A Christmas Bride for the Duke: Clean Regency Romance (The Nettlefold Chronicles Book 4)

by Arietta Richmond

  A shiver ran through her – did she want such a thing? Would he? And regardless, even if they admitted it, and were forced to marry, gossip might well doom him in the eyes of the ton, no matter what the truth was. Could she face a life of being ostracised from polite society?

  Chapter Seven

  In the end, it took near three days for Garrett to speak with all of the staff individually, and most of the guests. Eleanor had not yet spoken to him, and the worry about what she would say, in the end, left her restless, unhappy, and stole her sleep. She suspected that she looked less attractive than she ever had in her life, with shadows under her eyes and a frown on her face much of the time.

  Braeness seemed to fare better – or was perhaps just better than she was at dissembling. She felt drawn to him, more and more, and was impressed, every day, by his strength and steadiness in the face of people’s vicious gossip. She woke on the third day, having dreamed of that kiss, again, during what little sleep she had managed to get, and knew that she had to act. Eleanor rose and dressed, then slipped downstairs. It was still early, and she hoped that few people would be about.

  She was, however, hoping that Garrett was also awake, as he often was early. He was not in the breakfast room, so she turned towards his study, and tentatively tapped on the door.

  After a moment, the door opened. Garrett raised an eyebrow when he saw who stood there.

  “Eleanor… come in. What can I do to assist you?”

  “I… I wanted to talk to you, about Molly’s death.”

  “Oh? I would have spoken to you eventually, but if you wish to speak about it now, please do come in.”

  “Thank you.”

  Eleanor went in, and settled herself on the chair in front of his desk. Garrett closed the door behind her, and went to sit in his chair. Eleanor found herself utterly unsure about how to begin. Garrett waited, all patience, and she swallowed. It was best to just be blunt, she supposed.

  “I may have been the last person to see Molly alive.”

  Garrett gave her a very startled look.

  “Why do you say that?”

  She felt herself blush, and swallowed again, annoyed at her own reactions.

  “That morning… I went out to the stables. I woke early, and could not get back to sleep. The day before, Juliana had shown me the kittens out there, and I decided to go back and play with them a little, before breaking my fast. The clouds were rolling in, but I thought that it would not rain until later. When I got there, I discovered only two kittens remaining in the stall. I sat down to stroke them, and the mother cat came back, and took them, one at a time, and carried them up into the hayloft as I watched.”

  “I see – and how does Molly come into it?”

  “Once the mother cat had taken the last kitten, I stood up, dusted my skirts off, and stepped out into the aisle, intending to come back to the house. As I did, the heavens opened and a deluge of sleeting rain fell. I could barely see anything beyond the stable door. I stood there, not sure what to do, and as I watched, a shadow appeared in the rain, and a horse came thundering into the stables, its rider bent low over its neck. Obviously, because of that, he did not see me, and the horse near ran me down. I was bumped by its shoulder, and spun aside, against a stall door.”

  “You were not harmed? Who was the rider?”

  “I was a little stunned, but not harmed. The rider was His Grace of Braeness. As soon as he realised that I was there, he flung himself from the horse, which was collected and taken off by his groom, and came to me immediately to assure himself of my condition. Even as he was doing so, the rain began to stop. Moments later, as he was attempting to convince me that I should rest, we looked out and saw a maid approaching from the direction of the house, through the last of the rain. His Grace immediately apologised, and left me there, departing through the other wing of the stables, lest my reputation be damaged by us being seen, alone, together.”

  “I see. And there is no reason for me to consider your reputation ruined? Nothing untoward occurred?”

  Eleanor hesitated – what should she say? Could she trust Garrett not to overreact? Perhaps she could. She did not like the idea of lying, and she could not allow Braeness to be suspected of murder, when she could free him from that. She would have to take the risk, and beg Garrett to be reasonable. She felt her cheeks colour, but she lifted her chin.

