The beast of yorkshire, p.29
The Beast of Yorkshire, page 29
“Dammit, Duncan, stop. I’m trying to get this bloody cravat from around your neck.”
Duncan opened his eyes and saw his brother standing above him. “Trying to kill me.”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet? If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it a hundred times over by now. Lie still,” he ordered.
Duncan did as he was told and heard a rip.
“Damn, I nicked you, but it was the easiest way to get that damned cravat off you,” Reese said, pulling the ripped garment free. “I don’t know what ham fisted clod tied it, but if it was your valet, you should really seek out someone new.”
“Protect Penelope,” Duncan managed.
“What in bloody hell are you talking about?”
“She thinks I can trust you.”
“When did you see her?” Reese asked, shocked.
“Doesn’t matter. Just keep her safe. If something should happen to me.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“Almost did,” Duncan said as the affects of the drinks he had imbibed in finally overpowered him.
“What are you talking about?” Reese’s demand fell on deaf ears. He left Duncan’s side only long enough to retrieve his gun from his room. He settled in for the rest of the night to watch over his older brother.
Chapter 25
Duncan woke to a pounding head and an aching body. Early morning sun streaked through the windows causing him to squint and look away. What he saw propelled him from the bed. His body crashed into his brother’s, breaking the chair and sending them both sprawling. The gun that had moments before lay glinting dangerously in Reese’s lap, now skittered across the floor and beneath the washstand in the corner.
“Get off me!” Reese yelled just before a fist made contact with his chin. “Oomph,” he grunted.
“You thought to kill me while I slept?” Duncan fisted his hands in Reese’s shirt and pulled his shoulders up off the floor. “Why, dammit? Were the others not enough? Are you that desperate for the title?”
“What are you talking about?” Reese managed to get out before Duncan slammed him against the floor.
There was a tentative knock at the door. “Go away!” both men yelled.
Reese fisted his hands together and slammed them into Duncan’s sore ribs. Knocked off-guard, and in pain, Duncan released Reese and fell to his side. Reese took the opportunity to scoot out of Duncan’s reach. “Now why don’t you tell me what the bloody hell is going on?”
“You had a gun,” Duncan accused.
“Because I was protecting your sorry arse,” Reese answered.
“Why?”
“Bloody hell if I know. I thought I was doing you a favor.” He rubbed his jaw and started to stand.
“Wait,” Duncan stopped him while pushing himself into a sitting position. He groaned as his body protested any move.
“What is it?”
“Someone hired some thugs to attack me a fortnight ago. They very well could have killed me. Then on the way home last night, I had the brilliant idea to fight Gentleman Jackson.”
“Bloody hell, Duncan, why didn’t you send for me? You haven’t been away on business have you?”
Duncan studied his younger brother and saw genuine concern on his face. “No, I haven’t been away on business, I’ve been recovering.”
“Where?”
“I bought a small house here in London for Penelope. I’ve been there,” he answered hesitantly.
“So you did find her that night in the park?”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Dammit, Reese, I didn’t think I could believe you, trust you. You stole one woman from me,” Duncan accused.
“Yes, Duncan, one. One woman that was ripped from my arms, too. I refuse to spend the rest of my life begging you for forgiveness. I. Loved. Her. I still do. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. Can you say that?”
“No,” Duncan answered.
“You sound shocked.”
“I am.”
“Who do you think of every day? Who consumes your mind so that it makes it difficult to function normally throughout the day? Is it Samantha or Frances?”
“No.”
“Then who, Duncan? If it isn’t any of them, who is it? Who is the one that just the thought of losing her knocks the breath out of you, making you wonder how you would ever survive without her?”
Duncan closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the door as a blonde infiltrated his thoughts. She thought she was plain, but to him she was beautiful. He admired the way she stood up to him when others cowered. The way she looked lying beneath him caught in the throes of passion. The way her brown eyes sparkled with chips of gold—icy, warm, sensuous, and sometimes dangerous. His breath hitched as he felt her hand move towards him to caress his cheek, but when he opened his eyes she wasn’t there. He knew a disappointment like he had never known before.
“Who put that look on your face? And I pray to God above that you say the right name, because if you don’t I just may have to—”
“Penelope, dammit. It’s Penelope. She’s everywhere. Things I see, certain smells, specific sounds. Bloody hell, even things I touch remind me of her.”
“Good. Now that you’ve admitted that much, we have something to work with.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your marriage is null. Penelope completes you. There is a difference about you when she’s around, a calmness. So the important question is how are you going to woo her?”
“I don’t have time to think about that right now. I’m more concerned about keeping us both alive.”
“Both?”
“Don’t tell me you think it was merely a coincident that Penelope’s maid was poisoned? That I lost two wives and a fiancée? That I was attacked, beaten, and if not for a little bit of luck on my part, I might be the one lying dead in the bowels of London.”
“Since we have determined it isn’t me, who do you think it is?”
“The only other people it could be is Rosalie or Lucy.”
“You have to be joking. They’re family.”
