Duke Of Deception (Wentworth Trilogy) Page 26

  She stared through tears at the elegantly engraved calling card, her mind seeing only Derek as he’d been that morning he said goodbye. He was an excellent liar. She’d actually believed he wanted to come back to her and start their relationship anew, and even though she’d carried this sick apprehension around with her since Sara’s visit, she’d also carried around a kernel of hope, hope that all the rumors were wrong. But if his own partner and friend didn’t trust him…

  Really, it was a stroke of luck that she’d found out now. This way, she could be prepared, she could begin her life anew, and go on.

  Still, it was a hard thing to bear.

  Chapter 29

  Nearing the village of Chelton, Derek rode ahead of the carriage, which was slow and heavily laden, not only with goods purchased as presents, but with Jimmy as well. Jimmy’s welfare was his responsibility, after all. Not because the boy stowed away on the Siren so he could join Derek, but because Derek had snatched him from the streets to begin with.

  Since that moment when their paths first collided, Jimmy’s fate was changed, and Derek hadn’t given the boy any choice in the matter. Now he wondered if he should have interfered at all. Perhaps Jimmy would have fared all right on his own. Thinking back to the child’s pale face and painfully thin body, though, he doubted it.

  Still, Jimmy was not only recovering from an injury sustained while in Derek’s care, but he was an ocean away from his homeland, and Derek had to question whether or not he had made the right choice to keep him here or even if the choice had been his to make. The fact that the lad jumped at the offer to stay and work at Dorrington Hall was of little consolation. He was young and hadn’t yet lost his hero-worship of Derek; any decision made would be borne of those facts. But would Jimmy feel the same in ten years?

  Remembering the loneliness and the feeling of separateness that had haunted him for his first two years in America, he decided if Jimmy ever wanted to return home, he’d do everything possible to send him there. In the meantime, he’d set the boy up as an apprentice to learn a trade he could take with him wherever he went. Or rather, that’s what he would do when they got to Dorrington. For now, he’d have to appeal to Lucy’s nurturing side, the compassionate part of her that took in stray kittens and stray employees, and hope she didn’t mind taking in Jimmy too.

  Lucy. He couldn’t wait to see her, to take her in his arms, to make love to her as he’d never had the chance to. The memories he’d relied on for the past four months flitted through his mind. An angry, defiant Lucy in glorious dishabille, her brilliant blue eyes flashing as she insisted that nothing could ever induce her to marry him. Sweet, innocent Lucy, clasping her petticoats to her breast, her voice trembling as she tried ploy after ploy to avoid paying off the bet. Wary, wounded Lucy—no, he wouldn’t think about that now.

  He was going to make that up to her. Now that he was back, he’d tell Stephen he was finished with the masquerade, he’d get Stonecrest taken care of, and then they would leave for Dorrington Hall, where Lucy would begin her life as Duchess of Dorrington, treated with all the respect due her station.

  He skirted the village to avoid being delayed by anyone who might recognize him, then veered off onto the long lane that led to Stonecrest Manor. Except it could no longer be called a lane, he noticed with surprise. Gone were the holes that required quick maneuvering, as were the deep ruts that had run almost the entire length along both sides. The road was newly paved, dry and level, gently sloping to allow the rain to run off.

  Impressed with the quality engineering of the road, he took in his surroundings with renewed interest. The tenants’ cottages coming into view sported bright paint, new doors, and newly thatched roofs. Behind the cottages, freshly dug gardens dotted the landscape, and small trees had been planted between them. Wells had been dug and the watering areas made into gathering spots, each with tables and benches, a stone hearth adequate for the use of several families, and a tree swing for the children.

  He tipped his hat to the few tenants that were present and was gratified to see their faces break into smiles as they recognized him and waved back. A couple of the children joined him to skip along in front of his horse, shouting out his arrival to each cottage as he trotted by. More and more of the women and children came out to watch and wave as he passed.

