A Haunting at Havenwood (Seasons of Change Book 6)

by Sally Britton

  “Was your ancestor a Catholic?” Her color drained from her face. “Perhaps he was one of those persecuted—”

  “Lady Elizabeth’s relative, Henry Percy, was Catholic. The king sentenced him to the Tower of London after the Gunpowder Plot. People said he was involved, but I cannot find that they had any actual evidence against him.” Ras put his cup down on the table and stood, then he paced the length of the room. “Erasmus may have been a loyal supporter of King James in Scotland, but perhaps he felt the power of the English throne changed his monarch for the worst. Maybe he meant to keep the treasure out of the king’s hands so it would do no harm.”

  “That would be treasonous.” Louisa turned her gaze to the window, narrowing her eyes. “Yet I can understand it. If the monarchy was corrupt, hurting the people rather than helping, a good man would be reluctant to turn over a large sum of money to the king. Because that is where the treasure would go. King James would have used it for himself, rather than turning it over to Parliament.”

  “That is my thought as well.” Ras went to the window, looking out over the lane. In a moment, Louisa joined him. He kept his voice lowered, so the maid would not hear what he said. “Hiding the treasure would have kept it safe. If Erasmus and Lady Elizabeth had used the treasure in any way, the king would’ve suspected their duplicity.”

  “But hiding it and leaving a trail of clues for someone to follow in the future, may have been their way of protecting the treasure until someone who would use it for good found it.” Louisa’s eyes brightened as she laid her hand on Ras’s arm. “What if we are meant to find it?”

  His heart entered his throat at her touch, and he bent his head toward her. “What would you do with the treasure, Louisa?”

  Her lashes fluttered, but her gaze did not leave his. “I thought on that last evening. You know I am poor. My family lost everything after my father’s death.”

  He nodded once. Though she had not laid the information so bare before, it was easy enough to surmise from her circumstances.

  “My first thought was to better my position in Society. My mother’s position, I should say.” A sad smile touched her lips, then she shook her head. “But I could not do that with a clear conscience. That treasure came from local people, through their payment of taxes to their liege lords centuries ago. It is wealth that belongs here and belongs to the other side of the border. Not to any one person, but to the communities where the nobility obtained it.”

  Ras’s lips parted, so surprised was he by her words. She spoke with such honesty, and simplicity. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to scoop her up into his arms and kiss her senseless.

  The maid’s teacup scraped her saucer, and Ras took a hasty step away from Louisa. They were not alone, or he might have attempted the foolish action.

  “Sarah.” Louisa turned to the young woman. “Would you take the tea things to the kitchen? Mr. Grey will give me a tour of the house, then we will return home and prepare for dinner.”

  Dinner. Right. Ras had been invited to that.

  Sarah rose and did as Louisa bid, a brief smile appearing upon her face. At least she was not disapproving of her mistress spending a few moments with Ras, alone.

  Not that he had any designs upon Louisa. As much as he wished to hold her, to kiss her, it would be wrong.

  Wouldn’t it?

  With notebook in hand, Louisa followed Ras through the public rooms of the house. She wrote down every word beneath paintings and relics old enough to have been present when Havenwood Lodge was built. Ras kept several feet away from her, and they left every door they entered open.

  That aspect of their search disappointed Louisa. She had thought Ras might attempt to steal a kiss, given the intensity of his stare and movement in the study.

  What would it take to goad him into such an action? And did she dare attempt such a brazen thing?

  No. Of course not. As much as she enjoyed imagining the situation, it was not reality.

  As they went through rooms, more often communicating through glances than conversation, Louisa reflected quietly on King James and her mother. If Erasmus had sought to keep the wealth of the past away from a greedy monarch, her duty to keep it from a spend-thrift mother was equally important.

  If the treasure surfaced, Louisa’s mother would never discover it.

  The phrases in her notebook slowly multiplied, and Ras started entering the bedrooms on his own to read aloud things he found in them.

