“I am not a lord, son. You can call me Mr. Somersby.”
“Oh, no, they have found me. Hide me, Finn,” Ruby said. Though she was doing her best to walk down the steps with her sore ankle, he had noticed that she was leaning rather heavily on the railing and on him.
“Now, lead me through this grand old house to my precious Ruby. I want to see her at once!”
She stopped, and Finn almost pulled her along with him. “I don’t want to go any further, Finn. I can’t face my mother. She will tear me away from here, and if she sees Mrs. Brant…You don’t know what she will do…she will make quite a scene, and she will scream her head off at me. She will mortify me, Finn.”
“Say no more. Maybe you should go back upstairs, and I will see if your uncle has brought along his dreadful sister.”
“Ruby, Ruby? You come out from wherever you are hiding, and see your darling uncle.”
*****
Ruby felt like running, and yet, she could barely move with the way her ankle throbbed. She wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to hide, and she wouldn’t be able to dash back up the steps before her uncle found her, as his voice was drawing nearer and nearer.
“What is all of the hullabaloo going on? It sounds like a gaming hell in here. What sort of a bloody house is this, Finn?” Mrs. Brant said, dashing down the steps, so she stood in front of Finn and Ruby.
She wore a sheer muslin dress that Ruby didn’t at all approve of, and it was cut so low, it was a very wonder her bosom wasn’t hanging out. She wasn’t wearing a chemisette or a fichu. She looked quite scandalous in it.
Why was she still here?
“Ruby,” her uncle said again, his voice booming throughout the house. He strode into view, and visibly relaxed. “Ah, there you are, my sweet little girl. And, there is good old Camblesforth…you found yourself another duke, I see, and I hope you have caught him, or did he catch you? Either way, you do rather have a knack for attracting dukes, don’t you? Good girl, and…oh, I know you, Madam, although I have no idea why you are here,” Thomas Somersby said disapprovingly, his gaze settling on Mrs. Brant.
“Alas, sir, I do not know you,” Mrs. Brant said coldly.
“You were this chap’s mistress, weren’t you? I hope you are no longer keeping that position, Madame.”
“Indeed, she is not,” Finn said curtly.
“Jolly good, because I rather thought better of you, Camblesforth. You have always come across as a decent fellow, not all like some from your ranks.”
“He has found someone to replace me. Your darling little Ruby is doing what I once did. She is giving him the favours I used to provide,” Mrs. Brant said coldly.
Ruby closed her eyes, and sighed. Mrs. Brant had just sunk her own ship. She didn’t know who she was dealing with. She was playing with fire, and her uncle was about to burn her. Her uncle would only stay nice to people that were civil with him and his relations. If you weren’t…well, you were in trouble. He was uncommonly protective of his family, and he would use his rather large mouth to exact his revenge.
Ruby heard Finn let out an enraged roar, and she reached for his hand, and pulled him back. He looked back at her with murder in his eyes. “Do not say a word. Let Uncle do what he does best. He shall dispose of her much better than you could ever hope to. He will destroy her.”
“Do you refer to my innocent little Ruby? I think the boot is quite on the other leg, there old girl. My Ruby is above reproach. The only way she would jump into the Duke’s bed, is if she were married to him. Now…you, well, you are known in some circles as the Whore of Babylon. I have heard it said, Madam, that you have the widest legs and the biggest mouth out of any of your competition. Some also said you would take it, any which way you could. They said you had a voracious appetite for…men.”
“You, sir, are a bloody bastard,” Mrs. Brant said.
“That I am, that I am,” Thomas agreed. “And you, my dear, are my equal in that regard, aren’t you? Now, why don’t you take you scurry back to London? I am quite certain you could find another lord to pleasure, who would be willing to keep you in a comfortable little townhouse there. I heard that Lord Lacock was on the hunt for a woman such as you, and if not…you could always see if they would give you a spot in one of the scandalous establishments on King’s Street. Oh, you could retire yourself and put yourself out to pasture—you are rather like a cow. Ah, here you are. For your troubles,” he said, throwing a purse at her filled with coins.
“I am too proud to get down on my hands and knees and take that, sir,” Mrs. Brant said haughtily.
