Conspiracy of Hearts

by Helen Dickson

  ‘No, not that I know of,’ she retorted coldly, wishing he would cease fencing with her in this way. ‘When I said you were a gentleman it was merely a slip of the tongue. However, you asked me what I would do if you made advances towards me, and I will tell you that I am different from most women of your acquaintance. I may not react in the way you are accustomed to expect.’

  ‘How do you know what I expect?’

  ‘I—I don’t—I assume. Having led the same kind of existence in the Low Countries as Sir Thomas, I realise you might have much in common with him,’ Serena said, unable to resist the gibe and satisfied when she saw it hit its target.

  Kit’s eyes narrowed. ‘Then you don’t know me very well.’

  ‘Well enough to have formed an opinion.’

  ‘We—could get to know each other better.’

  Serena looked at him steadily. She knew what he was suggesting and was ashamed of the temptation this presented. The days on the road spent alone with him had rubbed her emotions almost raw, and the solid wall she had built around herself in their defence was beginning to erode. One look from him could do immense damage to her mind, which was already a battleground of emotions.

  ‘When I agreed to come north with you I thought I would be safe.’

  ‘I give you my word I will not hurt you. I told you from the very first that I have only your best interests at heart.’

  ‘Your idea of that is open to a good deal of personal interpretation. If we are to remain together, I think we should observe all the proprieties and conventions.’

  ‘Why? To protect your reputation?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I think it’s a little late for that.’ He chuckled. ‘After spending the past few days alone with me I’m afraid it will be damaged beyond repair. No one will believe you are unsullied, no matter how fiercely you protest the truth.’

  ‘I will know and that is what’s important. Now I think we should go to sleep. This conversation is getting us nowhere.’ Drawing her feet up on to her uncomfortable bed, Serena rested her head on her rolled-up cloak with every intention of going to sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  The wind howled throughout the night, relentlessly battering the walls of Hawk’s Pele, cleverly finding every hole and crack in the ancient structure which was like a ship adrift on a storm-tossed sea. To Kit and Serena’s immense relief when they woke after an uncomfortable night, it was to discover the wind had passed westwards taking the snow clouds with it.

  Eager to leave the tower and be on their way, they embarked on the few remaining miles of their journey to Addlington Hall. Serena felt a lifting of her spirits as she rode beside Kit and they picked their way with extreme care among the snowdrifts. They were deep in isolation and a million miles away from Warwickshire and conspiracies.

  Eventually they came to the small hamlet of Addlington, with its huddle of snow-covered dwellings. Addlington Hall was a mile from the village. Eventually some tall iron gates loomed out of the whiteness. As they approached a man emerged from a small cottage just inside the grounds, hurriedly thrusting his arms into the sleeves of his jacket as he came to identify the visitors and open the gates.

  He was a thick-set middle-aged man with a shock of sandy-coloured hair, and as he came close and peered up at them through the iron bars, his features broke into a grin on recognising Kit. Immediately he opened the gates, having previously cleared away the obstructing snow, and as they rode through he tugged his forelock, pushing the gate shut after they’d passed through. Kit leaned down and spoke to the man, who replied with a heavy northern dialect that was quite incomprehensible to Serena. She turned to Kit after the man had scuttled back inside the cottage.

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘That was Samuel Gilby, the caretaker,’ Kit explained as they went on their way. ‘The house has been unoccupied since my grandmother’s death, but fires have been lit daily to keep the place aired, should my mother and Melissa suddenly take it into their heads to visit. Mrs Gilby, Samuel’s wife, is there now. There are no other servants so we will have to manage as best we can.’

  ‘Can’t you employ a couple of women from the village?’

  Kit shook his head, his features set in a grim expression. ‘No. The risk to ourselves is too great. It’s amazing how quickly gossip travels, even in an isolated place such as this.’

  ‘Can Mr and Mrs Gilby’s integrity be relied on?’

  ‘Absolutely. They have served my grandmother with unswerving loyalty for many years and can be trusted not to gossip to the locals.’

