The Viscount's Counterfeit Wife (25 page)

She couldn’t bring
herself to appreciate it. They hadn’t even consulted her about
it... as usual!

“How did you know I
was in Town? No one–” she broke off. She’d rather not let them
know she wanted to keep it a secret. That would only spark their
curiosity and then they’d never leave her alone until they had the
whole story.

Ignoring her question
with a vague wave of the hand, Venetia rushed on to say, “We have
so many plans to make! It will be such fun.”

“Didn’t you hear
me? Or is it just that you never listen to what I say? I–do–not–want
to come out.” She clenched her fists and looked away to gather her
composure. “I came to visit the sights and see what London is all
about.” Facing them again, she said, “I have no wish to go to
parties or be put on display in the ‘flesh market’ at Almack’s.”
She couldn’t add that she had far too many other worries on her
plate to have time or the lightness of mind to attend social events.

“Darling!” Venetia
exclaimed. “Where did you ever learn such an awful expression?”
Her sisters looked shocked that their
baby
sister
was even aware of such matters. Venetia put an arm
around her. “If you don’t come out, how will you ever find a
husband?”

“I don’t want to
find a husband. Men are far too meddlesome, insisting on running your
life, spending your money, never allowing you to–” she cut
herself off. She’d almost forgotten her sisters had no idea of her
plans.

“Sit down. Please.”
She gestured to the sofa and took the armchair across from it. She’d
shocked them… again. If she weren’t so worried about Reed making
an appearance and having to explain his presence, she could almost
find it amusing to see them reassessing how they saw her. They were
probably wondering what she intended to do with the rest of her life,
if she remained unwed. It wasn’t as if she had any special passion
like the rest of the family, they’d be thinking.

“Just look at
father,” she said.

“But he’s a great
artist!” The awe in Venetia’s voice said it all.

“That’s no excuse
for his intolerable behavior!” She could have sworn that was a
gleam of surprised admiration in Milana’s eyes. “As for the
twins! You should hear what they’ve done to me.”

“What?” Both women
sat up. They weren’t as understanding of their younger brothers as
of their father.

“They convinced Mr.
Elphinton to hand over control of my competency to them.”

Venetia gasped. Milana
tsked in disgust.

“Ever since taking
over for his father two years ago, Alfred Elphinton has made no
secret of disagreeing with me over my paying the servant’s wages
and household bills with my money.” She lifted her hands, palms up,
in front of her. “I can’t disagree, but who does he think will
pay, if I don’t?”

Her sisters nodded
their understanding.

“Because of this, he
agreed with the twins and turned over control of my money to them!”
She ended on a higher pitched note, expressing her disbelief and
dismay.

“He didn’t!”
Milana sounded horrified. Almost as horrified as Tally had been when
she discovered the twins’ perfidy, right after they left for Italy.
“Those rogues!”

She would have used far
stronger language than that! But that just showed why the rest of her
family were so careless with their money. They’d never been taught
otherwise. Having a profligate father, and a mother who was unable or
unwilling to say no to him… or them!... had spoiled the lot of
them.

“And I had carefully
saved all the rest of it and had a tidy nest egg put away.”

“But Mr. Elphinton
knew why Great Auntie Ida left the females her fortune. With the
twins, it will be gone like that!” Venetia snapped her fingers
together.

Tally winced at the
thought. Then she glanced toward the door. She appreciated their
outrage on her behalf, but if Reed heard them, he might come down to
find out what was going on. She needed to hurry along this visit.

“We at least had
sense enough to let you take care of our funds for us until we wed.
What was Mr. Elphinton thinking?” Milana said.

“As I said, Mr.
Elphinton Senior retired. His son, Alfred, is a friend of the twins
and is impressible. He’s been urging me to help them out for ages
and was not pleased when I ignored his advice,” she explained. “I
should have followed my instincts and removed my funds from his
management as soon as he took over.”

“Oh, you poor dear!
You should have told us. We’d have put a stop to that.” Venetia
looked at Milana, who nodded vehemently. “I’ll ask Frederick to
get your money back for you.”

