Raven (Gentlemen of the Order #2) - Adele Clee Page 0,6
from town and prying eyes.
“And she has been like this since the accident?” he said.
Sophia nodded and then bowed her head. She clutched her hands so tightly in her lap her knuckles were white. He imagined slipping his hand over hers and giving a squeeze of reassurance. Words of comfort would naturally fall from his lips, promises he shouldn’t make, vows he couldn’t keep.
“In the beginning, we assumed her distress stemmed from witnessing Mr Archer in the … in the act,” she continued. “Father thought the nightmares would pass. We hired Dr Goodwin, and Jessica seemed to make some progress. But one evening while out walking, she disappeared. We found her in Godstow, making an exhibition of herself at The Trout Inn. That’s when Mr Archer and Maud married. Maud pretended she was Jessica to appease the villagers. Whispers of witchery were already spreading like wildfire.”
A log suddenly shifted, the fire crackling and hissing in protest.
Sophia gasped and brought her clasped her hands to her breast. “Goodness, I fear my nerves are frayed.”
The knots in his stomach returned. He couldn’t soothe her, not in the way she needed. “Godstow must be fifty miles from here. I hear Dr Goodwin still makes regular visits. Is it not a long way to come?”
“Dr Goodwin is Mr Archer’s trusted friend, though he’s somewhat older. I daren’t hire a new doctor, daren’t speak of this to anyone else.”
“Because you fear they will have Jessica committed?”
“Yes, and once the secret is out, everyone will know we lied to save a poor girl’s reputation.”
A rising panic forced him to say, “Please tell me Archer and Maud married legally.” The Order did not condone fraud.
Sophia nodded. “They married in Gretna Green. When they returned, Maud pretended to be Jessica. They sailed for India a week later.”
Everything she had said so far explained the need for secrecy. Yet the burning question on his lips had nothing to do with Jessica Draper. For a few seconds they sat in silence while he fought the need for an answer. But he could not solve a case without knowing all the facts.
“And what prompted you to marry Lord Adair?” The man was her father’s friend and twenty-five years her senior. “Surely the need to keep the secret outweighed the need to marry.” Bitterness clung to every word.
She closed her eyes briefly. “Father took ill not long after we learnt you were dead. While he had made financial provisions for our welfare, the house was to go to his cousin Jeremy. He’s a pompous prig and hasn’t the capacity to hold his own water. Lord Adair offered a solution. William’s first wife bore him an heir but died before giving him a second son. We married for convenience, as most people do.”
A cavernous hole opened in the pit of Finlay’s stomach. He hated that she used Adair’s given name so intimately. He hated the thought of her sharing the lord’s bed.
“As it turned out, I am barren,” she added with cool detachment.
“Barren, or just so anxious you could not conceive?”
She shrugged. “Who can say? I’m rather glad, truth be told.”
He was glad, too, though did not want to delve into the reasons why.
“And so your husband agreed you might purchase this house after your marriage,” Finlay stated. “He agreed to keep your secret and let Jessica live here.”
“Yes. We hid her at home until Father died five years ago and then moved her here.”
Ah, that accounted for the discrepancy.
The longcase clock in the great hall chimed the midnight hour. The ominous ring brought tension to the air, as if the sound preceded the onset of supernatural events. No doubt wicked spirits were already waiting in the shadows to plague his dreams.
“Perhaps that’s enough for tonight,” he said, pushing to his feet. He drained the goblet and returned the glass to the silver tray on the chiffonier. “Tomorrow, you may reveal the catalogue of events that forced you to approach Lucius Daventry and request my assistance.”
Sophia gripped the arm of the chair and stood. She took a moment to peruse his clothes and face. “I don’t recall ever seeing you with a beard. Not even when you returned from Belgium.”
No, he had taken care over his appearance before their reunion. He had wanted everything to be perfect when she discovered he’d escaped his abductors.
Fool!
Finlay drew his hand along the black beard tinged with the odd fleck of grey now he’d turned thirty. “Do you not like it?” He hoped she found it dirty,