Hot Historicals Bundle with An Invitation to Sin, The Naked Baron, When His Kiss Is Wicked, & Mastering the Marquess

by Jo Beverley

  Of course, she reminded herself, by now this young man could be ancient.

  She didn’t think so, though. The high collar and plain cravat fitted recent fashion.

  Anna realized she had been staring at the portrait as if expecting him to move and speak, so skillfully had the fleeting expression been captured. With a smile of farewell, she made herself leave the room, feeling rather as if she abandoned someone to dark neglect.

  When she had looked in every room on this floor, she came to her Rubicon, the stairs to the lower floor. A prudent miss would now return to her room and forget about this place. Anna had to admit as well that it was probably morally wrong to creep about someone’s house like this, peeping and prying. It was almost like reading a private journal.

  On the other hand, there were no secrets here. It was just an empty house and she wanted to see all of it.

  She went cautiously down the stairs to the main floor.

  All the windows she had seen had been curtained, presumably to keep the sun off the unused rooms, but here a handsome fan light over the door spilled moonlight into the hall, making it seem more alive, more as if someone might suddenly appear.

  She stood still, her feet chilling on the tiled floor, listening for any sound.

  She heard only silence. Any servants were fast asleep.

  All the same, Anna decided to hurry through the rest of her exploration and get back to her bed.

  A breakfast room, shrouded. A reception room, the same. A dining room, a library …

  Anna halted, faced temptation, and succumbed.

  Anna loved books. She loved novels, but they were not her only reading. Her father said she would read anything, even a sporting journal if desperate, and he had always encouraged her. He had not, however, allowed her to bring more than a small box of books with her and to her dismay the library in number 9 was a skeleton of a room with empty shelves. She supposed no one would want to leave books for unpredictable tenants, but she had been disappointed. After all, her consumption of books was so large that trips to the lending libraries were going to take most of her days!

  Here, however, was a supply, to hand and neglected. The books seemed to call to her, begging to be read.

  No, no, her conscience argued. To borrow without permission would be like stealing.

  Yet Anna was soon cruising the glass-fronted shelves almost without thought, drawn like iron to a magnet. Rows and rows of matched volumes—bound magazines, philosophical classics, eminent sermons. But also rows and rows of mismatched books likely to have been bought for love.

  And organized. Here was travel. Here was science. And here were novels.

  Just one row.

  In fact, just the novels of Mrs. Jamison. That was intriguing, to be sure.

  She opened the case and ran her fingers over the glossy leather covers, pausing at the three volumes that comprised Forbidden Affections. She wanted to read it again in Dul-cinea’s room to check the accuracy of the simulation. She wanted it so much it was agony to resist.

  But Anna knew that if she took the books she would have gone beyond an intrusion of privacy to theft. She found the strength to close the bookcase doors and leave the chamber of temptation.

  Frightened that she would weaken, Anna ran up the stairs and back to the secret door. Her candle blew out, but she knew the way. She groped toward the fireplace and squeezed through the door, easing it shut behind her. Then she was back in her own room again with that door firmly closed.

  She jumped into bed and pulled up the covers, then lay there, wondering if what she had just done had been real. But she knew it had, and she knew she desperately wanted to explore again another day.

  Anna awoke the next morning when Martha, middle-aged maid to the Featherstone daughters, drew back the curtains to let in sunlight. Anna’s first thought was that she had had the most interesting dream.

  It took only seconds to realize that it had actually happened.

  The room was still the same, and in daylight assuredly Dulcinea’s chamber.

  “What a room this is!” declared Martha, setting the jug of hot water on the washstand. “You’re a braver lass than I am, Miss Anna, to sleep here so sound.”

  Anna sat up to hug her knees. “I don’t mind. I like it.”

  Martha just shook her head. “Up with you, miss. I’ll be back in a little while to button you up and fix your hair.”

