Love's Tangle Read Online Free Page B

would get nothing more from Martha, she knew, and questioning the august Mr. Jarvis, the only other servant likely to have been here at the time, was laughable. He was less approachable even than the master he served. His affronted expression when he had recovered Gabriel’s lost papers still made her smile.
    Her heartbeat quickened slightly. Jarvis had mentioned a family bible. Might that hold a clue? It was the custom to inscribe in the book the names of every member of a family. The Claremont dynasty must be vast but the bible might just contain a clue as to whom she should seek. Was it worth the risk of searching for it? She recalled those last few hours of her mother’s life: the hot, paper-thin skin of her hands, the hoarse whispers as Grainne used every mite of her remaining breath to help her daughter. It had to be worth it.
    She had reached the point where the drive divided, the main carriageway continuing towards the graveled crescent fronting the house and a narrower one bending towards the servants’ quarters. As she took this left fork, she heard the crunch of footsteps and in a moment was overtaken by Roland Frant.
    “How are you settling in, Nell?” he asked genially.
    “Very well, sir.” She remembered to bob the expected curtsy.
    “A little better when the house is quiet, I wager.”
    Allingham had been at peace that day, for Gabriel’s entire party had descended on Worthing, a quiet and dowdy seaside town nearby. She flushed at his mention of the teasing she’d suffered but said stoutly, “I am sure I will grow accustomed. It is just that Allingham Hall is very different from my last place of work.” That was certainly true.
    “I’m sure it is.” His tone was unexpectedly heated. “It couldn’t fail to be with a hedonist at the helm encouraging every kind of corrupt and lewd behavior.”
    She came to a halt, astonished to hear him speak so of his cousin.
    “You refer to the duke, I collect.” She wasn’t at all sure she had heard him aright.
    “You may think it strange I should speak thus of such a near relative but Gabriel Claremont has succeeded to an office to which he is ill suited. He would have done far better to remain a soldier. I’m sure I don’t have to warn you to be on your guard. Any comely girl is a target for him, servant or no servant.”
    She flushed hotly and made haste to turn the conversation. “I had no idea His Grace once served in the army.”
    “Indeed, yes. Enlisted as did many peep-o’day boys. But his brother made sure he received a commission soon after he joined the ranks.”
    “He has a brother?” This was turning out to be a most surprising exchange.
    “No longer, I fear. Jonathan Claremont was killed two years ago. Hence Gabriel’s unholy succession.”
    He seemed at last to become aware that tittle-tattle with a servant was hardly dignified and hurried to bid her farewell. “I must allow you to finish your work for tomorrow is race day and likely to be very busy for you all.” A brief nod and he was gone.
    He is angry, Elinor thought, for some reason too angry to consider the impropriety of speaking so to a servant. His tongue had run on in a way that she found unbecoming but he was a pleasant enough man and evidently wished her well. She must not be too quick to judge him.
    And he had given her something to think of. Tomorrow was race day, he’d said, so might that provide her with the opportunity she needed? Every evening loud laughter spilled through the entire house and there was a constant milling of guests from room to room, floor to floor. It would be foolish to attempt to look for the family bible while the household was awake, for it would almost certainly result in instant discovery. And since the guests rarely sought their beds until the early hours, she would have to forgo any idea of sleep if she were to search the library at night. But tomorrow might be different—a long day in the open air might end with the house party