As she
filled
her plate, she listened to the conversation around her. "Mother, you cannot be serious. Four days in the country in a house teeming with as-yet-unspoken-for women and their cloying mothers?" Nick said. "Are you attempting to estrange your sons?"
"I cannot do it,"
will
said flatly. "Last night was enough
—
- if I was introduced once as the 'Next Duke of Worthington,' I was introduced that way a thousand times. It's horrid. Those women want nothing more of me than my title ... which I don't even hold as yet!"
"Nonsense," said Her Grace. "You are an attractive, charming, entertaining young man. Your title has little to do with your eligibility. They would be after you even if you were a farmer, or a butcher, or any other sort of untitled person."
There was a moment of silence during which the young Staffords looked at each other in shock before bursting into laughter. "It's true!" defended the duchess, indignantly.
"Mother, you cannot honestly believe that," Kit said. "Those mamas want money and land for their little angels. Ask yourself how you would feel if Alex came home wanting to marry a butcher. How would the Earl and Countess of Marlborough
feel about
that for
Ella
? Or the Marquess of Langford for Vivi?"
Al
l
three girls looked up from their plates, surprised to have been dragged into the discussion, and the duchess was saved from speaking by Alex, who had made her way to a seat next to
will
. "Oh, no, don't bring our prospects for marriage into this. We have nothing to do with it."
"It seems, Scamp,"
will
said, "that you have everything to do with it, seeing as the three of you have secured the punishment in question for
all
of us with your behavior last night."
"Thank you
all
for that," Nick said. "I should tan your hide, Alex ... and Freddie's, too, for his part in it." Looking at
Ella
and Vivi, he added, "You two are saved only because you are neither family nor male."
The duchess spoke, her place at the foot of the table making the statement seem more of a decree. "I am through with the four of you being so cavalier about your prospects for marriage and a future. You
will all
attend the house party and, more so, you
will all
enjoy it."
"You cannot force us to enjoy it, Mother," Kit said with a smile.
"You forget that I'm a duchess, Christopher. I can do whatever I like."
She flashed a bright smile as
all
four Stafford children groaned at her statement, a commonplace proclamation, sending Vivi and
Ella
into giggles.
"I
still
don't understand why we have to be punished for Alex's
ill
s,"
will
said.
Alex looked her eldest brother square in the eye, saying tartly, "I assure you it's my punishment as
well
,
will
. There is little I want to do less than be trapped in the country with you lot."
"Exactly why I'm guessing Mother is forcing
all
of us to attend," Nick pointed out. "Why not just suffer through the
ball
?"
Alex smiled
sweetly. "Why, to make your coll
ective lives more difficult, of course!" Three sets of male eyes narrowed as
Ella
went into a coughing fit and Vivi smiled into her teacup.
The sentence
still
hung in the air as the door to the room swung open, causing
all
heads to turn toward it. Alex's stomach dropped and her appetite vanished as Blackmoor stepped into the room. He was clad in traveling clothes
—
a chestnut topcoat over a crisp white linen shirt and buckskin breeches, tightly fitted to his long legs in a way she couldn't help but notice. The pants were tucked into
tall
leather riding boots that were freshly polished. He looked remarkably handsome, if slightly distracted, with his golden hair mussed and his eyes betraying his impatience. He was holding a riding crop and hat in one hand and a pair of lambskin gloves in the other.
Alex's gaze flew to Vivi, who met her gaze firmly and nodded almost imperceptibly, as if to say,
Be strong,
and then to
Ella
, who was looking at Blackmoor with narrowed eyes, making her displeasure with him clear to anyone who was looking. Thankful
l
y, no one was, and Vivi poked her before it became an issue.
"Gavin!" Her Grace said brightly, offering up her hand for Blackmoor to bow low over. "You are a welcome addition to this motley bunch. Perhaps you can bring some calm to our table? There is plenty of food; have you eaten?"
"A pleasure, as always, Your Grace." Blackmoor's rich tenor sent a shiver down Alex's spine. "As much as I would like to stay, I'm afraid I have already eaten and am only here to take the male half of this gathering off your hands." She noticed that, as he looked around the table, he deliberately avoided her gaze. "We are off to Essex."
"Indeed."
will
stood up from the table.
"Essex? For what?"
Ella
asked sharply.
"For an adventure that doesn't involve meddling females," Kit joked, then cleared his throat when no one laughed. He stood, moving toward the
hallway
to
call
for their topcoats and hats.