“Ah, you have come up in the world, old thing. I thought you were used to getting down on your hands and knees in order to take something that a man had to offer to you. My mistake. I always thought you were quite obliging and invited them rather readily into Mrs. Fubbs’ parlour. I rather thought you were quite accustomed to it. I have heard tell that you quite liked it. I heard there was nothing you liked better than to take a man’s silent flute and play it, and from all accounts, you were quite a talented musician. Why your petticoat lane probably has had quite a few Cyprian scepters driving through it.”
“Uncle Thomas,” Ruby gasped, her face mottling red. “You have gone far enough.”
Thomas looked over at her and gave her a wink. “Have I, dearest? Alice would probably say I was being crude, and she would be quite right. You needn’t worry, Ruby, I am just having a bit of fun. Mrs. Brant is used to men wanting to have fun with her, aren’t you, Mrs. Brant? And I am quite certain she has dealt with men far crasser than I.”
Finn couldn’t supress a smile. The man was rather good at using his mouth to the detriment of others.
“Gather your things, Mrs. Brant, and leave this place as soon as possible,” Finn said.
“Aye, do that, Mrs. Brant, posthaste. Or I shall give you another one of my charming soliloquys. No one here requires your services,” Thomas agreed. “Now…I am famished. Is it time for breakfast, or have I missed it?”
Giselle finally had enough of Thomas Somersby. She looked as if all of the fight had left her. She was defeated. She scowled at Finn and Ruby and then, dashed back up the steps.
Ruby walked carefully down the steps, holding onto Finn, and looked at her uncle.
“Where is Mama?” she asked tentatively.
“Give me some kind of credit, Ruby. Do I look like the village idiot? I left her behind. I didn’t even tell her where I was going. When I received an urgent missive from Lady Knightwick asking about you, she was quite worried…I knew that I had to find you. I didn’t tell your mother that you were anywhere else though. God knows I didn’t need her screaming at me in that bloody shrill tone of hers. She could break glass with that voice.”
“How…how did you find me?” Ruby asked, in a small voice.
“You didn’t cover your tracks very well, I’m afraid. I only had to spend about twenty minutes in your bedchamber to find what I needed, to lead me here. I was tempted to do a call to arms and enlist the family…excluding your mother, of course, but I had to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I had to see Camblesforth first, before he had our rather daunting family breathing down his neck. I told your mother to away to Brighton and have a gay old time, and then, once she was gone, I told the servants I was going to visit sweet Alice, and then, away I went.”
“You shouldn’t have come, Uncle Thomas. I shan’t go back with you.”
“Well, I should hope not. What are you doing here? I hope you haven’t done anything I wouldn’t want you to do,” he said cheekily.
“I have behaved myself, Uncle.”
“Good,” he said. “We have already had one scandalous lady in the family, we don’t need another one. Besides, you always behave yourself. Sometimes…I want you to kick up a lark—sometimes, I want you to raise some kind of breeze.” He smiled broadly at her. “And are you going to marry her, Camblesforth? Or shall I have to call you out?”
Ruby gasped. “Oh, you wouldn’t, Uncle. I
love him.”
“And I love her,” Finn said.
“No, I probably wouldn’t, pet. As long as he hasn’t hurt you…I wouldn’t seek retribution against him.”
“That is the plan, sir. She has accepted my proposal. We shall be married right after Allantide,” Finn said.
“Jolly good. What is Allantide?” Thomas asked, furrowing his brow.
“It is Halloween, Uncle,” she said softly.
“Ah…good, good. I see I have come just in time to be at the wedding. We might have time for Alice, Edward and the rest of my family to get here if I send out a missive right away.”
“No, Uncle. Please. I would like it to be a quiet, intimate affair.”
“Well, they might show up anyway,” he coughed, and looked away.
“Oh, you didn’t, Uncle. Please, tell me you didn’t. You couldn’t have…you didn’t, did you?”
