by Rue Allyn
“Have you spoken with her? What does she say to it?”
There was a knock at the door, and a voice calling Mauvreen’s name. “Hello!” it cried, and it was no mystery as to whom the voice belonged.
“I will leave through the back,” said the cloaked man.
But the opportunity was gone. The handle turned, the door opened, and Rhianna entered the lodge.
“The door was unlocked, Mauvreen, I hope you don’t mind …” Her words froze, as did her body and her gaze. “Lord Kingsley.”
• • •
He rose with his companion, mumbled an indistinct “Miss Braden,” and stood awkwardly beside Mauvreen. The latter said nothing, and Rhianna, too, could think of nothing to say. A moment or two of the silence that followed did little to allay the uneasiness. Something must be said and Rhianna at last felt it her responsibility to explain herself.
“Lord Kingsley,” she began again, “I’m so sorry, I …”
Embarrassment set in and she could not immediately continue. Lord Kingsley remained silent and turned to Mauvreen. The old woman caught his glance, but did not hold it.
“I did not expect to find anyone else here,” Rhianna finished, feeling the necessity of departure.
“Not at all,” Guilford told her, snatching up his walking stick and putting on his hat. “I was just on my way out.”
His voice was calm, comforting. He tipped his hat to them both and flashed Mauvreen a glance, which seemed to convey his permission to proceed with the visit. The old woman’s face lit up and she smiled at Rhianna with open arms, calling her to her side. Taking her up on the invitation, Rhianna made her way to her friend, trading places with Lord Kingsley who moved toward the door.
“Good day to you,” said Lord Kingsley as he left the lodge, closing the door behind him.
Rhianna turned to Mauvreen and the two took each other’s hands.
“How very strange, after all the times I have come, to finally cross paths with another visitor!” cried Rhianna. “Mauvreen, does he come to see you often?”
She shrugged and looked out the window at him as he made his way through the woods toward Kingsley Manor. “There was a time I would see him every day.”
“Does he mind that I am here?” she asked anxiously. “I shall never forget what a secret you stressed our visits must be.”
“Yes, well,” she said, as the two assumed their usual positions in the lodge sitting room, “let us keep it between us three.” Once sitting comfortably on the sofa, Mauvreen continued, “How was the ball? I have heard hardly a thing about it.”
Rhianna smiled to herself at the recollection, a hint of warmth rising in her cheeks. “Lord Kingsley has not, I hope, left you without at least some details?”
“I have heard the gentlemen were in quite a frenzy to claim their dances with you.”
“Oh, Lord Kingsley has cheated you terribly! The number of my partners is nothing to the music, the decorations, the gowns! Has he given you nothing further?”
“No,” her friend told her, “but besides, through your eyes, I shall have an entirely different description of it than he could give. It requires a woman to properly describe the charm of such an evening.”
With this, all the loveliness of the ball was detailed with a passion only Rhianna could have communicated. Not a fabric or tiara went undescribed, even musical notes were given their moment. But a narration of the ball would not have been complete without relating Dowager Lady Whitehall’s accusation, which she recounted in full.
“My heavens,” Mauvreen exclaimed, in response to her account, “how very frightening for you. It would seem she suffers from dementia.”
“Indeed!” she laughed. “Or else, I am a ghost, but I tend to think I am not.”
Rhianna now came to the point she had wanted all along to discuss. “Mauvreen, is it true,” she began, delicately, “that Lord Kingsley and Hallie were …”
She paused. Mauvreen appeared intrigued and leaned forward in her seat. No doubt their names together in the same sentence caught her attention. As usual, there was a look in her eyes that gave one the impression she already guessed what Rhianna was going to say.
“… in love?”
Mauvreen smiled at her delicacy. “Yes, it is true.”
It was only the second time she had ever given more than a vague and uninformative response. Rhianna sat astonished. She believed Lord Brighton, but hearing it confirmed from Mauvreen was more shocking than the intelligence itself.
