by Jennifer Joy
Before the first course was served, Georgiana slipped into the dining room. She had the audacity to wink at Tanner as she settled into her chair. He would have to watch out for her. She clearly had an agenda which ran at cross purposes to his own. All he wanted to do was to leave, to return to the life he had carved for himself at the inn.
Arabella tensed beside him, and Tanner did his best to clear his mind of her when his every other sense was intoxicated with her presence. She even smelled good … a far sight better than Mrs. Molly’s bread and the brew he sold at his tavern. Sweet with a touch of spice that made him want to…
Tanner swallowed hard and tugged at his cravat. Dinner would be insufferably long.
Pent up tension coiled his muscles so tightly, he felt confident that if Mrs. Molly barricaded the door to his inn, he could barge through it.
He would return to his inn on the morrow. Alone.
Chapter 4
Arabella was angry.
Were she to defy decorum, she would demand an explanation from him. But she could not. She was a lady, and she refused to cause a scene at the Darcys’ expense when they had been nothing but good to her.
Mr. Tanner was their guest, their family. Who was she to question him? And worse, what if he stayed away because he did not care? As much as such an admission would disappoint her, it would devastate Georgiana. She loved her eldest brother dearly. In her eyes, he could do no wrong. She would take his absence as proof of his disinterest in her, and that was a burden Arabella was unwilling to permit Georgiana to feel. Not when it was her job to protect her.
Arabella pinched her lips together between bites, determined to keep her peace and remember her place. Oh, but it was difficult!
The silence grew unbearable as dinner dragged on, and her awareness of Mr. Tanner’s every move lit her nerves on fire. If he were an honorable man, he would attempt to ease the tension at the table. If he held any regard for his family, he would offer an explanation. He would apologize. Could he not see how his sister suffered to keep her cheer when conversation faltered? Even Elizabeth’s inquiries only received clipped replies.
So wrapped up in her own thoughts was Arabella, she flinched when his gentle baritone pierced through her mounting objections against the gentleman and his growing need to apologize.
“I owe you an apology. I did not realize my refusal to accept your invitations would lead to disappointment.” He looked at Mr. Darcy, then Elizabeth, then Georgiana.
All of Arabella’s defensive arguments against him wilted like a flower arrangement under a chandelier. She bit her lip, waiting for him to look at her. Did he include her in his apology, or was this his way of telling her how little he had thought of her? Oh, the misery of him acting precisely as a gentleman ought, only to exclude her!
She twisted her hands in her lap and bit her tongue, which was becoming raw from the constraint she forced upon it. Sometimes being a lady was tiresome. And painful.
“Why would you think we would not be disappointed?” Georgiana asked.
He swallowed hard. “I am out of place here. I do not belong.”
“Nonsense,” Georgiana and Elizabeth snapped in unison with Arabella’s thought.
Mr. Tanner cast a pleading look at Mr. Darcy.
“We do Georgie no favors by shielding her from the truth,” he replied.
Georgiana nodded. “I am aware of the appalling behavior our father displayed toward your mother, and I despise it. However, I will not blame you when you could not help the circumstances of your birth. Nor can I regret that our father later married my mother or we never would have known you. What happened in the past is hardly your burden to bear!”
Arabella winced. It was not his burden to bear, true. But society imposed it upon him. That fact might be easy for Georgiana to overlook or disregard for the absurdity it was, but obviously Mr. Tanner could not. Society would make him regret it were he to forget. It was the height of injustice.
“I would only bring shame on you. Do you not realize what would happen to your chances of making a good match if it were found out you had received the illegitimate son of your father into your home? That you welcomed me, the shame of your family, with open arms? The newspapers would love nothing more than to drag your name through the mire. And it would be my fault.” He rubbed his hand over his face, and Arabella regretted every unfavorable thought she had held against him moments before. His feelings were based on rules the Darcys would never uphold when they excluded one of their own and were thus unreasonable to them, but his anguish was sincere.
