Aurora Page 7

  “Come if you like, but if you know what’s good for you, you won’t put all your eggs in one basket. He is not Kenelm Derwent, and I can prove it, so don’t start packing to remove to my house yet, Lady Raiker.”

  Her positive statement that he was not Kenelm, when put beside the man’s equally absolute assertion that he was, created just a small seed of doubt, but Clare was not in a mood to expand on the matter.

  “You’ll see,” she said, and swept from the room, leaving her heavy scent behind her. She cast just one look at the firescreen as she went. She would have liked to snap it up and take it back with her, but she had come on horseback, so it was impossible.

  “There’s a riddle then,” Malone said, “A regular Gordian knob it’s growing into, but I’ll put my money on the prodigious son. He’d never of called me Malaprop or known Cranky Jangler if he wasn’t Bernard’s brother.”

  “Certainly he is Kenelm,” Marnie stated firmly.

  * * *

  Chapter 6

  The meeting the next morning at Raiker Hall had come to a standstill. Both Lady Raiker and the soi-disant Lord Raiker came equipped with a solicitor, and to each other they did no more than bow. Mr. Cleary, the gentleman’s counsel, said he had filed a bill staking claim to the title, upon which information Mr. Coons, the lady’s counsel, said he would protest the bill. An arbitrator would likely be chosen to settle the case, a committee of arbitration possibly. It sounded monstrously expensive, and Lady Raiker mentioned the fact. It was virtually the only com­ment she made throughout the proceedings. She was stiff, formal and hostile the whole time, while her opponent regarded her with malicious amusement. At the meeting’s termination she requested Kenelm to remain behind. Ev­eryone except himself was surprised, most especially the ladies from the Dower House, who were deeply disap­pointed to be shown out the door with the solicitors.

  “What is she up to now?” Marnie wondered.

  “Trying to come to terms with the man, I suppose. She is worried about the costs of the case.”

  “I wish you would call him Lord Raiker, Rorie . Why have you taken this absurd idea not to do so? You don’t know him at all. I am convinced he is Kenelm, and Malone is convinced he is Kenelm. You never met him in your life till that day in the woods, and it is ridiculous to think you know anything about it.”

  “You are overly influenced by his charm. He’s emptied the butter boat on your gold curls, and you have suc­cumbed to him. I don’t say he isn’t Lord Raiker. Likely he is, but as Clare says she can prove he is not, I withhold my decision.”

  “He’ll drop by and tell me what she is up to,” the widow said complacently.

  With this probability in mind, Marnie went to her room to freshen her toilette, to pinch her cheeks, as she hadn’t yet sunk to painting, and to fluff up her blond curls. She was correct in thinking Kenelm would report to her. In less than an hour he was at the door, and soon seated in her saloon with herself and Rorie , who had no thought of being left out of the meeting.

  “What did she say?” Marnie asked at once, in the tone of a supporter.

  “She says I am Horace Rutley, as I knew she would do. She beat me to Rutley’s place yesterday. She was coming out as I entered, and they told me they hadn’t heard from him since he left. They have no idea where he is or what has become of him. At least they didn’t call me ‘son.’”

  “Did she attempt to buy you off?” Marnie enquired.

  “Not with cash. I don’t think she has much. She made some extremely cryptic remarks about an emerald neck­lace. The Raiker emeralds I conclude she referred to. Have they vanished?”

  Marnie looked at him in a little embarrassment. “They vanished several years ago, Ken. About the same time as you vanished, you see. There was a little doubt as to where they had gone.”

  He frowned in perplexity. “It was said that I took them? Is that it?”

  “That is the general idea. You or the gypsies who were camped nearby at the time. It was said publicly that the gypsies stole them, but the announcement wasn’t actually made till several months later, when her husband died, and as no effort had been made to trace them to the gypsies, the inference—oh, strictly en famille, of course—was that you could have run off with them.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “If I as Kenelm am supposed to have stolen them, how can she infer that I as Horace Rutley am to be accused of it? No, she’s boggling around, hasn’t set on her story yet, but wanted to let me know she’ll accuse me—Kenelm, I mean—of theft if I prove I am me. There was never any suggestion that Rutley stole them, was there?”

