Behind the Mask (House of Lords) (26 page)

Leo spoke hardly a word the entire journey to Norwich. Colin was content to ride quietly beside him. It would be about the only time he would get to think for the next week, and there were a great many things to consider. First and foremost, however, he wanted to turn his attention to the problem of Eleanor.

No, he reminded himself, she was not a problem. In many ways he knew she was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. But she had come as quite a surprise, and to suddenly have a wife at his side was certain to shake up any man’s world. Colin had not even begun to think of what would happen when the week was over, when they were man and wife and there was no longer a looming danger to be confronted.

He would take her back to Brussels, he supposed. First he would have to take her to Townsley, of course. That could not be avoided. It would be beyond his mother’s ability to tolerate if he did not bring his new bride to meet her in-laws, to receive their stamp of approval. He was not afraid they would dislike her, of course. Leo was right: it was impossible for anyone to find Eleanor anything but correct. It was not for her sake that Colin dreaded a return to Townsley, but for his own. He was not certain he could endure the embarrassment of introducing a woman he respected and admired to parents who had always been disappointed in him. Still, there was nothing for it. The journey would have to be undertaken. He was sure she would shine.

And after that, well, she would take the Continent by storm. There was no doubt in his mind that she would be adored by everyone she met there. She was just the sort of intellectual, charming woman people in Brussels fell in love with.

Indeed, Colin was well on his way to falling in love with her himself.

He knew his face turned rather red as the thoughts that had coursed through his mind the night before in the library returned. He had felt lust, of course. She was a desirable woman, beautiful and poised and far more sexual than he had imagined. But it was not those things that had made him lose himself so completely. In that moment when she had turned to him with that sultry gaze, he had marveled at the fact that a woman like her, so perfect that it was almost unbearable, wanted him. He had felt the need, the wanting that had nearly driven him mad. But he had also felt profoundly grateful for the gift she had given him.

And what could he give her in return? He was taking her away from her family, with whom she obviously shared very close ties. He was forcing her to leave her home, to abandon everything she had known and follow him into an uncertain future. Perhaps it was for those reasons that what had happened in the library surprised him so much. Colin could not quite understand why Eleanor did not despise him for trapping her.

He still had not managed to puzzle it out by the time they reached Norwich. He had difficulty articulating his request to the bishop, though it did not really matter. His name and Leo’s provided plenty of pressure, and within thirty minutes they had the special license, which meant that they could avoid the necessity of having the banns read. Leo laughingly remarked that he seemed to have been involved in a great many weddings by special license in the last year, though he did not explain the curious statement. Instead, he fell silent again until they were out on the open road.

As they descended back into the Broads, Leo finally said, “Do you have any new information about the assassins?”

Colin shrugged. “Bits and pieces. Nothing that I can quite put together yet. I visited the village doctor this morning. He told me that there is evidence that Yates was killed by an overdose of valerian.”

“You mean that he was poisoned?” Leo asked. “How very odd.”

“My thoughts exactly. But it appears that that is what killed him.”

Leo stared into the distance. “Isn’t it rather strange for a group of assassins to torture a man and then poison him?”

“Now we’ve reached the murky waters where I’ve become mired,” Colin said. “You got there much more quickly than I did. I don’t suppose you’d like a job with the Foreign Service, would you?”

Leo laughed. “I’m not cut out for espionage, I’m afraid.”

“I’m not a spy, you know,” Colin said, realizing that there was a serious concern behind the flippant remark. “My work will never put Eleanor in danger.”

Now Leo slowed his horse and turned to look at him. “I’ve heard stories to the contrary.”

“Stories?” Colin asked. “Or just one?”

Leo leveled a solemn gaze at him. “I saw Lord Pennethorne at Hafeley,” he said.

Colin swore.

“I knew he had worked for the Foreign Service. I asked him if he knew you.”

“He was more than happy to tell you exactly how we are acquainted, I suppose.”

“Give him a little more credit than that, Colin,” Leo said. “He was rather reluctant to tell me any of the story. But I insisted. It was clear that he knew something, and even though I have not always been an ideal brother, I do mean to protect my sisters from harm if I can.”

Colin sighed. “So you know it all, then.”

“I know what Pennethorne was willing to tell me.”

“Since it was he who came in to clean up the mess I made, I suppose he knows more than anyone else at the Foreign Office.”

“It’s all true, then?”

Colin nodded grimly. “It’s all true. A woman is dead because of the mistakes I made.”

“But she was—”

“It doesn’t matter what she was. She didn’t deserve to die. And even if the Russians did, that doesn’t mean I ought to take pride in having killed them. I suppose I could argue that I was forced into it, but it all happened because of my foolish mistakes, my hubris.”

“That may be true,” Leo said, “but it is not the Russian spies who concern me. It is the woman.”

Colin looked down at his hands. His knuckles were white where they clenched the reins. “I promise you, I learned from those mistakes. Nothing like that will ever happen again.”

