Sally MacKenzie Bundle (210 page)

“Luke is quite a bright young boy, my lord,” Mrs. Parker-Roth said. “I doubt his skills are fully utilized in the Hornsley household. An inquisitive lad can get into trouble if he’s bored, you know.”

Aunt Winifred nodded. “Indeed. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

What did the ladies want him to do? Hire Luke away from Mrs. Hornsley? Given her behavior this afternoon, he was afraid the woman would be all too happy to discuss the issue. He’d be lucky if all that got bruised on his person was his knee. “I—”

“When are you going to bring those two in here?” Aunt Gertrude called from the drawing room door.

“Oh, that’s right. The other aunts are waiting. Come along.” Aunt Winifred gestured for him to follow her.

“We didn’t mean to keep you standing in the entry, especially when you’ve had such a shock.” Mrs. Parker-Roth put her arm around Jane. “Come in and be comfortable.”

“I’m fine, Mama. I really would like to go up to my room, have a bath, and rest.”

“First a cup of tea, dear.”

Motton eyed the door to his study longingly as they passed it. He could reasonably take refuge there, pleading business—he certainly had letters from his estate manager to answer—but it would be cowardly to throw poor Miss Parker-Roth to the aunties. Cowardly and unwise. The aunts would politely tear her limb from limb, extracting every detail of their outing—including exactly what they were doing while Mrs. Parker-Roth was in the gallery—if he wasn’t there to prevent it.

The aunts were almost sitting on the edge of their chairs when they entered the drawing room. Unfortunately, all the pets were elsewhere—he suspected that shortly he’d be eager for a lively distraction or two.

“Sit here, Miss Parker-Roth”—Aunt Winifred indicated a red striped chair in the center of the room—“and I’ll get you some tea and a biscuit or two.”

Mrs. Parker-Roth chose the seat closest to Jane. Aunt Winifred, after depositing Theo on the back of a vacant wing chair and getting Jane her tea, chose to share the settee with Aunt Gertrude—leaving the only unoccupied chair the one whose back was occupied by Theo.

“Do sit, Edmund.” Aunt Winifred smiled at him. “I know you don’t mind Theo.”

“Thank you, Aunt, but I prefer to stand.”

“You look like you should sit,” Gertrude said. “You’re a mess. What happened to your coat, for God’s sake?”

“I’m surprised you’re in the drawing room in all your dirt, sir.” Aunt Louisa frowned at him. “It is not what I am used to.”

“I’m quite aware of that. Miss Parker-Roth and I both wished to retire to our rooms and make ourselves more presentable, but we were advised that our presence was required here.”

“And it is,” Gertrude said. “Don’t be silly, Louisa.”

Louisa sniffed and sat back while Dorothea muffled a snigger. Gertrude shot them both a glare and then turned to Miss Parker-Roth, damn it. Gertrude knew she’d much better odds at getting information from Jane than from him. “Do tell us what happened, dear.”

Surely Jane wouldn’t do that? At the moment she was gripping her teacup and a biscuit, looking warily back at Aunt Gertrude.

Mrs. Parker-Roth leaned forward to touch Jane’s knee. “I was worried, Jane. I stopped by the gallery to look for you. Mr. Bollingbrook said you’d been there. Where did you go?”

Damn. Jane flushed scarlet, looking guilty as hell, and stuffed the biscuit in her mouth.

All the feminine eyebrows in the room—except Jane’s, of course—shot up, and all heads swiveled as one to stare at him.

“Yer in big trouble, matey.”

Leave it to Theo to state the obvious. Of course, he
was
a parrot. Deep insight was not part of his makeup.

Mrs. Parker-Roth’s brows snapped back down into a scowl; he had to squelch the involuntary urge to protect his privates. The woman would not attack him in his own home—or at least not with witnesses—would she?

Whom was he fooling? All these women would support Jane’s mother. He stepped behind the vacant wing chair. Theo moved over to give him room.

Aunt Winifred was smirking, damn it.

“We went for a drive,” he said. “It’s such a fine day, it seemed a shame to spend it all inside.” Thank God the weather was pleasant—he’d be hard-pressed to come up with another excuse.

Mrs. Parker-Roth’s scowl relaxed slightly. She obviously suspected there was more to the story, but she was willing to accept his explanation for now. Her children may have sharpened her ability to detect verbal evasiveness, but he’d had years of practice perfecting his technique.

