Days of Gold (21 page)

“Yes,” the woman said impatiently. “I know what he planned. He married one woman for her title but seduced another one for her dowry. His plan was to steal the dowry and keep the title. Did I miss anything?”

“No,” Edilean said. “But it didn’t go that way. James did marry the earl’s daughter, but I found out what was going on—actually, I was told. I didn’t find out anything by myself. I trusted your brother completely.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” the woman said. “James has
never done an honest thing in his life. The first words out of his mouth as a babe were lies.”

“Oh, I see,” Edilean said.

The woman was still looking at her with impatience. “Is there more?”

“No,” Edilean said. “It’s just that there is no reason for you and me to... Well, to know each other.”

The woman turned to look at Edilean. “I want to know any woman who can outdo my philandering, lying brother. And as for you, I would imagine that you ran off in a hurry, so do you have somewhere to stay in Boston?”

“No,” Edilean said. She was beginning to like this woman and her forthright manner.

“I have a house here. It’s not paid for, of course, because my brother had something to do with it, but I think you can remedy that. You can put yourself and that man who keeps hovering about you up in a hotel, but if you do that you will be besieged by men who you won’t know from Adam. You could find yourself once again swept off your feet by a handsome face.” As she said it, she looked directly at Angus, as though he were a man who was in pursuit of all that Edilean had.

Edilean just stared at the woman, not sure what she should say. In her life she’d always had weeks to make a decision. One Christmas she’d had three invitations and she’d taken four weeks to make up her mind. But since the night her uncle took her from school, it seemed that every decision she’d made had been done with the speed of lightning.

The woman was scowling at Edilean, waiting for her to decide to get into the carriage or not. When the younger woman didn’t move, the older one gave a sigh. “I’m Harriet Harcourt. I am forty-two years old, a spinster largely because my family scared away
every suitor I ever had. I have no income and no hope of one. I participated in this latest scheme of his because it was either that or live with my cousin who hates me and would have worked me to death. James sent me to America months ago to get a house ready for him and whichever bride he showed up with. The house has been secured with only the tiny bit of money he gave me, and if I do not pay the rest within a week, I’ll be thrown out into the streets.”

She looked at Edilean. “Does that answer your questions about me?”

“I think so.” Edilean hesitated. Angus still had his back to her and she was waiting for him to say something, but she wasn’t sure what. She had a hope that he might turn, pull her into his arms, and say that he couldn’t live without her and to please go to Virginia with him. Instead, he turned slightly toward her and gave a curt nod. He was giving her permission to go with the woman. And he nodded toward the trunks of gold in a way that let her know he’d make sure they were taken to a bank.

Minutes later, Edilean was in the carriage, sitting on its beautiful dark red leather seats, and looking across at Miss Harcourt.

“Do you know if James will come to Boston soon?” Edilean asked.

“How can he? He has no money nor does his wife.” She gave a bit of a smile. “Wouldn’t it be tragic if he had to go out and get a
job
?”

Edilean saw the fine lines around the woman’s eyes begin to crinkle and in the next moment they were laughing together. In spite of all that James Harcourt had done to both of the women, he was the one who’d lost, not them.

They stopped in front of a tall, narrow building that was close to several others and set on a pretty, tree-lined street.

When Edilean paused on the steps into the house and looked about her, Harriet said, “What is it?”

“Nothing. I just...” She trailed off. She could have sworn she’d seen Angus, but of course she hadn’t. By now he was probably trying to sell the jewels so he could run off to Virginia and put many miles between him and the woman who’d caused all his life’s problems.

“Well, then, come inside and we’ll go over business.”

“Business?” Edilean asked.

“Yes, certainly. What you’re going to pay me for being your housekeeper and looking after you and this house that you’re going to buy.”

“I see,” Edilean said and glanced up at all four stories of it. She held up her skirt as they went inside. The house was sparsely decorated and what was there was in the most somber taste imaginable.

“As you can see,” Harriet said, “I didn’t buy much furniture. I didn’t have the money and I had no idea what an earl’s daughter would want. I hope you don’t want gilt mirrors and gold frames on the chairs.”