  He saw new tracts ready for planting, and then he abruptly drew up his reins, taking a few moments to stare at the irrigation system that ran through freshly tilled fields. This was one of the projects he’d expected to take care of, and he could hardly believe Lucy had been able to do it. His disbelief quickly gave way to admiration. She’d accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.

  As he crested the hill that marked the downward journey to the manor, the chimneys of Stonecrest came into view, followed seconds later by the jagged outline of the widely sloping gables against the rolling hills. There was an openness to the expansive wings and bountiful windows, an unimposing grace to the limewashed walls and arches. Stonecrest seemed safe, secure, and inviting, beckoning, really, as though it welcomed him home.

  He kicked his horse into a gallop, praying that Lucy would welcome him too.

  *****

  Derek strode along the stone path to the gardens, where Mrs. Gray said Lucy might be found. In his mind he pictured her strolling amidst the late summer flower beds, perhaps in her blue morning frock that brought out the color of her eyes or in that pink muslin gown that made her complexion glow. He chuckled as he realized he would be just as delighted to see her in those old breeches she insisted on wearing, for truly, there could be nothing that would make her look any less than beautiful.

  As he neared the garden entrance, he saw Kirkpatrick standing quietly, half hidden behind a hedge. The bodyguard’s eyes met his, and Derek nodded a dismissal, wanting this first meeting with Lucy to be private. He waited as Kirkpatrick disappeared around the corner of the manor before he turned his attention to Lucy.

  She was stooped down, pulling weeds, her back to him, and he cleared his throat as he approached, so he wouldn’t frighten her. When she turned, however, he was the one who got the fright of his life.

  The woman who stared back at him appeared almost a stranger.

  She was thin and pale, with huge, purple shadows under her eyes. Two dark smudges of dirt marred the beauty of one cheek, and a rivulet of sweat trickled through the middle of the smudge and down her neck, leaving a murky path that disappeared beneath her cotton smock. She reached up to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, and he saw that her hand was too slender. And shaking. But it was her eyes that terrified him. They were haunted, full of torment—and disgust.

  “I’m surprised you came back,” Lucy said, her voice little more than a whisper.

  A sense of dread seeped through him. “Why surprised? Wasn’t it understood?”

  She stood to face him, and he knew then that something was terribly wrong. It was in the hollow depths of her eyes, the grim set of her jaw.

  “What’s happened?” he asked quickly.

  “You must have known word of your dealings would come back to me. Or did you think I wouldn’t care?” Her mouth settled into a thin line.

  “Care about what? What dealings?” Derek waited, unable to imagine anything that would cause such a blatant look of hatred as she directed at him now.

  “You don’t even see it as wrong, do you, even though you said you did that day of the picnic?” Her pinched white face began to draw color. “How could you steal people away from their homes and then pack them into a ship like cattle and sail them across the ocean like—” Her voice broke and she clamped her mouth shut and looked away as though she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

  Derek stared, bewildered, as her words began to sink in. She thought him a slave trader? How in God’s name… ? “Lucy, I don’t know what you were told, but please don’t believe it.”

  She swept herself up into a regal posture, the sternness of her stance accentuating her frailty.
“Lord Fenick saw you on your ship with those slaves, so don’t bother lying. Please just get your things and go back to America. There can be no reason for you to remain here.”

  Derek crossed the distance between them and reached for her. “Listen—”

  She flinched and he drew back, stunned.

  “Don’t you understand?” she said. “I don’t want you here.”

  “Lucy, it’s not the way it seems. You have to trust me.”

  “Trust you?” She stepped back, mouth agape, and drew a ragged breath. “How can you even ask that of me? You’ve lied to me from the beginning. You’re not even from America, at least you weren’t born there. Perhaps everything you told me was a lie.”

  “I never said I was born in America, and you never asked,” Derek said, wondering just how much she knew. “If I’m accused of something besides slave-trading, then say so.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, the anger and hatred in her expression eventually giving way to sadness and regret. Finally she spoke. “I don’t want to ever see you again. I just want you to pack your belongings and go.” With that, she turned and walked away from him without looking back.

