Tess laughed long and hard at that one. Tom was a man of few words, but she had no doubt he was reporting Captain Edgerton’s words faithfully.
‘My dear Tom, You must not worry about Captain Edgerton. He cannot have me arrested. If he wants to talk to me, he may come here, if he pleases, but I am too much occupiedto return home just now, but do keep me informed of what they are up to. Tess’
The next letter threw her into a spin.
‘Miss Nicholson, I hope you are well. You asked for news of Captain Edgerton. Rumour says he’s looking to Pickering now. Your father had businesses there as well as the house. Your friend, T. Shapman’
At once she dashed off a reply.
‘Tom, This is dreadful news! Businesses? What businesses could Papa have had? I cannot understand it, but it hardly matters for if it gives Captain Edgerton an excuse to start snooping round Pickering, then I am sunk! He will go into the house and be bound to find the safe. Or perhaps my fortune is secreted in one of these businesses, but whatever the truth, the captain will find it all out and I shall never get my hands on my fortune. This is a disaster! If only there were some way to call off the captain once and for all, but I fear that he is one of those people who never, ever gives up. Oh, Tom, whatever am I to do? Your distraught Tess’
With this worry at the back of her mind, Tess became more than ever determined to secure Ulric, at least in a betrothal until she came of age, for she was under no illusion that her mother would approve of the marriage. With this in mind, she began to talk very frequently to Ulric about Myercroft and how pleasant it would be for him to live there, just as he had as a small boy, with his mother and younger brothers and sisters. He had some memory of living there, surprisingly, and he had dined with the tenants, Sir Ernest and Lady Peterson many times, and he agreed that it would be pleasant to live there.
“Like to live with Sir Ernest and Lady Peterson,” he said. “Always have a good dinner.”
“If you were to live there, then Sir Ernest and Lady Peterson would leave,” Tess said. They had ridden out to a different inn— Ulric knew every inn within riding distance of Myercroft — and were sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside, their backs resting against the inn’s rough stone wall.
“Why do they want to leave?”
“I dare say they do not, but it is your house, Ulric. If you want to live in it, the Petersons would have to move out.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because that is how it works. They only live there because you do not, and the house would be empty otherwise. You would like to live at Myercroft with your horses, would you not?”
“Like that,” he agreed. “Like to live at Myercroft with the horses.”
“Your mama would like to live there, too, I am sure.”
“Yes. Mama would like that.”
“She would. Indeed she would,” Tess said happily. He was getting the point.
But then Ulric frowned again. “Cousin Edward won’t allow it. Mama tried, last year. Wouldn’t allow it.”
“Your mama does not have the right to ask, but if you were married, Ulric, your wife would certainly have the right to ask for Myercroft to be given back to you.” He had the right himself, but there was no point confusing him.
“Don’t have a wife.”
“No, but you are a grown man, now. You can marry whenever you please. All you have to do is find a friendly female who would like to marry you.” And in case he did not see the obvious, she added, “Someone who enjoys the same things that you do — like riding, for instance.”
He made no answer to that, but she was content to have sown the seeds of the idea in his mind.
In fact, progress was so promising that she felt emboldened to write to her uncle, the earl, and hint that she might very soon be engaged to be married, and would be able to take possessionof her house, pointing out that she would take it very much amiss if anyone else, such as Captain Edgerton and his friends, had been poking around there before her. That, she hoped, would be enough to preserve the safe above the coach house until she could get to it.
***
Tess had been out for an even longer ride with Ulric, one that involved no fewer than three different inns, and was trudging wearily back to Holly Cottage. Rain had caught them out on the final stretch, and although it was not heavy, she was thoroughly damp and mud-bespattered, the jaunty feather in her hat drooping sadly, when she emerged from the shrubbery onto the drive.
There, drawn up in front of the entrance, was a fine carriage, a little travel-stained but with the coat of arms on the door clearly visible. A man was just stepping down from it, and Tess did not need the insignia to identify the owner of such a vehicle. Lord Tarvin’s stern face was all the evidence she needed.
The whole family had gathered on the steps to receive him, the children in varying degrees of excitement, and the ladies looking terrified.
“Oh! Tess!” Mrs Harfield cried, hand to mouth, as if warning her of some impending disaster. Too late for that.
He turned, saw her and his expression darkened even more. “You!” he cried, in a rousing voice worthy of Drury Lane. “You are the cause of all this trouble.”
It was far from the meeting she would have wished. She felt all the disadvantage of situation — he as immaculate as if he had just that moment left his dressing room, and she looking as if she had been crawling through ditches. A little warning would not have gone amiss, so that she could have slipped in through thekitchen door and up the back stairs. But perhaps his coming was a surprise to all of them. Still, there was no avoiding it now, and Tess was not about to be cowed by a supercilious baron.