“No,” Edilean said. “I rather like Chippendale. I’ve seen a lot of his work in other people’s houses, and I like it.”

“Then I hope you can draw what you want so we can have it made here. Now, about finding you a husband. I haven’t had much time to think on it, but I know a few men who might do very well as possible suitors.”

“Husband,” Edilean said, as though she’d never heard the word before.

“Yes. That’s what you want, isn’t it? That’s what you were after with my brother, wasn’t it?”

“I thought I was in love with him,” Edilean said as they walked into the parlor. There were two high-backed chairs upholstered in a heavy red fabric and a tiny tea table, but nothing else in the room.

“Yes, of course. My brother’s face is easy to love. It’s when you get to know him that he becomes intolerable. Are you hungry? We could have tea in this room.”

“Tea would be lovely,” Edilean said as she sat down on a chair and looked about the room. The windows were bare and she could see the people walking by outside. Several passersby looked in at them in curiosity.

When Harriet left the room, Edilean collapsed against the back of the chair. Curtains, tea, Harriet, male suitors, James’s face, it all seemed to whirl around and around in her head until she thought she might faint.

When Harriet returned with a tray full of tea and little cookies that she had herself baked, Edilean was leaning against the chair and sound asleep. Harriet put the tray on the table, took the chair across from her, looked at the young woman, and nibbled on a cookie.

The truth was that Harriet was very glad that her odious brother hadn’t shown up with an earl’s daughter. In fact, she was glad that her brother hadn’t shown up at all. She’d already decided that tonight she’d write him a letter saying that she’d met the ship he was supposed to be on but he hadn’t been there with the gold as he’d said he would be. As a result, Harriet’d had to get out of the house she’d rented and was now living with a nasty old woman as a paid companion. Better yet, maybe she’d say she was working as a housekeeper for a widower with six children. She’d say most anything that she thought would keep James from coming to America and ruining what could turn out to be a very good job.

When Edilean moved in her sleep, Harriet smiled. She was such a pretty girl, and with her wide eyes she looked as though everything in life was a wonder to her. Harriet tiptoed into the little sitting room off the kitchen, picked up a cotton quilt, and took it back to spread over Edilean. Poor dear, she was probably tired to death.

For a moment Harriet stood over her, then reached out and tucked a strand of Edilean’s hair behind her ear. If she’d had a daughter she would want her to look exactly like this young girl.

“We’ll do fine,” she whispered. “We’ll make a life for ourselves as best we can.” Smiling, she went into the kitchen to see about dinner. Maybe now that they had some money they’d be able to hire a cook.

E
DILEAN WAS ASLEEP
in the new bed she’d bought from the cabinetmaker, under the new sheets she’d bought straight off a ship as it came in from France. On the table were dishes and a lamp from estate sales. The huge chest of drawers had come from an auction of a man who was going back to England. To get the bed hangings, she’d had to drive three hours across roads that were hardly roads at all to the farm of the woman who’d embroidered them.

When Edilean heard the noise at the window, she paid no attention to it, just fluttered her lashes, and went back to sleep. Even when the lamp was lit, she still didn’t wake. But when the hand went over her mouth, she woke up in alarm and tried to scream.

“It’s just me, lass.”

She felt the big, warm hand over her mouth, and when she felt Angus’s body next to hers on the bed, she flung her arms around him, and the tears began as she clutched on to him, her head against
his chest. She could hear his heart pounding. “I thought you’d gone away to Virginia and that I’d never, ever see you again. It’s been months and months since I saw you, and—”

“Sssh, lass,” he said, stroking her hair. “It’s only been six weeks. Has your life been that bad to make you think it was so long?”

“Yes,” she said. “I mean, no, it hasn’t been bad, but I was used to seeing you every day.” She was clutching onto him with all her might, but he hadn’t put his arms around her. One hand was on the bed and the other was at her hair.

She moved her head away to look at him. He hadn’t shaved in days and his eyes looked worried. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said as he moved to sit up on the foot of the bed. “I came here to see how you are. How is this woman treating you?”

