Carla Kelly (28 page)

“
Then
I will speak to Lord Byford. Don’t tell me that he is not
here
,
either?”

“
He is
not, my lord. He has gone up to London.”

“
To
London? Surely not! And for what purpose?”

She returned him
stare for stare. “Lord Byford does not see fit to acquaint me with
his schedule. Indeed, sir, I do not ask. I am not even sure when he
will return, my lord.”

There was no show
of emotion on Rotherford’s face beyond the slight twitching of a
muscle in his cheek. “You, madam, are a singularly valueless
housekeeper,” he said at last.

She couldn’t help
herself. “And you, sir, are singularly rude.”

The muscle in his
cheek worked a little faster. “I cannot imagine why Matthew keeps
you on, unless he gets some other satisfaction from your services,
madam, and I know that is not the case.” He allowed himself a small
chuckle at this, and turned back to the fireplace. “I will wait
here for James, even if it takes all day and night, Mrs.
Wells.”

Nails digging
into the palms of her hands, Omega struggled to maintain her
composure. “I regret, my lord, that our guest rooms are all in use.
May I suggest you consider the Ox and Bell in Byford? The food is
well-recommended and the sheets are clean.”

He turned around
to face her again, and Omega stared into his eyes. She knew that
her great anger showed in her own eyes, but she was equally
determined that she would not be the first to look away.
How
dare you think to frighten me and the staff of this household
,
she thought as she gazed at him.

To her intense
gratification, Lord Rotherford was the first to look away. He came
closer, walking around her, tapping his quizzing glass on one of
his waistcoat buttons. When he had completed his circuit, he
stopped in front of her.

“
You
claim he is in London?”

How smooth his
voice is, Omega thought. He sounds so wonderful. I wonder if the
devil is like this. “Yes, my lord.”

“
I
would not have thought anything could get him back to the city
again, Mrs. Wells,” he mused, speaking as if to himself, but
goading her to reply.

She did not rise
to the bait. “I have no notion of his intentions, my
lord.”

He walked around
her again, this time pausing behind her. He let out a deep sigh,
and she felt his breath on her neck. “Why is it that I do not
believe you, Mrs. Wells?”

“
My
lord, I cannot imagine,” she replied. She turned to face him,
wishing that he was not standing so close, but refusing to back
down. “We are preparing luncheon, Lord Rotherford, if you would
wish to remain. Lord Byford’s cook is quite good.”

“
I
will, Mrs. Wells, on the condition that you eat with me,” he
answered.

He was so close
that she could see clearly the pores on his face. Omega managed a
smile and a nod in his direction. “How kind of you, sir, but I
fear, sir, that you are doomed to disappointment. The housekeeper
never dines with the guests. Lord Byford would be deeply chagrined
with me. May I show you out now?”

She stepped
around him and made her way to the door, wishing that she could
sweep out elegantly instead of limping across the room, which
seemed to grow longer and longer with each step. She knew he
followed, even though he was uncannily silent.

Omega put her
hand on the doorknob, and Lord Rotherford leaned his hand against
the door, preventing her from opening it. She calmly took her hand
away. “Sir?”

“
One
more question, my dear Mrs. Wells. Does the mail coach stop in this
pleasant village?”

“
It
does, my lord.”

“
And
postal service is rapid to London?”

“
Very.”

“
Ah,
that is excellent.”

He removed his
hand from the door and she opened it, grateful beyond measure to
see Twinings standing in the hallway. Omega nodded toward Twinings.
“Could you please see this gentleman out?”

The muscle in
Rotherford’s cheek worked more quickly, but he bowed to her and
laughed. He had a pleasant laugh, but it sent waves of goose bumps
up and down her back. “My dear Mrs. Wells, I will return this
evening and see if you have, ah, learned anything more about your
master’s bolt to the city. Perhaps you’ll find that your memory has
improved by nightfall.”

“
That
is unlikely, my lord. And now, let us not detain you any further.
Twinings?”

