The Widowed Countess (26 page)

Chapter 25

A Trip Back to London

The last of Daniel’s trunks were loaded onto the back of the Norwick coach while Clarinda’s valise was placed on the roof with one of the grooms. Another coach, loaded with the dowager countess’ remaining trunks, had departed only moments ago on its way to Bognor by way of Brighton. If anyone would have asked Daniel’s opinion, he would have said the coach would make it to Brighton – he rather doubted his mother would be back in Bognor for some time, if ever again.

Inside Norwick Park’s estate house, servants were lifting Holland cloths into the air and allowing them to drift down to cover all the furnishings. Daniel’s valet, having just finished packing his master’s clothing and personal items, would begin his retirement on the morrow. Daniel had bestowed him with the five-hundred pounds David had recommended for a settlement. He was especially pleased to see the old man’s eyes widen in disbelief. The rest of the staff would remain in residence, their presence required when Daniel and Clarinda returned for the summer and then again for the Christmas holiday. By then, there would be babes in arms, girls – if David’s claims could be believed.

Clarinda glanced toward the east edge of the property, to where the gravestones were silhouetted in the light from the morning sun. She wondered if David would appear, and then felt a bit of relief when he didn’t. He had all but dismissed her two nights ago when he told her to marry his brother; perhaps his dismissal was as much for him as it was for her.

“Are you ready?” Daniel wondered as he joined her where she stood on the edge of the cut lawn.

Her face suddenly displaying a look of fear, Clarinda glanced over at Daniel and swallowed. “I ... I don’t know,” she answered. She bit her lip, feeling an odd sensation she thought might be morning sickness. It passed as quickly as it it had come, though, and she took a deep breath.

“We’ll have the entire ride back to London. We can talk about everything. We can talk about the wedding. We can talk about the girls. Or, I can spend the trip courting you,” he suggested, his brows wiggling in anticipation. He leaned over and kissed her temple. “Or kissing you.” He watched her lids lower over her eyes and her mouth curl up. Her head settled into the small of his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Or you can sleep in my arms,” he offered, thinking they might be doing that as soon as the following night.

“Mmm,” Clarinda responded, thinking that they would probably do a bit of everything he mentioned during the coach ride back to London. Her attention turned back toward the graveyard. “Do you suppose we’ll ever see him again?” she wondered, her voice catching at the last word.

Daniel wondered the same thing. Truth be told, he
wanted
to see David one more time. He had questions for his brother, unresolved issues he wanted to deal with now rather than later, when he joined his brother in death many years from now. His brother had died for a reason, he was sure, and Daniel wanted to be sure it was so he could finally marry Clarinda and be her husband for the rest of his life. There might be another reason, but he wanted some kind of assurance his brother’s death held some kind of meaning. “He had better show up at least one more time,” Daniel replied, a bit more harshly than he intended. “I still have some questions for him. And I have that answer for him about his being shot,” he added as his eyebrows lifted.

How could David have forgotten about being shot by a piece of pea gravel?
he wondered, once they were in the coach and headed north toward London. Of course, given all the other wounds the two brothers had inflicted on one other over the years, perhaps a few were better left forgotten. He sighed as he wrapped his arms around Clarinda’s shoulders and pulled her against him. For once, he actually enjoyed the long trip to Norwick House.

He would deal with David whenever his brother next appeared.

Chapter 26

Ghost Talk Redux

“So, why now?” Daniel wondered before taking a long drag on his cheroot. He normally only indulged in smoking right after dinner while enjoying a glass of port, but given the eerie presence of his dead brother only a few hours after he and Clarinda arrived back at Norwick House, two hours after dinner seemed just as suitable a time.

David furrowed his brows and gave his brother a quelling glance. “Why now, what?” he responded.

Daniel watched as a tendril of smoke wafted up and around his brother, as if he was physically in the room. “Why did you ... die ... now?” he stammered. “Or last week, I suppose?”

David snorted. “Do you think I
chose
to die?
Now
, of all times?” he asked indignantly. “My wife is increasing with child ... with children,” he amended, his pride adding to his indignation. “I was advancing important issues in Parliament. And I was finally beating Barrings at whist!”

Daniel stood up suddenly, his own ire increasing as he watched his brother. “Yes. Yes, I do think you
chose
to die. And I want to know
why
,” he insisted. “And don’t tell me because it’s my turn to have your wife as my own.”

Staring at Daniel for a very long time, David’s fierce look softened. “I ... didn’t
choose
to die. I ... was shot ...”

“You were not shot,” Daniel countered. “I checked with the mortician. He found no evidence of a bullet hole in your body,” he insisted, his own ire disappearing. “And when I asked if he had checked for a wound at the back of your neck, he assured me he had done so.”