Arabella’s stomach lurched when he added in a low tone, “I should never have come here.”
Mr. Darcy spoke in the gentle voice he used with Elizabeth when another month passed without any sign of a child in their near future. “Do you really believe the habits of our father were so well hidden as to be unknown?”
“I refuse to be the means by which his indiscretions are revealed,” Mr. Tanner retorted.
“Do you really believe yourself capable of ruining our family? Even if your identity were exposed, it would only be the sensation until the next scandal circulated. You give yourself too much credit, Tanner. I assure you, society will easily forget that of which they themselves are too often guilty,” Elizabeth said.
The muscles around Mr. Tanner’s jaw quivered, and his pulse pounded visibly at his temple. “You would suffer cruel whispers and unjust cuts for my sake?”
“That is what family does,” she answered, which only upset Mr. Tanner more.
“I am not, nor could I ever be, family to you. Not really. How could I possibly ask you to endure society’s snubs for my sake when I can prevent it? You would soon hate me, and I would loathe myself.”
Arabella could not comprehend his reaction, but her heart understood him. If her family would extend their forgiveness to her and accept her back, she would return to them in a heartbeat. Did he not know what he denied himself? Love? Acceptance? Undying affection? Belonging?
“You speak of yourself as if you are an imposition, Tanner. You are family, and we wish to claim you as such.” Georgiana’s voice dropped to a whisper, adding, “Are you not happy with us?”
And just like that, Arabella’s anger flared at Mr. Tanner for making Georgiana doubt herself.
Arabella’s husband had cast his own faults and failings onto her, not being man enough to shoulder them himself — just as Mr. Wickham had done to Georgiana. And now, to have Mr. Tanner — a man Georgiana trusted and admired — uncover a wound she had taken great pains to help heal… It was enough to make a lady’s blood boil!
She took a deep breath and forced her shoulders to relax, knowing better than to utter a word until she regained her composure. She was encouraged to speak her mind in the Darcy household, but she was cautious never to abuse the freedom they permitted her.
Mr. Tanner spoke just as Arabella exhaled. “It is not you, little pearl. I only mean to protect you from those who would use me against you.”
Mr. Darcy said, “When have I ever cared for society’s opinion? Do you think our sister gives more credit to them than I do?”
“You will not so easily ignore them when they make our sister the center of their taunts,” Mr. Tanner said, his voice riddled with anguish. “I should not have come. Please, you must allow me to depart in the morning. It was a mistake.”
“That is a hurtful thing to say,” Arabella said, swallowing the words she had carefully chosen when Mr. Tanner turned to her. She wanted to stay enraged with him, but he looked like a whipped puppy with his eyebrows bunched up and his shoulders slumped helplessly, leaving Arabella in a quandary of anger and sympathy.
The butler tip-toed across the room and, muttering his deepest apologies, whispered to Mr. Darcy. Perhaps the interruption was for the best. Mr. Darcy looked as if he wished to knock some sense into his stubborn brother.
Georgiana shed no tears, but Arabella took note of how many sniffs it took to keep her cheeks dry. Elizabeth reach
ed over and squeezed Georgiana’s hand, glaring at Mr. Tanner as she did.
“Tanner,” Mr. Darcy's voice echoed loudly in the quiet room. He stood and with a nod at the butler, he said, “There is a matter we must attend to. A stranger has come to call, and I wish for you to join me. I almost feel his untimely call is providential.”
Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy in concern. His attempt at humor at such a time was alarming. “A caller at this late hour?” she asked.
“We will return shortly,” he said with a weak smile that made Elizabeth frown.
Mr. Tanner joined him, trudging behind his brother, his jaw set and his eyes alert.
Arabella shivered, not having any other way to divest herself of the conflicting emotions coursing through her. Mr. Tanner was a steady man, but he unbalanced her like no one else.
Perhaps Mr. Darcy was right. The stranger’s arrival was providential.
