by Abby Ayles
She hurried after the men, not wanting to be left behind and asked any questions. Why would Lady Joanna want to play a game before lunch? She was not one to invite others to play games. In all the years she had known her, Lady Joanna had never once asked her to play a game with her. And why did Lord Gilbert look so serious?
When she went into the dining hall, she looked around for Lady Julia. If there was anyone who would share her wonder about the situation, it was her best friend. She spotted the young woman standing by the table of fruit, looking through the selection and picking out strawberries. The room was filling quickly with people from the city and the nearby countryside.
She had to maneuver around several people, excusing herself and curtsying. She finally reached Lady Julia and could not help eyeing the fruit table herself. “Oh my, those look so very fresh,” she said. Lady Julia looked up at her.
“I did not see you coming. You are like a small kitten on padded feet.”
Lady Annabelle smiled. “I did not mean to frighten you.”
Lady Julia shrugged. “Did you enjoy the artwork examination?”
“I did, thank you. It was a relief to find out the works of art are genuine and not forgeries.”
“Oh, that is a relief!” Lady Julia exclaimed, right before taking a bite of her strawberry. “Did you see my sister? She is in the parlor playing games with the Balfour brothers.” Lady Julia shook her head. “I do not know what she sees in Lord Gilbert but I am glad she has found someone to spend her time with. She has become much more outgoing, would you not agree?”
Lady Annabelle would agree. But something about it all bothered her. She could not put her finger on it. “Do you have no suspicions that Lord Gilbert might not be the right suitor for Lady Joanna? You have no concerns?”
Lady Julia took another bite of her strawberry, finishing it and dropping the leaf on her plate. She gave Lady Annabelle a nonchalant look.
“I have spoken to her about my concerns. My sister does not listen to me. She knows that I only come from a place of love. But she does not listen to me. We are twins. I am only minutes older than her. She does not count those minutes as being worthwhile.”
Lady Annabelle gave a humorless chuckle.
Chapter 25
Lady Joanna shifted in the chair nervously. The dukes were in the storage wing with Mr. Covington and Lady Annabelle surveying the value of the three paintings. She was waiting in the parlor with Lord Gilbert, while Lord Leonard scouted the rest of the house.
She wanted revenge against Duke Colbourn for humiliating her in the street. But the plan Lord Gilbert had come up with was elaborate and dangerous. She would incur the wrath of many people if she did not play her cards right.
Lord Gilbert was very persuasive. When she started to question what they were doing, he always told her that she was the only person alive capable of doing what needed to be done. She was the only logical one to say the duke had said crude things to her because Lady Annabelle would never admit it, even if it were true and Lady Julia was too pure to have not slapped the duke’s face at least once. Lady Joanna was timid, meek, easily controlled.
When the group emerged from the passageway, her heart had nearly beat out of her chest. She was so tense, she gave herself a mild headache. Her hands ached from where she had been kneading them together. She desperately wanted to lie down.
But she had committed herself to the plan Lord Gilbert devised. Once the group was gone to the dining hall, she would remain in the parlor while Lord Gilbert and Lord Leonard went through the passageway, retrieved the three paintings and brought them back.
They had large sacks ready, hidden in a corner near the doorway, where no one would look.
If anyone came to the parlor, which was unlikely for at least half an hour or more, Lady Joanna was to say the men had left to get lunch and bring it back for her.
The time it took for the two men to get the paintings went by like molasses dripping from a tree. Lady Joanna thought they would never return. It felt like an eternity. She paced the room, waiting with a steady beating heart. The doorknob never turned but she kept looking at it as if it had.
Finally, Lord Gilbert and Lord Leonard came back through the door. They propped the paintings up against the wall. Lord Gilbert’s face was glowing with triumph. He smiled at Lady Joanna. “Do you see? Look! Look at this beauty!” He uncovered one of the paintings, looking at it with hungry eyes. Lady Joanna wondered why he found the painting so fascinating. She had seen it before. It did not seem special to her.
But Lord Gilbert’s joy at stealing the painting was written all over his face. Lord Leonard, by contrast, was sober and serious. He covered the painting back up and moved two of them to the door so that if it opened, the person on the other side would not immediately see them. He returned for the third one and looked down at Lord Gilbert.
“You must get yourself under control, brother. These are the most valuable paintings in that storage room. They will be missed quickly. For all we know, the dukes may return to look at them after lunch. We must put them in the room now.”
He went back to the door, propping the third painting up against the other two. He turned and beckoned to them. “Come. We must do this now. Each of us will hold a painting. Lady Jo, you will lead the way because you know which room is his. You do know this?”
She nodded.
“Good.” He casually opened the door and stepped out, looking around the foyer. He would have to make the timing perfect, as some people from the city came late for lunch.