Lord Rotherford
allowed himself to be led to the front door. Twinings opened it
with a flourish, handed him his hat and cane, and bowed. Rotherford
ignored the butler. “Mrs. Wells, one more thing. If you are
thinking of sending any kind of a message to James Clevenden, be
assured that I do not ever travel alone, and several of my men are
quite, quite interested in the architecture of this lovely old
home. They may even remain here to observe it.”

“
You
can’t do that!” she burst out.

“
I
would wager that I can, my dear, dear Mrs. Wells. If you summon the
constable, Matthew would be so chagrined at your rag manners. Good
day, my dear Mrs. Wells. Until this evening? And you
will
dine with me this evening. I absolutely insist.”

“
Very
well, sir,” she said through clenched teeth, “since you asked so
nicely.”

Twinings closed
the door and leaned against it. Omega walked as fast as she could
to the door and slammed the bolt into the lock. “I hope he heard
that!” she said savagely. “God, what a terrible man!”

“
Miss
Chartley, what does he mean to do?” asked the old man. “I cannot
fathom what is going on.”

She touched him
on the shoulder. “He means to spirit Jamie away. And he means to
keep us prisoner so we cannot warn him. The devil take
him!”

“
What
are we to do?”

She took him by
the arm. “Twinings, just ... just go downstairs. I’m going to sit
in the bookroom and think. You might ... you might direct the
footman to lock all the doors and windows.”

The bookroom was
quiet. She sat down in Matthew’s chair and rested her aching ankle
on an open drawer. “Oh, Matthew, what am I to do?” she said out
loud.

Somehow she had
to warn Hugh and Jamie. The thought of Hugh brought tears to her
eyes. He would know what to do.

“
Drat
you, Matthew Bering,” she said, “it seems you are never around when
I need you.”

She was ashamed
of her uncharitable words as soon as she spoke them, and was
grateful Matthew was not within earshot. She opened another drawer
and pulled out a sheet of paper.

The letter was
soon composed, sealed, and directed. It would startle Alpha and
send him up into the boughs, but he would do what she said. On this
head she had absolute reliance. Another moment’s quiet reflection,
sitting at Matthew’s desk rubbing her ankle, and she had her
answer. She smiled rather grimly and got to her feet. Lord
Rotherford was not going to win this time. He had ruined enough
lives already.

Twinings waited
for her outside the bookroom door, as if afraid to let her out of
his sight. “Twinings, you’re just the person I need,” she said, her
voice filled with decision. “Bring Angela up here. And ... and if
any of you have any money, please let me borrow it.”

She sat down on
one of the low window ledges outside the bookroom and looked over
the flower garden to the back gate. A strange man stood there,
hands on his hips, looking back at her. She had little doubt who
his keeper was. She turned her back to him.

Angela came
running. Omega made her sit down on the floor where she would not
be seen from the window. “Angela, we must warn Jamie not to return
here tomorrow.”

Angela
nodded.

“
And
once he has been warned, we must do something else. He must be
taken to my brother Alpha’s house just outside Amphney St.
Peter.”

“
I can
do these things, Miss Chartley.
Mira,
Twinings gave me all
this money!”

It was a paltry
sum, but it might provide a meal or two.

Omega smiled and
rested her hand on Angela’s shoulder. “I have no doubt that you can
do all these things I have asked of you. I think the difficult part
of your journey will be getting out of this house to take a message
to Hugh at Claybrook. Twinings tells me Claybrook is a small
village not ten miles from here to the north.”

She looked out
the window again. The man had shifted his position but was still
guarding the back gate. “I don’t doubt there is a guard at each
gate, my dear. Can you get out without being seen?”

Angela thought a
moment and then leaned against Omega’s knee. “Do you know, Miss
Chartley, that Hugh told me England would be boring and stuffy and
not a bit like Spain? But so far, it is very much like campaigning
with Picton.” She clapped her hands together. “Omega, this is
famous!”