  Derek stood frozen, unsure of what to do for perhaps the first time in his life. What he wanted to do was run after her, take her in his arms and comfort her, but that was obviously out of the question; she was so fragile, so brittle, that another word might shatter her. His wife hated him and she wouldn’t give him the chance to set her straight.

  Even more important was her well-being. She was ill, or had been. Either way, she needed to be under a physician’s care. Or perhaps she already was; he didn’t know. He would soon find out, though. Kirkpatrick would know what was going on.

  *****

  “Ma’am?”

  Lucy’s hand jerked at the startling sound of a young boy’s voice, ruining her fourth attempt at the promised note to Stephen. The sight that greeted her—a little boy who stood in dirty, mismatched clothing, clutching an odd-looking bundle in one hand and a makeshift cane in the other—was even more astonishing. Derek had said nothing about such a guest, but then she had given him little chance to say much at all.

  She glanced down guiltily at the half-written message announcing Derek’s return and quickly shoved it, along with Stephen’s card, into her drawer.

  “Have you seen the cap’n, ma’am? He’s to tell me where I’m to sleep. I’m Jimmy,” the boy added, smiling up at her with green eyes that shone with more than a touch of mischief. “The cap’n brung me from the Siren. He was pretty sore that I stowed away, but he got over it soon enough. Some other lady took me to a room, but I’m thinkin’ she made a mistake. It’s much too grand for the likes of me. What’s wrong? Cat got yer tongue?”

  Lucy stared in awe at the little boy. “Why, you can’t be more than eight years old, Jimmy. Whatever were you thinking of to stow away on a ship?”

  Jimmy puffed up proudly. “I’m almost eleven. I’m just small for my age. That’s one of the reasons I was so good at picking pock—er, sorry, ma’am. I’m not s’posed to talk about that. I been workin’ fer the cap’n a few years now, but he never let me sail with ’im on any long trips before. But you can understand, can’t ya? I just had to sneak aboard. It weren’t fair of ’em to leave me behind in Baltimore, just ’cuz I’m only ten.”

  Lucy bit back a smile. “Well, ten is an awfully young age to be doing such exciting things.”

  The boy scratched his head. “No, it ain’t. I been on my own fer almost six years now, and I reckon I know what’s best for me better’n anybody.”

  “You poor dear.” Lucy’s heart immediately went out to the little boy. On his own at the age of five! How did such a child survive?

  “Well, gosh, don’t feel sorry fer me, lady. Being on the Siren with the cap’n was the most ’citing time I ever had. Outsailing them French corvettes and firing on that slave ship! You should’a been there!”

  Lucy gave a start. “Firing on a slave ship? What do you mean?”

  “Firing! So’s we could take over the ship. And half our guns was dummies too!” he added gleefully. “But the cap’n said they wouldn’t know it if we attacked just right, and sure ‘nough… And you should’a seen what he did to that slave cap’n. Scared him half to death by shooting a hole in his dinghy with all them sharks in the water. It was sure somethin’.”

  “Sharks!” Lucy’s hand flew to her throat as she tried to make sense of what the boy was saying. “How horrible!”

  “Aw, no, it weren’t horrible a’tall,” Jimmy said with a disgusted shake of his head. “He didn’t let the sharks get ’im. He just wanted ta scare the daylights outta ’im. Said it was better’n the man deserved after what he done to all them slaves—er, not slaves but Africans. We saved their lives, sure ’nough.” His face clouded over for a second. “Well, as many as we could, anyways. Some of ’em was already dead when we brung ’em up from the hold. But the others are free now. That other captain took them back to Sara Long… Sara Layo… Sara—”

  “Sierra Leone,” Lucy finished tonelessly. She could hardly bring herself to think what this meant.

  “That’s it! Are you all right, lady? You look done in.”

  “I-I’m fine, Jimmy. I—Where did the other lady take you?”

  “She brung me to that room down there,” he said, motioning down the hall toward one of the guest bedchambers, “but she made a mistake. It’s a fancy room, and anyways, she says I have to have a bath before I can touch the bed. A bath! I just had one last week!”

