“What?”
“The tattoos are strange little birds, three of them, around his right eye. What could’ve possessed him to have them placed there?”
“I haven’t the faintest.”
“It’s just that he’s so bitter, Jeremy!” she burst out. “He’s… he’s positively hateful sometimes, as if whatever happened to him seared his very soul.”
Jeremy was silent a moment; then he said, “I’m sorry. He was in the war, wasn’t he? In the Colonies?”
Beatrice nodded.
He sighed and said slowly, “It’s hard to explain to someone who has never experienced it, but war and the things that happen in war, the things one is forced to do and see sometimes… well, they change a man. Make him harsher, if he has any sensitivity at all.”
“You’re right, of course,” she said, twisting her hands. “But it seems more than that somehow. Oh, I wish I knew what he’s been doing for the last seven years!”
Jeremy half smiled. “Whatever it was, I doubt your knowing his history will change anything about him now.”
Beatrice looked at him, into his dear, much too perceptive eyes. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I? Expecting a romantic prince, from a man I knew only from a portrait.”
“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But if it were not for romantic dreams, life would be terribly dull, don’t you think?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “You always know exactly what to say, Jeremy, dear.”
“Yes, I know,” he said complacently. “Now, tell me. Will he take your uncle’s title from him?”
“I think he must.” Beatrice frowned down at her clasped hands, feeling her chest tighten. “Just this morning, Viscount Vale came to visit him, and although they argued, I don’t think there can be any more doubt that he is, indeed, Viscount Hope.”
“And if he is?”
She glanced at him, wondering if he knew how panicked the prospect made her. “We’ll lose the house.”
“You can always come live with me,” he teased.
She smiled, but her lips trembled. “Uncle Reggie might just have another attack of apoplexy.”
“He’s tougher than you give him credit for,” he said gently.
She bit her lip, not even pretending to smile now. “But if he does become ill, if anything happened to him… Oh, Jeremy, I just don’t know what I’d do.”
She pressed her hand to her chest, rubbing at the constriction.
“It’ll come right in the end, Bea, dear,” Jeremy said soothingly. “There’s no use worrying.”
“I know,” she sighed, and tried to look cheerful for him. “Uncle Reggie had an appointment this morning with his solicitors. He came back just before I left.”
“Hmm. That’ll be a mess. If your uncle doesn’t just hand over the title, I expect they’ll have to present their case to parliament.” Jeremy looked cheerful. “I wonder if there’ll be fisticuffs at Westminster?”
“You needn’t sound so happy at the prospect,” Beatrice scolded.
“Oh, I don’t see why not. It’s things like this that make the English aristocracy so very entertaining.” Despite his words, Jeremy ended with a gasp. His hand on top of the coverlet balled into a tight fist, his knuckles white.
Beatrice started up from her chair. “Are you in pain?”
“No, no. Don’t fuss, Bea, dear.” Jeremy took a breath, and she knew that he was in pain even though he denied it. His face had gone a little gray, save for those ever-present flags of color on his cheeks.
“Here, let me help you sit up so you can take some water.”
“Dammit, Bea.”
“Now, don’t you fuss, Jeremy, dear,” she said softly but firmly as she took his shoulders and helped him to sit. Heat radiated off him in waves. “I’ve earned this right, I think.”
“So you have,” he gasped.
She poured water into a small cup and held it out to him.
He sipped some and gave her back the cup. “Have you thought what it would mean if Hope becomes the Earl of Blanchard?”
She set the cup on one of the crowded tables, frowning. “I just told you, Uncle Reggie and I will have to move out of the town house—”
“Yes, but beyond that, Bea.” Jeremy waved aside her loss of a home. “He would replace your uncle Reggie in the House of Lords.”
Beatrice slowly sank back into her seat. “Lord Hasselthorpe would lose a vote.”
“And, more importantly, we might gain one,” Jeremy said with significance. “Do you know what Hope’s political leanings are?”
“I haven’t the faintest.”
“His father was a Tory,” Jeremy mused.
“Oh, then he probably is, too,” Beatrice said, disappointed.
“Sons don’t always follow in their father’s political footsteps. If Hope votes in favor of Mr. Wheaton’s bill, we may win at last.” The high color had spread over Jeremy’s face in his excitement, so now he glowed as if he were being consumed by a fire within. “My men—the soldiers who served and fought so valiantly under me—would get the pension they deserve.”
“I’ll find out which way he leans politically. Perhaps I can convince him to our side.” Beatrice smiled, trying to share Jeremy’s enthusiasm, but inside she was doubtful. Lord Hope seemed solely focused on his own affairs. She’d seen nothing so far to make her think he would care one way or the other about common soldiers.
FIVE DAYS OF a sickbed had made Reynaud damnably restless. Annoying as Miss Corning’s regular visits to his room were—she seemed to think it normal to simply swan in without inquiring first if he wanted her company—the fact was that he’d grown used to her. Used to teasing her and arguing with her. And where was the woman today? He’d seen neither hide nor hair of her.