Omega threw back
her head and laughed. “Oh, I wish Jamie could hear you, my dear!
What will you have me do?”

Angela scampered
downstairs for her leather campaigning bag and ran up the stairs
again, tying it around her waist. She helped Omega to her feet. “Do
you know there is a little door off the breakfast room that no one
uses? It gives out onto a grape arbor that leads to the gardening
shed.”

“
Oh,
but surely you will be seen, Angela! Let’s wait until
dark.”

“
No,
no. The grape leaves almost cover the walkway. I can get to the
gardening shed, and Tildy said her brother will get me out from
there and point me in the right direction.” She eyed Omega. “Do you
think you could create some sort of diversion, just to make
sure?”

“
What
would Sir Thomas Picton do?” said Omega.

“
Oh,
he would have sent the sappers ahead to pick off a few
Frenchies.”

“
I’ll
think of something, Angela.” She held out her arms. “Now, give me a
hug, and don’t let anyone see you. Tell Hugh to come quickly, and
get Jamie to my brother.”

Angela wrapped
her arms around Omega, who kissed her and held her tight for a
moment. “Do be careful, my dear,” said Omega.

They walked arm
in arm to the breakfast room. “I wish I knew what to do, Angela, to
distract the guards.”

Angela twinkled
her eyes at Omega and put her hand to her mouth. “Once my mother
took off her shirtwaist and washed her hair in a stream while the
rest of us escaped. I remember that.”

“
Oh, I
couldn’t do that!” Omega said, and then reconsidered.
Well
,
she told herself as she let Angela out the little side door,
I’ve already lied, broken the law, committed assault, and
practiced all manner of deceit
.

The thought of
Lord Rotherford stiffened her resolve. She limped to the door that
led out to the garden, threw the bolt, and walked onto the
tree-covered pathway. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that
the guard was looking her way. She proceeded down the path and
stopped before the climbing roses. Taking a deep breath, she
allowed herself to stumble into the roses, and soon found herself
trapped by the brambles.

“
Oh,
dear,” she said out loud. The guard, still on the other side of the
wall, came closer to watch. Her eye caught a flash of movement as
Angela started for the gardener’s shed. Omega began to cry, loud
noisy tears. “Oh, dear,” she sniffed again, and then unbuttoned her
dress and carefully stepped out of it, leaving it behind on the
thorns.

By now the guard
was intent. Clad in a camisole and petticoat, Omega turned around
and carefully began to remove the dress from the thorns, bending
over so the guard would have plenty to look at, and wondering as
she did so what Miss Haversham in Plymouth would say if she could
see the meek-and-retiring Miss Chartley now.

When the dress
was almost undone, Omega looked up and into the eyes of the strange
man. She screamed and pointed at him, and then collapsed in a
picturesque heap on the walkway. She opened one eye just a crack,
watched him scurry away, and sat up, smiling in grim satisfaction.
“I hope that was worth it, sir,” she said out loud, retrieved her
dress, and put it on before the servants came running.

Tildy was quick
to see the humor of the situation, but Twinings was not so
charitable. “Lord Byford would have been horrified, Miss Chartley,”
he scolded. “Can you imagine what he would think?”

“
Yes,
I can,” she said, not the least repentant. “I will ask him when
next I see him. And now, sir, if you would invite Antoine to
prepare a sumptuous dinner, I believe Lord Rotherford will be
dining here tonight. Let us show him every courtesy.”

“
I
hope he chokes on it,” declared Tildy.

“
So,
my dear, do I. But that only happens in novels.”

Omega brushed her
hair and arranged it carefully, wondering if it would be quite gray
before the evening was over. It shone out, as rich brown as ever,
as she tweaked her curls here and there, and then gave up in
disgust. Tildy found her a dove-gray silk dress from the closet
upstairs and helped her into it, buttoning it up the back. When she
finished, she looked over Omega’s shoulder into the
mirror.