Page 64 of Exile's Return
He turned, and with a strangled ‘I shall bid you good night,’ left the room, leaving her alone in the cold.
Chapter 27
Daniel returned to his bed-chamber and found Kit standing by the fireplace, poking a recalcitrant log with the toe of his shoe. He looked around as Daniel entered.
‘I came to say good night,’ he said.
Daniel shut the door behind him. ‘I went to see if Agnes…’ He felt the heat rising to his face, like an anxious schoolboy wilting under his brother’s cynical gaze.
‘No joy there?’ Kit said.
Daniel cleared his throat. ‘I may have been mistaken about her feelings for me…’ Advancing into the room, he ran his hand through his hair. ‘Damn it, Kit, you’re the expert on women. Is it possible to understand them?’
Kit shrugged. ‘Not in my experience, and trust me, I have plenty of opportunities to observe the female of the species. Let me just say, don’t abandon hope, if that is where your heart is leading you. However, if it is not your heart that is leading you, then I advocate finding an obliging serving wench.’
‘Wonderful brotherly advice,’ Daniel remarked, throwing himself into a chair by the fire.
Kit remained standing. ‘I came to see if you were up to the ride back to Hampshire. We can leave tomorrow.’
Daniel looked up and shook his head. ‘No. Hampshire will have to wait. I made a promise to Agnes to escort her to Charvaley.’
Kit’s eyes brightened. ‘Charvaley?’
‘The Earl of Elmhurst’s seat in Lancashire.’
‘Oh yes, wasn’t he executed recently?’ Kit said, adding. ‘I do see the London news sheets.’
‘Agnes was…’ Daniel hesitated, ‘…sister to Elmhurst’s late wife. She was guardian to his children, but Whitehall in its wisdom granted custody to Elmhurst’s cousin, Tobias Ashby.’
The name provoked the reaction he expected. Kit straightened, all humour draining from his face. ‘That’s a name I never thought to hear again,’ he said in a low, controlled voice. ‘Why in God’s name is she tangling with him?’
‘She is frightened for the children,’ Daniel said and went on to explain Agnes’s situation, leaving aside any mention of Agnes’s true relationship to the boy.
‘What does she hope to achieve by turning up on the doorstep? He is under no obligation to admit her,’ Kit said.
‘I don’t know what she intends, but I owe it to her to keep my promise to her.’
A muscle twitched in Kit’s cheek. ‘I understand. It’s been a long day and we can talk again in the morning. Good night, Dan.’
Although his body ached with weariness and the strain of the day, Daniel lay awake for a long time in his lonely bed, his arms behind his head, staring into the darkness as the day’s events turned over in his mind. The anger he had carried with him, that had sustained him for the last eight years, had been snuffed out by knowledge of the sacrifice his brother had made. Hewondered if he would have had the courage to make the same decision.
But what he had gained on one hand he had lost on the other. For the span of a breath his life had been complete; he thought he had found not only his family but also that elusive emotion, love. But Agnes had cut that ground away from beneath his feet, and he tried to remember what had passed between them the previous night that should have given him the clue that she had come to his bed for one reason only — pity.
But he had made her a promise, and even if it meant delaying a journey to Hampshire with Kit, he would see her to Charvaley. If Tobias Ashby had not already found it, the King could wait on his gold and Tobias Ashby on the King’s justice.
His mind settled, and sleep claimed him.
Chapter 28
Agnes set theFaerie Queendown on the breakfast table. Jonathan Thornton leaned over and picked it up.
‘Spenser,’ he said. ‘Not my taste in poetry, I’m afraid.’
‘Nor mine,’ Agnes said. ‘But James — Lord Elmhurst — gave it to me.’ She looked at Daniel, steeling herself. ‘Daniel, I need to talk to you.’
Daniel looked up from buttering a slab of bread. ‘What about?’
‘James.’ She tapped the book. ‘I should have told you something last night — it is about something James did.’
