The Two Lords of Wealdhant Manor (15 page)

Phoebe smiled politely.

“Do you think Jasper will be glad to see me?” Algernon asked. He thought that perhaps it was not entirely polite to ask, but it was the question that weighed most upon his mind, and he hoped that Phoebe would give him some idea of what he could expect.

Her smile faltered. Looking down, she fidgeted with the handle of her basket. “I would hope that he might. I confess, Mr. Clarke, I am not certain
what
Jasper’s sentiments are regarding your return. He has been behaving very oddly since your departure.”

Uncertainty settled into Algernon’s belly. “Oddly, Miss Waltham? Whatever can you mean?”

Phoebe shifted from foot to foot and transferred her basket to her other arm as she considered the question. “He has been very secretive, that’s certain. And he has been very frequently up at the old manor. Even
in
the manor. Even though he still says we are not allowed.”

Algernon gave her a mischievous smile. “And what if I say that you are allowed?”

Phoebe’s eyes widened, and her fidgeting increased. “May I really?”

“Miss Waltham,” Algernon said, “you may always consider yourself welcome in my home. After all, we are cousins. In fact, it seems to me that the three of you ought to move in.”

“Move in!” Phoebe exclaimed with shocked delight.

“Indeed. There are rooms enough, to be sure. It is far too much house for myself alone.”

She stared at him with wide eyes and fretted at her lower lip. “Jasper shall say no.”

“You leave Jasper to me,” Algernon assured her. He had never had cousins before, except for some distant and unknown relations away in India. He thought he might rather enjoy having a charming and spirited pair of younger cousins like Ginevra and Phoebe around Wealdhant, and it would help considerably to lighten the dreariness of the old place. “And he certainly cannot forbid you from visiting your own cousin.”

Phoebe giggled. “Certainly not. That would be very unreasonable of him.”

“Then I look forward most eagerly to your visit,” Algernon said. “And in the meantime, perhaps you can direct me to the residence of Mrs. Underwood. I find myself once again in need of a housekeeper.”

“Oh, she’s the first house along that lane, Mr. Clarke,” Phoebe said, pointing.

“If we are cousins—and friends, I hope—perhaps you will call me Algernon.”

“Algernon!” she repeated with surprise.

“Or even Algy.”

“Algy.” Phoebe giggled. “Perhaps I shall. And you may call me Phoebe. Since we are cousins.”

“My admirable cousin Phoebe,” Algernon said, and bowed to her.

Phoebe laughed happily. “And you are my honourable cousin Algernon. It is very nice to have a cousin, after all.”

“I agree whole-heartedly,” Algernon said. Tipping his hat to her, he took his leave, and went to reclaim the services of his housekeeper.

J
asper sat
behind a desk full of papers and worried.

There had been no word, neither from Mr. Sutton nor from Algernon, and almost two weeks since he’d submitted the old family bible as evidence of Algernon’s claim.

The work on the train tracks had paused, which was some comfort, but it most likely was only a delay of the inevitable. Mr. Sutton had likely surmised—correctly—that if the railway crews laid one track onto estate lands without the necessary legal paperwork in place, Jasper would have them in court for it, even if that was to no more purpose than a further delay for everyone involved. If buying time was all he could do, he would most certainly do so.

He had no idea what fate would befall him if they realised that the Allesbury family bible actually listed Tabitha Millicent, Millc., and not Tabitha
Mills
. It seemed likely that he would be accused of conspiracy or fraud. Inheritance fraud? He had no idea how any of these things worked, and his proof of Algernon’s claim seemed miserably flimsy.

Even if the courts validated Algernon’s claim to Wealdhant, Jasper had no idea what results that would garner. He could not be certain of Algernon’s intentions or desires, or if Mr. Sutton would still hold some influence over Algernon.

Rubbing at his face, Jasper returned his attention to his correspondence. He’d begun sending letters to the nearby parishes inquiring for any records of a Ruth Allesbury, Ruth Waltham, or any female giving the name of Waltham, within two decades of 1740. The only responses he had yet gotten in reply were all negative. No one knew of Ruth Waltham or Ruth Allesbury, nor was there the record of any baby bearing the name Amabel Waltham or Allesbury.

It seemed hopeless, but he resumed composing the same rote letter to the next parish on the list he’d compiled.

There was a rapping at the heavy front door of the manor.

Startled at a visitor and immediately dreading the worst, Jasper cast down his pen and leapt to his feet, making his way out of the study and across the front hall of Wealdhant.

He unlocked the heavy front door and pulled it open. Algernon stood upon the threshold.

“Jasper!” Algernon declared. His face lit with pleased surprise.

Jasper’s heart seemed to turn over in his chest, and he pressed his hand against the secure wood of the door in order to steady himself as he tried to find words to reply. Algernon. Algernon had returned, though Jasper still could not be certain of his intentions and that terrified him.

Joy flickering, Algernon’s brow furrowed in concern. “Jasper? You did
know
, didn’t you? That I… that I was coming back. I thought for certain that you… was it not you who…?” Doubting himself, Algernon cleared his throat and ducked his head.

