The Seduction of Sarah Marks (15 page)

Her eyes narrowed, and her face took on a heated flush.

Lord, he’d never seen Mum like this. As far back as he could recall, she’d always championed him, always treated him with an even temper filled with a bit of mischief and joy. Whenever he’d blundered in his youth, she had been the one who’d shown him how to learn from his mistakes. Never had she shamed him.

Whatever rolled around in his chest and knocked against his heart was fast gaining strength. He glanced around the table at his somber-faced brothers. At Mum, whose skin had flushed even deeper.

Suddenly, his cravat felt too tight. He tugged at it. “All of you know what I’ve suffered these past few years. You know how the headaches sicken me for days. You’re well aware that it takes a good week out of my life every time I’m struck down. I won’t go into particulars, but in my condition, suffice it to say, I have come to realize that I made a terrible mistake in taking a wife. I am not meant to be a husband to anyone. Thus, I have taken steps to seek an annulment.”

Ridley and Sebastien stared at him as if turned to stone. Mum took a swallow of tea and set the cup down with a hard
clink
. “Nonsense. You have heirs to produce. Straighten yourself out and go after your wife. You’ll find none better.”

The pain was starting at the back of his head again. He rubbed at it. “I don’t think it is wise to continue this conversation. Already, I feel the beginnings of another megrim.”

Mum glanced at the maid standing off to the side. “Fetch Hemphill. Eastleigh needs his powders.”

She turned back to her three grandsons. “Do you know what I consider a gentleman to be?”

Sebastien snorted.

Mum shot him a scowl. “I happen to be speaking to the three of you now, so hush. You might learn a thing or two.”

Judging by the severity of Mum’s disposition, now seemed a prudent time to pay careful attention. Eastleigh leaned back in his chair and focused on her.

She took another sip of tea and held the cup in her hand. “To the devil with titles and how much land or coin a man might possess. The definition of a true gentleman is one who serves himself second. You, Augie, served yourself first by making a life-changing decision without bothering to find out whether or not you and Lilith could adjust to the problems within your relationship. How very unfair of you.”

She looked from one grandson to another. “Remember what I am about to say because I will only say it once—a man gives up his true feelings while he is in a mood. He can say things he doesn’t mean. He can do things he will come to regret. The result is that he’s played havoc with his and others’ lives.”

Eastleigh fought the urge to squirm in his seat. Ridley shifted about in his. Sebastien swigged his coffee and kept his gaze fixed on the inside of the cup.

Mum wasn’t finished. “Do you think the easy relationship your mother and father share simply happened on its own? I learned a thing or two in my day, and I passed the knowledge on to her. I intended to do the same with each of your wives, but in Augie’s case, he didn’t’ give me a chance.”

She paused once again to look each one in the eye. “Your mother learned how to handle your father’s moods when he himself hadn’t a clue. Think about that.”

The flush to her cheeks deepened.

Eastleigh frowned. “Mum, are you all right?”

“I’ve lost my good temper, that’s how I am. I have one last thing to say, and then I will take my leave and set it to rights. Imagine if your father had never married. With or without a family, he’d still have his title, his lands, and his coin. But he’d be living in that big house by himself, where he’d likely still have landed face down in the library one day. Imagine what his life would be like now, all crippled up, lying in that bed all day long with only dispassionate servants to care for him.”

A chill shot through Eastleigh at the thought. He stood. He’d be damned if he’d go through another episode. He was going after his powders. He glanced at Ridley. “I’ve had enough of this. Since you’re second in line, you find the wife. You produce the Malvern heirs. I’m done with it all.”

Ridley stood so fast his chair toppled over with a crash. “You blasted fool!” he yelled. “Hemphill told me what happened. Why don’t you try keeping your lascivious nature in check while you work on things gradually? Mum’s right. This isn’t all about you. There are two people in your marriage, in case you haven’t noticed. You tossed a good woman to the wolves.”

Eastleigh’s fists clenched and unclenched. He took a step toward Ridley. “You had better watch your tongue, brother. You’re not exactly an all-knowing saint when it comes to women.”

Sebastien stood and, with a groan, loosened his cravat. “Don’t tell me I have to step into this ridiculous fracas.”

Hemphill came around the corner of the house. “Stop this at once. I could have heard you all the way to London, for God’s sake.”

Mum stood as well, her face an even deeper shade of red. “As if a brawl is going to settle things. I’m taking to my room.” She made to walk away, but stumbled, her hand gripping her chest. Something garbled left her throat.

Ridley and Sebastien, closest to her, grabbed her before she fell.

