Never to Part (17 page)

“Have you heard the rumours?” the dowager asked. She sipped then added, “I do hope you do not take Richard marrying and having children too badly. It rather reduces your chances of ever succeeding him.”

“You look to announce a betrothal soon?” he asked, a terse edge to his words.

The baroness sipped again. “Why, yes. But how to define soon?”

“My felicitations,” Eldridge said with a bow. “Please excuse us. Miss Stratton has promised me a dance.”

“Do take care,” Lady Laurissa told Daphne.

Eldridge took Daphne’s glass and set it on a passing footman’s tray and led her to the dance floor

For the first patterns of the dance Daphne saw he secretly studied her. She could almost see the conniving in his eyes.
What was Lady Dremore up to with that hint of marriage? Nothing in Dremore’s demeanour with the young woman supported it.

When they again joined hands he smiled down wryly at her. “I am happy you still consent to dance with me.”

“Whatever can you mean?” Daphne puzzled.

“My aunt has my gratitude. She took me in after my parents died, but she did it out of duty, not love. She always fears I will outshine Richard. I know she warned you against me.”

Daphne gazed thoughtfully at him as they separated in the pattern of the dance once again. His aura was white with truth. At the very least he believed what he said to be true. Saddened by the sorrow-ladened grey swirling among the white she gave his hand a gentle squeeze when they came together. “She did not speak ill of you.”

“You are all kindness.” Eldridge looked at her with a forlorn smile. “May I use your Christian name, Miss Stratton?”

The urge to refuse pulsed strong but dare she antagonize him? “You may do so when we are not in company,” she told him half-heartedly. His warm smile and grateful gaze further unsettled her. Daphne thanked the stars when the dance parted them.

“My aunt spoke of a journey,” Eldridge said easily when they came together again. “Do you know where she goes?”

“Heart Haven,” Daphne answered before she considered whether it was wise.
Surely it must be common knowledge
, she hoped. But the look that flickered in his eyes made her wish she had held her tongue. “For a rest,” she added lamely.

When the dance ended, Eldridge kissed her fingers before she could wrench her hand free. “Please check on Geoffrey for me,” she said. “I see a friend. “I shall visit with her. You needn’t hurry back.”

Daphne watched Eldridge stroll away. She noticed that Richard followed him. She in turn followed the two men. When Daphne reached a corridor she heard Richard call after his cousin. The two spoke briefly in undertones and then disappeared into a side room.

 * * * *

“I am thankful for your concern, Dremore. Miss Stratton . . . Daphne, as she has asked me to address her, well, I have grown fond of her.”

When Eldridge smiled, Richard glowered back.

“May I return the favour of a warning?” Eldridge grimaced a smile. “The young woman you danced with a bit ago has long been a friend of the family. ‘Tis expected that you shall offer for her.” He held up a hand when Richard would have spoken.

“My dear aunt, your mother, just this eve told me that an announcement was expected at any time. You toy with that young miss at the peril of your freedom.”

Richard reined in his temper with great effort. “Enid knows I have no matrimonial designs on her or anyone else.”

With a cynical smile Eldridge said, “I must speak to you about Geoffrey Stratton.”

“I have nothing to say or do with that churlish cub,” Richard snapped.

“We both know the first broadsheet had much truth in it,” Eldridge return with equal verve. “You did him no good when you goaded him to gamble with you.”

“You know I—”

“I’d have thought you would be content to fleece someone less adolescent,” Eldridge simpered. “Since you are not, stay away from Stratton and his sister. Harm either further and you shall answer to me.”

Outraged at these words, Richard wondered what his cousin’s purpose was. Whatever it was he would not give the man any kind of satisfaction. Dremore turned on his heels and stalked toward the door. In the corridor to his surprise he saw Daphne hurrying towards the ballroom.
Had she been listening at the door? Damnation, she could well misinterpret
— “Miss Stratton,” he called. When she did not halt but hurried into the ballroom, he scowled.

With angry determination Richard bowed before Daphne a short time later. “Miss Stratton, may I have the next dance?”

“My lord I must refuse.”

“Come with me,” Richard said. He took hold of Daphne’s right wrist.

