How to Entice an Earl

by Manda Collins

  Rapping on the ceiling of the carriage, when the vehicle drew to a halt, Christian informed the driver of their change of direction.

  In different circumstances he might have found a pleasant enough way to pass the time on their journey outside the city into Richmond, but both Maddie and Christian were lost in thought for most of the trip. When the carriage finally drew to a stop before a neat row house, they were both eager to exit it.

  When Maddie made to follow him, however, Christian frowned up at her from his position outside the carriage door. “I do not think it wise for you to come inside, my dear,” he said firmly. “Your brother has been through a great deal, and even though we do not know that he was followed here, there is still every chance that he is being watched. Besides, there is also the matter of Mrs. Hendricks’s relationship with your father.”

  “Oh, really, Christian, do not preach propriety at me,” she snapped. “You are hardly the most circumspect of creatures. Besides which, I have known Hennie since I was a child. She is hardly going to taint me at this point. And I wish to see my brother. Now kindly assist me from the carriage or I shall be forced to leap out onto you. And I do not wish to get this gown dirty.”

  Shaking his head at his wife’s stubbornness, Christian reluctantly assisted her down to the pavement.

  Offering her his arm, he led her up the three steps to the door, which was opened by a very proper-looking butler. When the fellow inquired what they wished, Maddie spoke up. “Newman! Do you not recognize me all grown-up?”

  The butler’s wizened features broke out in a smile. “Why, Lady Madeline, why didn’t you say so? I can see it now. All grown-up, but I’ll bet with just the same love for macaroons.”

  “Of course!” she responded. “How could anyone not love macaroons? They are quite the best biscuits imaginable.” She presented Christian to the old man. “This is my husband, Newman, the Earl of Gresham. I was wondering if I might present him to Hennie?”

  A shadow passed over the old man’s visage, but he nodded, welcoming them inside the small entrance hall. “I shall inform my mistress that you are here. I know she’ll be pleased as punch to see you.”

  “Thank you, Newman,” Maddie said with a smile. “And please say hello to Mrs. Newman for me.”

  “You shall do so yourself before you go, my lady,” the old man said. “She’ll be that angry if you do not introduce her to your man.”

  “If there is time, I shall,” Maddie said, gripping Christian’s hand in hers.

  They watched as the old man left the room. Left alone, Christian glanced about the parlor, which might have been in any fashionable house in London. It certainly didn’t look like the inner sanctum of a kept woman. But then again, it seemed that Mrs. Hendricks was not like any kept woman he’d ever met.

  Nineteen

  The room was unchanged from all those years ago when she and her father and brother had first entered it, Maddie reflected, pacing restlessly before the fire. She wondered what Christian saw when he looked around the chamber. She had seen how shocked he’d been to hear that her father had brought her and her brother to Hennie’s house. She supposed it was scandalous, but as a child she’d had little notion of the impropriety of the visits. She’d simply looked forward to seeing her friends Mary and Henrietta and their brothers, John and Henry. There had been no more visits after Hennie’s visit to return Linton to Essex House, of course. She supposed now that her mother had put her foot down, but at the time Maddie had blamed her brother for the curtailment of their outings with their father.

  It didn’t surprise her that he’d chosen this of all places to hide from the men who wished him harm. He’d always shared a special kinship with Hennie. Perhaps because Hennie had understood her brother’s thirst for adventure in a way that Lady Poppy Essex had not. Maddie felt a pang of sympathy for her mother now that she understood what it would be like to lose a husband’s affection to another woman. She suspected that her father and Hennie had been in love long before Poppy came on the scene, however, so she doubted her mother had ever stood a chance. What a ridiculous social system, Maddie reflected, that would make it impossible for two people who loved one another and wished to live together to do so without social stigma. Still, she supposed if there had been a different system in place, she would not have been born, so she was grateful for that at least.

  “Do you really think he’s here?” Christian asked from near the window. Maddie turned to see him peering out into the back garden. Whether he was simply looking or was ensuring that her brother did not escape out the back she couldn’t say.

