How to Entice an Earl (31 page)

“If,” Maddie went on, “he intends to marry her. It will be very hard on them if Papa continues to oppose the match. Linton relies upon him for his allowance, and I would not be shocked if Papa cut him off for marrying her against his wishes.”

Further discussion of the matter was forestalled by a brisk knock on the door of Cecily’s sitting room. Winterson, followed closely by Christian, stepped into the chamber.

“I found this fellow wandering Mayfair in search of his wife, and took pity on him and brought him in for a drink,” Winterson said. “Imagine my shock when I discovered his wife to be here all the time!”

He leaned down and kissed Cecily on the cheek. “See there, old fellow,” he said to Christian, who stood diffidently near the door, “I told you we’d find her.”

Maddie met her husband’s eyes to ensure that he was not so worried as Winterson said he was. To her relief he seemed to be none the worse for wear. “I do not wish to interrupt your visit,” he said. Though Maddie found to her surprise that rather than being annoyed at being hunted down, she was ready to leave with him. It had been quite a while since she’d nestled in his arms in the wee hours of the morning.

“We are quite finished,” she said aloud. Rising, she slipped her arm into his and they made their farewells.

Soon enough, they were in the carriage on their way home. Rather than leaving her to sit decorously across from him, however, Christian pulled Maddie unceremoniously onto his lap and kissed her passionately.

“Good afternoon, wife,” he said, once they broke away for breath. Maddie nestled her face into his neck, inhaling that potent combination of sandalwood, bayberry, and Christian. She arched her back a bit as he ran a hand down her back.

“I’ve missed you,” she said softly, dragging her teeth over his earlobe.

She felt a rumble of laughter in his chest. “I’ve missed you, too, Madeline. But if this is how you greet me when I return then I shall have to leave you more often.”

*   *   *

Christian hated to disturb the amity between them, but he knew that keeping the news about her brother from her would only make her angry. Inhaling the fragrant scent of her hair, and sliding a comforting hand over her back, he began, “Maddie, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

She stiffened in his arms. As he might have predicted. “I’m afraid your brother has gone missing.”

Quickly he explained to her what had happened at the hunting lodge, not mentioning the fact that the men the Home Office had sent to look after Linton had bungled things. Badly.

But Maddie’s response was not what he’d been expecting. Rather than speculating about where he might have gone, or gasping aloud at how close he came to death in the fire, she merely nodded, and laid her head back down on his shoulder. His suspicions raised, Christian grasped her shoulders and looked into her face, only partially lit in the dimness of the carriage.

“You know something.” It was a statement, not a question. He should have known better than to try to keep something from his intrepid wife.

Her only response was an eloquent shrug.

Resisting the urge to shake her, he said, “Maddie, tell me what you know. This is not some scheme that you and your cousins have concocted to outsmart the
ton.
This is serious. Your brother’s life could be in danger.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Maddie retorted, her face flushed with pique. “I was there for Mr. Tinker’s dying breath, Christian. I know how deadly serious this business is. Do not do me the disservice of thinking that I am a silly society lady with nothing on my mind but hats and gowns.”

He acknowledged the truth of her words, but was still unable to relax. “You are right,” he admitted. “I apologize for dismissing your concerns that way. But this business is not for the faint of heart. Tell me where you think he is.”

She was clearly weighing the advisability of telling him. Though it was just as likely that her hunch was wrong, Christian knew all too well how discerning Maddie could be. And she knew her brother and his habits better than Christian or anyone with the Home Office did. He was willing to risk the loss of time it would take the see if Maddie was correct.

Removing herself from his lap, Maddie slid into the seat beside him, plucking at the folds of her gown. “There is a town house that our father once owned.”

“His mistress’s house, do you mean?” Christian was surprised Maddie knew such a woman existed, much less that she knew where she lived.

“Papa used to take us with him when he visited her,” Maddie said softly. “He thought Mama would be less suspicious of his whereabouts if he took us with him.”