  I trust none with my hidden truths, save my lady.

  Scotland will be my forever home.

  Havenwood Lodge is a gift to our children and our children’s children.

  A secret kept through the ages is a legend born.

  E&E Forevermore, Never Apart.

  Responsibility is Inherent in Inheritance.

  Havenwood protects my family, a paradise away from the world.

  Return me home and lay beside me, the day is far gone.

  That last one made her blush. Ras had found it carved in the hearthstone of the master bedroom. He rubbed the back of his neck when he exited that room. “I always thought these words and quotes were all for show. That someone was trying to be poetic. But now, seeing it all together, I think you may be right. There is a message here. I only wish I knew what it was.”

  Louisa sighed and closed her notebook. “I will think on it, too. Perhaps with both of us puzzling over it, we will decipher what your ancestors meant.”

  “We may have a better chance of that than you think,” Ras muttered, almost too quietly for her to hear.

  They returned to the front door, where Sarah waited, sitting on a stool, her book in hand again. She rose when she saw them descended the steps from the second floor. Louisa saw the way Ras watched Sarah, obviously wondering if the maid would take the tale of them going through the house to the Harbottle gossips.

  Sarah’s countenance remained serene and unsuspicious. Louisa relaxed and smiled at her. “Thank you, Sarah, for your patience.” Then she turned to Ras. “And thank you for your time, Mr. Grey.”

  He turned his attention back to her and smiled. “It was my pleasure to give you the tour, Miss Banner. There isn’t a house older than this one in Harbottle. Not since the old castle was torn down.” He opened the front door. “I will see you in a few hours, for dinner.”

  Louisa and Sarah took their leave, and once they were out of sight of the house, Sarah came up beside her rather than walk behind.

  “I think he’s quite taken with you, miss.”

  Louisa blushed. “Really? I am quite taken with him, so that would be nice.” She laughed somewhat nervously. “But I cannot imagine anything coming of such admiration, even if it is mutual. Aunt Penrith says his family is very wealthy, and his mother wishes him to marry well. We both know that I cannot bring anything to a marriage. Not anymore.”

  The maid harrumphed. “You’ll forgive me for saying it, miss, but that just isn’t true. You would bring your own self, and to the right man that would be more than enough.”

  With a fond smile for her maid, Louisa responded with nothing more than a shrug. That was not the way the world worked for one of Ras’s class. He would marry where his family approved, and most likely it would be a woman who matched him in wealth and standing. Not a poor little nobody keeping a Harbottle widow company through the winter.

  At least, that was what she told herself. Yet as they walked back to the Manse, Louisa had to admit that Ras had proven his character, that she knew he was not a flirt, but he had sincerely offered her admiration and compliments both.

  Experience in Society, and her mother’s lectures, had taught Louisa that someone like Ras would never consider a match with someone like her. But perhaps…perhaps her mother was wrong. Perhaps Society itself was too blind to see the possibilities that she hardly dared consider.

  The longer she remained away from her mother’s influence, the more Louisa realized her mother’s way of life proved unsatisfactory. It had never made
Louisa happy. Not really.

  While her mother, were she present, would push Louisa to have a relationship with Lord Erran’s family, Louisa felt time spent with the fashionable sisters was a chore rather than a delight.

  Everything shifted in her perspective of the world, which left her feeling uncertain of her place. She had no other guide than her mother and Society to follow. The treasure hunt had started as a distraction, but it had become something more.

  Now, Louisa had the opportunity to find what would bring her true happiness.

  Chapter 17

  October 24th

  When Louisa returned home, Aunt Penrith was in a dither.

  “The Cunningham ladies called while you were away. They asked where you had gone, and I am afraid it came out in conversation that Mr. Grey will join us for dinner this evening.” Aunt Penrith’s graying curls bounced about her ears as she spoke, and she fidgeted with her shawl. “Somehow, they wheedled an invitation out of me.”

