Deception

  A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

  “Enter,” she called impatiently.

  The small parade that marched into her study consisted of Ethan, Hugh, Mrs. Bird, and Minotaur. Olympia could not help but note that even the dog appeared morose.

  “Is there something wrong?” she inquired uneasily.

  Hugh stepped forward. “Robert cost too much.”

  Olympia put down her pen. “I beg your pardon?”

  “We fear that Robert cost too much,” Ethan explained soberly. “Lord Chillhurst had to pay for him with his beautiful gold watch. Now Robert is receiving a terrible thrashing in the dining room and very soon we shall all likely be asked to leave.”

  “Oh, I really do not think that Chillhurst will thrash Robert because of what happened last night,” Olympia said. “And we certainly will not be leaving.”

  “Some of us will be leaving right enough.” Mrs. Bird looked defeated but defiant. “His lordship told me so himself.”

  Olympia was shocked. “He did?”

  “Aye, that he did. Says we’ll all be movin’ into a big townhouse tomorrow. Says we’ll be takin’ on staff.” Mrs. Bird’s defiant expression crumpled without warning and her voice cracked with anguish. “He’s going to hire a butler, Miss Olympia. A real butler. What’ll become of me, I ask ye? His lordship won’t be needin’ an ordinary housekeeper like me once he hires himself town staff.”

  “And his lordship will not be wanting us around, either,” Hugh muttered. “Especially not after he had to give up his watch on account of Robert. He’s going to ship us all off to our relatives in Yorkshire.”

  Ethan stepped forward. “Do you think we could afford to buy his lordship a new watch, Aunt Olympia? I’ve got sixpence.”

  Hugh glared at him. “Don’t be a fool, Ethan. Sixpence ain’t near enough blunt to buy a watch like the one his lordship had to trade for Robert.”

  Mrs. Bird burst into noisy tears. “He won’t be wanting any of us, least of all me.”

  Olympia jumped to her feet, thoroughly exasperated. “That is quite enough. I do not want to hear any more of this nonsense. I do not know about this business of moving into a large townhouse, but it does not matter a jot if we do. Nothing is going to change around here. Chillhurst told me so himself last night.”

  Mrs. Bird gave her a morbid look. “Then he deceived ye again, Miss Olympia. Everything’s changed now that yer married to him.”

  “That is not true.” Olympia faced her small family with stout conviction. “He said everything will continue to function just as it has functioned since he came to us. Chillhurst will not thrash Robert. He will not replace you, Mrs. Bird. And he will not be shipping anyone off to Yorkshire.”

  “How do ye know that, Miss Olympia?” Mrs. Bird demanded. She still sounded like a doomed soul, but there was a small spark of hope in her eyes.

  “Because I trust him to keep his word,” Olympia said calmly. “Furthermore, you are all part of my family and Chillhurst knows that. He would never try to separate us. He knows very well that I would not permit it.”

  The flicker of hope died in Mrs. Bird’s eyes. “Yer talkin’ as if ye was still his employer, Miss Olympia. Truth is, ye ain’t the one givin’ the orders around here any longer. Ye be Chillhurst’s wife and that changes everything. He’s the master of the house now. He can do as he likes.”

  Minotaur whined softly and thrust his big head under Olympia’s hand.

  “I am very sorry for what happened last night, sir.” Robert stood very stiffly in front of Jared. He gazed straight ahead at the wall behind Jared’s left shoulder.

  Jared rested his elbows on the dining room table and tapped his fingertips together. He studied Robert’s face, well aware that the boy was struggling valiantly to keep his lower lip from trembling. “Do you understand precisely why I am disappointed in you, Robert?”

  “Yes, sir.” Robert blinked several times.

  “It is not because you got yourself into trouble. And it is not because you cost me a fine watch.”

  Robert glanced quickly at him and then went back to staring straight ahead. “I am sorry about your watch, sir.”

  “Forget the watch. It is cheap compared to a man’s honor. Nothing is as important to a man as his honor.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “When you give someone your word, Robert, you must do all in your power to live up to that vow. Nothing less is acceptable. Nothing less is honorable.”