  Maddie shrugged. “I think it’s as possible as anything else we’ve hit upon,” she said. “I am hardly the most knowledgeable about my brother’s habits.” She thought again of what Lady Emily had informed her this morning. She could not before today have imagined her brother carrying on an affair with someone like Lady Emily, his best friend’s widow, with a less than pristine reputation.

  “You are as knowledgeable as anyone,” a new voice said from the doorway. Maddie looked up to see Linton there, haggard, and looking as if he hadn’t slept in days.

  Without a word she flung herself across the room and into his arms.

  “Easy, Mads,” her brother said with an awkward embrace. “I am, as you can see, in one piece.”

  “We’ve been rather worried about you, Linton,” Maddie heard Christian say from behind her. Realizing that she was making a scene, she pulled back from her brother and surreptitiously dabbed at her eyes. She had been as surprised as they were by the burst of emotion she’d felt upon hearing her brother’s voice. She supposed she’d been more worried about him than she’d thought.

  “I can see that,” Linton said, his gaze looking Christian up and down. “I understand congratulations are in order.”

  Maddie looked from one to the other of them, sensing an undercurrent of hostility between the men. “Indeed,” Christian said coolly. “We were sorry you could not make it to the wedding.”

  “I was sorry to miss it,” Linton said, inclining his head. “But there was no time.”

  Christian acknowledged the truth of this with a slight nod.

  “What happened, Linton?” Maddie demanded, tiring of their posturing. She was ready for all of this nonsense to end so that they could all get on with their lives. “I mean to the lodge. Did you burn it down or was the fire set by someone else?”

  Stepping farther into the room, the viscount indicated that they should be seated, and Maddie realized that her brother must be exhausted. “Of course,” she said, stepping forward to take the seat nearest the fire. “So, tell us.”

  “I was there at the hunting lodge for a couple of weeks without incident,” Linton said. “Of course, I knew that Punch and Judy were there watching me.”

  Maddie hid a grin at his nickname for the Home Office operatives. She sneaked a glance at her husband and found that he was less amused.

  “I can’t explain how I knew someone else had come along,” James said, fiddling with the tassel on his boot. “But I just sensed it. I felt like I was being watched, and it wasn’t in a benign way, either. That night, I was working out whether I should head north or west to the coast when I heard something in the wood just outside the lodge. I lay there, still, listening, when I smelled the smoke. I knew as soon as I scented it that I had to leave.”

  “And you came here,” Christian said, his brow raised. Clearly, he didn’t think that her brother’s decision had been a wise one. “Why not keep running?”

  Linton reddened. “I … there is a lady in London…”

  “Lady Emily Fielding,” Christian said, surprising Maddie. “What?” he asked, taking in her astonishment. “Is it such a secret?”

  Maddie shook her head. “No, but I only discovered it this morning. I had no idea you had suspicions of a romance.”

  “It is hardly romantic to suspect that one’s brother-in-law is carrying on an affair with his best friend’s widow,” Christian said
dryly.

  Linton stood, swaying on his feet, but remaining upright. “It’s not like that, Gresham. Do not be so damned lascivious.”

  “Dearest,” Maddie said, moving to her brother’s side, bracing him with an arm of support. “I think you’d better sit back down. You are unwell.”

  She glared at her husband. “Now, then, Linton,” she said, once he was seated again, with her sitting opposite, watching him. “Tell us about your relationship with Lady Emily. She is quite beautiful.”

  “Yes,” Christian said, ignoring Maddie’s glares. “Tell us about your ‘relationship’ with Lady Emily.”

  “Damn it, Gresham,” Linton spat out. “If you weren’t married to my sister I’d draw your cork for that. Lady Emily is not a tart for you to malign.”

  “My apologies, Linton,” Christian said, not sounding apologetic to Maddie in the least, “but I needed to ascertain just how you feel about the lady. Especially given that you risked your own life and that of your hostess to get back to her.”