“Thank you, but no. I
have no doubt your husband would succeed, but I have already hired a
lawyer who is in the process of wresting control of my money back.”
She preferred to take care of it herself. She didn’t need a man to
fight her battles for her. “That doesn’t mean I’ll ever get
back all my savings. The twins will have squandered most of it by
now. Yet the few servants left, still haven’t been paid.”

“I will see that they
are paid.” Venetia was indignant. “And you can be sure I will
write to mother and tell her to refund the money the twins stole from
you. Our parents should have been sending money to pay for the
servants all along.”

The two older sisters
had the same thought at the same moment. “They probably
were
sending it. To the twins! Who were selfishly spending it on
themselves!”

Tally wasn’t so sure.
She had little confidence in her parents’ ability to be far-sighted
enough to think of doing that.

“They really need to
be taught a lesson!” Exasperated at their brothers’ heedless
behavior, Milana shook her head. “Now that father is earning...”
She tapered off when it occurred to her, and to them, that it didn’t
matter how much their father earned. Like the twins, he would never
spend or save any of it wisely. “Maybe Uncle Marco will have taken
over running their finances?” Milana ended, with very little real
hope that their mother’s brother could achieve that minor miracle.

“If you could pay the
servants for the months since the twins left, I’d be grateful.”
With that help, Tally could remain another few weeks in London.

“You must come and
stay with us. We’ll be able to launch–” Venetia stopped
abruptly. Tally had begun shaking her head but stopped when she
noticed Milana’s elbow connect with her older sister’s side.
Venetia turned an aggrieved look on Milana and was treated to what
their family all knew as their mother’s “evil eye”. She hadn’t
known Milana had inherited that maternal weapon.

“You don’t want to
come stay with us?” Venetia coaxed.

“No. I’ve rented
this house for the Season and I intend to remain here.”

“I see.” Her eldest
sister was mulling over how to approach her next attempt.

Tally had years of
experience with this tactic. She looked at Milana, who shrugged her
shoulders and threw up her hands in a very Italian way.

“Yes, I see.”
Venetia hesitated. “Perhaps you don’t want to attend all of the
parties, but Frederick and I will be hosting a party on Thursday. You
can’t refuse to come to your own sister’s party!”

Groaning inwardly,
Tally again cursed the busybody who’d blabbed to her sisters about
her being in London. Spence? She’d wring his neck if he’d told.
But he barely knew her sisters, who were much older and had left home
before he started coming around. Besides, he’d never mention her
being in London now that he knew it would ruin her. He wanted to
marry her.

She
wanted to squish whoever had meddled in her life like a bug!
They had no idea the trouble they were causing her! If Reed entered
this room right now, her sisters would either be gleeful she had a
man and ask them when they were getting married or they’d be
horrified and still ask them when they were to wed!

And whoever heard of
marrying a man who might have come to murder you?

Worse, he thought they
were already married! If he told them that, her sisters would fly up
into the boughs!

Grudgingly, she decided
that, if she wanted to get them out of here quickly, she would have
to compromise. “Fine, I’ll come to
your
party...” Seeing their delighted faces about to spill over with
more plans, she added, “But only that one, and on two conditions.”
At their inquiring looks, she added, “That you only delay your trip
to Paris, not cancel it. There is no reason to lose the entire
Season. I have no intention of ruining my visit to London by
attending routs, staying up late and rising in the afternoon, only to
start the same wearying rounds over and over again. It’s exhausting
and a waste of time!”

She was reluctant even
to attend her sisters’ party, but she knew they’d hound her until
she did. It seemed wiser to give in right away to head them off.

They hemmed and hawed,
then with a final nod to each other, reluctantly agreed. “We hadn’t
yet cancelled. We felt it wiser to wait until we were sure you truly
were in London,” Milana said. “Now, we shall merely delay it a
bit.”

“And what is your
second condition?” Her oldest sister asked.

“That you don’t
tell Grandma that I am in Town.”

