“Mr Winchester, I am not talking about a simple conversation, an accidental crossing of paths of two people under one roof. I am talking about the clandestine meeting between the Duchess of Lytton and her husband’s attorney in the woods. Now I think that would take a little more explaining to His Grace than you think, even for a man who has his ear, as you put it.” She gave him a brief and very self-satisfied smile before her pale face returned to its ordinary, unreadable expression.
Daniel was aware that his mouth had opened a little and yet no sound came out. He felt as if he had been pushed from the edge of a tall cliff and was falling through the air, his arms flailing as he tried uselessly to grab anything that might save him.
“And you witnessed nothing more than a little bit of business. Her Grace had asked me to see to a small matter for her, a matter that I do not intend to explain to her maid.” Although his voice had retained its authoritative quality, he could see in her eyes that she did not believe it; she already knew herself to have won.
“Would you really care to put it to the test, Mr Winchester?” she said and continued to smooth out the black fabric of her gown.
“Presumably you want something, Miss West. People of your kind always do.” He knew it would not do him well to insult her, and yet he could not help it.
“My kind?” she said and stared at him blankly. “Oh, you mean poor? Hardworking?”
“No, I do not mean that. I mean devious and sly.”
“Oh, very well.” She shrugged. “And yes, I do want something.”
“And that is?”
“What you have.”
“What do you mean?” he said and looked around his study in a confused manner.
“I want a different sort of life, Mr Winchester. You see, I do not enjoy my work for a minute. I am good at it, yes, but it means nothing to me. I am tired of seeing to people who do not have the sense or the backbone to see to themselves.”
“So, you want money?”
“No, Mr Winchester, I do not want money,” she said and shook her head vehemently, almost as if she had been offended by his suggestion. “As I said before, I want a different sort of life. I want a life in a fine house. Not a grand hall like Lytton, you understand, but a very respectable house like this one.” She looked speculatively around the room. “Obviously I have not seen the rest of it, but I daresay it is as well presented as the rooms I have already seen.”
“You want to live in my house?” Daniel said incredulously. “Miss West, I already have a housekeeper and a maid, I do not need any more staff.”
“And I have no intention of working for you, Mr Winchester.”
“Then how is it you think you might live in this house and not work here? It is not a boarding house, young lady.”
“No, I do not want it to be a temporary arrangement. I want this to be my home.”
“And how on earth do you think such a thing is to be achieved?” Daniel could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up.
There was something very wrong with this woman; he was certain of it.
“I want a respectable life in a respectable home with a respectable husband,” she said, marking off each of her demands on the fingers of one of her tiny hands.
“You want what?” Daniel said, utterly dumbfounded.
Surely this strange little woman was not demanding that he marry her? He could not possibly have that right; it made no sense. If she asked him for money, that would have been more like it. But this was so unusual, so unexpected even in the conversation they were having that he could not believe it to be true.
“It is not so out of the ordinary for a man of your class to marry somebody in my class. I am educated enough, as you can tell, and I would do a very fine job as your wife.”
“But I know nothing about you, Miss West. And what I have seen of you so far, what you have shown me of yourself today, would mark you out as a woman I would never consider marrying.”
“Then you will lose your position at Lytton Hall,” she said with confidence.
“So be it, Miss West. I have other clients and will easily find more. I will not be threatened by you, young lady. I most certainly will not, under any circumstances, marry you. The idea is simply absurd.”
“Then I was wrong, Mr Winchester, forgive me. You are not in love with the Duchess at all.”
“Which is what I have already told you,” he said and wondered where this new turn in the conversation was leading.
“I had never imagined that you would turn your back on her and leave her to her fate. After all, her husband chased her through the house for simply insulting him verbally. What on earth do you think he will do to her when the details of her adultery are disclosed?”
The full impact of her threat hit him like a boulder. He leaned back in his chair and gripped its arms, looking down to see his knuckles turning white.
When he heard Nella West’s light, cynical laughter, he knew that she was perfectly well aware of his feelings for the Duchess of Lytton. But how on earth could she be? How had she seen that part of him, the very thing that even Eliza herself had not perceived?
