A Matter of Honor Read online

  “You -” Aggie formed the word with stiff lips. “What are you doing here?”

  “In good time,” he said brusquely, drawing a chair closer. “Lie still and I will enlighten you.”

  Much as she wanted to run away from him, Aggie knew it was impossible. Her legs simply would not hold her.

  After a quick glance at her, his lordship continued. “You came here expecting to see the Earl of Denby?”

  Aggie nodded.

  He smiled dryly. “You see him before you.”

  “But then, then-”

  “Then I was the Viscount Acton. I succeeded to my uncle’s title, you see. And you have before you the Earl of Denby.”

  “Oh,” said Aggie, her tone barely audible. A little of her strength was returning now. She swung her feet to the floor and sat up slowly. The Earl eyed her carefully, but he said nothing. “You knew - that I was Cecilie’s companion,” she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “I knew.”

  “Why - why did you let me make this journey - knowing that I could not stay?”

  His eyes grew darker and the line of his mouth hardened. “I did not know any such thing,” he said gruffly. “As Cecilie’s guardian I am conversant with the terms of her father’s will.” When she did not reply, he gave her a long searching look. “I know the terms,” he repeated. “I know that if you leave her before she is safely married, you will lose what was left you. That is why I did not tell you before you arrived here.” He rose suddenly and strode across the room.

  “I - you must know that I cannot stay here.” She stared at the hard muscles of his back, her heart pounding heavily in her throat.

  He swung toward her then. “I know no such thing,” he said curtly. He drew himself up to his fullest height and she felt herself seem to grow smaller. “You not only may stay here, you must. I will not be responsible for your losing your inheritance. Do you understand me?”

  Aggie pushed hopelessly at her tumbled hair. “But - but - you must see. It’s impossible. I cannot.”

  A strange look, almost of pain, crossed his handsome features, but before she could look closer, he turned his back again and resumed his pacing. “I am well aware of your antipathy toward me,” he said sharply. “But in this case you must consider yourself. Also, you might give some thought to your charge. It would be rather hard on her, would it not, to lose her companion so soon after losing her father?”

  Aggie found herself twisting her hands nervously and was glad that he had his back to her. He was right, of course, she could not very well desert Cecilie at this important time. But to stay here, in the same house with him - to see him every day. To know how once she had loved him. To remember how he had simply vanished from her life. She didn’t know if she could manage that.

  And yet, what was the alternative? As the Earl stood, his back still toward her, she considered the possibilities open to her. If she left now, she had no place to go and no money to go with. The inheritance would not ever be hers if she left Cecilie now. And she did have a duty to the girl. Also, to be entirely practical, how could she even go about finding a new position if she left this one so precipitously? She swallowed hastily. There really seemed nothing to do but stay, painful as that would be.

  Almost as though he had divined her decision, he turned again. “You must be sensible, Agg - Miss Trimble.”

  Her heart skipped a beat and leaped high into her throat as he almost spoke her given name. In what tender tones he had once whispered it, tones of love. She felt the color flooding her cheeks at the thought.

  The Earl continued to stare at her, his eyes clouded with some indefinable emotion. “Well, you will stay?”

  His words echoed curtly in her ears. She forced herself to her feet. She wavered there unsteadily for a moment, his eyes heavy upon her. “I will stay, milord,” she agreed. And then she drew herself proudly erect. “As you are well aware, I have no other recourse. If I had, matters would be quite different, I assure you.”

  Again that strange look crossed his face and his eyes raked her over. “Good. I suggest we forget our differences from the past and concentrate on getting our charge safely matched. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” replied Aggie, forcing her voice into a steadiness she was far from feeling.

  “Good. Since I have a dinner engagement, I shall leave you to your settling in. Tomorrow will be soon enough to discuss our plans.” He bowed gracefully and, with another searching look at her, left the room.

