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Elizabeth had to leave.
Two hours later, dressed in a crisp black taffeta tea gown, Elizabeth held on to her young son’s hand as they made their way down the hall to a drawing room in the east wing of the manor. It was done in pale gray and white and Lady Tavistock, gowned in a blue silk gown trimmed with Belgian lace, sat on a yellow floral sofa across from the white marble-manteled hearth. A fire blazed there, taking the chill from the room.
The old woman made a slight nod of her head in greeting as Elizabeth and Jared walked into the chamber.
“Lady Aldridge,” the dowager said. “So kind of you to join me.” There was a bite to the words Elizabeth couldn’t miss. She had known this meeting would not be pleasant. The woman protected her nephews like the mother they never knew. She loved Reese, and Elizabeth had betrayed him. Lady Tavistock had every right to hate her.
Elizabeth dropped into a curtsey. “Good afternoon, my lady.” Next to her, Jared made the very formal bow he had been taught by his tutor. “May I present my son, Jared, Earl of Aldridge.”
The old woman’s watery blue eyes fixed on the boy. One of her silver eyebrows winged up as she assessed him. “Good afternoon, Lord Aldridge.”
Jared made the reply he had been taught. “Good afternoon … my lady.”
The dowager returned her attention to Elizabeth. “Why don’t you pour for us, Lady Aldridge?”
Elizabeth did as she was bade, pouring tea into cups while Jared perched nervously on one of the matching floral overstuffed chairs. She passed a cup to Lady Tavistock, then handed her son a small glass of fruit punch and a white linen napkin.
“There’s some sweet cakes there,” Lady Tavistock told him. “You like cake, don’t you, boy?”
He nodded, but didn’t reach for a sweet. Elizabeth placed several on a porcelain plate and set it down on the table beside his chair. A small hand reached out and grabbed one of the decorated cakes and he ate it in several polite-sized bites.
“He doesn’t talk much, does he?”
“He’s a little shy, is all. In time, he’ll grow out of it.” Though Elizabeth wasn’t truly sure. Jared wasn’t merely shy, he was deeply withdrawn, and she was worried about him.
Lady Tavistock looked as if she knew. She pinned him with a probing stare. “What do you like to do, boy? When you aren’t busy with your studies.”
The last bite he had taken seemed to stick in Jared’s throat. He swallowed and looked over at Elizabeth for help.
“Jared likes to—”
“I didn’t ask you—I asked the boy.”
Jared’s face reddened, and her heart went out to him. Lady Tavistock’s brittle voice softened. “I bet you like horses, don’t you?”
Jared looked up at her, caught her smile, and his shyness seemed to fall away. “I love horses. Lord Reese has the most beautiful horse out in the stable. Her name is Starlight and she has a star on her forehead and she is going to have a baby.”
Elizabeth could hardly believe her ears. Jared never said that much and certainly not to a stranger.
“Is that so?” the dowager said. “Maybe we’ll have time tomorrow to go out there and you can show me Lord Reese’s horse.”
“He has a lot of them,” Jared went on. “He has a big red stallion. He can really run fast.”
Lady Tavistock flicked Elizabeth a glance. “You’re a good boy, Jared.” Little more was said until Jared finished his cakes and fruit punch and asked to be excused. Lady Tavistock gave him permission. When he had left the room, Elizabeth looked over to see tears in the old woman’s eyes.
“I thought you heartless for hurting my nephew the way you did. Now I find you truly despicable.”
The color drained from Elizabeth’s face.
“Do you ever intend to tell him?”
Elizabeth couldn’t quite catch her breath. “I don’t … I don’t know what you mean.”
“You know exactly what I mean. The boy is my nephew’s son. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on him.”
Her heart thundered. “You’re … you’re mistaken.”
“How old is he?”
She wanted to lie. She could say Jared was six. He was small for his age; she was certain Reese thought he was younger than he was.
“How old?” the countess demanded.
“Seven …” Her voice trembled as the word whispered out.
“I knew it.”
