Silence of Scandal (20 page)

Alexander shook his head as he glanced up at the window.

“No, it will be dark before long. Grady expects her home and Jennings is with them. He won’t let them be late. They will probably be on their way back now anyway. I think I’ll go and bathe and change before I attempt to see Elizabeth. Two day’s riding has taken the edge off my toilette and I can’t even begin to think about questioning my wife or searching for the strong box with the dust of travel still thick in my hair. I presume that you are staying for at least the night. I’ll ask Grady to bring you bath water as well.” He put his cup back on the tray and stood up.

They both trudged wearily across the hall and turned into the west wing before heading up the stairs to their rooms.

Alexander had only sat on his bed for a few seconds when he heard a familiar sound. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he listened to Elizabeth’s awful singing echoing up the stairs. He tugged at his riding boot but it seemed to be attached to his foot. He was about to ring for Grady when the door swung open and Elizabeth ran in smiling, her masses of curls billowing about her shoulders.

“Alessander! Sarah told me that you had arrived. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to welcome you.” She came forwards and after seeing him struggling with his boots she leaned over and lifted his foot. “Let me help you with tha’.” She tugged on the heel but it still didn’t move. She bent further, offering Alexander a wonderful view of the dip between her perfect breasts and then she heaved on his heel, putting all her strength into it.

His boot gave up the struggle and shot from his foot. Elizabeth went reeling backwards. Her skirts flipped up as she landed on her bottom, affording him more than a glimpse of slender, stocking covered claves and delicately frilled bloomers.

He laughed and leaned forwards to give her a hand, hauling her back up. Warmth shot through his hand as she grasped his fingers tightly. He pulled her to her feet and dragged her towards him.

“Thank you. Perhaps you would like to attempt the other one.”

Elizabeth grinned as she rubbed her backside.

“I hope this one is no’ quite so stuck. I will need paddin’ to sit at dinner.” She reached down for his other boot and tugged hard.  This one came away with fewer objections and Elizabeth picked up both boots. She stood them by the wardrobe and turned back to her husband.

Alexander stared back at her. Her hair was in disarray, wind-blown with tendrils falling from her pins. Her cheeks were flushed with fresh air and sand had stuck to the hem of her dress. She looked utterly adorable.

“Giles and I only arrived minutes before you. Grady said you were at the beach. It looks as if you have had a lovely day.”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“Betty had never seen the sea. She was brought up in the city and began working for my father almost as soon as we moved into town. Is so pretty there. She said she never saw so much water.”

Alexander smiled widely.

“Yes, it can certainly take you by surprise the first time. All that expanse of ocean takes your breath away.” He paused and then added. “Where have you seen the sea before?” His casual question belied the smile he fixed on his face.

She laughed joyously, honking like a goose.

“Here of course. The beach has always been lovely. I couldn’t see the sea when we lived in town and I missed it.”

It was only as she finished speaking that she realized what she had admitted. She brought her hand to her mouth and turned to run for the door but Alexander anticipated her move and sprang from the bed. He caught hold of her arm and hauled her towards him. She struggled for a few seconds, her eyes wide with fear, her body trembling with fright. He wrapped his arms around her wriggling form and held her against his chest until she quieted.

She stood helpless, panting in his arms, not quite sure whether she was trembling with fear or just because her body had reacted violently to being pressed against a solid wall of hot, hard muscle. She could feel his heart drumming beneath her cheek as his hands spread across her back and held her firmly.

She refused to look up at him as her brain scrambled for some explanation for her reckless words. She had been so thrilled to see him that her mouth had run away with her yet again. No excuse sprang to mind and she closed her eyes not wanting to see the condemnation in his. It was a good few minutes before his grip lessened and he pulled her towards the bed.

He placed her gently on the coverlet and then dropped to his knees in front of her. She chanced opening her eyes again. There was no anger in his expression just a deep need for answers and she knew that she would have to confess what she knew if he asked.