Reynaud dragged himself from the bed, pulled on his old blue coat, and snatched up his knife before throwing open the door to his room. A young footman was stationed outside his room—presumably to keep him from running amok in his own house.
Reynaud glared at the fellow. “Tell Miss Corning I’d like a word with her.”
He started to close the door, but the man said, “Can’t.”
Reynaud paused. “What?”
“Can’t,” the footman said. “She’s not here.”
“Then when is she expected back?”
The footman stepped back nervously before catching himself and straightening. “Not too long, I expect, but I can’t say for sure. She’s visitin’ Mr. Oates, and sometimes she stays there a fair while.”
“Who,” Reynaud inquired gently, “is Mr. Oates?”
“Mr. Jeremy Oates, that is,” the man said, becoming chatty. “Of the Suffolk Oates. Family with quite a bit of money, or so I’m told. ’E and Miss Corning have known each other a long, long time, and she likes to visit ’im three or four times a week.”
“Then he’s an aging gentleman?” Reynaud asked.
The footman scratched his head. “Don’t think so. A young, ’andsome gentleman, so I hear.”
It occurred to Reynaud at this point that although he’d seen Miss Corning every day since his return to England, he didn’t actually know much about the woman. Was this Oates—this proper English gentleman—a beau? Or a fiancé? The thought spurred a primitive part of him, and he blurted the next question.
“Is she engaged to him?”
“Not yet,” the footman replied, winking cheerfully. “But can’t be long, can it, if she visits ’im so often? ’Course, there is the matter of ’is—”
But Reynaud wasn’t listening anymore. He pushed past the ass and started for the stairs.
“Oy!” the footman called from behind him. “Where’re you goin’?”
“To meet Miss Corning at the door,” Reynaud growled. His legs were shakier than he’d realized, and it only made him more irritable. He gripped the banister with one hand as he descended slowly. He moved like a goddamned old man.
“I’m not supposed to let you leave your room,” the footman said, suddenly beside him. He took Reynaud’s elbow to help him, and so weak was Reynaud that he didn’t even protest the familiarity.
“Who ordered you to keep me in my room?” Reynaud demanded.
“Miss Corning. She was worried you might injure yourself.” The footman glanced at him sideways. “Don’t suppose I can get you to go back, m’lord?”
“No,” Reynaud replied shortly. He was panting, dammit. Only a month ago, he’d walked all day without wearying, and now he panted descending a damned staircase!
“Didn’t think so,” the man said matter-of-factly. He didn’t say anything else until they made the entrance hall. “Would you like some water, m’lord, while you wait?”
“Please.” Reynaud leaned against the wall until the man disappeared in the direction of the kitchens. Then he went to the front doors and pulled them open.
The wind caught his breath as he went out on the step. The day was gray and cold, winter spreading her wings on London. There’d be snow on the ground north of Lake Michigan now, and the bears would be fat and slow, preparing for their winter sleep. He remembered how Gaho had loved to eat bear meat fried in its own fat. She would smile when he brought her a freshly killed sow or boar, the wrinkles in her brown cheeks deepening, her eyes nearly disappearing in her happiness. For a moment, his former life and his present merged and wavered in front of his eyes, and he forgot where he was. Who he was.
Then the Blanchard carriage pulled up in front of the town house.
The footman jumped down and set the step. Reynaud straightened and started for the carriage. The door opened and Miss Corning descended the steps.
Her brows snapped together when she saw him. “What are you doing out of bed?”
“I’ve come to meet you,” Reynaud said, his voice hard. “Where have you been?”
She ignored his question. “I can’t believe you’re so silly as to stand outside in the cold. You must go in at once. Arthur”—she beckoned to the carriage footman—“please take Lord Hope in—”
“I’m not going to be taken anywhere,” Reynaud said with deadly calm. The carriage footman took one look at him and found a consuming interest in putting away the step. “I’m not a child or half-wit to be taken care of. I repeat, where have you been?”
“Then you must allow me to help you inside.” Miss Corning dismissed his growing anger with a wave of her hand.
He gripped her arms, making her end her sentence on a squeak. “Answer me.”
Something green flared within her eyes, a surprising spark of iron will. “Why should I answer to you?”
“Because.” His entire vision was filled with her eyes, sparkling gray and meadow green intermixed. The combination was absolutely fascinating.
She stared back at him and said, low, “And, anyway, why do you care where I’ve been?”
He’d faced capture and torture and the imminent prospect of his own death for years on end, but for the life of him, he hadn’t a clue how to reply to this small slip of a girl.
So it was perhaps just as well that the shot rang out at that moment.
Chapter Four
Longsword could find no reason this stranger might want a lock of his hair, even for a penny, but he could see no risk to himself, either. So thinking to humor the other man, he took his great sword, cut off a lock of hair, and gave it to the Goblin King.
The Goblin King smiled and held out the penny. But the moment Longsword grasped the coin, the ground opened in an enormous crack beneath him. The earth swallowed both Longsword and his sword, and he fell far, far below until he landed in the Goblin Kingdom.