“Mum!”

Eastleigh shot around the table and took part in helping her into a chair.

Hemphill took one look at her and at her face, that had gone from red to ashen, and ordered them to take her upstairs.

“I’ll carry her,” Eastleigh said.

Hemphill rushed inside, calling out for Tildy to get Eastleigh’s powders.

Eastleigh rushed up the stairs with Ridley and Sebastien on his heels.

Inside Mum’s room, Ridley yanked the covers back. Gently, Eastleigh laid Mum on the bed. She held out a hand to him.

His heart hammering in his chest, he took it and leaned over her. “What is it, Mum?”

“You had best send for the family,” she muttered. “Bring Lilith back with them.”

Ridley stepped forward. “I’ll go, Eastleigh. You should remain here and take your powders. It wouldn’t do for you to have an episode along the way.”

“He’s right,” Hemphill said. “Tildy’s bringing your medication.”

Frustrated, Eastleigh looked from Mum, to his brothers, to Hemphill. A feeling as though he’d failed everyone swept over him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking losing my temper.”

“I lost mine first,” Ridley said heading for the door. “The apology is mine. I’ll be back soon.”

“Stay with me, Augie.” Mum muttered. “I need you.”

He swallowed a catch in his throat. God, the world couldn’t lose Mum now. He turned to Ridley. “Go. And bring Lilith back with you. For Mum’s sake.”

…

The sun was nearly overhead by the time Lilith arrived at Eastleigh’s childhood home. Sharp sunlight glanced off windows of an estate so large its silhouette dissected the blue sky and swallowed the horizon. She wasn’t shocked at the size, not after Penrose Cottage.

Once inside, she came face to face with Eastleigh’s mother. She hadn’t known what to expect, other than remembering Hemphill’s comment about Lady Ardmore being the sensible parent. While Lilith suspected the woman might prove to be a beauty, what with the attractive children she’d produced, what Lilith hadn’t expected was someone so uncommonly nice, given her rank. There was no mistaking the strength in the woman, though.

“Please, call me Millicent,” she said and clapped her hands at her daughters. “Never mind changing your clothing. Your father is fast fading, so don’t dally. And Rose, take her bag to Eastleigh’s old room. She’ll be staying there.”

The girls scampered up the wide staircase, now chattering away in French.

Lilith gulped. Eastleigh’s room? How much did Lady Ardmore know of her son’s plans to seek an annulment? She had to know something of why Lilith was housed at Penrose. Well, she couldn’t very well inquire. Not yet, at least.

“Please, call me Lilith.”

“Good.” She slipped her arm through Lilith’s and swept her hand toward the staircase. “Shall we take ourselves to the table?”

“The dining room is upstairs?” Lilith couldn’t help hazarding a glance down one of the widest and longest corridors she’d ever seen. Had Eastleigh or his brothers ridden horses through here? The Queen’s brigade could do so with room to spare.

Millicent laughed softly. “Lord Ardmore is confined to his chambers, so we dine with him whenever he’s up to it.”

Lilith gathered her wits. “Yes, of course.”

They climbed the stairs with Lilith taking in as much of her surroundings as possible while trying to mind her etiquette.

A great deal of noise arose from an open door at the end of the upper corridor. “You are hearing Lord Ardmore’s daughters greeting him. One moment he was healthy and robust, and the next, he was found unconscious in the library. He’s paralyzed on his left side and both legs, but his mind is still clever, and he still has a great sense of humor. By the way, we have not spoken to him of Eastleigh’s recent accident. Why distress a frail man?”

They entered Ardmore’s chambers.
Good heavens.
Lilith nearly stumbled over the threshold. Rose sat beside her father with a large open book resting upon her bent knees. Iris and Violet sprawled across the foot of the bed. Amidst the three, propped on several bed pillows and with bedding tucked to beneath his arms, sat their father, pale and drawn, but smiling.

Millicent crossed the room and took up her husband’s good hand. She signaled for Lilith to come forward. “Dear, I’d like you to meet Eastleigh’s wife, Lilith.”

He studied her for a moment through wizened eyes. And then his head gave a small nod. “You’ll do.”

Lilith smiled. Even though his thin words barely reached her ears, the powerful force in his eyes reached across the room and struck her inner core. No sense letting on that she would soon be the former Lady Eastleigh. “I suppose I will, at that.”

Millicent gave his hand a squeeze. “We’re having creamed peas and roast goose, dear.” She spoke as if cooked fowl and a simple vegetable were exceptional fare.

Soft laughter left his lips. “My favorite.”