  Louisa laughed. “Why are you distressed? I thought you liked Lady Erran and the Miss Cunninghams. You wanted us to be friends.” Given that Louisa had acknowledged to herself how she felt about the sisters, it took a little effort to welcome the idea of them at dinner.

  “I did.” The elder woman sighed as she led the way into the parlor. “But those girls have been after Mr. Grey’s notice for the last decade. All the children played together when they were younger, of course, and the boys were often seen together. But Lady Erran is determined for her daughters to marry into money, if not titles, and Mr. Grey has enough in his pocket to make him a marriage prospect.”

  Louisa’s good mood dissipated when faced with the reality of the situation. She exchanged a glance with Sarah before dismissing the maid to her work. The Cunningham ladies were certainly better positioned in Society to set their caps at Ras. He had mentioned their pursuit of him in passing at least once, though he hadn’t seemed markedly interested in either lady.

  Surely, Aunt Penrith hadn’t thought to play matchmaker between Louisa and Ras.

  Her aunt’s next words confirmed that thought. “The poor man should not be harassed at my table when they are certain to take delight in pursuing him at their own. But it is done, so we must make the best of it. I will sit you next to him on the one side and Miss Arabelle on the other. The eldest Miss Cunningham is the true flirt of the two. If she sits across from him and between her brothers—well, it might curb some of the behavior.”

  While Aunt Penrith continued to fret aloud, making plans of where each guest would sit even in the parlor, Louisa struggled to pay attention.

  A poor nobody had no right to expect someone of Ras’s ilk to notice her. That he had done so in the first place had been an accident. She had stumbled upon him, and he had taken pity on a lost woman. He had pretended to be a ghost, though, rather than reveal his true self right away. Perhaps he had done so to spare her feelings as well as his privacy.

  But what of that very day, in his home, when he had stood close enough for her to feel his breath upon her cheek? She had stared into his blue eyes, finding flecks of gray in them when he smiled at her.

  Had she been wrong, when she thought him on the verge of kissing her? She had hoped to experience a touch of his lips on hers, to understand what it felt like, but Louisa had no serious designs upon him.

  Did she?

  She excused herself to her room, empty now of the kitten. Cook had taken the fuzzy little creature to the kitchen, saying she knew how to train the animal to take its more inappropriate behavior outside.

  Lowering herself to her bed, Louisa stared out her window over the trees. As much as she felt drawn to Ras and the mysterious treasure, she had no right to the man or the wealth. Her shoulders hunched, Louisa opened the drawer of her bedside table and took out her mother’s letter.

  She was a dreadful disappointment to Mrs. Banner, in more ways than one. She had failed to attract a husband. And Louisa had most determinedly omitted any mention of Ras or the treasure in her letters, lest she give her mother the wrong idea.

  “I am not hunting a husband,” she said aloud, looking down at her mother’s signature. “Nor am I ingratiating myself to Aunt Penrith.” If a year passed and her great-aunt did not extend her invitation, Louisa would find something else to do. She would become a companion, or a teacher at a boarding school. Those were the only options left to her if Aunt Penrith did not want her.

  Sarah arrived to help Louisa dress for dinner, the maid happily chatting about seeing Bert when she went to the pub to pick up more rolls and cheese for the evening meal. Obviously, Sarah admired the young man, and he at least enjoyed her attention. Perhaps, even though Louisa refused to imagine a union for herself, a wedding would still come as an effect of their coming to Harbottle.

  The thought returned some of Louisa’s cheer, and she replied to her maid’s enthusiasm with kindness. The dinner hour approached, and Louisa would have to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach when she thought of Miss Cunningham or Miss Arabelle flirting with Ras—Mr. Grey.

  The sun set earlier with each passing day, and it was an hour past its disappearance that Ras set out for the Manse. The moon had risen before the sun went down, so its light illuminated the road as Ras walked eastward from Havenwood. In a few more days, the moon would be at its fullest, then wane again before All Hallows Eve.