  Maddie watched as her brother deflated a bit. “I know,” he said, dragging his hands down over his face. “I shouldn’t have come here and put Hennie in danger. But I could think of nowhere else to go. My own rooms are being watched. Our parents’ house is hardly safe. And I dare not go to Emily.”

  “Where is Hennie?” Maddie asked, realizing that their hostess hadn’t come to greet them at all. “Has something happened to her?”

  She saw her brother stiffen, his expression pained. “What, Jamie? What’s happened?”

  “It’s not what you think, Mads,” he said quickly, taking her hand in his. “But Hennie did not wish to see you.”

  A silence fell over the room. Maddie felt a constriction in the region of her heart.

  “Why?” she asked softly. “Have I done something?”

  She felt her brother squeeze her hand. “No, it’s nothing like that. She won’t see you for your own sake. She says that she will not put your reputation at risk by being in the same room with you.”

  Maddie put a hand up to her mouth. “But that’s absurd,” she said finally, frowning at the notion. “I am not so high in the instep that I would refuse to see her. Why, we came here to her house, after all.”

  “Yes, and so long as the servants and I are able to vouch for the fact that you were never in Hennie’s company you are safe.”

  “Wait,” Maddie said, “you sound as if you agree with her.”

  Linton shrugged. “It’s not as if my reputation will suffer any for being seen with her. But you are a lady, for all you try your damnedest not to be. And it would take little enough for the wagging tongues of the ton to ruin you.”

  She turned to Christian. “Do you agree with him?” she demanded.

  But her husband was unwilling to enter into the argument. He threw up his hands in surrender. “I know better than to tell you whom to see and not see, my dear. I can see your brother and Mrs. Hendricks’s point, but I can also see yours. Besides which, I suspect you have been seen in worse company over the years.”

  Maddie shook her head in disgust. “So I suppose she’s left the house altogether,” she said, resting her arms akimbo on her hips. “I am so annoyed I could spit. I can, of course, believe it of Hennie. She has always been far too worried about her effect on my reputation. But when you, James, who have fathered a child out of wedlock, preach propriety at me, then that is the very—”

  She stopped speaking as soon as she realized what she’d said. Dash it all, she’d intended to break the news to him in a more gentle manner. Work up to it so that he wasn’t more surprised than absolutely necessary.

  “What did you say?” Linton demanded, grabbing his sister by the arms. “What do you mean, ‘fathered a child out of wedlock’?”

  “Easy there, Linton,” Christian said, removing her brother’s hands from Maddie’s arms. “That’s my wife you’re manhandling.”

  “Maddie, what did you mean by it?” her brother asked again, thrusting his hands through his hair. “Have you spoken to Emily?”

  Seeing that she would have to reveal all, Maddie laid her hand on her brother’s arm. “Yes, dearest. I have spoken to Lady Emily. She came to me because she needed to find you. To send word to you. About … the baby.”

  She watched in trepidation as her brother shook his head as if unable to believe what he’d just heard. “A child. I can hardly believe it.”

  He frowned. “Is she ill? I know that ladies are sometimes ill when they are with child. Did she seem well to you? Is this why you came to find me? That was good of you to do so. We must depart at once so that I can see her. I will go get my things.”

  Before either Maddie or Christian could respond, Viscount Linton was gone, presumably to gather his things.

  “When were you going to tell me about this, Maddie?” Christian asked, his face deceptively calm. “And how long have you known?”

  “Just since this morning,” Maddie said in an attempt to placate him. “I forgot about it when you told me of my brother’s disappearance.”

  “We rode all the way out to Richmond in near silence,” her husband said, his frustration seeping into his tone. “Mightn’t you have remembered along the way?”

  “Darling,” Maddie said, leaning up to kiss him. “I was overset. I was worried about my brother and I could hardly tell you before I told him.”

  She saw him open his mouth to argue, but Maddie was relieved when he just shook his head. It had been bad of her to keep the news from him. But she had been telling the truth when she said she would not have wished him to know before her brother did. Besides, Lady Emily had told her the news in confidence. And though Maddie would have told Christian eventually, she felt better having kept the secret to herself until she could tell her brother.