But then she seemed to know enough of the discord between the Duke and Duchess that it was clear she was of the type who made it her business to find out about the lives of others, the sort of woman who would eavesdrop and creep about the place unnoticed. A little devil and nothing more.
“I am not an unreasonable woman, Mr Winchester,” Nella said and began to rise to her feet as she unfastened then re-tied the ribbons of her bonnet “I do not expect your answer immediately; I realize you have lots to think about. But please do not think about it for too long, Mr Winchester. It would help neither you nor Her Grace for you to do so.” And with that, Nella West performed an elaborate, almost sarcastic, curtsy before turning to show herself out of his study.
Daniel did not move for some minutes. He simply sat in his chair and wondered what on earth had just happened. It was all so bizarre, and it was clear to him that as bright and sharp as she appeared to be, there was something important, something fundamental, missing from that young woman.
And that something, he thought, made that tiny creature more dangerous than he could ever have imagined.
Chapter 19
After a night spent entirely without sleep, Daniel made his way out to Lytton Hall very early the next morning. He went directly to his study and remained there for more than an hour, waiting for any sign that the Duke had improved in health and had made his way downstairs.
In the end, Daniel could do no more than pull the bell rope for tea and ask the maid who attended him how her master was faring.
“I am afraid His Grace still keeps to his bed, Mr Winchester. I have not seen him myself, Sir, but the maid who attends him thinks one minute that he is getting better and the next that he is getting worse. But he will not have the physician sent for, Sir, and so we are all very worried.”
“I see, thank you,” he said and nodded gravely, marvelling at the fact that he and the maid could both put on such a good show of being desperately concerned for the man.
“Will there be anything else, Sir?”
“No, thank you,” he said and smiled at the maid before releasing her.
So, the Duke was still upstairs in bed and very much out of the way. He knew he must speak to Eliza at the earliest opportunity, but he would have to do so with extreme caution. Even with the Duke in bed, it was clear that Nella West’s capabilities could not be underestimated.
Daniel already realized that Eliza had once again kept out of his way on purpose, although he knew well that it was very likely the fear of the influence the maid might have upon her husband.
Thinking it very unlikely that she would return to the morning room and risk Nella West knowing of it all, Daniel remembered that the last time she had sought to keep away from him, she had done so by spending her time in the library.
Well, he would make his way there and wait for her. It was early ye
t, and with luck, Nella West would still be attending to her duties.
And so it was that Daniel left his study and hastened through the corridors of Lytton Hall until he found himself outside the library. He opened the door a little without knocking and peered in. Seeing it empty, he stepped inside and hurriedly closed the door behind him.
Daniel made his way to the far corner of the room, away from the windows, and sat down. Anybody peering into the room would not immediately see him, Nella West included.
How that tiny woman had vexed him, and how he realized that, without even trying, she had outwitted him. Beyond himself, Nella West was the only person in the world who had any inkling of his feelings for the Duchess, and she had used those feelings against him to very great effect.
Eliza’s visit to her husband that morning had been very brief. He had been in and out of sleep, and she had not been inclined to keep him awake. She had done her duty by him, and there was none who could say she had not.
Some days, that was all that mattered. On other days, she truly felt for him and wished that there was something more that she could do.
But today was not such a day, and she was glad that he had been so drowsy and that she had been free of him after no more than a few minutes.
However, Eliza realized that she was doing nothing more than hurrying out of his room so that she might spend a long and lonely day in the library.
She had begun to read a little out of desperation, but there was not a modern book in the place, and she was finding her occupation as tedious as simply sitting and staring into space.
If only she could write to Ariadne once more, that would give her an occupation of some interest. And not only that, but she could beg that Ariadne at least send her a more interesting novel, a romance or something Gothic. Anything but the boring collection of essays and old plays on offer in her husband’s library.
If she had trusted any member of staff, Eliza would have written her letter to her friend whilst her husband was still in his sick bed.
But following all that had been revealed about Nella West, Eliza knew that it would be unwise in the extreme to trust any other member of staff. The only person she could trust was out of bounds to her.
As much as she knew the strong, steady Daniel Winchester would have her letter sent in secrecy, she could not risk seeking him out and giving Nella West anything further to use against her.
And so, when she let herself into the library and headed for her customary seat, she almost screamed in surprise when she saw Daniel Winchester already seated in an armchair in the corner of the room.
