Chapter Sixteen
Once Adam learned from Clara that her friend would join her, his plan fell into place. He let a small house in Epsom for the ladies to use. Only they would not both use it, in truth.
He shared his genius with Langford and Brentworth that night at a gaming hall while they played the wheel.
“You are daring the devil,” Brentworth said. “At least half the ton will be at the Derby Stakes. The roads of Surrey will be crowded with carriages. Her brother is sure to attend. You could find yourself married at the point of a sword.”
“Don’t you understand? Stratton isn’t going to be at the Derby,” Langford said. “If you had the woman you wanted alone in a place of privacy, would you interrupt the idyll by wasting a day at a horse race?”
“Perhaps he wants to see the race. Maybe she does.”
“I promised she would see the race,” Adam said.
“She will not require it if you are not clumsy. Do I have to give advice on that too?”
“Please do not,” Brentworth said. “I beg it of you, and Stratton here insists, I am sure.”
Langford placed some bets. “I will wager both of you that there will be no nonsense about that race. I am confident that my vast knowledge of women is correct on this. Name the amount.”
“One hundred pounds,” Adam said.
Langford paused in laying down his bets. “I withdraw the challenge, if you bet that much. Since you have control on the outcome, I must conclude you will ensure you win even if it is against your interests.”
“If seduction were my only goal, I would not have to leave London. She wants to see the race, and I am going to considerable trouble to arrange that. So much trouble that even if she insists we forgo it, I will demand we see the plan through.”
Langford laughed. “No, my dear, we cannot stay in bed all day. We must ride to Epsom soon. Stop those caresses. I will not be persuaded by feminine wiles to change the plan.” He imitated Adam’s voice.
“Ignore him,” Brentworth said. “Look for my stand at the race. We will watch together and toast the winner, which I fully expect to be my horse.”
He and Langford began talking odds and competition. Adam watched the wheel spin. Three days until Clara joined him in Surrey. He was sure he would go mad before that.
* * *
Clara made a display of entering the house in Epsom with Althea. She stood on the street for at least five minutes while Mr. Brady carried their valises into the house. She greeted several women passing by whom she knew.
“Well done,” Althea said once they were both inside and the carriage had rolled away. “I will see you tomorrow morning, early. Now, it is almost two o’clock, and time for your rendezvous. Off with you.”
Clara gazed around the sitting room of the house, vaguely noting it looked cozy and welcoming. Most of her concentration was on everything that could go wrong with this adventure. A bad case of nerves had been building the last five miles.
“If my brother learns I am staying here and calls—”
“I will make sure he is none the wiser regarding where you really are instead.” Althea took her hands. “Of course, if you prefer to remain here, I will not accuse you of cowardice.”
“You would be more generous than I would be with myself. Still, I cannot deny that this is different from the last time. This time I am making a very deliberate decision well ahead of time.”
“I think this is the better way. Don’t you?”
Did she? It might be more thoroughly her choice, but it was not easier. She would not be able to pretend she had succumbed to surprise or been swept away by kisses in the magical moonlight.
She picked up her valise and walked to the back of the house.
“You should probably bribe the coachman to ensure his discretion,” Althea said, walking alongside her.
“I raised Mr. Brady’s wages yesterday. I think he knows why.”
“If not, he will soon.”
They left the house and walked through a small but tidy walled garden to the back portal. On its other side, her carriage waited. She gave Althea a kiss. “I will return in time to accompany you to the race tomorrow.” She climbed into the carriage and Althea waved her off. She pulled the curtains halfway closed.
The carriage left the town and aimed west. The roads in this direction showed none of the crowding they had experienced coming down. That crush had slowed travel considerably, enough that at times passengers climbed out and walked to friends’ carriages and climbed in. When they had stopped to rest and water the horses, five of her brother’s Mayfair neighbors took air among the crowd in the coaching inn’s yard.
Stratton’s property was near Guilford, in the opposite direction. When they were well away from Epsom, she pushed back the curtains and enjoyed the passing countryside.
After an hour they turned off the main road and up a private lane. When the trees broke away and the house came into view, Clara had to laugh. Stratton’s small secondary property was probably one of the biggest houses in the county. Its size was its most ostentatious feature. Otherwise the gray stone and restrained design indicated it was not very old.