“But how did you lose control of your team?” Winifred asked. “Luke said you came tearing down the carriage-way at Mrs. Hornsley’s barouche as if you were being chased by demons.”

“We were.” Jane had managed to swallow her biscuit and take a sip of tea. “Two vicious dogs attacked the carriage on Oxford Street. Lord Motton should be commended for his handling of his horses. We could have ended up…we might have…we almost…” Her tea cup rattled in her saucer and she put it down quickly on a side table. “If Lord Motton hadn’t been so skilled, we might have crashed in the traffic on Oxford Street and been trampled.”

Blast. Jane was now white as a sheet. She’d been so brave all day—hiding in the closet, riding in a runaway carriage, facing his aunts—of course it would all catch up to her eventually.

“Jane, dear, perhaps you would like a sip of brandy,” Mrs. Parker-Roth said.

Brandy was all very well. He would like a glass of the stuff himself—hell, he’d like a bath of it—but what Jane needed was a little peace. He stepped over and touched her arm.

“Would you like to retire now, Miss Parker-Roth?”

She looked up at him—the poor girl appeared to be completely exhausted—and smiled. “Yes, thank you.”

He helped her rise. “If you’ll excuse us, ladies?”

“Huzzah!” Theo squawked as Edmund opened the door for Jane. “You show ’em, matey.”

Chapter 14

“Is there anything more ye’ll be needing tonight, Miss Jane?”

Jane could tell Lily’s fingers were itching to braid her hair, but it was still a little damp. “No, Lily, thank you.”

“Are ye
sure
ye don’t want me to do yer hair?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I hate going to bed with it damp—it will dry better loose.” Jane looked at herself in the dressing-table mirror. Most of her scratches had already faded; if the one on her forehead was still noticeable by tomorrow night, Lily could dress her hair in a slightly different style to cover it. And if she went out during the day, her bonnet would conceal the problem.

If she went out…She glanced at the door connecting her room to Lord Motton’s. Hmm. Where would the next piece of Clarence’s puzzle take her? There was no time to waste…

Lily frowned at her in the mirror. “Ye’ll be a disaster in the morning if ye don’t do something with yer hair now, ye know.”

“I’ll braid it myself when it’s dry.” Was Lord Motton in his room? Lily would know—but Jane couldn’t ask. She didn’t want Lily speculating as to why she was interested in the viscount’s whereabouts.

Lily headed for the door, muttering “tangled mess” and “knotted past saving” and “scissors.”

“Lily?”

The maid stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “Yes, miss?” Her face lit up—she must think Jane had reconsidered the braiding issue.

Jane hated to disappoint her, but she hated the notion of damp hair more. “Did everyone else go to Lord Fonsby’s musical evening?”

Lily’s face collapsed into a scowl. “Yes, miss, they did.”

Ah. She bit her lip so she wouldn’t grin. She could slip into Lord Motton’s room while he was out and see if she could find the part of Clarence’s sketch they’d discovered at the gallery today. She’d been too exhausted when they’d got home to discuss it with him. After they’d left the drawing room, she’d taken a nap. Then Mama had come up with a dinner tray and had tried to pry information out of her. She thought she’d managed moderately well—she hadn’t told Mama anything incriminating and Mama had been somewhat appeased, at least enough to leave her in peace and let Lily help her with her bath. Now she was in her nightgown, ready for bed. But first she had a little poking around to do. She’d—

“The ladies, that is. Lord Motton stayed home.”

Damn.
“I suppose he must be tired from our adventures.” He should be. He’d had the physical and mental strain of handling his runaway team. “He’s gone to bed, has he?”

“Oh, nay. He only stopped in his room to change his coat after he saw ye to yer door. He’s been too busy to rest. Had his dinner on a tray in his study, poor man. He’s still there, I expect.”

“Ah.” She tried to sound properly sympathetic while her gut was doing the fandango. Hurrah! If she was quick about it—and stayed alert—she should be able to search the man’s room. He’d put the sketch in the pocket of his coat, hadn’t he? If she was lucky, he hadn’t yet removed it. Or if he had, he hadn’t had much time to hide it. “I hope he finishes his tasks”—
but not too quickly
—“and can get some rest.”
When I’m finished looking around.

“Aye.” Lily nodded. “Ye know, yer mama thinks his lordship would be a good match for ye.”

Oh, Lord. She did not need to listen to this, though how was she going to free herself? Lily had a determined, almost mulish, expression.