  Robert sniffed loudly. “Yes, sir. I promise I will be very careful about my honor in the future.”

  “I am pleased to hear that.”

  Robert glanced at him anxiously. “Sir, I wish to ask you for a very great favor. I know I do not deserve it, but I promise I will do anything in exchange.”

  “What is the favor?”

  Robert swallowed. “I wish to ask that you do not punish the others for what I did. Ethan and Hugh are very young, sir. They are terrified they will be sent off to Yorkshire. And I know Aunt Olympia would be very sad if they were sent away from her. She is quite fond of all of us, you see. She will be lonely without us.”

  Jared sighed. “No one is going to be sent away, Robert. You and your brothers and your aunt are in my care now. You may rest assured that I will fulfill all of my responsibilities toward you.” His mouth curved wryly. “With any luck, I shall do a better job of it in the future than I did last night.”

  Robert frowned. “What happened last night was my fault, sir.”

  “I fear that we both must assume a share of the blame. I ought to have kept an eye on you. I should have guessed that you would be lured to the Dark Walk by that young man’s dare.”

  Robert looked confused. “Why would you guess that, sir?”

  “Because I was your age once, myself.”

  Robert stared at him in astonishment.

  “Yes, I know. It is difficult to believe.” Jared lowered his hands and sat back in the chair. “Now, then, that is quite enough on that subject. Let us move on to another.”

  Robert hesitated. “Sir, if you do not mind, I would like to know exactly how I will be punished for what I did last night.”

  “I said the matter is over, Robert. I can see that you have already chastised yourself for what happened and that is sufficient.”

  “It is?”

  “Of course. It is a sign that you are very swiftly becoming a man.” Jared smiled with satisfaction. “I am quite pleased with you, Robert. Seeing one’s charges turn into honorable young men whose word may be relied upon is one of a tutor’s primary goals.”

  He spoke no less than the truth, Jared realized with some surprise. There was, indeed, something very satisfying about this business of being a tutor. A man could do a lot worse for himself than to engage in such a career, he thought. One literally shaped the future when one instructed young people.

  Robert stood very tall. “Yes, sir. I shall try very hard not to fail again, sir. Does that mean you will continue to be our tutor, even though you are now married to Aunt Olympia?”

  “Yes, indeed. I rather enjoy the task. But there is something else which requires my immediate attention. Robert, I want you to think back very carefully and tell me exactly what happened last night. I want to know everything those villains said while you were with them.”

  “Yes, sir. But I thought you just said the matter was finished.”

  “It is as far as you are concerned,” Jared said. “But there are still one or two small details that I must deal with.”

  “What sort of details, sir?”

  “I must find out who employed those villains to kidnap you.”

  Robert’s eyes widened. “You are going to find him, sir?”

  “With your help, Robert.”

  “I shall do my best.” Robert scowled in thought. “But I do not know if I can help you. The only thing I remember them saying about their employer was that he was a man of business rather like yourself, sir.”

  “I suppo
se you have heard that there were rumors of a lover.” Lady Aldridge gave Olympia a very knowing look as she handed her a cup of tea. “It is said that Lord Chillhurst discovered his fiancée in a most compromising position with her paramour and ended the engagement on the spot. The tale was never confirmed, of course. No one involved would discuss it.”

  Olympia beetled her brows in annoyance. “I seriously doubt that there is anything to the rumors and I certainly do not wish to discuss them, madam.”

  She was not enjoying herself at all, Olympia reflected. She had accepted the offer of tea from Lady Aldridge because there had been no polite way to avoid it. After having spent the past two hours in Lord Aldridge’s library, she felt more or less obliged to be civil even though she had discovered nothing useful in Aldridge’s map collection. Unfortunately, she had learned the hard way that Lady Aldridge was an inveterate gossip.

  “You are quite correct, Lady Chillhurst. I, too, doubt that there is anything to the gossip.” Lady Aldridge’s smug expression stated far more clearly than words that she believed every word of the tale.

  “Excellent. Perhaps we could change the subject.” Olympia tried to sound bored.

