Page 13

CHARLES HAD ridden well ahead of us to meet the carriage, and it seemed as though our timing was fortuitous.

As we approached, it became clear that the Nelson siblings had just arrived themselves, and Charles met them just in time to help Ida out of the carriage, dismounting from his horse so smoothly it was hard to believe he was the same man I’d grown up with.

As Arthur and I rode up and dismounted, passing our horses off to the stable boys that had come to meet us, Rudolph Nelson clambered out of the carriage after his sister.

It was as though I was looking in a taller, more handsome mirror.

Rudolph Nelson could have been my brother, albeit with lighter skin than my own, a resemblance that made me immediately understand James’s suspicions upon first meeting me.

This is not to say I am not handsome—I had never before found cause to be upset about my appearance—but Rudolph…

. Rudolph was handsome like Arthur was handsome, storybook handsome.

Curly hair that was nearly black in the depth of its color, sharp, intelligent eyes the color of coal, full and pleasant lips.

James’s words the day he had left came to the forefront of my mind again, and I realized he had been trying to tell me that I looked like Rudolph.

I hung back a little as Arthur approached the siblings, turning my attention to Ida.

She was as beautiful as her brother, her dark hair piled high on her head and her clothes the height of fashion, and I could see just from the briefest observation of the pair that they were perfectly at ease at the estate.

“Arthur,” Ida said as soon as he was within arm’s reach, pulling him into a brief hug. “You look excellent.”

“As do you!” Arthur said, and there was such force of emotion in his voice that for a moment, I thought I had misunderstood everything and it was, in fact, Ida that Arthur loved.

Before that thought could linger too long, however, Rudolph had stepped forward and laid a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, and I could see the way Arthur immediately moved to meet the touch.

A jolt of recognition went through me and I quickly looked away, realizing that I was face-to-face with men who, if not lovers now, had been lovers in the past.

“What are you two doing here?” Charles asked, looking at the pair with clear delight. “Your last letter said you didn’t think you would be back in England until the end of the month. You’re two full weeks early.”

“I do hope we haven’t disrupted any plans,” Ida said, her voice as pleasant as could be, lilting and kind.

I immediately liked her, this feeling compounded as she looked at me and offered a smile.

“You must be the infamous Mr. Whitmore,” she said, offering her hand, and I immediately took it, her skin soft against my own. “Charles is quite the fan of yours.”

“I’m a fan of his too,” I said, smiling at her in return.

I couldn’t help but notice that Rudolph had dropped his hand from Arthur’s shoulder the moment I had approached, and I wondered if he was having the same thoughts as I was except in reverse.

Did he think that I was his replacement, a less handsome version of himself?

As soon as I had that thought, I was ashamed of myself.

Arthur had shown no romantic interest whatsoever.

I was being delusional, pasting emotions onto him when there were none, and I needed to put the fantasy I had concocted aside.

Faced with Rudolph, I realized just how foolish my crush had been.

The only thing to do was tamp it down and move along, distance myself from Arthur without ruining my summer.

The first step was to look at Rudolph as a friend, not as anything else, and I stuck my hand out to him in greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Rudolph, isn’t it? ”

“You can call me Rudy, if you’d like,” he said, shaking my hand, and his grip was firm and tight.

“Should we go inside?” Arthur suggested, and I had to avoid looking at him for fear that my expression would give everything away.

I wanted nothing more than to return to those few hours by the pond, be the center of Arthur’s attention once more, but that was gone now.

“I’m not sure your rooms are ready, but I’ll have Felix make sure they’re aired out and ready by the time dinner is finished. ”

“How was the trip from France?” Charles asked as he began up the steps of the estate, Ida Nelson close behind.

I noticed with trepidation that Arthur and Rudolph exchanged a glance before they started after them, and became even more convinced that my suspicions about the nature of the blackmail were correct.

The ninety minutes the pair had spent in the library on the day of the poaching incident was at the core of all this, and I needed to find a way to bring it up without frightening Arthur.