And she would
not
look at the door to Lord Motton’s room. Lily would notice. But she didn’t have all night to listen to a lecture. The clock was ticking. The viscount might come upstairs at any minute. “At this point, Mama thinks almost anyone in breeches is a good match for me.”

Lily nodded. “And she’s right.”

“Lily! I am not that desperate.”

“Well, ye should be. Yer not getting any younger. Each year yer just that much older than the new crop of girls.”

“Those debutantes look like children. Reasonable men can’t be interested in them.” Though many men married those young girls each year.

Surely she hadn’t appeared that young when she was seventeen? She examined her face in the mirror again. And she didn’t look old now…did she?

“Year after next Juliana makes her come-out,” Lily said.

“No, Juliana is only…” Good God, surely her little sister wasn’t…

“Aye. She’s fifteen. And Lucy, the baby, is thirteen. Are ye still going to be a spinster when Lucy comes to Town?” Lily snorted. “Ye can chaperone Juliana and Lucy and save yer mama dragging herself to all the social events.”

Damn. She did not want to sit with the chaperones. “Well, that’s four years away. A lot can happen in four years.”

“Not much has happened in the last eight, has it? Yer still as virginal as ye were when ye were seventeen. And if ye don’t bestir yourself, ye’ll die a virgin.” With that pronouncement, Lily left, slamming the door behind her.

Well. There was nothing the matter with being a virgin. John would let her stay at the Priory once Mama and Da passed on. It was large enough she could stay out of John’s way—and his wife’s way, if he ever had a wife. Perhaps something interesting
would
happen at Lord Tynweith’s house party.

Why couldn’t Mama focus solely on John, at least until she got him into parson’s mousetrap? She should want Jane to stay single, so Jane could be her companion in her old age.

Gaa! Jane wrinkled her nose at herself in the mirror. Da was Mama’s companion, and she hoped that wouldn’t change anytime soon. When—if—something happened to Da, she couldn’t imagine Mama wanting her permanently underfoot. Nor did she want to be the spinster aunt to her siblings’ children.

And did she want to be a virgin forever?

She might have said yes once. The mechanics of deflowering sounded painful and messy, and no gentleman had ever made her doubt that assessment—except Lord Motton. And their encounters in the last few days…

What was she thinking? She had a puzzle to solve, and, if she wasn’t very alert, she’d wager Lord Motton would cut her out of the search in the misguided notion he should protect her from the danger he saw around every corner. She’d best get into his room and see if she could find that new piece of Clarence’s sketch. She only hoped the man hadn’t taken it downstairs with him.

She snuffed all her candles and cracked open the door to the viscount’s bedroom. Then she held her breath and listened. It would be beyond embarrassing if she walked in on his valet.

She didn’t hear a thing. Either the room was empty or Mr. Eldon moved as quietly as a ghost.

She
would move as quietly as a ghost. She opened the door farther—thank God the viscount kept the hinges well-oiled—and slipped through.

She was in a dressing room area. There was a clothespress to her right, a wardrobe to her left, a small table, and a chair with Lord Motton’s damaged coat thrown over it.

She pounced on the coat. Could this really be so easy? Mr. Eldon must be busy elsewhere, or ill—she wasn’t questioning God’s grace here—because surely otherwise he would have dealt with this ruined garment immediately. She didn’t know him well, of course, but she couldn’t imagine the viscount keeping a valet who was incompetent or inefficient.

She shook out the coat. It weighed down her hands. Mmm. It still held the viscount’s scent—eau de cologne, linen, leather, and…man. Edmund. She closed her eyes and buried her face in it. She’d had her cheek pressed against this cloth all those minutes they’d been hiding from Mama and Mr. Bollingbrook in the gallery closet. She’d felt so secure then, so protected. It had been more than a physical sensation, though it had been very physical, too. Edmund had been so hard and big—she flushed. His body—
all
his body—was so much harder and bigger than hers.

He wasn’t noticeably larger or stronger than John or Stephen or Nicholas, but the sense of safety he gave her was so different. Her brothers would guard her from harm—at least, she thought they would—but…well, there was an…excitement with Edmund. Being pressed up against one of her brothers in a closet would have been very annoying. She would have been scrambling to put more space between them—and she surely wouldn’t be sniffing their dirty old coats afterward.

And she should not be sniffing Lord Motton’s. He could be on his way upstairs even now. She did not have an unlimited amount of time to find the newest part of Clarence’s sketch.