  Aggie stood trembling for several minutes before she sank back on the divan. She could not go upstairs in her present state of distress. Even Cecilie would notice this unsteadiness that had overtaken her. Oh, why had fate taken such a cruel turning - to force her back into contact with the man who had once broken her heart. Well, she would simply have to go on. She had conquered her partiality for him. It was only the shock of seeing him so unexpectedly that had undone her. They would let the past go and think only of the task of getting Cecilie settled. Dear God, she wished that to be done quickly. Then she would be free of him.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning began with disaster. Cecilie had insisted on waiting up quite late because she wanted to see her new guardian. However, they did not hear him come in and finally she had been persuaded into her bed. It was because of this that they both slept very late the next morning. And that’s when it happened.

  Aggie had just opened her eyes and was making her plans for the day, considering what was best to do first, when a startling roar of male rage went reverberating through the upper hall. “Bates!” shouted his lordship in obviously irate tones. “Come here! Get this-this thing!”

  Aggie, dragging on her robe, hurried into the hall. As she reached it, she heard a wild chattering, punctuated by the Earl’s pungent curses. The sound made her want to cover her ears. The sight that met her eyes was equally appalling. The Earl stood thundering in the hallway. He was only half-clothed. He wore his breeches of ribbed buff cord and his Wellingtons, but the upper half of his body was unclad. Aggie stopped in her tracks, the sight of his bare chest making her clutch at her robe and avert her eyes.

  His lordship, however, did not seem aware of his state of undress. His dark brows were drawn together fiercely and the shadowy mat of hair on his chest rose and fell with his shouts. “Bates! Exactly how did this - this thing get into my establishment?” And he waved the wretched monkey which he held off by the scruff of its neck.

  Without more thought, Aggie moved to rescue the poor thing. “Give me the monkey, milord,” she said softly, gathering the terrified creature into her arms. “You are frightening him.”

  He scowled at her, but he released his grip and the monkey came gibbering into her arms. He clung to her in terror, hiding his head in the folds of her robe. She turned her attention to soothing him, making the kind of little crooning noises that Cecilie used.

  “Miss Trimble!” The Earl’s words boomed like thunderclaps in the hall. “Is that thing known to you?”

  Aggie nodded. She forced herself to look up into his eyes, blazing now with indignation. In those long-ago days she had never seen him angry, but a man’s anger was no novelty to her. Cecilie had often driven her father into paroxysms of rage. The best approach in such a case, Aggie knew, was to remain calm and dignified.

  “Yes, milord. This is Dillydums, Cecilie’s monkey. He must have slipped out while we slept. I thought we had shut the door tightly.”

  Bates coughed discreetly. “If you please, miss, I believe the maid Millie might have opened the door to see if you were awake yet. She might have left it ajar.”

  Aggie turned to the servant with a smile. “Yes, Bates. Quite probably that is what happened. We shall have to be more careful from now on.” She began to move toward the bedroom.

  “Miss Trimble!” The sound was enough to make even a brave man quiver and Aggie had to swallow twice before she could reply. It was difficult to remain calm under such rage.


  “Yes, milord.” She hated meeting his eyes, but it was improper to look at his bare chest and to look at the floor seemed too abject.

  “Why did you not inform me of this creature?”

  Aggie frowned. This was getting to be too much. She did not intend to spend the next weeks being bullied. “I thought, milord, that you already knew. I sent Cecilie’s guardian several reports during the winter. Among them was a report on the purchase of Dillydums.”

  The Earl looked slightly discomfited by this and Aggie could not forbear driving the knife a little deeper. “Had I know that your lordship was uninformed on this point, I would have been most certain to tell you.”

  His lordship did not take kindly to this. His face clouded over again and his frown was terrible to see. “Do not pick words with me, Miss Trimble. I read all your reports. I simply did not expect that such an animal would be brought to the city. Therefore I was not prepared, or amused, to find it swinging from my bed curtains and waving my razor around as though it had gone mad.”

  “If Dillydums was bad, it was your fault,” said a shrill young voice.

