“That’s barely a step up from a servant.”
“And I am merely the daughter of a pirate.”
“Grandfather is not a pirate.”
She tapped her foot in a most annoying manner. “You do remember how your father and I first met, don’t you?”
“Of course, but it’s not the same.”
“That is true. Miss Winthrop had my permission to read anything she wanted from the library, whereas I broke in with the intention of stealing something.”
He paced over to the window. “Do you not find her terribly presumptuous to have read what was clearly a private family journal?”
“As she said, it was written more than a century ago. What harm could it do to have her read it?”
“You mean aside from allowing a presumably innocent girl to read inappropriate passages?”
“I read them when I was her age, and I managed to survive the experience.”
He bit back a smile. “You’re different. You’ve always been…unconventional.”
“Perhaps Miss Winthrop is as well.”
He wasn’t so sure about that, though she was rather confident and bold for someone in her position. “That remains to be seen. What if she goes running off to her employer, complaining of inappropriate reading material?”
“I believe Lady Concord would be most pleased if Isabella read the journal aloud to her.”
“Mother.” He clenched his jaw. “It’s not as if she is a candidate for marriage. Why involve her in our family mystery?”
“Perhaps because she is not. You’ve made certain that she will have no regard for you, so she will be free to focus on finding the tiara, rather than on chasing after you as all of the other young ladies will be doing.”
He hadn’t considered that. He would undoubtedly be spending most of his time avoiding the eligible young ladies his parents threw at him. As long as he didn’t have to interact with the brazen chit, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have someone with a fresh perspective read the journal. Besides, he would enjoy it in the end when she had no more luck than any of his family had in locating the tiara.
Chapter Four
What a presumptuous, odious, loathsome, unpleasant man. The duchess was so kind. Isa had no idea how her son had managed to turn out so horribly. George had also spoken well of him, but he must have changed for the worse once he left school. However, she needed to remember herself. She’d always had a quick temper, but she would do well to be more careful here at Walsley, lest she create suspicion about her background. No one in a position of service spoke to members of the nobility the way she had spoken to Lord Kenworth.
After taking the stairs two at a time to burn off some of her fury, she had made it nearly all the way to her bedchamber before she realized that she had left her books in the library. Since she had no desire to see Lord Kenworth again, she would wait to fetch them.
Isa bathed and quickly changed into a fresh gown then stopped to check on Lady Concord, but she wasn’t in her chamber. She must have gone down to breakfast already. Over the past few months, she had begun to retire earlier at night and rise earlier in the mornings.
While rushing down the corridor, she nearly collided with Louisa, the daughter of the duke and duchess, whom she’d met the previous day.
“Good morning,” Louisa said cheerfully. “I see Biscuit has taken a liking to you.” He flipped onto his back and she bent and rubbed his stomach. “Did you sleep well?”
Isa shook her head. “I’m afraid not, but it is my own fault, as I fell asleep on the settee in the library.” She refrained from telling Louisa that her horrid brother was the one who had woken her.
“Oh? What were you reading that kept you so occupied?”
“Nothing special.” Though the duchess certainly didn’t seem to mind her reading the journal, she didn’t want to risk alienating any other members of the family after Lord Kenworth’s reaction. “I am looking forward to reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I may read it aloud to Lady Concord if she is amenable.”
“Perhaps we could take turns reading. I believe Mother is the only one of us who has already read it. We can start this afternoon.”
Isa shook her head. “Don’t be silly. I will choose something else to read so you can have it to yourself.”
“Nonsense. It will be so much fun to read it together. My brother is especially entertaining when reading aloud. I’m certain I can convince him to join us once he arrives.”
Isa found it very difficult to imagine that. “If you’re speaking of Lord Kenworth, he arrived early this morning, but I’m not sure he’d be amenable to having me join in the fun.”
Her brows lowered. “What makes you think that?”
Isa decided she might as well tell Louisa that she had been reading the journal. She was bound to find out anyway. “I stumbled upon the family journal, and he took exception to my reading it.”
“Yes, of all of us, he is the most obsessed with finding the tiara. Even more so than Mama.” She reached for Isa’s hand. “Don’t let him bother you. He can be a grump, but he’s really quite wonderful once you get to know him.”
Isa snorted, and they both laughed.
“You’ll see.” Louisa squeezed her hand.
Isa listened contentedly as Louisa read the second chapter. Following breakfast, the duchess had given them a tour of the rose gardens, and after freshening up, they agreed to meet in the library for tea and to read The Count of Monte Cristo. Lady Concord was not a strict employer. In fact, she really didn’t need a companion at all, but she had been a close friend of Isa’s mother and had offered her the position when circumstances began to deteriorate at home. Such an undemanding employer was difficult to come by, and Isa knew she was lucky. There were far worse positions to be in.
Isa stiffened as footsteps sounded in the corridor. Lord Kenworth poked his head through the doorway. Louisa used her finger to hold her place and glanced up at him.
“Edward. You must take over the reading.”
He greeted Lady Concord and nodded to Isa then glanced at the book. “But I haven’t read it yet and am not familiar with the beginning.”