  “I never heard that said,” Marnie replied.

  “Maybe he did, though,” Rorie suggested. “It seems, if I have got the dates straight, that Rutley’s disappearance must nearly coincide with your father’s death. Possibly Rutley did take them. Their loss was not announced till then.”

  “When exactly did Rutley sheer off, Marnie?” Kenelm asked.

  “Very close to that time. Within a week or two of Papa’s death, I think. Just before, actually. It was being spoken of as just having happened when we came home to the funeral. In all the confusion, little was made of Horace Rutley’s disappearance.”

  “But Clare implied that I had stolen the emeralds? She never even hinted that Rutley had taken them?”

  “It was you or the gypsies. This is the first time I have ever heard Rutley’s name in connection with them at all.”

  Kenelm sat thinking, and suddenly spoke. “If she means to claim they were here after I left, then that lets the gypsies off the hook. They were here when I left, and not anywhere near the place six months later when Horace departed. She’s hemming herself in now, whether she realizes it or not. She’s got herself stuck with Horace as the thief.”

  “Oh, no! The gypsies were here then too,” Marnie in­formed him.

  “But they come in the spring—every spring, as regular as clockwork. How should they have been here in the autumn?”

  “There was a big gypsy fair just outside of Tenterden that fall. Bernard and I passed in on our way home from London, and the band that regularly stops here had been in the woods a little while before, so they were present then too, just to confuse matters.”

  “Damnation! She thinks of everything. She can still fall back on the gypsies then, if both Horace and myself turn up clean. What she means to do is accuse me of theft if I get myself proclaimed as Lord Raiker. A fine scandal for the family.”

  “Where is the threat?” Rorie asked. “If you are Kenelm, the necklace is yours now. You will hardly prosecute yourself, I suppose.”

  “It is entailed. The heir, namely little Charles or his guardian, Mama, could institute enquiries. It would be a valid threat, and she must know I am Kenelm, or she would not use it.”

  “Theft would be a valid threat against Horace Rutley too, would it not?” Aurora asked innocently.

  Kenelm looked at her reproachfully. “Why don’t you believe me, ma’am?” he asked. “You of all people, who know nothing about me—why should you take into your head to accuse me of such gross wrongdoing?”

  “I am not accusing you of anything, sir. I am only pointing out a fact that seems to be overlooked.”

  “Bernard never thought for a moment you took them, Ken,” Marnie rushed in to calm him. “He thought she had stolen them herself, and I am of the same opinion.”

  “I had unilaterally come to the same conclusion,” he said, turning to Marnie, but with a last dissatisfied glance to Aurora. “And there were veiled hints from Clare of worse exposures to come if I kept up my ‘little charade,’ as she so kindly called it. As to exposure, she had better look to her own reputation!”

  “She said very definitely she could prove you are not Kenelm,” Marnie told him, hoping to hear his views on this urgent matter.

  “I’d give a monkey to know what she’s up to,” he said, unhelpfully.

  “Would it be a matter of a birthmark or scar—something like that?�
� Aurora asked.

  “I doubt she’s ready to admit she is that familiar with my anatomy,” he answered, and laughed ironically. As he observed that he had inadvertently riled the two of them with this suggestive remark, he rushed on to disclaim any identifying birthmarks or scars. “Help me, Marnie,” he finished up. “She’s as crooked as a corkscrew. Try to find out what she’s up to, will you?”

  “I’ll do what I can, but we are not on cordial terms at all, as I have told her quite openly I am on your side.”

  “I wonder if that wasn’t a mistake. She’d be more confiding if she thought you supported her,” he said. Rorie sat back and observed. He was down to outright scheming now. First it was help me, recognize me; now it was spy for me, find out what she’s up to.

  “What do you want me to do?” she heard her sister ask, and saw that Marnie smiled on him most cordially, even flirtatiously.

