Edith Layton (15 page)

They looked at each other, and they didn’t smile.

She swallowed hard. “I know more about the law than most females, from being exposed to it so young and so often. But doesn’t my accuser have to face me in court?”

“So he would,” the earl said. “But we don’t believe it will ever come to that.”

“Why not?” Daisy asked. She frowned as the men exchanged looks again. Leland, looking more tense and sober than she’d ever seen him; Geoff, growing a little red around the ears.

“I’ll tell you later,” the earl said evasively. “If it even comes to that.”

“For now,” Leland said abruptly, “we need you to relax, settle down, and make a list of anyone you think might mean you harm.
Anyone,
” he said. “First, from the days before your father was arrested. Someone had to inform on him. We’ll search the old records, but we’d like to know who you think that might have been. Include anyone you may have met in Newgate prison who might bear a grudge, and anyone similarly bent that you can remember from the ship that brought you to Botany Bay. We’d also like a list of those
you knew from then on, of course. That will give us something to work with.”

“We need to know who did this to you,” the earl said.

Daisy’s eyes widened. “Will they be able to put me in Newgate again?” she asked again. She frowned to hear her voice shake.

“No,” Leland said. “Not while I live.”

“Nor I,” the earl agreed.

She nodded, relieved. Then she raised her head. “You know, actually, I don’t think my accuser is anyone we know from those bad days, Geoff. Because, say I was put in jail: Even if I were transported again, who’d profit? What good would it do them? They couldn’t get my money. So why bother? Convicts don’t like courts, do they, Geoff?” she asked, like a child in the night wanting to be told there was nothing in her darkened wardrobe but imagination. “Don’t you remember?”

“Yes,” he said. “But they could easily pay someone else to broach the suit for them.”

“I see,” she said, thinking hard. “It could even be someone who never did anything bad, someone who just didn’t want me getting too close to you, Geoff. Or you, my lord,” she said, looking straight at Leland.

The earl stared at her. Leland put his head to side as he considered her.

“Well, you two foisted me off on Society,” she said. “There are high sticklers who could be
mighty mad that you introduced a common convict to the cream of the
ton.
They mightn’t like having to rub elbows with such as me, whether I was guilty or not. Accusing me of a murder is just the kind of sneaking, rotten, rancid thing a person like that would do.”

“So it would be,” the earl said, exchanging a look with Leland.

“So it
might
be,” Leland said sharply. He seemed, for the first time since she’d known him, agitated, all his customary lazy good humor vanished. “It’s all conjecture. I must get some real investigation started. So I have to leave now. There are people to speak to, and more to be threatened. Mrs. Masters?” he said through tightened lips. “If I might see you outside for a moment?”

Helena looked surprised.

“Not to worry,” Leland assured her, more gently. “No one suspects you of anything. I just need to speak with you, alone.”

Helena’s expression cleared. “Of course, my lord,” she said quietly. “I’ll be just outside, Daisy,” she said, and went to the door.

Leland followed.

Daisy found herself alone, with Geoff. Then, and only then, did she suddenly understand the unspoken conversation he’d had with the viscount, as clearly as if she had heard it.

“Oh, by all that’s holy,” she muttered, putting her hand to her forehead. “Now I’ve done it. I’ve gone and forced your hand, haven’t I?”

“No, Daisy,” the earl said, as he came to stand before her. “You’ve gone and made me realize that I should ask for your hand, and not dillydally anymore.”

“That’s what I meant,” she said miserably.

“N
o one can touch you if you’re my wife,” the earl told Daisy. “There’d be no more talk of murders and such nonsense.”

He hesitated. “I promise you won’t be prosecuted for Tanner’s death, but…I’d like to know. Just between the two of us, and I’ll never speak it again. You had just cause, and I couldn’t blame you, and wouldn’t. But…you didn’t have a hand in it, did you?”

“Oh, Geoff,” she said sadly.

“I’m sorry I asked, but I had to,” he said, his face becoming ruddy. “But think on, if you’d been me, you would have done it, too.”