Nick stood last. "We had already arranged to use the house for hunting this week. Mother's party came as a surprise to
all
of us, but I suspect she chose to host one so quickly because she knew we would have no excuses to avoid it."
"Indeed," said the duchess. "Your mother possesses not only beauty, but
intelligence
as
well
. Lord Blackmoor, you
will
be joining us for the house party?
" The words, while phrased as a question, were more a dictate.
An almost imperceptible color rose on Blackmoor's cheeks, something that Alex noticed only because she was so focused on him, waiting for his answer. "I
shall
endeavor to be there, my lady."
"Excell
ent," said the duchess, moving to exit alongside the young men. "We
shall
make a room for you and hope for the best."
The door closed behind the group, leaving the girls in the now quiet dining room. Alex let out a long breath
—
one she hadn't known she was holding.
Turning sad eyes to her friends, she said, "He didn't look at me once. Did you notice?"
"I did," Vivi said softly. "You cannot expect him to get beyond the events of last night so quickly, Alex. It was a great deal for one person to take in."
"True," said
Ella
. "Men are not nearly as evo
lved as women are, nor as intell
igent, evidently."
Alex offered a half smile but was lost in her disappointment. Vivi was right
—
she should have expected a cool response from Blackmoor, but his cut hurt just the same.
While she understood how difficult this situation must be for him, it didn't change the fact that she was tired of fighting with him, tired of always having to start over. She wished they could go back to the beginning and just be friends again. That would be enough. Almost.
She sighed and pushed back from the table. "I'm going to find my father. I need to speak with him about last night."
Ella
stopped her from getting up. "Wait. Now, I know that we said we were going to
tell
the duke everything, but I have an idea."
"
Ella
..." Vivi's tone was laced with warning.
"I know, I know. But this is thoroughly harmless!"
Ella
defended herself quickly.
"Somehow I doubt that," Alex said, "but I
shall
endeavor to humor you."
"Thank you.
all
right. Blackmoor is gone from the house today, correct?"
Ella
's eyes were bright with excitement. So it seems.
"And we have little to do."
"No,
Ella
." This from Vivi. "I see where this is going. And it's a terrible idea."
"Why?! Why can't we just sneak next door, take a look around Blackmoor House, and sneak back? No one
will
ever know!"
Alex spoke quietly. "
Ella
, I know how much you want to be a part of this adventure. I do, too. But now we're at a point where we have to involve someone who knows a bit more about
these matters than we do. We're not talking about the Dowager Duchess of Lockwood's walking stick going missing. We're discussing murder and treason. I'm sorry,
Ella
. I've got to
tell
my father."
With that, Alex stood and went to the door,
pulling
it open and
calling
out to Harquist, "Is my father free to speak with me, Harquist?"
"No, my lady, I'm afraid His Grace left early this morning," the butler said with a low bow. "He is at Parliament for the morning and
will
leave directly from there to join your brothers in Essex."
Alex tempered her disappointment. "Thank you. I suppose I
shall
wait and speak with him there, then."
She closed the door and turned back to her friends, who were watching her
carefully
, waiting for her next move
—
one they would support without question. She met
Ella
's eye, noting her friend's desperate attempt to hide the thoughts that were written, quite plainly, across her face.
"Al
l
right,
Ella
. You win. Blackmoor House it is."
Sneaking across the gardens to Blackmoor House felt very different by the light of day from how it had been when Alex was skulking around in the darkness the night before. In fact, it rather felt more like an afternoon walk than a clandestine activity. This could have been attributed to the fact that there were gardeners hard at work mere feet away who took absolutely no interest in their activities, or it could have been the fact that she hadn't just overheard a horrible conversation, but Alex had a suspicion that it was more
Ella
's glee at their activities. And her inability to keep quiet about it.
"How do we get into Blackmoor's study? Did you climb in?"
"No, he lifted me in."
"Hmm. Right, then. Vivi
will
have to give us a boost up."
"She
will
,
will
she?" from the booster in question.
«Well,
how else do we sneak in?"
"I rather thought that we could knock on the front door and have Bingham let us in," Alex said matter-of-factly, referencing Blackmoor's ancient butler, as she led the trio around the corner of the house and toward the main entrance.
"What? We can't do that!"
Ella
stopped, indignant.
"Whyever not?" Vivi asked,
following
Alex. "It seems a perfectly acceptable way to enter. In fact, I believe I've been entering houses that way for my entire life."