  “I suppose we should call for the carriage,” Christian said, kissing her on the nose. “But I want you to remember that the next time you fail to tell me something that I need to know—especially when it pertains to this investigation, there will be consequences.”

  But if he wished for her to be cowed, her husband was doomed to disappointment. Maddie grinned up at him. “Consequences. Why, Lord Gresham. What a hard case you are.”

  With a sigh, Christian led her toward the entrance hall.

  * * *

  When they returned to London, Christian had to argue vociferously to prevent Linton from setting out immediately to see Lady Emily. He was saved the need of bodily preventing his brother-in-law from leaving Gresham House by Linton’s own body, which, having transported him from the hunting lodge to Richmond, was finally pressed beyond its capacity and refused to budge a step further. As soon as the viscount stepped from the carriage, he collapsed into a heap on the front stoop.

  “Oh, dear,” Maddie said, leaping down without assistance to lean over her brother’s inert form. “Do you suppose he’s been poisoned?” she asked, worry in her eyes as she looked up at her husband.

  “I think it more likely that he is either exhausted or ill. He has been on the run for days now. Even a man in the best of health will find himself at the point of exhaustion after such a journey. And I do not believe your brother has been in the best of health.”

  Maddie nodded, making Christian wish he could erase the lines of worry from her eyes. But he knew that she was, at heart, a realist. And she must know that her brother had been pushing himself beyond his capacity for some time now.

  Leaning down, he gestured to the waiting footmen to bring a litter to carry his brother-in-law into the house. He didn’t like the notion of having James under their roof while he was still under threat of death from persons unknown. But he could hardly leave the man to lie in the streets. And besides, they might be able to flush out the person responsible for the threats against Tretham and Linton by luring them here. Perhaps he could convince Maddie to go stay with Winterson and Cecily or Deveril and Juliet until they found the culprit. Watching her follow the footmen carrying her brother into the house, barking orde
rs at them, and telling the housekeeper to follow her, he knew that getting her out of the house would be impossible. She would no more abandon her brother to his care than she would leave a newborn babe on the roadside.

  Speaking of babies, he thought, hurrying up the steps himself, he turned over the news that Maddie had blurted out at Mrs. Hendrick’s house. It was not difficult to believe, of course, given the fact that Linton had been carrying on with Lady Emily for some time now. But there was something about the timing of the lady’s announcement that aroused his suspicions. Not only because it was as likely a ruse as he could imagine to convince Maddie to tell Lady Emily of her brother’s whereabouts. But also because it was just so damned coincidental. He would need to speak to the woman himself, and soon. Perhaps when she came, as was inevitable now, to visit her lover’s bedside.

  He was just removing his hat and overcoat when a brisk knock sounded at the door. It was too soon for the physician to have arrived, he thought. Hanging back a bit to see who the butler opened the door to, he was shocked to see Tretham. Stepping forward, and nodding to the butler to indicate that he would see the visitor, Christian led the other man farther into the house toward his study. Whatever it was that had brought the other man to him, it had him spooked. Christian could see it in Tretham’s eyes.

  “Drink?” he asked, stepping toward the sideboard where he kept a decanter of brandy. At Tretham’s nod, he poured them both enough to be more than medicinal.

  “So,” he asked, lowering himself into the large desk chair. “What’s amiss?”

  Not bothering to disabuse him of the notion, Tretham took a gulp of the brandy before replying. “I have received another threat,” he said, his face pale. “It says that if I do not meet this person at the Hidden Pearl tomorrow night he will see to it that my parents will be killed.”

  Christian hid his surprise. But he was, indeed, surprised. This didn’t sound like the same person who had threatened the three men before. First of all, the earlier threats had been against their own lives. True, it would harm their families if they themselves were killed, but it would hardly do the same sort of damage to them if their loved ones were killed in their place.