“I might have,” he said, smiling at her. “Now, come on, Ruby, dear, don’t be sore at me. I should be the one cross with you. You nearly gave me heart failure the way you ran off on me…and what was I supposed to do? Leave Lady Knightwick worrying? She might have sent her giant of a husband after me, and surely that is a fate you wouldn’t wish upon your beloved uncle. So I sent missives to Lady Knightwick in London, and Alice in Wiltshire. You know the family—they might show up here to give me support, and to save you from this frightful beast.”
“Frightful beast? He is nothing of the kind. He is a lamb, Uncle.”
“I am?” Finn asked. “I rather thought I was a lion.”
“Oh, Uncle, you have ruined it all. You will have the whole family descending upon us.”
“And that is a bad thing, how?” Thomas asked innocently.
She sighed. “I…I didn’t want any fuss or bother. I don’t want them to go to any trouble.”
“Exactly how big is your family?” Finn asked, seemingly a trifle worried.
“Don’t ask,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes.
“I don’t know why everyone is so worried. You have more than enough space here, and the whole family only has your best interests at heart. It isn’t as if Honoria will be coming to spoil it all—they all know better than to tell her. They know she shall ruin any sort of happiness you might have claimed. Now, don’t keep me waiting. Come on over here and give your old uncle a hug and a kiss.”
Sighing, she did her best to walk over to her uncle without limping too much.
“What have you done to her, Camblesforth? She left me in fine health,” Thomas said, eyeing Finn warily.
“He didn’t do it, Uncle. I did it to myself,” she said, wincing.
“Well, you will simply have to be more careful, Ruby. We cannot have you limping down the aisle. Now I will have to give another daughter away. You had better be worthy of her, Camblesforth. Ruby, I don’t know how you shall explain things to Lord Prescott should he come with the rest of the family. I think he rather had his heart set on you.”
She hugged him quickly, and gave him a kiss. “I left, Uncle, because I didn’t want to marry Reverend Beasley. He was a terrible, vile man. I couldn’t become that lecherous man’s wife. I just couldn’t. As for Lord Prescott, he wasn’t meant for me, either. I don’t know if he will ever be able to settle down.”
“As for Reverend Beasley, and your mother’s machinations, I wouldn’t have let your mother have her way in that, Ruby. I thought you knew that. Your mother is a foolish, and sometimes vindictive woman. I…I only let her live with me because I couldn’t bear to be parted from you. You have been like my second daughter…I thought…I thought you knew that,” he said gruffly. “I thought I made no bones about expressing it to you, Ruby. I suppose, I suppose I failed you.”
She stood with him, as he held her close. She didn’t know that. “I thought you did it out of brotherly devotion,” she admitted honestly.
“I have several sisters, and my brotherly devotion to Honoria can only go so far, and it went as far as it was going to go, ages ago. I wouldn’t see her out on the streets, but I could have easily set her up in her own home so she wasn’t around Rosehill Manor pretending that it is all hers. I kept her close, because I wanted to keep you close. I shall, of course, provide you with a dowry. I shall have you on equal footing with all of your cousins, and I know it will delight Alice, and infuriate Honoria.”
“That isn’t necessary, sir. I do not want Ruby for her dowry,” Finn said solemnly.
“I know you don’t, son, and that is why I am happy to give her to you, but you shall humour an old man, and you will let me do what will fill my heart with joy.”
Finn cleared his throat. “Why don’t we all go to the Morning Room for some breakfast? Unless of course, you need to go upstairs and freshen up, or rest, sir?” he asked.
“I am hearty and hale, young pup. I am not that stricken in years—yet. I don’t need to rest. A little time on the road is nothing to me. I am quite used to it, aren’t I, Ruby?”
She nodded her head. “Oh, indeed, yes. Uncle Thomas has probably spent most of his life inside of a carriage.”
Thomas laughed. “I think you might have overdone it a bit there, lass.”
They walked through the house to the Morning Room. “Lovely place you have here, Camblesforth, even if it is a bit haunted.”
“How can you tell, Uncle?” she asked, nonplussed.
He pointed to Mrs. Teague who had caught up with them, and was attempting to look inconspicuous. She obviously wanted a word with Finn.
“Isn’t that old crone one of them?” he asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
“Oh, Uncle,” she laughed, as Finn went over to have a word with Mrs. Teague. “She is the housekeeper.”
