by Eliza Lloyd
“One of Lady Weatherby’s diamond rings.”
Nora opened her free hand between them, and a large shiny silver ring crested by numerous diamonds rested in her palm. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you be the hero when you return it to her. I wanted to see how it felt when you slipped it on my finger as a sign of your love and fidelity.”
Gabriel stared at her, reminding himself it wasn’t too late to abscond to Italy.
Chapter Three
Vows said without incident, they were led to another room in Lady Weatherby’s mansion, where a huge wedding buffet had been prepared. The household servants must be exhausted after the feverish lead-up to the ball and now an unexpected wedding. Or had Lady Weatherby planned for all the possible infamous scenarios ahead of time?
“Hand it over,” Gabriel said. “It’s been in your possession far too long and I don’t want you to get ideas that you can continue to abuse the people around you.”
“I could say the same about you, Carlow. You’ve been in possession of Henbury Hall for far too long.”
She pried the ring from her middle finger, which no one seemed to have noticed. “I don’t steal everything. Lady Weatherby had carelessly left it in the refreshing room earlier. Anyone else would have gone home with it and not said a word.”
“Did you stop to think that you might have been the one accused, once it was known you were at the ball?”
“I wasn’t supposed to be revealed in such a spectacular fashion,” she said, picking up a small plate.
“You expect me to believe that? I thought this was your plan all along,” he said.
She said nothing, only raised her brows.
“I suppose your father taught you such skills?”
“Yes. Simply thievery and a few card tricks. Two talents to raise the least questions and return the greatest rewards.”
“You’ve never been caught?”
“Oh, my dear Lord Carlow, I am the one who does the catching.”
And so she had. Gabriel followed her, noting her preferences. She didn’t appear to be a finicky eater. Nora took healthy portions of the bacon and ham, a single Scotch egg, pickled beetroot and radishes, fresh quartered tomatoes, maybe the first of the season, and a small bowl of scarlet strawberries with a dollop of whipped cream on the top.
He loaded his plate with much the same, except larger portions. Food was always a safe topic of conversation and he thought they needed some common ground. And who didn’t have a lot to say about seasonal strawberries? Or pickles.
They sat at a head table, one meant to display them for the small crowd, which seemed to have doubled again.
Gabriel held her chair as she took her seat. “Don’t spill any of those strawberries on your white dress,” he teased.
“It’s not mine. Lady Weatherby’s daughter wore this at her come-out nearly fifteen years ago. I’ve made it fashionable again. Well, what do we do now?” she asked, picking up her fork. “You are married to a woman you don’t know and who’s likely going to make your life a living hell.”
“You don’t seem that unpleasant.”
“Carlow, I want to go to Henbury Hall. We don’t need to travel for our honeymoon. We don’t need a honeymoon.”
“And what would I get in return?”
“Nothing. I am only asking.”
“We can negotiate. I would like a honeymoon. Just the two of us. My grandfather has a small home in Brighton and is currently in Scotland with my brother. It would be the perfect place to become acquainted. Walks along the seashore. Ride horses along the South Downs. Stroll at the Royal Pavilion. During the day.”
“That sounds lovely. Why don’t you go on without me?”
He laughed, happy to hear she wasn’t defeated. “And what will you do?”
“The Season is still in full swing. Perhaps you can give me a small allowance for a few new dresses, and I will make the rounds. Who wouldn’t welcome the new Countess of Carlow?”
“But who will keep you warm in bed at night?” he asked.
“I will get a stray cat.”
Gabriel stared at Nora, really giving her facial features a good look. Her lips were full and red, touched with rouge or some such paint, along with a splash of red on her sculpted cheeks too. Her eyes were dark, with a touch of blue. Hazel, maybe. But it was her black lashes and shapely brows that animated her face. She was a beautiful woman and could have had any man in London.
But she’d held out for a higher prize. The only thing that mattered to her.
“There are plenty of stray cats running wild at Henbury Hall. And one slightly tamed tom who might need to be scratched on occasion.” His statement was fairly insipid, but Nora blushed for the first time in twelve hours. “You didn’t think I’d forgotten about the consummation of our marriage vows, did you?”
She dabbed her linen napkin against her lips. “There is no need for such formality. Three months will pass, and we will go our separate ways. Or rather, you will. I will have Henbury Hall.”
The tables were filling. Lady Weatherby was pestering his mother about something. Ellis and Nash had piled food high on their plates and were arguing, forks in hand and waving them about.
“Nora. Dear.” He braced an elbow on the table and faced her. “Up until last night around ten o’clock, I had everything I wanted in my life. I could have declined to marry you. You would have borne the brunt of such a decision, and I am not so cruel as all that. However, I did say yes. Just as you want Henbury Hall out of this arrangement, I want you in my bed. It’s as simple as that.” She had no idea the temptation she’d posed last night. She might not have thought she was flirting with him, but her ripostes, her teasing salvoes had stirred every curiosity, every desire. That he’d even mentioned marriage surprised him, but he was well and truly attracted to her.
“There are so many women who would gladly take my place.”