  “That rather depends. Nothing occurred which I regard as untoward, or as cause for me to be ruined. But… he did kiss me, briefly. And I did not object.”

  “A kiss? Nothing… more… of any kind?”

  “No. But before you think more on that, let me tell you the rest of what happened. The maid who was approaching was Molly. The previous day, when Juliana and I had gone to see the kittens, she was there, playing with them, when we arrived. On the day of her death, she was coming out to see them again for a few minutes, before getting on with her day’s work. She was a bit startled to see me when she stepped into the stables, but did not seem concerned. We spoke for a moment or two, and I told her that she would no longer find the kittens in the end stall, for I had seen the mother cat take them up into the hayloft. She thanked me, and went to the ladder to climb up there.”

  “Did you see anything more? Anyone else?”

  “I… I watched as she climbed, admiring how confident she was, on that awkward ladder, but saw nothing else… except… it was probably my imagination, but there was a moment, as she climbed, when I thought that I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a movement up in the hayloft hatch opening, as if there was someone there. But when I looked directly, there was nothing – so perhaps it was entirely imaginary. Once she disappeared into the hayloft, I went back to the house. By then, I expect, His Grace had already returned, through the door at the other end of the stables. I did not see him again until we were all in the parlour later. So you see, I was probably the last to speak to her before…”

  “Yes. At least now I know why she went up into the hayloft.”

  “Indeed. I know that others are whispering about Braeness, but I cannot see that he could possibly have done it. For a start, he was almost certainly back to the house before I left the stables, and at that point, Molly was still alive. I hesitated to tell you, for I would not have my reputation, and his, destroyed, and him forced to marry me, for the sake of one kiss – if I am to marry a man, I would like longer to get to know him better! – but equally, I could not see him condemned as a murderer, just to protect my reputation. I am not so cold a person as that!”

  “I could not imagine that you would be. Theoretically, I should be honour bound, now that you have told me this, to demand that he marry you.” Eleanor gasped. “But I will not be doing so. I would be a hypocrite if I did, for I will admit to having kissed Juliana at least once, well before I should have done so, by society’s rules. But if you wish to consider there ever being more than that one kiss, I beg you be careful. He is a good man, and does not deserve the gossip or rumour that follows him, simply because he is out of the ordinary. Thank you for trusting me, enough to tell me this.”

  “Thank you. But… now that you know this, what will you do?”

  “I will speak with Braeness, immediately if possible, and then, I think, I will start some rumours of my own, and see if we can draw anyone out. For I cannot discount the fact that you thought you saw a movement in the hayloft, as Molly climbed up. There having been someone up there does not mean that they killed her – accident is still possible – but it does bode investigating. Please do not speak of any of this, to anyone else – give me a day or so more, so that I can discuss this with the other magistrates, and attempt to draw out more evidence.”

  “I understand. I will leave you to do as you need to. For now, I will return to my room.”

