Part 25 (2/2)
”Is it difficult to be here again?” Richard asked as she took his arm.
She nodded. ”I stayed here only a few times, but I have fond memories of the place. So I've avoided it.”
”You never came by when you were in London?” Neil asked, surprised.
”Never.” Her mouth twisted. ”I buried everything to do with my childhood, and never looked back.”
”That's not going to happen again,” Neil said firmly. ”We won't allow it.”
”Bossy brothers,” she said with a smile. ”Even when I was eight years old, I didn't take orders well.”
Richard grinned. ”Can't I briefly hope that you've become more biddable?”
”A waste of time. Best turn your thoughts to not shocking your parents too much,” she advised. ”When Lady Costain saw Wyndham without warning, she fainted.”
”Good point. I'll go in and prepare them. Neil, give me a couple of minutes to set the stage before you bring in Cat.”
”Shall do.”
The footman who admitted them gave Ca.s.sie a curious glance, but he was too young to have known her. ”Welcome home, sirs. If you wish to pay your respects to Lord and Lady St. Ives, they're having tea in the salon.”
”Send up a supper for three people,” Richard ordered. His step quick, he climbed the stairs to the salon.
Neil took Ca.s.sie's cloak and bonnet, adding, ”Prepare a room for our guest.” When the servant bustled off, he asked Ca.s.sie, ”Ready to meet more relatives?”
She smiled crookedly as she took his arm. ”I now have more sympathy for Wyndham's nerves about going home after long absence.”
”Since you weren't expecting Richard and me, you didn't have to worry first,” he agreed. ”But this won't be bad. Now march lively!”
She laughed and obeyed. As they climbed the stairs, she tried to remember her cousins' birthdays. Richard was about a year older than she, Neil a year younger. Close enough that the three of them had run around together like a pack of heathens. The vicarage was much more relaxed than the manor house, and Ca.s.sie had spent much time there, sitting in on lessons taught by her uncle.
The house appeared similar to the way she remembered it, with a number of furnis.h.i.+ngs that she recognized. Yet there were enough changes, particularly new artwork and upholstery, that it no longer felt like her parents' house. She was glad of that.
When they entered the drawing room, Lady St. Ives was saying placidly, ”How long must we wait for this happy surprise, Richard?”
”Not long,” her son replied. ”Behold!” He made a sweeping gesture toward Ca.s.sie and Neil, then moved to join them. With the three of them next to each other, the family resemblance was undeniable.
Ca.s.sie's aunt and uncle gaped at her. The pa.s.sing years had added pounds and wrinkles and gray hair, but they were still the easygoing aunt and uncle she'd adored. She gave a deep curtsy. ”It's been a long way, Uncle Vicar. Patient Aunt Patience.” She used the nicknames deliberately as a way of verifying her ident.i.ty.
”Catherine?” her aunt gasped.
Her uncle swiftly crossed the room to look at her more closely. John St. Ives resembled her father, but he was softer and wider and two decades older. ”Catherine.” He squeezed her hands, his face beaming. ”My dear girl! This is no imposter, Patience!”
The reunion that followed was much like the one with Richard and Neil, but with more people, more food, and more overlapping voices. As midnight approached, Ca.s.sie began to yawn. ”I'm sorry,” she apologized. ”It's been a long day.”
”I should have asked for a room to be made up!” her aunt exclaimed. ”I was so busy talking that I forgot.”
”I didn't forget,” Neil said fondly. ”The room will be ready when Cat is.”
”Which is now.” Ca.s.sie smothered another yawn. She was tired not only from travel, but so much social interaction. She was used to a quieter life.
”What are your plans now, Catherine?” her uncle asked. ”This is your home while you are in London, of course. But would you like to go to Eaton Manor? With spring coming, Norfolk will be particularly lovely.”
The thought produced a stab of pain. Ca.s.sie had spent most of her childhood at Eaton Manor, and there would be more memories than she could bear to face now. ”Perhaps later,” she replied. ”For now, I have business in London.”
After good-night hugs, she retreated gratefully to an attractively furnished and comfortable room warmed by a briskly burning fire. Her clothing had been brushed and hung in the wardrobe.
A maid arrived moments after Ca.s.sie. The girl was there to help her with her gown, and she also brought a posset of warm spiced milk to aid sleep. Tears threatened when Ca.s.sie held the gently steaming mug. She could tell from the scent that the posset was her mother's French recipe. She'd drunk it often as a child.
After the maid unfastened her gown, Ca.s.sie dismissed the girl. Changing into her nightgown and robe, she took the mug and moved to the window to gaze out over sleeping London. A sip of the posset showed that in deference to her mature years, a fortifying dose of rum had been added.
What was Grey doing now? Better not to think of that.
Much as she loved her rediscovered family, she'd been independent for too long to allow them to take her over. They had the best intentions in the world, but she'd been Ca.s.sie the Fox, sworn to work toward Napoleon's defeat, for all of her adult life.
Yet though she wasn't ready for Eaton Manor, she would enjoy spending time with the St. Iveses and being a woman of means. She owed Lady Kiri Mackenzie and Lucia Stillwell a really splendid shopping spree as a thank-you for their providing her with a wardrobe overnight.
She realized that since she now had a.s.sets, she should make a will. She'd never needed one before.
She also wanted to bare her teeth at Kirkland because he'd informed Richard St. Ives that she was alive, and he'd done it without her permission. The fact that it had turned out well just meant that Kirkland was his usual irritatingly right self.
After she chided him, she'd ask him for another mission. Her life might have changed dramatically in the last weeks, but there was still a war going on in Europe. And she wouldn't be satisfied until Napoleon was destroyed.
The fox hadn't finished her run.
Grey took up running. He had run in place for countless hours during his years in prison, imagining that he moved through green, open landscapes. Often he mentally visited his home on those runs to nowhere. Now he really could run through Summerhill. He needed the exertion because he wasn't burning up energy in a bed with Ca.s.sie.
He quickly realized that running up and down hills was different from running in place. Though he discovered some new muscles that hadn't been needed on the flat, he loved the freedom of running whether it was in suns.h.i.+ne or rain or on misty mornings. And he would never tire of Summerhill's beauty.
Though he loved riding, being on foot showed new aspects of Summerhill. The local cobbler made him a pair of lightweight, comfortable half boots that perfectly suited his new pa.s.sion. He felt himself growing stronger emotionally as well as physically. This lovely ancestral land healed him in ways he couldn't describe.
He tried not to think of Ca.s.sie. His maturing might have been stalled by his years in prison, but dammit, he was an adult. He should be able to accept that a woman had good and sufficient reasons not to want him.
Unfortunately, he was reminded of her every time his parents gave another small dinner party for the neighbors. He'd agreed to the gatherings because he knew people were curious about the prodigal son, and he needed to become part of his community again.
But he hated being eyed like a beefsteak thrown into a pack of hungry dogs. He'd had to tell his family that Ca.s.sie had ended their betrothal, though he refused to answer questions. The fact that he was available, however, meant that every eligible young lady in the neighborhood was studying him and evaluating her chances.
Those who weren't ladies evaluated him in different ways and made a different kind of offer. He became an expert at politely disappearing. So much nubile femininity emphasized how unique and special Ca.s.sie was. He missed her intelligence, her warmth, her hard-won wisdom. He also missed her deliciously rounded and sensual body.
Whenever his thoughts moved in that direction, it was time to start running again.
After a fortnight at home, he was beginning to relax and feel like Lord Wyndham again. Then he received a letter that turned the world upside down again.
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