Yearnings: A Paranormal Romance Box Set (104 page)

Nick was glaring at her, she realized. Surreptitiously glancing around, Leigh mouthed, “What?” to the man.

He gave her a short shake of the head, then sent a meaningful look Samuel’s way.

Oh. Oddly, Samuel was staring at Leigh. Had he asked her something? No. He didn’t look expectant at all. He might not be staring at her after all, more in the general direction of her? The distant, dreamy expression made her uncomfortable, and she couldn’t guess why Nick had pointed it out to her. Maybe he needed to show Leigh how the man measured up compared to him. Nick would make Bea happier, an idiot could estimate that. But the fact remained that unless Bea wanted to risk another ugly scandal in the name of love, Nick would have to suffer heartache the rest of his days.

“
You should have brought the girls, Eliza.”

Eliza paused cutting her prime rib. “Oh? I—I wasn’t sure after, well, I didn’t want to assume.”

Seeing the petite woman worry over upsetting Bea as she had on the ship, Leigh felt a bit guilty. Maybe she wasn’t so coldhearted after all. Maybe it was as Grant had said. A good heart, just oblivious. Self-involved to distraction.

“
Of course, yes, I would love to meet them. Tristan will be home soon, too, and while I imagine it won’t be right away, eventually, he’ll need friends to play with. Some normalcy.”

“
Bea,” Samuel said, hurt in his voice. “Please. Don’t.”

The odd look hadn’t left his face, and Leigh had to wonder what sorrow had wrought on this man in his wife’s absence. She felt bad for disliking him. She should be more understanding. She couldn’t know the kind of pain he’d lived with, or how it could affect a father. Nothing was worse than feeling powerless over your own child’s fate. Her father had said something like that the night before he’d left to find work.

“
What about tomorrow?” Eliza said, smiling warmly.

“
Nonsense. I can send for them tonight. Unless they’re already sleeping at this early hour?”

Eliza stiffened. Did the woman know her own child’s bedtime? “Bring their nanny,” Leigh suggested. Eliza visibly relaxed. “So that we can still catch up.”

“
Alright,” Eliza said. “You can send a car or a carriage?”

Bea motioned to a butler, who nodded and left. “Done and done.” Her gaze glittered with a fierce fire. “It’s so, so good to be home at last. Don’t you think, Leigh?”

The hidden meaning wasn’t lost on Leigh by any means. She slowly nodded and, realizing she’d yet to eat, bit into her dinner roll. Her mouth pinched as salty, buttery flavor flooded in. For the first time since making love to Grant, the world seemed right again. Bizarre, filled with dark and danger, but at least on its correct axis point again.

Right where she needed to be to find Tristan. What they’d be asking would be quite a lot for a six-year-old. Leigh tried to recall what kind of fortitude she’d had at that age, but couldn’t. She’d already had Jacob for years at that point to guide her, while Gretchen couldn’t have more than two weeks or so.

But if Eliza did as Leigh had suggested, and Gretchen had asked for an angel to watch over her, maybe the girl had a specter presence that Leigh could tap into also. Her spirits lifted. Suddenly, every moment in her life, from leaving Redding, all the way up to meeting Eliza and losing Jacob, felt intentional. As though fate had been walking her to this point, but she’d been trying to get here by walking backward, resisting, refusing.

Even her brief moments with Grant seemed to be some thread in a larger design. Her whole body tingled with the awareness of it.

“
Would you like more?” Samuel asked.

Leigh glanced up from her empty plate and grinned. “No, thank you. I was famished.”

He grinned back. His head was tipped, and that odd look was still in his eyes. Animosity. That is what it was. He smiled, he made conversation, and acted the gentleman, but there in the depths of his eyes, she saw a touch of real hate. Cold tiptoed down her spine. Her hope faltered.

“
Shall we?” he asked, indicating that they all adjourn to the other room.

Leigh decided that the beautiful room was either a salon or a library. Or maybe a sitting room? With so many gorgeous rooms, it was difficult to keep track. She wanted to pull Bea aside and ask her what she was up to, but she couldn’t.

