Tenacious Trents 01 - A Misguided Lord (25 page)

Standing, he left the office to find
Peter.

The young man was stepping outside and
had walked to the well to get a drink of water.

“
I have a few ideas of
changes I would like to make.”

Peter straightened. “Is there
something I am doing wrong that you would like me to
change?”

Clay laughed and clapped the young man
on the shoulder. “No. You are doing a great job. It is about the
children. Don’t some of them seem a bit young to be
working?”

Peter’s eyebrows drew together. “What
would become of them, Lord Bentley, if we turned them out? They
would end up on the streets, or in worst mills?”

Again Clay laughed. “I have no
intention of turning any of them out. But, I do think they should
spend less time in a mill and more time in a classroom or
fishing.”

“
Fishing?”

“
Yes, fishing? Haven’t you
ever been?”

Peter eyed his employer with concern.
“No, I have not.”

Clay grinned. “I haven’t in a very
long time either. Let’s close down for the day, find some poles and
head for the lake.”

“
But, Lord Bentley, we have
orders to fill.”

“
The orders can wait.” Clay
laughed again. “Take care of what needs to be done to close down
and take the boys and meet me at the lake.”

Clay walked away before Peter could
offer any further argument and strode back to the house. If the
boys were being freed for the day, the girls should be as well. Of
course, he had no idea what chores the girls actually did in the
house besides cleaning, laundry and preparation of meals. Still,
there shouldn’t be anything too pressing that required them to
refrain from the fun.

He pushed the door open and walked
into the kitchen. Five of the older girls were inside and it looked
like they were getting ready to prepare a meal. Good. He had
arrived in time so that they would not have to remain in here while
the rest were outside enjoying themselves. He nodded a greeting and
marched through to the dining room, looking for Mrs. Nevil. He
found her in the front parlor with a young girl holding a feather
duster.

“
Lord Bentley, can I help
you?” She patted the young girl on the head. She bobbed a curtsey
and left the room.

He locked his hands behind his back
and rocked on his heels. “What were the plans for dinner this
evening?”

“
Chicken and roast
potatoes,” she answered. “Is there something else you would
like?”

“
No,” he paused. “Actually,
yes.”

“
I may have to send into
town,” she began, wringing her hands within her apron.

“
Do we have the necessary
foodstuffs for a picnic?”

“
I am sure we could put a
basket together for you.” The woman answered.

“
Not just me,” he grinned.
“For everyone.” He spread his arms out.

The woman paled.
“Everyone?”

“
The children, you, Peter,
everyone.”

The woman gaped at him. “I am not
sure. We have a few things left over from the evening meal and some
things from lunch.”

“
But not enough for a
picnic?”

“
I will have to check and
see.”

“
How long to cook the
chickens?” He had no idea what went into meal planning or how long
it took to cook anything. Perhaps he should learn some of these
things, but did it matter if he did?

“
If we roast them, hours,
Lord Bentley.”

He frowned at this. They didn’t have
hours and he wanted to be as fair to the girls as he was being to
the boys.

“
We could boil the chicken.
That would take much less time and we have the bread.”

While it didn’t free the girls as
quickly, it was a solution. “What of other foodstuffs?”

“
We have fruit and the
cakes we were to have for dessert already prepared.”

“
Cakes?” They never had
dessert.

The woman blushed. “It is Peter’s
birthday. I wanted to do something special.”

How could he not know this? All the
better that he picked today, of all days, to bring some enjoyment
to the children.

“
Do we do this for all the
children?”

“
I try. We don’t know all
the birthdays of course.”

They didn’t even know the actual ages
of a number of them.

“
When we don’t have the
birthday, we use the day they came here.”

“
And you make cakes for
them?”

“
Or their favorite treat.”
Her face blushed. “I know it wasn’t in your instructions, and I
took this upon myself, I hope you don’t mind.”

He grinned at her. “I think it is an
excellent idea. Everyone should have a celebration on their special
day.”

The woman visibly relaxed. “Thank you,
Lord Bentley.”

“
But, there will be other
changes here too.”

She stiffened. “Is something wrong
that needs fixed?”

“
No,” he laughed. Why did
Mrs. Nevil and Peter assume the worst? Was he that poor of an
owner, employer? Or, did they still fear because of what Thomason
had done? “I want to make improvements, which I plan on discussing
with you and Peter at the picnic.”

Her shoulders drooped, as if
relieved.

“
Prepare the picnic lunches
and then you and the girls bring it to the lake with blankets to
sit upon.”

“
What of the laundry and
cleaning?”

“
Do the children have clean
clothes to wear?”

“
Yes, at least one
set.”

He looked around the room. “This place
is clean enough.”

“
But, Lord Bentley, the
upstairs has not been swept.”

“
It can be done tomorrow.
The children are going to have some fun.” With that he turned on
his heel and marched out of the house and into a shed at the back
of the property. There had to be something inside they could use
for fishing.

There wasn’t anything except string
and some hooks. This would not do, unless he had the boys fashion
one from sticks. He grabbed the items, along with a few buckets and
followed the path to the lake. The boys were milling around
talking. A few were tossing pebbles into the water. Two more were
climbing a tree. They were behaving the way boys ought to behave.
“Peter, I need you to ride over to Lord Acker’s property. I’ll send
a note with you. I am hoping he will let us borrow his fishing
equipment.”

