“Just so.” Leah announced. “Therein lays the issue at its root. Look around you, at all this.” She gestured to the overflowing fountains and the buzzing bees about the tops of bushes. “You have everything a person could want. There are many others just like you. There are more, however, others that do not possess near this amount.”
“No, but–”
“It is not your fault, so don't become embarrassed or cross.” Leah stopped him. “And it is only proper and polite to allow someone to finish speaking before taking your turn.”
“So, it is.” Kenneth conceded to hear her out with a peaceable smile.
“What I mean to arrive at…” Leah paused for a moment to catch her breath, “is that a system has been built in which you and your friends with all this,” she gestured again. “have the say over all the rest. Let me put it this way, have you ever been robbed, Kenneth?”
“Robbed?” He looked startled by the suggestion. “No, never.”
“Well, when one is being robbed,” Leah sighed as she further deviated to get to the root of her argument. “there is a feeling one gets of being completely powerless. That nothing you can do or say will affect the outcome, and that really, you're not worth anything at all. Have you ever had that feeling?”
Kenneth was silent, his eyes becoming a murky pool of reflection.
“Well that is the same feeling a dirt-poor person such as myself gets when they have a run in with the likes of you. You who can do anything against us who are worth nothing. So, when I get smart with my mouth and hurt your feelings, it's because it's all I got to feel like a person around all of this.” she gestured a final time as her voice trailed off.
“When we formed squares at Waterloo, I knew that feeling.” Kenneth said, ever softly.
“You were at Waterloo?” Leah was surprised. Everyone in the country, rich, poor, and anywhere in between, had heard of Waterloo, yet he didn't carry himself like a stoic war hero. She knew he had been in the army, but not the details of his experiences.
“And half a dozen other places.” Kenneth replied. “Endless hooves came crashing down on us, hammering the earth like thunder spit out of their legs. I've never heard anything like it. We all formed up and they came at us like a wall, a moving wall, and we all fired...” Kenneth himself let his words fall away.
Leah knew that there was real trauma behind that half-sorted reveal of Kenneth's history. She had seen plenty of boys come back from the war, more than he had most likely. Down in the ditches of London, the soldiers told the true war stories; they spoke of the violence and the senseless sadness that had broken their minds, only fixed but for a moment with a pint of blue ruin.
In that moment of Kenneth's reflection, Leah realized fully her feelings for this gentle, unique man. He was like no one else she had ever met, and his undying affection towards her was horribly touching. Why does he persist so? What is it that drives him?
He had created a position for her, not because she could do what someone else couldn't, but because he would have an assurance of seeing her again once she was well. Leah had no doubt that it was the most anyone had ever cared for her.
“I'll show you how it feels to be robbed.” Leah said suddenly, trying to yank him back to a place where happier thoughts ran over the grim ones.
She pulled him abruptly against the hedge, grappling one of his wrists and twisting it up in a way that he could not move it without causing great pain.
She then pressed firmly against him, shoving his back into the branches, and swiftly pulled a short pin from her hair. Gripping it between her thumb and forefinger, she positioned it directly against Kenneth's throat. She had him at her mercy.
“With one little bit of force, you're nothing, and I'm everything.” she whispered, her face surprisingly close to his. She increased the pressure on the pin. “Let's have that time piece.”
Her hand holding his wrist expertly ducked into his jacket pocket and slowly pulled forth a golden time piece on a long chain.
“Do you feel afraid?” she whispered, ever so close to his fine jaw line.
“I feel strongly.” Kenneth whispered back. “Although it is not fear.”
Leah pushed another few inches forward and met his lips with hers. A rocket of blinding, swirling heat shot off within her, shooting up and bouncing wildly between the walls of her torso.
Then she pulled away from him briskly, stowing the pin, and cleared her throat while she strained her dress in between the hedge rows.
“What was...” Kenneth seemed utterly stunned.
“Come along.” Leah teased. “We're still walking.” She began to pace slowly away from him through the garden greens. She felt aglow from the contact, and knew that he could only feel the same, and yet she hoped that it would just die away as fast as it occurred.
“Wait!” Kenneth exclaimed, clambering after her. “How can you simply walk away? You just–”
“Just what?” She turned.
“Just kissed me.” Kenneth finally seemed to manage the words from his mouth.
“Or did you kiss me, Your Grace?” She gave him a playful, yet dangerous look.
“What difficult game is this?” Kenneth asked, incredulously. “I cannot fathom it!”
“And why is that?” Leah asked coyly. Although she had greatly enjoyed the kiss, and felt the emotional response it gave her, she also knew that she had him wrapped around her finger.
“Why is what? What?” Kenneth was still flustered. He seemed completely disarmed.