“Long,” Ida said. “Rudy was seasick crossing the channel, as always. I fear neither of us were very good traveling companions. I was longing for home, and he was as green as the grass.”

“And you’re well now?” Arthur asked, and I recalled that the brothers had mentioned that Ida had been sick and that they had been in France for that exact reason.

The Riviera was known for being good for recovery, a place where the most elite in England could go to rest and heal, and if Ida had spent time there, then it meant she had been well and truly ill.

“Much better,” Ida said, smiling at him. “Thank you for asking, Arthur. That’s very kind of you.”

I followed the four of them inside, hanging back despite how I usually thrived in these social situations, a lead weight in my chest. I had convinced myself, however briefly, that Arthur was looking at me with some…

well, attraction. I was sure it had been attraction.

But I had deluded myself, a mixture of my assumptions about those missing ninety minutes and my own desire when it came to his good looks and his thawing attitude towards me.

As foolish as I knew it to be, I was smarting from the realization that I was merely a shade of Rudolph Nelson.

“I wish you had written ahead,” Felix said, emerging from a side room looking harried, although he didn’t check his tone with the Nelson siblings.

He was clearly as comfortable with them as he was with the Ashford boys, and that was another sprinkle of salt in my wounds.

I liked Felix, and he never pulled his words with me, but to know that it wasn’t special…

. I was feeling more ordinary than I had since I first arrived at Ashford Hall, a middle-class man amidst people well and truly out of my league.

“Your rooms are terribly dusty. I don’t think they’ve been touched since the spring clean. ”

“I’m afraid I wanted to surprise you all,” Rudolph said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I didn’t think of the repercussions.”

“Well, we’ve had a bit of excitement with unexpected guests this week,” Arthur said, his tone flat. “James dropped in without notice a few days ago. It was… unpleasant.”

“Oh dear,” Ida said, and I could tell by her voice that she was bothered by the idea that James had been at the estate. “Are you all okay? Did he try anything this time?”

“He gave Tom a few vague threats, and then I made him leave,” Charles said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the Nelsons.

“I think he believed that we brought Thomas here to look at the poaching case and find out what had gone wrong and was hoping he could scare him away if he said the right things.”

“And are you?” Rudolph looked at me, brow knit. “You’re a lawyer, aren’t you? Charles speaks quite highly of your skills.”

“I wasn’t looking into it before,” I said, caught off guard by the plaintive look in his eyes.

I was anticipating a man as unemotional as Arthur, as prone to hiding his feelings, and instead I found myself watching someone who plainly exhibited what they were feeling.

It surprised me, humanized him, and made me feel altogether worse about my own fantasies.

“But after James tried to warn me off of it, I decided that it was important. That the poaching had led to something else.”

For a second, Rudolph’s dark eyes flickered with realization, and I knew he fully recognized who I was in that moment.

It was almost laughable, how easily men like us could find one another when the situation was just right, and I held his gaze for a few moments before he nodded and looked at Arthur.

“You have quite the trustworthy lawyer in your hands now, Arthur.”

“I think so too,” Arthur said, and it was a stunning admission for a man who not two weeks prior had denounced me as the worst of the worst. It touched me, if I was being honest, and only heightened my feelings that I was being a fool in all of this.

How dreadful would I be if I turned around and told this man who trusted me that I suspected him not only of being an invert but having an affair with Rudolph Nelson.

“Now, as your rooms aren’t ready, can I distract you both with tea? ”

“We can bring it to the greenhouse,” Felix said, looking at Ida. “You like taking tea there, if I recall.”

“No need for formalities, Felix,” Ida said, smiling at him. “That would be lovely. I’d like the chance to catch up, if I’m being honest.”

“We’ll be with you in a moment,” Rudolph said, nodding to his sister. “I wanted to talk to Arthur for a few minutes alone.”

Ida looked between the two of them and then nodded, turning her attention to Charles. “Shall we?”