“Likely,” she said. She looked around the room and sighed. The bookcases were filled with
heavy, beautifully covered tomes. She didn’t doubt he’d read them all. It was the room of a rich and educated man. Geoff was proposing marriage to her, but for the first time since she’d met him, that prospect had never seemed farther away.

“So,” he said, smiling again. “Give me your answer and I’ll arrange all the details. My dear Daisy, will you marry me? I confess that I mightn’t have had the audacity to ask a woman half my age for her hand, but it’s clear now that you need me. We’ll deal very well together, I think, and you’ll never have to worry again.”

He hit his forehead with his hand. “Ridiculous proposal! Where’s the romance. Where’s the drama? I ought to have brought flowers, or jewelry. But I never thought I’d actually ask. I’ve been thinking about this for some days now. Only a crisis like this could have forced me into it, though, and I admit, I’ve never been happier that it did. It seems the right thing to do for both of us. I may be too old, but not if you don’t think I am. We might even be able to start a new family. That
will
be odd—having a child my grandchildren’s age. But we won’t be the first or last to do something like that. I’m old”—he chuckled—“but not incapable. And never fear! You know my boys, Christian, Amyas, and Daffyd. And they know you. They won’t mind; in fact, they’ll be glad, I think.”

He put an arm around her waist, the other
went to the back of her neck, and he started to draw near. He was tentative and gentle. He smelled of good shaving soap. But as he neared she could see how weathered his skin was, and that he had a few freckled blotches on his forehead. He had fine eyes, but there were lines around them, as well as those furrows that ran down from the sides of his nose to the sides of his mouth. She saw he was looking at her lips, and his own parted. She closed her eyes. He touched her mouth gently with his.

His mouth was warm and dry, and felt so terribly wrong, she wanted to weep. Her stomach seemed to do a little flip. She shuddered and pulled away.

He dropped his arms and drew back, looking at her with concern.

Daisy looked into his face. It was a dear face to her. So she had to place her words as carefully as she could. “Geoff,” she said softly. “No. It won’t do. I like you very much. The truth is, I came to England with just this in mind. I guess you knew that; everybody did. But do you know why? It’s because you made such an impression on me when I met you. Remember? You were a prisoner, dressed like the others, but you stood out. Everyone listened to what you said. You did the books for the governor! Even Tanner didn’t have a bad thing to say against you. Then you were free, but you were still nice to me. Some days, when I was feeling especially beaten down and
trapped, I’d see you, and you always had a smile and a comforting word for me. You were such a gentleman, you made me start dreaming of coming back home one day and meeting a world full of men like you.

“Now here I am, and you’re still a gentleman. And you’re asking what I wanted to hear. But now I know it’s not right. It couldn’t be, though you
would
be the one to ask in order to set me free again. Geoff, it wasn’t a romantic proposal because it couldn’t be. We’re not in love. I like you very much but I don’t like to think of being in bed with you, or with any man. Thing is, I don’t know if I ever can.”

His expression was instantly one of deep concern.

She nodded. “See, when you were the pattern card of my dreams, that seemed fine, because I thought you wouldn’t care.” She paused; there was no way she could tell him that had been because of how old he was. “But now I know that wouldn’t be fair to the real man I’m talking to,” she said instead. “So thanks, Geoff, but marriage between us wouldn’t be right.”

“Because I’m so old?” he asked.

Trust him to come right out with it. She thought about her answer. “No,” she finally said in all truth. “Actually, because you’re not as old as I thought you’d be.”

“Ah!” he said. “I think I see.” He stepped back. He didn’t seem crushed, or relieved.

She suddenly wondered if this proposal was just Geoff doing what he thought was the right thing. It would be very like him.

“So, what are you going to do?” he asked.

“Fight,” she said, with a shrug. “I didn’t kill Tanner. They can’t prove anything because there’s nothing to prove. I’ll stay on here in England and make a nice, quiet life for myself. Maybe I’ll look for a ninety-year-old man,” she added, on a laugh.

