“Yes, of course.” Then she laughed. “You should have seen my abigail’s face when she saw what a mess I’d made of my blue muslin dress.”

  “I can only imagine. But the obvious question is, why did you think you could pull a man the size of Lord Tunwell out of the pond?”

  “I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking rationally.”

  “A rare admission.”

  “You are too severe with me, my lord.”

  He stopped and looked down into her face. “Robert. Please, Althea, I would like to hear my name on your lips just once.”

  “Very well. You are too severe with me, Robert.”

  “Lovely. Now we may continue with this engaging story.” They started walking again. “You tried to pull the baron out of the pond, but only succeeded in ruining your dress.”

  “Yes, but as I did, I pulled a watch fob off of his watch chain and inside the fob I later found a piece of paper that I think you should see. When we get to the house, do you think you can make your way to my room? I am in the fourth room on the right of the new wing.”

  “Why, my love, is that an invitation?”

  “Not that kind of invitation, Your Grace. The paper is in the back of my wardrobe, and I don’t wish us to be seen.”

  “If you stop saying Your Grace I will refrain from teasing you.”

  “A fair trade. Can you meet me there?”

  “That should be quite easy. Sir Neville has kindly placed me in the fifth room on the right.”

  They separated before approaching the house, and Althea, who knew the house quite well by this point, found the back stairs. She made it to her room without being seen, and then had the presence of mind to lock the door between her room and Miss Dorkin’s ante chamber. When Norwich rapped quietly, she was already at the hall door, ready to open it.

  She closed the door behind him and latched it. “Please be seated. It will take me just a moment to dig it out.”

  He did as she requested, but she felt his eyes on her as she went to the wardrobe. “Here it is,” she said after a moment. “Let me just untie the ribbon. I slipped it in between your letters.”

  “So you keep my letters?”

  “Yes, of course. I keep all of my correspondence. This is it.” She handed him the slip of paper and then sat down in the opposite chair. “What do you make of that?”

  He held it up to the light of the window and turned it over. “Al Andalus.”

  “The Moorish name for Spain. I fear it may have something to do with the peninsular campaign.”

  “It could. Or it could have another meaning, perhaps some sort of code. What are these lines?”

  “I don’t know, but they could be a map. What did your brother tell you about the baron?”

  “Nothing more than that he was under suspicion. Lord Tunwell was a friend to several men of high position in the cabinet and so could have had access to important information, if he turned thief.”

  “But why would Lord Tunwell desire to do such a thing? He had no need of money for himself, and he certainly wasn’t spending more than necessary on his nephew, because from what I have heard, that gentleman was just this side of debtors’ prison.”

  “You would do well to stay away from Cruikshank.”

  “Be that as it may, have you found fault with my logic?”

  “Not yet. I will send word express to George and see what he thinks. Sir Neville told me that Lord Tunwell slipped into the pond and drowned. You saw the body in the pond. Does that explanation hold? It sounded from your letter that it did not.”

  “It could have happened that way, but the water was up to the level of my chest and the baron was a large, tall man. I find it hard to believe that such a man could drown on his own without a blow to the head or something to render him unconscious. Unfortunately, I could find no evidence of anything unusual on the back of his skull. Mind you, if the blow was down where the head joins the neck, I might not have felt it. Rigor mortis had set in so I couldn’t move the head to check.”

  Norwich’s face went a shade whiter and then flushed red. “I might have known. You examined the corpse, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but it was only a cursory examination. I didn’t disrobe him or perform an anatomical study.”

  “And what if someone had caught you?”

  “It was late at night so no one saw me. Besides, I had to return the fob before someone missed it.”

  Norwich looked at her sternly and then sighed, seemingly resigned. “Let me take charge of the paper. I do not wish you to court such danger again.” Norwich pulled a large gold pocket watch out of his vest pocket and then pressed down on the edge of the case. The back of the watch opened and he placed the paper there and closed the back up. “I will let you know when I hear from my brother. In the meantime, do not say anything of this to anyone, not even Jane.”

  “I haven’t spoken to Jane. I did not wish to concern her when she needs to be focused on determining if she is to be Lady Tabard.”

  “And you? Have you decided to be a Duchess?”

  “I told you that I need six months.”

  “I have never met two women so unwilling to experience the joys of matrimony.”

  “Come now, let us be honest with each other. You would not be half so eager were I one of those simpering young misses whose mothers have thrown them in your way for the last decade. With that sort of fate awaiting you, it’s a wonder that you have any taste for matrimony at all.”

  Norwich gave her a warm look. “I know what awaits me.”

  Althea knew that she was in dangerous waters, and so replied matter-of-factly, “A duke must have an heir, after all.”

  “The heir is of secondary importance. Do not play coy. I know that women have the same desires as men.”

  “Your superior knowledge must defeat any argument of mine, but give me your hand, if you please.”

  He extended his large hand and she took it in both of hers, examining the fingernails closely. “Very good. I might still be prevailed upon to marry you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Your nails do not have white lines on them.”

  “And if they did?”

  “Did you know the baron when he was young?”