Seeing that she had been outvoted, not to mention left behind,
Ella
scurried to catch up to the other two as they made their way to the door. "And what do you expect we
’ll
say to him that
will
end in his leaving us in the house without a chaperone?" she whispered rather indelicately as Alex knocked on the door and put a finger to her lips,
calling
for silence.
"I imagine
I’ll
think of something." The door opened, and she turned a
brilliant
smile on the older gentleman behind it. "Bingham! Good day!" She pushed through, Vivi and
Ella
hot on her heels. Once inside the house, she untied her bonnet, not
all
owing for a response. "Blackmoor asked that we pop over here and pick up some books from the study that he meant to bring over for my father before he left to go hunting with my brothers," she said quickly.
"I find him to be very forgetful, don't you?"
As the butler began to speak, Vivi jumped in, picking up on the game, "Oh, I do as
well —
why, the other night, he left his walking stick at the Worthington House dinner. Nick had to return it the next morning, remember?"
"Indeed. So
silly
." She threw up her hands in a ridiculous gesture. "You don't mind if we just pop in and pick them up, do you, Bingham?" Alex was already moving toward the study, leaving the poor old man looking rather dumbfounded. "There's no need for you to wait for us. He gave us a rather long list. Didn't he,
Ella
?"
Ella
turned surprised eyes on her. "He did?"
Vivi sighed, feigning exasperation. "
Ella
, you're almost as forgetful as Blackmoor. You put the list inside your journal, didn't you?"
Alex turned wide eyes on her friend. "You did bring the list, didn't you? Or do we have to go back?"
Ella
caught on. Final
l
y. "No. No! Of course not. I have it right here." She went digging into her reticule and brought out the book, opening it quickly and tearing out a page. She waved it under the nose of the butler, who was looking from one girl to the next, as if watching a game of lawn tennis.
Ella
buried her nose in the "list," saying,
"Agrarian Trends in the Counties of Essex and Staffordshire, 1750
—
1790.
Good Lord! Your poor father. Hopeful
l
y there's a novel somewhere on this list."
Vivi's mouth twitched in a desperate attempt to hold back the smile threatening to break across her face. She affected a feminine whine and said,
"Let's go,
Ella
. The ribbon shop on Bond Street is receiving a new shipment of silks today. I shouldn't like to spend
all
day with Blackmoor's musty old books." Turning a wide,
brilliant
smile on the butler, she said, "Which way, Bingham?"
The butler pointed mutely in the direction of the study, and the three girls were off and through the door before he could say a word. Once inside, Alex
called
out, loudly enough for him to hear from his spot, "It's rather drafty in here.
Ella
, be a dear and close the door? I should hate to catch a
chill
."
The door closed firmly, leaving the poor old man on the other side, staring speechlessly at it, wondering at the
silliness
of females and thanking his maker that his masters had never had daughters, before taking himself off to continue his afternoon duties.
"The poor creature never had a chance of survival," Alex said, walking toward Blackmoor's desk. "You were both
excellent.
"
"Although
Ella
almost ruined our chances," Vivi pointed out with a smile.
"Indeed," Alex agreed, "some inv
estigator you make. You did rall
y, however. I confess I was quite impressed with
Agrarian Trends.
Nice touch."
"Thank you. I thought so, myself."
Ella
nodded in appreciation.
"We had better start finding a pile of books to carry out of here. We wouldn't like Bingham to think we were being untruthful." Vivi moved toward a bookshelf and started to do just that as
Ella
and Alex chuckled.
The girls tackled separate parts of the room working quickly but
carefully
, making sure to leave things exactly as they were found. Vivi checked the shelves as she searched for
books that might seem relevant to the Duke of Worthington to anyone who cast a discerning eye, building a pile of them by the door that would topple if someone were to open it, to warn them that they were about to be discovered.
After several minutes of searching and turning up nothing, Alex sat in the earl's chair, announcing, "Everything here has been looked at, picked over, and considered. If there were something to be found in this room, it would have been found."
Ella
blew a stray lock of hair from her face and closed a cabinet she had been searching through. "Agreed. But, then, where would it be?"
"I don't know, but we're not going to look for it now," declared Alex. "I promised you access to Blackmoor's study. Nothing else. We should go
—
as it is, when he discovers that we were here, we're going to be in a mountain of trouble."
"This is interesting," Vivi said from across the room, where she was holding a leather-bound book in her hands. "Someone has peeled the endpaper from this volume."