“Oh but...”

“I know I will meet
her at your gathering, but until then, you agree not to tell her
anything about me being here.”

They looked at each
other, then nodded reluctantly.

“Good.” Tally
sighed with relief. It would give her a little more time to find out
who Reed was and make arrangements for him to leave her home.

“
Famoso!
”
Theatrically lapsing into their mother’s tongue, Venetia began
leading the way to the door. “Come on, Milana. We have lots to do.”

Tally was surprised
they weren’t staying to coerce her into more activities she didn’t
want to do, but was so thankful they were leaving, while there was
still the risk of Reed coming downstairs, that she didn’t question
the strangeness of it.

Gracious, she hadn’t
even offered them refreshments!

“We have to send out
the invitations...” They walked into the front hallway discussing
all that had to be done in so short a time and she realized they were
organizing Venetia’s party only now, after she said she’d go!

She clenched her teeth
to keep from cursing. Still, if only one party satisfied them, then
she’d endure it. It seemed almost too easy. Why were they fine with
her agreeing to go to only one party? It was unlike them, especially
Venetia.

Deciding not to look a
gift horse in the mouth and unable to come up with any motive that
made sense, she let it go. No matter how much they badgered, she’d
hold them to only the one party.

“We’ll be by
tomorrow morning to collect you at eleven sharp to go shopping for
your gown–”

Now it started! “I
don’t need a new gown. I have several perfectly lovely ones I can
wear.”

“If this is the only
party you’re going to attend, then you shall look your best. A
Madame Simone gown will ensure that.”

“Oh, all right, but
I’m only saying yes because it is the one party.” She knew when
to pick her battles and allowing them to buy her one gown didn’t
seem too great a hardship. She was prepared to do a lot to keep them
away from her home and the chance of running into Reed. She had no
doubt that, were they to learn of his presence in her house, they’d
compel them to get married. She was not going to be pushed to marry
any man, let alone one who had no idea who he was and who might even
hold sinister plans for her in his lost memories.

* * *

“Ahem.”

“Mason! This is the
first time I’ve had the pleasure of your presence in my room. Come
in.” Putting his book down on the armrest of the easy chair, Reed
stood up. What did this phlegmatic friend of Talia’s brothers want
with him? Not that he believed that story anymore. After overhearing
his wife and Foster, he thought it more likely that the man had been
hired to help them find out who was trying to kill her and how to
stop them. Was he now coming to see what Reed knew?

Ha! Reed wished him
luck. He’d give anything to know what he knew too!

When Mason came to
visit, which — from what Reed could tell — was on a daily basis,
he moved about the house like a shadow. One forgot he was even there.

Ah, but perhaps Talia
had sent Mason up to keep Reed occupied, while she entertained her
visitors. He’d heard several female voices come in earlier.

Well, she needn’t
have worried, he had no intention of going down there and risking
more strangers being told he was a crazy man who believed he was wed
to everyone he met!

“I’ve brought your
travel bag.” Mason set it down just inside the open bedroom door.
“It’s too heavy for either Foster or the boy to carry upstairs,
so I offered my services.”

“Then I thank you.”
Reed gave a rueful smile. “I’m sorry to put you to the trouble,
but I’m not quite myself yet.”

“So I’ve been
told.” Mason leaned against the door frame and looked ready to
settle in for a conversation. “What happened?”

Reed still didn’t
trust the man, or his intentions towards Talia, but he wasn’t about
to turn him away. He was so bored sitting around all day with his own
thoughts, he was glad of any company. And maybe Mason knew what was
really going on around here! “I’m not exactly sure. All I know is
what I was told. I have no memory of how I hurt my head and lost my
memory.”

As laconic as ever,
Mason didn’t seem surprised by this revelation. “You remember
nothing?”

Had Talia already told
him? “Not much. Little things. Knowing I prefer coffee to tea, that
I dislike rhubarb. And general knowledge, like knowing a man should
never be seen without his jacket at dinner. Manners and customs and
such.”