On a Wicked Dawn

Chapter 18

The next morning saw the first of the visitations customary in county circles when welcoming a new bride into their midst. Squire Gingold and his wife led the charge, somewhat surprisingly accompanied by their two sons, both gangly youths, painfully shy.

Luc took one look at them, then sent a message summoning Portia and Penelope. Amelia, chatting with Mrs. Gingold, wondered… yet although the Gingolds were pleasant, both bluffly good-natured, she couldn't believe Luc would encourage his sisters in that direction. The Ashfords were, regardless of any difficulties, of the haut ton.

Mrs. Gingold put her right. When Portia and Penelope appeared and curtsied to the company, the looks on her sons' faces made her sigh. She exchanged a meaningful glance with Minerva, then, lowering her voice, confided, "Besotted, the pair of them. No more nous than helpless puppies, but it'll pass soon enough, no doubt."

Not soon enough for Portia and Penelope — Amelia read their thoughts with ease. While she, Mrs. Gingold, Minerva, Emily, and Anne comfortably conversed, exchanging the London news as well as local tales, and Luc and the Squire, sitting apart, were deep in plans for new plantings and repairs to fences, she kept a watchful eye on Portia and Penelope, holding exceedingly reluctant court by the terrace doors.

They appeared every bit as arrogantly superior as their eldest brother, and had tongues to match.

She couldn't hear what was said, but when Portia, brows high, spoke haughtily to one of the young men, cuttingly enough to make his face fall, Amelia inwardly winced.

Luckily, before she felt compelled to rescue the poor youths from the torture they'd brought upon themselves, the Squire concluded his business with Luc and rose. Mrs. Gin-gold exchanged a resigned smile with Minerva, extended it to Amelia, and heaved herself up from the chaise. "Come, boys. It's time we left."

Despite all they'd suffered, the boys were reluctant to leave. Fortunately for them, their parents paid them no heed. The entire company swept out to the portico. Portia and Penelope peppered the Squire with questions, showering on him the eager interest they'd denied his sons. Mrs. Gingold climbed into her gig; one son took the reins while the other joined his father on horseback.

The Ashfords waved their guests away, then turned back inside. Minerva went off with Emily and Anne in tow; Luc disappeared into the shadows of the front hall. As Portia and Penelope were about to follow, Amelia looked toward the kennels. "I'm going to walk around and check on Galahad. He and his brothers and sisters could probably do with a gambol." She glanced at the girls. "Why don't you come with me? I'm sure Miss Pink will excuse you for another half hour."

"She will if we tell her we were with you." Penelope changed directions. "Anyway, you shouldn't take all the puppies out by yourself. There are too many to watch over all at once."

"Indeed." Portia swung away from the door. "And they're still so helpless."

Amelia grabbed the opening. "Speaking of helpless puppies…" She waited until both girls glanced at her. Held their gazes until comprehension dawned and they shifted and looked away.

"Well, they're just so irritating. And soppy about it, too." Penelope scowled in the direction the Gingolds had gone.

"Perhaps, but they don't mean to be. And there's a difference between being civilly discouraging and actively taking slices out of their hides." Amelia glanced at Portia; she was looking down the valley, her lips compressed. "You could try being a little more understanding."

"They're both older than us — you'd think they'd have more sense than to moon about us the way they do." Portia's chin firmed; she glanced at Amelia. "They can't seriously imagine we're flattered by such fawning."

Neither had had a younger brother; both Edward and Luc were much older. When it came to youthful males, Amelia had considerably more experience than they. She sighed, linked arms with Penelope, then with Portia, and drew them toward the gravel walk leading around the house. "They may be older in years, but in the arena of male-female relationships, boys, indeed, even men, are always backward. It's something you need to remember.

