact, sometimes it’s far better if they don’t. I can’t say I
like the Grand Duchess very much at all
but I would very much like to get around her.’

Which was, as far
as Caprice was concerned, a highly
unsatisfactory
– and extremely ambiguous -
answer.

The rest of the day was spent rather
uselessly trying to overhear more from either Mr. Ravener or Maria but both behaved with the utmost circumspection
and she could get nowhere near them
, especially as the Grand Duchess’ dreadful little dog seemed to have taken a dislike to her and began to bark if she was
within sniffing distance
.

By eight o’
clock a meal had been
produced
by the beleaguered cook and served
in the dining room for Lord Merridew and his guests
. After the gentry had eaten,
Caprice
got to enjoy hers in the kitchen, sitting down at the
at the scrubbed kitchen table
with the other servants
.
Such an arrangement
was an odd sensation
for a girl used to sitting in an entirely different part of the house
b
ut she accepted it without demure
. D
espite her rather alarming demeanour Mrs. Flannel was surprisingly kind and made sure everybody had plenty.
Caprice tried to
offer a friendly smile to
Anna, sitting across the table from her but the girl looked at her blankly for a moment before dropping her da
rk eyes to her plate
. She picked at the food as if it were entirely foreign to her instead of perfectly good roasted meat and vegetables.
Caprice had considered approaching the girl, perhaps talking to her in her native language but had abandoned the idea almost immediately. There was some advantage to be gained in
her knowing the language their spies conversed in. Who knew
what she might learn? Anna would undoubtedly tell her mistress that his lordship’s servant could understand them and th
en that
advantage would be gone.

Next to her Mr. Ravener’s valet more than made up for Anna’s indifference, stuffing his face with single-minded greed that earned him a sharp set down from Mrs. Flannel. He tried to stare her down but she was having none of it, eyeing him with the all the confidence of a woman used to being in charge. In most households such as this there would be a butler and he would be considered the head of staff but as the
re was no such personage
the housekeeper
ruled the roost and she was having none of Bessant’s cheek.
Several times his eyes had slid across to look at Caprice
consideringly. She did not like his eyes; small, flat pebbles that did not seem to reflect the light. Taking a leaf out of Mrs. Flannel’s book, Caprice stared
boldly
back every
time (for surely, as the resident lord of the manor’s
servant she outranked the valet) but he made her uneasy, none the less.

On Caprice’s left
sat one of the new maids, a girl called Sally
who spent much of her time making shee
p’s at her
and giggling. Caprice couldn’t underst
and what was wrong
but then Sally leaned forward and whispered in her ear that perhaps they could step outside and admire the moon after the meal was done and Caprice realized – to her horror – that the maid had taken a fancy to her.
Or rather, to Jem Morris
,
who
m
she fondly believed
to be
male and apparently a
personable enough lad for the maid to take an interest in
.

Well at least somebody finds me attractive. Not precisely
the someone
I was hoping for but one cannot have everything…

Caprice sighed and sat back
in her chair
, wondering how she was going to go about avoiding romantic encounters without giving offense
. It was
hardly something she was well versed in
.
Well, she
was
fairly well versed in it as she had turned away quite a few hopeful suitors but they were
aware of the rules
in such encounters. A young female with a lascivious eye might be a different matter entirely.

Once again, her thoughts went to Lord Merridew, wondering just what he
was up to right now
and if the scheming Grand Duchess Maria was involved
.

No matter what the man said, Caprice did not trust the woman one little bit.

In the dining room Cass
was sitting over port – with so few guests the Grand Duchess had remained, of course – and he was now contemplating his two guests thoughtfully. They were hardly likely to tell him anything useful. At least, Hadley might let something drop for he was both vain and arrogant and such men were inclined to talk too much, especially if they were allowed to overindulge in wine. But the Gra
nd Duchess Maria was
made of sterner stuff and seemed to know her man all too well. She was not going to let him be the subject to any private inquisitions, which was really too bad.

His lordship wondered how Jem was faring in the kitchen although, having seen the lad in action he was confident Master Morris would be holding his own. He’d felt a pang when he realized that Jem would be eating with the servants, which was absurd as the boy was, after all, just that.
A servant, no matter how he had been treated by his foolish father. That kind of behavior could cause all k
inds of trouble. Luckily Jem had
taken
the necessity of the dining arrangements
in good part.

Well of course he has… he’s used to it. Why can’t I get used to it?

Was it because t
here was something about Jem Morris
that made one
forget that he was not an equal?
Not that status should
be the yardstick of equality
.
Once again, Cas
sius wondered how Jem would manage in a strange household that
might not appreciate all that natural intelligence. He pushed the thought aside. There was plenty of t
ime to deal with the issue, should he chose to do so
and he had already decided that the boy had a place in his own household if he did not wish to continue on to Steadman Hall.

In the meantime, there were other, more pressing matters to deal with.

Something was in the air, an unmistakable tension
that had been resonating around the room all evening
. He could feel it
radiating off his cousin, who was not nearly the smooth player that Maria was.
Hadley
was, in fact, as jumpy as a kitten. That air of tension
had certainly escalated over the past
twenty-four hours,
which led Cass
to
believe that these two were expecting something to happen
. He intended to stay awake after they had all retired that evening a
nd see if either of them
emerged from their bedchambers. Jem could watch with him, in case they needed to split up.

After port was done they retired to the blue parlour in which miracles had been wrought. Instead of stacks of boxes and crazily heaped objects, the room had been cleared of all its clutter and returned
to its original purpose. Cass
looked around him and reflected that he had almost forgotten w
hat a handsome room it was. Jem was right
, A
bbey Cross was a handsome house
if one could just see beneath the neglect and he found himself looking forward to
it being restored to its original glory. He had
last seen it look like
it should be when he was a boy of eleven and they had spent Christmas beneath its roof. Perhaps, he mused, he might suggest to the family that they spend Christmas here once again the following year. It would do the place good to host some
thing festive. As far as Cass
was concerned it had spent too long lurking in the shadows, its hallways full of
secrets and its cellars
full of smuggled brandy. The grand old lady needed to be shown that she could be respectable.

Three guests were limited as to the entertainment on offer. They couldn’t really play cards, charades were a bust and neither the Grand Duchess nor Mr. Ravener
seemed inclined to settle over
a good book. Even Maria’s offer to play the pianoforte for them was doomed to fail as the instrument was in sad need of a tune. In fact, it sounded as if Uncle Abel had used the insides to store more of his junk.

At ten, Maria reached down to collect her little dog
who had been squatting, toadlike, in the skirts of her gown
and rose
to her feet, smiling at Cass
.

He raised an eyebrow
and rose politely to his feet
. ‘Retiring already?’