Chapter 13 #2
“Guests here?” His brows rose in surprise.
“I can’t remember the last time anyone came to call for any purpose other than tragedy.
” He fell silent a moment, then touched her chin, tilted her face, and forced her to meet his eyes.
“’Tis all right, Claire. Something had to change.
You were right, the house was dead, along with its keepers. Past keepers,” he corrected.
She saw a transformation in his eyes from the angry laird he had been when she’d first arrived to the strong and confident man before her. He looked at her as if she truly mattered to him. Her heart sped up.
“Shall we go see what miracles you all have wrought?” They started up the walkway together, and halfway there, he reached for her hand.
Hidden amongst the trees, a hooded figure watched as Claire and Jules entered the house. The dark figure balled her fists as frustration and rage rose within her. She desperately fought to control her temper.
Jules was in love with Claire, and yet she did not leave him. Now it was time for her to break Jules’s heart. Claire would pay for not following orders. There was no mistaking that look in his eyes. Did the girl not see what she had accomplished? Or, had she changed her mind?
Claire had been warned what would happen if she didn’t do precisely what the woman had laid out for her.
Yet her orders were being dismissed. The woman smothered the venom rising within her.
No matter. She would regain all the power and her revenge soon enough.
There would be no more waiting and watching.
No more bribery. No more force. Only action.
The woman stepped back into the woods, where she had tethered her horse. Swinging up into the saddle, she noted that the sky was leaden, clouds rolling, scudding with the wind. She lifted her head and smiled as a gust of moist wind touched her cheeks.
A storm was coming to Kildare Manor.
Jules smiled as he looked about his study.
The swords no longer dominated the space.
They still remained, but now seemed to blend into the serenity of the still-sparse chamber.
His desk had been moved to the opposite side of the room so that he could look out the window onto the newly threshed field.
He’d been gone only five days, and the place looked better than he ever remembered it looking, despite his desperate lack of funds.
When he had returned home, he hadn’t seen anything but Claire.
All else had faded from view but the voluptuous vision that had come toward him in the drive.
He’d had to clamp his teeth together to keep from calling out to her.
And then he’d seen the look of concern in her eyes, and his heart had raced in his chest and swelled with pride.
She was his.
Jules no longer tensed at the thought of a wife.
His bride. His home. His new life. What had he ever done to deserve all this?
A week and a half ago, he had only wanted to be left alone.
Now he couldn’t imagine a life without Claire.
The part of himself that had been so empty before felt suddenly filled.
And he realized his love for Jane had never been the all-consuming sensation Claire evoked.
With a sigh of contentment, he sat in his chair behind the big desk and awaited Fin. He’d asked one of his new servants to send the steward to him there.
Waiting for the retainer, Jules smoothed his hands across the spotless surface of the desk. They’d not only tamed the outside, they had applied fresh paint to the walls, swept out all the mice and cobwebs, and polished what furnishings still remained in the house to a shine.
“Milord.” A knock at the door brought him out of his ruminations.
A young woman opened the door and curtsied. “Master Fin fer ye, milord.”
“Thank you, Betsy,” Jules replied, unable to keep the grin from his face. He had servants. And food in the larder. And a home, thanks to Claire, his friends, and the slightly bent, aging man before him. Jules stood and gestured Fin toward the chair he had just vacated. “Sit, please.”
“Nay, lad.” Fin frowned. “’Tis yer chair.”
“Please, Fin, sit.”
With a shrug, the older man made his way behind the desk and sat. “What happened tae ye? Yer face looks like ye’ve taken a hit or two. Did the debt collectors find ye?”
“Not creditors.” Jules said as he waited for Fin to settle himself.
“Then who?” the retainer asked, his frown deepening.
Jules shrugged. “It matters not. I escaped in far better condition than they did.”
His brow heavy with concern, Fin said, “Ye wanted tae see me?”
Jules nodded.
“I need to know about my father’s last days.”
