Lord Deverill's Heir (7 page)

She turned then, nodded to the footman who held open the door, and walked into the Velvet Room.

“Justin, Elsbeth,” she said, giving them both her smile, which was soft and warm and quite beautiful. “I trust we have not kept you waiting overlong.”

“No, dear ma’am,” Elsbeth said. She walked to her stepmother and asked in her shy voice, “Is Arabella all right, ma’am?” Dr. Branyon said, “She was sound asleep by the time we left her bedchamber. On the morrow she will be quite restored to her usual self.”

“That could be a pity,” the earl said to no one in particular. “Are you certain, sir? Could she not perhaps have a relapse into common sense and sound reason? Perhaps even a bit of amiability? I shan’t repine if she only chooses to dip her finger into just a cup of benevolence.” Lady Ann held down the chuckle, gave him a frown, and said, “Are you and his lordship becoming acquainted, my dear?” She saw that Justin started in surprise. It was the new title, she realized. He would have to become used to it.

“Oh, no, not as yet, Lady Ann. His lordship had to change his clothes, you see. He was really quite dirty from arguing with Arabella. He had been with me but a moment before you and Dr. Branyon arrived, but he does seem nice. He called me ma’am, at first, but I told him that since we’re cousins, he’s to call me Elsbeth.”

“I like the sound of ma’am,” the earl said. “But if you prefer that I call you Elsbeth, I shall have to ask Lady Ann’s permission.”

“Ma’am?” Lady Ann said, cocking her head to one side. “I think it dreadful myself. It makes a lady sound old. Do call her Elsbeth, Justin.”

“Thank you. Would you like to sit on that very small crimson velvet and gold chair, Elsbeth? I don’t dare try it, it might collapse.” Lady Ann sat in front of the ornate tea service. “Do you take cream in your tea, Justin? Sugar? We must accustom ourselves.”

“Just as it comes from the pot, Ann,” he said.

“No frills, hmm, my lord?” Dr. Branyon said, raising his own teacup to the earl in salute.

“On the Peninsula there was little milk unless we could catch a wandering goat. As for sugar and lemon, they were unheard of. One becomes very basic when one has to.”

Dr. Branyon liked the new earl. He wasn’t pompous and utterly cruel like the former earl. He was a large man, much like his late relative, and carried his size with loose-limbed grace. Though his bronzed face looked more suited to rugged adventuring, his elegant fitted evening clothes were not at all out of place on him. He looked to be as much at ease in the drawing room as he would be on the battlefield. The earl sensed eyes upon him and turned to Dr. Branyon, an inquiring smile spreading over his face. It softened his features.

Dr. Branyon was beginning to think that Ann was quite correct in her hope. The earl might be just the right husband for Arabella. At least he wouldn’t let Arabella walk all over him. On the other hand, she might shoot him if he believed, as had the late earl, that a woman’s only use was to bear sons. Or if he believed, as had the late earl, that a gentleman was free to betray his wife whenever it pleased him to do so.

The earl shifted his attention to Lady Ann. “I compliment you, Ann, on your furnishing of this room. The Velvet Room, I believe it is called?”

“Thank you for the praise, but it isn’t deserved. This room hasn’t been touched in years. The velvet has lasted beautifully, has it not? The earl’s first wife, Magdalaine, recovered all the furnishings. I believe the crimson velvet and the gold make a very rich effect. And with those white columns throughout the chamber, I sometimes feel as though I should be awaiting the king. Well, perhaps not George, for he is quite mad, poor man.”

The earl sipped his tea. It was rich and dark, just the way he liked it.

He said to Elsbeth, “Do you plan to make your home at Evesham Abbey?” Elsbeth’s teacup clattered into its saucer. “Oh goodness, no, my lord.

That is, well, I do think it most kind of your lordship to perhaps not mind if I did stay, but now I can afford to have quite different plans.” She beamed at him. “I still have to pinch myself to believe it’s true.

But it is, Lady Ann has assured me again and again that it is, that I did not misunderstand. It isn’t a mistake. Perhaps my father did care just a bit for me after all. Lady Ann assures me that he did. I never believed that he did, but he proved it in the end, didn’t he?” There didn’t seem to be a ready answer to that. The ten-thousand-pound legacy from her father. “Yes,” the earl said finally, “he obviously did care for you. What do you intend to do with your fortune, Elsbeth? Travel to Paris? Buy a villa in Rome?”