After seeing the glimpse of hate in Samuel’s eyes, she chastised herself for her self-pity fog these last days. Why hadn’t she been paying better attention? She hardly recalled meeting the man. Had he been regarding her with that hidden disdain for her entire stay? Now the man was watching her and Bea, lingering near his wife protectively. But he couldn’t possibly know what they were up to. Could he?

“
Didn’t your mother ever teach you how to be coy?” Nick asked, smiling casually.

“
No. She taught me to be honest.”

“
Ah, you see there? That says so much about you, Leigh. Removing your emotions from your sleeve for all to see isn’t dishonest. It’s self-preservation. Granted I know you better than Samuel, but even Eliza and I can smell subterfuge in the air.”

Leigh pressed her lips together. “Yes, well, why don’t we just come out with it, then, if everybody already knows so much?”

His eyebrows shot up. He made a hissing noise. “Not the smartest option I can think of, but also possibly the only one you’ve got.”

Leigh looked over at Bea. In the intensity in her eyes and the ramrod straightness of her spine, Leigh recognized as the woman’s determination finally resurfacing. She’d faced that same determination back in Paris in Georgette LePlante’s foyer as Bea had whispered that they must meet in private. “You’ll have to ask Bea. I’m pretty sure I know what she’s up to, but I’m not Eliza’s lifelong friend. She is. We need Eliza’s help.”

“
Now this I have to hear,” Nick said, and strolled over to Bea and Samuel.

Leigh watched Samuel’s face for signs of contempt toward Nick. Certainly he had to sense Nick’s feelings for his wife. Otherwise, what had he sensed about Leigh to have him hiding daggers while looking at her? She watched Samuel, and even inched a bit closer, pretending to listen to Eliza chatter about a particularly gorgeous summer hat she’d found during her latest shopping trip in the city.

Instead of eyeing Nick, Samuel eyed Leigh. His eyes flashed, narrowing, as though he’d thought of something, and he made his way across the room to her. Leigh took a glass of chardonnay offered to her and Eliza off a tray. She almost grabbed the man serving it just to have another body present to hear whatever he came to say.

Eliza saved her instead, immediately restarting her story for Samuel. He smiled tightly and nodded politely, but sent Leigh more than one warning look. How much had Bea told him about her? Clearly a lot. Leigh could only guess that he saw her as a fraud, just as Grant had in the beginning. For some reason, the thought calmed her a bit. Prejudice she could take. Doubt was as natural an emotion as love was.

Relieved, Leigh excused herself to speak to Bea. “Your husband doesn’t think I’m good for you,” Leigh said.

Nick chuckled.

Bea smiled mischievously. “He’s about to find out I’m not as whimsical and gullible as he thinks.” She smoothed Nick’s lapel that didn’t need smoothing. “Can’t you get him to the library for a brandy to talk stocks and bonds or something?”

He kissed her hand. “It will only buy you a few minutes. Longer than that, and I’ll certainly die of boredom with the man.”

Bea lightly smacked his arm. “Hurry. I don’t have much time.”

Eliza immediately joined them once the men departed, less than graciously. Nick had to bully Samuel into a brandy, but it finally worked. Save for a servant standing in the corner with a tray, they were alone.

“
Eliza, we’ve been friends longer than I can remember, and while it hurts me to do so, I have to impose on our friendship and beg a serious favor.”

The blonde sobered, making her face look uncomfortably intelligent. “What is it, Bea?”

“
Your girls should be here soon.”

“
Yes?”

Bea nodded, glancing at the library door. “Can I trust you?”

“
Yes, of course. With anything. You know that.”

Taking Eliza’s hands in hers, Bea plunged in headfirst. “Leigh is a spiritualist medium. I found her in Paris, and she is helping me locate Tristan. But her channel, the entity who helps her connect to the ether, has left her side in a serious time of need.”

Eliza gaped.

“
I saw Tristan. He came to me. He told me to come home, that he was home. I need Leigh to connect to the ether so that I can communicate with Tristan and find him before it’s too late.”

Tears shone in Eliza’s eyes. “He’s dead?”

“
No.” Leigh couldn’t help but interrupt. “No. I’m certain of it.”

“
But if you saw him...?”