  Lady Aldridge gave her a chagrined look. “But, of course, madam. I did not mean to offend. You do comprehend that I was not remarking upon your husband’s family so much as I was commenting on Lady Beaumont.”

  “I would rather not discuss her, either.”

  “What’s this about Lady Beaumont?” Lord Aldridge scowled as he walked into the drawing room. He had stayed behind in his library for a few minutes after Olympia had finished in order to replace all of his precious maps in their proper drawers. “What’s she got to do with this map of the West Indies that Lady Chillhurst is attempting to locate?”

  “Nothing, my dear.” Lady Aldridge smiled benignly. “I was merely relating the old tale of how and why the engagement between Chillhurst and Lady Beaumont came to an end three years ago.”

  “Lot of rum nonsense.” Aldridge stalked to the brandy table and poured himself a glass. “Chillhurst was quite right to end the thing. A man in his position cannot marry a female who starts carrying on with another man even before the wedding.”

  “Of course not,” Lady Aldridge murmured. She gave Olympia a speculative glance.

  “Got his honor to think of,” Aldridge said. “That Flamecrest bunch is a devilish lot of Originals, but they’ve always been quite keen on matters of honor.”

  Lady Aldridge smiled coolly. “If Chillhurst was so very keen on his honor, sir, why did he not call out his fiancée’s lover after he discovered them together? I also heard that Lady Beaumont’s brother issued a challenge which Chillhurst ignored.”

  “Probably because he’s too bloody intelligent to risk getting himself killed over a female.” Lord Aldridge downed another swallow of brandy. “In any event, everyone knows Chillhurst ain’t got an ounce of hot blood in him. Rest of the clan’s damned volatile, but not him. Ask anyone who’s done business with him. Cold and levelheaded as they come.”

  “You’ve done business with my husband?” Olympia asked in another desperate attempt to change the subject.

  “Certainly. Made a packet in the process.” Lord Aldridge nodded with brusque satisfaction.

  “I was not aware that you were acquainted with my husband,” Olympia said.

  “Well, I ain’t. Never dealt directly with him, naturally. Man never comes to town. Does all his business through that agent of his.”

  “Mr. Hartwell?”

  “Precisely. Felix Hartwell has handled your husband’s affairs for years. But everyone knows that Chillhurst gives the orders. Singlehandedly rebuilt the Flamecrest fortune after his grandfather and father ran through the last of it. Family’s always had its ups and downs when it comes to financial matters. Leastways they did until Chillhurst took charge.”

  “My husband is very skilled at taking charge of such things,” Olympia said with quiet pride.

  “It is obvious that you are very fond of your husband, Lady Chillhurst.” Lady Aldridge picked up her teacup. “I find that very touching, if rather odd under the circumstances.”

  “What circumstances?” Olympia demanded, thoroughly irritated with her hostess. If being polite to such people was a requirement of being a viscountess, Olympia thought, she was going to have a very difficult time fulfilling her new duties.

  “As my husband says, Chillhurst has a reputation for being quite lacking in the stronger emotions. He is said to be altogether without feeling. One wonders if that is not why Lady Beaumont sought solace from another during her engagement to him.”

  Olympia crashed her cup down on its saucer. “My husband is an admirable man in every respect, Lady Aldridge. Nor is he lacking in the stronger emotions.”

  “Really?” Lady Aldridge’s eyes gleamed with malicious intent. “Then I wonder why he did not feel compelled to call out his fiancée’s lover or respond to her brother’s challenge?”

  Olympia got to her feet. “My husband’s decisions are none of your affair, Lady Aldridge. Now, if you will excuse me, the clock has just struck four and I really must be going. My husband said he would fetch me at four and he is very precise in such matters.”

  Aldridge hurriedly put down his brandy glass. “I shall see you to the door, Lady Chillhurst.”

  “Thank you.” Olympia did not wait. She stalked out of the drawing room.

  Aldridge caught up with her in the hall. “I regret I was unable to assist you this morning, Lady Chillhurst.”

  “Do not concern yourself.”