His sister made a tsking sound. “That is no matter. I can summarize for you. Edmond arrives home to France after having acted as captain of his ship when the original captain dies. He finds out that his father has not fared well in his absence, and we discover that his neighbor and the supercargo from the ship are plotting against him.”
“Don’t forget that he met Napoleon on his way back to France,” Isa added.
Lord Kenworth swung around to glare at her, as if he hadn’t remembered her presence until she had spoken. Perhaps due to his contrary nature, Isa was dismayed to find that he was much more handsome than she had remembered. Of course, his arrogant stance and commanding personality meant that he knew it, which was not at all attractive. But she could not deny that his eyes were startlingly green, and his chiseled profile put her in mind of a statue of Zeus she had once admired at the British Museum. A glance at the duchess confirmed that the vivid color of his eyes had come from her, but there was no doubt that his dark hair, wide shoulders, and height, not to mention his confident bearing, had come from the duke.
Louisa’s eyes narrowed as she glanced back and forth between them before speaking. “Yes, I suspect that might become important later on.” She thrust the book toward her brother. “Now you read.”
His mouth lifted at one corner. “Very well. If you insist.”
Her stomach fluttered, and she grumpily wondered if he had perfected that half smile in front of his mirror. While scooting to the side to make room for Louisa to sit, Isa shifted so she could watch him. His expressions changed with each character he read. When he wasn’t chastising her, the deep tones of his voice were quite pleasant, melodious even. Louisa had been correct. He was an accomplished actor, but was there more to him? Or was everything he did an affectation?
Needing to halt her wayward thoughts, she stroked Bi
scuit and closed her eyes for a moment. Lord Kenworth was someone she might have been attracted to if they had met in her previous life. If they had met as equals. Of course, she had no interest in a man who looked down upon others and judged them by their station in life rather than their merit, but she suspected there were many more facets to his personality hidden behind that arrogant facade.
In any case, she wanted to hear the story, so she forced herself to focus on Lord Kenworth’s words rather than him. Fernand was attempting to persuade Mercedes to marry him, but she loved Edmond and was quite firm in her reply.
“I have answered you a hundred times, Fernand, and really you must be very stupid to ask me again.”
Biting back a giggle at his high-pitched voice, Isa wished she had had the nerve to speak to Lord Kenworth that candidly last night. He could certainly benefit from being put in his place at regular intervals. She allowed herself to be drawn back into the story when Edmond arrived to claim Mercedes.
“Ah,” exclaimed the young girl, blushing with delight, and fairly leaping in excess of love, “you see he has not forgotten me, for here he is!” And rushing towards the door, she opened it, saying, “Here, Edmond, here I am!”
With the similarity between their names, Isa couldn’t help but imagine, for just a moment, that it was Lord Kenworth who had returned and was seeking her out. She allowed herself a moment to enjoy the silky depth of his voice, the way he conveyed the magnitude of Mercedes’s love through his lilting tone, which swept over her like a caress. Louisa had been correct that her brother was an exceptional storyteller, but she also thought that made him an excellent actor as well. She would keep her guard around him.
When they reached the end of chapter three, which left them without resolution and therefore wanting more, Her Grace rose from her chair.
“I think this is a good place to stop for today. Thank you, Isabella, for joining in the reading. Our family tends to fight for that privilege, so we welcome your calming influence.” The duchess escorted Lady Concord to her chamber, leaving Isa to gather her things and straighten up the settee. She moved Biscuit to the floor and folded the blanket, then moved the pillows back to their original arrangement. As she worked, she attempted to ignore the weight of Lord Kenworth’s burning stare.
“We have servants for that sort of thing, you know.”
She nodded. “Yes, and I am one of them. Well, Lady Concord’s, that is.”
“A companion is not the same as a servant.”
“It might as well be.”
He studied her for an uncomfortable moment, then cleared his throat. “My mother has convinced me that it is in our best interest to have someone disengaged from the search read the journal.”
Isa stopped fussing with the pillows and met his eyes. “You don’t look convinced.”
“Consider me skeptical but willing to give it a try.”
She bit back a grin. That was likely as conciliatory as he would get.
He thrust the journal at her. “Here. Take it before I change my mind.”
“My lord, what an honor it is to receive your vote of confidence.” At least he had the temerity to look sheepish.
“Yes, well, it’s not as if any of us have had luck solving the riddle.”
“Her Grace stated that there was more than one riddle in the journal. Have you had luck in solving any of them?”
He sighed. “No. It would seem that they must be solved in order, so until we solve the first riddle, we have no hope of deciphering the others.”
Isa opened the journal and gently flipped the pages until she found the first riddle.
“Begin where warmth abounds. Very close, yet worlds away, it is no place for the meek.”
“I had assumed the first riddle was referring to a painting that had hung over the fireplace.”
His eyes narrowed. “Yes, that is what we determined as well.”
She tilted her head toward the existing painting. “But that is clearly not the painting we are looking for. Have you searched for it?”
“Extensively. I don’t know how much my mother told you about the house, but it had been stripped of its contents and left in disrepair before my father bought it.”
