Chapter 20 #2
They moved away. He lugged his burden to the back of the garden, and dropped it with relief on the ground.
He looked for a place to stash it near the portal.
A bench backed by low, thick boxwood seemed the best place.
Lifting the box again, he carried it there, and shoved it under the bench, then back until the boxwood swallowed it.
Spent from the effort, he stretched his arms, then found his way back into the garden and along the wall. Up ahead, near the door into the carriage house, he saw Gareth and Lance. And someone else.
“But you know me, Hector,” Lance was saying. “I am a duke now. A peer. You really should not threaten one of us. It isn’t done.”
“It really isn’t,” Gareth said.
“I know you be a thief, not a duke,” Hector said.
Ives walked up and joined them. He saw the problem. Hector had not merely confronted his brothers. Hector had brought a very, very big knife with him, that he brandished in the moonlight.
“I told you we should bring pistols,” Lance muttered when he noticed Ives by his side.
“You come with me now,” Hector said. “I bring you to Mrs. Lavender. You rob her, so she can decide what to do.”
He gestured for them to go in front of him. They walked to the house.
“Did he see you leaving with the press?” Ives asked.
“I don’t think so,” Gareth said. “He appeared to have arrived just as we did.”
When they got near the house, Ives looked up the long fire stairs. At the top, on the little terrace beneath the eaves, he saw a figure move. He hoped Padua had enough sense to stay up there.
Into the house they marched. Into the dining room. Hector went to the doorway, and called a servant girl. He spoke lowly, then took position, arms crossed and monstrosity of a knife at the ready.
The door opened and Mrs. Lavender hurried in, fussing. “I do not know what could be so important that you pulled me out of my—” She froze, and took in the three guests.
The knife pointed at them. “I found them in the garden, up to no good. Near the carriage house. I think they were going to steal the horses.”
She peered at the three of them. In particular she narrowed her eyes on Lance. He opened his arms and smiled.
“Mrs. Lavender, it is such a joy to see you again. It has been too long. Surely you have not forgotten me?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh! Ohhh.” She collected herself and executed an impressive curtsy. “Your Grace, we are honored.”
Poor Hector looked confused. Mrs. Lavender glared over at him. “This gentleman is an old friend of ours from years back. Surely you remember Lord Lancelot. Only he is a duke now. You have threatened a duke, Hector. A duke.”
Hector lowered the knife, and his head. Mrs. Lavender shooed him away. He left, much subdued.
She returned her attention to her guests. “Gentlemen, why were you in my garden?”
An awkward moment. Silence quaking.
Lance stepped forward, all smiles. “I thought to revisit the site of my fondest hours of my misspent youth. I could hardly walk in the front door, however.”
“Oh, goodness no, of course not. We are honored, Your Grace. The young ladies will be overwhelmed.” She peered at Gareth. “I do not recognize you.”
“I have never been here before.”
“He is my brother Gareth,” Ives said. “He is the youngest.”
“How unfair that the duke did not see to your initiation too.”
“Gareth took care of that himself long before my father would have thought of it,” Lance explained.
“Well, he must finally enjoy the refinements of our entertainments.”
“I must decline, generous though the offer is,” Gareth said. “I am only with Ives, who needed to show Lance where the garden entrance could be found.”
“You will find that little has changed, Your Grace, except the faces. If you would wait just a minute, I want to prepare my young ladies, so they greet you properly.” She sailed out of the dining room.
“I told you that you would make a mess of it if I were not with you,” Lance said. “Hector would have chopped you to pieces by now if not for me.”
“And now you will fall on your sword to spare us yet again,” Ives said. “How good of you.”
“That is what brothers are for.”
The door opened, and Mrs. Lavender beckoned. “Your Grace, all is ready.”
Lance squared his shoulders. “Gentlemen, enjoy your evening, and raise a toast to my sacrifice when you are in your cups.”
“Your selflessness moves us both,” Ives said.
“It should.” He sighed. “The things I do for the family.”
* * *
Ives shed Gareth once they left the house. He then circled back to the garden portal and climbed the fire stairs.
Padua waited for him in her chamber.
“I saw,” she said. “Did you get in before Hector found you?”
“We did, and I found the cellar. It contained nothing of interest.” He hated lying to her, but he had not completely reconciled his mind to what he had just done. Nor what he would do tomorrow night, when he returned with a carriage and moved the box and the press from this property entirely.
Hiding evidence was contrary to his sworn duty. It compromised his honor without recourse. No one would care that he did it to protect Padua.
He had acted on impulse. It could still be undone. One note to the Home Office or the magistrate would set all to rights.
With the choice weighing on his soul, he joined Padua in bed. He let her know through the kiss he gave her that there would be no passion tonight. He lay in the dark with her in his arms, assessing the fine mess this had become, considering his limited options and their unacceptable consequences.
“After your father’s trial, what will you do?” He knew she did not sleep yet, but the question sounded stark in the way it broke the silence.
“If I inherit—” She broke off. She would only inherit for one reason. “If I do, I think I will sell this house. Not to Mrs. Lavender. She can go elsewhere if she is determined to continue. I would like to see it become a school. I would accept much less if someone wanted it for that.”
“It could be your school.”
Her hair, so like fine silk, moved against his cheek when she shook her head. “I will take the money and go to Padua, and study. If by some mercy I do not inherit, I will make him give me the money you found in the books and go anyway, and find employment as a tutor while there.”
“I may not allow that.”
She kissed him, and he felt her smile. “You know you cannot stop me. I will have to go. I will be notorious here.”
He was risking his good name, his reputation, and everything that mattered to protect a woman determined to leave him.
He was either an ass, or . . . His embrace closed on her tighter as he acknowledged the truth behind what he did.
Behind the desire and even the pleasure now. Behind the tightness in his chest.
“If I cannot stop you, perhaps I will follow you.”
“To drag me back? It sounds romantic, but I do not think I would like it.”
“Not to drag you back. To join you.”
Her head turned. “Why would you do that? Your life is here.”
Tell her. She has a right to know. “So I can have my fill of you.” Coward.
She nestled down. “I would be happy if you visited me for a while.”
He pressed a kiss to her crown. “It might be a long while, Padua. A few months at least.”
She nodded subtly, then yawned.
He held her until she fell asleep. A few months. Perhaps a few years. Maybe forever.