Read Marissa Day Online

Authors: The Surrender of Lady Jane

Marissa Day (13 page)

BOOK: Marissa Day
3.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
“No, no. I am well looked after.” She cast a baleful glance at Frau Seibold, who raised her chin and finished tucking in the black shawl. “But my other ladies, they are not English, nor of the . . . what is the phrase . . . the
haut ton
? As you are. You are not only my eyes and ears, but my public face, is it not so? So, if people see you are treated well, if they see you act well, they will gain the good impression. Captain Conroy and I are quite in agreement on this point.”
So. Captain Conroy had already succeeded in his aim. He had enough of the duchess’s confidence that she was taking his advice on how to gain favor in the ballrooms and drawing rooms where opinion was formed.
“He is devoted to my husband, Captain Conroy.” The duchess beamed as she shifted beneath her burden of quilts and shawls. “And a most intelligent man.”
“Most intelligent.”
Has he gulled you, ma’am, or have you decided he is useful?
“And also possessed of a pair of fine eyes?” said the duchess archly.
Now it was Jane’s turn to lift her chin. “There are those who think so.”
“Ah, Jane, I tease. You have other eyes to admire. It is I shut up in here who must take my enjoyment where it can be found.” She stroked her belly underneath its pile of coverings. “Heigh-ho, little one, you must get yourself born soon, so your mama can go see this new country of ours.”
Jane picked up the copy of the novel
Evelina
from the side table and opened it. “Shall I begin, ma’am?”
 