Chapter 5
Tanner walked beside Darcy, his heart heavy, his fists clenched, and his jaw tight, ready for whoever had alarmed his brother enough to leave the ladies at the table without greater explanation. Something was wrong.
They followed the butler into the front parlor, nodding to each other in mutual understanding of the uncertainty awaiting them before stepping into the room.
A fair-haired man with fashionably long side whiskers paced in front of the window. At first glance, Tanner dismissed him as a dandy with his perfectly tailored coat cut at an angle to display his colorful waistcoat. His collars were tall, like blinkers on a carriage horse. He turned away from the window out of which he peered, letting the eyeglass pressed to his eye dangle lazily from a gold chain. His polished boots had high heels and tassels.
There was something in his features which put Tanner on edge. Something familiar.
The man twisted his hands together, his gray eyes darting about the room before dashing back to the window to peek between the curtains into the darkness beyond them.
Darcy exchanged a curious look with Tanner. For a certainty the man looked familiar, but he had never seen him before. Apparently, he was unknown to Darcy as well.
Beads of sweat glistened off the man's blanched face as if he had seen a ghost on the other side of the window pane. The man was trouble. Tanner sensed it as clearly as he could spot a thief in his tavern.
He spoke abruptly. “I apologize for my intrusion at this late hour, and I thank you for receiving me when I am a stranger to you.” Without pausing for an acknowledgment from Darcy, he continued urgently, “Decency demands I warn you. I have tried to stop him, but it is never enough. You are all in grave danger. He means to act soon. I have proof.” He patted his pocket and turned again toward the window.
Tanner shivered. “If you fear something outside, you had best step away from the window.”
Before Tanner could close his lips, a flash lit behind the man and a deafening shot pierced through the darkness.
Tanner grabbed Darcy's arm, pulling him to the floor and throwing himself in front of him as shards of glass flew through the parlor.
“Get down, blast it!” Tanner shouted, hoping the foolish dandy had not been hurt at the same time his knuckles burned to thrash him thoroughly for bringing whatever danger about which he claimed to warn them to Darcy House. He ought to have listened to his instincts.
Another shot sounded, and Tanner knew from the sickening thud it made that it had hit its mark. He turned in time to see the stranger fall to his knees. His shocked eyes fixed on Tanner as he clutched his chest and fell forward.
Darcy crawled around Tanner to the man, keeping his head down.
A footman skidded to a halt in the doorway beside the butler, his eyes as wide as tea saucers at the sight of their master kneeling beside the bleeding stranger, dragging him closer to the wall where thick oak furniture offered some protection.
Tanner crept to the window, making sure his shadow did not betray his position at the side of the casing and squinting his eyes against the black night for any signs of movement. He was not fool enough to run after someone who was clearly an excellent shot, in the dark, on a street he did not know.
“Do you see anyone?” asked Darcy, feeling for a pulse on the man’s wrist and watching for breath.
Tanner leaned as far into the window as he dared, but the street was as quiet as Meryton in the dead of night. “No. Is he alive?” he asked, still searching. For his brother’s sake, Tanner wished this was merely a dreadful dream. But the broken glass crunching under his boots was as real as the blood stains spreading over the carpet.
“No. He is gone.”
Tanner clenched his jaw. Great. Just great. His first night at Darcy House and there was a dead body in the parlor. He would not leave on the morrow. Not after this.
He heard Darcy sigh. “And so it begins again. Another murder to solve. Another mystery.”
Footsteps echoed from the hall, and Tanner looked at the doorway in time to see Mrs. Elizabeth push the shocked footman out of her way to burst into the room followed by Arabella and Georgiana.
“Stop!” Tanner and Darcy shouted in unison.
Mrs. Elizabeth pulled Georgiana into her arms when she saw. Unfortunately, it was not the first dead body Mrs. Elizabeth had seen, but Tanner wished he could have spared the ladies the sight.