“What makes you ask?” Mauvreen questioned.
Rhianna told her everything from discovering Hallie’s name in the schoolbook to learning she was Desmond’s governess to Lord Brighton alluding to the affair and everything in between.
“This Lord Brighton fellow — I like the sound of him. He seems quite all right.”
“Yes, he …” Rhianna blushed. “… does seem quite all right.”
Mostly concerned with the account of Lydia and Pierson, Mauvreen asked, “And you believe Lord Brighton has spoken to Lord Kingsley about what you saw?”
“I do, but I leave it to your discretion as to whether you ought to speak with him, as well.” Mauvreen continued to absorb it all as Rhianna continued, “Mauvreen, is that why Lord Kingsley comes to the lodge? To visit Hallie’s grave?”
Her friend sighed as though she ought to have anticipated a return to the subject.
“I’d like to think my company is part of the appeal,” she jested, “but mostly, yes.” Knowing where her young friend was heading, she added, “There are many things I would like to tell you, Rhianna, but they are not my stories to tell.”
Rhianna recognized Mauvreen’s skillful conclusion of the subject. She knew this was all the information she would gather from her, but she was not entirely disappointed.
She soon returned to Kingsley Manor with all the exhilaration of her visit to the lodge, as well as the morrow’s plans. But there was one essential thing left to be done.
Lord Kingsley was easily found in the foyer when Rhianna entered the manor. She greeted him, and he turned to her with a smile.
“Lord Kingsley, Audra and I have been invited to Ravensleigh for her riding lessons tomorrow. On behalf of both of us, I would like to ask your permission to go.”
He nodded, knowingly. “Lord Brighton informed me of the invitation at the ball. I think it is a marvelous plan and have no objection.”
“Thank you, sir. He offered to send a carriage for us in the morning, then.”
“Very good,” he agreed.
She curtseyed and headed for her room to prepare for supper.
“Oh, Miss Braden?” he called.
“Yes?” she turned.
“The next time you visit … your friend … please, always feel free to take one of the horses. It is a long walk.”
• • •
Audra cupped her palms over her ears. Her eyes, too, were shut tightly as if it would help keep the sounds out. There were few things she could bear less than the sound of her parents arguing, an experience that was becoming all to frequent. Even the happiness that accompanied the addition of Miss Braden as her governess, previously enough to carry her though such similar nights, could not lift her above it. She attempted not to listen, but in the stillness of her own, dark bedroom there was little she could do to avoid it. Their voices carried through the walls and along the wood floors of the manor. She at last resorted to muffing the words with her hands.
“I will not be humiliated under my own roof, Lydia!”
“Oh, is that so? Hypocrite! You and your governesses!”
“Do not test my patience. After thirty years of marriage to you, I deserve your respect.”
“Thirty years of marriage, Guilford? That you even bother to count is a shock to me. Ours is no marriage, nor has it been from the start.”
“That was your decision, Lydia. Now, certainly, we are what we are, but I’ll be damned if you’ll continue to bring him into this house!”
“By all means, pretend it matters one iota to you with whom I spend my time. I laugh at the notion.”
“There was a time that I cared very much, Lydia. Fortunately, those painful emotions have long since passed. Only Kingsley Manor is dear to me now, and you’ll not defile it if I have anything to say about it. This is my home, and you are nothing but a guest to me.”
Audra pulled the covers over her head. The full meaning of their words eluded her, but the emotions behind them were clear. In her twelve years, she could not recall a time she witnessed them happy in one another’s presence. She doubted there ever was such a time.
For a moment, all was quiet. She lowered the sheets to her chin, her eyes searching the still air. Her father’s words must have struck a chord.
“But, that it were different,” her mother at last regretted. “I imagine we are thirty years too late for that.”
“Indeed, madam, we are,” Guilford returned coldly. Then, he added, “Lydia, I will not ask you again. Respect my house.”