"In the Gingold boys' case, a little understanding now — and no, I don't mean being encouraging or even acquiescing but just dealing with them gently — may work to your later advantage. They'll likely always live in this area and may later be perfectly reasonable acquaintances; there's no need to give them poor memories of you. Furthermore, a little practice in dealing with male devotion, however misplaced, won't come amiss. When it comes your turn to make your bows to society, knowing how to deal with besotted young men…"

Amelia's voice faded as the trio walked along the path; from where he'd been waiting inside the front door, Luc risked looking out. The three were walking slowly, heads bent close — black, blond, and brown — Amelia lecturing, his sisters listening — perhaps reluctantly, but listening. He'd been waiting to try to make precisely the same points, but he would not have been been anywhere near as successful.

Aside from anything else, he would never have admitted to being backward in the arena of male-female relationships.

Even if it were true.

He stood in the hall, the tension that had gripped him over the prospect of verbally wrestling with Portia and Penelope over their unacceptable behavior dissipating. With that fading, his mind returned to its usual obsession — that other female he'd yet to adequately deal with.

Suppressing a resigned grimace, he headed for the Office.

A week of long sunny days rolled by, punctuated by more visits as the families around about called to offer their felicitations and welcome Amelia. As she was already known to all, such visits passed in comfortable style, with easy familiarity. Outside such social interludes, a steady murmur of life filled the Chase — something Luc also found comfortable and familiar.

It was the way his home had always been, as long as he could remember it — the long corridors filled with the steady thrum of a large household, the laughter and whispers of his sisters, his mother's more measured tones, giggling from the maids, Higgs's brusque edicts, Cottsloe's deeper voice. To him, that murmurous sound — a sound containing so many other sounds — represented much of what he'd struggled for the past eight years to preserve.

The sounds of the Chase in midsummer embodied the essence of family, the essence of home.

And now there was another thread in the symphony, another player. Time and again, he found himself listening for Amelia's voice, listening as she interacted with, interjected, corrected and encouraged his sisters.

In company with Minerva, Emily, and Anne, Amelia returned their neighbors' visits, satisfying the social expectations. Both Emily and Anne watched and learned, taking more notice of Amelia's behavior than they ever had of their mama's.

The expected letter from Kirkpatrick arrived. Minerva was simply pleased; with the confidence of one experienced in such things, she assumed everything would go smoothly. And there was no reason it wouldn't.

Emily, however, was understandably keyed up; she started worrying over things that didn't need worrying about. Luc steeled himself to speak with her, to somehow allay her feminine fears — Amelia got there first, relieving him of the problem of dealing with something he didn't truly understand.

Emily responded to Amelia's calming comments, smiling and returning to her usual self almost immediately. Luc felt cravenly grateful.

He was likewise happy when he discovered Amelia encouraging Anne, not pushing, but supporting, which was exactly what he himself wished to do but couldn't easily manage. He was a male, after all; his sisters all had him pegged, although the manner in which each regarded him differed.

Which was why, when one night over the dinner table, Amelia stepped directly between him and Portia, he found himself reacting, not gratefully, but with a quite different emotion.

A dark glance, a flash of tension that flowed through him — although she now sat at the other end of the table, Amelia noticed. One brown brow rose faintly, but she kept control of the conversational reins she'd filched from his grasp.

However, later that night, as soon as they were alone, even before he'd brought up the subject, she did, explaining her reasoning, asking — outright — for his approval. He'd given it, for she'd been, as usual when it came to his sisters, right. Her insight with respect to them was more acute than his, yet when she explained, he saw what she saw and agreed with her tack.

Reluctantly, he stepped back and let her handle them, reassured when she grasped private moments here and there to keep him informed.

Gradually, in such small increments that at first he didn't notice, the burden of dealing with his sisters lifted from his shoulders. He relaxed — and then he noticed. That he was less tense in their presence, that relaxed, he took greater joy in their company. He didn't love them any the less, but from one step back, his view of them was clearer, less clouded by his instincts, by the fraught knowledge they were solely his responsibility.

Legally, they still were; in reality, that responsibility was now shared.