Violet laughed. “Everything’s your favorite, Papa.”

Lilith shot a quick glance around the room—at the cozy fire, the wine-colored velvet curtains, the massive, masculine furniture. And books scattered about as if half the library had been hauled in. At a nearby table set for five, candles flickered. She nearly wept at the warm and wonderful scene. To have so much as sat on a bed in her father’s house would have meant a good strapping. One never sat on such a contraption. One slept in it—and only at night.

The girls scrambled off the bed and joined Lilith and their mother at the table. One of the servants filled a plate then made her way to Ardmore’s bed and proceeded to feed him.

Amidst the noisy chatter and the girls’ interplay with their father throughout the meal, Lady Ardmore turned to Lilith. “We do know how to properly behave when it’s required of us, but we choose to celebrate every day he is with us in a manner he relishes. We try not to diminish the zestful life he lived just because he’s taken ill.”

Lilith knew nothing of a close family like this. What an empty shell of a life she’d lived. Each day the same. Every meal a dreary repeat of the day prior. And in a house so quiet, the clock in the parlor could be heard ticking throughout the gloomy place. Thinking back, she’d known something had been very wrong in the way they lived, but pretense while outside the home was as important as Bible verse to her father, so she had ceded to his control, as had her mother. No wonder Lilith had loved her garden. Gently coaxing anything to life that gave her even a modicum of joy had quenched her parched soul.

Heavy footsteps sounded along the corridor.

Lady Ardmore set her serviette beside her plate and stood. “Ridley? What causes you to return so soon?”

“It’s Mum. She’s taken ill.”

“What kind of ill?”

“She was holding her chest and turning pale before Sebastien and I grabbed her,” he said. “Hemphill’s with her.”

Millicent turned to her husband.

“Go,” he said in his thin voice. “You’ll never forgive yourself otherwise.”

“Stay here with your Papa,” their mother ordered the girls. “Lilith, we need to leave at once.”

“But I’ve been banned—”

Ridley took her by the elbow. “She’s asked for you.”

“Has Eastleigh been made aware of her request?”

“He knows and approves.”

Lilith and Millicent hurried down the corridor, side by side. “Was she conscious when you left her?”

“Yes. But she’s pale as a maid’s apron and her mouth was twisted up like she was in a good deal of pain.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lilith and Ridley stepped into the entry at Easton Park behind Millicent, who hurried up the stairs. Will bore down on them like a fire-breathing dragon.

Lilith’s spine went rigid.

Ridley placed a hand at the small of her back. “Remember the strong woman who wrote those letters to my brother.”

“Thank you. I shall.” She took in a breath and exhaled slowly. No longer would she allow fear to dominate her life. No longer would she be ground beneath another’s heel.

Will came to a halt in front of Lilith, her eyes blazing. “My, you weren’t gone long.”

The woman didn’t bother to hide her condescending manner. Perhaps she did so with purpose, hoping to intimidate Lilith. But something must have shown in her demeanor, because the flames banked in Will’s eyes, and a kind of wary scrutiny filtered in. “You barely managed an entire day at Penrose.”

“Actually, Lady Willamette, I never even accomplished that much. Your mother was most gracious and insisted I spend time with her. A pity you weren’t there.”

Will lifted a brow, but the small white blotches appearing on each cheek gave her away. “Really?”

Wasn’t it peculiar how dispensing with the abject fear that had controlled her lifelong actions suddenly managed to smooth out her hard edges and offered her a new kind of strength?

“Indeed.” Lilith mirrored Will and hiked a brow right back. “I was invited to spend the night.” A delightful brazenness crept through Lilith.

Ridley dropped his hand from her back, retreated a step, and folded his arms over his chest.

“I was given Eastleigh’s old quarters.” She couldn’t help her smile.

She paused a brief moment and watched as the spots on Will’s cheeks blossomed. “I daresay, once I return to Penrose, I should like to take your mother up on her kind offer and spend the night with your family.”

Will’s eyes narrowed, but for the first time since meeting her, Lilith swore the woman was at a loss for words.

Lilith turned and headed for the stairs. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe Mum asked for me.” Halting halfway up, she regarded Will. “But if it’s not entirely too late, and I can see to taking a break, perhaps we might meet up for a bit in the garden for tea and a chat?”

She climbed the remaining steps only to find Thomas and Sebastian standing at the top.

“Brilliant,” Thomas muttered.

“Brava,” Sebastian whispered and, shoving a tumble of curls off his brow, took up her hand. “She’s been years late in getting a set-down from someone other than us.”

