Laura Matthews (4 page)

He appeared at her door, as he had on several previous occasions, and as they had arranged earlier in the evening, shortly after she climbed into bed. Having purloined champagne for the occasion, he grinned at her and carefully locked her door. Lila dimpled with pleasure as he lifted the champagne to show her his success and then drew from the pocket of his dressing gown two slightly smashed tarts, which he placed on the bedside stand with a gesture of rueful resignation.

“Actually,” he admitted, “I would not be surprised if Peter would allow me to have a servant bring anything I wished, but it was more fun copping them.”

Lila chuckled at his mischievous enthusiasm and patted the bed beside her. “You have a great future, Noah.”

“I am only concerned with tonight,” he asserted earnestly as he joined her on the bed. He surveyed the size of it with growing respect for Lady Olivia and muttered, “She was probably right in the first instance.”

“I beg your pardon,” Lila said, confused.

“It is nothing, my dear. Let me pour you a glass of champagne.” He joyfully extricated two glasses from another pocket in his dressing gown and gallantly kept the chipped one for himself. “Nothing is too good for you, my dear.”

Lifting her glass in a toast, Lila pronounced, “To an enjoyable evening.”

“With a beautiful lady,” he added, his eyes wandering appreciatively over her alluring figure, clad only in a nearly transparent negligee. He placed an arm about her shoulders and drew her closer to him.

It was at the moment of highest physical arousal for himself when Lila had just cried her delightful release, that it happened. Suddenly she gave an agonized groan and doubled up, much to his astonishment and horror. And then she began to retch while he held her slender shoulders and begged to know what he could do.

“It didn’t work... yesterday,” she gasped. “I thought it was not going to work.” She gave a hysterical giggle and fainted.

Noah sat frozen for a moment, uncertain what to do. Then he sprang from the bed and hastily tied his dressing gown about him before dashing toward Olivia’s room. It did not occur to him to go to Lila’s cousin; his hostess would have all the resources of the house at her command. He pounded on her door and called to her but there was no answer. Finding the door unlocked, he pushed it open but discovered that the room was occupied only by an abigail soundly asleep in a chair by the windows. He shook the girl awake and demanded, “Where is Lady Olivia? I must find her immediately.”

The girl’s eyes opened with alarm and she stammered, “I... I... why?”

“It is an emergency. Where is she?”

“I suppose she must still be in the schoolroom,” the girl answered sleepily, trying to bring herself to a semblance of understanding.

“Take me there,” he ordered, impatiently holding the door open for her.

The abigail was new at Stolenhurst and had heard of all sorts of strange doings in the household, but the man’s determination allowed for no hesitation. She led him directly to the schoolroom where Olivia, Miss Stewart and Mr. Evans were still engrossed in their conversation.

Three startled faces turned to Noah when he burst into the room. “I need your help at once, Lady Olivia.” He hesitated before the curious faces and added, “Someone has taken sick.”

Olivia rose instantly, and the other two with her. Noah exasperatedly shook his head at her companions and said, “She must come alone.”

Miss Stewart, fearing the worst for her young charge, paled considerably and protested, “No, no, you must not go alone with him, my dear.”

Evans could not feel much more comfortable about the command, aware as he had become when Noah swung around to them that Sir Noah had nothing on under the dressing gown. “Perhaps we can be of assistance, sir. It would not be fitting for Lady Olivia to go unaccompanied with you at this hour of the night.”

Noah turned in desperation to Olivia, who was separated from her companions by some distance, and whispered fiercely, “It is Mrs. Dyer. You cannot bring the whole household with you.”

Olivia nodded and turned to her companions. “There is no cause for concern, Miss Stewart. I shall be quite safe in Sir Noah’s escort.”

There were further protests, but Olivia ignored them and followed Noah from the room. The length of time it had taken him to find and extract her from her companions exacerbated his already frayed nerves and he very nearly allowed her to fall when she stumbled in her haste on the stairs. He caught her aim then and in his anxiety half-dragged, half-carried her to Lila’s room.