David’s eyes widened. “And my,” his hand moved to the back of his head, “My hole was there, right?”

Rolling his eyes, Daniel finally nodded. “Yes, he found the hole, although it was merely a ... a divot ... from an old wound,” he said in exasperation, not wanting to admit that he had been the one to put the hole there with his precisely shot piece of pea gravel. He didn’t have the time to consider it just then, though. “There was no bullet hole in the back of your neck.”

David seemed shocked by the news. “I was sure ... I was sure I heard a
shot
.”

Daniel cocked his head. “Were you in front of Jover and Son’s shop, by chance?” he wondered, thinking that the gun shop might have been the source of a gun shot.

“No,” David replied with a shake of his head. “I was in front of Thomas Simpson’s shop. My horse ... he reared up, and I lost my hold. I am quite sure I was dead before I hit the cobbles.”

Daniel sucked air through his front teeth as he imagined the circumstances of David’s death in front of a goldsmith’s shop in the middle of Oxford Street on a busy day. There would have been all manner of conveyances clogging the road – drays and carriages, barouches and carts, town coaches and horses. Perhaps there had even been the sound of a shot – anyone could have discharged a gun, and not necessarily for the purpose of shooting someone. And when the horse reared, David’s head could have struck any number of blunt objects on its way down to the street. “Did your horse rear up at the sound of the shot? Or did something else cause him to panic?”

“Thunder never panics,” David replied, his face quite severe, as if he’d just then been personally offended. “The beast has shown a remarkable affinity to life in the city as well as on the hunting grounds. A gunshot would
not
have caused him to rear,” he claimed, perhaps a bit too firmly.

Returning to his chair behind the desk, Daniel shook his head. He was about to take another drag on the cheroot when he realized it had burned to a nub and was nearly out. He stubbed it into the crystal tray at the edge of the desk. “Then what happened to cause your unflappable horse to ... flap?” he asked. His patience was growing thin. He wasn’t even sure why he brought up the topic of David’s death except that it had seemed ... important, he supposed. Important to discover how the accident had happened – if it
had
been an accident. And, if not, then it was even more important to determine who killed David and why they would want the earl dead. Perhaps David would finally disappear for good once the truth of his death was revealed.

At the moment, Daniel realized he wanted David gone so that he could get on with his own life. Get on with a life that he was now sure would include Clarinda. He’d nearly convinced himself he hated her for choosing his brother over him all those years ago, but she really had been confused as to whom she was marrying. Yes, she had despised him over their argument, but now that she knew for herself he’d been telling the truth all along, she had come around. And now they would marry. Over time, she’d realize Daniel was the better husband – and father – once he’d had a chance to prove himself to her.

“Thunder didn’t flap,” David said with a shake of his head.

“You said he reared up ...”

“He did, but he did because ...” David paused, his expression indicating he was thinking back to the moment when his horse had suddenly reared up. “Because he was trotting along and ...”

Daniel stared at his brother, intrigued at the look of him as he seemed to recall the details. Even his hands were posed as if they held the reins, his shoulders positioned square to the saddle, his head held up. For a moment, Daniel was sure he heard the sound of horse hooves clopping on cobbles.

“And?” Daniel encouraged, hoping his brother hadn’t lost his train of thought.

“It was a child,” David murmured, as if he was still deep in thought. “Curly red hair. Adorable, although rather filthy now that I think about it,” he whispered. “She looked like I imagined one of my daughters would look. Like a small version of Clare with her blue-green eyes and soft skin.” There was another pause as he continued to stare into the space just beyond the front of his face. Daniel watched him, mesmerized by his brother’s recall of the events of the day he had bit the dust, so to speak. “She ran out in front of the horse, and I had to pull back on the reins.” He did so in mime, his expression indicating instant anger at having to halt his horse so quickly to avoid trampling the moppet. “She’d been chasing a ball, and Thunder stepped on it ...”

Daniel’s inhaled sharply. “The ball popped.”

“Sounded just like a gunshot,” David murmured. “And the girl’s eyes turned angry and ... she cried out. She
yelled
at me! Just like Clare does when she’s playing at being a volcano.” Here, he stopped, his eyes indicating he must have felt more frightened by the girl’s outburst than by the thought that he might have flattened her with his horse.

An understandable reaction
, Daniel thought, having been the target of one of Clarinda’s volcanic eruptions.
Besides, her ball had just had popped
.

