Chapter 38
Thomas was hungry. He’d traveled for far longer than he’d anticipated.
In his excitement to put things to rights with Lady Lavender, he’d pushed the creature too hard at the beginning of the journey, and his pace was achingly slow for the remainder.
It was an exercise of patience in the cruelest form.
When he finally reached Everleigh Park, he tied up the mare next to the stables.
Not a stable hand was to be seen. It was no matter.
Thomas would care for the creature himself once he ascertained whether Lady Lavender was here like he hoped.
Rolling back his shoulder, Thomas opened the back door that led to the kitchens.
The cook screamed, threw her hands into the air, and then began throwing pots at his head.
Thomas extricated himself from the woman by taking shelter behind the door he’d just entered through.
“Mrs. Chambers,” he called. “It’s me, Lord Fenleigh. ”
She gasped. “Your Grace!”
He poked his head back in to see her picking her way across the floor and kicking pots and pans to the side to clear a way for him to enter. “Is it safe to enter?” He chuckled.
She pulled the door open and swatted at his arm. “Let me see you.”
He looked down into her weathered face and smiled.
“What did you do to your face? You are under that ridiculous beard, aren’t you?”
Thomas chuckled. “I assure you, I am here and aside from this,” he pulled on his facial hair, “I feel better than I have in a long time.”
“Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
She wiped her hands on her apron and then planted them on her hips. “Try me.”
Just then the door to the kitchen swung open. “Mrs. Chambers, is everything alright?”
Thomas’s jaw dropped to the floor. He’d never seen something more beautiful: the woman he loved standing in the doorway. “Lady Lavender?” He swallowed thickly.
She covered her mouth with her hand. “Tom? What are you doing here?” Her voice shook.
He strode to her and pulled her to his chest. “You’re here. I can’t believe you are here.” He kissed the top of her head.
She pushed him away. “Me? I can’t believe you are here. You are not supposed to be here.” Her head fell into her hands, and her body began to shake. “I can’t believe you followed me! Why can’t you simply let me do what I must?” She turned to go.
“Wait,” Thomas rushed to stop her. He planted himself in the doorway that led to the rest of the house. “We must speak.” He reached out to touch her, but she stepped further from him.
Mrs. Chambers cleared her throat. “I believe he owes us all an explanation, my lady.”
The hairs on the back of Thomas’s neck rose with awareness.
He turned to see Mr. Alby, Mrs. Howard, and a host of other servants lining the corridor beyond.
They were his people, the people he’d chosen and trusted for years, at his back.
A lump formed in his throat. He’d missed each and every one of them.
“You all deserve an explanation. But none more than this beautiful lady.” His eyes combed Lady Lavender’s face.
“If you will allow me a walk in the garden, I promise to return here and report to everyone the state of things.”
Lady Lavender swallowed audibly. She turned toward Mrs. Howard—who was crying openly. “Mrs. Howard, would you be so kind as to accompany us outside?”
So she was afraid of being alone with him. That had never been the case before.
The housekeeper bobbed a curtsey and bustled over to Thomas. She laid her hand on his face and searched his eyes, her care and concern etched across her face. Then she turned to Lady Lavender, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Of course I will.”
Lady Lavender led the way outside, and the cool of the evening washed over Thomas as he jogged to catch up. He held out his arm, which she looked at skeptically before she took it lightly. “How did you find me, Tom?”
Thomas rubbed the back of his neck and looked over his shoulder to find Mrs. Howard following a ways behind them. “Jack left me a note.”
She looked hurt. “He promised me he wouldn’t say anything for a purple frog.”
“In all fairness, he never opened his mouth. I was impressed that he was able to write. We haven’t practiced that at all.” He stopped their walking and turned her to face him. “Why did you come here?”
Lady Lavender sighed. “Because someone I trust suggested that the Duke of Fenleigh might be a good match for me. I came to try to convince him to consider an alliance. And I came for the comfort of his library.”
He pulled her closer to his side and felt her intake of breath. “Lady Lavender, I fear I have been keeping a secret from you.”
She looked up at him, hurt marring her porcelain features.
“I am the Duke of Fenleigh.”
She stopped walking, her brows knit together, but she kept her gaze trained on his face. “What?”
He placed the palm of her hand over his heart. “I am Thomas Monteclare, the Duke of Fenleigh.”
Hurt and confusion played across Lady Lavender’s face.
