“Ava isn’t the typical countess, either,” said Colin. “Unless it is now the fashion for countesses to help prepare dinner and dust. As far as I’m concerned, a countess’s only responsibility is to love her earl. The fact that Ava also makes me quite happy in the bedchamber is an added benefit. Does Kate…”
“There will be no talk of Kate in the bedchamber!” said Nick. Which only made his brothers laugh again.
Fortunately, they were then joined by the ladies. Kate was wearing the gown which Win had provided. He also got a glimpse of her bare feet since her stockings must have been covered in mud. He was fixated with the sight of her feet, which she quickly covered. He had to resist the urge to carry her upstairs to their bedchamber.
“Kate said Nick has a story to tell us,” said Rose. “And we are more than curious to hear it.”
With Kate settled by his side on the couch, Nick related the tale of what Archer had to say, as well as Deakes and Mrs. Willis. His brothers and sisters listened intently, asking the occasional question.
“You think the man who impersonated Father was Bancroft,” said Colin.
“Yes. Then I believe the duke blackmailed him out of the Emerson fortune,” said Nick.
“Was there an Emerson fortune?” asked James. “I left for America as soon as I finished university, but I don’t remember either Mother or Father speaking of one when I was younger.”
“I don’t remember them speaking of money at all,” said Colin. “And, obviously, they were desperate enough to sell Win into marriage.”
“But that would have been after the blackmail,” said Nick. “That seems to point toward this story being true.”
“Pierce always said he had something on Father,” said Win, speaking of her late husband. “Could it be that he thought Father had committed treason in Weymouth?”
“I wish the coded ledgers hadn’t been stolen out of Nate’s desk,” said Alex. They’d been close to capturing the man behind Pierce’s death, but when the ledgers had been stolen they’d lost their chance.
“Are you going to speak to Nate?” asked Rose.
“Yes,” said Nick. “I trust him completely. And if his father was behind these murders, he could be in danger.”
Rose cried out softly.
“Are you all right, love?” asked Nick.
“Just concerned about Grayson. He’s been such a good friend to all of you through the years.”
“And we’ll protect him,” said Colin.
“What about Simon?” asked James.
“Perhaps I can convince him to leave things be,” said Nick. “I wasn’t certain if I had the will to fight him before. But now that I have Kate’s future to consider, I’ll do whatever it takes to remain the earl.”
“Hear, hear!” said Colin, who raised his glass.
“I hope I did the right thing in coming here,” said Nick. “There was a moment when I thought the old Earl of Ridgeway was guilty, that I thought I should just let Simon take the title so he wouldn’t pursue the matter further and have you divested.”
Colin looked at him. “Let me get this straight…you considered losing your title and being forced into exile because you didn’t want to let the truth come out that the former Earl of Ridgeway had been a dishonorable sot? Rose, strike your brother.”
Rose dutifully hit Nick in the arm, then put her arms around him.
“It may not be easy to be an Emerson,” said Colin. “We are certainly not the most respected family nor do we have an embarrassment of material wealth. But we do have an abundance of love and the ability to persevere. If the story about Father had been true, it would have been my responsibility to bear the consequences. If I had ever learned about your sacrifice, I would have beaten you to a pulp. Then, of course, embarrassed myself by weeping over your sacrifice. Surely, no one would have wanted to see that.”
“I know I wouldn’t have,” said James.
“So, let us now get down to the business of deciding how to save both earldoms, as well as Nate’s life.”
And with that, Nick and the family he loved so well, began considering all the possibilities before them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Nathanial Gage, the Marquess of Grayson, knew he was playing a dangerous game. Several of them, in fact. He was at Bancroft Castle in Wiltshire and his father, the Duke of Bancroft, was in residence. They’d never gotten along well, but tension was especially high now that Nate suspected the duke of being a blackmailer, a thief and a murderer. He hadn’t confronted his father about any of it. But the duke was astute enough to know something was amiss.