Bea rubbed her forehead, dropping Eliza’s hands. She paced a short space. “I know. I can’t comprehend it. But I have to trust Leigh and my own heart. He’s alive, somewhere out there, or possibly even here. Close enough to save.” Bea’s eyes shone with tears, too. “From one friend to another, from one mother to another, I need your help.”

“
Absolutely. Just tell me what to do. Do we need a circle of seven? A séance? What exactly?”

Leigh shook her head, wincing. “I need Gretchen’s help.”

Eliza frowned, stepping back. “You can’t include children in a circle.”

The library door opened. Nick called after Samuel. “Not a circle. You recall the angel I suggested she should ask for? If she found one, if one came to her, I might be able to communicate with it, and Gretchen would only need to be present.” Leigh hoped she wasn’t outrageously lying to the woman. In truth, this was only a theory on how it would work if she let Gretchen help them. Samuel stalked into the room. “Please, Eliza. I can feel we’re out of time.”

“
Whatever they’re talking you into, Eliza, say no.” Samuel didn’t hide his contempt for Leigh now. “I want you out of my home.”

“
No, Samuel,” Bea said. “You don’t understand.”

“
I understand plenty. Carlson?” The man in the corner stepped forward, setting the tray down. “Please escort Miss Hamilton to the nearest hotel.”

“
She is staying,” Bea yelled. “And she is helping to find your son!”

Carlson hesitated, looking past them. “Sir?”

They turned to see two girls, blonde curls framing sweet chubby faces. “Momma?” the littlest said.

Eliza bent and opened her arms. “Yes, my sweet?”

The girls rushed to their mother, surprising Leigh that they seemed so close. How had she drawn such harsh conclusions about Eliza?

“
Where’s Hilda?”

“
Getting the girls’ things,” the man who brought them said. “She thought they might end up sleeping here for the night.”

“
Wonderful,” Bea said, staring her husband down. “Of course they should stay. Every friend is welcome to stay. My father wouldn’t have had it any other way in the home that he built.”

Samuel’s lips curled down. “You leave no....” He clamped his teeth together, as if forcing the words back. His shoes squeaked as he turned on his heel and stalked from the room.

Leigh’s pulse raced, and she took a steadying breath. Having him here would make a difficult task impossible. Pushing away the tickle of warning in the back of her mind, she turned to Eliza. “It’s a lot to ask, I know. I promise you, I will not push or put anyone in any sort of danger. If that helps.”

Eliza hugged the little girl on her hip, stroking the other’s hair. She looked from Bea to Leigh and down at each girl. “Gretchen, honey? Did you bring your angel with you?”

The three-year-old hugged her mother closer, then grinned and nodded.

Leigh’s heart plummeted to her feet. “This is Gretchen?”

“
You can understand my hesitation,” Eliza said. “But I also feel I understand her for the first time in a long time—thanks to you, Leigh. So we’ll do whatever you need us to do. Just promise me, nothing—”

“
You have my word,” she interjected, fearing the conversation could get too graphic and scare Gretchen before they even started.

Bea led them to the adjacent room, where they all sat. Hilda with Jessica, the older sister, upon Eliza insisting that they stay, Bea with Nick, and Eliza and Gretchen with Leigh.

“
Will you ask your angel if they can play tonight, Gretchen?”

The little girl buried her face in her mother’s hair, but nodded. Leigh saw the woman’s silhouette. But Gretchen was nervous. “Bea, where is Duchy? Could we let her in to play with the girls?” A servant immediately left after a quick nod from Bea. “Duchy is the sweetest little poodle you ever saw, Gretchen. She has puff balls on her ears.”

Eliza nodded gratefully. “Oh how wonderful.”

“
Can I see the puppy?” Jessica asked.

“
Of course you can,” Bea said and looked to Leigh for reassurance.

Leigh smiled at her and looked around the room again. There, behind Bea stood the shadowy outline of a woman Bea’s age. Leigh focused her attention and closed her eyes a moment, asking with her mind for permission to speak to her.

Don’t tell her who I am.

Leigh’s eyes snapped open. Beatrice sat forward ringing her hands. The servant arrived with Duchy, who distracted the girls nicely. Gretchen still clung to her mother, but at least now, she would look at Leigh with shy curiosity. Don’t tell who? Leigh wondered. She gave Gretchen a quick, assuring smile and closed her eyes again.