Presented with the choice of making a scene or going with him, she chose the latter. “What is it you wish?” she hissed when he halted a few feet from the dance in progress.

Anger fairly sizzled in her eyes. Because she overheard what Eldridge said? He could not fathom anything else. “To ask if you know why Blanchard manoeuvred me into the scene you just overheard. I did not attempt to explain myself to Blanchard.”

“Neither must you do so to me, my lord.”

“Don’t play the simpering miss with me now,” Richard demanded. “Has something new occurred? Something that frightens you? More gambling on Stratton’s part?”

Daphne nodded dumbly.

“I mean to check into matters and learn just who is the guiding hand behind your brother’s behaviour,” Richard told her. But now I must speak with you about the verse.”

Daphne’s surprise at his words was overcome by a sharper interest. “You spoke with your mother about them?”

“Yes.” Richard saw Daphne’s eyes widen in surprise and knew he had scored a point.

“What did she say?”

“She leaves for Heart Haven in the morn. There is a history of the first Dremores there and other papers related to their time. She hopes to find out if there was a paramour and if so, her identity.”

The confusion caused by the scene she had overheard between Richard and his cousin eased with his words. He told the truth now as proved by her earlier conversation with his mother. And as Richard had pointed out he had not tried to explain anything in that exchange with Eldridge. Was he correct that it had been contrived for her? “Do you go with her?” she asked.

Richard drew his gaze from her gown and his mind from the garden where he had kissed her. Richard made an unusual spur of the moment decision as a new idea came to him. “I, ahh, yes. Mother thought you might wish to accompany us.”

“Is Dremore annoying you?” Eldridge asked at Daphne’s side.

Startled, Daphne tried to move away from both men.

Belatedly Richard released her wrist.

“’Tis nothing,” Daphne assured Eldridge. “He but delivered an invitation from Lady Dremore.” She gulped, “For Geoff and me. You said I should take him from London.”

The sly smile Eldridge beamed at him gave Richard the distinct impression he had somehow played into Eldridge’s hands. Something was definitely afoot.

“Just as well that I also planned a repairing lease there.

“I shall be welcome, shan’t I, my lord?” Eldridge sneered.

Hostility prickled the air as Richard met his challenging gaze.

“What is this?” Lady Dremore asked as she joined the trio. She directed a keen looked at Eldridge, a curious one at Daphne, and then a questioning one at her son.

Richard, suddenly aware of the curiosity of others near them, forced a smile. “I extended your invitation to Miss Stratton and her brother.”

The baroness brightened. “Shall you come?”

“Blanchard also plans to come,” Richard added.

“I cannot answer for Stratton but we would be delighted,” Eldridge said. “Would we not, Daphne?”

Richard hurled a questioning glare at her. He was uncertain if the blush that rushed up her neck and over her cheeks was confirmation of intimacy with his cousin or discomfiture with Eldridge’s presumption.

Daphne flashed a glowering look at Eldridge before giving the baroness a weak smile. “Thank you, yes.”

Richard touched her elbow. “The set is forming, Miss Stratton.”

Relief filled both when Daphne put a hand on his proffered arm. Eldridge’s accusation, this proposed stay at Heart Haven, and the spark of excitement that sprang from mere touch added to a dismaying turmoil in the pair. The turns and twists of the dance mirrored their growing tumult.

Eldridge strolled from his bedchamber in the early afternoon two days after his arrival with the other guests. He greeted Geoffrey Stratton, shaved and more decently turned out than usual, as the young man left his. “Didn’t think you’d be about so early,” he chided with a false smile. “Not with you sampling so much of Dremore’s excellent wine.”

The serious expression on Geof’s face darkened. He scowled. “I thought you had as much to drink last eve. Seems I thought wrong on several heads.”

Uneasy at the change in the young man, Eldridge repressed a retort. Was there a bit of backbone to the young man he had not yet removed? “What have you gotten into your head now? I dislike seeing you upset as will your sister. Can I not be of help?”

“You’ve been far too great a help,” Stratton snapped. “Overton pointed that out. But no more. I mean to face Dremore this day and make some arrangement for paying my vowels. ’Tisn’t right to go on as I have. Not right for Daphne or me.”