  They proceeded up the snow-covered drive lined on either side with lofty trees, their branches heavy with snow. Eventually the rambling, many-turreted Tudor house came into view when they rounded a bend.

  ‘There you are,’ said Kit with a note of pride. ‘Addlington Hall—the house in which my mother was raised.’

  ‘It looks very grand,’ murmured Serena, who could denote from Kit’s tone and the fondness of his expression when he looked at the house that it meant a great deal to him. ‘I recall you saying that your parents made their home near Coldstream.’

  ‘Yes, I did. But I was not as fond of Minton Hall as Paul, who had a hearty dislike for the isolation of this rambling old structure. You’ll like Mrs Gilby. She’s a good woman with a kind heart—but she is a bit strait-laced.’

  ‘Aren’t all housekeepers?’ Serena remarked, fondly remembering Eliza.

  ‘I’m not sure how Mrs Gilby will receive you—arriving with me alone. Where young ladies are concerned she is a firm believer in the authority of their families and absolute decorum at all times.’ He grinned, returning to his carefree manner, his eyes full of mischief. ‘When you arrive in the guise of a man and looking for all the world like a hoyden, she will be appalled and may think you are my paramour.’

  Serena stiffened with immediate response. Lifting her chin, her green eyes gleamed with a feral light when she looked at him. ‘That is exactly what I wish to avoid,’ she snapped. ‘We both know she will be mistaken and I leave it to you to explain and protect my good name. I know I shall appear ugly when she sees me dressed like this, but I fully intend to remedy that at the earliest opportunity.’

  Kit laughed in the face of her anger. ‘You have my word that I shall do my best to convince her of your respectability, Serena—but as for your male attire…well…in my opinion I find it rather fetching,’ he said with a seductive lowering of his lids and an infuriating grin.

  Serena merely glowered across at him before fixing her eyes on the huge building looming large in her sights.

  Mrs Gilby came out of the house to greet them. To Serena’s relief, she could understand Mrs Gilby very well, unlike Mr Gilby. This was due to the fact, Kit explained, of Mrs Gilby having come from the south before her father had brought her to Northumberland to work on the Addlington estate, where she had met and married Samuel.

  Mrs Gilby was a small, plump woman with warm, yet piercing, eyes. She beamed with delight on seeing Kit and studied Serena as she would a curiosity, from top to toe, with her mouth compressed in a thin line. What was passing through her mind when her eyes dwelt too long on Serena’s soiled and unfeminine breeches, Serena could only guess at.

  ‘Mrs Gilby, may I introduce Mistress Carberry,’ said Kit when they entered the hall. ‘I know you will find it rather strange that she arrives here with me alone, but for reasons beyond our control—which I shall explain to you and Samuel later—she had no choice other than to come with me.’

  Mrs Gilby glanced up at Kit with a worried frown. ‘Trouble is it, my lord?’

  ‘Yes. And I must ask you not to speak of our presence at Addlington Hall to anyone. Is that understood?’

  ‘You have my word.’

  ‘Thank you. We intend staying until the thaw, when we will ride on to Edinburgh to stay with my mother. Have you heard from her recently?’

  ‘I’m afraid not, Lord Brodie. What with the wet weather and now this snow, goodness know
s when she’ll be able to visit. I keep rooms ready for her and Mistress Melissa just in case.’

  ‘Very sensible, Mrs Gilby. Now—I know it’s short notice but we require food. Whatever you have available. I do realise that our arrival has taken you unawares and that you will not have anything prepared, but we have ridden a long way and we are both ravenous—isn’t that so, Serena?’

  Serena nodded. ‘Yes, but…would it be too much trouble for me to have a bath before I eat?’

  ‘No trouble at all. I’ll show you to your chamber,’ Mrs Gilby said, casting a sideways, disapproving glance at Serena’s mode of dress. ‘Forgive me, Mistress Carberry, but have you nothing else to wear?’

  Mrs Gilby didn’t see Kit arch his eyebrows at Serena with an ‘I did tell you’ smile curving his handsome lips, which she ignored.

  ‘Yes. I brought a couple of dresses with me. They’re in a bag fastened to the saddle of my horse.’