“Forgive me, Mr Winchester, but you startled me dreadfully,” she said, the palm of her hand flat against her chest to steady the pounding of her heart.
“I did not mean to startle you, but I am afraid it was necessary.”
“You do not understand, Mr Winchester; you cannot be seen to come into this room.” Eliza felt suddenly panic-stricken and wished that she had found some way to tell him all about Nella’s behaviour before.
She would have to start at the beginning, and it would take too long. She simply did not have the time to go through every bit of it.
“You need have no fear; I have been in here for more than an hour. I was very careful on my approach, and I was certain that Nella West would still be very much engaged in her duties for you.”
“Nella West? Then you know …?”
“I know all of it, and very likely I know some that you are yet to hear.”
Eliza dropped down into the armchair nearest to him, feeling unsteady and not knowing if it was the stress of the last days or the shock of seeing him there which had rendered her a little unwell.
But as she looked at him, she felt a strange sense of relief. He already knew everything that was worrying her, and as always, his presence was as a balm which smoothed over her disquiet and uncertainties.
“I thought it best that I keep away from you, Mr Winchester.”
“Is that what you wanted?” he said, and she felt his question burrow deep into her heart.
She thought for a moment, not really knowing how best to answer him, and so she simply stared at him for a few moments.
His light blue eyes looked more ethereal than ever, and his fair hair had grown a little beyond its ordinary close-cut shortness, giving him a curiously carefree appearance despite the circumstances. He was, as always, immaculately turned out in a dark blue waistcoat and tailcoat with a brilliant white shirt and spotless clean breeches and black boots.
As she looked at him, Eliza compared him, not for the first time, with the ageing, balding man who lay upstairs in his bed.
The man who had not been properly washed for days and smelled so musty that she could barely keep her countenance straight as she had sat on the edge of his bed that morning.
In truth, all she had been able to do was feel grateful that she was not suffering at his side night after night. While she could not wish the man ill forever, she could not help her relief every time she climbed into that empty bed.
“No, and I would not have wished to offend you, Mr Winchester,” she said, thinking it the most sensible answer she could give him.
“And I am bound to admit that I feel more isolated than ever. So isolated, in fact, that I almost considered writing to my beloved Ariadne and asking one of the staff to post it. But, of course, I know I cannot trust any of them, and it will do me no good to write her anyway, for I cannot risk her writing back to me here at Lytton Hall.” She sighed, feeling the weight of that isolation once more. “But I daresay I am not isolated in this moment, Mr Winchester, and admit that I am very glad to see you.”
“And I am very glad to see you, Your Grace,” he said in a low tone. “But I wish you had come to me the minute Nella West had made her approach to you. For I can only imagine she made her approach in as bold and brazen a fashion as she did to me in my own home yesterday.”
“Goodness me, she came to your house?”
“I am easily found; that is true. I have a growing list of clients and have begun to see them in the study of my home again as I once did. But yes, she did appear in my own home to make her demand.”
“She has made the demand? But she has made none of me, not yet. I have been terrified these last days waiting to hear it, knowing that it must surely come, and yet each day has passed with nothing, so much so that in the end, I began to believe I had imagined the whole thing.”
“I can quite believe it for she is a most unusual little woman,” he said, and Eliza realized that she already felt better. There was something so deep and resonant about his tone; he was such a capable, clever man. “And a very dangerous little woman at that.”
“And so, she threatened you?”
“She most certainly did. She claims that if I do not accede to her request then she will seek an audience with the Duke, and I am bound to say that I believe her capable of doing just that. There is nothing about that woman which shrinks; there is no uncertainty and no lack of confidence at all. I truly believe that she would march up the stairs to the Duke’s very chamber and tell him whatever tale she chose without any hint of fear.”
“Yes, I believe that myself.” Her mouth went dry as she recognized all her own perceptions of the woman which Daniel now gave voice to. “But what does she want from you?”
“She wants me to propose marriage to her.”
“Propose marriage?” Eliza said and both hands flew up to her face. “Nella West wants you to marry her? For goodness sake, I could never have guessed that that was her plan.”
Love Stories of Enchanting Ladies: A Historical Regency Romance Collection Page 16