  Anna popped out of bed and washed, then put on her stockings and petticoat. She was just working into her light stays when Martha returned to help her.

  “How do you like it here, Martha?” Anna asked, holding her long plait away from the buttons down her back.

  “Seems a decent enough house, miss. Sit you down now. Breakfast’ll be ready in a moment.”

  Anna sat in front of the gargoyle-guarded mirror. “Have you found out anything about this place?”

  “About it?” Martha was quickly unraveling the plait and brushing it out. “What do you mean, miss?”

  “Well, about this room. It is a little strange.”

  “Who knows what they do in Lunnon, miss? The regular staff haven’t said anything, but then, by the time we were here and unpacked, it were pretty well time for bed.”

  “I suppose so.”

  The Featherstones had arrived at nearly eight in the evening and had only taken time for supper before retiring. They were here until June, however. Time enough for Anna to unravel the mystery this room presented, and to find out all about the wicked Earl of Carne’s incident.

  As soon as Martha was finished, Anna ran down to the breakfast parlor and kissed her parents. Lady Featherstone, slender and blond, smiled in a slightly pained way at her younger daughter’s high spirits. Sir Jeffrey hugged her warmly.

  “Sleep well, Pippin, in your Gothic chamber?”

  Anna had to suppress a giggle. “Very well, Papa.”

  Lady Featherstone shuddered. “Anna, you have no sensibility.”

  “Which is as well, my dear,” said her husband, “or the girls would have had to sleep together, and you know they hate that.” Sir Jeffrey was ruddy-faced and robust. It was from him that Anna got her looks and temperament.

  “Maria tosses and turns all night,” said Anna.

  “Only in a strange bed,” said Maria, drifting in wanly. “I declare I have not had a moment’s rest! The mattress is decidedly hard.”

  If Maria was poorly rested, it had not affected her looks. She, like Dulcinea, was a pale blond beauty with pearly skin and a slender, elegant figure. Lady Featherstone fussed over her, commiserating on her sensitive nature and plying her with tea.

  Sir Jeffrey grinned at Anna. “Well, what plans for today, Pippin? Let me guess. An attack on the book emporiums of the Metropolis?”

  Anna grinned back as she helped herself to eggs. “Most certainly. I am hoping you will direct me to the best lending libraries in town, Papa.”

  Since Sir Jeffrey was a Member of Parliament, he knew London quite well and obligingly wrote out a list of the best book suppliers while his wife and older daughter planned their assault on modistes and haberdashers.

  Folding the list, Anna asked casually, “What was Mrs. Postle referring to when she mentioned an incident concerning our neighbor, Papa?” She had reason to hope that her liberal-minded father would give her a straight answer.

  However, his only response was, “Never you mind, Pippin. London isn’t like the country. It is quite possible to ignore neighbors.”

  “But Papa, the doors are only feet apart. What if we encounter people coming and going?”

  Her mother had picked up on the conversation and now a look flashed between her parents. Anna’s curiosity expanded to a bursting point. What had the earl done?

  “Anna,” said her mother, “if you should happen to encounter any of our neighbors, a distant nod will suffice until you have been formally introduced. Which is unlikely since you are not here to be introduced.”

  It was Maria who let the cat out of the ba
g. “Martha said that number 10 had a murder there some years back. Can you imagine? It makes me feel quite faint to think of it!”

  Lady Featherstone began to say something sharp about the maid, but her husband overruled her. “It is perhaps as well, my dear, that the girls be prepared. Maria, Anna, it is true that an irregular death occurred at the Earl of Carne’s house some years ago, but it was suicide, not murder. It is an old matter and need not disturb you at all, but you should know that the earl, despite his rank, is not the sort of man who is introduced to young ladies. I am assured that he lives abroad, but if you should encounter him, you will ignore him entirely.”

  Anna stared. “Cut an earl?”

  “If the man has a scrap of decency that will not be necessary. But if he should turn up and approach you in any way, yes, you must refuse to acknowledge him.”