Nate had grown up with the Emersons, whose estate was on the other side of the village. He could see it from his bedchamber window, which is where he was standing right now. The old Earl of Ridgeway had been an abusive father, beating the two sons who lived with him and selling off his eldest daughter to help pay the debts which he could never get out from under.
Debts Nate suspected were caused in part by his father, whom he believed had been blackmailing peers for quite some time. The problem facing him now was how to prove it.
Unknown to all but a handful of people in the government, Nate had been working as an agent for the Home Office ever since his father had prevented him from enlisting in the Guards after university. To the outside world, Nick was an indolent peer without a serious thought in his head, going from gaming hell to brothel, all financed by his allowance. But all the while, he was keeping his eyes and ears open for signs of treason – people who’d helped France during the war. Since men were often in their cups while in his company, he had a pretty good idea when someone was unusually flush from unknown sources of revenue. Just as he knew who was so destitute he might resort to illegal means to fill his coffers.
Given his natural aptitude for mathematics, he could pick out patterns of suspect behavior which might appear random to most people. And given his own knowledge of the Bancroft estates, he realized his own father had quite a bit of unexplained wealth. In addition, someone had stolen coded ledgers from Nate’s desk in London. The desk had a complicated system of locks known only to a few men – one of whom was the Duke of Bancroft.
Nate had come home hoping to learn if the duke was behind the murder of Win’s former husband. The late and unlamented Mr. Pierce had been blackmailing members of the ton and working with an unknown partner. Nate believed his father was that partner and had killed Pierce and two others who got in his way.
If it was true, the Duke of Bancroft was a ruthless murderer, capable of doing whatever was needed to protect himself and his wealth. Nate wondered if his father would kill him, considering he was Bancroft’s only son and heir. They’d never gotten along and his father had been almost as vicious to him as old Ridgeway had been to the Emersons. Nate figured the only thing which might save him was Bancroft’s fear that his title would revert to the Crown if he died without an heir. Nate just had to determine whom his father hated more: him or the King.
With Bancroft in residence, Nate had hoped to begin a delicate game of cat and mouse, except an unexpected visitor had arrived: Simon Chilcott, Nick’s cousin. Knowing how much Nate disliked Simon, Bancroft had invited Simon to stay with them.
It was a small village and word had travelled quickly that Nick had arrived at Ridgeway with a lady in tow. The gossips had wondered if the woman actually was a lady, since she was reportedly attired like a simple country miss. There’d been speculation that she was actually his mistress, since it was common knowledge that anything was acceptable at Ridgeway Manor.
Nate wanted to go to the dower house to see Nick and meet the lady, whom he strongly suspected would turn out to be Nick’s wife, since the Emersons had demonstrated an uncanny ability to find excellent wives in unusual places. But first, he wanted to find out what he could about Simon’s reasons for being there.
Truth be told, there was another reason he wished to visit the dower house. He wanted to see Rose.
Rose. The woman who invaded
his dreams. The woman whose very being entranced him. It had been foolish to kiss her, but she’d come to his bachelor’s quarters in London and begged to be kissed. Well, “begged” might be too strong of a word, but she’d asked and who was he to refuse? Especially when he’d wanted to kiss her so very much.
She wasn’t yet nineteen and she was the younger sister of his friends. She’d be off-limits even if he were a paragon of virtue. But he was thought to be a dissolute wastrel. A rake of the highest order. No man would want him to marry his sister. And the Emersons were nothing if not protective.
Hell, he was protective. This business with his father could very well cost him his life. He certainly didn’t need Rose as a distraction. And as long as this matter was unsettled, her life would be at risk if they were together.
He wouldn’t allow that.
He would just have to treat her as the sister of friends and politely go about his business, even though he wanted nothing more than to whisk her away and make love to her for the rest of their lives.
But there was no use in wishing for the impossible. So he went downstairs to speak to their guest, but not before checking that his two knives and a pistol were still in place on his person.