“
I’ll leave right away,
Lord Bentley.”

The two returned to the house and Clay
wrote a quick note to Acker. The man had several fishing poles and
the necessary equipment stored away from his house party. Hopefully
he would let the children use them. Once Peter was sent on his way,
Clay returned to the lake. The boys watched him expectantly. He
anchored his fists on his hips. “I need you to take the buckets,
put dirt in them and then find as many worms as you can. The rest
of you, try to find some long sticks we can use as
poles.”

None of them moved and looked at him
with confusion. “Have none of you been fishing before?”

Slowly they shook their
heads.

“
Well, it is time you
learned.”

They scampered off into the woods,
laughing. Clay settled onto the log of a long dead tree and stared
out over the water. If anything, this little outing would keep him
occupied so he wasn’t thinking about Eleanor.

He picked up a flat pebble and skipped
it across the water. Who was he trying to fool? No matter how much
he tried to keep his mind occupied, she was continually at the back
of his thoughts. Only two more days, and then he would call on her
again, and he wouldn’t leave until she heard him out.

*

Elle stared at the meal before her
unable to eat a bite due to the tightness in her belly. Regardless,
she was resigned to her marriage and the future of the children.
This was for the best. All night she had tossed and turned, unable
to sleep. Lord Wilkes was practically a stranger and he would be
taking her so far away from her family and home. If only she could
discuss this with Drake, but neither her grandfather nor Lord
Wilkes had allowed her a moment’s peace yesterday with discussions
of the future and she couldn’t even get a note sent to him.
Hopefully she would get the opportunity today, or maybe even have a
chance to sneak away to visit her friend.

“
You should spend the day
packing.” Grandfather interrupted her thoughts. “We should leave
tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow?” Elle
questioned.

“
I need to return home and
your grandfather does as well.” Lord Wilkes smiled at her. “We will
travel to Wales and be married. Your grandfather will take the
children.”

Her heart constricted. It was too
soon.

Lord Wilkes reached over and grasped
his cold hand around hers. “The longer you put this off the harder
it will be.”

He was right. No matter how much time
he allowed her, leaving them would break her heart.

“
We won’t be married here?”
She had hoped to have family and friends around, and it would put
off the inevitable.”

“
We will wed at my home, as
soon as I obtain a special license.”

“
But the children won’t be
present.” Panic lodged in her throat. She did not want to be
married without anyone she knew with her.

“
It is not practical,
Eleanor,” he insisted.

“
I can’t travel alone with
you without the benefit of marriage.” How many more arguments could
she think of?

“
No one will know, and if
they learn, we will marry as soon as we arrive. It is not so
different than many of the young couples who run off to Gretna
Green every year.”

He was right. Though scandalous at the
moment, few suffered in the long term. And, it wasn’t like she was
going to be moving in society anyway.

“
I would like to leave at
first light.”

Elle laid her fork beside her plate,
any appetite long gone. “Very well. We will be ready.”

The entire day was spent packing the
boy’s things and then items and clothing she and Leigh would need.
Lord Wilkes even went into town to purchase more trunks because the
four stored were not enough. Though Elle thought their possessions
sparse, there was more clothing than she realized and several
personal items of her parents that she wanted to keep with her. The
house would be locked up and she didn’t know when they would
return. Hopefully, when she and Wilkes were married a bit longer,
she could prevail upon him, or her grandfather, to make repairs to
the house so that it was in good condition for when Tobias was old
enough to inherit.

On second thought, she would ask Adam
to live here. He was their uncle and currently lived in a shabby
room in town. Adam would see that the place was taken care of for
Tobias. As soon as she had a moment to spare, she would send word
to him and ask him to move in.

At least that was one concern put to
rest. Now all she had to worry about was how she was going to live
without her family.

Elle had just closed the lid to the
last trunk and stood in the center of the room, looking at every
corner and at each table. There was nothing left she wished to take
with her. A glance at the window showed it would soon be nighttime.
The sun had dipped low on the horizon and she still had dinner to
prepare. She would not be able to see Drake before she left, nor
could she send word now. She would simply have to write him once
she had a chance and hope he visited her one day. One promise she
had hoped to gain from him was that he would check on her siblings
whenever he had the chance. She didn’t totally trust her
grandfather to see to their best interests, but what choice did she
have? To reject the offer from Lord Wilkes would keep them
destitute and they deserved a much better life than she could give
them.

The door to her room closed and Elle
whipped around to find Lord Wilkes standing a few feet
away.

“
What are you
doing?”

“
I wish to be alone with my
bride without interruption?” He smiled wickedly at her. His gaze
was filled with lust and his eyes swept her body. The gleam of
desire was similar to the one she had seen in Bentley’s not that
long ago. His had left her warm and jittery; Lord Wilkes stare left
her cold and panicked.

“
We are not married yet,
Lord Wilkes.”

“
We soon will be.” He
slowly stalked toward her.

“
It is daylight and the
children are about.”

He smiled and placed his hands on her
waist, pulling Eleanor towards him.

“
Such maidenly modesty. Was
your grandfather wrong? Perhaps you are a virgin after
all.”

Elle lowered her eyes. “My grandfather
told you I was not?” How did he know? Was there something about her
that others could tell she had lain with a man?