Stratton came out while the coachman handed her valise to a footman. After welcoming her and giving the footman instructions to seek out the housekeeper, he had a private word with Mr. Brady. Clara could not see what was said, but she thought she saw a coin being palmed from the duke to the driver.
“Did you tell him about tomorrow?” she asked when Stratton rejoined her and escorted her into the house.
“With tortured precision. He will meet us at a designated place outside Epsom and be waiting from nine o’clock on.”
“This will be an unusually lucrative employment for him, I think, since I also paid him extra for his silence.”
“Not enough. Nor did he misunderstand my expectations and my subtle threat when he took that guinea. He is not a stupid man.”
A guinea! Whoever knew that sin could be so expensive?
She had not known what to expect when she arrived. Not the formalities that engulfed her. She found herself treated like any guest. A housekeeper arrived to bring her to her chamber. A maid waited there to unpack her valise and to aid her undressing for a rest. Before leaving, the maid promised to wake her to prepare for dinner.
She checked her pocket watch and judged there to be at least three hours before the maid would return. Since she felt no need to rest, being stuck here annoyed her. In the least Stratton could have invited her to explore the house and garden on her own if he did not want her company right away.
She did not know how lovers were treated when trysts were arranged, but she had never guessed she would be bored.
* * *
The butler accompanied Adam upstairs. While he went through the predictable steps of being settled in, his mind timed how Clara’s own welcome was progressing.
“We have prepared the apartment for you, Your Grace. A footman, Timothy, will serve you. He is experienced as a valet.”
“Excellent.” They would be showing Clara her chamber now.
Adam turned on the landing to ascend to the next level, where his apartment spread.
The butler did not. “Your Grace, we moved everything to the duke’s apartment. I hope we did not err.”
Her maid is unpacking her valise now.
“Not at all.” He accompanied the butler to the door of the chambers last used by his father and steeled himself against an onslaught of memories.
He had not been to Kengrove Abbey since the day his father’s remains were transported north. He had not intended to enter these private spaces on this visit. Now, with the butler on his heels, he turned the latch with foreboding.
The doors swung wide, revealing a foreign place. He paced inside, accommodating his reaction. Nothing at all remained of the apartment he knew. Nothing of the last duke. These chambers might have been in another house. She is inspecting the chambers and the prospects from the windows now.
He had intended to avoid the memories, but now he felt robbed of them. “What happened here? Who made these changes?”
“The duchess, Your Grace. Letters came from France with her instructions, long ago.”
His own books now filled the shelves in the sitting room. His own garments filled the new wardrobe. He entered the bedchamber. Every item of furniture had been changed and the walls repainted and papered. The bed had even been placed differently.
“What did you do with my father’s things?”
“They were boxed and placed in the attic.”
“And his personal papers?”
“Sent to Drewsbarrow, Your Grace.”
“Leave me,” he said. “Tell Timothy I will not want him until dinner.”
The door quietly closed behind the butler. Adam took one more tour of the foreign apartment. It had been his mother’s decision to do this. She must have guessed that he would avoid making changes himself.
She might have told him. Not knowing, he had resisted coming here since he returned to England. This had been their true home, not Drewsbarrow in Warwickshire. He had grown up here and in London. It might have been years before he used the apartment if it had not been redone.
He concluded that he liked the changes. He would not mind using the chambers because they did not hold those memories. They would be found elsewhere, of course. Eventually he would face them, but not for a long while yet.
Her maid is undressing her and inviting her to rest from her journey.
He removed his coats and rolled up his sleeves. He returned to the bedchamber and eyed one wall. The panels had been painted, but not removed. He placed his palm on one of them and gently pressed.
Finally he found the spot where the panel’s edge eased beneath his pressure. A faint click sounded, and the panel swung out.
Good, safe places, the solicitor had said. This was one of them, and there were others.
The first thing he saw was a stack of money. Mr. Leland would be shocked to know that many families did in fact keep thousands of banknotes in their homes.
He pushed those aside, then reached in to see what else hid behind the wall. She is alone now. The maid has left.
Five minutes later the contents of the hiding place lay on the bed. They included no jewelry. There were other such safekeeping places here at the Abbey that also should be examined.
He would take care of that later. Right now, other things claimed his attention, like the lovely guest in one of the chambers above.