* * *
“I do say, this is excellent brandy,” said Simon Chilcott, as he gave another appreciative sniff before taking a large gulp.
The Duke of Bancroft studied his visitor with a practiced air of cordiality, even as he wished he had asked Westfield to serve a lesser reserve, rather than the French brandy which had come at such a high cost. Chilcott had been there for almost a day. He was the worst sort of boor, spreading only inconsequential gossip from London, as if it mattered which debutante was marrying which second son.
“I hear your cousin is in residence at Ridgeway,” said Bancroft for perhaps the third time, hoping the arse would finally get around to telling him why he was there.
Simon nodded. “Apparently Nick brought some chit with him, who is supposedly his common-law wife, if you can believe it. Guess he compromised some spinster with no parents. With no one to protect her, why didn’t he just leave after he bedded her? It’s what I would have done. May I?” he said, indicating the decanter.
“Of course,” said Bancroft, as he watched Chilcott refill his glass. The man could certainly drink. “Your cousin has always been an odd one.”
“He’s not my cousin,” said Chilcott adamantly. “I don’t care what the law says. That bastard is an Emerson. Old Layton should have killed his bitch of a wife and his infant son for dishonoring the family name. I bet he wished he would have once George and Francis died.”
“I am quite certain it is a mistake you wouldn’t have made.”
Chilcott snorted. “I’ll make sure my countess is faithful to me. She’ll not have the opportunity to be otherwise. I shall keep her at the estate and pay my servants well to ensure she has no opportunity to stray.”
“Your ‘countess?’ You seem quite certain that you can take the title. Yet, it’s quite a difficult task, from what I hear.”
“It is but a formality at this point. I can prove treason.”
Bancroft’s eyebrows rose. “Can you?”
“Do you wish to see his grace, my lord?” asked the butler, Westfield, from the hall.
Westfield opened the half-closed doors to admit Grayson, who had apparently been lurking about in the hall. Bancroft idly wondered just what he had heard.
“Are you coming in?” Bancroft asked his son. “I suspect you don’t want Chilcott here to drink all the brandy you planned to imbibe.”
“Your grace,” said Grayson with an insolent bow. “I thank you for your concern, but I’ve come to tell you I’m on my way to visit Ridgeway.”
“I plan on doing that same thing soon,” said Chilcott, taking another gulp of the brandy. “Is it true they’ve decamped to the dower house?”
“It is actually a lovely home,” said Nate. “Made even more welcoming by those who reside in it.”
“I do hope Ridgeway knows he’ll not be able to count on his bastard brother’s charity for much longer.”
Grayson looked at Chilcott coolly. “Ridgeway hasn’t taken anyone’s charity and I know he doesn’t have an illegitimate brother. If you are once again referring to Nick, I must point out that the late Earl of Layton accepted him as his son, as does the law. You try my patience by continually maligning my friends. Might I remind you that I’m one of the best shots in England?”
Bancroft noted with interest that Grayson was half turned to him when he mentioned his prowess with a weapon. Perhaps he’d forgotten just who taught him to shoot.
“You might be a good marksman when you’re sober,” countered Chilcott a bit ironically, considering he was just shy of cup shot. “But you’re not often that. The law might recognize my cousin as the earl right now, but I’ll soon have evidence of his father’s treason. And that will result in him being stripped of the title in disgrace and me becoming earl.”
“And how do you propose to manufacture such evidence?”
“While you were off in some opium den, I was sniffing around that scandal with Pierce, Winifred’s dead tradesman husband. It turns out he was smart enough to make a copy of that coded ledger. It’ll help me oust the pretender to the title.”
“What is this about a coded ledger?” asked Bancroft, studying his son’s muted reaction while trying to conceal his own agitation.
“Nothing you would be interested in, your grace,” said Chilcott. “Let’s send your son on his way so we can discuss other matters of interest.”
