Chapter 8
ELEANOR LOOKED TOWARD the stables and beyond them to where they’d tied the horses.
Could she run in these skirts fast enough to reach that beautiful copper-colored gelding, jump on its back, and ride off? Would Hannah keep up? Or would these McKelvey men catch them?
Keir and Logan were deep in conversation with the butler, explaining the fictional predicament.
The butler sent a footman to bring the housekeeper and after a few words with the McKelveys, she stepped out between them and assessed the looks of Hannah and Eleanor.
“We should curtsy,”
Eleanor nudged Hannah.
“Come, come along,”
the housekeeper made a hurry-up gesture and by her size alone—wide of girth and tall as well—her unspoken command for the McKelveys to step aside and let them through the small side door was obeyed.
The girls followed the housekeeper into the castle and since they were not at the main entrance, they came first to a small foyer with pegs along the wall from which hung various cloaks and shawls.
“I’m Mrs.
Perkins.
I’ll be assigning you your tasks.”
She looked them up and down and made a face.
“The young lord says they rescued you.”
She clucked her tongue and reached out to push a short strand of hair back under Hannah’s cap.
“From I brothel, I suspect.
Well, we won’t speak of it.
We’ll get you cleaned up and into uniforms.
Follow me.”
Neither looked back, but they heard the door close and knew that Logan and Keir were on their way.
The butler passed by them, looking down his nose and curling his lip in disgust, then went through another passageway and disappeared.
They kept walking behind the housekeeper.
Eleanor tapped her on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, Mrs.
Perkins.
We have something we need to tell you.
And since I can deduce by your manner of speech that you’re English too, I’m sure you’ll understand.”
The large housekeeper stopped and turned, raised both eyebrows, and folded her arms. “Yes?”
“I am Eleanor … Beldorney.
I was meant to arrive with Captain Luxbury, but we were separated when the ship docked and—”
“Heavens!”
Mrs.
Perkins gasped.
“My oh my.
Oh, the Scotsmen who brought you …”
she dropped her arms, “… they didn’t know.
Oh my, oh my.”
She stared at their bonnets, struggling to find the words.
Finally she said, “The captain is in the study, just arrived.
I’ll inform him at once. Oh my.”
She wrung her hands.
“Oh, I must apologize.
I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right,”
Eleanor soothed the woman’s fears.
“We had to hide our identities.
We’ve had to conceal ourselves from highwaymen, sleep in a child’s loft, beg for food even … but we are here now.
Safe and sound.”
“Oh yes, oh yes.
Safe and sound.
Oh, the captain will be most delighted to see you.
I could tell he was not anxious to see Lord Beldorney.
But thankfully the master is not yet home.”
A maid came up behind them, the same one Eleanor had seen leading the nag to the stable.
Mrs.
Perkins clasped a large hand onto the girl’s wrist.
“Oh, Carla, you must take these ladies at once to the guest chambers, the ones we readied for Lord Beldorney’s niece.”
To Eleanor she said, “You and your maid,”
she nodded toward Hannah, “will find everything you need.
Everything.”
***
“WELL, MY DOUBTS are quelled,”
Hannah said once the door was closed and they were alone in the bed chamber.
“But when did we beg for food? That was the sole lie you told.”
Eleanor looked about the room and shook her head at the opulence.
The bed was large and had elaborate posts and a hand-carved hunting scene on the headboard.
The bed itself was laden with embroidered bedclothes and pillows and sat under a ceiling as high as the ones at Ingledew, twice the height of an average man.
There were two stuffed chairs at the foot of the bed and a large tub under a velvet-draped window.
The walls, except for the fireplace, were paneled and covered with oil paintings of landscapes and horses.
“Yes, I lied … for practice.
I don’t know what we shall tell Captain Luxbury.”
She walked to the table that held a lamp, quill pens, an inkwell, blotting paper and sand shakers.