The realization made him pause, again evoked a reaction, a concern he couldn't easily shrug aside.

When he walked into their bedroom later that night, Amelia was already abed, lying back on the pillows, her curls a gilded frame for her face. Calmly expectant, she watched him approach. He halted by the side of the bed, caught her gaze.

Reached for the tie of his robe. "You've been very helpful with my sisters — all of them." He shrugged out of the robe, let it fall. Watched her gaze drift down from his face. "Why?"

"Why?" Her gaze didn't leave his body as he joined her on the bed, then she reached for him and lifted her eyes to his. "Because I like them, of course. I've known them all their lives, and they need, perhaps not help, but guidance."

She watched while he slid down beside her, and skin met skin, then she lifted a hand and brushed back the lock of hair that had fallen across his brow. "Your mother… it's been a long time since she had to deal with such things, and such things have changed with the years in many cases."

"So you're doing it for them?"

She smiled, settled invitingly back, her fingers trailing down his cheek. "For them, for you, for us."

He hesitated; the "for you" he'd hoped for, hoped he understood. Wasn't about to ask. "Us?"

She laughed. "They're your sisters, we're married — that makes them my sisters-in-law. They're family, and they need advice — advice I can give. So of course I'll do what I can to ease their way."

Her hand slid into his hair, firmed as she drew his head to hers. "You worry about them too much. They're clever and bright — they'll do perfectly well. Trust me."

He did. His lips closed on hers, and he let the matter slide. Let another take its place. Let the power and the passion strip away their thoughts, let sensation and emotion rule, let their bodies fuse in concert with their souls.

Later, when moonlight painted a swath across their bed, he lay with Amelia asleep beside him and tentatively adjusted his thoughts.

He cared deeply for his sisters; Amelia knew that. He'd wondered what her motives in assisting with them were. A telling reaction; when it came to her and what was now between them, he could barely believe how far his uncertainty stretched. He'd imagined it possible that in seeking to control his sisters as well as his household, she was seeking, ultimately, to control him.

His position — his very self — was so deeply rooted in his home, in his family, that controlling both would effectively give her considerable influence over him. While he'd expected her to rule his household, he hadn't foreseen her helping with his sisters.

More fool him, but he was starting to suspect he'd been — was still being — foolish on a wider front.

He'd long recognized love for the power that it was, had always been wary that it would prove strong enough to rule him. As, indeed, he now knew it was.

She'd always been a terribly managing female, one as stubborn as he, yet she'd been the only woman he'd ever truly wanted, ever wanted as his wife. And now she was.

His wariness, his distrust — his continuing uncertainty — all stemmed from the fact that he didn't know why she'd chosen to marry him. He'd assumed, imagined, guessed — all wrongly, it now seemed.

He still didn't know.

But finally, belatedly, very likely foolishly so, he was starting to believe that it wasn't a wish to rule him that drove her.

The next afternoon, Amelia was sitting in her parlor toting up her household accounts when Higgs looked in.

"A curricle's coming up the drive, ma'am. Dark-haired gentleman, dark-haired lady — not anyone from 'round about but I do think I might have seen them at your wedding."

Mystified, Amelia set down her pen. "I'll come and see."

She was expecting Amanda and Martin, together with her parents, Simon and her aunt Helena, all who'd been visiting at Hathersage, Amanda's new home which Amelia had yet to see, in a few days. Concern over what had brought anyone else earlier made her walk quickly to the front hall.

Cottsloe opened the front door and she stepped out, raised a hand to shade her eyes against the slanting sun, and searched the long, curving drive. She spotted the curricle starting the long climb toward the house.

Stepping back, she glanced at Cottsloe. "Please tell his lordship that Lucifer and Phyllida have arrived."

Turning, she went out onto the portico to greet her cousin and his wife.

"What's wrong?" she asked the instant Lucifer stepped down from his curricle.