  ‘I’ll bring it in when I’ve seen to the horses and had a word with Samuel,’ said Kit, disappearing to do just that.

  Following Mrs Gilby, Serena was pleased to find that the apartments allotted to her were comfortably furnished, warm, and the bed aired. She looked at the huge four-poster bed with silver-and-pale-blue brocade hangings with longing. After the previous night’s discomfort spent trying to sleep on the broken settle, she couldn’t wait to crawl under the bedcovers and draw the curtains.

  When Mrs Gilby had disappeared to the domestic quarters to prepare something to eat, Serena was amazed when Kit arrived at her door carrying two large pitchers of hot water. His white linen shirt was casually open at the throat and a devilish smile played on his lips.

  ‘For your bath, my lady,’ he said, his voice laced with humour. Pushing his way through the half-open door into the room, he was followed by Samuel carrying two more pitchers. Samuel poured the steaming water into a bathtub which he dragged out of a closet before disappearing, whereas Kit preferred to linger, watching Serena with close attention.

  Self-consciously she looked at him, unable to imagine what he found to be of so much interest, unless the impertinent rascal expected her to remove her clothes in front of him. Kit met her gaze, a corner of his lips lifting roguishly as his gaze dipped to an opening at the neck of her doublet, which she had already unfastened in pleasurable anticipation of her bath. Meeting her gaze again, Kit lifted a querying black eyebrow. Serena could only wonder at his thoughts as she struggled to maintain her composure beneath his perusal.

  ‘Well?’ she asked, impatient for him to leave. ‘What are you waiting for?’

  ‘Have you everything you need?’

  ‘More than enough, thank you.’

  ‘Would you like me to stay and assist you?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ she replied, irritated by his dalliance and, taking his arm, pulled him towards the door. ‘Out you go, you pompous oaf, and leave me alone. My bath is private and I intend to soak for at least a week.’

  Kit paused and looked back at the steaming tub in subdued, wistful vein. ‘What a pity to bring all that water up here for just one person when it could just as well serve two.’

  Serena flashed him a look, seeing a flurry of wicked thoughts coursing through his mind. Without more ado and on a note of gentle laughter, she pushed him out on to the landing. ‘Out, you compromising rogue. Go and fetch your own water.’

  Feeling positively filthy after the long and wearying days of travel, Serena lingered over her bath, washing her hair and luxuriating in the hot soapy water, feeling the tension in her body melt. Afterwards she donned one of the dresses and clean undergarments Mrs Gilby had kindly ironed and brought to her, enjoying the feel of stockings and petticoats about her legs once more. Sliding her feet into a pair of low-heeled shoes, she was glad she’d had the presence of mind to bring them along.

  Drawing the brush through her still-damp hair, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror, carelessly allowing her mind to dwell on Kit and unable to deny that she found their encounters challenging. She was enlivened by them, enlightened, and there was an element of danger, which added to the excitement. Being with Kit was stimulating and never dull; the prospect of spending some time at Addlington Hall with him made her heart pound.

  Serena sighed despondently at her reflection in the mirror, for this was not the way she had expected things to turn out when she had agreed to come with him to Northumberland. It was not what she had wanted. Perhaps they had been alone together too long. It would be a relief when the thaw came and they could leave for Edinburgh, where they would part. When she met up with her father again, she would forget all about Kit Brodie and their time together in Northumberland.

  But would she? she asked herself, calmly meeting her own candid gaze in the mirror. Would she be able to forget the most fascinating man she had ever met?

  With her hair hanging down her back in heavy, luxuriant waves, she set the brush aside and stood in front of the long mirror to survey her appearance and look for flaws, oblivious to the wide, brilliant green eyes looking back at her which were capable of setting a man’s blood aflame, or the healthy glow of her face which the constant exposure to the fresh air over the past few days was responsible for.

  Biting her lip nervously, she frowned when she looked at her plain-coloured sapphire blue gown, the less flamboyant of the two she had brought with her. Not wishing to arouse censure in Mrs Gilby, she thought that perhaps the scooped neckline revealed too much of her cleavage than was proper, but no matter how she struggled to pull it up it persisted in going back to where it wanted to be. Sighing with resignation, she shrugged, having no choice but to leave it as it was.

