Chapter 5
“I am so sorry!” Nessa cried in vain. “I … I did not see you.”
She had an empty teacup in her hand, while the other hand was half-extended toward Lord Thornwyck as if she meant to use it to wipe the mess from his clothes.
Not that such a thing was possible. Her tea was soaked through his suit, and even if she just happened to be holding a towel, there was nothing she could do.
Lord Thornwyck stood frozen and rigid.
His jaw was clenched. His face was red. And while he did not look at her directly, Nessa could feel his annoyance at her – for good reason!
“Allow me to clean it up,” Nessa said desperately. “Please, if you will just allow me to fetch a towel –”
“It is fine,” he said through his clenched jaw.
“It is everywhere,” she said, panicking. “Please, if I can just –”
“No!” he snapped.
Nessa balked and then shrank back. She was just over five feet tall, so she hardly reached Lord Thornwyck’s chest. He stood over her like a volcano threatening to explode, but while her instincts told her to turn and run, she ignored them.
“I am so sorry,” she said softly, bowing her head. “Truly, I have made a mess of everything.”
She expected rage. She expected him to chastise her. While she knew little of Lord Thornwyck, she suspected that he was quick to anger, just as she knew that this right here was a justifiable reason for him to find that anger and unleash it.
With her head bowed, she attempted to look humbled.
Nothing was said for a moment, even though she could feel him watching her. She tried not to shake and tremble. And all the while, she braced for his rage …
“It was an accident,” he said eventually, his words sharp and clipped. “I ought to have been looking where I was going.”
Nessa snapped her head up in surprise. “No, it is not –”
“It is,” he cut over her, again done sharply.
“I …” He clicked his tongue as if to bite back his anger.
But as he looked down at her, the storm in his eyes was strangely calm.
While he had every right to be angry, it was almost as if he felt sorry for her.
“Mistakes happen, Miss Kavanagh. Unless you mean to tell me that this was done on purpose?”
“Of course not!”
“And there we have it.” He nodded once. “An accident is all this was, so there is no need to apologize.”
She looked at him with bewilderment, not even trying to hide it. “Thank you, My Lord. That is very kind.”
“Do not mention it.”
Silence fell between them, but it was not awkward. Lord Thornwyck looked at her as if in assessment, thoughts passing behind his eyes that she could not begin to guess at. Again, there was no anger there, just pity as if he were somehow in the wrong.
“I best clean up,” he said finally. “Good day.” With that said, he turned and stormed away.
“That was odd.” Morag appeared in the doorway. “I was certain he was going to unleash a fury on you that might see the house burn down.”
“As was I …” Nessa looked to where Lord Thornwyck had vanished.
She could not have been more confused by what had just happened, struck by a sudden realization that all she had thought about the earl, everything she was certain of regarding him and his nature, was wrong.
I do not know him at all.
***
As Nessa made her way through the castle, she did her best to squash the voice that screamed in the back of her mind that this was a bad idea.
Perhaps the voice was right? Perhaps this was the stupidest thing she had ever done? Or perhaps it would lead to the answers that she so desperately sought.
What other choice do I have?
She had spent much of the day thinking about the two portraits that Lady Honora had left her; the locket stayed around her neck, and she felt its weight as she walked.
As far as Nessa was concerned, those two portraits, and that single word scribbled on a piece of parchment, proved she had a long-lost sister.
What she did not know, and what she needed to find out, was who that sister might be.
Oh, how she wished that Lady Honora was still alive to tell her more. Was that always the plan? If she had lived even one more day, would she have told Nessa the truth of it? But if that were the case, why had she waited until this trip? Why the secrecy?
Nessa could only surmise that this trip north had something to do with her sister …
If Nessa had returned home to her mother, she would have asked her instead.
Nessa had been just a girl when her father had left her and her mother to fend for themselves, and she had not heard a word from him since that day.
As far as she was concerned, she had no father, and that was how she had lived her life since.
No doubt this sister was from her father’s side of the family. Had her mother known? Had she kept this secret from her? And why?
There were so many questions, and after a day spent in thought, Nessa could conceive of just the one way that she might find answers.
Well, to be fair, there were two ways.
She had to assume that Lady Honora brought her here for this purpose, which implied that Thornwyck Hall was somehow connected. And if so, it stood to good reason that Lord Thornwyck might have an answer for her, and if not an answer, an idea where to start.
Of course, the mere thought of approaching Lord Thornwyck with such a question brought Nessa little joy and plenty of fear. He had already done so much for her, and she did not like the idea of accusing him of keeping secrets.
That left just one other person to ask …
Nessa made her way to Lady Verity’s feather room, expecting to find her there. Annoyingly, the room stood empty, which left Nessa to search for her – frustrating, as she was not certain if approaching Lady Verity was the correct thing to do in the first place.
She tried the morning room next, then the reading room, even the library. All to no avail, and the longer that Nessa searched, the more she began to wonder if Lady Verity had left the estate. It was possible, and maybe even a sign that this was one objective that she ought not be pursuing.
However, as Nessa climbed the servants’ staircase in the eastern tower, passing a small window that looked over the estate’s garden, she finally learned where Lady Verity had gotten to.
Lady Verity stood with Lord Crispin in the garden, hidden among the rows of hedges, so if Nessa hadn’t been perched so high up, she likely would not have seen them at all.
And while it was not so strange to see Lady Verity and Lord Crispin together, it was the manner in which they acted that had Nessa staring in confusion, the sense that she was witnessing a moment not for her eyes.
It seemed to Nessa that Lady Verity was pleading with Lord Crispin.
More than once, she reached for his hand, only for Lord Crispin to snatch it away and turn his back on her.
Again … and again. Finally, Lady Verity contorted her face in anger as Lord Crispin shook his head sadly, and Lady Verity turned and stormed away.
This left Lord Crispin looking at where Lady Verity had just stood, the expression on his face unreadable from where Nessa watched. Contemplative? Sad, perhaps? She wished she could tell.
What on earth is going on …
Suddenly, Lord Crispin turned sharply, and his gaze lifted toward the very window that Nessa was peering out from. If she was thinking straight, Nessa would know that he likely could not see her from where he stood, but such a realization did not find her.
Nessa gasped and fell backwards, nearly tumbling down the stairs. And then, taken by the sense that she had witnessed something she ought not have, she fled down the staircase as if being chased.
She could not begin to understand what she had just seen, but she knew one thing to be true. It was a conversation not for her eyes, and she would do better to forget it entirely.
Good luck with that! As she ducked into her room and closed the door, all Nessa could think about was the way Lady Verity had been begging Lord Crispin, the cold manner in which he had denied her, and the undeniable sense that they were keeping secrets they wanted nobody else to learn.
I cannot help wondering if that includes Lord Thornwyck …