She only shook her head. “H-he isn’t Reese’s son. He looks nothing at all like Reese.”
“Not in a way everyone would notice. His features are softer, his hair more brown than black. The thing is, except for the color of his eyes, Jared is the spitting image of Reese’s father when he was a boy.”
A buzzing started in her ears. Her throat felt too tight to swallow. She had kept the secret for so many years. Had planned to keep it forever.
“I think our tea is finished,” the old woman said, rising from her chair.
Elizabeth rose, as well, her knees trembling beneath her full skirts. “What … what do you intend to do?”
The dowager cast her a drilling glance. “For the moment, nothing.” She started forward, stopped and turned. “But I warn you, the time will come. When it does, I shall do whatever is best for my nephew and his son.”
Elizabeth just stood there. For an instant her vision narrowed to almost black and she thought she might actually faint.
She steeled herself. The old woman knew. If she told Reese, Elizabeth could deny it and perhaps Reese would believe her.
One thing was clear. She had to stay at Briarwood at least a little longer. She needed time to think things through, decide what action to take. She needed to pull herself together before she faced the dowager again.
Fear crept through her. The truth would have to be told. The old woman knew her secret. Elizabeth could no longer keep silent. The old woman could destroy Jared’s life and Elizabeth’s own.
Sooner or later, she would have to tell Reese.
But dear God, not now. The room spun again and she made her way over to the sofa and sat down. Reese hated her already. She couldn’t bear the way he would look at her once he knew the true depth of her betrayal.
Somehow she had to convince the old woman to give her time to formulate some sort of plan, time to find the courage to speak to Reese.
Somehow she had to find a way.
He shouldn’t have kissed her. He had damned well known better. But he couldn’t have guessed the way it would feel to hold her again, to have her respond to him in the exact same manner she had all those years ago.
As if she belonged to him. As if she loved him still.
Reese swore foully. He had never known the extent of her cunning until now. She cared nothing for him, likely never had. She was using him, nothing more. She needed his protection. And though he had already given her that, he couldn’t help wondering how far she would be willing to go in order to keep it.
Crossing the room without his cane, more determined than ever to stretch and retrain the muscles that had been injured and inactive for so long, he yanked on the bellpull, summoning Timothy Daniels to help him dress for supper.
At least the evening should prove interesting, if more than a little taxing. Elizabeth and his aunt had taken tea together that afternoon. He would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation.
At least the ice had been broken. Perhaps supper would be a tolerable affair.
Dressed in black for the evening, Reese grabbed his cane and made his way past Timothy, who held open the bedroom door. He was the first to arrive in the anteroom leading into the formal dining room, where a table seating twelve had been set for three and a fire blazed in the huge, open hearth along the wall.
His aunt was the first to arrive, decked out in sapphire-blue silk, a strand of diamonds at her throat, looking every inch the dowager countess she was.
The old woman paused in front of him. “My, you do look handsome, even without that scarlet uniform the women so favored.”
He smiled. “Thank you, Aunt Aggie.” She frowned at the use of the name but he knew that secretly she was pleased. “You’re looking beautiful, as always.”
She waved her hand at the flattery. “Just like your father and brothers, you are. Full of the devil when it comes to the ladies.”
He laughed. He had forgotten how good she was at making him laugh.
Elizabeth arrived a few minutes later, gowned in crisp black taffeta, a circle of black pearls at her throat. Only a glimpse of her pale breasts showed above the modest neckline.
Reese thought how much he hated her in black.
“I hope I’m not late,” she said, her gaze going to the grandfather clock in the corner, returning to him then quickly darting away. Faint color rose in her cheeks and he knew she was thinking of those moments in the music room.
“You’re here just in time,” Reese said. “Shall we go in?”
Elizabeth cast a glance at his aunt, who drilled her with a glare down the length of her short, powdered nose. He offered Aunt Aggie his arm and she rested her small gloved hand on the sleeve of his coat for the short walk into the dining room.