It irritated Bancroft to have a nobody like Chilcott issue orders to his heir. “Chilcott, did you really just dismiss Lord Grayson?”
Chilcott must have realized his mistake, for he nodded his head to Bancroft deferentially, then said, “I would never show disrespect to your heir, your grace. I am quite certain Lord Grayson knows I have nothing but admiration for the peerage.”
“Especially now that you see yourself becoming an earl,” said Grayson, who looked like he wanted to wipe Chilcott’s smirk off him. But instead, he bowed himself out. “Your grace, I will see you upon my return.”
With that, Grayson left, no doubt to relay all he had heard to Layton and Ridgeway.
But there were more important matters to consider. Bancroft turned his attention back to Chilcott. He wanted to ask about copies of the coded ledger, but he couldn’t show his hand even to an idiot like Chilcott. “What do you hope to learn on the coast?” he asked, instead.
“I have reason to believe the old earl committed treason. I’m headed to the area just beyond Weymouth and will be armed with pictures of the old earl. If he was there, I’ll know about it.”
Bancroft gave no indication of how troubling he found Chilcott’s determination. “I hardly think you’ll find anyone to give evidence. After all, admitting to the knowledge would be complicity. And that would get a man hanged. I doubt there’s a fisherman freetrader on the coast who’d talk to you.”
“That is why I am not going to talk to the fishermen. There’s a man who has been caught dead to rights on murder, who’ll swear to anything I ask, as long as I get him passage out of the country.”
Bancroft took a sip of brandy as he steadied his breathing. It wasn’t possible, was it? “It sounds like you’re chasing after ghosts. My guess is someone’s trying to sell you a bill of goods.”
“Actually,” said Chilcott, “I have found you can never depend on anyone’s loyalty when it comes to saving your own skin. How about another drink?”
Chilcott held out his glass. Bancroft couldn’t believe the man actually expected him to fill it. But as he studied Chilcott, he realized there was something in the man’s eyes which didn’t bode well. There was no deference, only…knowledge.
And knowledge was a dangerous thing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Kate?”
Kate looked up to find Letty and Anna standing in front of her. The two girls were
smiling, but a bit shy about approaching her. She held out her hands to both of them.
“Anna and I were wondering if you wanted to see our room.”
“That would be lovely,” said Kate, as she rose from the settee, where she’d been sitting with Nick and his family.
“Nick,” said Letty. “You don’t mind if we take Kate away, do you?”
For a moment, it actually looked like he did mind, but he begrudgingly nodded to his youngest sister. “You’re just going upstairs?”
“Yes. We promise to take good care of her.”
“Then I suppose you all can go,” said Nick, though it sounded like he was hesitant to have Kate leave his sight.
She liked that.
“Come,” Kate said to the girls. “I look forward to seeing where the two of you sleep and play.”
They led her through the most elegant home she’d ever seen. She could only imagine what the manor looked like, if this one was “only” the dower house. A moment later, the girls took her into their bedchamber, which was light and airy and looked out onto the back garden. There was a large tester bed with a comfortable looking quilt. And while everything was clean and tidy, there were few furnishings, other than the bed, a wardrobe, two chairs by the fire and a small table by the window.
“Would you like to have a tea party?” Letty asked Kate.
“Of course!” she said, as she took her place at the table, sitting on the floor like the two girls. Anna gave each of them a teacup and saucer. This wasn’t a play set, but looked to be part of the Ridgeway service. Kate liked thinking that the countess didn’t value her china more than ensuring the girls enjoyed their play time.
A moment later, Nick entered the room, looking a bit sheepish. “I just wanted to make certain you didn’t need anything.”
“You can be our butler,” said Letty.
“Very well,” said Nick.
Letty did her best lady-of-the-manor imitation. “We would like some tea and scones, if you please. Anna, what would you like?”
Always Believe in Love (Emerson Book 4) Page 20