Ella
asked, "Which volume is it?"
"A History of Essex.
I selected it because I thought it would seem relevant to the nonexistent
Agrarian Trends of Essex
that we are expected to procure while here. But the binding is loose and
—
" Vivi broke off as the back page of the book peeled up off the leather cover. She gasped as a crisp, white square of paper popped out of the book. When they saw, Alex and
Ella
rushed from their positions across the room to join her.
"What is it?"
Ella
asked excitedly.
"Don't get too excited,
Ella
," Alex warned. "It's probably nothing. Remember this room has already been combed for information."
"Not this shelf," Vivi disputed. "These books are
all
covered in at least six months of dust." She
carefully
opened the paper as the other two girls leaned in to look at its contents. There, scribbled in a strong hand across the crisp parchment were the words they'd hoped
—
and feared
—
they would find.
27 December 1814
I suspect plans are being made for more war, and there is an Englishman helping the plot. While I do not want to believe what I now to be
true, I must act now, before others becomes aware of what I have discovered. If this letter is found and I have failed, use the book as your
guide. Everything is at stake. Particularly the name. keep it safe.
"My God." Alex breathed. "It's from the earl."
"We
—
We don't ... we can't know for sure," Vivi said haltingly.
"We do know for sure, Vivi," Alex replied. "Who else would it be from? My God. He found proof of treason and was
killed
for it."
"'Everything is at stake, particularly the name'? What name?"
Ella
asked aloud.
"The Blackmoor name," Alex said quietly, almost to herself. She was
recalling
her conversation with Blackmoor from the previous night, one that took place in this very room. He had been concerned that her accusations about his uncle would risk the reputation of the Blackmoor name.
Just as his father
had been.
"My God, I was right," Alex whispered. She looked up and spoke quickly, grabbing the paper from Vivi's grasp and stuffing it back into the book, a feeling of dread coming over her. "We have to leave here. Immediately. I was right."
The words were barely out of her mouth when the books placed by the door toppled. The girls
all
spun toward the door, hoping it would be Bingham who was interrupting their conversation, praying it wouldn't be Lucian
Sewell
.
Their prayers went unanswered. There was a delicate straightening of
all
of their spines as he pushed his way into the room, looking distasteful
l
y first at the pile of books on the floor and then around the room until his gaze
fell
on the trio. Alex
willed
herself to smile and find a quick exit from this particular trap.
"My lord
Sewell
," she said brightly, "you gave us a fright!"
Vivi found her voice next. "Quite!" She rushed forward to the books strewn across the carpet and crouched to gather them. "I'm such a ninny. This was not the spot for a pile of books! Why, anyone could have knocked them over!"
Lucian's voice was slow and suspicious. "Indeed. An odd place for a pile of books. Odder even for a pile of books built by girls who are trespassing."
"Trespassing!"
Ella
laughed a touch too loudly, moving forward,
A History of Essex
clutched in her hand. "My lord, you are quite amusing, I assure you we would much rather be shopping for ribbon than picking up a selection of books for Alex's father that Blackmoor should have delivered himself. In fact, that is just where we are headed next." She took a stack of the books from Vivi's arms, adding hers to the pile before setting them on her hip. She turned back to Alex, saying, "I think that's
all
of them, don't you?
shall
we have Bingham send a footman to help us?"
Alex moved toward them, keenly aware of
Sewell
's discerning eye and desperately attempting to appear nonchalant, "No. No. I don't think that's necessary. It
will
just take more time. We
’ll
miss the best part of the day as it is."
Vivi nodded her head. "Quite." Turning on her heel, she offered a low curtsy and a warm smile to
Sewell
, saying, "My lord, again, apologies if we startled you."
He lifted a corner of his mouth in a false smile of his own. "It takes more than a few girls to scare me, Lady Vivian, Lady Eleanor."
He nodded to both girls as they left the room, and Alex felt a
chill
race down her spine. Was there a double meaning in his words? She took a deep breath and dropped into a curtsy
identical to Vivi's,
willing
herself to get out of the room without betraying
all
she knew. "My lord
Sewell
."
"Lady Alexandra. May I have a word?"
No!
Her mind screamed, but what was she to do? She had to appear nonchalant, and the only way to do that would be to humor the despicable man.
Ella
and Vivi were only feet away
—
how much harm could happen? "Of course," she replied with a look she hoped appeared to be curiosity.