  Having regained her wits, Lucy smiled at the child, resisting the temptation to tousle his hair for fear he had lice. Mrs. Gray was right; a bath was definitely in order. “I’m afraid you’ll have to do as she said, Jimmy. She’s the boss.”

  His eyes grew big. “She is? Will she make you take a bath too?”

  Lucy laughed. “As a matter of fact, I think she will. I do believe water is being brought up for my bath now. Are you hungry?”

  Jimmy licked his lips. “I sure am! We ate hours and hours ago, I think. At least it seems that way.”

  “Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ll have the ‘boss’ take you downstairs just as soon as you’ve had your bath, and she’ll see that you get to eat until you’re stuffed. How’s that?”

  “That’s great!”

  “And perhaps I can rummage around and find you some nice, clean clothes, and maybe we’ll cut your hair and—”

  “Gee, lady, I’m not gonna be here long enough fer all that. The cap’n promised to take me back home with ’em next week, and I can hardly wait. He’s gonna give me a real job, teach me a trade. I won’t be an errand boy anymore. I’m so excited I wish it was next week already!”

  Lucy stared mutely as the boy’s words sank in. Derek was going home next week, back to America. It was exactly what she’d so hatefully told him to do, and yet…

  “Lady, are you all right?”

  She pushed her weary thoughts away and gave Jimmy a weak smile. “Yes, really, I’m fine. I was only thinking you shouldn’t go wishing your life away. You can believe me when I tell you things will happen soon enough.”

  Chapter 30

  With a long and labored sigh, Lucy closed her eyes and settled back against the tub, trying her best to concentrate on the healing warmth of the water.

  She had misjudged him, and he would never forgive her. How could he after she’d said those vile things, after she had so completely believed the worst of him?

  It was all so confusing. He was confusing. Everything in her life had been confusing since the day they met, but could she blame him? Perhaps he hadn’t been completely honest with her about his past, but he hadn’t asked to be in this marriage. He was there because of her stupid actions and her lack of consideration for others. Because of her scheming, not his. She’d had no right to try to use him that way. It had been an unkind and selfish act, and they were both paying the price.

  She slid down and dipped the back of her hea
d in the water, savoring the delicious shivers of warmth that raced along her shoulders and spine. Already the dull ache between her shoulder blades was easing. In the steaming water her limbs seemed almost numb.

  If only she could numb her mind as well. If only she could turn off her thoughts and just float in a place where no one thought about anything, where everyone did what felt right without worrying about the consequences.

  She dismissed her wistful fantasies. She already knew what felt right—staying with Derek and making a life with him—but she’d been telling herself from the day he’d announced their betrothal that it was all wrong. The problem was that her reasoning was beginning to blur.

  Derek was no longer, and apparently never had been, a greedy murderer profiting from the sale of people. Instead he had saved strangers from that terrible fate. As far as she could tell, he didn’t seem to be guilty of anything else, either, unless she counted his lack of forthrightness regarding his past.

  Still, one truth remained. He was going back to America, and in a week, if what Jimmy said was true. She’d always known he would return to his home, and there had been many times when she couldn’t wait for that day so that this unsettling part of her life could be over and some sense of normalcy returned. But now that the time had come, she wanted to weep.

  Derek stood motionless in the doorway that separated his room from Lucy’s, watching her bathe in silence, wishing he knew what to say. It was all he could do to keep from going to her and pulling her into his arms, but he wouldn’t do that. If there was ever to be a true marriage between them, she must come to him.

  She knew the truth about the slave ship; he gleaned that much from a conversation with Jimmy. But was it enough? Did she have any respect for him at all? Had she ever? Could she ever? He didn’t know, and he wished he could tell her the truth about everything and be done with this business, but he knew he must tell Stephen before he told anyone else. Stephen was still pretending to be Captain Wainright’s business partner, and if a rumor circulated that Captain Wainright wasn’t who he was supposed to be, Stephen’s life would be in danger. Rumors spread so quickly. One servant with big ears and a bigger mouth was all it took.