“I haven’t yet decided, my lord.” She shot a look toward Lady Ann, who said immediately, “We are just beginning to speak of possibilities, Justin. But I think that Elsbeth would greatly enjoy a prolonged stay in London. I would, of course, accompany her.” She paused a moment and met his gray eyes squarely. “After you and Arabella are wed, we shall firmly settle our plans. We will not remain here in your way.” The earl’s left eyebrow flared upward to his temple, an identical habit that Arabella had inherited from her father. It shook Ann a moment. They looked so much alike. She could but pray that they wouldn’t come to think of each other as brother and sister. He said nothing to Ann’s outrageous statement, but she knew he wanted to.

After Crupper had cleared away the tea tray, Dr. Branyon moved closer to Lady Ann, and said quietly, “Don’t rush your fences, my dear. I do wonder though what the earl wanted to say to you. It was difficult but he held his tongue. That is excellent and perhaps bodes well for the future.”

“Nonsense. Justin knows quite well what is at stake. He will do his best to drag Arabella to the altar, just you mark my words.”

“If she does not care for him I don’t know what we will do.”

“We will simply watch and wait, Paul. I do not believe Justin is stupid or clumsy. We will see. Actually, we have no choice but to wait and see.” Dr. Branyon looked toward Elsbeth, who was painstakingly making conversation with the earl. “You didn’t tell me that you were leaving with Elsbeth.”

Lady Ann felt a sudden quickening deep inside her. She blinked, looking away from him. A long-buried memory rose in her mind, and she said unexpectedly, “Do you remember, Paul, when I was birthing Arabella? I have never told you, but I know that you were with me for all of those long agonizing hours. I know that you never left me. I remember your voice urging me, always urging me, even when I wanted to die. I know that you saved my life.”

He would never forget the horror of those long hours, his fear that she would die, his ultimate fury at the earl for his damned indifference.

“No,” he said slowly, “I did not think you would remember. The pain was so intense that I believed your mind wouldn’t allow you to remember.” She was being polite, he realized, making certain that he knew he was still welcome here, that he would always be welcome. He rose suddenly, wanting only to leave. He didn’t believe he could stand kindness from her. “It grows late, Ann, and I should stop by and check on Mr. Crocker’s stomach pains. It’s a thirty-minute ride. The old man will probably be cursing the air blue by the time I get there. He calls me boy, at my age.” He doesn’t want those memories, Lady Ann thought, staring up at him. It was a horrible time for me, but he was my physician, nothing more, and I have made him uncomfortable. She rose to stand beside him. She found an easy smile for him, but it was difficult. “Do come by tomorrow, Paul, if for no other reason than to pronounce Arabella fit again. I do hope that you will since I don’t wish to hear her argue with you.”

“Of course.”

Lady Ann placed her hand upon his arm and again felt a surge of pleasure course through her. She said shyly, “It would give me—give us great pleasure if you would stay to dinner. I will have cook prepare capon, your favorite, with almond sauce and those small white onions.” Her husband had hated capon. She determined to have it at least once a week now.

You do not owe me your gratitude, he wanted to shout at her. “As you wish, Ann,” he said instead. Through long years of practice, he kept other thoughts to himself. He patted her hand as he would a patient’s who had just followed his instructions perfectly. “Tomorrow, then, my dear.” Lady Ann stood silently at the door of the Velvet Room until Dr. Branyon had accompanied Crupper out of her hearing. She realized in that instant that she felt warm all over. Yet the evening wasn’t warm. The fire was banked. It was ridiculous. Goodness, she had a grown daughter.

She turned an absurdly youthful face to find the earl’s eyes on her, his look too intent for her comfort. Because she was not a young, inexperienced girl, she was able to smile at him, as if nothing at all in the world was on her mind and say, “Elsbeth, if you do not retire to your bed soon, I shall have to fetch some matchsticks to keep your eyes propped open. Come, love, say good night to Justin and come with me.” Elsbeth yawned, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

“Have I been such a boring companion, Elsbeth? Don’t spare me the truth, I can deal with it. After all, I have already dealt with far worse from your sister.”

“Oh, of course not, my lord. Not boring at all, I swear it to you, my lord.”

“Justin.”