People were coming and going through the area, admiring the paintings and decorations but never going into any other room but the dining hall. That was the only area they were invited besides the foyer.
He stepped back inside, shaking his head. “There are people out there. We will have to wait.”
Lord Gilbert looked at the game table. “I suppose we should play a game. At least make it look as though we had played a game. Do you agree?”
Lord Leonard nodded. “That is good thinking. You two set it up. I will find a hiding place for these in this room. We will play for five minutes. Then I will check again. I will check until there is no one out there and we can make it up the stairs without being seen.”
Lady Joanna thought the task sounded completely impossible. She had been in the mansion for so many years, she knew the routine of the people who lived and worked there. The foyer was rarely empty, especially at lunchtime.
Since the Duke of Norrend and the Duke of Cardinal knew they were playing a game of Whist, they might return to the parlor quickly. Then how would they get the paintings out of the room?
Lord Leonard walked around the room, surveying each corner, cabinet, hutch, and trunk. When he found an easel covered up with a large drape, he nodded. Lady Joanna watched him from the table, where she was seated.
The others had no idea what kind of man Lord Leonard was. To them, he was a quiet observer, involved in his own thoughts, watching the world move around him.
But to Lady Joanna, who knew him much better than they did, he was smooth, manipulating, and calculating. He was highly intelligent, that she knew. But it did not seem to her that he was on the good side of things. He found ways to make things worse for other people.
Lord Gilbert had told her several stories that he must not have thought were as bad as they were but to Lady Joanna, they showed what a scheming, devious man he could be.
She blamed Lord Leonard for Lord Gilbert’s involvement in anything improper. He was the older, bigger brother. Lord Gilbert did anything he asked. It was an odd thing to see. Lady Joanna wondered if she and Lady Julia had a relationship like that.
Lord Leonard came back to the table and sat in the third chair, picking up his cards. They played for five minutes to the second and he was on his feet again, checking the foyer. On his third attempt, he looked back inside and frantically waved his arms.
“Grab them! We must go quickly!”
Lord Gilbert and
Lady Joanna jumped to their feet so quickly, the back of his legs tipped Lord Gilbert’s chair over. He snatched it before it went crashing to the ground. He did not want to draw any attention to them. He and Lady Joanna crossed the floor quickly, grabbed the three sacks and brought them to Lord Leonard.
The three of them darted across the foyer to the stairs and went up as quickly as they could. Lady Joanna ended up at the bottom, still going up when the men were already on the second floor. They turned to look at her but said nothing. Their faces said enough.
She hurried past them and went to the door to the Duke of Cardinal’s room. She set the painting down in front of the door, leaning it against her legs so that her hand was free to turn the knob and open the door.
For one brief moment, she was afraid the duke had come back to his chambers during lunch. To her relief, the room was empty. She moved through the doorway. Lord Gilbert came in after her and then Lord Leonard. Lord Leonard closed the door behind him and set the edge of the painting on the floor, looking around.
“Where shall they be hidden? It must be somewhere that is easily accessible but no one would look there unless told to.”
Lady Joanna scanned the room and pointed at a large hutch standing against one wall. It was used for large coats during cold winter seasons. It was at least four and a half feet wide and stretched back about the same. “In there, or behind it?” she suggested.
Lord Gilbert looked at Lord Leonard. The older brother nodded and the three laid the paintings on top of each other on the bed. Lord Gilbert and Lord Leonard pushed and pulled on the hutch until it was scooted out a foot. They placed the paintings behind it and shoved it back so they were pushed against the wall.
Lady Joanna watched them with an uneasy feeling. Somehow, this was going to go wrong. Something was going to go wrong. She was no longer sure she wanted the duke to be sent away from the mansion. Lady Annabelle did look happy with him.
“I do not know if we should do this,” she said. She regretted it the moment she said it. Lord Gilbert crossed the room and took her face in his hands. He was not rough with her but he scared her nonetheless.
“It is too late to back out now, my dear. The time has come for you to have what you want. Lady Annabelle has been receiving her every wish every day of her life, has she not?”
Lady Joanna nodded. He took his hands from her face but his eyes remained locked on hers.
“And you have not. You have experienced great loss. A loss no one else can understand. They do not seem to care, do they? Have they?”
Lady Joanna pulled in a deep breath, shaking her head. “No, I suppose they have not.” Her voice came out defeated. It really was too late. When the paintings were found in the Duke of Cardinal’s room, it would appear he was attempting to steal them. He would be sent away from the mansion and Lady Annabelle would not have her duke anymore.
Somehow, the idea did not sound as good as it had when Lord Leonard had first come up with it.