Arabella ignored their admonition. Walking as one unaware of her surroundings or the danger she put herself in, she crossed the room and knelt beside the man. Her face was as white as the dead man’s. She took his hand and raised it to her cheek, her tears streaming down the lifeless hand she wept into.
Darcy attempted to extricate Mrs. Elizabeth and Georgiana from the room … to no avail. But Tanner’s attention was riveted on Arabella. He could not look away from her. She had known the stranger. She had loved him.
He ached to turn back time and pull the stranger away from the window just to spare her. Why had he not spoken sooner? Maybe the stranger would have heeded him and lived. Then, he could have told them why they were all in danger.
Tanner’s ears buzzed and his limbs tingled with anxiety. The man had said they were in grave danger. What else had he said?
“He means to act soon.”
Who? How? Tanner ran his hand over his face, pressing his palm against his forehead to alleviate the pressure pounding against his skull.
Tanner concentrated on every word and every movement as he remembered it.
“Decency demands I warn you. I have tried to stop him, but it is never enough. You are all in grave danger. He means to act soon. I have proof,” the man had said. He had patted his pocket.
Did he have some information on his person which would answer all the questions he had raised? Who was he, and what was his close connection to Arabella? What had been his intention? If only he could have said more! If only Tanner could have kept him away from the window. If only he could have prevented the man Arabella so deeply cared for from dying … If only….
“I could not get to him in time,” Tanner said, feeling as wretched as he had the day he had learned he was the reason his mother could not get a respectable job.
Arabella said nothing, but she laid the stranger’s hand on his chest and dried her tears. “You are not to blame for the bad choices of others.” Grief darkened her eyes to the color of a cloudless midnight sky.
Once it became clear the immediate danger was over, Darcy set the man's head down gently against the ruined carpet and rose. Quickly and quietly, he gave orders for the man to be moved, for his trusted surgeon to be called, and for boards to be placed over the window until it could be repaired on the morrow, instructing the servants to be cautious and alert. No strangers were to be allowed near the property, and he was to be notified immediately if they noticed anything unusual. He looked frequently at Tanner, and Tanner imagined the stranger’s words were repeating themselves in Darcy’s mind too. For their safety, they could not risk forgetting them.
It was time for answers.
“Who was he?”
asked Tanner softly.
The room fell quiet as they waited for Arabella’s reply.
“He was my brother,” she whispered.
Tanner’s stomach clenched.
“His name is … was … Ambrose.” Her voice was tight with restraint. Straightening her shoulders, she asked, “Why did he come here?”
“He came to warn us,” Darcy answered, repeating word for word what Ambrose had said.
Tanner watched her reaction closely, praying she would understand more than he and Darcy did.
“He did not say of whom he spoke or how he means to act?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concentration. She knew no more than they did. Blast.
Years of experience as Meryton’s elected constable took over, and Tanner knew what they must do next — what they ought to have done already — if Darcy agreed. It was his household, and the circumstances were extraordinary.
“Darcy, a man was murdered in your front parlor. We ought to have summoned a hue and cry by now, but I will do nothing without your permission when the man said your entire household is in danger.”
Darcy ran his hand through his hair, pinching the back of his neck. “For all we know, you were included in the warning too, Tanner. We must all be cautious. Nobody else peeked outside their windows or opened their doors when the shots were fired?” he asked in frustration, gesturing at the window.
“That is not what I was looking for, but I do not recall seeing anyone or hearing anything. Odd. It is a quiet evening, but would not curiosity move one of your neighbors to look?”
Mrs. Elizabeth spoke. “The Chuftons hosted a ball this evening. I imagine we are the only family at home on the entire street,” she suggested.
“It is possible I simply did not see them because my focus was on a single figure in the street,” added Tanner, smacking his fist against his palm. He ought to have seen something. Maybe he should have run outside. Even a skilled marksman would have needed time to reload his pistol.