“She pointed her finger up at me, accusing me ... And then I was seeing sky and clouds and the top of the dome above Lord Barrings’ apartment, where he had the flag waving to indicate he was in residence. As if everyone in London cares whether or not Lord Barrings is in residence!”

Daniel had to stifle the urge to groan, knowing exactly what David meant by the comment but wanting him to get on with the story.

But David’s voice had trailed off, as if the memory had done the same. When he didn’t say anything for a moment or two, Daniel inhaled and slowly exhaled. “You must have hit your head on something on the way down, Davy. What was it?” he asked gently, not wanting his brother to lose his place in his recollection.

He watched as David began to contort his body, his head back, his spine arching as if he was falling backwards off his horse. And his brother turned himself around and stared into space behind where he’d been standing. “Lord Everly,” he murmured.

“Lord Everly?” Daniel repeated.

“The name on the crate.”

Daniel’s eyebrows cocked up so they were very nearly into his hairline. “The
crate
?”

“Yes. The crate in the back of the cart that had just crossed at Berwick Street on it’s way south. It was right behind me,” David murmured.

“Oh?”

“It had the words ‘Live fish’ stenciled on it.” David’s head turned sideways again, as if he was trying to read something upside down. “Cape Horn, Africa.” He slowly straightened, his head shaking back and forth very slowly.

“You hit your head on a crate? On a crate containing Lord Everly’s
tropical fish
?” Daniel half-questioned.

David suddenly seemed himself again, alert but solemn. “I always said those fish would be the death of me,” he said with a bit too much bravado.

Daniel blinked. “You hit your head on a crate containing Lord Everly’s tropical fish?” Daniel repeated, his own mouth doing a fine imitation of a goldfish’s mouth.

David nodded, his shoulders slumping suddenly. “Indeed,” he whispered, his head barely nodding.  Then, as if nothing of import had just happened, he lifted his head and regarded his younger brother, “Well, I’m off. Take care of Clare and the girls, won’t you, Danny?” he said quietly as he turned around. He disappeared before he made it out of the room.

Stunned, Daniel stared after his brother’s ghost. “I will,” he answered to the thin air.

Chapter 27

Fish Tales

Dressed entirely in black, Clarinda entered the vestibule of Norwick House followed by Lady Torrington. The older woman’s moss green carriage gown and pelisse might hide the signs of her pregnancy for another month or two, but from where Daniel watched from the railing at the top of the stairs, the glow that surrounded Clarinda instantly gave away her condition. She was the epitome of impending motherhood. He felt a clenching in his chest at the sight of her, an immediate desire to descend the stairs by riding on the bannister as he had once done as a boy on the staircase at Norwick Park so that he might scoop her up into his arms and twirl her about the room. Thinking back to the morning she’d been sick, he quickly suppressed the thought and instead remained where he stood, watching and listening, not the least bit ashamed of eavesdropping on the two women.

“Thank you for talking me into the ride and the visit to the bookseller,” Clarinda said as she removed her large-brimmed hat and veil. “It does me good to get air every day.” She carried her reticule and a wrapped package – a book about the condition of expecting a baby – to the table just beyond the vestibule.

With Porter’s help, Lady Torrington divested herself of her pelisse. “You’re very welcome. I must say, the last person I expected to see in the book shop was Lord Everly.”

Clarinda smiled. “And yet I would expect to find him in no other place. Well, except for his own library, I suppose,” she countered with a grin.

Adele shook her head. “True. I meant that I thought he would be gone on his next expedition by now. I do believe this is the longest he’s stayed in London since he reached his majority.”

At the mention of Lord Everly, Daniel leaned his elbows on the railing and listened more closely.

Clarinda turned to regard Adele with a look of surprise. “I thought you would know why,” she said, hinting there was a reason Everly was still in town.

“What makes you say that?” the earl’s wife replied, her brows furrowing.

“Rumor has it he has to see to a marriage for his sister before he can leave on another trip or your husband will apparently cause him great bodily harm.”

Adele rolled her eyes. “Oh. That’s already taken care of. In fact, Lady Evangeline is set to become Lady Sommers,” she murmured, shaking her head as she allowed a smile. “I was rather surprised she didn’t mention it today, but in all the excitement with the fish ...” She allowed the statement to trail off as she gave a slight shrug.

“She’s already betrothed?“ Clarinda asked in surprise.
I’ve only been gone a few days
. The last she’d heard, the girl wasn’t even being courted by anyone, although she remembered Adele saying something about Lord Sommers’ interest in the chit.

“Can you imagine being her and having to rely on Everly to find a husband? I think I would prefer spinsterhood,” Adele said with a shake of her head. “My husband – he’s the girl’s godfather – took care of it. Told Sommers to take her for a drive, ask to court her, ask for her hand, and acquire a ring. All in that one day. His thirtieth birthday. And the man did it!”