Olivia hastened to the bed where the young woman lay unconscious, covered only by the bedclothes Noah had tucked about her. “Bring me some wet cloths,” she ordered, and when he had turned to do her bidding she drew back the covers to see the poor woman’s condition. She gasped in horror. “What did you do to her?” she cried faintly, shocked into speech.

Chapter Four

Noah turned from the basin where he was gathering cloths and gazed in stupefied dread at the blood on the bed. He shook his head to clear it and said, “Nothing. That is ... we... I swear I did nothing which could have...” He absently lifted the basin and returned hesitantly to the bedside and handed her a damp cloth, which she gently used to clean Lila’s face.

“I don’t understand,” he groaned. “She started to say something about it not working yesterday, and thinking that it would not work. I have no idea what she meant. There was no blood when I left her, I’m sure there wasn’t. She had been sick, and then she fainted, so I came for you.”

Olivia continued to sponge the woman’s face and eventually her eyes, glazed with pain, flickered open. Lila’s body shuddered and Olivia drew the covers over her once more as the older woman whispered triumphantly, “It worked. He said it would work but I could not believe it after yesterday.” She closed her eyes again, a faint smile on her lips.

“Perhaps I should get her cousin,” Noah suggested worriedly.

Lila’s eyes opened momentarily and she murmured, “No, don’t tell Elizabeth,” before she once again drifted off to sleep or unconsciousness.

Olivia considered Lila’s words for a moment and enlightenment came to her. “She has just lost a child, I think. Someone had given her something to make her miscarry, and at first she did not think it had worked. Should I send for Dr. Barker?”

“Yes, I think you should, but for God’s sake, Lady Olivia, send someone who will be discreet.” His handsome face was pale in the dim candlelight and a frown puckered the wide brow beneath his rumpled brown hair.

Without a word Olivia slipped from the room and down to the kitchens where she was sure to find the footman Peter insisted stay on duty during the night when there were guests in residence. She found with relief that it was Staffer and instructed that he go immediately for the doctor and bring him to Mrs. Dyer in the Green Bedchamber, where Olivia would be awaiting them. When she returned to Lila’s room she found Sir Noah seated beside the bed holding the sick woman’s hand, but Lila was not awake.

“I have sent for the doctor and I think it would be best if you were not here when he came, Sir Noah,” she said gently.

“Yes, but it will be some time before he arrives.” Noah rose to pull up a chair for her and paced about the room when she seated herself. “I didn’t know about this, Lady Olivia, either that she was with child or that she had taken something to miscarry. I should not have brought you here had I known. We had some champagne and tarts and I thought perhaps they made her sick.”

“You need not fear that I will spread any word
of
what has happened tonight,” Olivia returned coldly.

He stopped his pacing and gazed directly at her from across the room. “I had no fear that you would, child. It is not that which distresses me but that you should be faced with such a situation at your age. I know you disapprove of me and your brothers for our way of life, and I would not purposely draw you into it.”

He came across to her and laid a brotherly hand comfortingly on her head. “I would not involve my sister in such a mess for the world, and I had no intention of doing so with you.”

“And what of Mrs.
Dyer? What of the mess she
is
in?”

Noah removed his hand from her head with a sigh. “I honestly cannot say, ma’am. Had she told me... I don’t know.” He shook his head uncertainly. “I will see she comes about, Lady Olivia, but you must remember that she is not a fledgling. She does not lack means as Mr. Dyer’s widow, and she is old enough to choose her own way of life. You may not approve of her, but she does not ask your approval. It cannot have been pleasant to be married to that old mutton-head,” he mused as he continued to wander about the room, “and there is no doubt that her parents forced her into the match, for he was rich and they were at low water at the time. Who can blame her for kicking over the traces now that he is gone? I certainly do not.”

“You wouldn’t,” Olivia murmured.

He stopped by her, exasperated. “It is the curse of youth to see everything as black and white, Lady Olivia. I hope I shall be around when you discover that nothing is so absolute, that there is always a degree of right and wrong. Are you so sure of yourself that you can be judgmental?”

Olivia flushed under his intense scrutiny and regarded her folded hands. “I don’t mean to be, Sir Noah, but I cannot but see the damage which comes from such wanton selfishness as is indulged in here at Stolenhurst. I do not claim to be disinterested and selfless, far from it. I would hope, though, that I would take responsibility for my actions. Peter is forever getting into scrapes and denying all blame, allowing someone else to extricate him. It is embarrassing and humiliating to me,” she whispered.