  “He was my elder by at least ten years. When he was young, I was not yet breeched.”

  “So you wouldn’t have heard any rumors of debauchery, not even when you first went upon the town?”

  “Here, Althea, I promise you that my past is past. My days of debauchery, if any really existed, need not trouble you.”

  “Not you, Lord Tunwell.”

  “The man lived like a monk for all of my acquaintance with him. What has any of this to do with anything?”

  “Then perhaps it was a mere fling. In any case, I can hardly picture it.”

  “For the love of all that is holy, would you tell me what you are getting at?”

  “His fingernails showed the white stripes typical of someone who has taken arsenic over a long period of time and, unless the arsenic was accidentally ingested, which I doubt, he was likely prescribed it for the treatment of the French pox. Or syphilis, as doctors call it. My father had several patients with much the same condition and, in my opinion, arsenic is the only treatment that has a chance of being effective. Mercury is the more popular one, but tends to have deleterious effects on the mind. Aegrescit medendo.”

  “It’s a wonder you have any delicacy of mind the way your father took you about.”

  She let go of his hand. “I have very little, as you well know. In any case, it is a useful fact. A woman must be careful.”

  “It could happen to anyone.”

  “I know that, but debauchery does increase the odds. In any case, it is an unimportant detail, but something that seemed out of character for such a solid citizen. Then again, if Lord Tunwell was also spying for the French, it just shows how little one knows of one’s fellow men.”

  “Sometimes,” Norwich replied, a crease between his brows.

  There was a moment of uncomfortable silence until Althea said, “I think that you may safely return to your room now.”

  Norwich stood and Althea followed, but he didn’t turn towards the door. Instead, he reached his hand out and gently traced the contours of her face. His touch was soft and yet somehow electric. She looked up and his eyes held hers, pulling her to him. And then he was nearer than he had been before, so near that she caught the smell of his cologne mingled with the starch of his shirt. She lowered her eyes and her gaze landed on the soft fullness of his lips. It was the strangest thing, her sudden desire to feel those lips on hers. She tried to rationally analyze the situation, but her brain did not respond the way it ought.

  “You can’t deny this,” he said.

  “But I should try,” she replied. “You must go now, sir. If anyone caught us, my reputation would not stand the assault.”

  “Robert. And we would only have to formally announce our engagement to make it right.”

  He leaned down as if to kiss her, but she stepped back. “Robert. You know your mother would never consent to our marriage under those circumstances.”

  “My mother has no say in the matter.” Despite these brave words, he disengaged himself and straightened his cravat. “However, I see that militant look in your eye, and frankly, I don’t know if I can trust myself under the circumstances.” He looked quickly at the four poster bed and then back at her.

  “How long are you staying?” she said, still shaken.

  “Trying to send me away?”

  “No, it’s just that I find I can’t think properly with you here at Ranleigh.”

  “All the better. I am here for as long as it takes to unravel this issue with the baron, and for my mother to travel with my sister back to Austell Abbey, thus alleviating my obligations in Bath.”

  “Oh.”

  Norwich took her hand and kissed it. “I promise it won’t be too terrible.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Althea managed to avoid Norwich for the rest of the day. She still felt unsettled about how difficult it seemed to resist him. It wasn’t like her to succumb to passion. She needed time to know what was right for her and her young son. And yet when she thought of telling him no, it made her feel inexplicably lonely.

  When she and Jane descended for dinner, they realized that Lord and Lady Batterslea had arrived in the afternoon. He was a plain man, approaching middle age, who had lately come into the title upon the death of his ancient father. He was known to be extremely wealthy and well connected. His wife was one of those schoolroom misses Althea had described to the duke, who had successfully landed Lord Batterslea within her first season due to her renowned beauty. In close proximity, her beauty was even more radiant than glimpsed from across a crowded ballroom. Althea immediately felt the force of all of her own brown-haired drabness.

  Althea and Jane were again consigned to the nether regions of the table with the Gregsons and Mr. Smithson, much to the obvious consternation of Norwich, who quickly surmised that the seating arrangement would give the new baron ample opportunity to make up to Althea, seated just below him. Norwich shot her a look of warning that Cruikshank perceived, as well. Cruikshank took full advantage of the situation, saying to Althea, “I think your protector is none too pleased with me, but rank must be observed, must it not?”

  “It usually is. May I ask an impertinent question?”

  “Those are the best kind.”

  “Why do you delight in shocking society?”

  “I had heard you described as a lady with a frank and open manner, but I now see that the reports fell short of the mark. Do I shock society?” Cruikshank said.

  “We never chanced to meet at Almack’s, and so I assume that your reputation must have done you in with the patronesses, as you are clearly a man of birth and breeding.”

  “If admittance to Almack’s is a sign of respectability, then I prefer to be a rake. It is far more agreeable.”

  “I suppose in a certain light it is, but do you not wish for some measure of acceptance from your fellow creatures?” Althea said.

  “I wish to do exactly as I please when I please. If others do not find that acceptable, that is their problem. I am sure that is why my dear uncle was always threatening to cut me off.”