“Family has been known to be murderers before.”
“I suppose so,” Reese said, still sounding shocked.
“The men who attacked me worked for me here.”
“You’re kidding,” Reese scoffed. When he saw the serious look on Duncan’s face he blew out a resigned sigh. “What do we do?”
“I need them out of the house for a while. I need to bring Grantham in to do a search.”
“What do you think he’ll find?”
“Answers, hopefully.”
“Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Tomorrow I want you to surprise them with a shopping trip. Take them wherever they wish to go. Buy them whatever they wish to spend money on. Just keep them away for as long as you can. Remember, this is a surprise. I don’t want them to be able to leave with anything important.”
“Of course.”
“And until we find something, we have to be better actors than those on Drury Lane.”
“Understood.”
Both men got to their feet, Duncan a bit slower than Reese. Reese retrieved his gun and crossed the room to the door.
“Reese,” Duncan said, halting his brother before he opened the door. Reese turned and looked at him questioningly. “I never should have doubted you.”
“That goes both ways, big brother.”
* * *
“Duncan, we thought you were away on business,” Rosalie said, looking up from her needlework. She and Lucy was in the parlor when Duncan put in his appearance.
“I arrived late last evening.”
“I told Mama I heard you and Reese upstairs fighting in your bedchamber.”
“A brotherly argument,” Duncan scoffed.
“You sounded as if you were going to slaughter one another,” Lucy argued.
“You worry too much, little one,” Duncan said. He crooked a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head backwards, placing a kiss on her smooth forehead. He then dropped a kiss on Rosalie’s cheek before sitting down to visit with the two women. “What plans do you have for today?”
He studied the two women who had lived under his roof for years as they prattled on about their plans. Could one of these two women be responsible for the deaths of four women? And if so, to what purpose? Until he could get Penelope to marry him, Rosalie would continue being the Duchess of Yorkshire. She could not earn a higher title for herself without marrying a prince or a king and either option was highly unlikely. Perhaps she was looking to push Lucy into a title.
“And just how many suitors are coming around?” Reese asked upon entering the room and bringing Duncan back to the present. He, too, dropped a kiss first on Lucy’s brow then Rosalie’s.
“Enough to keep me entertained,” Lucy replied saucily. “Are you jealous?” she asked teasingly, leaning towards Reese.
“I’ll always be jealous of any man that gets to spend the rest of his life with you,” Reese said, giving the girl a wink.
“Oh, Reese,” Lucy said, swatting playfully at his arm. “And what of you, Duncan?”
“What is that?”
“Are you jealous of the men who come to pay court to me?”
“Consider me more the concerned older brother making certain that the men coming around are good enough for our Lucy.”
“Duncan, have you had any luck finding Penelope?” Rosalie asked, looking up from her needlework.
“No. She’s hiding well, wherever she is.”
“Has her grandfather not seen her?”
“Oh, yes, he saw her and promptly dismissed her, but not before she gave him his comeuppance,” he said with a grin. “He’s a miserable old man and only cares about his title and his money. He’s a miser that has run off all his family.”
“He sounds just lovely,” Lucy said sarcastically.
“You’ve no idea. Well, if you all will excuse me, there are things I have to attend to.”
“Duncan, there is a party later this week that the entire family has been invited to. It would be nice if both you and Reese could attend and escort Lucy and me.”
“Rosalie, I would enjoy nothing more,” he bowed low before leaving the room. He made his way to his study and had a footman he passed in the hall send for Bolingbroke’s former butler, Giles.
“Your Grace, you sent for me?”
“Come in and shut the door, Giles.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I have a note I need delivered. I only want you or the footman that came with you from Bolingbroke’s house to deliver it.”
“I’ll deliver it myself, Your Grace. If I may ask, have you been able to find Miss Penelope?”
Duncan nodded his head in the affirmative as he said, “Unfortunately, no.”
Picking up on the fact that he did not want his find verbalized, the butler said, “Oh, that is too bad, Your Grace. I know you’ll find her.”
“Thank you,” Duncan said. He lowered his voice before continuing, “Tomorrow, my brother is going to take the ladies shopping. As soon as they leave, I want the house cleared of servants.”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
“It should be a surprise to them that they have the day off. No more than five minutes time to gather the things they’ll need for a day out.”
“I understand perfectly, Your Grace.”
“Excellent. That will be all, Giles.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The butler bowed and left the room.
Duncan sat at his desk, fingers steepled, and head pounding. He was ready to put this nightmare behind them and move on with their lives.
* * *
“Helena, I’m so glad to see you,” Penelope said, throwing her arms around the woman who had befriended her and taken her in.
“And what of me?” Helena’s identical twin asked.
“Agatha, I didn’t see you there. Of course, I’m glad to see you, too. Come in,” she ushered the women in after giving Agatha a welcoming hug, as well.
“We came to check on our nephew,” Helena said.
“He left yesterday. We got into an argument when he said he was returning home. I thought it would be too dangerous and well…”
“He’s a man and said he could handle the situation,” Agatha finished.