He seated both women, his leg holding up amazingly well, then sat down in the high-back chair at the head of the table.
The first course was served, a nice hot rice and plover soup.
“So, what did you think of Lady Aldridge’s son?” he asked, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room and begin a semblance of conversation. The women’s eyes shot to each other across the table.
“He’s too shy,” Aunt Aggie said sharply. “Needs a man’s influence to give him some gumption.”
Elizabeth’s hand shook as she lifted her soup spoon, but she made no reply.
Reese fixed his gaze on her face. “Perhaps one day Lady Aldridge will remarry.”
She lowered the spoon back into her bowl. “That is never going to happen. One husband was more than enough.”
Aunt Aggie’s silver eyebrows shot up. “Is that so? Then you must have loved him greatly.”
Elizabeth’s pretty lips thinned. “Loved him? Marriage is one step away from bondage and I will never allow myself to be put in that position again.”
Aunt Aggie eyed her shrewdly. Very carefully, she wiped her mouth on the linen napkin.
“I see,” she said, and Reese couldn’t help wondering what exactly it was the old woman did see. One thing he knew, his aunt had an uncanny ability where people were concerned. In a single brief conversation, she understood more about a person than anyone he had ever met.
The meal progressed a little easier after that. During dessert, egg custard with a delicious raspberry sauce, he mentioned to his aunt that his best friend, Travis Greer, had stopped by for a visit and that he would be writing for the London Times.
“I only met him a couple of times,” Aunt Aggie said. “Before his dreadful injury, of course. Always seemed a nice enough sort.”
“He’s become a very good friend,” Reese said, not mentioning the man had once saved his life. The war wasn’t one of his favorite topics.
“He was very nice to Jared,” Elizabeth added, doing her best to hold up her end of the conversation.
“The boy craves a man’s attention. Any fool can see that.”
Elizabeth looked into her dessert bowl as if there were something of interest in the bottom. Reese gave her credit. Clearly, Aunt Aggie was at her irascible best. As soon as dessert was over, Reese led the ladies into the drawing room for an after-dinner drink and both of them seemed relieved.
“How about a sherry, Aunt Aggie?”
“Not tonight. I believe I’ll go on up to bed. Where is that strapping young man who helped me before?”
Timothy, of course, appeared right on cue. “May I be of assistance, my lady?” He had adopted his formal demeanor and Reese almost smiled.
“Yes, thank you, Mr. Daniels.”
“Good night, my lady,” Elizabeth said softly, and received a brusque “good night” in return. Timothy led the dowager out of the drawing room toward the staircase, leaving Reese alone with Elizabeth, an occurrence he hadn’t expected.
Reese thought of the kiss they had shared in the drawing room and couldn’t help wondering what the balance of the evening might bring.
Seven
Seated on the sofa across from Reese, Elizabeth nervously sipped a glass of sherry. She still hadn’t figured out how she had wound up alone with Reese. During supper, she had mentioned the possibility of leaving Briarwood, but the dowager had staunched the notion with a warning glance.
If she left without telling Reese the truth about Jared, she was certain Lady Tavistock would see it done immediately.
She had to stay. At least for the moment.
Oddly, the decision stirred a feeling of relief.
“Another sherry?” Reese asked, and she realized she had drained her glass entirely.
“Thank you, no. I believe it is past time I retired upstairs.” She rose from her place on the rose velvet sofa, set the empty glass down on the table beside it.
“You seemed to have reached some sort of truce with my aunt,” Reese said, rising and setting his own empty glass on the table.
Hardly. Currently the old woman had Elizabeth entirely under her thumb, but of course she couldn’t say that. “Perhaps she has decided to keep an open mind. In time, perhaps she will see there are two sides to every story.”
Elizabeth prayed it was so. She intended to speak to the dowager on the morrow, try to explain what had happened all of those years ago.
Reese’s fierce blue gaze bored into her. “Are there two sides, Elizabeth?”
He was asking her to explain. She doubted he would understand. She didn’t entirely understand herself.