She picked up a pen then set it back down, and glanced at the door to the adjoining room where Hannah would sleep.
“Look,”
Hannah pulled the wardrobe doors all the way open, “here are all our things.
The trunks must have been sent along.”
Eleanor came closer, eyed the clothing, and looked up at the top shelf.
“And there are wigs, hair switches, and wefts.”
There was a shy knock at the door and then it opened.
The maid, Carla, came in carrying a pitcher of water.
“I’m most sorry, m’ladies.
I brung ye some water to wash the dirt of yer travels away.
And I’ll light the fire.”
Carla set the pitcher down next to the bowl on the dressing table and then knelt down on the hearth.
Once she had the fire crackling, she bowed and backed her way out of the room as if they were both royalty.
“Do you think she knows?”
Hannah asked.
She untied her bonnet and shook her short hair out, then pulled a day frock from the wardrobe.
“Servants know everything.”
Eleanor sighed.
“We’ll have to get them on our side somehow.
And we need to decide exactly what we tell the captain about how we got off the ship.
I don’t think we should tell him about the disguises.”
She lifted a dress out of the wardrobe.
“This looks similar to what we were wearing when he last saw us.
I think I’ll change into this one.
Before she started to undress, she carefully removed the brooch she’d pinned inside the bodice of the dress Fenella had lent her.
She’d felt the rounded edges of the brooch when she’d vulgarly grasped her bosom in front of Thomas and the others.
She was vaguely mortified by her action then—who was she that she could be so ill-mannered?—but … that was water under the bridge.
Whatever the men, and Keir in particular, thought of her then, they weren’t going to see that El again.
She realized she’d unconsciously made the decision to be who she was meant to be: the Hanover heir.
She intended to learn how to be a Lady and embrace her feminine side.
No more being a lad. If she saw Keir again, she would make him fall in love with the real her.
“Are you deaf now?”
Hannah raised her voice.
“I’ve asked for your help three times.
Where is your head?”
Eleanor looked over at Hannah, struggling with buttons and hooks, and apologized.
“I was thinking … that I want to learn all that the Beldorneys can teach me … us … and then … perhaps the McKelveys will spirit us away to the Highlands.”
“Didn’t you hear?”
Hannah snorted.
“Keir is betrothed.”
“I heard.
And he did not sound enthused.
I have six weeks to become … whatever it is he wants in a woman.
I’ll find out from Fenella.”
“Fenella? There’s another bit of conversation you must have missed: Lord and Lady Beldorney do not entertain their daughter-in-law at the family seat.”
“Mm, I did hear that.
We shall make it our mission to mend that fence.”
She slipped the clean dress over Hannah’s head then gave a disconcerting sigh as she discovered a tear in the seam. “Oh no.”
Hannah looked down at the seam.
“I saw a sewing kit on the night table.
I can fix it.”
***
BERNARD LUXBURY NEARLY had an apoplectic fit upon seeing Eleanor enter the study from the great hall.
The room was bright enough, the drapes open and the windows tall and wide, with sunlight streaming in, but he couldn’t believe his weary red eyes.
His foot caught on a ripple in the Persian rug and he slid forward, catching his balance by grabbing a six-foot candle stand.
He gripped the iron base, turning his knuckles white, and choked out two words, “You’re here!”
He straightened himself, let go of the iron, and bowed.
“I’m most happy to see you.
Please, please forgive me.
I did not mean to abandon you.
I mean I did not abandon you.
The ship’s inspectors made a mess of your trunks.
By the time I got things put back, you were gone. I … I … I sent them on and came searching for you.”
Eleanor smiled, motioned Hannah to come stand next to her, and said, “We were wholly capable of finding our way here, Bernard.
We shall not mention the trouble again.”
“I was in a terrible state of alarm.”
“Your trepidation was unwarranted.”
Eleanor made a slight curtsy to signal the subject was closed.
To Hannah she said, “Shall we sit?”