  Lacking the necessary stays, the bodice clung tightly to her body, and the full skirts had no hoops to lift it out, so it would just have to do. However, Serena secretly thought she looked quite fetching without the invisible and harsh appliances. The gown emphasised both the natural slenderness of her figure and her firm breasts, their defiant curves swelling above the delicate lace-edged bodice.

  Kit was patiently waiting for her at the top of the stairs, having bathed and changed, and looked wonderfully attractive. The rich cloth of his doublet was a deep mulberry colour, his freshly washed hair wavy black and gleaming. Before Serena reached him she smiled, a wonderfully engaging smile, her cheeks pink and her eyes extremely bright. Impulsively she spun round in her dainty shoes, her long tresses and voluminous skirts spinning out to reveal her slender ankles.

  ‘What do you think? Is this an improvement on my former attire, my lord?’

  Kit arched a brow and looked at her appraisingly, thinking he had never seen her look more lovely. But the sweetness of her expression was greatly at odds with the minx he had come to know and love. ‘Do you need to ask? You look like an angel, you vain wench. I can see the lady has changed her plumage.’

  ‘It’s easy for any woman to change from a sparrow into a swan with fine clothes,’ Serena countered. ‘Am I to understand that you approve of the transformation? Do I look less like a lad and a more fitting companion in my dress?’

  ‘A very fitting companion. But I’m not blind. Even in your breeches you never looked less like a lad. But it’s a pity such perfection is only skin deep. I am not deceived, madam.’ He grinned with mock severity. ‘Your cheeks may bloom like the fairest of roses—whereas inside sprouts the thistle reminiscent from across the border.’

  Feeling too light-hearted to be intimidated, Serena smiled up at him sweetly, a look of such innocence on her face that it would melt the largest glacier, but Kit was not deceived.

  ‘Don’t play the coquette with me. I know you too well, don’t forget. But I compliment you,’ he murmured, his glowing dark eyes openly raking her from top to toe. ‘You look ravishing.’

  ‘And you would like to—is that not so?’ Serena remarked with a playful hint of sarcasm.

  ‘I meant it as a compliment.’

  ‘That’s what worries me.’

  ‘You took your time.’ />
  ‘I told you, I wanted to enjoy my bath. I had practically a full week’s dirt to wash away.’

  ‘You removed a considerable amount at Corbridge as I recall,’ he murmured pointedly, taking her arm and escorting her down the stairs.

  Serena flashed him a sharp glance. ‘You recall too much.’

  Kit laughed softly down into her upturned face. ‘You look adorable. Your eyes are sparkling most outrageously. If I didn’t know you better, I would say you were in love.’

  ‘With you?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because I have far too much sense to allow myself to love a pompous rogue like you.’

  ‘And I have a voracious appetite. I shall try to make you change your mind.’

  ‘You can try—but you will be wasting your time.’

  His eyes gleamed determinedly. ‘We shall see.’

  ‘Are you telling me that you find my company pleasant after all?’

  ‘Only when you aren’t being stubborn and temperamental.’

  ‘I am never temperamental,’ Serena objected, pouting prettily.

  ‘Yes, you are. Most of the time, in fact.’

  ‘And you, my fine, incorrigible, stubborn lord, have all the makings of a monster.’

  Kit grinned most attractively, his gaze raking hers. ‘Only if you drive me to it. But perhaps when you see how charming a host I can be, how attentive to your every need, you will melt towards me.’

  Serena’s lips curved in a slow smile. ‘Charm is often an effective weapon, my lord, but I am not so easily won over.’

  ‘Kit,’ he corrected with a scowl. ‘Do you forget so soon that my title as well as my property has been confiscated? Besides, I thought we had agreed to dispense with the formalities between us.’

  ‘We have. I just like to put you in your place now and then.’

  ‘Don’t criticise. I’ve been very patient and proper under the difficult circumstances given to me.’

  ‘You brought them on yourself—and you will continue to be patient and proper until the time comes for us to part.’