“I hear such nonsense on occasion. These women seem to be invisible to me. But let us talk of something weightier. Why is Henbury Hall so important to you? It’s been years since your father died and gave up his claim on the estate.”
“You know why!” she said, her jaw clenching.
“I’d like you to tell me. You’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to win your property back.”
“Win? It is mine, and my brother’s by right. Your father swindled it out from under him.”
Gabriel felt her anger and tried to empathize. “Don’t be angry when I say this, but your father was very astute when it came to ulterior motivations. He would not fall into the same trap he so frequently employed for his own gain.”
“I don’t want to talk about this now. Not here.”
“We’re married now, Nora. There are expectations and I don’t want you to think we have something other than a ton marriage. But I will make a concession. We will stay in London until Sunday, then leave for Henbury Hall. Will that suit you?”
“Yes.”
He took her hand in a show of affection for the audience who eyed them with expectation. “I’m not your enemy.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“Have you ever been told you are a contrarian?”
She lifted one shoulder and eyed him beneath lowered lids.
“And I will take that ring back again.” He opened his palm in front of her.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She twisted it off and dropped it in his palm a second time.
“How did you get that out of my pocket?”
“I took it.”
“I mean how?”
“If you had been my father’s son, you would know how.”
“You’ll have to teach me one of these evenings.”
“Unlikely.”
“Then if you will excuse me, I need to return this to our gracious hostess.” He tossed the ring in his hand and caught it back up. He still couldn’t justify his odd sense of euphoria. He knew Nora Blasington inspired it; he just didn’t understand it.
“And I need to mak
e the rounds and acknowledge our guests. Your mother seems shy about being introduced to your new wife,” she said.
“Not shy—wary. Your father did have a reputation, as you know, with which my mother was familiar.” Gabriel took her hand and helped her to her feet. “Lady Carlow, will you promise you will not pilfer any tempting baubles you might see? Or shock anyone with stories of your past? Or divulge any of your perceived wrongs against my family?”
“Oh, it’s not just your family who did my father wrong.” She smiled wide, but her gaze reflected the defiance that must have been a staple in her life.
“Just promise. For this day,” he suggested.
“I promise to try.”
He leaned to kiss her cheek. To her credit, she didn’t pull away. “Come, it is time to meet my mother.”
“Gabriel?” she asked. He could already decipher the tone of her voice; he steeled himself for whatever request she was about to wheedle from him. “I have a lady’s maid at the hotel where Timothy and I are staying. I need to see to her welfare.”
“I’ll have a coach collect her. Is there anything else I can do for you, my dear?”
She whispered, “Have your solicitor prepare the documents for our divorce and a title deed for Henbury Hall.”
* * * * *
The others would be dealt with in short order, Nora thought, making her way across the room in the direction Ellis Rawden and Nash Hildebrande had taken. For all her plotting and scheming, she hadn’t thought how she would get the rest of the family’s property back. However, being the rightful mistress of Henbury Hall and now the Countess of Carlow, she would get the tin mines that went to Hildebrande’s family and as many of the Henbury stallions that Rawden still had in his possession. Alone, the breeding rights could have supported Timothy and Nora until their dotage.
She would! She would! She would! Somehow. With or without Carlow’s help.
Was that the prayer of her life? Telling herself it would happen with no realistic way to make it true? Or was it the great delusion? Still, she found herself married with at least a small hope of obtaining Henbury Hall.
While planning what to do with Carlow, she hadn’t thought of the long-term advantages to being his countess. Well, long-term meaning three months. It was a new kind of power, one a weak person couldn’t imagine having in their possession.
Nora spoke quietly and quickly with Carlow’s mother, putting on her most sincere and content expression, while Carlow went to make arrangements for her lady’s maid. Nora took one last glance at Rawden and Hildebrande to see they were heading toward one of the libraries.
Knowing people was a key to her father’s ability to thieve. And during the conversation, Nora realized that Carlow’s mother knew the story of how or why they had gotten Henbury Hall at Papa’s death. Maybe not all of it, but a portion of the story that would clear up some of the mystery.
“Carlow tells me you will be spending a few days with us prior to your departure for Henbury Hall.”
“You must know how grateful I am and what it means to me that Carlow is being so generous to take me home. I will be forever in his debt.”
“Forever, or three months?” his mother asked.
“Gabriel is such a tease. Three months, three years or thirty won’t ever diminish what your family has done to mine. Oh, I must see some of the others.” Nora smiled sweetly and curtsied, then started after Rawden and Hildebrande again. The three of them were peas in a pod. Where one went the others followed. Carlow being the usual leader.
Toward the end of her diaries, her mother had hinted at the involvement of the three families. Or at least what she suspected. Mother may not have known everything, but she wouldn’t lie about what she knew.
The hallway led back to the library that had been set up with card tables last night. She opened the door slowly and listened. They had their heads together, whispering.
Nora tiptoed in, leaving the door open a crack so she didn’t make a sound. They faced a cold fireplace mantel, drinks in hand.
“Gentlemen,” she said. They jumped to their feet.