  Aggie turned in dismay to see Cecilie standing there. Evidently the commotion in the hall had wakened her, and, without robe or slippers, she had come to find out what it was about. She stood in her long white nightdress, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and glaring at his lordship. “I think you are a mean, nasty man,” said Cecilie with the blunt honesty of the young. “And you’re not too smart either.”

  A gasp from Bates was not stifled quite in time and Aggie shuddered. It did little good to reflect that his lordship had brought this on himself. And, she supposed, he would discover soon enough that this was the wrong way to approach Cecilie.

  “Anyone with any sense at all,” continued the girl, “would know better than to yell at Aggie. It’s not her fault if Dillydums got out. Nor that you don’t like monkeys.” She gazed reproachfully at the Earl. “Besides, if you’d come home at a decent hour, I wouldn’t have sat up half the night waiting and slept so late this morning. And then he wouldn’t have gotten out at all.”

  The Earl’s look of dire wrath did not seem to bother Cecilie one bit. “It’s no use your glaring at me like that. I only said what’s true. Dillydums is a little dear. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  She took a step closer and gazed at his lordship with wide curious eyes, as though she had just then become aware of his state of undress. “How very curious. Do all men look like that?” she asked, her gaze held by the mat of dark curly hair that covered his chest.

  “No!” said his lordship sharply. “Bates, we will finish dressing now.” His eyes met Aggie’s and for a moment she thought she saw a hint of merriment there. But surely that was impossible. And anyway, the Earl’s eyes were deceptive. A woman should never trust what she saw there. Never.

  “I suggest,” said the Earl in an even tone, “that you ladies also dress and meet me in the breakfast room. We shall continue our discussion of monkeys there.”

  “Very well, milord.” Aggie shepherded an unwilling Cecilie back to the room where she carefully shut the door before releasing the monkey. They were certainly not off to the best of starts.

  “I don’t like him,” said Cecilie. “He’s all puffed up with his own importance. And he doesn’t like animals.”

  Aggie forced herself to smile. “His lordship was startled,” she explained. “He did not expect to find a monkey in his rooms - and armed with a razor. It was really rather natural for him to be upset.”

  “He does it very well,” observed Cecilie. “Being upset, I mean. Papa was never very good at it.” Her eyes widened. “Imagine him having a chest like that. Still, he’s a mean man and I shan’t like him.”

  Aggie judged it better not to discuss his lordship’s chest, which for some odd reason seemed to have impressed itself firmly in her mind. “It doesn’t matter what you think of him. You must be careful not to aggravate him. You were lucky today. Remember, Cecilie, he is able to deal with you quite severely. And what he says in a temper he may well stick by, even though he later regrets it.”

  “He doesn’t scare me,” said Cecilie, combing at her tangled blond curls while the monkey perched cheerfully on top of the mirror, his ordeal quite forgotten.

  Aggie shook her head. How could she persuade her young charge that Denby was a very different man from her father? Smiles and pouts, Cecilie’s chief weapons, would be lost on the Earl, Aggie feared. There was no doubt that Denby was a hard man, quite accustomed to having things his own way. How irritated he must have been to have the guardianship of a young girl thrust so summarily upon him. And a willful, stubborn girl, at that, she thought, as she slipped into a morning dress of rose-sprigged muslin, one of the few pretty gowns she still owned. Releasing her luxuriant hair from its night braid, she brushed it and swiftly confined it to its usual knot.

  “Are you almost ready, Cecilie?” she asked, careful to keep any hint of anxiety from her voice. At times Cecilie could be fiercely partisan, and, although Aggie appreciated being defended, such blunt honesty was hardly politic when dealing with a man like the Earl. He seemed more accustomed to having women speak softly and look submissive.

  “I suppose so,” pouted Cecilie. “But I really don’t see why we need to bother with him. You and I are perfectly capable of running my affairs.”

  “We may believe that,” said Aggie with a small smile. “But the law says differently and it has put your affairs into the hands of a guardian until you have a husband to take over.”