“Come now you cannot say you do not have feelings for me?” Leah teased, taking his arm again and forcing him to continue the stroll in normality.
“And so, what then?” It looked as if Kenneth couldn't make sense of what was happening. “What does any of it mean? I must confess I am thoroughly displaced.”
“Displaced, are you?”
“Utterly.”
Leah looked up at him while they walked. His face was bright red, and yet he was completely engrossed in her.
“I care for you Kenneth, but I could not work in your firm. I have already stayed too long at this house. We are two worlds apart. I must be getting on.”
“On to where?”
“Just, away from here.” Leah was tactfully trying to avoid the subject of her attempted assassination. It hurt her to see him so distraught and confused by her words, but it was superior to the alternative.
“But come now, you must not think that we will not see each other again? What good is there in that? I can provide you with allowance, salary, even.”
“Money is not going to keep me on this estate, Kenneth.” she sighed. “I cannot bear to remain in one place so long, especially one so, well, calm.”
“Very well.” Kenneth said, clearly crestfallen. “If that is your decision, I have no right to prevent you. But I beg of you, do not forsake the fire which you have just breathed life into. I have never felt so strongly about anything. At the very least, take up my offer of consultation so that I may have cause to see your face from time to time.”
“It was not meant to light a fire.” Leah sighed. I knew this was a bad idea.
“What then was the intention?” Kenneth exclaimed, throwing his hands high.
“I...” Leah had no good answer for one of the first times in her life. It had been largely impulsive, as was her nature, but founded in something real.
“Now of all times you have nothing to say.” Kenneth let his hands fall. Leah felt a wave of despair wash over her like a flash flood.
“Must one's tongue always be moving?” she shot back, growing hot.
“I apologize.” Kenneth lowered his voice considerably. “I should not have become cross as I did. That was most impolite, and I feel a fool for it.”
“Be still a moment.” she said, drawing her hands together.
“I shall.” Kenneth replied, his gaze falling to the grass.
“Your offer is a fair one.” Leah pondered her choices. She had indeed caused a bit of
a stir within herself; she cared for Kenneth. But she cared far more for her own life, for that was the world she had become accustomed to. “I confess that I have feelings for you Kenneth, but I am not to be kept in a fine house like an expensive bird. I cannot, I...” Leah choked up a bit as her emotions took hold.
So often she held everything back, and now it was all flowing forth like a busted dam. Yet she scrambled to patch over the breaches as quick as she could, remembering her survival before everything else.
“Those thugs that attacked you.” Kenneth said softly. “They'll come after you again, won't they?”
“No.” Leah lied, wiping the tear from her eye and composing herself. “If I promise to see you regularly, will you forgive me my secrets?”
“I cannot ask for more.” Kenneth replied, taking her hand in his.
“So, we have an accord.” Leah sniffled and smiled brightly. “Now let us continue our walk.”
“When will you leave?” Kenneth could not yet let the matter rest.
“Oh, not for several days I suspect.” Leah smiled up at him. “I'm not sure my ribs are ready for a coach ride.”
This seemed to cheer Kenneth up immensely, who no doubt assumed she would be departing that very night. With his mind temporarily at ease, Kenneth appeared happy as ever to get on with the stroll. Leah could tell that he greatly enjoyed the outdoors.
“There is another matter I wished to discuss with you. Kenneth mentioned. “Though in my haze I have nearly forgotten.”
“A matter of substance?” Leah teased.
“Oh, it's very substantial.” Kenneth grinned at her wit.
“Go on then.”
“It concerns my bill in Parliament.” he went on, “I had thought that you might have some insight.”
“What sort of insight?” she looked at him from the corner of her eye. He is going to ask me to do something I don't want to do.
“Well.” He cleared his throat. “I thought that perhaps some members of the House of Lords could benefit from hearing what you have to say, testimony, if you will.”
“Testimony? In front of Parliament?”
“Unfortunately, not.” Kenneth confessed. “But in smaller, more private parties, a gathering of say, perhaps twenty. A few of those and we will have reached more than enough to secure it's passing.”
“You ask a great deal.” Leah turned her gaze to him.
“Perhaps, but think of the good you could do.” he pitched rather poorly.
“Who gets their name on the monument?” she poked fun at him.
“I take your point.” Kenneth sighed. “But would you think on it?”
“That I will.” Leah gave him something to hold him by. She had no intention of doing anything in public, at least until she figured out what she was going to do.
Most of her knew that she had to escape, likely to France, or perhaps Ireland. France was much closer. There was a small part of her – the spitfire from White Chapel – that didn't want to go anywhere. But the only way to pull that caper off was to get rid of Riphook, and she had more chance of doing that than she did becoming Queen of England, as she saw it.
