“I’m able to wait at table,” Mr. Collins volunteered from his seat to her right, putting down the newspaper he’d been engrossed in. An Irish newspaper, in fact, when Bryony didn’t realize they printed them in England.
“Thank you, Mr. Collins, but I don’t think that will be necessary. You’re already stretched too thin as it is. If we need you in an emergency we will call on you, but in the meantime it isn’t your place.” Servants were incredibly mindful and jealous of their status, Bryony had discovered, much more so than in society. Any democratic ideas she’d tried to institute at Renwick and the town house had been quickly rebuffed.
“Yes, Mrs. Greaves. And what would you have me do today? I made significant progress sorting through his lordship’s clothes, pulling out that which needed to be laundered or mended.”
“Don’t worry none about the mending, Mr. Collins,” Bertie said cheerfully. “The gentry don’t like mended clothes—they just throw them out and have new freshly made. We usually share the old stuff amongst ourselves, though somes of us resell ’em.”
It was a common enough practice, one of the few advantages of the serving class. “And you do the same with Lady Kilmartyn’s?”
Mrs. Harkins laughed. “Lord love you, we wouldn’t dare. None of us could hardly wear them, and her ladyship worries that some of her more distinctive dresses might be recognizable if someone buys it from a rag merchant. She has that mademoiselle destroy everything she’s finished with.”
“Destroys them?” Bryony echoed, aghast. “All her expensive wardrobe?”
“Seems to me you could at least take some of the trim off, reuse that,” Mrs. Harkins said with a sniff.
“It must be very extravagant,” Bryony said tentatively, fishing for information.
“Indeed it is. Not that money’s an object. His lordship’s rich as Croesus, and Lady Kilmartyn lives to spend it.”
“No one has unlimited money,” Bryony said.
Mrs. Harkins shrugged. “Well, he just inherited ownership of the ship-building business he started with some cit. Things seem to happen like that—money just falls in his lap. I don’t think Lady Kilmartyn needs to worry.”
“If she did, I doubt she’d be here,” Emma said from her spot across the table, draining her cup of tea.
“Don’t let Mademoiselle hear you say that,” Mrs. Harkins warned her. “You know she carries tales, and you’d be out on your arse in a moment’s notice.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Bryony said. “The hiring and the firing of the staff has been left up to me, with his lordship having the final word.” Unbidden the memory of his objection to the term “your lordship” came back to her, and she could feel her face heat. “Though I will agree we need to treat our employers with the respect they are due.”
“I was, Mrs. Greaves,” Emma said with a wry grin.
Bryony had to cough to hide her answering smile. Clearly Lady Kilmartyn may have managed to fool most of society, but the members of her household weren’t as easily hoodwinked.
“Windows today,” she announced, ignoring the faint groan from Emma and her new assistants, Grace and Allie. “I haven’t had a chance to check his lordship’s room, to see if anything needs replacing. You say he left early today?”
“He did,” Mr. Collins affirmed. “Her ladyship has gone out as well. Would you like me to accompany you, Mrs. Greaves?”
“No need,” she said airily. “I merely want to check the curtains, upholstery, and such. I’ve only had a brief glimpse of it on my first tour of the house, and I’m responsible for it.” Not to mention a darkened glance when she helped him into bed two nights ago. In fact, she was responsible for everything, a curse and a blessing. No one would ever question why she should ferret around in the earl’s bedroom.
If Lady Kilmartyn was out she probably ought to start with her rooms, but she really didn’t wish to. And it made sense that if there was some sort of proof to be hidden it was far more likely in Kilmartyn’s rooms than those of his despised wife.
She waited until the staff had started on their daily tasks before climbing the servants’ stairs again to the third floor where Kilmartyn slept. She was slowly getting used to her many trips up and down the narrow flights, and when she came out into the third-floor corridor this time she wasn’t out of breath.
A good thing, since the first thing she saw was a perfect stranger in the middle of the hall, standing at the door to the ballroom, looking for all the world as if he belonged there.
Maybe he did. The morning sunlight came directly in from the windows to the east, illuminating his elegant figure, and she dropped into her customary bow automatically as he strode toward her, entirely at home.
“You must be the estimable Mrs. Greaves,” he purred, his voice soft and seductive. “My cousin has told me a great deal about you, but she failed to mention how pretty you are.”
Bryony’s pleasant smile didn’t falter, and she didn’t automatically touch her face, much as she was tempted to. “I may assume Lady Kilmartyn is your cousin, is she not? Then the reason she failed to mention my purported beauty is because she considers me…” She wanted to say “a hag from hell” but that would hardly be appropriate. “… unaesthetic,” she said.
He tipped his head to one side, eyeing her, and then he smiled, a winsome, lovely smile. “I expect she was jealous. My cousin is exquisite, one of the great beauties of England, and yet she can’t keep from feeling threatened whenever another pretty woman enters her world.”
Hardly pretty, Bryony wanted to say, but she was silent. One didn’t correct the employers or their friends.
He took a step closer, and the sun glinted off his chestnut hair, and his brown eyes were merry. “Yes, I know, you think I’m flattering you, but you’re being tolerant of the silly man. I’m Brown, you know. Rufus Brown.”