  This was hardly the sort of talk to calm Anna’s bubbling curiosity, but she could see she would get nothing more out of her parents. She would have to hope the servants would be more forthcoming. It was typical, though, that Martha had told more to Maria than she had to Anna. It was so tedious being a schoolroom miss.

  Immediately after breakfast Maria and Lady Feather-stone embarked on matters to do with Society. Sir Jeffrey warned Anna to go nowhere without both maid and footman, then went out to Parliament. Anna obediently summoned Martha and a footman and set out for the best lending library in London, her main intent being to bring home a copy of Forbidden Affections.

  As they walked, Arthur, the footman, pointed out the sights, and the occasional famous person passing by.

  Anna was interested in London, but she could not stop puzzling over the matter of number 10. “London seems so crowded,” she said at one point. “I’m surprised the house next door to us is allowed to stay empty.”

  “Criminal waste of a house, I ’d say,” Martha remarked with a sniff.

  Arthur shrugged. “It’s the earl’s to waste, Miss Anna, and he’s rich enough not to care.”

  “But there must be servants,” Anna probed.

  “Just a couple who keep the place up. The Murchisons have got it easy, and that’s the truth. The whole place is under covers, they say.”

  Anna waited, hoping for more, but it became clear that if she wanted more information, she’d have to dig for it. “And no one has lived in it for years?”

  “That’s right, miss. Ever since the earl’s ladybird was found dead there.”

  “Arthur!” exclaimed Martha. “I’ll thank you to remember that Miss Anna is still a schoolroom miss!”

  Anna could have strangled Martha. Just as the conversation was becoming interesting!

  The earl’s ladybird? That meant lover. So the earl’s lover had committed suicide in number 10? Embarrassing, certainly, but enough to send a peer of the realm into exile?

  Hardly.

  And why had Maria reported it as murder?

  These thoughts tumbled around in Anna’s head as she gathered an armful of books at Hatchards. She did not find a copy of Forbidden Affections so asked a clerk for assistance. He consulted the large book which served as their catalogue. “I’m afraid we no longer have a copy, miss.”

  “What? Why on earth not?”

  At her sharp tone he looked rather harried. “It is eight years old, miss. Possibly one of the volumes was lost or damaged … May I recommend this one?”

  Anna listened politely as he recommended a number of the latest romantic novels, and even took one to allay suspicion. She knew it was irrational to think that Martha and Arthur, who were standing by chatting, would read anything into her desire for a copy of Forbidden Affections, but she felt compelled to disguise her feelings.

  She wanted no one to discover her secret until she had solved the mysteries of Carne Terrace. And she wanted to solve them on her own.

  She would have liked to go to another library to continue her search for the novel, but how could she with Arthur already burdened with at least two days’ reading? Seething at the stupidity of a library that didn’t have multiple copies of every one of Mrs. Jamison’s novels, Anna returned home.

  Releasing Martha and Arthur to their other duties, she sat down to read. The books she had selected were interesting, but she could not concentrate on any of them. Her mind was full of Lord Carne, his dead lover, and the Gothic chamber of Dulcinea. In fact, Anna knew she was merely passing time until that night when she could explore again.

  By mid-afternoon she could restrain her curiosity no longer and wandered into the kitchen where the cook, Mrs. Jones, and two maids were preparing dinner.

  “Hungry, miss?” asked the wiry woman pleasantly enough. “There’s maids-of-honor there that could do with testing.”

  Anna grinned at the cook and sat at the table to nibble an almond tart. “They’re delicious,” she said honestly. “Alas, I don’t think my stay here will increase my chances of becoming thin and interesting.”

  “Let’s not have any of that nonsense, miss. Some healthy padding serves a woman well. And there’s many a gentleman likes an armful.” Mrs. Jones pushed another cake over to Anna.