“Oh. Well, that wasn’t my objective. I merely intended to set my own boundaries with her. She can be a terrible bully. Why aren’t you with Mum?”

“We’re taking shifts.” Sebastian lifted Lilith’s hand to his lips. “She’s asked for you.”

“I know.” She withdrew her hand. Now, if that had been Eastleigh’s mouth pressed just so…

At the thought of Eastleigh, Lilith’s heart jumped. She looked over their shoulders and to the entry of Mum’s chamber. Surely he was at his grandmother’s bedside. Oh, dear. “I wish to see Mum. Would you take me to her?”

“I’ll escort her.”

Both men stepped aside for Ridley, who took her arm.

“Lady Eastleigh,” Sebastian said.

She halted, the name still at odds with her heart. “Yes?”

For once, he appeared quite serious. “I’m glad you returned. I do hope it’s to be something permanent.”

“I, as well,” Thomas said. For a brief moment, he held her gaze with a unique force of his own. And then he made his way down the stairs.

Don’t let there be tears. Not now.

“Despite his somewhat hedonistic past, he’s rather tame now,” Sebastian said. “Eastleigh, I mean. I do hope for the best.”

He had a wild streak?
“I’ve not had a glimpse of that side of him.”

“Have you not?” Sebastian trotted down the stairs. “Then don’t let on that I tipped you off. I shan’t need another fist to my gut.”

“He wouldn’t.”

Sebastian looked up at her. “It’s been a few years, but I wouldn’t place a wager.”

She peered over the balcony rail in time to see Thomas disappear. Where Will had gone off to, Lilith didn’t know. Fortifying herself with a deep breath, she took Ridley’s arm and stepped inside Mum’s chamber.

Eastleigh stood with an elbow leaning on the fireplace mantel, his thumb caressing that chipped tooth of his.

Their gazes locked.

The beat of her heart quickened.

His hand dropped from his mouth.

There it was again, that powerful force that passed between them like a shimmer of heat lightning. What was it that made her want to rush to him despite his dismissal of her? Truth be told, the connection now frightened her because there would be nothing to come of it.

She forced herself to look away, to where Mum lay. “Oh, dear.”
How frail she looks. Please don’t die.

“Mum.” Lilith crossed the room to the bed and leaned her hip on the mattress opposite the side where Lady Ardmore sat in a chair. Lilith took Mum’s hand. “You’re going to be fine. Just fine.”

When Mum failed to respond, Lilith didn’t know why, but she added, “Eastleigh’s headache is gone, Mum. And…and, I think he’s going to enjoy good health from here on out.”

Mum’s eyelids fluttered. She squeezed Lilith’s hand, and the grimace on her lips shifted.

“Oh, Mum. I was to go with you to see your other grandson today. I’m so sorry the way things turned out.” Again, Eastleigh’s grandmother squeezed Lilith’s hand, but this time her lips moved as if trying to say something. “What is it, Mum?”

Eastleigh moved to beside his mother, pulled up a chair, and took Mum’s hand, his face a tight mask.

She squeezed Eastleigh’s hand this time—Lilith could see the bony fingers moving on his. Oh, the tears were ready to fall, but not now. Mum needed hope and encouragement, not her blasted wailing. Unable to help herself, she slid her gaze to Eastleigh.

Slowly, he turned his head her way. Immobilized, she stared into those fathomless brown eyes as if he’d cast a spell. The fine hairs on the back of her neck tingled. Her throat tightened, trapping the air in her lungs.

Time stood still as he stared back, saying nothing.

The door swung open and Hemphill entered the room, fracturing the hypnotic moment. Tildy and Sally were right behind him. Tildy carried a tray holding a glass filled with a grayish liquid.

“I’ll be lifting your head for you to drink a potion, Mum,” the doctor said. “It’s willow bark mixed with a tincture of foxglove to steady your heart, so it’s important you cooperate.”

Lilith let go of Mum’s hand and, rising from the bed, stepped away, leaving Eastleigh and Hemphill to tend to her. Tildy and Sally stood at the doctor’s ready while Lady Ardmore sat quietly in her chair. Ridley leaned against a wall, his arms folded across his chest, watching everyone.

Lilith glanced around the room and was struck numb. In one way or another, these people were family, every one of them. Tildy had been with the Malverns since Eastleigh was a child. Even Sally, with her face as red as a beet and swiping at tears running down her cheeks, was family. She’d been born on the earl’s premises and followed her parents here after Eastleigh built his home. Her mother was Cook, and her father was John Coachman. They were servants, yes, but they were still a part of the closely-knit unit that made up Eastleigh’s life. From the moment Lilith had stepped into this house, with no memory to serve her, she had sensed there was a vast difference in how these people lived than from whence she came. She didn’t belong here.

