Dangerous in Diamonds (8 page)
“Certainly. Of course.” Mr. Goodale positioned himself in her clear view for his performance. He unrolled the paper he carried. He held it up so his nose, eyes, and balding pate rose above the top edge and his paunch became a prop for the bottom.
It was a map.
“I had this made just for our conversation, Mrs. Joyes,” he explained, his voice muffled by the paper. “You can see that everything is enlarged and much more easily viewed than on normal-size maps.”
He glanced to the duke, looking for praise. When none came, Daphne did her best to fill in. “How clever of you, sir. I confess that most maps are so small as to be illegible to me.”
“Me too! Hence my inspiration to make this easier for us both. I drew it myself, and believe even the scale is approximately correct. I am particularly proud of how I—”
“Move on, Mr. Goodale.”
“Of course, Your Grace. Now, look here, Mrs. Joyes. This is Cumberworth.” He pointed to a collection of squares and rectangles on the map’s lower right. “Here is your home.” He pointed to the lane, house, and gardens of The Rarest Blooms to the town’s northwest. “And, as I anticipated, there is indeed an unexpected element. Right—here.” He pointed to a large plot of land north of the copse of trees that bordered her property.
“That is fallow ground, unworked by its owner. That holding has been uninhabited for years. It has some trees and brush. Nothing more,” she said.
“You misunderstand, dear lady. This is not a separate holding north of you. It is part of the property on which you now live. The whole acreage came to Lord Becksbridge through his mother. Hence his freedom to dispose of it in his testament.”
“It is all of a piece?” She held out her hands for the map. Mr. Goodale brought it over and draped it on her lap. She bent over the lines and markings, very surprised.
Becksbridge had not given her a map. He had only provided directions to the house where she now lived. The land in front and behind obviously belonged to it. That to the north, past the trees along the lane, seemed obviously not to.
“If there is some concern with this other section, and it being attached to my tenancy, let me say that I have no need of it. It can be leased to another.”
“That is not the only concern,” Castleford said. “Show Mrs. Joyes the rest, and be quick about it. You are taking up more of this afternoon than can be afforded you.”
Mr. Goodale bent over her and pointed again. This time to an area some distance from her house but less so from that other section. “Mrs. Joyes, do you see these markings up here? They represent notations from surveyors.”
“Regarding what?”
“Minerals. Underground and untouched still, for the most part, but very recently a small mine has begun to be dug . . . here.”
She noted the spot under his fingertip, a few miles from Cumberworth.
Mr. Goodale sat himself in a chair to her left. He eyed the cakes but thought better of it. “Mrs. Joyes, while you have lived in that house, has the property ever, to your knowledge, been examined? Have there ever been men about with maps and such? Tools and apparatus that might be used for digging and boring?”
“Never.”
Mr. Goodale’s lips folded in on themselves. He pondered that.
“You may go now, Goodale. That will be all,” Castleford said.
Mr. Goodale jumped to his feet as if a puppeteer had jerked his strings. A bow to her, then a deeper one to the duke, and he was gone.
Leaving her alone with Castleford.
Chapter Five
D
aphne and the duke sat facing each other for a good while. He appeared to be thinking about something, but she had no idea what.
aphne and the duke sat facing each other for a good while. He appeared to be thinking about something, but she had no idea what.
“You really can lease that other part of the property to someone else. We have no use for it,” she finally said.
“There is no cottage on it. The income would never justify the investment of building one.”
There was a house on the entire holding, however. Hers.
“Did you summon me here to tell me that due to the unexpected size of the property, you do not want it wasted on a household of women who can never pay the rent a farming tenant might? Was Mr. Goodale here to set the stage for your announcing a decision that I will not like?”
“I did not summon you.”
“You certainly did not
invite
me.”
invite
me.”
“Was my note too brief? I do not like to write letters at all, so perhaps it was. I have never understood the habit of spending hours,
days
, writing letters to people of the slightest acquaintance. I’ll wager you only write letters when necessary, since you are not a fool, and even then only because you do not have a secretary like I do.”
days
, writing letters to people of the slightest acquaintance. I’ll wager you only write letters when necessary, since you are not a fool, and even then only because you do not have a secretary like I do.”
“Your note was brief in the extreme, and it summoned me here merely so you could—”
“Again, it was not a summons. Should I ever command you, Mrs. Joyes, you will know it without question.”
She closed her eyes and collected herself. The man was a trial. “You brought me here, only to learn that you are not prepared to honor Becksbridge’s intentions for that property, I think.”
“How well you put it. Goodale was supposed to clarify why, but I think he made a muddle of it. He goes on and on in the most wearisome way, obscuring the facts with his chatter instead of illuminating them.”
“Can you do better than he?”
He propped his elbow on the chair’s arm and rested his chin against his fist. “I can give you the usual dull reasons. In the end, they are all there are. I have duties, Mrs. Joyes. To my station, my title, and to future Castlefords. They involve the estate I received and that I will pass on. I find these duties annoying in their demands, I will not let them rule my life, but I do not take them lightly. Your property is now one of these duties.”
“What of Becksbridge’s intentions?”
“To hell with his intentions. It is mine now and requires the same stewardship I give all my property.”
He was going to put her off that land. She knew it now. The best she might do is negotiate a stay of execution so she had time to find some hovel to which to move.
“You were more sympathetic when you visited us. A different man, actually.”
“Mrs. Joyes, the biggest difference between that day and this, the only difference but the essential difference, was that it was not a Tuesday, and today is.”