  Cecilie tossed her blond curls and her eyes danced with mischief. “Men are such bores,” she said. “So stuffy and solemn.” Her chin jutted forward. “Well, one thing I know. I’m going to find a husband that will be fun. We’ll ride and dance and enjoy ourselves. We’re going to have fun.”

  Aggie swallowed a sigh. It was useless to try to tell Cecilie that there was more to marriage than dancing and fun. She could only hope and pray that they would find the child a decent man who would not curb her high spirits so sharply as to break her completely.

  Cecilie put the monkey on his leash and fastened it to the bedpost. “Now, Dillydums,” she told the little creature whose small black eyes watched her so closely, “you must be a good boy. We have to go see his nasty old lordship, but we’ll be back soon.”

  Together they left the room, carefully shutting the door behind them. “I do hope Dillydums doesn’t get too lonesome. I don’t see why we couldn’t bring him along.”

  “Perhaps on other mornings,” Aggie replied patiently. “But today the Earl is not in the best of moods. We don’t want him to remain angry.”

  “I don’t care how mad he gets,” said Cecilie with an impish grin. “I’ve never seen anyone get so incensed. He’s very interesting in that condition.”

  Aggie strove for patience, but her nerves were so on edge from her confrontation with the Earl that she found it difficult to be her usual calm self. “You must understand the situation. The Earl is a man of great power. He will not hesitate to use it. If you cross him, you may well find yourself sitting at home, without a carriage, without new gowns, perhaps even without a come out!”

  Cecilie stopped in her tracks, her mouth open in astonishment. “He wouldn’t’! He wouldn’t dare!”

  Aggie shook her head. “Do not be too sure, Cecilie. There is no telling what he may do.”

  As her charge walked on, seemingly sobered, Aggie smiled bitterly. That was certainly the truth. Once she would have staked everything she had on Denby’s character, but now she knew better. How could one trust a man who spoke words of love in a woman’s ear, whose eyes promised heaven on earth, whose kisses transported her into ecstasy, and who then vanished, as it were overnight, not to reappear for five long years?

  Aggie brushed away the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes. Dear God, how she had loved him, loved him through a whole long year of waiting until common sense had finally convinced her that he was gone for good. She swallowed another sigh
. She must get Cecilie married as soon as possible and get out of his house where every meal and every turn in the corridor might result in a meeting with him.

  She hated him, of course, she told herself as they descended the great staircase. And she certainly had just cause. He had ruined her life with his whispered words of longing, words that had led her to believe in his love. And then he had abandoned her. Surely that was cause enough to hate any man. And yet she knew, much to her dismay, that had he come back and offered an excuse for his behavior, had he whispered those words of promise again, she would have fallen into his arms. It was a rather disconcerting thought and one she did not care to pursue any further.

  Cecilie preceded her into the breakfast room and Aggie could tell from the set of her back that this was not going to be a pleasant meal. The Earl was seated at the head of the table. A shirt, cravat, striped waistcoat, and coat of blue superfine had been added to his costume. He was still a fine figure of a man, thought Aggie, and then reminded herself of his nature. Good looks were one thing, character another. And a man who trifled with the heart of an innocent young woman...

  “Good morning. Miss Winthrop, Miss Trimble.” He rose and bowed gracefully, his expression gravely formal.

  “Good morning, milord,” Cecilie’s reply was a trifle sullen, but Aggie’s was quite even.

  “If you will be seated, Bates will serve you.”

  “Yes, milord.” Aggie led Cecilie to a chair and then seated herself. She did not trust herself to look at Denby and so gazed down at her plate.

  “I trust that Dillydums is a prisoner in your room,” said his lordship to Cecilie in what was obviously an attempt to regard the morning’s outbreak with humor.

  Cecilie did not, however, respond in kind. “Yes, the poor thing is tied up like some terrible felon. It’s absolutely heartless.” And her eyes widened in innocent reproach.

  The Earl seemed somewhat discomfited by this rather dramatic reply and his eyes sought Aggie. She, however, was steadily regarding her charge and did not meet his gaze.