“I rather thought that might be the case based on the chatelaine she is wearing. No…as we were driving up the lane to the house…I…well, I saw a woman looking out of one of the second story windows and she was dressed in emerald green, and she wore a French hood. She was rather pretty, but she didn’t fit in with the way ladies dress today. I looked away, and when I looked back, she had vanished.”
“Are you…are you quite serious, Uncle?” she asked softly. His confession should have unsettled her, but after her time spent within Penryn House, nothing surprised her.
“Aye,” he said, nodding his head. “I don’t jest about such things, young lady. Besides, this old place must have scads of ghosts wandering its halls. We have a few at Rosehill Manor.”
“It has one I would rather do without.”
“So would I,” Finn lamented, returning from speaking with Mrs. Teague.
“Ah…you have a poltergeist, do you?” Thomas asked.
“We have a malicious spirit who invades my dreams,” Ruby confessed. “He unsettles the entire household. He isn’t at all nice.”
Thomas sighed. “We will have to find a way to do without him. This place has a tranquility to it…and to think it is being disrupted…no, it won’t do. Maybe…maybe Iris will bring Lord Cary here…he can see the ruddy things, can’t he? Well, he can see them even when they don’t want to be seen, I expect. Now, shall we eat?”
“That has all been taken care of. Come with me,” Finn said.
They walked into the Morning Room. It had obviously been decorated with a woman in mind, because fresh flowers from the Estate’s greenhouse brightened the space, and the walls were decorated in soft blue silk wall hangings. There was an area to sit and eat, done up like an informal Dining Room, and then, the other part of the room had been made up like a receiving room, with sofas and chairs.
It felt like a sanctuary. It felt as if this space had been used for the lady of the house of withdraw to. In the past, it probably had. Her eyes rested on a portrait that keenly reminded her of Lady Miranda and Lady Cordelia.
This woman had blond hair, and blue eyes.
“You should have shown me this room sooner, it is lovely,” Ruby whispered, in awe as she looked around the room. “Is that Lady Isolde?” she asked softly, still admiring the por
trait.
Finn smiled at her. “Aye. That is my sister. She was lovely, wasn’t she? She looks so much like Miranda…it is uncanny. She decided to have her portrait placed here as it was one of her favourite rooms, and she didn’t want it to be in the Picture Gallery. I might move it at some point in time, if the girls want me to. This was one of my grandmother’s favourite rooms, and she passed that fondness down to Isolde and me. She used to bring her ladies here after we had dinner. I suppose she used it as a Ladies Withdrawing Room. She said that it was one of the loveliest places in Penryn House.”
“Lady Trelawney and your sister were both wise women—I feel instantly at peace in this room. I could easily imagine myself sitting here with all of my lady friends,” Ruby mused.
“Alice would adore this room,” Thomas said.
“We have a few other State Rooms that my grandmother was also fond of. You will have to see all of them, Ruby, since you shall be the lady of the house.”
“This place certainly surpasses Avondale’s dusty old abbey. And well, Lord Prescott hasn’t even bought a house last I heard. That man wanted to pay you attention, Ruby, but he still has wandering feet. He will have to have to find a way to settle down before he can catch himself a wife.”
“I fear he might never be able to do that,” Ruby said. “Lord Prescott has a dangerous streak to him. I don’t think he has quite let go of his days spent in the wars. He and I would never have made a good match.”
“Ah, he’s a veteran, too?” Finn asked.
“Aye, he was in the Army, in a covert group of skirmishers known as The King’s Couriers, and nicknamed The Angels of Death. He was one of their Royal Engineers, given the nickname of Lucky, because I gather he was lucky never to get any part of himself blown off,” Thomas said.
“I was in the Royal Navy,” Finn said.
“Ah, had I been a bit younger, I, too, would have gone to give Napoleon a good thrashing.”
“Well, he isn’t going to be so lucky this time around. Ruby will never be his,” Finn said, as they settled themselves at the round mahogany table that served as the breakfast table.
His Bewitching Jewel (A Regency Holiday Romance Book 7) Page 17