  “Perhaps it would be best if you tell us exactly why it was you left home, Lord Raiker. Clare intimates it was for conduct too heinous to relate to ladies,” Rorie said.

  “Ah, you have called me Lord Raiker for the first time, ma’am” he said, turning to her with interest and approval. “May I count on your support to prove it?”

  “My support would do you little good. But you haven’t answered my question. Why did you leave home?”

  “I was invited—no, tranchons le mot—commanded to do so. And Clare is right, the crime of which I was accused was much too atrocious to sully feminine ears. I am innocent of the crime, however, and hope it may not come up at all. I shan’t mention it unless Clare does.” Marnie blushed up prettily and was satisfied with this tribute to her innocence in lieu of an explanation.

  Mr. Berrigan arrived in the middle of their visit. He was a local gentleman, one who had had some acquaintance with Kenelm, though he had been closer to Bernard in both age and friendship. He was, of course, well aware of the man’s claim, having been at Clare’s party, and rel­ished the chance to judge him at first hand.

  Rorie sensed some hostility in Berrigan, and was keen to discover its cause, but had soon deduced it was no more than jealousy of a rival for Marnie’s affections. She noticed something else of interest too. As soon as Kenelm discov­ered the hostility, he was onto its cause, and his compli­ments to Marnie ceased. He then turned to dropping as many references as he possibly could to validate his own claim to being Lord Raiker.

  “Do you still ride that big bay stallion, John?” he asked in the tone of an old friend.

  “No, I had to get rid of him. Getting on, you know.”

  “I remember Bernard wanted to buy him from you, some years ago.”

  “Yes, by Jove, offered me two hundred pounds for him, but I couldn’t part with Diablo. Have a mare now. A sweet goer, but she don’t have Diablo’s fire.”

  Contemporary matters were of no use to Kenelm. “Did you ever find out who it was that came into your stables that night and set fire to your hayloft? That happened just before I left.”

  “Never did, no. One of the grooms blowing a cloud, I expect. They never will own up to anything.”

  After a few more questions of this sort, Berrigan seemed to accept Kenelm for who he said he was, and became civil, enquiring in a polite way about India. This formality done with, Lord Raiker turned his charms on Rorie Falkner, for he was finding her the toughest nut of them all to crack, and it seemed to anger him. He had obviously foreseen no difficulty with the unmarried young ladies. While Berrigan courted the widow, Kenelm arose and took a seat beside Rorie , close enough to allow of some private conversation.

  “Do you know, Miss Falkner, I have the unreasonable feeling that you dislike—mistrust me. Now I wonder if it could have anything to do with our meeting in the woods that day. I have racked my brains to try to discover why else you should have taken me in disgust, and can find nothing. I behaved very badly. I admit it openly, but so did you, you know.” He smiled a dangerously attractive smile at these words—light, teasing.

  “I had no choice, if you refer to my having hidden behind the tree. I had no thought of spying on you. It is only that once there, I was afraid to run away, in case you should have chased me.”

  “You mustn’t believe everything you hear about my chasing girls,” he answered playfully.

  “I haven’t heard anything, actually,” she told him, and added silently that she had certainly seen plenty, how­ever.

  “You probably will.”

  “I’m afraid your philandering will be overshadowed by worse stories.”

  “Philandering! Upon my word, you are hard on me.”

  “I was careful to choose a word that didn’t exaggerate the offense, sir.”

  “Oh dear, and the philandering, bad as it is, is but a pale shadow of my worse doings, like running off with the family emeralds. But I didn’t do it. I wish I could convince you.”

  “You have managed to convince my sister; that is of more importance.”

  “Once I am established as Lord Raiker, we will be connections, neighbours I hope, and I would not like us to be on poor terms. Do you know, I have just been struck by the most appalling thought! Poor Marnie will have Clare down on her head once I take over Raiker Hall. There is only the one Dower House. Good God, it is enough to make Marnie turn against me, and pronounce me Horace Rutley. I’ll make some other arrangement. I won’t condemn her to living with that woman, or you either, Miss Falkner. But then I suppose such a pretty young lady as yourself will not long be living with her sister. You will have more interesting plans. Are you engaged, or only in the process of driving all the local beaux to distraction while you make up your mind?”