“Harriet?”

“Aye, that’s her name. The old spinster.”

“Don’t call her that! She’s a good woman. She’s been very kind to me, and we spend a lot of time together.”

“So you like her?”

“Very much.” When Edilean reached out her hands to him, he took them in his and looked at them in the pale light of the room. “Something is wrong. Why are you here? Why aren’t you in Virginia?”

“I liked it here, that’s all,” he said, still holding her hands and looking at them. “I’d almost forgotten that hands as small and soft as yours exist.”

He was wearing James’s clothes without the jacket, but she could see that something was different. “I want to know what’s wrong.”

“Nothing,” he said loudly, then glanced at the door. “Where is she?”

“Don’t worry. Harriet sleeps like a dead person. She wouldn’t hear us even if we started making love.”

Angus dropped her hands. “You say that as though you know what it means.”

“I’ve had enough suggestion of it that I should know,” she said with a grimace.

“And what does that mean?”

“What do you think it means but that every man in this country wants to marry me, that’s what. I’ve had old men, young men, short, fat, never wed, widowed, you name it, they’ve all come to visit me and try their hand at winning me.”

Angus leaned back against the bedpost, his long legs across the bed. “And which one of them do you want?”

“None,” she said, but when she saw his smile, she changed her mind about telling the truth. “There have been a few who’ve enticed me. Some of them are quite elegant gentlemen.”

“But you’ve said yes to none of them?”

“What are you up to? Did
you
come here to ask me to marry you?” Smiling, he got off the bed and walked about the room. “I never left Boston, and I’ve heard about you. You’re causing quite a stir with the men in this town. A rich young beauty with a fine house. Yes, you’re setting this town on its ear.”

“What do you mean you haven’t left Boston?”

He sat down in the chair beside the bed. “I didn’t come to talk about me. I want to know about you. What have you been doing? How do you get along with Harcourt’s sister?”

“I already told you that she’s a good woman.” She was looking at him hard, studying him. Something was very wrong but she couldn’t figure out what it was. “Have you lost weight? You look on the thin side.”

“I’ve had no woman to make sure I eat,” he said, smiling. She was in her nightclothes and he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

“Angus,” she whispered, then pulled the corner of the bedclothes back a bit in invitation.

“You’re a she-devil,” he said. “Now stop tempting me. I plan to leave this city tomorrow and I wanted to say good-bye, and I wanted to hear from you that you’re all right.”

“Yes, I’m...” She closed her mouth and looked at her hands for a moment before meeting his eyes. “No! I’m not going to lie. I’m bored to the point of insanity! Oh, Angus, these men... They’re all so very
boring
. Sometimes I think I’m going out of my mind with the sheer tedium of them. They either try to impress me with their great education or they talk to me about their crops.”

“They can read, then?” he asked, smiling.

“So much so that I sometimes wish they couldn’t. They think to court me with poems or serenades. They think that if they read to me in Latin that I’ll look at them with love.”

“And you don’t?”

“Not hardly,” she said, waving her hand in dismissal. “Please tell me what you’ve been doing. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Have you?” he said. “I’ve—” He didn’t want to tell her how he’d thought of her every day. He’d been unable to pry himself away from the city where she was. Every time he tried to make himself leave for Virginia, he couldn’t do it. There was rarely a night when he didn’t stand in the street and look up at her window. He knew when she blew out the lamp and knew the nights when she stayed out late.

“How’s Tabitha?” Edilean asked, the name like a curse in her mouth.

“Fine. We’re to be married tomorrow before we leave for Virginia.”

Edilean’s eyes opened so wide her skin almost cracked.

“Oh, lass, I’ve missed you too! I’ve not seen Tabitha since we got
off the ship. We said farewell”—he didn’t say how “fond” Tabitha made it—“then she slipped away. For all I know, she may have married someone else by now.”

“Whatever she did, you can bet that it wasn’t good.”

“What made you hate her so? Because I danced with her?”

“She has no morals.”

“That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”

“I couldn’t care less about her. Are you really leaving for Virginia tomorrow?”