Fin folded his arms over his chest and nodded.
“What do ye want tae know?”
Facing his steward, Jules paused. He didn’t know where to start as one question after another filled his mind. “Why did my father never pay for my release?”
“He had not the funds fer one thing. And I think he was just as happy tae know ye were safe enough there. He mentioned tae me once that he’d made a mistake forcin’ ye tae come home from the Lennoxes.
He knew how much ye wanted to learn tae use a sword, and tae train as a knight.
He said he thought yer brother who wanted nothing tae do with battle would be safer with ye around. ”
“Safe from what?” Jules asked.
Fin shrugged. “I was close tae the man, but not privy tae all his doin’s.”
“What about Father’s behavior about six weeks ago? Was he doing anything unusual?” Jules continued.
“Not six weeks, but about a month ago. That’s when he started goin’ to Edinburgh. The first time he left in a hellfire hurry after receivin’ a note.”
“Grayson sent Father a note?” Jules asked.
Fin nodded. “Yer father was furious about somethin’. He sold off the last of the furnishings, and he and yer brother had a few heated fights.”
“About what?”
“I’ve been not listenin’ tae conversations around here fer so long, I couldna tell ye. But it was after the last argument that yer brother started drinkin’. Yer father’s heart gave out a week later. Yer brother died two days after that.”
As Jules listened, he tried to pull a timeline of the events together in his mind.
His own discussions with Grayson had started five weeks ago.
A week later, Grayson had involved Jules’s father without his knowledge.
A week after that his father was dead, and the following week Claire and he were married.
Jules released a ragged sigh. He may never know the truth about what had happened or why, but he could not let that stop him from what he had to do as the current laird.
“Thank you, Fin, for your honesty, and for your service as well.” Jules reached inside his coat to withdraw a small bag of gold coins, approximately one-third of what he had received from selling his mother’s ring.
He set the bag on the desk before Fin. “I am certain the estate owes you far more than this in back wages, but consider this a start toward your compensation.”
Fin’s tired gray eyes widened. “Where did ye get the funds?”
“I sold my mother’s ring.” He turned and picked up the box he had leaned against the wall. “This is for you as well.”
“I had my suspicions that yer father went back into yer mother’s grave fer it nae too long ago.” His voice sounded pained.
Jules frowned as yet another piece to the puzzle his father had left behind was revealed. “Why would he violate Mother’s grave to get the ring back?”
“He must have wanted ye tae have it somethin’ fierce tae do so,” Fin replied.
Jules stared at his steward a moment, trying to make sense of why his father had given Claire something so important as the ring.
Then after a moment, Jules forced his thoughts aside.
He could mull things over later after he did right by Fin.
Jules held the box out toward Fin, encouraging him to take it.
Fin stared suspiciously at the box, which was tied with a string. “What is it?”
Jules laughed. “Open it and find out.”
His lips pressed together in concentration, Fin pulled the string free, then lifted the lid to reveal a new gray suit, shirt, and shoes. Startled gray eyes searched Jules’s. “Milord? New clothes?”
“Yes, Fin. And when you change into them, promise me you will burn the others.”
“Thank ye, milord.” The steward smiled. “Thank ye, fer comin’ back here and fer facin’ what yer father and yer brother could not.”
A flicker of unease moved through Jules once more at the reminder, but he forced the thought away. He didn’t want to worry about that now. For the first time in years he felt eager and hopeful. He had every intention of enjoying the sensations while they lasted.
On that thought, he left the study and Fin in search of Nicholas.
Another third of the funds he had received would go to his friend as partial payment for all he had spent on Jules’s behalf.
The last third would go to that rapscallion from the village, Arthur Cabot, so that the young man would stop following Jules around.
Jules had been given a second chance at life, and he would find a way to pay for all his debts, including settling the one debt that annoyed him the most—the debt he owed to the mysterious person who had released him from gaol.
He did not want to be indebted to anyone ever again.