“You take your role as a sister too much to heart, child. No one sees you as in any way to blame for your brothers’ peccadilloes.”

Olivia’s laugh was tinged with bitterness. “How can you say so? Even your own mother classes me with them, and she is not the only one. Have you ever been faced with an angry shopkeeper who declares that your brother has smashed his windows on one of his ‘playful’ night rides? Or a local squire who asserts that Peter has left a footman in a coffin at his front door in the middle of the night? Do you think Peter will deign to see these people? Do you think I should deny his culpability? How am I to explain to them that it was just one of his thoughtless pranks, that he meant no real harm? The squire in his panic very nearly shot the footman. What would have come of that? But Peter does not care, nor would Charles or Samuel.”

Olivia felt tears stinging at her eyelids; she had never before given vent to her feelings in this way. “You say that you would not for the world involve your sister in such affairs. How do you know that she is not daily besieged as I am with the consequences of your excesses?”

A twisted smile curved Noah’s lips. “You forget my mother, Lady Olivia. Julianna has never, I am quite sure, been faced with any of the horrors you describe. I fear my mother may have in my youth, but it is many years since I learned discretion enough to handle my own affairs without her being involved.”

There was the sound of arrival in the peaceful night outside and Noah strode to the window to flick back the green velvet draperies. “The doctor is here, and I will leave you to ... handle my affairs,” he said regretfully.

Olivia waited at the door of Lila’s room for the doctor and dismissed the footman with her gratitude.
Dr.
Barker was an old and discreet friend, so she ushered him
into the room saying, “I dislike disturbing you at night, sir, but I cannot be sure that Mrs. Dyer doesn’t need some assistance. It would appear that she has miscarried ... and that it was induced purposely.”

There was no use hampering him by withholding the facts, although they were difficult for her to give. “She has been awake only for a short time, when she mentioned that something had worked—presumably a drug or potion of some sort.”

Dr. Barker nodded expressionlessly and proceeded to examine his patient. “There is no evidence of excessive hemorrhaging, Lady Olivia, but she should be watched throughout the night. She’s sleeping now, which is the best possible restorative for her. I’ll leave something for you to administer in the event of further heavy bleeding, and some laudanum for the pain.”

He stayed with Olivia for a while issuing instructions and assuring her that Mrs. Dyer would not likely suffer any ill consequences after he left but that he would be more than ready to attend her at any time he might be called. “You should get some sleep, my dear. Have her maid stay with her.”

Olivia nodded her understanding and walked with him to the front door before returning to the bedroom where she found Sir Noah awaiting her. After relaying the doctor’s instructions, she set about the task of bathing Mrs. Dyer and changing her bed linen with Noah’s help; she wished no servants to be involved in the night’s happenings. There was nothing more to say to Noah, and she proceeded about her tasks silently, grateful that he did not speak to her.

“I think you will wish to sit with Mrs. Dyer, but you have only to come for me if you should need any assistance,” she offered as she stood with her hand on the doorknob.

“You have already done more than I have any right to ask, Lady Olivia. I’m sincerely grateful and apologize for the imposition on you.” His troubled eyes rested on her downcast head and he pressed her hand before she slipped out the door.

Noah slumbered lightly in the chair by Lila’s bed, aware of her movements, and was wide awake when she spoke to him. “It’s all right now, Noah. I hope I didn’t frighten you.”

“You scared the devil out of me, Lila,” he said softly. “How do you feel?”

“A bit nauseated, actually. Was Lady Olivia here?”

“Yes, and the doctor has been and gone. He thinks you’ll be all right but he left some medicine. Why did you not tell me, Lila?”

She made a helpless gesture. “I didn’t wish to have a child, Noah. I was told of an apothecary in London who could help me, but I was afraid his brew had not worked, such foul-tasting stuff. No doubt it was foolish of me to assume that since I didn’t have any children by Mr. Dyer that I was unable to do so. Honestly, it never occurred to me that it was he and not I who was to blame.”