When he thought about it later, Tysen knew he would be very surprised if indeed he found a skeleton lurking in the back of one of Lord Lancaster’s closets. He was an excellent young man.
Still, he would look.
11
WHEN TYSEN FINALLY managed to snag his daughter away from the rest of the family, particularly Alec, who wanted to show her a new racing cat training technique that involved a bucket, he led her through the vicarage garden, to the gate, and down the path to the cemetery, where few parishioners chose to spend any time when not absolutely necessary. He needed privacy. He unlatched the very old black wrought-iron gate, slowly pulling it open for her to step onto the path that led into the depths of the cemetery.
The air was different here. Still and soft, as quiet as fingers stroking a racing cat’s back. Meggie stopped, breathed in deeply, and said over her shoulder, “You come here when you wish to think, Papa. I remember you sitting on that one particular bench from my youngest years. I used to wonder why you so admired Sir Vincent D’Egle, a medieval warrior who likely wasn’t an overly religious man. I picture him in battle, yelling and swinging his sword and finally being cleaved in two himself at far too young an age.”
“Cleaved in two? Actually, I also rather fancy that might have happened to him. However, no matter how he died, there is something about his grave that draws me back,” he said, smiling down at her as he took her hand. “I don’t know why this should be so, but I know that when I sit there, and I hear Mr. Peters ring the church bells, I feel peace and calm seep into my very bones. You still bring flowers to his grave.”
Meggie nodded, and said, “It will rain soon. Can you feel how heavy the air has suddenly become? How it is already wrapping itself about your head, wanting to soak you? I’ve decided that it rains too much in England. Everyone is so tired of feeling damp to their toes and—”
“Meggie, I must speak to you.”
“I know, Papa. You’re being very gentle with me. When you do that, I know there is something you’re dreading to tell me. I can take it. Has Leo done something awful at Oxford? Will I need to go there and fix things? Try to teach him what’s what?”
“I devoutly hope not. No, it’s something else, Meggie.”
She looked at him steadily. “This is about me, isn’t it? And about Thomas.”
“Oh Meggie, my sweet girl, let’s sit here beside Sir Vincent on his bench. Yes, this is about Thomas. I am your father and you know down to your bones that I will always want what is the very best for you.”
She didn’t say a word, just looked at him and waited for the ax to fall.
He realized in that moment that she just wasn’t ready to be blighted. He was willing to wait, and when he paused, she quickly said, her hand lightly closing over one of his, all forced smiles and enthusiasm, “I was listening to Mary Rose read Rory the story of Renard the Fox.”
“It is his favorite,” Tysen said, running his fingers over the smooth worn gray stone. “But Mary Rose must read it to him only in Latin.” He shook his head, looking a bit bewildered. “How very strange it is. We live in the modern world, yet two of my sons and my wife speak Latin. Latin. It boggles the mind, Meggie. Now, my dear—”
Meggie said quickly, “I meant to leave, but then she started reading him Chanticleer the Cock. Mary Rose can even cock-a-doodle-doo in Latin.”
“Rory is only four years old, Meggie. At least he doesn’t announce his age yet in Latin.”
Meggie laughed. “He will. Give him a couple more years. You know that Mary Rose is very smart, Papa. I believe she was learning Latin at Rory’s age.” Tysen looked at his daughter while she spoke, so Sherbrooke in her looks—blondish brownish hair with all the shades in between, and clear light blue eyes the color of the summer sky. In short, she looked like him, only her features were more finely drawn. Her chin, he thought, was very possibly more stubborn. As for her temperament, his daughter saw something that needed to be done, and she did it, no shilly-shallying about, no excuses, never procrastinating. She felt strongly about things, many times too strongly. No middle ground for her. He remembered she’d been three years old when she saw old Mrs. McGilly struggling with several packages on High Street and had immediately tried to help her. But she wasn’t strong enough, and so had fetched two men from the tavern to tote the bundles. One of them, Tysen remembered, had been very tipsy and proceeded to drop the packages. Meggie had scolded him.