Alexander just stared at the woman he had married. She had been to Ormond before. His blood raced as he tried to recall anyone like her but nothing and no one sprang to mind. The local debutants were well known to him from his youth but Elizabeth didn’t fit any of the usual moulds.

He took her arms in his hands and gripped hard.

“Who are you? When were you here before Elizabeth?”

She blinked at him as salty tears flooded her eyes. She lifted her fingertips to his lips to touch them gently. Her finger trailed along his cheekbone and then across his forehead, stopping momentarily to rub the crease between his brows. She let out a sigh and dropped her hand.

“It was a long time ago Alessander... I’m Lily.” She waited for him to shout at her, to reel back in shock, for the disgust to rise in his features but none of that happened. His frown deepened and his hands gripped her arms even more firmly. She stifled a cry of pain as his fingers shook and made bruises on her flesh.

“Our Lily? Little Lily Smith? You’re lying. Lily died. Smith buried her with her mother. Who are you really?” The disgust at her lie was plain in his tone.

She could tell that his temper was rising. An angry flush rose to his cheeks. She shook her head, her wayward curls falling about her face.

“I’m not lying. Father took me away into town after the ‘splosion. My hearing never came back. I still have constant ringing in my ears even now. He told me that both you and Phillip had died and that’s why we had to leave so quickly. He told me that I would be blamed for your deaths if I ever spoke of it again.”

Alexander swallowed as his brain tried to scramble around her confession. He was almost too shocked for words. He narrowed his eyes and desperately thought back. She looked nothing like the raven haired horror who had shadowed his steps all those years ago. The only similarity was the colour of her hair and her eyes. He thought again and remembered her dreadful singing. He didn’t want to believe it.

“My father had stored a huge box of fireworks in the barn. They were intended for my mother’s birthday but they blew up. That fact doesn’t prove that you are Lily Smith. Anyone would have known about the accident for miles around. If you insist that you are the child then tell me something about that day. Something that no one but I would know.”

Elizabeth looked at him thoughtfully. She could understand his reasoning but she had been so injured that she couldn’t remember many details.

“I don’t remember much of it at all. One minute I was hiding under the hay eating lardy cakes and the next I was blown through the wall.”

Alexander stared at her as he thought back to the awful day himself. He could almost smell the lardy cakes as she mentioned them. He stood up and paced the room. Lardy cakes didn’t make her Lily Smith.

“That’s not enough. Anyone local would know that. Cook fed half the town with our leavings. Lily had the run of Ormond. The whole village knew that the desperate little girl pinched the lardy cakes. I pinched enough myself and it wasn’t as if the whole affair wasn’t gossiped about for months on end. Phillip was sent away because of it.”

She stared up at him and then closed her eyes as if trying to remember. Her eyes flew open again.

“Sent away? Father told me you both died.” She sighed and thought hard as Alexander’s expression didn’t waver. She smoothed a tendril of hair away from her face and then stopped suddenly. She patted the top of her head and frowned at him. “A dead mouse landed on my head. Tabby caught it and gave it to you. You were swinging it to and fro. The body detached itself from the tail and flung off into the straw. You dropped the tail in the dirt. I nearly choked laughing until the horrible thing landed right on my head.”

Alexander stopped pacing and turned to face her. He remembered the incident well but he had never spoken of it to anyone. He narrowed his eyes as if trying to fit a seven year old face onto her. He took a step closer to her and placed his hand under her chin. He tilted her head, cupped her cheek and stared into her dark eyes. Teardrops glistened on her lashes and he felt the almost forgotten but still familiar lurch in his chest. There was no denying it. She was Lily.

“Why didn’t you say anything when we married, when you realized who I was?” His voice almost broke with the emotions surging into his heart as he brushed an errant tear away from beneath her eye with the pad of his thumb.

Elizabeth sighed and leaned into his hand.