  The flattering words did not penetrate, left her un­moved, except to anger that he should think her so gullible. “I am not engaged,” she answered curtly.

  “Indeed! I find that hard to believe,” he answered quizzingly, casting a long look into her eyes, then letting his glance descend to her lips and neck. When he got back up to her eyes, she was glaring at him with open hostility.

  For a moment he was obviously taken aback at her totally wrong response to his maneuver. He must have found this trick to be very effective in the past. He straight­ened his shoulders and tried a new tack.

  “Tell me, is your sister interested in John Berrigan? Romantically interested, I mean. I begin to understand you like plain speaking.”

  She regarded him haughtily. “I have thought so. I may be mistaken. It is a little early yet for that.” She meant to tell him nothing.

  “Yes, Bernie only dead a year, it is early, but Marnie always struck me as the sort of a woman who is happier with a man—married, I mean. Some women are like that. You know what I mean?”

  “Yes,” she answered, and found that she did know exactly what he meant, though it had been a vague, generalized sort of a statement. Marnie was not a good widow at all. She wanted a husband to mother and fuss over, and a man to take care of her.

  “I think she must have made Bernard a wonderful wife. They seemed happy together.”

  “They were.”

  “You’re not much like her, I think. Not the mothering kind. I am not like Bernie either. A clinging vine would drive me crazy. Odd, isn’t it, how brothers and sisters can be so different?”

  “I suppose it is. Tell me, Lord Raiker . . .” she began, thinking it time to learn something useful, but not quite knowing how to phrase it.

  “Yes?”

  “What did Clare mean, she could prove you are not Kenelm?”

  He rubbed his chin and thought. “I haven’t the faintest idea. She got to Rutley’s before me. She may have learned something there that she feels she can put to use. I don’t know what it could be.”

  “If she means to bring Horace into it—to say you are Horace, get the Rutleys to substantiate it—then what about the real Kenelm? She would still have him to worry about, wouldn’t she?”

  “I am the real Kenelm, ma’am, though you cannot bring yourself to accept it. If she means to insist I�
��m Horace Rutley, then she would have to know the real Rutley is either dead or far enough away that he has not heard of her scheme. There would be no advantage to claiming I am Rutley, and he me. It would put Charles out of the running either way.”

  “Unless she struck a deal with Horace, some financial arrangement to his advantage.”

  “She wouldn’t be so foolish. She’d have no pressure to make him keep to his bargain. Once he was declared the baron, he could cast her aside—she’d be at his mercy. He’s worse than I am,” he added with a little smile. “You don’t believe it? It’s true. A deep-dyed villain, brother Horace, according to legend at least. I scarcely knew him to nod to, myself. We were not allowed to associate with him for fear of contamination. No, it can’t be that. She knows she’s safe from Horace—must know it, or she’s taking a devil of a risk. A pity. It would solve my problem nicely if I could find him.”

  “It is generally said he went to America.”

  “That will take time, to track him down. I hadn’t looked for so much trouble. In my innocence, I thought I would have only to come walking in, and everyone would recog­nize me. Funny they don’t. I recognize everyone else.”

  “You were only sixteen when you left. You’ve changed, whereas the others—Lord Dougall and John Berrigan—they were grown up at the time, haven’t changed so much. That accounts for it I suppose.”

  “Yes, and the doubt Clare has managed to add hasn’t helped either. I wonder if I’ll recognize my schoolmates, Jimmy Vickers and Larry Styles. They’ll recognize me, surely.”

  “I expect they will,” she said, and found to her dismay that she believed it. No more than Marnie had she with­stood five minutes of his presence. He had won her over too, and he hadn’t even bothered flirting with her, or complimenting her.

  “They must. We’ll have a thousand shared memories—four years of Eton together.”

  “They’ll know you. I’d know my schoolmates after twenty years, I am convinced.”

  “You believe me then?” he asked, with no smiles and no charm, just a direct question.