Her mother slipped silently into the room and came to stand beside her. That’s when it dawned on Lilith—she grew up in a cold home where wife, child, and servants were treated no better than the cows that were milked or the hens that laid. Everyone and everything performed a duty, silently. Her father, head of the family, was so very different from the head of this family—her husband.

Some kind of alteration had taken place in her mother since arriving. Would remaining here have transformed her, just as Lilith herself had been changed?

Doctor Hemphill stepped away from the bed. “She’ll rest now, but she shouldn’t be left alone, so we’ll need to take shifts.”

“I’ll take the first,” Eastleigh said.

The doctor raised a brow. “Are you up to it?”

“I’m fine.” He sent a speaking glance Lilith’s way. “In fact, I’m very fine.”

“I’ll sit with you,” the doctor said. “Would someone bring me a cup of tea? Earl Gray, if you please. Anyone else?”

When everyone agreed, Sally and Tildy headed for the door.

As the doctor sat, he glanced at Eastleigh. “I’ll take my same chamber as usual. Wouldn’t do for me to leave.”

He hadn’t requested a room. In no uncertain terms, he’d stated which one was his. Even the good doctor was considered family. Every cell in Lilith’s body shouted to her that she was no longer a part of the Malvern clan. But someone was missing, someone who had been absent from both Mum’s and Eastleigh’s life long enough.

What if Mum weren’t to make it through the night?

At that moment, Lilith knew exactly what she had to do before she returned to Penrose. “I’ll take a shift, but I am desperate for a bit of fresh air.”

Eastleigh glanced out the window and frowned. “Don’t wander. The weather is turning, and with the wind coming from the north, it could blow in a storm and send the rivers overflowing their banks before you’ll know what’s happening.”

Lilith nodded. “I’ll take care.” She turned on her heel and upon exiting Mum’s chamber, ran into Tildy, nearly upending the tea tray she carried.

The maid visibly paled. “Milady, I heard what you said to Mum about her other grandson. If ye’ve a mind to seek out Sir Crocodile—”

“Cease your chattering, Tildy.” Lilith shot the maid a stern look meant to scare her into silence. “You will say nothing as to where I have gone off to. Do you understand?”

…

The moment Lilith entered Mum’s room, a knot of confusion inside Eastleigh unraveled. He hadn’t even been aware he carried such feelings. At the sight of her, he’d had to lock his knees to continue standing. Had to lean on the mantel to hold himself up. Had to use every ounce of discipline he possessed to keep from rushing to her when her focus needed to be on Mum. He was through being selfish and thinking only of his needs.

God, he’d missed Lilith.

He’d made a terrible mistake sending her off the way he had. Mum was right—no one should make any kind of decision when not in the right frame of mind, especially one as critical as a marriage. Heaven help him, he was like two different people when those episodes hit—a decent man and a fool. He’d allowed the fool in him to make a terrible choice, and then that fool depended on the integrity of the decent man to stick to his principles, to not look back, to abide the fool’s dictates.

She’d sat across from him, holding Mum’s hand, and when those startling blue eyes of hers locked with his, that hollowness, that sense of having no purpose in life, evaporated. It had been all he could do to remain focused on Mum and not ask Lilith to take him back right then and there. He’d ask her when she returned from her walk. He’d make things up to her. He would.

A pulsing urgency pounded through his veins. He wanted Lilith by his side. He wanted children with her. He wanted the kind of life he knew they both had in them. He’d give her time to adjust to him, to his life here at Easton Park. Whatever was required of him, he’d see to it that she would be the recipient of a more generous spirit on his part. He’d show her he was a man who could be trusted and respected. He’d do whatever it took to make sure they ended up a balanced couple so if his condition never improved, they could still live a decent and contented life together.

He leaned over and brushed his thumb across the top of his grandmother’s hand. “Mum, can you hear me?”

She gave a slight nod.

“Good, because I have something to say.”

She squeezed his hand.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that men are years behind women in comprehending the nature of love. But for the first time in my life, I’m beginning to understand. I know I’m the one who sent Lilith away, but do you think she’ll forgive me and take me back?”

A small smile tipped the corners of Mum’s mouth.

“You like that taking me back part, don’t you?”

She gave another squeeze to his hand.

“Then I need you to get better, Mum, because I have a special favor to ask of you.”