Page 26

TWO WEEKS in London at the height of summer had never been the most pleasant time of year for me, and when coupled with the difficult trial I was undertaking at the Old Bailey and the ever-present eye of Louis Garretty, it was truly hellish.

Cooped up in my small flat by night, days spent sweltering in court and listening to testimony I knew to be false…

it all added up to an itch to return to Ashford Hall and remove myself from the heat and stench of the city and the pressures of the courtroom.

I had thought, however foolishly, that distance from Arthur and Rudolph would make my feelings come into clarity, but with nothing but my client’s bid for innocence to keep my mind occupied, I was finding myself increasingly thinking about the two of them.

Clarity was coming, but it was veering away from the logical conclusion that Rudolph was a safe choice and instead focusing on Arthur.

The fight we’d had before I’d left was sticking in my mind, an impossible situation to undo, and all I could hope was that the sentence I had tacked on to the end of my letter to Charles would open the opportunity for me to make it up to Arthur when I saw him next.

A knock came at the door of my flat, my landlady’s voice drifting through the door. “Thomas, love, your carriage has arrived.”

A jolt went through me as I finished packing my bag, the memory of the last time I’d spoken to Arthur returning.

He had sworn to come and get me after a fortnight himself if that’s what it took, and while I hadn’t thought him capable at the time, I was now exceptionally concerned that I had Lord Ashford downstairs in a carriage waiting for me.

I had just begun to pick up my bags when the door to my room opened and, anticipating my landlady, I spun to meet her.

“Rudolph?” I could barely manage the man’s name, my surprise so great.

I am ashamed to admit it, but I was struck by a sense of serious disappointment at the sight of him, my desire to see Arthur having outweighed any idea that he might not actually come and get me.

Had he not wanted to? Had he sent Rudolph in his stead as some sort of consolation prize?

To be honest, I stared at him for far too long before composing myself and managing a pleased smile.

“I was sure that Lord Ashford was just going to send one of the footmen to gather me. It’s a two-day ride. How could they spare you at the manor?”

“I couldn’t wait two days longer to see you,” Rudolph said. “Arthur will manage just fine with Ida and Charles there to assist. Did Arthur not send you a letter to let you know?”

“Arthur’s sent me no letters,” I said. “I’ve heard from Charles and Felix, although I did receive this.

” I looked over my desk, finding the ornate invitation I’d received a week ago inviting me to the ball; having verbally confirmed my intent to go, the invitation was unnecessary but touching nonetheless, a souvenir of the first ball I had ever been asked to attend.

I held the invitation out to Rudolph and he smiled, reading it over before setting it down back on my desk. “Did he say he was going to write?”

“He mentioned to me the other day that he was writing you a letter to let you know that I’d be picking you up instead but may have decided it was unnecessary since you would, of course, figure it out on your own as soon as I’d arrived.

” Rudolph leaned towards me, and I braced myself to be kissed again, but instead he took hold of the handle of my bag, lifting it easily and looking me in the eyes.

“Make sure you have everything. I doubt you’ll be allowed to leave Ashford Hall for the remainder of the summer if Charles has his way.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more miserable creature than him these last two weeks. ”

“Oh, believe me, the volume of letters he’s sent me is a study in sorrow,” I said, taking one last look around the room before turning my attention back to Rudolph.

This time I was caught quite unawares; as I turned my head back to face him, he kissed me on the cheek and rested his forehead against my temple.

“Rudolph,” I managed, surprised despite knowing full well what he wanted from me. “I never gave you an answer.”

“I know,” Rudolph said, and when he pulled away, I could read the amusement on his face.

“Do you think that would serve to stop me? I have been patient, Tom. Two months of no answer followed by two weeks of separation has left me wanting in more than one way. Have you really paid it no further mind?”

It wasn’t that I’d paid it no further mind.

If I was being wholly honest, the two months I’d spent at Ashford Hall with the Nelsons prior to my departure had been so pleasant that I hadn’t wanted to inadvertently ruin it by swaying one way or another.