Audra turned onto her stomach and twisted her pillow over her head. At last finding peace beneath its feathers, she repeated her prayers and went to sleep.
• • •
The Brighton carriage arrived bright and early. Audra was as outwardly thrilled as Rhianna was inwardly, and the latter was amused to listen as Audra chatted on excitedly about Crispin. Not to mention, it did much to calm her own anxieties and distract her from the fact they were going horseback riding with Crispin’s elder brother.
Ravensleigh seemed a house straight out of a fairy tale, its grounds something from a painting. Her first visit had not provided the best opportunity for viewing the estate, though she knew it was something exceptionally lovely. Now, coming up the open country separating the two properties, Rhianna saw from her seat in the coach that, excepting only Kingsley Manor, Ravensleigh was unequaled by any other home in Thornton. Even during the early winter season, the grounds entirely without color, there was no denying its beauty. A rectangular-shaped, grey brick manor, with innumerable, tall windows, and four round columns at the entrance gate, Ravensleigh gave the appearance of a miniature castle and its grounds were the very definition of picturesque.
As they traveled the tree-lined drive and pulled up to the front, a footman was seen standing at the door. An older man with a gentle manner, he appeared welcoming as they came to a stop.
“Good day,” said he, with a nod. “Miss Kingsley and Miss Braden, I presume?”
“Good day,” both replied, as they were assisted down.
As each smoothed her woolen riding habit, Rhianna somehow managed appreciation for the frilled collar of her shirt and the jacket bodice that had been netted for her by Soleil. She recalled Lady Brighton washing them both for her after the accident, lending Rhianna some of her own bedclothes while she recovered.
“Please follow me,” he said.
He led them to the green drawing room, the room most familiar to her, other than the guest bedroom where she spent her recovery from the horse accident. As she and Audra sat on the rosewood-framed furniture, she recalled the Chinese wallpaper and the marble chimneypiece. More than this, Rhianna recalled seeing him for the first time standing beside it, and his concern and anxious inquiries into her health. She smiled to herself as she recalled how she disliked him, and how little reason she had to do so.
“I will let the family know you are here,” the servant told them, disappearing into the house.
Rhianna could not deceive herself into believing she was not nervous. It had been two days since the ball, two days since she had seen him last. What if by now his opinion of her had changed? Suppose he woke up the following morning and realized he had made a dreadful mistake? Undoubtedly, he did not wish to waste his time riding with a governess and her pupil, but he would be too much the gentleman to rescind the invitation. Rhianna envisioned him awaking in horror at the recollection of his behavior at the ball, and in front of Miss Leighart! The impression that he must certainly have left with other guests, acquaintances of his, would be a shocking reality. The shame, the gossip that he would now endure! How he must have been dreading this morning!
We ought not to be here, she thought to herself, as the doorman returned to them. He does not want us here. We do not belong.
“Lady Brighton,” he introduced, as she came smiling into the room.
Both girls rose to greet her and she received them warmly.
The servant continued, “Lord Brighton and Master Brighton send word …”
No, he would not come to greet them. Rhianna was sure that the doorman was returned with Lord Brighton’s regrets that he could not join them. Tea with Lady Brighton would most certainly be offered as a substitute and she wondered how quickly she could get Audra away from Ravensleigh. How she wished to leave and never return!
“… that they will be here in a moment,” he concluded.
In a moment.
Her heart fluttered.
“I am so glad you have come,” Lady Brighton declared. “Miss Kingsley, it has been such a long time since I have seen you. Pray, how old are you now?”
Audra turned to her at once, and said, “I am twelve now. However, Crispin is still four years older. He is in such a race.”
Lady Brighton’s grin widened. “Yes, I imagine he is.”
“Will you be coming with us?” she asked.
“No, not I, but I do hope you will take tea with me after you return,” she invited, with a glance at Rhianna.
“Certainly, we should love to,” Rhianna accepted, automatically and much too quickly.