He grinned with the memory. Yes, his Meggie knew only one direction—forward. In this, she was just like her aunt Sinjun. And, he knew, she wanted to move smartly forward with Thomas Malcombe, Lord Lancaster.
Meggie was saying now, “Did you know that Alec wants to be the Prussian Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher when he grows up? He can even say the whole name. And spell it. He’s had me play Napoleon more times than I can count. He’s chased me all over the graveyard and into the bell tower. Then he finds me and claims he’s not going to send me back to Elba. No, he’s going to send me some place where I will rot. In perpetuity. He actually says perpetuity.”
Tysen felt the tug in his heart, let it blossom a moment, flooding him with sweet memories of Meggie as a little girl, her finger in every village pie, her ear against every door, her opinion offered on every sermon. And that little girl had adored him since she’d come from her mother’s womb and smiled up at him. He said easily, “He always chases me and Mary Rose too. I have yet to be graced with perpetuity.” He took her hand in his, competent hands, beautiful long fingers. He said, “Meggie, you are only nineteen years old. You spent only one Season in London. You have lived all your life in Glenclose-in-Rowan.”
“I live in Scotland every year too, Papa.”
“Yes, well, that’s true.”
She turned to him then, took one of his hands between hers. “All right. I’m ready for whatever you have to tell me. Come, spit it out, Papa. What is wrong? What have you learned about Thomas?”
“I don’t wish you to misunderstand me,” Tysen said slowly. “I like Thomas Malcombe. He saved Rory’s life, I am quite convinced of that, as is Dr. Dreyfus. He is a charming young man. He seems intelligent, witty, responsible. From what I have heard from your uncle Douglas’s man in London, he was no pauper even before his father died and left him his holdings. Thomas’s business interests are evidently primarily in Italy, where he has grown rich in shipping, in a very short time. I could find out nothing about him that would make me worry.
“He wanted to pay me a dowry for you. Naturally I refused. You will not go to your husband empty-handed. You are not quite the heiress your aunt Sinjun was, but your dowry is really quite satisfactory. Lord Lancaster is assuredly not a fortune hunter.”
“Then what is Lord Lancaster?”
“Meggie, your dowry aside, you and I have known Lord Lancaster for only two months, maybe not even that long. I knew his father, didn’t particularly dislike the man. He was secretive, Meggie, very tight-fisted, didn’t speak well of anyone. He was not a man I would have easily trusted. Now, I don’t believe you know this. The old earl divorced his wife and kicked both her and her young son out of Bowden Close. Neither of them ever came back. I have heard rumors about a second wife, perhaps another child, but I don’t know if any of that is true.”
“None of that in any way redounds on Thomas.”
“No.”
“Thomas told me that there had been a falling out between his father and his mother, and she took Thomas and left. He didn’t mention a divorce. I didn’t press him. He doesn’t like to speak of it. I believe he’s been very hurt by it.”
“I asked Thomas as well. He told me much of the same thing, all said in a voice so emotionless that it smote me.”
“Poor Thomas. He finally told me that he remembered terrible fights between his parents. He did see his father a few times over the years, but never here, never at Bowden Close. It is all very sad. I believe he came to hate his father. His father never visited him at school, where he spent most of his growing-
up years, only in London, at one of his father’s clubs. I know that Thomas doesn’t trust easily, certainly understandable. And I know that he was very hurt by his parents, not physically, mind you, but his soul. Naturally he will not admit to any of this. He merely pretends that he doesn’t care. Perhaps when we have been married for a while, he will grow to trust me more, to share his concerns, to share old secrets that have hurt him. He feels things deeply, that I do know. You did not see his face when he believed Rory would die. But there is this well of distrust that is very deep in him. These things take time, Papa.
“I do know that Thomas Malcombe is a principled man, a decent man. He told me he wants to marry me because I make him laugh. I cannot think of a better reason.”
Tysen lifted an eyebrow. “Actually, he could have told you he loved you.”