“Yes, Justin, but that is difficult, my lord. You are a lord while I am not much of anything. You are very kind to let me call you by your name.” Damnation, her candor would smite the coldest of hearts, except for her father’s. Justin wondered if the late earl had even known his eldest daughter, if he would have recognized her if he’d passed her in his own house. “You may call me other names as well. I’m certain your sister will. She will show no restraint at all.”

“Oh, no, my lord, that’s not true. Arabella is perfect. It is I who am terribly gauche. I never know the right thing to do. I would love to be like Arabella. She’s so confident, so sure of herself. Yes, forgive me.

It’s just that I’m very tired and that’s why I yawned in your face. It has nothing to do with you, my lord, er, Justin.” Lady Ann rescued her stepdaughter. “Pay no attention to his lordship, my dear, he’s teasing you. As for Arabella, she is herself and I am glad you aren’t like her. One of each of you is just right. Now, off to your bed.” She clasped Elsbeth’s hand and leaned close. “We have much to discuss tomorrow, my love. Sleep well.”

Elsbeth’s dark almond eyes glowed. “Oh yes, Lady Ann, to be sure. I shall sleep like a log.” She turned and sketched her best curtsy to the earl, then nearly ran from the Crimson Room.

“You should have been a diplomat, Ann,” the earl said when they were alone.

“Ah, that mission seems to be reserved for you, brave, courageous men,” she said, still thinking about Paul Branyon, so many years of memories coursing through her mind.

“True, but I cannot image that it will always be so.”

“What will not always be so?”

“You weren’t attending. It is no matter. Ah, Dr. Branyon seems a charming man. Most devoted to the Deverill family.” He saw too much, she thought, merely nodding, saying nothing. He wasn’t like her husband, cold and distant, telling her what to do, many times paying no attention to her at all when she happened to be in a room he entered.

The earl tucked away her reaction and changed the subject. “I knew your husband for over five years, Ann. I find it quite strange that he never once mentioned that he had another daughter. She is a charming girl, but—” He paused.

“But what, Justin? Go ahead, say it.”

“If that is what you want. She is starved for love, for attention. She doesn’t have an ounce of guile in her, which could prove dangerous if she is not careful.”

“You’re right, of course. The earl, her father, did not allow her to live with us. She was but a small frightened child when he packed her off to Kent to make her home with his older sister, Caroline. I have maintained a constant correspondence with the child all these years, but of course it cannot be the same thing. I am certain that Caroline did her best by Elsbeth, but as you said, she is starved for love.” Lady Ann drew a deep breath. “I fully intend to remedy all the past ills Elsbeth has suffered.”

“But why did the earl treat her so?”

“I’ve often wondered that. I finally decided it must be because he loved Arabella so very much, he did not want to share her or himself. There was, quite simply, no one else for him.” Lady Ann added, “And for some reason that I could never discover, he bore some sort of grudge toward the de Trécassis family. That was his first wife’s family. The earl was never a very forgiving man, you know.”

“Does it not seem rather curious to you, then, that he bequeathed her ten thousand pounds?”

“Yes, I was shocked. Perhaps he regretted what he had done, but I am not at all certain that is true. I fear that we shall never know his reasons for doing so. Ah, Justin, do forgive me for being so very blunt about you and Arabella. Dr. Branyon wasn’t pleased with me. He said you held your tongue, but it was difficult for you.”

“Just a bit difficult.” The earl rubbed his chin, looking into the orange embers in the fireplace. “Let us just say that you did not leave me a great deal of latitude on the subject. Though I made up my mind several years ago that I would marry Arabella, it still comes as a shock to be thrust so baldly into the cauldron. You know, Ann, that I shall try to do my best by her.”

“If I had believed otherwise, my dear Justin, I would have fought the entire proposition with the ferociousness of a mother lion. Although I felt a great deal of doubt about the earl’s deception, I thought his decision to be the best solution. You know, it was all I could do to keep quiet while George Brammersley dallied about before you arrived. I spoke briefly to Arabella this evening. If naught else, I believe she begins to understand her father’s motives as well as my silence over the matter.

Still, it is difficult for her. It will be difficult for her for a long time, I fear.”

“You are a remarkable woman, Ann.”

“You are kind, but that isn’t true. Over the years I have become a very realistic woman, nothing more. Years of life do that to one, you know.

Perhaps it was wrong of the earl to wish to protect Arabella. You know how he felt.”