“You would tempt him, too,” the earl said. “But I’m not taking back my proposal. That may be the only way you can really be safe now. They would not deport the wife of an earl with so little evidence. They’d be reluctant to even lay charges, especially about something that happened in another time and place. As it is, they might not be able to do more than frighten you, which, poor girl, they’ve done too well. But remember, there are enough corrupt souls back in the colony who’d lie for nothing, not to mention a sum of money. It would only take one or two to swear to your misdeeds to make enough of a case to have you brought to trial, here, or as I think they’d prefer, there. You might never be convicted, but it’s a long journey there and back again, as you know. Someone would like to make you vulnerable again.”

“For my money,” she breathed.

“Yes, I think so. You’re beautiful, but few men go to such trouble for beauty as they will for money.”

She laughed. “Too true! But I can’t go wrecking your life for my neck, can I? That’s just the kind of thing my father would do. I aim to be different. Can’t you be my friend and put in a word for me here, even if we don’t marry?”

She stood in sunlight, and he couldn’t say whether it was that, or the very fact of her presence, that made the rest of his study look dark. She was at that moment so lovely, so fragile and helpless-looking, that he wished he could say or do anything to make her agree to marry him. It shocked him. He’d only asked her because he’d thought she needed him. Now, for the first time, he realized that he wanted something as bright and beautiful as she was in his life. He’d only looked forward to his grandchildren before. Now he realized he himself had a life left to live.

“Of course I can, and I’ll remain your friend,” he told her. “Please remember, I’d never do anything to harm you or frighten you.” He coughed, and his face became ruddy again. “If you didn’t want to have marital relations, I could wait until you did. That wouldn’t be a tragedy. I’m a grown man and not a slave to my appetites. Who knows? With time and with confidence, and confidence in me as well, it might be a thing you could come to—if not want, precisely—then accept. And after that, in time, you could come to actually enjoy it. It’s truth, believe it or not.”

He put up a hand. “I know, it sounds impossible now, but think about it. Don’t worry that I’ll
keep asking you to marry me, either, because I won’t. But should you change your mind, I’m here. I always will be, for you. Now, in the meanwhile,” he said more briskly, “stay close. We can be friends, if not lovers, so don’t be embarrassed or shy with me. Let’s pretend I didn’t offer what I did, while remembering what it was I offered.”

He laughed so that she could. “And don’t go on any long trips, or with any strangers,” he warned her. “Send to me if anything unusual happens. We’ll keep investigating.”

“We?”
she asked. “Oh! You and the viscount. And that’s what you two were wigwagging your eyebrows about, right? He knew you were going to ask me to marry you, in order to protect me?”

“Let’s say he knew, and leave it at that,” the earl said wryly. “He’ll be surprised at the outcome. It won’t be my manly attributes he’ll think you didn’t appreciate, but he’ll be shocked that you turned down my offer. I
am
one of the wealthiest men in England now, and he, I’m afraid, is too cynical. This may actually help set him straight and show him all women aren’t interested only in a fellow’s money and titles. But yes, we’ll be working together on your problem. If my boys were here, they’d do the same. It might be that we can stop it here and now.”

“I hope so!” she said, and turned to leave.

“And remember,” he added, “my offer stands.”

She looked back at him. “It stands even though
I won’t lie down for you?” she asked with an attempt at humor.

“Even though,” he said. “I’m not Tanner. I could never be. You have to learn to stop thinking of him and the things he did. Give it time.”

“I know,” she said. “Still, it’s not a matter of thinking anymore, it’s part of me. But Geoff? You are a true friend.”

He bowed. “I will always be one. Depend on it.”

“I’ll remember,” she promised.

“And you’ll continue to see London with me?” he asked. “We’ve tickets for the theater tomorrow night.”

“I look forward to it,” she said.

He opened the door for her, and she stepped out, feeling terrible and wickedly ungrateful and relieved, all at once.

Helena was standing in the hallway, talking to Leland. They both looked up. Daisy’s gaze flew to Leland. His blue gaze locked on hers, sober and cold. His face was unsmiling, his long body, tensed. She didn’t know what expression she wore, but she knew she wasn’t smiling. Neither was Geoff. Leland looked puzzled. Helena, surprised.