 
A
n hour later the duchess was soundly asleep, and Jane escaped the parlor, where Frau Seibold was adding yet more coal to the fire. Jane intended to go to the gardens for some fresh air, to think, to breathe, and to try to wrap her mind around the new subtleties of her situation.
She was not, however, in the least surprised to find Captain Conroy waiting in the corridor. Jane drew her skirts aside so she would not accidentally brush him as she passed.
“Nothing to say to me, Lady Jane?” Conroy inquired.
She told herself she should be careful. But she was so tired and so confused. Too much had happened in too short of a time. She’d had no rest from her circumstances, or her feelings, and he seemed so arch and confident as he looked down his long nose at her.
“You were perhaps expecting my thanks for gaining me a little favor from the duchess?”
Conroy bowed, smiling slightly.
Jane took two steps forward. Conroy believed she could be influenced. He thought he had found the means to control her. He was wrong. She had nothing left in the world but her integrity, and there was no one who would take that from her.
“Captain Conroy,” Jane said, her voice low and steady. “Let me be very clear. I have asked for nothing from you, and I do not intend to do so. What I earn, I earn on my own merit, not your say-so.”
“Lady Jane, one might almost think I had offered you a bribe.”
“I would never accuse you of anything so direct,” she replied, and sailed down the corridor.
With each step her anger increased, with each step an inescapable realization coalesced within her mind.
Captain Conroy had known she’d spoken with Sir Thomas. That meant Captain Conroy had either followed her, or he had a spy to do it for him. That spy could be anyone, but the most likely candidate was Tilly. Tilly had been in the carriage the whole time and had seen the entire meeting. If Conroy had Tilly on his payrolls, there was no telling what other members of the Kensington House staff now reported to him in return for an extra share of the Duke of Kent’s income.
No wonder Conroy smiled.
Eleven
W
hen Jane was finally free to return to her room in the early hours of the morning, she was still simmering with anger. Tilly bustled and chattered, friendly and efficient as ever. Jane could barely bring herself to look at the girl, let alone speak to her with any kind of courtesy. She suspected Tilly was as grateful as she was when Jane was finally wrapped in her night attire and able to dismiss her to bed.
Or to report to Captain Conroy.
Jane sat heavily on the edge of her bed, clasping her hands together. She had been very careful at Mr. Hume’s party. She had spoken with no one but Georgiana and a handful of other female acquaintances. The whole time, Conroy had circulated around the edges of the room with his knife-edged smile and arched brows.
Jane wanted nothing so much as to fling his words back in his face, but that would label her this man’s enemy, and she had nothing with which to fight him. He was the old and trusted servant; she was the newcomer, brought in on the grounds that she might prove useful. She had no doubt Conroy, who commanded the attention of both the duke and the duchess, could have her dismissed, if not at once, then soon. And then what? Yet, if she stayed, he would surely do everything he could to wind his chain more tightly about her.
It was brutally unfair. She had done nothing, nothing at all. At least, not where anyone could see. For a wild moment she thought Conroy might have witnessed her creeping through the dark along the corridors of Kensington House. But no. She’d been alert every moment for a stray footstep or sound.
I was, wasn’t I?
Jane bowed her head into her hand. Loneliness washed through her and with it came a wish that Thomas was here now. Not to arouse her, but just to be with her, talking easily as they had when they walked down Oxford Street. She’d enjoyed the solid feeling of him beside her. She liked the way he talked, the way they joked. She’d never felt such comfort with any man.
And yet, if she stopped for a moment to consider the reality of her very peculiar situation, she had never had less reason for that comfort. What was she doing now, for example? She was returned from another ball where she’d spent another night alternating between answering endless questions about the duchess and “how she did,” and trying to ferret out as much of the gossip as she could. But was she collapsed in bed asleep? No. She sat up, waiting for his mysterious, inexplicable call to another wicked tryst.
Tonight,
he’d said. That had been hours ago, and she still felt the heat and promise of that single word; the promise of a man who, as she herself had pointed out, was not her friend.
That thought got Jane to her feet. She was tired of this powerlessness. Why did she need to wait? She had been to the room. She could find the way again. Why not go now? The house was sound asleep, including the duchess. Games of obedience with a lover were one thing, but this was different. This was trust of an entirely different magnitude. This was her life.
Jane lit her lamp, found her slippers and closed her robe. She bit her lip as she opened the door. She was not entirely sure what she hoped to accomplish. Perhaps she needed to overbalance him, as he had done to her. Perhaps she felt the need to do anything but sit and wait for something else to happen to her.
But in her heart she knew what sent her into the darkness was the simple need to see Thomas again, and to know that she was not alone.
In the back of her mind she felt sure there would be a price for this, and not the kind Thomas swore to exact during lovemaking. Something else was happening here.
Jane was almost to the back stairs when she saw the light reflected on the walls. Someone coming up the steps, and it was too late for her to turn around. Before she could make any decisions, a tall, thin woman emerged from the stairwell, a tray braced against her hip. She stopped when she saw Jane, startled.
They both held their lamps up, like clowns performing in a mirror farce.
Jane spoke first. “Fraulein Lehzen.”
“Lady Jane,” Lehzen replied. Unlike the duchess, Lehzen’s English was fluent, although heavily accented. “It is very late. Why are you not asleep?”
“A cramp in my leg. I stood too long this evening. I was hoping a walk would ease it. And you?”
Lehzen gestured minutely with her chin to her tray. “Princess Feodora cannot sleep. I fetch her tisane and the warm compress.”
“I will not keep you then.” Jane stepped aside giving the other woman room to pass.
Lehzen nodded her thanks. “I hope your walk has the effect desired.”
“Thank you.”
Jane moved past the woman, and started down the stairs. She could have turned back. Perhaps she should have. If Tilly could be Conroy’s creature, so could Lehzen. But if she turned around immediately and went to her room, she would excite even more suspicion than if she kept going as if nothing was wrong.
Afraid to go forward, but afraid to go back, Jane made her way hesitantly down the narrow stairs.
Which way had she gone? Jane crossed the cupola room. The great clock’s ticking echoed the frantic rhythm of her heart. Had it been left after this, or right? She could not have missed the corridor. Truly, she could not. Kensington House was big, but not that big. Surely . . .
Jane? Are you looking for me?
Thomas’s voice sounded as clear as a bell in her mind. Jane whirled around, half expecting to see him behind her. But instead she saw the short hall with its four closed doors. She must have passed it in the dark. Jane hurried forward to the door and turned the golden rose knob without bothering to knock. It opened onto the opulent summer green chamber.
And there was Thomas, clad only in shirtsleeves and breeches, waiting for her.
Jane ran forward and threw her arms around his shoulders. His body stiffened, startled, but he slowly settled his arms around her to return her embrace.
“Jane, what is this?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “I’m being so foolish!”
“Nonsense.” He took the lamp from her hand and set it on the nearest table. “I’m glad you’re eager to see me, but, Jane”—he ran his hands over her shoulders—“you’re trembling . . .”
“It’s nothing. I . . . I was agitated and I should have waited I know, and please, I’m not asking for a . . . punishment, I . . .”
“No, no. Don’t worry about that. Here, sit down.” A comfortable armchair and footstool she had not noticed before waited in front of the fire. He gestured for her to take the chair, and settled himself on the edge of the plush stool. “Tell me what’s happened.”
So she told him, about Conroy and Tilly and even about Fraulein Lehzen. She spoke of her certainty that Conroy was paying the household to spy, and that he meant to bring her under his power.
All the while Thomas held her hand, never interrupting, simply waiting for her to finish.
“You don’t know what it’s like at court,” she said. “The prince regent has driven away all the honest men. The only people left are the ones who are trapped, like me, or who want something, like Conroy. I had thought I could steer clear of his kind, but I’ve gotten close to something really valuable . . .”
“And so they seek you out?”
Jane nodded, relieved to see how grave he looked. He understood that the situation was indeed serious. But as Thomas drew his hand away from hers, fresh fear touched her. Had she said too much? Did he resent her bringing the outside world into what was meant to be a place of games and pleasure?
Thomas got to his feet and faced the fire for a long moment, one hand on the mantle. “I have the strongest urge to find this man Conroy and teach him some respect.”
All Jane’s breath left her in a rush. “What?”
“What is he about, treating you this way?” Thomas swung toward her; anger glittered in his eyes. She saw again how strong his form was, and what hard fists he possessed. “You are a lady. It is boundless insolence to try to make you party to his schemes so he can enrich himself off his fool of a master. The man should be whipped through the streets!”
“He’s only using them. It’s what we all do.”
Thomas loomed over her for a moment, but then bent swiftly and cupped his hands about her face, holding her still so she had to look at him. “Jane, do not let me ever hear you compare your honest service to that man’s extortion.”
He kissed her then, a kiss filled with rough and desperate reassurance. She melted at once in his hands. He was angry for her, not at her. What happened to her mattered to him. He wanted to help. Whatever feeling brightened between them, it was not simply a matter of sexual pleasure.
Although it was that too. He was on one knee in front of her now, pulling her to the edge of the chair, caressing her back, brushing the sides of her breasts. She moaned against his mouth. After a day of uncertainty and petty schemes, she wanted exactly this comfort.
“Oh, Jane.” Thomas murmured as he pulled away. She gazed into his eyes, and felt her fires rise. Thomas smiled and all his dark mischief showed plainly in his handsome face. Heat burst into Jane’s blood.
Yes, yes,
she thought.
Please. Make the rest of the world go away, just for a little while.
Explanations could wait. Now, she needed to feel that he cared, that he needed her.
BOOK: Marissa Day
3.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Report on Probability A by Brian W. Aldiss
Gorgeous as Sin by Susan Johnson
Under Their Protection by Bailey, J.A.
Unbreakable by C. C. Hunter
Dreamseeker by C.S. Friedman