“Has Miss Braden told you how lovely the ball was the other evening?”
Audra lit up at the thought of it. “She has. I was with her when she dressed for it. You have such taste in gowns, Lady Brighton! I hope when I am old enough to go to a ball that you will help me choose one, as well?”
“I should like nothing better,” she returned, genuinely.
Suddenly, the door burst open and a young man entered excitedly. His hair was lighter than Thayne’s, but his face reminded Rhianna of the boy she once met in the Kingsley woods. From this, she was certain he must be Crispin, but before any of the ladies could rise, before an introduction could be made, he was standing before Audra.
“I have something to say to you, Audra,” he declared seriously. “I am too old. From this moment forward, you must be known to me as Miss Kingsley.”
His posture was very erect and showed his anxiety over this matter. Thayne entered behind him, grinning. He nodded to the ladies, signaled them to remain seated, and remained otherwise silent so his brother could conclude his declaration.
Audra began to giggle at him. “You are the silliest boy I have ever known! Very well, what shall I call you?”
He thought for a moment. “Lord Crispin,” he told her, awkwardly.
“Lord Crispin, if you insist on being so proper, will you not allow me a place to stand so I can greet you formally?”
Crispin smiled widely. “You’re not mad, Audra?”
“Of course not. It only means we’re getting older. That’s not so bad.”
Perfectly happy with this, Crispin took one, giant step back and the ladies rose from their seats.
“Crispin,” said Thayne, “allow me to introduce you to Miss Rhianna Braden. Miss Braden, my brother Lord Crispin Brighton.”
“A pleasure,” she told him.
Crispin, having suddenly seen for the first time someone other than Audra in the room, turned to Thayne at once.
“She is very pretty, brother.” Before anyone could respond beyond looks of surprise, Crispin continued to Rhianna, “Thank you for bringing Miss Kingsley here today. She is my greatest friend and I have not seen her in less than a twelvemonth.”
“You can thank your brother for the invitation,” she replied, embarrassed.
“Go on along,” Lady Brighton encouraged. “Enjoy yourselves. The weather is very fine today. I shall see you all when you c
ome back.”
Audra and Crispin were first to the door, he having opened it for her before a servant could blink. Moments later, the four of them were on their way to the stables and it was very obvious to Rhianna that neither Audra nor she would be focusing on riding lessons.
• • •
Her fingers twisted the reins of her bridle, her black coat seeming to her a stark contrast to the magnificent, white horse she was seated upon. Of course, her eyes did not remain upon these items long, as Thayne appeared from the stables, seated upon his tall, chocolate-brown-and-white-spotted stallion, d’Artagnan. How gracefully he handled the creature — too frisky for most riders — and how excellent he himself looked as he advanced closer, his long riding coat exhibiting him handsomely and fitting well his powerful frame.
“I am glad to see you back on a horse, Miss Braden,” he said, as he approached the trio. “Although, I must confess it does come with a measure of anxiety for me.”
It was the first time she had been riding since the accident, but Rhianna had not until this moment given it any thought at all. Thayne Brighton was more distracting than she wanted to allow.
“At least, if any accident were to occur, I know I am in good company,” she teased.
“May you not even jest.”
Audra and Crispin, riding equally elegant creatures from Ravensleigh’s stables, quickly galloped ahead. Thayne and Rhianna found themselves exchanging amused glances before catching up to them.
“Miss Braden,” cried Audra, “would you please tell Lord Crispin that he is always to let the lady win a race?”
“Miss Braden,” cried Crispin, in return, “what Miss Kingsley fails to understand is that she would know that I allowed her the win. Would it not be much better for her to see me win and, therefore, have confidence in me as a man?”
“Well, let’s see,” Rhianna returned, struggling to hide her amusement. “Lord Brighton, what have you to say on the matter?”
“Crispin, my dear brother, I am not entirely sure you had the win — Miss Kingsley is among the swiftest ladies I have seen in a sidesaddle.”