“Indeed, sir,” she answered politely. “Is there some way I may assist you?”
He took another step toward her, but she held her ground, surveying him calmly. He really was quite handsome—beauty must run in Lady Kilmartyn’s family. He had a dark curl that rested on the center of his forehead, a seemingly artless foible that she suspected was well honed. He was also doing his best to charm her, but she’d been up against the best. Against the Earl of Kilmartyn, in fact, and she’d managed to resist him. Mr. Brown was child’s play compared to him.
He cocked his head, that lovely smile playing around his lips, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I suspect you are going to be a difficult conquest, Mrs. Greaves.”
“I beg your pardon?” Her voice was cold enough to freeze water.
“I always like to have the staff on my side,” he added, and for a moment she felt like a fool. He could hardly have meant what she thought he had. “I have a habit of coming and going at odd hours, and I don’t like to disturb the household. Lady Kilmartyn and I are… very close, and there are times when Adrian can be ridiculously provincial.”
He was sleeping with his cousin, she realized with shock. It wasn’t unheard of for cousins to marry—in some families it was even encouraged. Queen Victoria herself had married her first cousin, but Bryony had spent her long, empty days in scholarship, and she’d been particularly fond of Egyptian civilization. A civilization that had been destroyed by inbreeding as much as any other influence.
But she was a servant, she reminded herself. It was hardly her place to judge. And if, despite all appearances, the Earl of Kilmartyn really had killed her father then he deserved everything he got. “Very good, sir,” she said politely. “Is there anything else?”
“Why in such a hurry to get away from me, Mrs. Greaves?” he said, moving closer. “I might get the feeling you don’t like me.”
Enough was enough. He was so close she could feel his body heat, smell the scent of sweat and stale perfume that wasn’t his. Plus something else she couldn’t identify, didn’t want to identify. And why was he here in the house when both lord and lady of the house were out? “It’s
hardly my place to like you, Mr. Brown. It is merely to provide excellent service and see to your needs.” Bad wording, she thought belatedly.
“Oh, I have no doubt you will,” he said softly. “Good day, Mrs. Greaves.”
She stifled her sigh of relief. “Good day, sir,” she said in the perfectly neutral, modulated voice she’d perfected for the fictional Mrs. Greaves. She and her sisters had always enjoyed amateur theatricals, and Bryony had excelled as the villain. She had mastered any number of accents, walks, and styles of speaking, which was only one reason she was sure she’d succeed in her masquerade.
The other reason being that she had no choice.
She watched Mr. Brown saunter down the hall, a man certain of his own irresistibility. And indeed, he had reason to be. It wasn’t his fault she was entirely immune to it. At another time, another place she would have been trembling and grateful for his faint, sexual innuendos.
But compared with the powerhouse that was Kilmartyn, he seemed like a boy. Kilmartyn must know that no woman could possibly resist him, and yet he didn’t walk with that offensive swagger.
No woman apart from herself, of course, she thought quickly.
She waited until she heard his footsteps all the way down the stairs. And then she headed for Kilmartyn’s bedroom and slipped inside, closing the door silently behind her.
There was no reason for her to be secretive—she’d already announced to the staff what she was doing. But stealth seemed ingrained, and she leaned back against the door and surveyed the room with the eyes of a housekeeper before she used the eyes of a spy.
It was a large room, with massive windows on the front of the house, though the hideous red curtains were shut tight against the light. The fabric was ugly, gaudy, and it hung around the bed, covered the chairs, covered the walls, and for a moment she was startled. Did Kilmartyn really have such bad taste?
There were two other doors leading from the room, one on each side, and she went to the left first, expecting to find a sitting room. Instead there was nothing but a surprisingly small dressing room, with barely enough room for a chair. There would be no chance for Collins to sleep there, awaiting his master’s return after a night of carousing.
The clothing was in perfect order, though she expected it would have been an entirely different matter before Collins had arrived on the scene. Closing the door behind her, she crossed to check the other adjoining room. It was dark, shuttered, the furniture shrouded in linen covers. Odd. The master of the house usually had much more spacious quarters.
And better taste in curtains, she thought, looking at them in disgust. The color was particularly displeasing—garish, jarring. She couldn’t imagine how anyone could sleep in here. It would give her nightmares. She crossed the room and pulled the heavy drapes aside, flooding the room with the sunlight of a rare clear day, then turned to look at the room.
It was clearly meant to be a guest room, or perhaps space for an extraneous relative. There were at least six larger bedrooms on the second floor, currently uninhabited, though Bryony had seen to their cleaning. Why was he up here? To get away from his wife?
For that matter, why was Lady Kilmartyn’s cousin up here? That made no sense at all.
If it were up to her she would strip the curtains, the wall hangings, everything of this noxious color and put something more soothing in its place. But that was the least of her worries. She wasn’t here to make life more pleasant for Kilmartyn, she was here to discover whether he was innocent or guilty of collusion in her father’s disgrace and death. There was a small gilt desk in one corner, and she headed for it. In the top drawer there was nothing but a stack of invitations and cards, carelessly discarded, and she doubted she’d find anything of interest there. She sat down anyway, going through them, looking for something out of place, a name, an event that might spark something. But everything was deadly dull—it was no wonder he’d simply tossed them in the desk. Collins would see to clearing out such things in the future.
