Wicked Earl Seeks Proper Heiress (The Husband Hunters Club #5)

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

T he dower house was a redbrick square, with none of the character of Southbrook Castle, but, far more important than looks, it was a solid and substantial building. James and Rufus did not accompany them— evidently there were matters at the castle to attend to. Averil didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry that the earl wasn’t by her side. Breakfast had been a hasty affair and she’d only spoken to him once, to murmur a “Good morning,” and although he had smiled he had seemed distant.

Last night seemed like a dream, and she wondered if she had really understood him and his words as perfectly as she’d thought she did. With morning had come doubts, and try as she might Averil could not seem to shake them off.

When the three women arrived at the dower house, Douglas McInnes was already there, and was quick to hand Violet down from the vehicle.

He continued to show a marked preference for the girl, but Averil was relieved to see that the attention had not gone to her head. Far from it, in fact. Violet appeared a little amused by his singling her out, and knew how to keep her distance from the older man. She was a very pretty girl and she’d probably learned such lessons early in her life.

Douglas took a heavy set of keys from his coat pocket and opened the front door, which creaked protestingly. “The Southbrooks haven’t lived here for years, but it’s a good, solid house and it seems a shame for it to lie empty. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to repair any neglect and set it to rights again.”

Inside the rooms smelt disused and dusty, but far from being dark and gloomy, there was plenty of light coming through the many windows. Some of the rooms were still furnished with old- fashioned, solid pieces. Douglas left them to wander about as they pleased and when they entered the kitchen, Violet became quite animated.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. It was a vast room dominated by a massive stove and a wooden table with a dozen chairs. Like the other rooms the kitchen was well lit and in spite of its size had an air of coziness. Violet began to chatter about the amount of food that could be prepared here, and how she visualized it all happening. “It’s perfect!” she blurted out.

Averil agreed it did look suitable for their purposes and was considerably better than the kitchen at the Home, where they struggled to prepare adequate meals for the occupants. Violet’s ideas surprised her; they were well thought out and sensible.

The rest of the dower house provided her with more ideas. There were rooms that would be suitable for dormitory-style accommodation, as well as private areas. Perhaps they might consider taking in some orphans? Averil had felt for time that this was a matter they might explore. And some of the distressed women were mothers, so why not accommodate them and their children?

“I can see your mind ticking over,” Beth said, giving her a nudge. “What do you think? Will it do?”

Averil smiled dreamily. “I think so. Of course it’s a long way from the East End, but then that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

“They can come here and stay for however long you consider necessary, and then they can go out and find work in some of the larger towns. They may never return to London.”

“Many of the women are from outside the city in the first place, and were only drawn into London to look for work, before things went sour for them. It seems to be a recurring theme. I need to talk to Gareth about it, but . . .” She smiled.

“You want to do it,” Beth answered for her.

“Yes.” Averil forced herself to be practical. “There’s the matter of the money needed to make repairs and to keep the place in good condition. Do we buy it outright or lease it from the earl? Perhaps a lease and then, when I turn twenty- one, I will be able to purchase it myself. I feel like it’s my project, Beth. Something I can make my life’s work.”

Beth opened her mouth to remind her that life was more than work, but Violet interrupted.

“Lady Averil, we could grow our own vegetables here.” The girl was looking out the window at an overgrown garden. “The women could tend them and then pick them and finally cook them. Some of them don’t even realize that potatoes grow in the ground. They think they come ready mashed in a pot.”

Averil went to stand beside her. “That sounds marvelous, Violet.” It seemed that she and the girl were thinking along the exact same lines for once, and they exchanged smiles.

After an inedible breakfast at the castle, food was very much on their minds.

“I think it’s a wonderful place,” the girl said wistfully. “You’re going to take it, aren’t you?”

Was she? What if Gareth refused? But Averil knew she’d already decided. “Yes, Violet. I’ll do whatever I can to secure this place for our cause. And, if you’re willing, you can play a part in setting it up.”

Tears filled Violet’s eyes but she held them back, turning again to the window. “I-I’ll have to see,” she murmured. “I mean, I want to, Lady Averil, but there are reasons . . .”

“Of course,” Averil said briskly, hiding her disappointment.