Astonished at this news, Clarinda blinked. “I take it Lord Everly ...
agreed
with the arrangements?” she wondered.

The air seemed to go out of Adele just then. “I don’t think he was even aware of the situation until after his sister agreed to accept Lord Sommers’ suit,“ she replied uncertainly.

“Lord Everly is an odd duck, but I cannot fault his enthusiasm,” Clarinda said, moving from the vestibule toward the parlor door. “And I think Lord Sommers will make a fine match for her. I admit I was surprised when Everly mentioned him as his first choice for his sister, but it makes perfect sense. The man apparently said he wanted to marry whilst playing cards at White’s. All his friends are leg-shackled.”

Daniel moved along the railing so he could keep Clarinda in sight as long as possible. “I do wonder, though, who
he
will decide to marry when he must. Can you imagine having
him
as a husband?”

Adele Grandby’s musical laughter drifted up the stairs. “I am sure there is a biddable bluestocking that will love him as much as he will tolerate her,” she replied with a wave of her hand as she disappeared into the parlor. Daniel could imagine Clarinda ringing for tea. He descended the stairs, keeping his attention on the door to the parlor.

“A bluestocking would be
perfect
for him,” Clarinda claimed, trying to decide if she knew any of the younger debutantes who found books more intriguing than fashion plates. “He’ll require someone who loves those fish just as much as he does, though. I must admit, those large, white triangular ones he pointed out were rather beautiful. What did he call them?” she wondered, one eyebrow arched up as she tried to recall what the viscount had said.

“Angel fish,” Adele replied, settling herself into a Chippendale chair and letting out a sigh. “He received them not even ten days ago.” She held her breath for a moment when she realized the day the fish were delivered to Everly House was the same day as David’s death. “They were quite taken with you, as well,” she murmured, not wanting to remind Clarinda of David’s passing. She hadn’t seen her friend cry since her return from Sussex.

Clarinda giggled. “Because they nearly drowned me?” she wondered, taking a seat in the chair in front of the tea table. She spread out her skirts, apparently to determine if the bombazine fabric displayed any water stains. The wave of water that had crashed over the top edge of Lord Everly’s fish tank had soaked one side of her gown, although the dampness hadn’t seeped through her petticoats. “They did the same to David when he was last there. He claimed the water ruined his favorite russet riding coat.” She recalled when she’d last seen him wearing that very topcoat – when he was riding that morning in Hyde Park while she and Adele were climbing into the carriage after their walk.

Clarinda’s mention of David was made without a tinge of sadness, a fact Adele found intriguing and a bit of a relief. She gave the countess a grin in return. “Until today, I do not believe I have ever seen fish pay any notice while people were looking at them.”

Giving a wan smile, Clarinda shrugged. “It was as if they knew me – swam right over and waved their fins.” Clarinda lifted one hand above her head and another to one side, waving them in imitation of the angel fish’s movements.

Adele laughed aloud just as Daniel made it to the side of the door. Peeking around the opening, he watched as Clarinda imitated the fish that had apparently waved at her. He smiled at her antics.
They were probably the fish that killed David
, he thought suddenly, remembering the words that David had said were stenciled on the crate his head hit on his way down to the cobbles.
Killed by angel fish
, he thought with a shake of his head.

At least they had the decency to pay their respects to Clarinda.

He was thinking of going in to greet the ladies but noticed Rosie rolling the tea cart toward the parlor. He nodded in her direction as if he was merely passing by the room and then turned around, hoping to overhear more about Lord Everly’s fish.

“I believe you were out of earshot when Lord Everly made mention that he’s never seen his fish react as they did to you today,” Adele said with a cocked eyebrow. “Made me wonder if he was thinking of
you
for the role of Lady Everly.”

Daniel straightened himself against the hall wall outside the parlor, his breath held in disbelief, stunned at what he’d overheard. Had the women been to Everly’s house just
today
?

“Adele!” Clarinda scolded as she saw to the tea service. “I do not believe I could abide being married to a man who spends most of his time in jungles when he’s not in residence and then with his nose in a book when he is,” she admonished her friend.

A sense of relief settled over Daniel as he heard Clarinda’s words. Under no circumstances would he abide Clarinda ever marrying Lord Everly – or anyone else, for that matter. He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to eavesdrop on the ladies, and suddenly started when Rosie came through the doorway on her way back to the kitchens.