  Anna did not actually want another one, but she took it with a smile. “I certainly hope so, since I am to have your cooking. I’m sure they should charge extra for this house if you come with it.”

  The cook preened. “Been here nigh on ten years, miss, and there’s been no complaints. Maggie, stop beating those eggs now and put the water on.”

  A rather slack-faced maid put aside a big bowl of eggs and went to haul a copper pot onto the stove.

  Anna decided on a direct approach to one part of the puzzle. “Were you here when my bedroom was made?”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “That Chamber of Horrors? Aye. It was a fancy of the mistress of the time, Lady De-labury …” The woman broke off what she was about to say. “Maggie, the big pan!”

  With a clatter, one pan was put down and another picked up.

  “She must have been very fond of novels,” Anna prompted.

  The cook looked at her in surprise and with a touch of suspicion. “How did you know that, miss?”

  “Oh, there are rooms like that in many novels.” Anna dropped her voice and made it sound mysterious. “Usually in the less-frequented parts of moldering castles, hung with cobwebs and infested by rats …”

  Both the cook and the two maids were staring at her.

  “Well, there’s no rats in this house!” declared Mrs. Jones. “It makes a bit of sense, though,” she added more moderately, “since Lady Delabury wrote those sorts of books.”

  “Wrote them?” Anna almost choked on a pastry crumb.

  “Not under her own name, of course. Mrs. Jamison, that was the name she used, even when she were a single lady … All right, Maggie, stop gawking and add those bones … ! She was a lovely lady, miss, very like your sister. Lord Delabury would have done anything for her, so when she wanted that room he had it made. Dreadful upset, he was, about her death.”

  A Dulcinea, in other words. No wonder Mrs. Jamison’s heroines were always of that type. But then why the doorway into the other house? Lady Delabury had her Roland.

  Perhaps. Perhaps the poor lady had been married to Count Nacre and had dreamed of escape.

  “What was Lord Delabury like?” Anna asked.

  “Oh, a very handsome young man and a good employer. He gave up living here, though, after the death, and stays at his estate in the north nearly all the time. A sad tale … Maggie, come cut up these turnips … Look, miss, we’ve got to get on with dinner now.”

  Anna took the hint, but instead of returning to the house, she chose to wander out into the garden, her mind churning with speculation. For Lady Delabury to have a room made in the image of a chamber in one of her books was eccentric but understandable. For her to incorporate a secret doorway into the house next door was another matter entirely. For one thing, it would surely require the consent of the owners of both properties.

  And if the secret door was part of
the incident, and Arthur had been right in what he said, then Lady Delabury had been the Earl of Carne’s ladybird even though she was quite recently married to a pleasant young man who adored her. And she had killed herself.

  It was all deliciously intriguing.

  Anna played with ideas as she wandered the uninspired garden, pulling up a weed here or there. At the limit of the garden she turned to look back at the row of houses. They told her nothing, however. Number 10, with its blinds drawn, was particularly uncommunicative.

  There was a gate in the back of the garden and Anna saw that it opened onto the mews. There was a gate from the mews into the garden of number 10, too. She resisted the temptation to explore. The garden was unlikely to hold the key to the mystery.

  She returned to the house and her unsatisfactory books, and waited for night.

  To Anna’s frustration, her family was no longer tired from the journey, and they would never believe it if she claimed to be. If she tried to go to bed early, they’d send for the doctor.

  It was very pleasant to play whist and read a little, but she was desperate to go adventuring.

  The only progress she made with her mystery came from one comment by her father.

  “I don’t think we need worry about the earl. The general opinion seems to be that he died on one of his wild adventures. In fact his heir, a cousin, has started a court case to have him declared dead.”

  “I think that’s rather horrid,” Anna said, thinking of the young man in the portrait, for she suspected he might be the earl.

  “It’s practical, Pippin. Servants are all very well, but a large estate should not be left unsupervised for so many years.”

  Conversation turned then to another case of neglect and Anna learned nothing more.