She looked about her with satisfaction. Yes, this would do. It would do very well.

* * *

When they returned to the castle, Violet asked if Averil and Beth would accompany her to the kitchen. She looked secretive and yet there was a little smile playing about her lips, and Averil wondered what she was up to, as they followed her into the bowels of the castle.

The kitchen was like a stone vault and was probably the original castle kitchen, with an old-fashioned iron range placed where once the big fireplace would have been. A blackened pot was boiling violently, spitting its contents, while there were vegetables and bowls full of ingredients in various stages of completion jumbled on the scrubbed table. A woman with a round flushed face and wild eyes spun around to face them as they entered.

“Lady Averil?” she said in a quavering voice. “Oh, my lady, please, please, you must help me!” And then she burst into tears.

After they’d soothed the poor woman— whose name was Nora Hastings— and sat her down at the table while Violet made her a cup of tea, they discovered why she was at the end of her tether.

“When Mr. James asked me to do the cooking, he didn’t tell me the whole truth. He said there were only one or two people at the castle and no fuss, just good plain fare, but now he’s telling me I have to make all this Frenchified stuff and really, I can’t do it. I’ve never eaten a French meal in my life! Even my seed cake, something that has never failed me before, has gone terribly wrong. And the oven!” She turned to glare at it with hatred. “I just can’t get to grips with it at all.”

While Nora had been pouring her troubles into Averil’s and Beth’s sympathetic ears, Violet had been peering into the basins and sniffing the bits and pieces on the table. Now she took a deep breath and announced, “I’ll help you, Nora. Don’t worry. I’m used to cooking for hordes, and I’m rather good at it, too, even if that’s what Doctor Simmons would call immodest.”

Averil blinked. This was a Violet she had never seen before. Confident, in her element, she’d really blossomed. Not the sullen girl she had known at the Home, or the frightened girl she had been before they left. Bringing Violet with her had been the best thing she could have done, and despite her disappointment that Violet hadn’t leapt at her earlier offer, she was not sorry.

“Do you have a big family to cook for then, Violet?” Beth asked, also surprised.

“No, but I did all the cooking at—” She stopped herself, hurrying to move the spitting pot from on top of the range. It was something that had been worrying Averil, too, but she thought that Violet did it to avoid the question.

The girl still didn’t trust them.

Luncheon was soon underway, and Violet made them a delicious- looking chicken and vegetable pie with a crispy browned crust, as well as a fruit crumble for dessert. When the food was delivered to the dining room, everyone was so full of praise that Violet was scarlet with pleasure. Even Lady Melrose declared it the best food she’d ever tasted at Southbrook Castle.

“You should be a cook in a fine house somewhere,” James declared. “Surely there is someone in London who would take you on?”

Violet smiled, but didn’t really answer. Averil was getting used to her way of shrugging off awkward questions, but she was determined that soon she would have it out with the girl and finally get to the truth.

* * *

Beth looked out at the wet weather with unease. It had started raining after luncheon and it was much heavier now; the clouds were looking ominously thunderous. Lord Southbrook had taken Averil back to the dower house, where they were supposed to be meeting Mr. McInnes. Averil was keen to make some sketches of the rooms and various other details, so that she could show Gareth, as well as map out her future plans for the building once she was home in London.

“I shouldn’t have let her go alone,” she said now.

“Nonsense,” James said, peering over her head out of the window. “And besides, she isn’t alone, she’s with Rufus and Douglas. Quite safe.”

“Rufus. Exactly.” Beth gave him a meaningful look. “Averil has a spotless reputation despite her mother’s behavior, and she needs to keep it that way.”

James looked so shifty for a moment that all her senses were immediately on alert, but then he reached to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “You mustn’t worry, Beth. Rufus knows how to be a perfect gentleman, despite anything you might have heard to the contrary. In fact, it’s being a perfect gentleman that has worked against him.”

“What do you mean?”

“He could have told the world the truth about his wife, but he was too honorable to do that. He refused to hurt Eustace, so he has been treated as the villain of the piece ever since.”

“So he wasn’t? The villain, I mean? James, what did his wife do that was so terrible?”