She thought that she had prepared herself, but she could not believe how horrible it was to actually face the certainty of this change. Not only her business would be lost—her very means of supporting herself—but also her long-laid plans and desperate hopes for the future.
One such hope, a very private one, entered her mind on a memory, much like a specter, bringing anguished nostalgia. Her composure wobbled in response. She looked down and clenched her teeth so she would not submit to the sudden urge to weep.
“It appears that you permit yourself cruelty on Tuesdays, Your Grace. That is why you reserve all those boring decisions for these days, isn’t it?”
She sensed a reaction in him, but she dared not look up to see it. It altered the air so much that she feared she would see the fires of Satan if she looked in his eyes right then.
It passed. Mostly. She felt him there, however. Watching her.
“All is not lost,” he said. “It is accurate that I am not prepared to honor Becksbridge’s preference today, but I have not ruled out the idea either.”
“You haven’t?” She looked at him, not daring to hope again, searching to see if he teased her for amusement.
He appeared placid. Indifferent. He looked as if he was losing interest and would gaze out the window for diversion soon. “I have not made any decision yet. Before I do, I must learn a few things so I know my decision is based on sound facts. Even if I choose to ignore those facts, I must have them first. We must estimate the income to be lost if I leave it with you, for example.” He all but yawned. “It should not take long.”
“It could take a year if you only tend to these things once a week.”
“You exaggerate. After all, you said it would take a year of Tuesdays before your color rose with me again, and here it is less than a fortnight later, and it has happened several times today alone.”
It rose again at his casual reference to that night in the greenhouse. It worried her that he could cause her to flush so easily and frequently. No one else could.
She moved the conversation back to what mattered. “I should like to know where I stand soon, if possible. If I must leave, it would be better for the plants if it were in the autumn, and it could take a while to find another suitable property.”
“Mrs. Joyes, are you now insisting that I decide today, when you just upbraided me for doing so? You are a confusing woman.”
“It is disconcerting to be unsure of one’s abode and means of sustenance. I do not want to rush you to an impulsive judgment, of course, but would be grateful for a timely one.”
He stood and paced around the chamber while her plea hung in the air. Finally, he crossed his arms and sighed deeply. He looked like a man about to say something that he already regretted. “I suppose,
just this once
, so you are not left to worry indefinitely, I could take up this one bit of business on other days besides Tuesdays.”
just this once
, so you are not left to worry indefinitely, I could take up this one bit of business on other days besides Tuesdays.”
“Oh, thank you, Your Grace.”
“I do not want to waste my time or suffer more intrusions than necessary, however. If a question arises that requires your aid, I want a quick answer. If I am to be bothered on any random day by new developments, I should not like details left unsettled, following me around all week.”
“I promise that if you or Mr. Goodale write, I will respond through return post.”
“Return post? That will hardly do. It would be better if you just stayed in London while we are on it. Then you can respond immediately.”
The demand caught her by surprise. He looked at her, the picture of a reasonable man assuming she would accommodate him, now that he had accommodated her.
“That is not possible. I have duties too. At The Rarest Blooms.”
“Surely Miss Johnson could tend those flowers and plants while you are gone a short while. It is very much in your interests to take residence in town. This would get settled much more quickly that way. You would be here to influence my decision too. I am surprised you do not see the benefits for your position.”
She searched his expression for some sign of humor in how he was cornering her. She only saw the face of a duke concluding she was stupid not to realize that he was making her victory easier.
“How long do you think this would be?”
“A week. Perhaps ten days. I can’t imagine it being longer than that.”
She could not help but be suspicious. Still, if it would settle this more quickly, and if she could influence his decision—“I suppose that I could ask Celia—Mrs. Albrighton—for a chamber in her home.”
He returned to his chair and made himself very comfortable. “I doubt her new husband will appreciate the intrusion. Also, she lives near Bedford Square, does she not? That is too far away and inconvenient. Better if you stay here, as my guest.”
His innocent expression did not fool her. She had guessed the game he might be playing, and with that last sentence he showed all his cards.
“If I care a shred for my reputation, best if I do not stay here, Your Grace.”
He smiled devilishly and looked more like he had at her house than he had all afternoon. “I forgot that Mrs. Joyes is fairly strict about proprieties.”
“Yes, she is boring and inconvenient that way.”
Still smiling, he gazed over in that familiar, incisive way that subtly crossed inappropriate lines. “And if I insist?”
So, there it was. This call was not only about that property and his decision. Perhaps it was not about either at all. She felt as if, rather suddenly, she had come under a predator’s examination. It would help enormously if the caution he raised in her was not heavily tinged with alarming, warm stimulations.
“If you insist, I will question your motives, which are already suspicious, sir. I will also remind you that you said I could refuse you anything, and you would not hold it against me. I assume that as a gentleman you meant it.”
“I don’t remember saying that. I am sure you are mistaken. It doesn’t sound like me at all.”
“You remember well enough when you choose. It was the last thing you said at the end of our dinner.”
“How careless of me. I am never so rashly generous.”
The air was getting thick with words unspoken and implications layering high. She prayed that she would not blush again, but his long, knowing gaze provoked scandalous little thrills that dismayed her.
“I will write to Celia this evening and arrange to visit with her. New husband notwithstanding, she will be agreeable.”
He dismissed her intention with an irritated flip of his hand. “I have a better solution, one to which you can not object. Summerhays has offered the use of his family house on Park Lane. Since he and his wife have gone to the coast and his mother has gone down to the country, you will have both comfort and privacy there, with all necessary proprieties in place.”
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