“Good God.” He was appalled. He didn’t hold Maddie’s father in the highest of esteem, but he had taken Lord Essex’s attempt at apology at their wedding at face value. But the very idea that the man would bring his children with him to visit his mistress was shocking. “So, you and your brother were acquainted with this…”

“Mrs. Hendricks,” Maddie said softly. “Yes, we were. She was actually quite lovely to us. And those afternoons weren’t lascivious at all. We would visit one of the less public parks, or play with her children—our half brothers and sisters. And she and Papa would just talk quietly.”

“But if he had this other family,” Christian said, struggling to understand what could have motivated Essex to marry one woman and maintain a separate household with another, “why did he marry your mother?”

Maddie shrugged. “We were never able to figure it out. Of course, we could hardly ask Mama. But she always spoke of their courtship as if she saw him and set her cap for him immediately. And however ineligible Mama and her sisters were, they were at least wellborn, despite their poverty. Mrs. Hendricks is the daughter of a butcher. It’s quite sad when you think of it.”

It was at that, Christian thought, marveling at her philosophical acceptance of the matter. Realizing that the issue at hand was not his approval or disapproval of Lord Essex’s actions, he asked, “So, you suspect that your brother has gone to this Mrs. Hendricks?”

She nodded. “I think it likely, yes. He actually ran away to her once. When he was around ten years old. Mama had forbidden him from doing something, riding his pony alone in the park, I think. And he simply disappeared for a day. Mama and Papa were frantic. Finally, Mrs. Hendricks escorted him home.”

He felt his mouth fall open. “To your parents’ house in Mayfair?” He tried to imagine what his own mama’s response to the arrival of her husband’s mistress on her doorstep would have been. It wasn’t a pretty picture. “That must have been…” He struggled to find the right word.

“Distressing?” Maddie volunteered. “My mother was actually quite calm about it. Now, of course, I know what a shock it must have been, but at the time, I was just glad to see Hennie. And James, of course.”

Turning his mind from the turmoil of the Essex household, Christian focused on the here and now. “So, you think that your brother might be there now? With this Hennie?”

“I think it likely,” Maddie said. “He has always been fond of her despite my mother’s forbidding us to see her. Papa never took us there again, but James and I both visited her upon occasion over the years. Hennie did try to dissuade us, but we knew how much Papa loved her. And then there were the children. Our sisters and brothers. We could hardly just ignore them.”

“Can we go there now?” Christian asked, still somewhat stunned by the tale. Nevertheless, he was glad enough to know where they might find Linton now. He just hoped to hell that no one else knew of this Hennie and her unconventional household.

“Yes,” Maddie said. “It would likely take my brother a couple of days to reach Richmond from the hunting box, but I believe he could make it there if he had a fast enough horse.”

Rapping on the ceiling of the carriage, when the vehicle drew to a halt, Christian informed the driver of their change of direction.

In different circumstances he might have found a pleasant enough way to pass the time on their journey outside the city into Richmond, but both Maddie and Christian were lost in thought for most of the trip. When the carriage finally drew to a stop before a neat row house, they were both eager to exit it.

When Maddie made to follow him, however, Christian frowned up at her from his position outside the carriage door. “I do not think it wise for you to come inside, my dear,” he said firmly. “Your brother has been through a great deal, and even though we do not know that he was followed here, there is still every chance that he is being watched. Besides, there is also the matter of Mrs. Hendricks’s relationship with your father.”

“Oh, really, Christian, do not preach propriety at me,” she snapped. “You are hardly the most circumspect of creatures. Besides which, I have known Hennie since I was a child. She is hardly going to taint me at this point. And I wish to see my brother. Now kindly assist me from the carriage or I shall be forced to leap out onto you. And I do not wish to get this gown dirty.”

Shaking his head at his wife’s stubbornness, Christian reluctantly assisted her down to the pavement.

Offering her his arm, he led her up the three steps to the door, which was opened by a very proper-looking butler. When the fellow inquired what they wished, Maddie spoke up. “Newman! Do you not recognize me all grown-up?”

The butler’s wizened features broke out in a smile. “Why, Lady Madeline, why didn’t you say so? I can see it now. All grown-up, but I’ll bet with just the same love for macaroons.”