  “Thank you.”

  ~~~~~

  Adair had just left the breakfast room when Kilmerstan approached him.

  “Braeness – a word, if you would?”

  “Certainly.” />
  They turned, and went to Kilmerstan’s study, with not another word spoken between them until the door had closed. Kilmerstan waved him to a seat.

  “Tell me, if you would, what happened on the morning of Molly’s death – where were you?”

  Adair considered for a moment. What would he say, with respect to Lady Eleanor? If he told Kilmerstan the truth, he was ruining her reputation, and was like to find himself forced to marry her. If he did not tell the truth, apart from that being dishonourable, he risked being accused as a murderer. He had to trust that Kilmerstan would believe him, and would, even if he decided that marriage to Lady Eleanor was required, not reveal the details to the lady’s father, but allow it to seem a more normal proposal.

  Honour demanded that he tell the truth, and if the consequence was a marriage, then so be it – if he was honest with himself, the idea of marriage to Lady Eleanor was by no means abhorrent.

  “I rose early, and went out for a ride, as I had each of the previous mornings. The clouds came in while I was out there, and I ended up racing back, hoping to beat the rain.”

  “And did you?”

  “I did not. As I came past the last few fields, the heavens opened, and a deluge of sleeting rain came down upon me. I bent low over Emperor’s neck, to keep the icy crystals of the sleet from cutting my face, and we ran for it. You couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you, so I trusted the horse to get us back into the stable. He did, but at a far faster rate than was truly safe. I felt the relief of the rain no longer on me, as we went through the door, and lifted my head, rather desperately trying to slow him before we ended up slamming into the tack room wall. But when I looked up, the first thing I saw was a flash of colour, and a horrified face, near under us. I hauled him sideways, and forced him to stop far more cruelly than I normally would, then flung myself off, leaving my groom, who had come running out, to deal with the horse. I ran back to whoever it was, to make sure that they had not been hurt.”

  “And who was it?”

  “It was Lady Eleanor. She was unharmed – just stunned a little, for Emperor’s shoulder had brushed her, and spun her sideways into a stall door. I must rely upon your discretion, Kilmerstan, for, once my groom had taken the horse into the other wing of the stables, we were alone.”

  “I see. And apart from being alone, did anything happen which I should regard as cause for concern, with respect to the lady’s reputation?”

  Adair swallowed, hard, and met Kilmerstan’s eyes.

  “That would be dependin’ on yer definition of ‘of concern’. I’ll be truthful with ye, and trust that you are fair and reasonable,” Adair swallowed again, forcing himself to shed the Scots lilt which gave away just how stressed he was, and went on, “as I’ve always found you to be. To be blunt, I kissed her. One kiss, and barely that – but yes, I allowed temptation to overrule sense, in that moment. She did not shove me away, nor did she scream – if I am honest, I can only say that, after the first moment, the lady seemed to aaah... participate. Which does not make me any less wrong.”

  “Indeed. But tell me the rest of it – we can come back to a discussion of the rights and wrongs of kisses later.”

  Adair breathed a little easier – that was not the reaction of a man horrified by his behaviour and about to lay down the law about marrying…

  “Aye. After that kiss, I had barely drawn back, wondering what I could say, already cursing myself for a fool, when I realised that the sound of the rain had lessened – almost stopped. I looked out at the door, and saw a maid coming across the yard, straight towards the stable door. I pointed that out to Lady Eleanor, begged her pardon, and slipped away down the aisle and into the other wing of the stables, for the sake of her reputation. I’d never seen that maid before, but I have to assume it was likely Molly, who died. I did not stay about to look further, but went through, checked on Emperor, and then left the stables by the far end door of the other wing, and walked back across to the house. I don’t know that anyone saw me, save two maids who were loitering in the storage building door. So, you can see, my entire proof of the timing of my movements rests on that time alone with Lady Eleanor.”

  “It does. But that is something which I can confirm with her. Did you see anyone else in the stables, after you left her? Any other grooms or the like?”

  “No, no one.”

  “Hmmm. Inconvenient. But thank you for telling me – and for being wholly truthful. As far as improper kisses… let me ask you a question. Do you hold a true interest in the lady? Would you pursue a courtship, if we were not currently embroiled in this investigation?”