“Somehow,” Meggie said slowly, looking up at the beautiful old church tower, wishing Mr. Peters would ring the bell at this very moment, “I cannot imagine him saying those words, at least not now. Actually, I didn’t say them to him either.” Meggie paused a moment, looking down at her clasped hands, and Tysen knew all the way to his boots that Jeremy was still in her head, perhaps even in her heart. Damnation.
“Yes, Thomas laughs easily now, a smile nearly always near his mouth. I’ll never forget that first time when he laughed with me. I thought he sounded rusty, as if he were somehow surprised that such a sound could come from him. I’ve made great strides with him, Papa.”
“Meggie, you are not marrying him out of some sort of misguided sense of gratitude, are you?”
“For saving Rory’s life? No, Papa, but I was very grateful, and the result was that I spent more time with him initially than I normally would have. And I came to like him a great deal. He is an honorable man, I am quite sure about that.”
“You won’t be living here, Meggie. Thomas was evasive. He said he has two other houses, both outside of England.”
“One is in Genoa, Italy. He was living in Italy, making his fortune. He came back to England only to take over his father’s holdings. Can you imagine sailing to Italy, Papa? I should love to travel, to see other places, how other people do things, how they think. I wonder where his other house is.”
At least Thomas Malcombe hadn’t told him one thing, then told his daughter something else. There were no inconsistencies that meant a lie. But it wasn’t the point. Tysen kissed his child’s forehead, rose, and crossed his arms over his chest, the father now, the authority figure.
“Meggie, I am very sorry, but I must be blunt. I didn’t want you to find out about this, but now there is no choice. You have to know. I cannot believe that Thomas Malcombe is honorable, and therefore I cannot trust his word on anything of import and I certainly cannot trust him with you.”
“He saved your son’s life.”
“For that I owe him a debt that will never be repaid. However, I do not owe him my daughter.”
Meggie knew something bad was coming, she just knew it. She drew herself up. “I’m ready, Papa. Tell me.”
“As you know, Melissa Winters left last Thursday for an extended visit with her grandmother in Bury St. Edmonds. You know that, but not the reason for her leaving. I didn’t want to tell you this, I didn’t want to tell anyone this, and it is a confidence. I ask that you not betray it to anyone, even Mary Rose. Evidently Thomas Malcombe was in London before he came here. He met Melissa there. She was staying with her aunt and attending parties and such, sort of an informal come-out for her. There’s no easy way to say this, Meggie—he seduced her and got her with child. You and I and Melissa’s parents are now the only ones to know. And Lord Lancaster, of course.”
Meggie said slowly, “Thomas didn’t tell me he was in London before he came here.”
“He was. I asked. Because he wants to marry you, it was my responsibility to ask, to find out everything I could about him. Mr. Winters heard, of course, that you were to wed Thomas Malcombe. He searched me out. He told me about this, in confidence, just this morning. It was obvious he didn’t want to tell me, Meggie, but he has great liking for you and didn’t want you to be hurt.”
There was fire in her eyes as she said the fateful words he would have given anything not to hear, ever, “I don’t believe it. Melissa is lying. She wanted him. I know that Thomas must have rejected her, and thus this is her revenge. I know that Melissa—to punish Thomas—was intimate with another man, to make him jealous, perhaps, and this is the result. I am sorry for it, but Thomas is innocent. Papa, if Melissa were truly pregnant with his child, then why wouldn’t Thomas marry her?”
“You are not näıve, Meggie. You must know that Melissa’s birth isn’t high enough to tempt a man like Lord Lancaster, nor is her dowry an incentive to overlook her birth. Even though her mother is the daughter of a baron, her father is in trade. In short, there is nothing to induce Thomas Malcombe to tie himself forever to the Winters family.”
She was shaking her head, back and forth. “I am convinced that Thomas wouldn’t behave dishonorably, Papa. Truly, he is all that is kind and honest and—”
“Thomas Malcombe paid Melissa’s parents for the care of the child. Her father, although he was reluctant to do so, told me this. I have no reason to disbelieve Mr. Winters, Meggie. His pain over this was palpable. He tried his best to convince Thomas Malcombe to marry his daughter, but he wouldn’t do it.”