His gaze went past her to the groom hurrying up to take charge of his horses, then shifted to the portico where Cottsloe waited, a footman hovering, about to come for their luggage. Turning to her with his customary rakish smile, he enveloped her in a hug, planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'll tell all later, when it's just you and Luc and me."

"And me." Phyllida prodded his back.

Lucifer turned and lifted her down. "And you, of course. That goes without saying."

Phyllida threw him a look, then embraced Amelia. "Don't worry," Phyllida whispered. "No one's in any danger."

Lucifer was scanning the surrounding fields. "Superb country."

Phyllida and Amelia exchanged glances, then linked arms and headed for the house. "Now, quite aside from that," Phyllida said, "you must tell me everything. I'm here in lieu of everyone still in the south. How are you getting on?" Glancing ahead, Phyllida saw Luc step onto the portico. "Ah, here's your handsome husband. He's almost as hideously handsome as mine."

"Almost?" Amelia laughed. "Each to our own taste, I suppose."

"Indubitably," Phyllida replied.

Luc lifted a brow as they neared, his gaze alert, serious; Amelia signaled with her eyes, murmured "Later" as she slipped past to give her orders to Higgs.

There was plenty to talk about, laugh about; a late-afternoon tea and subsequently dinner sped by. Luc and Lucifer denied any interest in port, so the family settled comfortably in the drawing room.

Eventually, the girls and Miss Pink retired; after a few minutes, Minerva followed them upstairs. Luc rose as the door closed behind her. Crossing to the sideboard, he poured brandy into two glasses, handed one to Lucifer, then sank onto the arm of Amelia's armchair.

He sipped, then asked, "What's the problem?"

Lucifer circled the room with his gaze, then looked at Luc.

"No one can hear us. All their rooms are sufficiently distant."

Lucifer nodded. "Right then. Our problem isn't clear. The facts, however, are these. After your wedding, Phyllida and I returned to London, intending to spend a week or so there, in my case, touching base with my various contacts."

Luc nodded; he knew of Lucifer's interest in silver and jewelry.

"One afternoon, while looking over an old acquaintance's stock, I came upon an ancient silver saltcellar. When I asked where the dealer had got it, he admitted it had been brought to his back door by one of the'scavengers,' his term for those who receive goods with no declarable provenance."

"Stolen goods?"

"Usually. Generally the better dealers avoid such goods, but in the case of the saltcellar, the dealer hadn't been able to resist." Lucifer's brows rose. "Luckily for us. The last time I saw that saltcellar it was at the Place. It was presented to one of my great-something-grandfathers for services to the Crown."

Amelia sat forward. "It'd been stolen from Somersham?"

Lucifer nodded. "And that wasn't all that was taken. I retrieved the saltcellar, and we took it back to the Place. We arrived there to find Honoria seriously vexed. That morning she'd received three letters from various family members who'd stayed overnight. They were all missing small items — a Sevres snuffbox, a gold bracelet, an amethyst brooch."

"That sounds like the same thief who's been filching items from all over London." Luc frowned. "There's some reason you've come all this way to tell us."

"Indeed, but let's not jump to any conclusions, because, frankly, we don't have sufficient facts. However, the reasons I've come to you are twofold. First, the losses at Somersham were already public knowledge before Devil and Honoria heard of them, so they haven't been able to keep things within the family, as they would have preferred."

Lucifer held up his hand to stop Amelia when she would have asked why. "The bald facts of the scattered thefts are that, if you chalk the losses at the Place up to the same account, then there appears to be only one common factor, only one group who attended all the affected events."

Silence gripped the room. For long moments, no one broke it. Lucifer looked steadily at Luc, who returned his regard.

"The Ashfords," Luc finally said, his voice even, uninflected.

Lucifer grimaced. "On the face of it, yes. Devil and Honoria have returned to London — they'll do what they can to dampen speculation there. Luckily, with the Season virtually at an end, if we can deal with it — whatever it is — swiftly, there won't be much damage."