  “You may think differently once you have a wife and family.”

  He gave her a look that appeared to Althea’s untrained eye at an attempt at seduction. “I am entranced with the picture you paint of domestic felicity, but I have not, as yet, met the woman who could tempt me.”

  Althea ignored the implication. “I am sure one day that you shall, and then you may see if I am not correct. Life is never what one expects. For the good or for the bad. Your uncle’s death was most untimely, and it is a lesson to us all to do what we are meant to do before it is too late.” And then she smiled inwardly to hear herself parroting the duke’s words to her. Perhaps Cruikshank and I are more similar than we seem.

  “Which just proves why I should not be bound by the strictures of society. Life is too short to suffer such nonsense. If I was willing to risk my inheritance before, I am not likely to change my mind now.”

  “But there is comfort and peace in routine. I am sure your uncle came to understand this as he grew older. Or perhaps he was always of a staid disposition?”

  “As long as I knew him. Then again, he was much older than me.”

  Althea was about to reply when she heard the trill of high-pitched laughter. She glanced down towards the end of the table where Norwich was apparently making himself very agreeable to the beautiful Lady Batterslea. Althea found herself unaccountably gritting her teeth. No matter, she told herself, turning resolutely to the new baron. “I’ve been told that his marriage was a happy one, a love match, in fact.”

  “I believe it was. Although my aunt Livia died when I was young, so I never formed much of an opinion about her. My mother told me once that Livia had a touch of madness and that that was the reason she and the baron lived so retired before her death, but I remember nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, if I had to live with a man as stiff and boring as the baron, I’m sure I would go mad myself.”

  The voice of Lady Batterslea carried over the table, “Your Grace is too droll!”

  Cruikshank’s mouth twitched. “Norwich certainly knows how to bring home the point with you. He is accounted such a great matrimonial prize that I wonder at your hesitation.”

  Althea refused to dignify that remark with an answer. Instead she said, “And so you leave us tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes, but Sir Neville has been kind enough to offer his home to me should I desire respite from the labor of my uncle’s funeral ceremonies.”

  “And will you take him up on that generous offer?”

  He gave Althea a saucy look. “I might be induced to do so.”

  Althea gave him back a quelling stare, which only served to produce a brilliant smile, transforming his face once again into that of an angel. “Yes,” he added, “the temptation may be too great to resist.”

  After dinner, the ladies retired and Althea found herself sitting beside Lady Batterslea.

  “And how do you find Ranleigh, Lady Batterslea? Is it not delightful?”

  Lady Batterslea sipped her tea with the air of one who desires to appear sophisticated, but is not sure how to go about it. She feigned a bored air and said, “It is much the same as it was last summer.

  “You have been here often?”

  “We were here a year ago, after my marriage to Lord Batterslea. You were not in London last season, I understand.”

  “No, my home is in Somerset.”

  “That explains it, then. We made quite a merry party last summer.”

  Her dig wasn’t lost on Althea, who gave her a wan smile. “Well, I find Ranleigh as beautiful as I was led to expect. The rose garden alone was worth the journey, but I hear that Sir Neville has kindly organized several excursions, including one even to the sea, which I must own would be beyond delightful.”

  Lady Batterslea looked down her nose. “The sea is tolerable when the sky is fair and there is little wind. One good breeze and the sand blows in one’s face something terrible, beside the damage strong sun can do to a good complexion.”

  Althea, who had run out of civil remarks, sipped her tea quietly, hoping against hope that Jane, who was deep in conversation with Mrs. Gregson, would come rescue her, or that the men might be induced to cut their conversation short.

  The latter occurred before the former, and as the men streamed in, Althea sought to catch Norwich’s eye. He approached her, but, perhaps fearing being drawn into conversation with Lady Batterslea, remained just outside of the range of conversation. Instead, Lord Batterslea sat down beside them. He had the appearance of a man who is perfectly content with the privileges of his elevated station in life. He addressed Althea with an air of condolence, “I hear you had the misfortune to find Lord Tunwell, Lady Trent.”

  “Yes, Mr. Smithson and I found him.”

  “It is most distressing that you should be subjected to such horrors. One would not have had this happen for the world.”

  Althea wondered how Lord Batterslea would have prevented Tunwell’s death, but said, “It was very sad, but I am on the path to recovering my composure, I assure you. He appears to have fallen in and been unable to climb back out. I am of the impression that he must not have been able to swim.”

  “Yes, I apprehend that that was the case. I only knew him socially, of course, but we had the privilege to pass some time together last summer here at Ranleigh.”

  “So Lady Batterslea was just telling me.”

  “I understand his nephew was not present when the sad death occurred.”

  “No,” replied Althea, “he was sent for after the accident.”

  Batterslea smiled and then leaned in, “Good thing for him that he was, otherwise there might be talk.”

  “Surely no one would suspect the former Mr. Cruikshank of killing his uncle,” Althea replied.

  “Not openly, no, but Lord Tunwell could not have died too soon for the interest of his nephew. So, as you can see, his being in London at the time saves him from some awkward questions.”

 

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