  The truth was Olympia had almost abandoned hope of discovering a map that would give her a clue as to the location of the uncharted island referred to in Claire Lightbourne’s diary. She had half of a map of the island itself but no notion of where the blasted chunk of land was located.

  “Lady Chillhurst, you will not forget my warning about Torbert, will you?” Aldridge eyed her nervously. “The man is not to be trusted. Promise me you will be extremely cautious in your dealings with him.”

  “I assure you I shall be careful.” Olympia tied the strings of her bonnet as the Aldridge butler opened the door.

  Jared was waiting in a hackney at the foot of the steps. Ethan, Hugh, and Robert were with him.

  Olympia smiled in relief and ran down the steps to join her family.

  Chapter 15

  “I say,” Hugh whispered when Jared unlocked the door at the top of the stairs in the Flamecrest mansion. “Will you look at that?”

  “This is the best room of all. There are all sorts of interesting things in here,” Ethan said. He crowded into the chamber behind his twin and surveyed the array of trunks and shrouded furniture that filled the room. “I’ll wager there’s a fortune in fabulous jewels hidden in one of those old trunks.”

  “I would not be at all surprised.” Olympia held the candle higher and peered over the boys’ heads to survey the vast, shadowed room. Huge, delicate cobwebs vibrated like tattered veils in the dim glow of the taper.

  Ethan was right, she thought. This chamber, which appeared to be a storage room, was the most intriguing of the many rooms Jared had shown them on the tour through the old mansion.

  It was not the most unusual chamber. That honor had to go to the gallery on the floor below which contained a staircase that led nowhere. It simply stopped midway up a stone wall. The room they were exploring now, however, contained the most interesting collection of bits and pieces, Olympia decided.

  “There is no telling what one might discover in here,” Olympia said.

  “We’ll likely uncover a ghost or two,” Robert predicted with ghoulish delight. “This is a very eerie place, is it not? It looks just like one of the chambers in a haunted castle that is described in a book that I am reading.”

  “Ghosts,” Hugh repeated in a voice that crackled with excitement and dread. “Do you really think there might be ghosts in here?”

  “Perhaps the ghost of Captain Jack, himself,”
Ethan suggested in a voice laced with sepulchral horror. “Perhaps he walks through the walls and goes down that flight of stairs in the gallery.”

  Jared glanced at Ethan with slightly raised brows.

  Olympia frowned in thought. “Now there’s an interesting notion. The ghost of Captain Jack.”

  “Captain Jack died peacefully in his bed,” Jared announced in a thoroughly dampening tone. “He was eighty-two at the time and he was laid to rest in the family plot on the Isle of Flame. This house had not even been built at the time of his death.”

  “Then who built this wonderful house, sir?” Hugh asked.

  “Captain Jack’s son, Captain Harry.”

  Hugh’s eyes widened. “Your grandfather built it? I say, he must have been a very clever man.”

  “He was clever, all right,” Jared said. “Clever at spending money. This house represents one of the more interesting methods he concocted to demolish a considerable portion of the family fortunes.”

  “What happened to the rest of your family fortunes?” Ethan asked.

  “My father and uncle took care of most of the remainder. If it had not been for my mother, we would all have been sunk in poverty by now,” Jared explained.

  “What did your mother do to save you from poverty?” Robert asked.

  “She gave me one of her necklaces.” Jared met Olympia’s eyes. “It had been given to her by my grandmother, who had received it from my great-grandmother.”

  “Claire Lightbourne?” Olympia asked, her eyes widening.

  “Yes. It was fashioned of diamonds and rubies and was quite valuable. My mother gave it to me when I turned seventeen and told me to give it to the woman I eventually married. She meant for it to descend down through the family in an unbroken line of Flamecrest viscountesses. Mother was something of a romantic, you see.”

  “Aunt Olympia is the woman you eventually married,” Robert pointed out. “Did you give the necklace to her?”

  “Yes, did you give it to Aunt Olympia?” Hugh asked, obviously enthralled by the tale.

  “No,” Jared said without any sign of emotion. “I sold it on my nineteenth birthday.”