The older brother took a few steps to stand beside them. “We cannot stand here all day. The reason we are here is because you were insistent that Lady Annabelle is punished for the years she has treated you badly. This is what you told us, is it not?”
Lady Joanna nodded.
“Then you will reap the rewards when the paintings are found and he is sent away. Come, we must leave this room before we are discovered.”
The three hurried to the door, slipped through and made it to the top of the stairs unseen. Lord Leonard was there first and stopped, holding up his hand. He scanned the floor below.
“We will go directly to the dining hall.”
Lord Gilbert and Lady Joanna nodded at him. They walked as casually as they could down the stairs and crossed the foyer to the dining hall doors. Lord Leonard opened them and allowed the other two to pass him.
The food looked delicious, distracting Lady Joanna from her worry. She had not realized how hungry she was. She crossed the room to the table where the bread and meat were laid out, picking up a plate from the side of the table.
She lifted her eyes long enough to see Lady Annabelle standing near the window with Lady Julia and the Duke of Cardinal. They were laughing and smiling. Lady Joanna looked at Lady Annabelle’s face. Her eyes were directed at the duke. Her smile beamed. The sun spraying through the window caught her in its light, surrounding her with a glowing halo.
Lady Joanna straightened up. Resentment flooded her. Lady Annabelle was always bathed in glory. All she had to do was stand in front of a window and gaze at a handsome duke. She was given everything while Lady Joanna received scraps.
She clenched her jaw. She would make sure they found those paintings in the Duke of Cardinal’s chambers. He would be sent away. He would be humiliated and Lady Annabelle would be alone again. For once, she would feel the pain that Lady Joanna felt when a loved one is taken away.
Lord Gilbert’s hand on her elbow distracted her from her thoughts. She looked over at him.
“You are lost in thought, my lady,” Lord Gilbert said, a look of concern on his face. She was touched. He would stand by her. No matter what happened.
Lord Gilbert was concerned about her. But it was not out of love. The look of anger on her face when she looked at Lady Annabelle was obvious to him. He knew everyone else would see it, too. He gave her a gentle look, knowing it would calm her down.
The look disappeared from her face and she gazed at him lovingly.
He did not feel in the least sorry for her.
Chapter 26
The Duke of Cardinal woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and happy. He was looking forward to his day with Lady Annabelle, not knowing what to expect.
There was a ball later that evening, a birthday party for a prominent member of society. He had purchased a tunic to match Lady Annabelle’s dress, which he had not seen but had asked about as discreetly as possible.
In reality, he simply asked Lady Julia about it so he would purchase the right color. For all he knew, Lady Julia could have told Lady Annabelle that they would match.
He and Mr. Covington planned to meet first thing this morning in the storage wing. The Duke of Cardinal wanted to show him what he had seen in the paintings that had made him think they were not genuine. Mr. Covington would be able to fill him in on his error and show him how to avoid the mistake in the future.
He cleaned at the water basin with a soft cloth, dried off and dressed. He brushed his hair and looked in the mirror, scanning his face.
Ten minutes later, he was in the parlor, waiting for Mr. Covington. He looked at the game of cards left out on the table. It was an odd thing. The maids had not cleaned it. Lady Joanna and the Balfour brothers had not picked it up.
He shook his head, moving to pick the cards up and put them back where they belonged. Such a simple thing to do. He was disappointed in the lot of them.
As he slid the cards back onto the shelf, Mr. Covington came through the door.
“You look refreshed!” Mr. Covington said upon seeing him. “You slept well, I take it.”
“I did. And you?”
“The bed that was provided to me is one of the finest I have ever slept on. I will remember to thank Duke Cartwright for that when I see him.”
The two men headed to the door to the passageway into the storage wing.
“I see that you and your lady are very compatible,” Mr. Covington said. “I am impressed with her. You have chosen well.”
The Duke of Cardinal shook his head. “It had nothing to do with choosing, my lord. It happened whether I wanted it to or not. As you know, I have not been seeking a wife. Although my age dictates that I find one and my duty is to have an heir, I was not looking.”
Mr. Covington nodded. “I was aware of that. I never understood why you did not take the opportunities that were presented to you. You have known many fine ladies these past ten years since the academy.”
“I had yet to find one that I felt a connection to. With Lady Annabelle
…” He shook his head. “It seemed to come naturally. I am… enthralled with her every move. I feel… different. Odd, in a way. But it is good. I like it.”
Mr. Covington laughed. “I am glad you like the feeling of love, my lord. It is a grand thing.”
“Have you been in love, Mr. Covington? I have yet to hear you make mention of a female you might be interested in.”
Mr. Covington shook his head. “I have no title to carry on and no heir is required. I am free to do as I please. I have not met a woman who can match my energy. I stay on the move. It does not leave a great deal of time for such things.”