“I couldn’t. I didn’t even know it was you. I didn’t recognize you and I wasn’t looking at the pastor when we married so I missed your name. I didn’t know you were even alive until I saw Ormond that day. I nearly passed out with shock when I discovered that you were not only the boy I once played with but that you were now the Duke. I knew that you would be so disappointed that I wasn’t some beautiful, perfect Lady. I’m just common old Lily who used to follow you and Phillip everywhere and spoil your games.” She wrung her hands together desperately. “The week before we married, father told me that he had found me a husband. I couldn’t believe it as I had barely met any other men. I tried to refuse but I had no choice in the end. Father said if I didn’t marry you he would turn me out. I’m deaf Alessander, a useless drain to anyone. I would not have found employment because no one would want the liability of a deaf woman. I would have ended up on the streets and I couldn’t do that. I had to accept what I was offered but I can only tell you that I am sorry for ruining your life. I didn’t know that you were being tricked into accepting me until it was too late.”

He stepped back and tried to regain control over his rioting thoughts. He could scarcely believe what she was telling him but knew that it had to be true. He put his hand to his forehead and took some deep breaths before he looked back at her.

She stood there, beautiful but so pale. He could feel the tension in her stance, the fear in her countenance and his heart melted at the thought of what she had been forced to do. He took a step back towards her and before she could protest, he gathered her into his arms and pulled her gently against his chest, holding her just far enough away for her to read his lips.

“You poor girl.” He whispered. “I cannot imagine what you have gone through and I cannot fathom any father wanting to do this to his daughter.” He brushed her tousled hair from her forehead and closed his eyes as he leaned forwards and place a kiss in the centre of her brow. He heard her give a quiet sob as her body began to tremble and he looked down at her again. “You have nothing to fear Lily. I’ll never hurt you and I’ll never turn you out. This was your home so many years ago and it will be your home again now. You will always be safe at Ormond.”

She shook her head as the tears began to spill down her cheeks.

“But you don’t want me. You are a Duke; you could have any Lady in the land, one who would stand by your side and make you proud to have her on your arm. I’m just a common farmer’s daughter and my father and I have ruined everything for you.” She tried to wriggle from his arms but he just held her tighter until she gave up the struggle.

“There is nothing common about you Lily. You are a beautiful young woman with a gentle heart and don’t for one minute think that I don’t want you but I think we are going to have to sit down and talk this through. My father and brother died because your father couldn’t curb his greed. I have to bring him to justice. However much it may hurt your father, I cannot let my family rest un-avenged.”

Lily nodded as tears spilled from her eyes.

“I will try and help you but I don’t know where to start. Father lied to me so much. He is a hard, angry man, Alessander. ”

Alexander led her to the chair by the fire and pressed her into the seat. He took the chair opposite and leaned forwards, his elbows resting on his knees.

“I think I know where it all began. Phillip’s experiment nearly killed you. As it was you were deafened. Your father was a bitter man after his wife died and I think he saw an opportunity to make a better life for himself. He told my father that you had died, perhaps even insinuating that Phillip and I had murdered you. He covered the fact that you were still alive by saying that he was taking your body to be buried with your mother. My father paid all his expenses with a little extra as an incentive for not pressing charges against my brother. Phillip was sent to school in town and your father told no-one else what had really happened to you. You must have taken private lodgings when you first arrived in town.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. She shook her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember. I was unconscious for several days and I was only seven years old. Even if I had remember I was already deafened and in a great deal of pain. I could barely communicate and I know that I was very confused. I can recall not understanding what was going on or why the pain wouldn’t go away. It was months before I could lip read to any extent. Most of the time I had no idea what anyone was saying to me. I only learned later that I had burst both eardrums. We changed lodgings many times before we settled on the house in Oakley. Everyday my father went out and I would have to stay alone in my room until he came home. He left me a few things to occupy myself with and a small amount of food and water. I assumed he was working.” She stopped for a moment to catch her breath and was about to start talking again when Alexander heard a knock at the door. He touched her hand and lifted his chin towards the door to stop her from speaking while Grady, Beth and Sarah came in with steaming jugs of bathwater. His servants disappeared behind his bathing screen and reappeared as wafts of steam drifted into his bedroom.