To Amelia, Luc seemed preternaturally still.

"We can't afford another scandal — not after Edward."

Lucifer inclined his head. "We knew you'd feel that way, which is why I drove up here and Devil headed back to town. We need to identify the culprit, so we can deal with the situation as we'd prefer. And, if necessary, minimize any damage."

His gaze distant, Luc nodded; he raised his glass and sipped.

Phyllida, until then silent, stirred. "You haven't told them the rest."

Lucifer glanced at her, then grimaced; he looked at Amelia and Luc. "When we were discussing all this — Devil, Honoria, Phyllida, and I — we'd forgotten there was someone else in the room. Great-aunt Clara. As usual, she confounded us all by telling us she rather thought her nurse-cum-companion might have seen something helpful. Luckily, Althorpe, the nurse, isn't anywhere near as vague as Clara — when we spoke to her, Althorpe remembered the incident clearly.

"It was the night of your wedding, and she'd been up late settling Clara. When she got back to her room, she saw a young lady rushing back to the house. It was after midnight. Althorpe is adamant the young lady was older than a schoolgirl, but not by much, and was distraught. Very much upset."

"Could she describe this young lady?" Amelia asked.

"She was looking down on her — she didn't see her face. What she did see was thick brown hair, possibly shoulder-length — the lady was wearing a cloak, but the hood had fallen back."

"Brown hair," Luc murmured. He took another sip of brandy.

"Definitely. Althorpe was quite clear on that — not black, not blond. Brown."

It could be one of my sisters.

Luc had made the comment, drawn the inevitable conclusion. Amelia knew how much it had cost him to do so.

Neither Lucifer nor Phyllida had said anything more; they'd all retired, sober and absorbed.

Now, lying in their bed, she watched Luc walk slowly toward her. His face was shuttered; he was further from her — and withdrawn to a greater distance — than at any time since they'd first spoken of marriage.

Her heart ached for him. After saving his family from the disaster of his father's depredations, steering them through the grim scandal of Edward's making, after working so hard and finally succeeding in getting all back on an even keel… only to have all his efforts swamped by this.

The implicit threat was all too real. If it came to pass… for him, it would be a serious blow.

She waited until he joined her beneath the covers, then took her courage in her hands, and baldly asked, "Who do you think it is? Emily or Anne?"

That stillness that sometimes came over him swept him. He said nothing, just lay stiffly beside her. She bit her lip against the nearly overwhelming urge to speak, to reach for him. To dismiss and push her question away.

Then he exhaled. "I think…" He paused, then his tone changed, "I wondered if it could be Mama."

It was he who reached for her, his hand finding hers, covering it, then gripping, holding tight. "I wondered if… well, you know how many families face a problem like that, one they hide and never speak of."

That was a possibility she hadn't considered. "You mean" — she turned to him, easing closer, seeking to comfort simply by touch—"if she'd developed a habit of picking up things that caught her eye and not even really knowing?"

He nodded. "The girl the nurse saw could have been something quite different — nothing to do with the thefts."

Amelia thought of his mother, intelligent, calm, and wise. "No. I can't see it." She made her tone as definite as she felt.

"Those other older ladies who start taking things — from all I've heard, they're quite vague, not just about what they've taken but generally. Your mother's not like that, not at all."

He hesitated, then said, softly, "She's been through a lot over the years…"

Amelia considered Minerva's quiet strength. She pressed closer; under the covers, she lifted a hand to his chest. "Luc — it isn't your mother."

Some of his tension left him, but not all. He released her fingers, lifted his arm over her, letting her snuggle against him, draping his arm so he could hold her there.

Accepting her comfort, her help, not shutting her out.

Amelia closed her eyes in mute thanks, then she felt his lips press the curls at her crown, felt the weight of his head as he rested it against hers.

After a long moment, he spoke. "If not Mama, then it must be Anne."