I knew, however, that I was just as twisted up as I’d been when Rudolph had first admitted his attraction to me.

My feelings for Arthur, complicated as they were, seemed to outshine anything I felt for Rudolph, and yet…

my stomach had done a flip as soon as his lips had met my cheek, and I was reminded yet again that I had known no companionship since the winter before.

He seemed to read something in my silence and grinned. “You are a fascinating creature,” he said, taking a step back with my bag still in his hand. “Come along, Tom. We have a long ride ahead of us. I won’t kiss you so suddenly again without your permission.”

I followed him after shrugging into my traveling coat, locking my door behind me, and pausing briefly downstairs to thank my landlady and let her know that I would be returning by the end of the month.

A carriage was sitting in the street waiting for us, and I was pleased to find that the driver was one of Arthur’s footmen I recognized.

“Good morning, Harry,” I said brightly, and the man’s wrinkled face lit up when he saw me.

“Mr. Whitmore!” he said, climbing down from his bench and taking my bag from Rudolph. “What a pleasant surprise. Felix told me that I was picking up an old friend, but I had no idea it was you.”

“I’m so glad to see you,” I said, shaking his hand.

At the time, I wholeheartedly believed that his presence would discourage Rudolph from being so openly flirtatious with me, but I had underestimated how little Rudolph was bothered by the idea of being caught.

“I’m sorry you had to make this journey on my account. ”

“No trouble at all, sir,” Harry said, smiling.

“I’d much rather fetch you than some of the other ball attendees.

You’re always pleasant.” He set my bag into the cubby underneath the rear seat and patted me on the arm before looking between myself and Rudolph.

“We’ll be stopping in Marlborough for the night, but we should reach the estate by tomorrow afternoon with good horses. ”

“No rush,” Rudolph said, and the way he said it made me momentarily look at him askance.

I had never been faced so blatantly with a man who wanted me as much as Rudolph clearly did, and as little as I thought I was romantically interested in him, his sheer determination was making me reconsider it.

Perhaps those feelings were being helped along by the idea of returning to Ashford Hall and seeing Arthur again, the memory of our parting not exactly a pleasant one.

I had wounded him deeply, I knew it from the way he had turned his back on me before I left, and I did not think myself capable of repairing what I had so terribly broken.

“Come along,” he said to me, giving me a hand into the carriage, and once we were safely inside, one of us on each bench, he yawned and lay back on his seat.

We were soon on our way, the carriage rumbling over the cobblestone streets, and I had busied myself with reading through the papers on a case I was going to bring to trial when I returned at the beginning of October when Rudolph spoke. “Did you win?”

“Sorry?” I said, looking up from the papers and looking at him; he was still in repose, his dark eyes closed, but a few brief moments of thinking through the question was enough to tell me how to respond. “My client was found innocent, yes.”

“And Garretty?”

“He asked me nothing of note about the Ashford men or about you,” I said. “I spoke to him as little as I could and never once hinted that I knew about the blackmail, so whatever suspicions he had must have seemed entirely unfounded.” He opened one eye to look at me and I frowned. “What?”

“You must know that Garretty was working alongside James Wright,” he said, and I nodded; I’d been told as much when everything had first come to my attention. “So how do you think Garretty heard that you were spending the summer with Arthur to begin with?”

The thought hadn’t even occurred to me, but as soon as Rudolph brought it up, I was immediately sure that he was right.

“Of course,” I said, sitting bolt upright.

“He was upset with me when I refused to listen to him, and I’m sure he thinks I’m the reason he was forced to leave to begin with.

It makes sense he’d go to Garretty, especially since it’s public record that I work for his firm. ”

Rudolph smiled, dark eyes fixed on mine.

“You have to understand the lengths James will go to in order to get a foothold in the Ashford fortune. When Lord Ashford was still alive, he was far more tolerant of James and would pass him money whenever he required it, but Arthur doesn’t treat him with the same level of deference, and I think that’s what motivated James to carry out the blackmail in the first place. ”

“Why is he so hellbent on Arthur’s fortune?” I asked. “I thought he came from means himself.”