“Good day,” he murmured, acting as if he’d paused by the door to allow her an exit. At that point, he couldn’t hide his presence from the women in the parlor. Clarinda was already glancing in his direction, looking as if she was about to stand up. “Please do not get up on my account, my lady,” he said as he paused on the threshold. “Good afternoon, Lady Torrington,” Daniel added as he moved into the room and afforded them both a deep bow.

Adele, still amused by her conversation with Clarinda, gave him a glance from head to foot. “Norwick, you are looking well, although a bit peaked, perhaps,” she commented. “As if you’ve seen a ghost,” she added, her head cocking to one side.

Daniel blinked, daring a quick glance in Clarinda’s direction. She was holding the edge of her teacup to her bottom lip, her eyes suddenly wide. She gave him a quick shake of her head, as if to let him know she hadn’t mentioned David’s ghost to Adele Grandby.

“Probably because I have not yet resumed regular outdoor activities since my brother’s death.”
Nor started any of the indoor activities I plan to engage in now that he’s dead
, he thought to himself, the color returning to his face in a flash.

“Do join us for tea, Daniel,” Clarinda invited, motioning with her hand toward the chair David usually used when he was in the parlor.

Daniel nodded his acknowledgement of the invitation but took the chair adjacent to David’s. “I could not help but overhear Lord Everly’s name mentioned as I entered. Did you perchance pay a call on the explorer?” he wondered, accepting a cup of tea from Clarinda. Two ladies – one married and one widowed and neither one a relative – calling on an unmarried gentleman at his residence wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence. Some might think it scandalous, in fact.

The two women exchanged knowing glances. They weren’t about to allow Daniel to believe the worst of them. “His sister, Lady Evangeline, is in residence, poor girl,” Adele replied with a shake of her head. “When Lord Everly saw us shopping for books in The Temple of the Muses, he asked us to pay her a call.”

Daniel’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Lady Evangeline? You mean, she isn’t ..?” He was about to say ‘married’, but thought better of it when Clarinda shook her head ever so slightly.

“Her brother had been left to find her a suitable husband,” Adele said with the kind of sigh in her voice that made the task sound as if it might never get done. “At three-and-twenty, some might consider her on the shelf.”

Daniel’s eyebrows furrowed. “I hardly think three-and-twenty makes for spinsterhood,” he countered. “From what I remember, she was quite pretty and rather accomplished considering her age.”

Clarinda felt a pang of jealousy at hearing his simple words, wondering if he was considering more than Lady Evangeline’s age. “Who do you know who would consider her biddable?” she wondered, hoping to get his mind on other gentleman wanting to marry the chit so that he would stop considering her. If, indeed, that was what he was doing.

Daniel shrugged, not sure how to respond. He hadn’t been back in London long enough to know who, if anyone, was in the market for a wife.
Besides Wallingham
, although Daniel still couldn’t believe his mother would be the man’s wife – ever – even if the rake had given her a ring with a rock so large it probably caused his mother to walk with a limp when she wore it. “I understand Lord Sommers is interested,” he said as if he had personal knowledge of the man’s intentions. “He must be thirty by now and in need of an heir,” he added, taking a good deal of satisfaction in seeing the delighted faces of the two women in the room. Apparently they, too, believed Lord Sommers was agreeable as a husband for Lady Evangeline.

“Grandby has already seen to it. Lord Sommers asked for Lady Evangeline’s hand only a few days ago,” Lady Torrington stated with a kind of pride one might exhibit when a son or daughter had done something wonderful. “Milton takes his godfather duties quite seriously.”

Clarinda leaned forward. “And, not to be outdone, Lord Sommers acquired a special license and plans to make Lady Evangeline his wife in the next few days.”

Daniel gave the countess a nod, thinking he would need to speak with Grandby about being a godfather for the twins Clarinda carried. “I suppose Lord Everly had his fish tank well stocked and on display?” he hinted, wanting to hear more about the killer fish.
Angel fish, indeed
.

Clarinda finished her tea and put the cup down on the saucer. “He did. His newest species are from the very southern most tip of Africa. He called them
angel fish
,” she explained in a manner suggesting she was rather interested in the sea creatures.

“But from how they splashed about when Clarinda went to look at them up close, you would think they were demon fish,” Adele interjected. “I do hope your gown isn’t ruined.”

Shaking her head, Clarinda held out the portion of her gown that had been splashed. “It’s all dry now. It was just water,” she said with a shrug. “And I never could understand why those fish had David so vexed,” she added, moving to add more tea to her cup. “He always claimed those fish would be the death of him. Can you imagine?” She sighed as she lifted the cup to her lips.

His jaw suddenly slack, Daniel stared at Clarinda for a very long time.

He could imagine, indeed.