Leo smiled. “Hasn’t it occurred to you that I knew all this when I insisted that you marry my sister?”

It had not, and Colin said as much.

“I have faith in you, Colin. So does Pennethorne, though I suppose that means very little to you.”

Shaking his head, Colin said, “I suppose not. But your trust
does
matter to me. You are Eleanor’s brother. You are her guardian. I want you to approve of our marriage. Your support means everything to her, and, consequently, to me.”

“You will always have it, you know,” Leo said. Then he chuckled. “You know, when I suggested that Eleanor try to snare you, I never thought it would actually happen. And yet even as I said it I realized that the two of you might do well together.”

“You suggested she try to snare me?” Colin asked. Was
that
why Eleanor seemed so comfortable with the idea of being his wife? Because she believed it would make her brother happy?

“I did, though it sounds as though it happened the other way ‘round,” Leo said.

Colin forced himself to smile, though he felt as though he had swallowed a lump of lead. By the time they reached Sidney Park he still had not been able to rid himself of the worry he felt, but there was little time to confront his uneasiness. He still had to speak to Colonel Taylor and do a thousand other things, and night was coming on fast.

Just as he was about to go into the house, however, Leo gripped his arm. “You must tell her, Colin,” he said. “You will, won’t you?”

Colin nodded, though he could not imagine revealing his failure to Eleanor. He could hardly refuse Leo, though. Still, he thought as he went inside, he had not promised to tell her
now
.

It could wait, he told himself, until after they were married.

Eleanor met Colin on the stairs as they were both going down to dinner. He held out his arm for her, though his expression was stoic.

“You look rather grim,” she said.

“I don’t suppose it’s just the black eye.”

She had to smile at that. “It does give you a rakish look. I suppose it will lend a little dramatic flair to the wedding.”

“Is that what you want?” he asked sharply.

“No,” she said softly. “Of course not.”

“Good,” he said. “A penchant for the dramatic may get you noticed on the Continent, but it will not gain you any respect.”

“Do you mean for us to return to the Continent, then?” she asked.

“Will that make you happy?”

She stared up at him. Something had happened, something had changed to make him so irritable. Had Leo said something to him? “I think,” she said after she had gathered her thoughts, “that I could be happy anywhere. I have hope, Colin, that we will do well together.”

“Do you?” he asked as he held the drawing room door for her. Inside, her mother was waiting along with Georgina and Colonel Taylor, and Maris and Mr. Strathmore came in on their heels, and so Eleanor could not ask Colin about his strange behavior. After Colonel Taylor had been introduced, two of his men came in. They were Captain Barry and Lieutenant O’Keefe, both young men of good breeding who were the colonel’s assistants. That afternoon Eleanor had asked Mrs. Clarence to invite the three men to dinner, hoping to make amends for the fact that they would be sleeping in tents for the next week. From the way the captain and the lieutenant beamed as they were introduced, her plan had worked. Maris seemed determined to charm them both, and Eleanor found herself thinking again of poor Lydia Bennet. In one way, at least, Eleanor was not like the foolish youngest Bennet daughter: she was not quite as determined a flirt as Maris. At least her own downfall had been rather unpredictable.

But Colin did not see it as a downfall, she reminded herself. Or at least he had not last night. Was that why his behavior had suddenly altered? Was he wishing to escape their engagement?

There was no opportunity to ask him about it during dinner, and when she finally managed to escape with him into the salon at the end of the evening, she found herself suddenly tongue-tied. He led her resolutely up the stairs, clearly having decided that there would not be a repeat of the previous evening. When they had reached the top of the stairs, however, she could bear the silence no longer.

“You are angry,” she said quietly, not daring to look at him. “Have I done something wrong?”

He did not look at her, either. In a cool, even tone, he said, “When did you decide that I would make you a good husband?”

For a moment she was not sure how to answer. At last she said, “I am not sure I
have
decided.”

Now he turned to face her. “Are you certain your mind was not made up before we even met? That you did not mean to try for me because your brother suggested it?”

She scoffed. “My brother never suggested any such—” but then she remembered that day, not a week past, when Leo had smiled and joked that she should pursue Colin, that he might be a good match. She had brushed the idea away, had discarded it outright even when Maris had asked whether Leo did not mean for his friend to marry one of his sisters. “Did he tell you that?” she asked.

Colin nodded. “I wondered what a woman like you would want with a man like me,” he said. “I have been puzzling over it all day. But when Leo told me what he said to you, all the pieces fell into place. I despise arranged marriages, Eleanor. I think they are cruel and mercenary and
wrong
. I will marry you tomorrow because it is my duty, but I cannot stomach the thought that you will marry me only because you think it is what your brother wants.”

Eleanor felt hot tears stinging her eyes. She did not know what to say, so instead she bit her lower lip to keep from crying. Was this what he thought of her? Did he really believe her so callous as all that? But then something he had said rose up through the fog of misery in her mind. “What do you mean, a man like you?” she asked.