“So we know for certain that it is no longer in the house.” She strode over to the window and glanced at the gently falling rain. “I don’t suppose you have a painting of the tiara?”
He moved to stand next to her, the heat from him causing her to shiver. “No, but when you read further in the journal, you’ll find that rumors abounded about its provenance.”
She turned to face him, then took a step back. He was unnervingly close. “Such as?”
“It once belonged to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. We are fairly certain this is true, as my mother was held captive by a Russian who insisted the tiara belonged to him.”
“Good heavens.”
“Yes, it is quite a story. If you ask Mother, she’ll be happy to regale you with the tale. She never tires of sharing how my father came to her rescue.”
“I should think so. I would certainly do the same.” She moved in front of the fire, preferring its heat to his unsettling warmth. The fireplace didn’t distract her nearly as much. “So none of you have ever seen the tiara?”
“No. But we believe it is made of pink diamonds.”
Isa froze. “Pink?”
He drew his brows together. “Yes.”
“Pink diamonds are rare, are they not?”
“Yes.”
She took a step toward him, unable to stop herself in her excitement. “And you believe the painting to be a portrait of your great-great-grandmother wearing the tiara?”
He nodded.
“Is she perhaps wearing a pink gown and holding a dog on her lap?”
“I suppose that is possible, but as you deduced, none of us have ever seen the painting.”
“I have.”
He rushed to her and grasped her upper arms in an iron grip. “What do you mean?”
Biscuit let out a bark, and Isa wiggled against his slightly painful grasp until he relaxed his fingers. “There is a painting that meets that description in a small gallery not too far from here, in Staffordshire.”
His thumbs slid gently back and forth on her arms. Heat rushed through her, reminding her how long it had been since anyone had touched her or attempted to comfort her. George was her only family, and she hadn’t seen him in nearly three years. “Are you certain?”
She looked up into his brilliant green eyes. “Of course I cannot be sure, but the lady in the portrait is wearing an unusual tiara made of pink diamonds. That’s why I remember it. Because I’d never seen a pink diamond.”
He lifted her off the ground and spun her around, eliciting a series of barks from Biscuit. “Do you think you can take us there?” he asked, his mouth so close to her ear that his warm breath floated across it, sending tingles through her.
“Yes, it is not overly difficult to find,” she said against his neck, which carried the faint scent of lime.
As if realizing what he had done, he all but dropped her in his haste to disengage. “My apologies, Miss Winthrop. In my excitement, I forgot myself for a moment.”
“It’s quite all right, my lord.” It wasn’t, of course, but she was not going to let him know how much his nearness affected her. The weakness in her knees still lingered, and her heart had yet to resume its normal pattern.
“It’s just that I’ve been searching for that tiara for most of my life, and in one moment, you’ve managed to supplant everything I’ve done.”
Isa swallowed, unsure how to respond. “I assure you it is through no cleverness of my own.”
“Well, you’ve certainly managed to deflate my ego a few levels, which I have no doubt you are pleased about.”
She returned his grin.
“The party guests aren’t meant to start arriving for a few more days, and even if they were, I don’t think I can wait. We must leave as soon as possible and find that p
ainting. Do you think you can lead us to the gallery?”
Isa took a deep breath and waited for her thundering heart to slow. For a second she had allowed herself to get caught up in the excitement of the moment, but she had to remember why she was working so hard. She sent nearly all of the small salary Lady Concord gave her to George to help restore their family estate. The leaky roof had been fixed, but there was no money to refurbish the inside of the house or buy furniture. It was past time for him to marry, but Stowe Hall was uninhabitable in its current state. She could not allow another opportunity to help him pass by.
“Of course, my lord.” She clasped her trembling hands together and swallowed her nausea, then forced the words to leave her mouth. “I will take you there for a payment of two-hundred and fifty pounds.”
“You’ll what?” he roared. “How dare you attempt to extort money from me. You are certainly no lady, but a…a…mercenary.”
“That is true. I am not a lady, and I don’t intend to spend my life as a lady’s companion.” She sucked in a deep breath and reminded herself that she was doing this for George. No matter how distasteful her task was, she had to take every opportunity to help him restore honor to his title, to their family. If they could just escape the legacy of their father’s actions, she would never be put in this type of situation again. Lord Kenworth had nothing but disdain for her from the moment they met, so it shouldn’t matter to her that her actions would permanently cement his dislike of her. “If you wish me to take you to the painting, I require payment. I cannot work for Lady Concord forever. I must consider my future.”
Though his face was an alarming shade of red, he spoke calmly enough. “And you think extortion is the best way to do that?” His voice dripped with disdain. “Fine. I’ll give you one hundred and fifty pounds.”
“Two hundred.” She held up her hand as he opened his mouth to argue. “That is my final offer. I know how wealthy your family is. This is pittance to you, and without my help, you’ll never locate the gallery.”
He sighed. “Very well. Two hundred. Make whatever arrangements you must with Lady Concord so you are free to leave tomorrow. Since I am paying you, I expect you to behave as my servant.”
How to Bewitch an Earl Page 3