  Had anyone yet told Louisa how the villages of Alwinton and Harbottle celebrated that long, dark night at the end of the harvest season? She had scoffed at the ideas of the supernatural and superstition, but given that Ras lately kept company with ghosts, he could not so easily dismiss them.

  “I never liked nights like these.” Lady Elizabeth’s soft voice was musical in the night. “I much preferred to be at home, near the fire.”

  A ghost, sharing misgivings about the darkness? Ras had to swallow a chuckle as he turned his head to see her figure walking alongside him.

  On the other side of her, Erasmus the Elder kept pace. “There is naught in the dark that isn’t there in the day, love.” He looked at Ras, his eyebrows drawn sharply together. “Ye on your way to woo the lass, grandson?”

  The question did nothing to dim Ras’s enthusiasm for the evening. “Perhaps. You know that she and I found your clues in the house. Clues about the treasure. They have rather confounded us.” He averted his gaze up to the moon. “I do not suppose you could make things a little easier for us and simply reveal the location of the treasure? If it really does exist?”

  The ghosts exchanged a glance before Lady Elizabeth spoke. “You are nearing the point, dear boy. Never fear on that count. But we dare not say more. You must do the work on your own.”

  “Enjoy your evening with Miss Banner, lad.” Erasmus took his wife’s hand. “And remember this bit of advice. It is only once in a lifetime, if at all, that a man meets someone who changes everything.” He winked, then he and Lady Elizabeth faded away like mist.

  Ras’s steps slowed as he stared at where they had been. Their comings and goings had never entirely made sense to him. His ancestors wandered in and out of his life the way family members wandered in and out of rooms, as though they were only pausing a moment to check on him before continuing on about their business. If their purpose in coming was to help him locate the treasure, why not reveal its place to him? Or lead him there?

  There had to be something more. Something he had yet to discover or realize that they wanted him to achieve.

  Shaking himself loose of those musings, Ras continued on to the Manse. The light from the windows of the house streamed out, nearly reaching the road, and revealed a carriage waiting in the short drive. A familiar carriage.

  The presence of Lord Erran’s carriage meant the baron, or some collection of his family, was inside the Manse.

  For one frantic moment, Ras considered turning around and returning to Havenwood.

  Louisa was inside waiting for him. Trusting he would come. That was enough to make him swallow his misgivings, approach
the door, and knock.

  The maid, Sarah, answered his knock. Her eyes were wide, likely with the sense of urgency many extra guests brought to a small household. She took his things, and Ras took pity on her.

  “I will show myself through to the parlor.” She curtsied and hurried away down the dark corridor without a word to him.

  Upon entering the parlor, Ras’s gaze swept from one side of the room to the other. Lady Erran and Mrs. Penrith sat on a settee in the middle of the room, Lord Erran in a chair near them though he did not take part in their conversation. On the couch nearest the fire sat Miss Cunningham and Miss Arabelle, wielding fans in their gloved hands. Their younger brother lounged in a chair behind them.

  The eldest of the baron’s sons stood near the window in conversation with the drapes.

  No. Louisa stood at the window, nearly tucked behind the curtain. Her eyes watched Ras, even while she tried to disappear from sight.

  Ras tried to offer her a reassuring smile, though she likely did not need it. Louisa had proved her quick-wittedness to him several times over. And he must quell his own discomfort. Years had passed since he last stood in the same room with the Cunninghams. Much had changed since their last encounter.

  “Mr. Grey, here you are.” Mrs. Penrith had risen to greet him. “When I told Lady Erran of your return to Havenwood Lodge, she desperately wanted to welcome you, too.”

  That explained why the only family of rank for miles had descended upon Mrs. Penrith’s house.

  A determined smile fixed to his face, Ras bowed deeply to the others in the room. “It is my pleasure to be among old friends again. I am only sorry I come alone. My mother and sisters would wish me to pass their good wishes to all of you.”