James hesitated, and then sat down on the window seat beside her. “I’m talking out of school, I suppose, and for God’s sake don’t repeat any of this in front of Eustace. I don’t know why I’m telling you, really, but when Rufus met Meredith he was young and foolish, and she was very beautiful. One of those dark, sultry beauties with come-hither eyes. Totally unsuitable, of course. A rope maker’s daughter! She had him in the palm of her hand, and before he knew it they were running off to get married. But once the ring was on her finger she wasn’t all that interested in him anymore. She said he was too young, just a boy, and she wanted a man.”

“Oh dear.” Beth was shocked. Of course, she reminded herself, James was telling her his nephew’s side of the story. Meredith’s might have been quite different.

“For a while there we weren’t even sure that Eustace was his, but you can see the boy is a Southbrook through and through. There were other men, and it was one of them whom she was living with when Eustace was born. She needed a doctor but the fellow was too scared to call one, so he ran off and left her in some lodging house. By the time Rufus got there it was almost too late, and the doctor he found couldn’t do much, apart from save Eustace. As for Meredith . . .” He shrugged his shoulders. “She died. He was blamed for failing her. It was her family who put the rumor about. I suppose it suited them to make Rufus the villain, rather than their daughter, and he was too honorable to demur.”

It was scandalous, but Beth could not help but feel sorry for Rufus, despite his senseless behavior in running off with such a woman. Well, if what James had said was true, he had certainly paid for it. Beth didn’t know if she should mention any of this to Averil. Was allowing her charge to wander about the countryside in the company of such a man a good idea? And he being penniless to boot!

She reached to take James’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for telling me, James.”

James turned his hand over, looking down at their clasped fingers.

“Beth,” he began, “there is something I . . .”

She was expecting him to finally tell her that the castle was about to be sold, or the family was bankrupt.

“Dash it, I’m just going to say it,” James blurted out, making her jump.

“James?”

“No, don’t interrupt me or I’ll probably run for the door.” He took a steadying breath. “I know I’m not much of a catch, and I’m well past my prime, but ever since I met you I feel as if I’m a different man. A better man. My dear girl, do you think you could find it in your heart to marry me?”

Beth’s head was spinning. Oh dear, what now? James was such a nice man and she did like him. She might even love him. But she had no illusions about their situation. She hadn’t imagined for a moment that he would actually propose to her.

He must have seen her confusion and guessed its cause. His shoulders slumped.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve spoken too soon, haven’t I? Forget I said it and we’ll continue on as before, Beth.”

Beth knew he deserved more than her silence. She would be honest with him, just as he was being with her.

“James, I just didn’t expect . . . We get on well together and I enjoy your company, but our lives have been so different. I can’t help thinking that you’d be bored with me before very long, and if you went back to your old ways, well, I would be very unhappy. Marrying you would be a risk, and I’m someone who has always been cautious.”

He smiled, giving her a wheedling look that reminded her of Eustace when he wanted another slice of cake. “I could tell you that I’d be the perfect husband, but . . . Well, I’m not saying I may not do some foolish things if we married, but you can be sure that my love for you would be enough to ensure I pulled myself back onto the straight and narrow again. Because I do. Love you. After all these years I’ve fallen in love with a parson’s daughter. Who would have thought it?”

Tears stung her eyes and Beth could no longer keep up her cautious resolve. She went into his arms, and there was something so right about being there, so wonderful. And yet, as Beth had said honestly, she wasn’t a risk taker, and even if her heart was engaged her mind would rule any important decisions she made. It always had.

“I will have to think about it,” she said, moving back so that she could see his face, read his dazed expression.

James gave an eager nod. “Take all the time you want, my love.”

“And I will have conditions, James. Conditions you may not like very much,” she warned in her sternest voice.

“Condition away,” he said, with a laugh.

Beth let him kiss her gently and then rested her head on his shoulder. So many things to think about, not least how she was going to tell Averil that she was considering marrying the wicked earl’s uncle, and what that would mean for her.

Her eyes strayed anxiously to the window again, and the teeming rain outside, just as there was a bright flash of lightning.

Ever since she was a child, Averil had been terrified of storms. How on earth was she coping right now, without Beth to comfort her?