“Is it dangerous?” he demanded.
She threw her hands up in the air. “Of course not!”
“I shall return for you as soon as I can. Maybe even for your birthday.”
“I can climb into the Angsleys’ carriage any time and come by myself. I travelled all the way from Sheffield, for goodness’ sake! I can handle two miles to Turvey!”
She realized she was practically yelling. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she added more calmly, “And I shall write my sister a note explaining everything.”
“Everything?” he snapped at once. “You mean you’ll tell her whatever it is you’re not telling me?”
Again, she clamped her lips closed.What an infuriating man!
“Very well.” He turned on his heel, but he only got a few steps before he turned back to her. “I didn’t intend to hurt or trick you. I only wanted to amuse you with the hunt for pirate treasure.”
She lifted her chin. “As if I’m a child to be entertained. And what you said in the shelter? You think I am too young to know my own mind and feelings, or to understand the world. You’re wrong!”
He nodded. “I only meant…I’m not going to explain myself right here and now. Just don’t be angry with me, Eleanor. It’s too hard to leave without seeing your lovely smile.”
She looked away from him. He was dear to her, and she ardently wished he wasn’t leaving, despite being furious with him.
“Please,” he beseeched.
She gave him the best smile she could.
“A watery version of your usual one, but I’ll take it.”
Even though they were standing in front of his mother’s window, and even though anyone could be watching from the main house or the stables or anywhere, he leaned close and set a kiss upon her lips.
It was over before she realized Grayson’s intent. Then she watched him walk away, broad shoulders rigid and straight.
Blast!Dashing away the sudden tears that welled in her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks, she reminded herself she was not a child. Everything would not always go her way. She was a woman with a task to attend to, and he was a man with employment.
Squaring her shoulders as he had done, she returned to Mrs. O’Connor, knowing she was going to have to spend time reassuring Grayson’s mother all was well, even though she wasn’t entirely sure of that herself.
He had lied to her for days!
Chapter Sixteen
Eleanor sat inher room before dinner, all the amusement gone from Angsley Hall with the departure of Grayson. She and Mrs. O’Connor had worked well into the afternoon. His mother was motivated and determined. Eleanor was confident she would not only be writing, but be able to read, as well.
To that end, she’d ventured into the nursery to discover what children’s primers might be there. Nanny Wendall let her come away with a chapbook of both capital and lowercase letters, phonics lessons, and phrases. It had a bright green cover and woodcuts of a cock and a horse. Eleanor hoped its simplicity would not offend Mrs. O’Connor.
She also found an older book,Cobwebs to Catch Flies, by the so-called Mrs. Lovechild. She supposed it didn’t matter that it was from the last century. After all, reading and writing hadn’t changed much. Moreover, these books would be easier for Grayson’s mother to practice with than the books from Lord Angsley’s library.
Meanwhile, Eleanor tried to pen letters to Beryl and Maggie and even to her mother and Jenny. Her thoughts kept drifting to her last conversation with Grayson. He professed to have taken something from a Poe story and somehow melded it with their world here in Bedfordshire. At the moment, she had to believe him, although she could only wonder at the extent to which he had gone.
Had he made up the code and the message and even climbed a tree and nailed a skull to it?
Having fruitlessly searched the library for any works by Edgar Allan Poe, she could only determine Grayson had removed any or had known the story by heart. She would find out eventually when she continued on to Turvey House and had a chance to speak with him.
Her letters half written, she went down to dinner, and afterward, sat by a low fire, drinking port and letting Lady Angsley tell her all the news. Not only did her ladyship enjoy a local paper, she also had papers delivered from Town, just as Eleanor’s own mother did.
Though sometimes the London news was a little stale, it normally held her interest. Occasionally, one of her sisters’ husbands was mentioned, and that always delighted her. Tonight, Eleanor tried to pay attention, but her mind kept wandering to the wonderful time high upon the bishop’s hostel and their intimate moment in the shelter by the river. Then, she replayed his surprising confession of duplicity.
It saddened her to think he had lied to her, even if he’d done it with the best of intentions to entertain her. While she’d worked hard to decipher the pirate’s code, Grayson had already known the answer. It irked her to have been made a fool.
And to think how terrible she’d felt even lightly hedging about what she was doing with his mother. Lying was a terrible sin, she’d always believed. If her father had been truthful, her mother would have been prepared for the confusion following his death, the money-grubbing debt collectors, the maelstrom of selling off their townhouse and belongings, and their flight home to their country cottage in Sheffield.