He watched her face pale, the light of battle fade from her eyes. He hated it, but now it was done.
“Oh dear,” Meggie whispered, “Oh dear.”
“I believe,” her father said, lightly touching her fingertips to her smooth check, “that now is an appropriate time for you to say blessed hell.”
Meggie just shook her head, pulled off her bonnet, and dashed her fingers through her hair, shining more blond than brown beneath the morning sun. There had been Jeremy, and she’d been sure her heart would never recover from that stomping. Then, thankfully, she’d seen Jeremy as a fatuous, self-aggrandizing clod, so superior to womankind, who would likely make Charlotte’s life miserable, something she probably richly deserved, unless she was a doormat and she’d met the ideal mate for her.
And then Thomas had come along, and she’d realized that here was indeed a man she could admire, a man who admired her, who didn’t denigrate her, who teased her and made her happy. The soul-eating melancholia that had pulled her down for nearly a year had vanished. She’d felt so very blessed for nearly a week. Six full days, no black clouds in the vicinity. And now this. She was cursed.
“Mary Rose and I would like you to visit Aunt Sinjun and Uncle Colin in Scotland.”
She turned on him, bitterness overflowing. “Won’t everyone think I’m pregnant?”
He hated the hurt in her, knew that rage would come, and he wished with all his heart that it didn’t have to be like this. “I’m sorry, Meggie, but there are men in this world who are simply not worthy. I am so very sorry that you had to meet one of them, trust one of them.”
Meggie felt pounded, felt the words hollowing her out, leaving her empty with only the bowing pain to fill her. She said as she slowly rose and shook out her skirts, “You know I must speak to Thomas, Papa. I must hear this from him.”
“Yes, Meggie, I know you must.”
“I will know the truth when I hear him speak.”
“I hope that you will.”
Meggie had turned away when he felt a sudden shaft of alarm, and called after her, “Do not go to a private spot with him, Meggie. I wish you wouldn’t go to Bowden Close without a chaperone, but I know that you feel you must. So be mindful. Do you promise me?”
“Yes,” Meggie said. “I promise.” She wasn’t about to tell him that she’d visited Thomas at his home alone before. She walked away, her head down, deep in thought. She wasn’t aware that her father was watching her, pain in his eyes for the pain he’d had to give her.
Tysen rose from the bench, stared down at Sir Vincent’s tombstone, and wondered what Sir Vincent D’Egle, that
medieval warrior, would have done to Thomas Malcombe if Meggie had been his daughter. Probably lop off his head.
All Meggie could think about as she strode to Bowden Close was that she’d been wrong about him, that Thomas had fathered a child, that he’d professed to care for her when just a couple of months before he’d been intimate with another girl and fathered a child. That, Meggie knew, meant intimacy and that meant they’d caressed and kissed each other. Meggie stopped short. She touched her fingertips to the velvet of a blooming rose that climbed the wrought-iron fence that surrounded the cemetery. She knew in that moment that there was an explanation that would absolve him. She wanted that explanation and she wanted it pure and clean and straightforward, with no questions, no doubts, left behind.
12
Bowden Close
THOMAS WAS SMILING even before Meggie slipped into his library. It wasn’t at all proper that she came in through that old garden gate, but they would soon be married. Soon he would no longer have to concern himself with the vicar’s daughter bending society’s rules. It wouldn’t matter. That thought pleased him mightily.
Her hair was mussed, as if she’d been fretting about something and had yanked on it, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes, so expressive, bright and vivid, so filled with what she felt—oh God, something was wrong. It was like a punch to the gut.
He was around his desk in an instant, his hands around her arms but a moment later, and he was actually shaking her. “What the devil is wrong? What happened? Did someone hurt you?”
She looked up at him and said, without preamble, “My father told me about Melissa Winters.”
A dark eyebrow went up, making him look like a satyr, emphasizing the arrogant tilt of his head, the go-to-the-devil look. His hands dropped away, his voice was suddenly colder than the Channel waters in February. “Your father, my dear, shouldn’t meddle.”