“Lady Carlow,” they said in unison, and both gave her a stiff bow.
“Carlow isn’t here,” Ellis Rawden said, “if you are looking for him.”
“I know.”
“What can we do for you?”
“You know why I am here. You know why I married Carlow. It is time the scales are balanced, and you are going to do that for our family. What you took from us, you are going to give back. And I swear on my life you will.”
They glanced at each other with a guilty side-eye but remained mute.
“Let me refresh your memory. Andover, do you remember when your father stole our mines? And you, Mr. Rawden, I challenge you to prove your family’s ownership of the Henbury stallions in the General Stud Book, which you cannot. None of them passed to your family. They were stolen by your father. I know he’s on his deathbed, but if you don’t already know, you should ask him what they did. But I suspect you do know while you nod and wink your way through life.”
“Whatever you’ve been told, Lady Carlow, you are under a misconception. Your father—” Andover said.
“Don’t you dare mention my father. His faults were a trifle compared to your great sin. You’ve deprived me and my brother of any sort of life. We must rely on the help of others. You are the liars and thieves. Go home. Find a way to return our property.”
“Nora!” She jumped at the sound of her name. Carlow had come in behind her, wearing a stern expression. “You will apologize to my friends.”
“I am your wife.”
“That’s right, but even my wife does not get to speak to my friends in such an injurious and disrespectful way.”
“I will not. You know what happened. You all know and are hiding it beneath your noble exteriors.” She had all three of them in one room; she wanted to lash out at the world.
“Gentlemen, will you excuse us for a moment?” Carlow took her arm gently, but she could feel the anger vibrating through him. He led her to a private corner of the room and somehow maintained a sanguine expression. “You may believe the worst of me. You may believe me cruel and without care considering I just pledged my troth to you; however, you will apologize, Nora, or you will never see Henbury Hall again. You will never ride its hills. You will never set your feet to the house foyer or eat from the land’s bounty.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me.” Except she knew he would. She had pushed every boundary during the evening. She’d thrown pride and caution to the wind. The only thing worse would have been for him to berate her in front of his friends.
“I wouldn’t want to, but we have to come to some understanding now. There may not be love or trust, but there will be respect. And that includes to my friends,” he said.
Tears welled in her eyes. She clenched her jaw and prayed that not a single one rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t show weakness. But she couldn’t do anything to jeopardize her opportunity to regain Henbury.
His voice softened. “This is important, Nora. Foundations have to be built on something and ours won’t endure shifting sands.”
One tear fell as she glared at Carlow. She passed a quick finger and wiped it away. She could argue. She could tell him how wrong he was. She could beg and plead, or she could act with grace and dignity and figure out a way to avenge the family’s wrongs with further planning.
She turned toward Ellis Rawden and Nash Hildebrande. “My lord Andover. Mr. Rawden. Would you please accept my apologies for such an outburst and unseemly accusations?”
They mumbled some embarrassed acceptance, after which Nora turned to make her escape. Carlow gripped her upper arm. “Our carriage is here to take us home. Gather any of your things you need and meet me in the front foyer in fifteen minutes. Also, express your goodbyes to your brother.”
Nora fled, embarrassment burning her from head to toe. She could not imagine adding another layer to her deep hatred of the three, but
it was there, wrapping its dark tentacles around her heart, already cold with loathing. How could she be married to Carlow, feeling as she did?
She gulped in air and held her breath. Calm, Nora, calm.
This was part of the plan and it was working. Carlow had already agreed to the most important part of the scheme and three months was nothing to sacrifice for what she wanted most.
Nora hurried up the stairs and found her way to the room where she’d changed earlier. A lady’s maid appeared and helped remove the white dress. Nora felt awkward putting her costume on, though she didn’t have to wear her mask. If Carlow kept his word, Molly would be waiting at his home with Nora’s valise and the small travel trunk she owned.
Timothy waited for her in the foyer. Had Carlow warned him of their departure?
She hugged him, smelling the stench of drink, cigar and sweat from his night enjoying the ball’s excesses. He gripped her shoulders and spoke in low tones. “You don’t have to do this, Nora. We could leave now and never return to London again. It’s not a real marriage.”
“So, you’re saying Henbury Hall isn’t a real place? The marriage is the only road back to our home. He’s promised me.”
“He’s one of them. You don’t know if his word is good.”
“What choice do we have, Timothy? There’s no reason to rehash this plan for the one-hundredth time. We may not get the horses or the mines, but we’ve got hope for Henbury Hall. And if we get that back, your future is so much brighter. You’ll be able to marry and marry well.”
“Some would say you’ve married well.”
“That’s not very helpful, brother. I’m married. Just like all ton marriages, there is an agreement. A dowry in exchange for an heir. There is no difference in what Carlow and I have agreed to.” Admittedly, Nora’s dowry was more about intercourse and heirs. What other motivation could he have had to make their agreement?
Nora heard Carlow, still in his dancing shoes, clipping down the hall. She imagined his daily life involved a well-worn pair of calfskin boots, buff trousers and a dark coat. And maybe a loose cravat as he eschewed ton etiquette.