“Of course!” she responded. “How could anyone not love macaroons? They are quite the best biscuits imaginable.” She presented Christian to the old man. “This is my husband, Newman, the Earl of Gresham. I was wondering if I might present him to Hennie?”

A shadow passed over the old man’s visage, but he nodded, welcoming them inside the small entrance hall. “I shall inform my mistress that you are here. I know she’ll be pleased as punch to see you.”

“Thank you, Newman,” Maddie said with a smile. “And please say hello to Mrs. Newman for me.”

“You shall do so yourself before you go, my lady,” the old man said. “She’ll be that angry if you do not introduce her to your man.”

“If there is time, I shall,” Maddie said, gripping Christian’s hand in hers.

They watched as the old man left the room. Left alone, Christian glanced about the parlor, which might have been in any fashionable house in London. It certainly didn’t look like the inner sanctum of a kept woman. But then again, it seemed that Mrs. Hendricks was not like any kept woman he’d ever met.

Nineteen

The room was unchanged from all those years ago when she and her father and brother had first entered it, Maddie reflected, pacing restlessly before the fire. She wondered what Christian saw when he looked around the chamber. She had seen how shocked he’d been to hear that her father had brought her and her brother to Hennie’s house. She supposed it was scandalous, but as a child she’d had little notion of the impropriety of the visits. She’d simply looked forward to seeing her friends Mary and Henrietta and their brothers, John and Henry. There had been no more visits after Hennie’s visit to return Linton to Essex House, of course. She supposed now that her mother had put her foot down, but at the time Maddie had blamed her brother for the curtailment of their outings with their father.

It didn’t surprise her that he’d chosen this of all places to hide from the men who wished him harm. He’d always shared a special kinship with Hennie. Perhaps because Hennie had understood her brother’s thirst for adventure in a way that Lady Poppy Essex had not. Maddie felt a pang of sympathy for her mother now that she understood what it would be like to lose a husband’s affection to another woman. She suspected that her father and Hennie had been in love long before Poppy came on the scene, however, so she doubted her mother had ever stood a chance. What a ridiculous social system, Maddie reflected, that would make it impossible for two people who loved one another and wished to live together to do so without social stigma. Still, she supposed if there had been a different system in place, she would not have been born, so she was grateful for that at least.

“Do you really think he’s here?” Christian asked from near the window. Maddie turned to see him peering out into the back garden. Whether he was simply looking or was ensuring that her brother did not escape out the back she couldn’t say.

Maddie shrugged. “I think it’s as possible as anything else we’ve hit upon,” she said. “I am hardly the most knowledgeable about my brother’s habits.” She thought again of what Lady Emily had informed her this morning. She could not before today have imagined her brother carrying on an affair with someone like Lady Emily, his best friend’s widow, with a less than pristine reputation.

“You are as knowledgeable as anyone,” a new voice said from the doorway. Maddie looked up to see Linton there, haggard, and looking as if he hadn’t slept in days.

Without a word she flung herself across the room and into his arms.

“Easy, Mads,” her brother said with an awkward embrace. “I am, as you can see, in one piece.”

“We’ve been rather worried about you, Linton,” Maddie heard Christian say from behind her. Realizing that she was making a scene, she pulled back from her brother and surreptitiously dabbed at her eyes. She had been as surprised as they were by the burst of emotion she’d felt upon hearing her brother’s voice. She supposed she’d been more worried about him than she’d thought.

“I can see that,” Linton said, his gaze looking Christian up and down. “I understand congratulations are in order.”

Maddie looked from one to the other of them, sensing an undercurrent of hostility between the men. “Indeed,” Christian said coolly. “We were sorry you could not make it to the wedding.”

“I was sorry to miss it,” Linton said, inclining his head. “But there was no time.”

Christian acknowledged the truth of this with a slight nod.

“What happened, Linton?” Maddie demanded, tiring of their posturing. She was ready for all of this nonsense to end so that they could all get on with their lives. “I mean to the lodge. Did you burn it down or was the fire set by someone else?”