“Yes. I might have said some things in anger, but he didn’t come back here last night, and I’ve been worried that something might have happened to him again.”
“I’m certain he’s fine,” Agatha said.
“Yes,” Helena chimed in. “Now, for what we really came for. Agatha wants to introduce you to some of her friends since you are to become part of our family.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I don’t think that would be very wise. My family is now considered outcasts to the ton.”
“But you are going to be a duchess,” Helena interjected. “You have no idea what a title of such magnitude will do in swaying people’s opinions.”
“If they didn’t want to be my friend before, I don’t care to be their friend after I marry Duncan. If I marry Duncan.”
“Don’t speak in such a manner,” Agatha chastised her. “Of course you and Duncan will marry and make us great-aunts many times over.”
“Who told you?” Penelope whirled on Agatha, demanding an answer. The woman’s words had caught her off guard, and she realized too late that she had meant nothing by it.
“What’s gotten into you, Penelope?” Agatha asked.
“Oh, dear,” Helena said. “Come, sit down,” she took Penelope’s shaking hand and led her to the settee so that she was sandwiched between the sisters. “Penelope, are you going to have a baby?”
“Mrs. Jenkins believes I am,” she said with a sniff.
“But this should be a time of great joy,” Agatha said.
“You’ve never been an unmarried woman expecting a child,” Helena explained to her sister.
“It’s not even that,” Penelope said, “well, not completely.”
“What else is it?” Agatha asked.
“What if I have to raise the baby by myself because he gets himself killed?” she asked, verbalizing her fears for the first time.
“Oh, dear, everything will be just fine, you’ll see. Duncan has always taken care of the family since inheriting the title,” Agatha defended her oldest nephew.
“Yes, he was able to protect three women very well, wasn’t he? And what of the other night? Any other man would have been killed.”
“But he wasn’t,” Agatha countered.
“And he might not be so lucky next time. For that matter, I might not be so lucky. And I was being poisoned and didn’t know I was pregnant. What if it did something to the baby?”
“Now you’re just borrowing trouble,” Helena said. “You take one day at a time, do you understand me? That’s all you can do.”
“Have you told Duncan?” Agatha questioned her.
“No. He has enough to worry about. Mrs. Jenkins is the only other person that knows.”
“And she can be trusted with the information?” Helena asked.
“Yes, she used to be Duncan and Reese’s nanny.”
“Then she will take excellent care of you. Now, no more crying, everything will work out just fine. A baby! It has been so many years since there’s been a baby in this family. Oh, I can hardly wait,” Agatha exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. “Now about that party tomorrow.”
“I don’t think I should—”
“You definitely should. You will be entering your confinement before you realize it. You need to get out and enjoy yourself before that happens,” Agatha said.
“If you insist.”
“Of course, I insist. I want Helena to join us, but she has some silly notion about not going out without her dear Henry, and of course, he’s still observing the period of mourning for his late wife.”
“And what are you doing tomorrow night since you won’t be with us?” Penelope asked, wiping at her damp eyes with her embroidered handkerchief.
“Just staying in,” Helena replied, a sparkle in her eye.
“I think you’re planning something,” Penelope said,
“Perhaps, but for now it’s my secret. I will share it when it’s time. Now, let’s go upstairs and decide what dress you are going to wear tomorrow night.”
The ladies stood and left the small parlor, arm-in-arm. As they passed the kitchen, the sound of rattling dishes reached their ears. “Excuse me a moment.” Penelope stepped inside the kitchen. The smell of yeast tickled her nose and humming reached her ears. “Mrs. Jenkins.”
“Oh, Miss Penelope, you frightened me half to death, you did.” The older woman had a hand pressed against her chest.
“I’m sorry for that. Miss Helena and Lady Agatha are here. I was hoping you could fix us a tea tray and bring it to my room.”
“Of course, Miss Penelope. Right away.”
“No rush.” Penelope walked out of the kitchen and rejoined the ladies. “Shall we?” she asked and led the way up to her room. The women spent the rest of the afternoon deciding what dress and accessories Penelope would wear to the party. By the time she walked them to the door, she was changing her mind about attending.
Helena looked at her and tightly gripped her hands. “Agatha is right. You need to get out of here for a while. I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon to help you get ready, that way you can’t back out.”
“Thank you, both of you,” she hugged them tightly together. “I’ve never had, well…” she broke off before regaining her composure. “My mother and I aren’t very close,” she said, remembering the words her mother spewed at her.
“That’s just fine, because I find myself lacking in children,” Helena said, dropping a kiss on her cheek. Penelope looked up to see the older woman’s eyes bright with unshed tears.
“And I have no nieces whatsoever.”
“But you have a daughter.”
“A daughter who would desperately like the attention I shower on her placed somewhere else, especially when she thinks she is going to be sneaky about something. I swear, she and Grayson are going to be the death of me.” She opened the door and called over her shoulder, “I’ll see you tomorrow night. Remember the Jersey affair is always the most talked about of the season.”