  “Aye – I had not thought to, but I’ve been considering my reactions. I think I would. I’d initially discounted that possibility, as, when I first met her, she seemed half afraid, and overwhelmed by my size, as so many women are – but she got past that, and I found myself intrigued. That kiss was an impulse of the moment, but if you tell me I’m honour bound to marry her, I could face that with some equanimity. Whether she could is another matter entirely. Truth to tell, though, I’d not like to force it on her, for the sake of one rash moment – I’d rather get the chance to court her, to let her decide if she’d truly want me.”

  “Then I’ll not force you to it, nor tell her parents of the occurrence. But I do expect you to resist further temptation, and to spend time with her. See where it goes. She’s pretty, I’ll not deny it, and the last year or so seems to have brought a greater maturity to her thinking. My wife tells me that her sister once cared for nothing but fashion, and social status, but that she has become more aware of the value of love, since Juliana and I married. She’d likely make you a good wife, if she sees past the gossip and rumour to the man you are.”

  “Thank you. But what will you do now, about the death?”

  “I’ve discovered, just today, some information I didn’t have before, which makes me think that there was someone else in that stable at the time. Maybe more than one person. Say nothing of this conversation to anyone, for now. I’ve a mind to start a few rumours of my own, and see what they draw out. I’m meeting with the other magistrates this afternoon, so that we can consider our combined opinions, so far.”

  “Well and good then. I’ll be about my day. And thank you, again, for allowing me a fair chance to court the lady, without a stain on her reputation.”

  Chapter Eight

  The rest of that day passed quietly, and Eleanor managed to spend time in the parlour, to socialise, and to step out into the cool air of the gardens for a short while in mid-afternoon. There had been no snow for two days now, and the landscape had lost that pristine whiteness, with the remaining snow sullied and churned to mud in many places. Still, getting out of the oppressive atmosphere of the house was pleasant.

  The Christmas decorations seemed to mock her as she returned to the house, their cheerful colours clashing with the gloom of the unresolved death in the house. Eleanor shook her head, pushing aside the depressing thoughts. She had to trust Garrett, had to allow him to implement his plans, and hope that the truth of Molly’s death would eventually be uncovered.

  When she returned to the parlour, the gossips were gathered together in one spot, and as Eleanor passed them, moving towards where Juliana sat, she overheard part of their conversation. A conversation which made her slow her steps, and listen carefully.

  “Did you hear? It seems that some new information has been uncovered, about just who was present in the stables that fateful morning! But I cannot find anyone who knows exactly who…”

  “I know! Frustrating, isn’t it? I so need to know if our suspicions are correct? This going on with daily life, as if there wasn’t the possibility of a murderer amongst us…. it is too, too difficult. I am quite exhausted – and afraid. For who knows when such a man… might kill again?”

  “Indeed – is it not irresponsible of our host to leave us all at risk like this? What can he be thinking?”

  “What does he know…? Has he spoken to everyon
e yet? Especially… him…?”

  With those words, all of the cluster of ladies turned to look in Braeness’ direction. Eleanor felt a sudden urge to laugh hysterically. They were all so fixated on the potential of Braeness being guilty, that they did not, truly, look at anyone else. Yet any person could be guilty – indeed, knowing, as she did, that Braeness was most unlikely to be the guilty party, she found herself looking at others, at grooms and footmen, as much as guests, and asking herself ‘could you have done that?’

  She walked on, out of range of their words, and settled beside Juliana, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

  “You look most worn, Eleanor. Surely you are not letting all of this disturb you too deeply? Garrett will get to the bottom of it, I am certain. For myself, I am becoming more and more of the opinion that her fall may actually have been just a genuine accident. For everyone’s sake, I hope that will prove to be the case.”

  “I hope that you are right. They…” Eleanor inclined her head in the direction of Lady Elizabeth and her cronies, “…all seem most ready to believe the worst of anyone who looks a little out of the ordinary. Yet I cannot believe…”

  “…that Braeness would do such a thing? Neither can I. But Lady Elizabeth and the like seek only to relieve their own ennui by scaring themselves, by damning anyone who seems different.”

  “That is true. Nonetheless, I find myself utterly worn by it all. I am not sleeping well – I dream disturbing dreams. I hope that Garrett can resolve this soon.”

  “I am sure that he will.”

  ~~~~~

  In the deepest cellar, where the cold ensured that the body was well preserved, and the lockable door had made certain that none could tamper with it, Garrett stood with the two magistrates – one each from the towns of Upper Nettlefold and Lower Nettlefold – as they examined the body.