Indeed, she had no reason to feel guilty for spying. After all, she would be leaving this house and its inhabitants in a much better state than the chaos she’d walked into. Assuming she didn’t leave this house with its master in prison.
She pulled open the next drawer, to find cufflinks and studs, a gold watch carelessly discarded, a silver brush that had come apart, and a peculiar pin, made of the kind of curling lettering she associated with medieval monks. There were letters—I, R, and B. His last name was Bruton—perhaps this had belonged to someone in his family. The silver looked new, though, and heavy. What was he doing with such a thing?
She closed the drawer, leaving everything intact, and turned, reluctantly, toward the unmade bed.
There should be no reason why she could picture the Earl of Kilmartyn lying in that bed, sheets twined around him, the ugly covers pushed to the floor, wearing nothing but his golden skin. She put her hands to her lips, remembering how his mouth felt beneath hers, and she shivered.
She could remember his chest, smooth, the light dusting of hair in the middle, the heat of his skin. So different from the farm workers. She’d seen them in the fields on blisteringly hot days, and she’d watched in fascination, the way muscles played beneath skin, at backs and arms and strong legs clad only in rough breeches. It had been a purely intellectual interest, she’d told herself. Nothing worse than looking at some of the magnificent paintings and statues in the British Museum, and there she’d seen a great deal more. That strange arrangement of little parts between their legs that no lady should ever observe fascinated her. She knew the mechanics of sexual congress—one couldn’t live in the countryside and be unaware of it—but she still couldn’t quite figure out how something so small could manage the trick.
Not that she was about to be deflowered by one of the Elgin Marbles, she thought absently. She wasn’t going to be touched, deflowered by anyone. So why was she looking at Kilmartyn’s bed and thinking about men’s parts and deflowering?
She knew why, and her skin grew warm.
She had no idea why no one had made up the master’s bedroom yet—she would have to speak to the girls about it. She rose and began to pull the sheets together, yanking them up and smoothing them so that they lay, flat and neat against the mattress, followed by the heavy brocade counterpane. Tucking the sheets underneath the mattress, she suddenly froze as her fingers touched something. A journal, a book of some sort, the leather of the thin spine soft against her questing fingers, and she began to tug it toward her, excitement rippling through her, when she heard a noise.
The Earl of Kilmartyn stood in the open doorway, an unreadable expression on his handsome, saturnine face, and she froze, knowing she was the picture of guilt.
CHAPTER NINE
“LOOKING FOR SOMETHING, Mrs. Greaves?” Kilmartyn said in a lazy voice. And then, to Bryony’s horror, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it, all catlike elegance.
She stiffened, as she knew she should. “Of course,” she said briskly. “This entire household is under my care, and I wished to make certain your rooms were cleaned and comfortable. I’m afraid the maids have yet to get to your room, and I thought I should help.”
“The staff know to leave my room alone,” he said, not moving. “They are to come in when I tell them to, and at no other time. I don’t like spies.”
There was no way she could control the heat that flooded her face, but she pulled herself together, banishing inconvenient things like guilt. “You’ve hired me to be the housekeeper here, my lord, and it’s my responsibility to make certain the rooms are clean and comfortable. If you have a problem with that perhaps you don’t need my services.”
He seemed amused. “Oh, I most definitely need your services, my dear Miss Greaves. If it would make you happy to have my rooms cleaned daily then feel free to arrange it. In fact, if you wished to do it yourself I could hardly make an objection, and I must admit the sight of your hands tending my bedding is curiously arousing. As for the ro
om, nothing in hell could make it comfortable. The walls and the hangings look like pig vomit, and letting in sunlight only makes it worse. I use this room for sleep and nothing more.”
Except for the book beneath the mattress. “I trust my staff to take care of your quarters, my lord. Though I agree these are quite distasteful. Why do you stay here if you hate it so much? There are other more pleasantly outfitted bedrooms on the second floor.” She shouldn’t be asking so many impertinent questions, but if she didn’t, how would she ever discover the truth?
“I like it up here. I just don’t like the way the previous owners decorated it. My wife went through and spent a fortune on everything she could, but by the time she got to these smaller rooms she lost interest. After all, they’re for poor relatives and unimportant guests, and they should simply make do. Or so she said.”
“Previous owners?” she echoed.
“Did you think this was a family manse, passed down by generations of Brutons? We’re Irish, Miss Greaves. I’m only tolerated because I’m an aristocrat—I’m sure they’d send me back to the bogs if they could. I bought it from a businessman who lost a fortune in a slight miscalculation. Fortunes are won and lost that way, you know, my dear Miss Greaves. Just one mistake, and everything can disappear.”
Was he talking about her father? Thinking about him? Did he think Eustace Russell had truly brought the shipping company to the edge of ruin by embezzlement and then run away to escape the consequences? It could hardly be termed a mistake, if true, and she knew it wasn’t. What small mistake could he have made that left him dead and his family destitute? Trusting the Earl of Kilmartyn?