“Although it is not something you should begin to advertise among your peers.”
“Fine enough.” Kenneth smiled back at her as they rounded a corner, coming back into view of the house.
“My what is that smell? It's enchanting.” Leah commented as the kitchen's aroma wafted out from the open windows on the fleeting summer breeze.
“A feast for my Uncle, no doubt.” Kenneth sniffed the air as well.
“When will he be arriving?”
“Any time now I feel. He said that he was delayed an hour or two. He told me he was paying a visit to the good Dr. Fowler.”
“Fowler?” Leah became immediately attentive. “Is he the family doctor?”
“Not precisely.” Kenneth had no idea of the significance of poor old Francis Fowler to Leah at that moment. “Of course, I inquired upon his health, and he told me it was nothing to fret about, just a short in and out visit. Regardless, he got a later start on his journey. Fine enough by me I suppose, gives my poor old mother time enough to have a feast prepared.” Kenneth finished his ramble.
Leah had quite looked forward to meeting Kenneth's uncle, if not just for the sake of having another uncomfortable nobleman to torment verbally. But the mention of Francis Fowler had put a terrible thought into her paranoid mind.
It was a memory, a secret occasion to which she should not have been present. She had been there because Riphook had been there. It was an event that she knew would haunt her forever and ever, and now, her survivalist paranoia was bringing it back.
“There he is now.” Kenneth pointed to a coach coming up the drive. “Let's go along to meet him.”
You're being foolish, Leah scolded herself. The world cannot be so crooked.
Chapter 17
Cornelius had gone from enjoying a terribly pleasant afternoon with his favorite relation, to being furious with the inner workings of his organization. Nothing seemed to be going right, and now the one thing that could undo him seemed to be dancing all around him.
His visit with the good Dr. Fowler had been all informative. He knew that the doctor had been to Kenneth's estate that day, and he also knew that he had met with Miss Leah Benson.
It was not until meeting with Dr. Fowler that Cornelius had understood just who Leah was, and her relationship to Riphook. With Francis' confession, Cornelius had learned everything he needed to secure his family's legacy, and himself, from the tendrils of the underworld.
Now, coming up the drive, he could see Kenneth walking with a woman in a fine dress. It was as if the world was laying everything before him, saying This is where you went wrong, and you know it. Now here is your opportunity to fix it.
Cornelius saw Kenneth waving, and he returned the gesture through the window, although the pair was too far off the see him through the reflective pane.
The coach rolled into the park, and Cornelius climbed down with help from his cane, although he hardly needed it. He had learned long ago that if one appeared weaker than one was in reality, many advantages could be garnered.
“Uncle!” Kenneth called across the lawn. “Welcome!”
“Hello there Kenneth!” Cornelius grinned, waving his cane. He walked slowly forwards, watching the woman beside his nephew come into view.
“I am glad you made the journey well.” Kenneth and Miss Benson met him at the base of the stairs. “How is the good doctor?”
“Dr. Fowler has never been better.” Cornelius boasted, locking eyes with Leah. He could see in her expression that she remembered him. There was no doubt in his mind.
Cornelius remembered her. How could he forget that scar on her cheek? She was the same girl that had hid behind Riphook's leg that fateful night. He had told the scoundrel a dozen times not to bring the runt along, but Riphook had done it regardless.
She was the one face in all of London, the one mind, that could tie Cornelius's massive income with Riphook's criminal empire.
And here she was, even dressed up as if God had put a bow on her for him to find.
I've got you now.
“Uncle, please, it is my great pleasure to introduce my friend and colleague, Miss Leah Benson.” Kenneth gestured to Leah and smiled widely like this was the happiest day of his life.
“Miss Benson.” Cornelius took her hand and kissed it politely, offering a deep bow. “An honor. I've heard so much about you.”
“And I you.” she said rigidly. Cornelius could see her trying not to betray her total fear. “Kenneth has told me all about you in turn.”
“Has he?” Cornelius smiled a toothy grin. “He's one to talk, my nephew.” He turned and shot a sly look at Kenneth. “Come, let us all go inside before your mother has a fit over supper's delay.”
“Well said.” Kenneth agreed. “Shall we?” he looked to Leah, who nodded silently. The pair of them began up the stairs, and Cornelius too
k up behind them.
This will break his heart.
“Finally!” he could hear Juliet's high voice echoing through the house. “Come, hurry! We must find our places.”
Dinner had been ready it appeared for some twenty minutes, and this had clearly thrown Juliet into a state. She whisked the three of them into the dining room where overly-elegant place settings had been prepared, and quickly ordered them into their appropriate seats.
A meal for four does not need to contain an excessive amount of food, however Juliet had spared no expense on the flash-prepared feast.
The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady: A Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 18