They took the long settee and made themselves comfortable.
Luxbury picked an armchair near the window and sat on the front edge of it, stiff and straight.
“My word.
You look … most beautiful.
What did Lady Beldorney say at your …”
he stared at Eleanor, “ … your arrival?”
“We’ve not seen the master or the mistress of the house.
We thought it best if you introduced us, Bernard.
We’ve just arrived this forenoon.”
“Today?”
A strange look fell over Luxbury’s face; he relaxed and inched back into the chair.
“Of course, of course.”
He thrummed his fingers on his knees.
“I’m sure that before you left Ingledew Lady Beth told you why you are to be called Eleanor Beldorney, did she not?”
“Indeed.
She said you had Scottish relations … and since this is the Beldorney estate, I assume Lord Beldorney is your … uncle?”
“Not quite.
He’s a cousin of my father’s; they would stay with us on visits to England.
As a young lad I’d listen to their politics.”
Luxbury kept his focus on Eleanor.
“They are most eager to help you.”
“When do you suppose we will meet them?”
Hannah asked.
Luxbury startled at her voice, looked at Hannah as if for the first time, and answered, “Yes, well, the butler has informed me that they left early this morning to visit their daughter.
They had word of a new grandchild.”
“How fortunate for them.”
Eleanor clasped her hands on her lap.
“Is that their only grandchild?”
“Oh no.
Their son … once a lad I looked up to when they visited us … has a son of his own.
Though there’s some bad blood between them when he married a woman not of the family they wished.”
“How dreadful.”
She turned her head to Hannah and mouthed Fenella’s name.
“I dare say, Mistress Eleanor,”
the captain tugged at his collar, “there is something most intriguing about your beauty today.”
“Is it my hair?”
She touched her head where Hannah had hastily clipped on the switches closest in color to her own hair.
“Perhaps.
Your face is aglow though.
Was your journey strenuous? How did you get here from the ship? Where did you stay last night?”
His face wrinkled into a frown.
Hannah reached over and patted Eleanor’s hand.
“Captain Luxbury, it was not an ordeal.
We were helped by two fine Scotsmen to whom we promised a reward.
Should they return in a day or two or three, we should hope you’ll allow us to present them with a healthy purse.”
“Of course, of course.”
Luxbury acknowledged Hannah, but kept his eyes on Eleanor.
***
“I CANNAE STAY and wait for this redcoat to appear,”
Thomas complained.
“Me farm needs me.”
He was riding between Logan and Keir, walking their horses toward the nearest village and scouting the lanes for a carriage and an English soldier who’d be escorting the Hanover heir to the Beldorneys’ estate.
Hubert was trailing behind.
“I think we should all turn back,”
he shouted over his horse’s head.
“I’ll come back in a few days wi’ me son.
’Twon’t be suspicious.
I’ll check on the lads, maybe meet the king’s future wife.”
He chortled and his horse nickered as if the dumb animal was a part of the conversation.
Keir turned in his saddle and nodded.
“If ye can stand us for a week or so, me brother can tend to yer chores and I’ll help ye build that extra room ye’ll be needin’ by summer’s end.”
Hubert puffed his chest.
“Fenella told ye, did she?”
“Aye, she did.”
Keir winked at Logan.
“Should we tell wee Logan where bairns come from?”
The men all laughed and Thomas, now in the lead, began to change directions.
Logan rode next to him, but Keir reined Copper back to ride alongside Hubert.
“She also told me yer sister is up the sprout ag’in.”
He waited until Hubert nodded.
“And she’d like the cousins to ken one another.”
“Aye, she’s mentioned it.
She doesna ken I’ve been sneakin’ off wi’ Huey so’s he can meet his Seanmhair.”
Keir looked away.
“Aye, the lad only has one grandmother.
He should feel that love.”
“Aye, an’ speakin’ o’ love … were ye goin’ ta tell me of yer upcomin’ nuptials?”