“What wild notion have you taken?” Eldridge cajoled. “You would listen to an old man who has no sense of the world? Who has his nose set in the reign of the first George,” he scoffed. “Have you not found me generous in my terms? Have I demanded payment of the vowels you owe me?”

A guilty flush suffused Geoffrey’s face. “’Course you have. For good reason I think.”

“Dremore will eat you for breakfast,” Eldridge said, his tone cold and hard. “Why don’t we go to the Golden Bell in the village? ‘Tis not far from here. I know Dremore well. I can tell you just how to approach him to achieve what you want.”

Eldridge watched Geoffrey study his shoes.
Thinking it wouldn’t hurt to put off just a bit what you’d decided to do
? he guessed.
Drink a little courage to take some of the sting out of eating humble pie
.

It had proven a nasty surprise to Eldridge when Geoff first voiced a desire to set things right for his sister by making arrangements for the payment of the vowels Dremore held. Now Eldridge adjusted his plan as he coaxed and cajoled. The young man had grown accustomed to leaning on him for advice.

During the hours at the Golden Bell Eldridge reinforced this with three bottles of port and a detailed outline of action. Then wary of a change of heart, Eldridge went over the plan again keen for any hint of discord. “You spend the night here. I’ll send word as to whether you hire the coach today or tomorrow. The latter most likely. After you get my message, arrive at Heart Haven at mid-day. I shall make certain that Daphne is ready to depart at once.”

“Not if she discovers the business afore her,” slurred Geoffrey.

Eldridge preyed on the fear he had instilled in the younger man. “Better that ‘business’ than debtors prison with you or perhaps worse. You want your sister to have a home of her own. To be safe.”

Stratton nodded ponderously.

“Then you must convince her of this course no matter how repellent to you. Be a man and swallow your displeasure for her good. Are you man enough, I wonder?”

“’Course I am,” Geoffrey mumbled.

“Remember I saw to it that Daphne received the funds to pay your most pressing duns. Do as I advise and I’ll make certain you need no longer be concerned about your gaming debts.”

“But why—?”

Eldridge placed a hand across the young man’s hunched shoulders. “Because we are friends.”

“Don’t understan’.”

“I’ll explain all to you in London after you’ve done as we planned. I’ll go ahead to assure success.”
Guarantee my success before you find your dammed backbone again
.

“Good chap,” Geoff slurred. He groped to hug the older man but Eldridge avoided him and stood.

“You give a great favour in this. Anything that displeases Dremore pleases me. Wait for my note.”

Geoffrey nodded and drank deeply.

Damning the need to hasten his ultimate plan Eldridge left the Golden Bell eager to set things in motion at Heart Haven.

 * * * *

Daphne looked up from the heavy scrawl she worked to decipher. To her surprise the baroness had left the library. Staring out at the gently falling rain beyond the window, that overheard conversation played over and over in her mind.

“I would speak to you about Geoffrey Stratton.”

“I have nothing to say or do with that churlish cub,” Richard snapped.

“We both know that broadsheet had much truth in it,” Eldridge return with equal verve. “You did him no good when you goaded him to gamble with you.”

“You know I—”

“I’d have thought you would be content to fleece someone less adolescent,” Eldridge simpered.

The ache of battling heart, soul, and reason compounded by sleepless nights made her mind sluggish.
You know I what? Why not offer some explanation?

Why?
Common Sense asked
. Eldridge held the lead in the conversation. Which man do you trust?

Geoff, why, oh why have you done this to us?
Tears blurred her vision.

 * * * *

Richard paused in the open library doorway. He saw abject sadness on Daphne’s face as she gazed out the window at the placid rainfall. Smudges beneath her eyes and the sag of her shoulders bespoke a deep aching tiredness.

Daphne and his mother had spent, he knew, countless hours pouring over old texts and letters since arriving at Heart Haven three days ago. As of yet they had discovered nothing useful.

Richard scowled. Was she sad because the paramour’s name had yet to be discovered? Was she tired because she spent the nights in Blanchard’s company?