“We’re leaving now,” she told Helena. “Good day,” she said to Leland, and then, quickly as she could, she stepped out into the sunshine again, and breathed deep.

“You’ve a guest waiting in the lobby,” Helena said.

Daisy was sitting curled up in the window seat, in her dressing gown, looking down, watching London wake up to a new day. “You know I can’t ask anyone to come up until I know who it is,” she said.

“It’s Viscount Haye.”

Daisy frowned. “Here? Now? This early? That’s peculiar. Unless he’s on his way home from a party. That makes more sense. Did he send a message?”

Helena looked at the card in her hand. “He asks to speak with you.”

“Then it’s probably an impostor,” Daisy said, turning back to the window again. “He never asks, he orders. Did you know how right you were? No lady walks out at this hour. There’s not one in the street. There are lots of maids and vendors, nannies and nursemaids and such, and ladies riding down to the equestrian paths in the park, but not one lady on foot. You said most don’t rise until noon, and I thought you were joking. But there’s not one in sight, and it looks like a glorious day. Sheep, that’s what the ladies of London are. I’m glad I’m not one of them.”
Or ever going to be one,
she thought, and fell still.

“This is the viscount’s card,” Helena said. “And the manager has been warned and wouldn’t disturb you if he thought it was an impostor. I think you ought to go down and see what he wants.”

Daisy shrugged. “I’ll have to get dressed.”

“He says that he expects to see you in ten minutes.”

Daisy sat upright. “Now
that
sounds like him.” She went quickly to her wardrobe. “I’ll just drop a gown over my head. What shall I wear? The rose or the new yellow sprigged muslin?”

Daisy was wearing a new yellow gown as she went down the stairs ten minutes later. The gossamer skirts floated and drifted behind her, making her feel young and light. She’d wanted to wait and be late, just to show him she could be. But she decided against it. She was bursting with curiosity.

Leland didn’t look as though he’d come from an all-night party. He was dressed in correct morning clothes. He looked elegant and amused, as ever. His hair was still damp from morning ablutions; his face was freshly shaven, his eyes bright and clear. He was wide-awake in every way.

“Good morning,” he said, bowing to Daisy and Helena. He eyed Daisy’s gown with approval. “Very nice, indeed,” he murmured. “Despite the cliché, I must say that you look fresh as your namesake. It’s good to see you haven’t adopted Town hours. I wanted to speak with you without multitudes hovering nearby. That let out most of my usual haunts: soirées, musicales and parties, and the theater. But we can go for a stroll in the fresh morning air. Will you come for a walk with me?

“Helena,” he said, “I know your devotion to duty and it is commendable. But if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t follow
too
closely. I need some privacy with Daisy. There are things of a delicate nature I wish to say.”

Lud!
Daisy thought; he was going to give her hell for turning Geoff down. Well, she could face it, in fact, welcomed it, because she felt bad about it herself.

“If that meets with her approval,” Helena said primly.

“It’s fine with me,” Daisy said. “I like the morning. I know you’re probably used to seeing it the other way ’round, my lord, from the night as it turns into day. But I always liked morning best. You get to breathe the air before everyone else gets to it.”

“When I’m in the countryside I rise when I’d be going to bed in London,” he said, taking her hand and placing it on his sleeve. “There’s really not much else to do at night in the country,” he added, “unless you have company.”

She laughed out loud. “Now
that
sounds like you. I was beginning to wonder if someone was posing as you.”

“So pleased to have relieved your mind,” he said as they went out to the street. “Believe it or not, it was an inadvertent double entendre. But a good one,” he mused. “I must remember it.”

They walked on toward the park, Helena a discreet few paces behind them.

“As I thought,” he said when they went through the park gates. “No one who knows anyone is out this early. Oh, some rugged young men and women are doubtless galloping hither and yon. But they use the equestrian gates, and go deep into the park. We’re just going to promenade on its perimeters. Helena, would you like to feed the ducks? They look ravenous. Or maybe you’d prefer to rest on that bench over there? I’ll just stroll on ’round the lake with Daisy. Nothing dreadful will transpire. Even
I
can’t think of a way to disgrace or dishonor her here.”