“Please forgive me. I wanted to tell you. I tried multiple times, but . . .”
“But you couldn’t trust me.”
If anything the hurt in her voice was more painful than the look in her eyes.
“Far from it,” he rushed to explain. “I couldn’t tell you because association with the Duke of Fenleigh would put you, your family, and Miriam and Samuel’s family in severe danger.” He took both her hands in his. “I didn’t tell you, because I love you enough to want what is best for you.”
She pulled her hands from his and pounded the side of her fists into his chest. “Stupid, stupid, man! I told you that I loved you,” she choked on her words. “And still you didn’t confide in me.”
Thomas took the beating and allowed each of her blows to pierce another layer in his heart.
When the pounding lost some of its fervor, he cupped her elbows in his hands.
“You’re right, I was stupid, and scared, and I kept hoping that someone else would solve my problems with my cousin.
But I never intended to hurt you. You are so much more than I deserve.
I don’t think I would have ever believed your affections to be true if I was Thomas Monteclare.
But you proposed marriage to Tom Smith, and as much as I like him, I am not him.
” He pressed her hands into his chest, hoping she would feel the wild beating beneath her touch.
He remembered that he still very much looked the part of Tom Smith—dirty, travel worn, and scruffy.
“If you love Tom, then I must hope you might also come to love me as well. Would you be so kind as to give me a chance?”
“What precisely are you suggesting?” She looked at him warily.
He’d expected this from her, the second guessing that she would do when he revealed himself.
He could be patient and wait for her to see that he and Tom Smith were one and the same, but the lives they led were vastly different.
She’d prepared herself to become a servant for Tom.
What would she be willing to risk for Thomas?
“I suggest you allow me to lead you back inside. I’ll explain to my staff where I’ve been. Then I will take you up to whatever rooms Mrs. Howard has prepared for you.”
Lady Lavender’s cheeks bloomed crimson. She opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it again, and Thomas continued, “You will go to bed and wake up to find an altogether different looking Thomas Monteclare waiting for you in the breakfast parlor. I’d like you to know me, the real me.”
“And what happens if I decide to go back to London or to Gardner Manor after breakfast?”
Thomas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I wish I could say that I’d simply let you go, but I refuse to mislead you again. Lavender Gardner,” he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “wherever you go, I will follow.” He kissed her temple.
She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his shoulder. “This is a lot to take in.”
“Yes, yes it is.”
“But I am willing to try.”
Thomas’s heart took flight. Some women might have thrown themselves at him learning he was a duke, but he just felt lucky she wasn’t knocking him aside the head.
He’d always known what kind of woman she was, and now it was just confirmed.
She was more loyal, thoughtful, and true. “Thank you, Lady Lavender.”
Mrs. Howard sniffed behind them. They both turned her way.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” she blubbered, wiping at her eyes. “I’m only here as a chaperone.”
Thomas led Lady Lavender back inside and allowed her to sit at the edge of the gathering that awaited them.
He stood amidst his staff who felt more like friends than they ever had despite his months of absence.
“I apologize for leaving you all as I did. At the time, it seemed like a lark to distract me from the whisperings of society.” He made eye contact with Mr. Alby who was shaking his head. “It seems I made them all the worse.”
“I’d say,” a voice from behind him called.
Thomas turned to see Jack framed in the doorway, his orange hair sticking up at all angles and a smile so big it threatened to split his face.
“I’ll have you all know I’ve trained this fine gentleman to be one of the most accomplished gardeners in all of England.
You’d be hard pressed to find a singing goose as dedicated to the dirt as him. ”
Thomas chuckled and motioned toward Jack. “Everyone, this is Jack. And for the past few months, I’ve been his assistant under the Duke of Gilfordshire’s employ.”
A mixture of laughter and gasps went up from the gathered servants.
Thomas held up his hands. “I’ve been in London, hiding from the rumors, and hoping to find something that would clear my name so that I might properly court the loveliest woman of my acquaintance.”
One of the stable hands whistled and Thomas watched Lady Lavender hide her cheeks in her hands.
“I have come to understand better how much I need you all in my life. And I thank you for staying on and keeping the estate running properly. Thanks to Lady Lavender, we have some evidence of a plot that has been ongoing to prove me a traitor to the crown. If all goes according to my hopes, all charges will be dropped. If it does not work out the way I intend, I want you all to return to your families. In all honesty, I don’t know what will happen. ”