“I knew,” Jasper said. Making an effort to be civil, Jasper stood out of the way so that Algernon could enter. “I had hoped.”

That brought the grin back to Algernon’s face, and he took the invitation without the slightest hesitation. Striding inside, Algernon cast his hat and gloves upon the hallway table. “I’d hoped I’d find you here, Jasper. Not least to save me from trying to track down who had the key to the old place.”

“I have it,” Jasper said, beginning to fumble in his pocket for the key.

Algernon laid his hand over Jasper’s arm to stop him. “Keep it.”

Jasper tensed, surprised by the presumption of the touch as much as he was by the words. He stared at Algernon, uncertain as to the significance of Algernon’s statement.

Algernon held his gaze in return for a few seconds before dropping his eyes away. His thumb brushed intimately over the fabric of Jasper’s coat sleeve, and then released.

“Or give it to Mrs. Underwood,” Algernon said, stepping back to a polite distance and keeping his hands to himself. “I’ve engaged her again, you know. Since I’ll… since I’ll be staying.”

“They accepted the bible as proof?”

“They did.” Algernon lifted his chin with calm nobility. He didn’t look or behave like gentry, not from the little of them that Jasper had known, but there was a dignity in him, especially when he wasn’t alight with temper. He looked like a scholar or an entrepreneur, self-contained and respectable, with a brightness of spirit behind his eyes. It reminded Jasper of Algernon’s insistence that he would turn pirate, which made him smile. Algernon would make for a dashing pirate king.

“
Was
it you, Jasper?” Algernon asked.

“Yes.”

Algernon took a step closer, grasping Jasper by his lapels. “Why?”

“Mr. Sutton will have his railway either way. If he must, and if Wealdhant must be claimed once again, I would rather it would be you than some new and unknown person.”

“Ah.” Algernon brushed some unseen fleck of lint from Jasper’s shoulder, avoiding his eyes. “Is that all?”

Jasper tensed his jaw and hesitated, stiff with nerves.

Algernon let go and stepped away.

“I missed you,” Jasper said, forcing the words out past his doubts.

Surprised, Algernon’s head lifted. “You missed me?”

“I thought,” Jasper said, reaching out to pull Algernon close again, “that now that our circumstances have changed, perhaps we might get along famously, as you said.”

Algernon grinned, hugging his arms around Jasper like a lover. “Is that so?”

“It is.” Jasper balked, but he did put his arms around Algernon’s waist in return.

“You
lied
for me?” Algernon asked, sounding entirely too thrilled about it.

“I didn’t
lie
,” Jasper insisted, indignant. “I merely … provided them with misleading evidence. It was perfectly valid evidence, it is hardly my concern if they misinterpreted it.”

Laughing with delight, Algernon brushed his lips against Jasper’s and whispered against his mouth. “You lied for me.”

Jasper grumbled at him, opening his mouth to reply, but Algernon kissed him so that he wouldn’t have the chance, and kissed him again when he pulled away to speak. Surrendering to it, Jasper returned kiss after kiss, grip tightening around Algernon’s waist to keep him close.

“Is there anyone else in the manor to see us?” Algernon whispered against his lips when their kissing paused at last.

“No,” Jasper said. “Ginevra comes from time to time in order to assist me, but there is no one else.”

“No one else,” Algernon repeated, and then laughed. “Lord Jasper of Wealdhant. Of course you
would
rule without a single servant, once you’d begun behaving as lord of the manor.”

That felt like mockery. Jasper let go of him and scowled. “I am not behaving as the lord of the manor.”

“Are you not?” Algernon asked, raising an eyebrow. He let go of Jasper and turned his eyes to the great hall, spinning about slowly in order to take it all in. “This dusty old ruin. And the gardens. Here you are, with the key. I half thought you’d go back to what you’d been, and never cross the threshold again.”

“I thought of it,” Jasper said. “But I had to fetch the old bible.”

“Oh, is that all?” Algernon’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you in the least, my Lord Jasper.”

Ornery about being interrogated, Jasper folded his arms. “I wanted to keep an eye on the place until matters were settled.”

“
That
I believe.” Algernon smiled irrepressibly. “It is cold, Jasper. Is there a fire lit?”

Nodding, Jasper jerked his chin toward the study.

The moment that Algernon turned toward the study, Jasper realised his mistake. His papers inquiring about Ruth were all over the desk, and Algernon would almost certainly fly into a temper at having his claim to Wealdhant challenged once again so soon upon his return.

Catching him around the waist, Jasper pulled him close and kissed him.

Algernon grunted in surprise, but he melted into it soon enough, tangling his fingers into Jasper’s hair and returning the kiss with eager heat.

It didn’t last very long before Algernon broke the kiss again and turned for the study.

Jasper pulled him back and kissed him, stalling while he tried to come up with a better plan.

Making a delighted sound, Algernon returned it, pressing his body close against Jasper’s for warmth as they kissed, and then pushing lightly at him. “Jasper, I’m cold.”

Only grunting in acknowledgement, Jasper tried for another kiss.

Algernon leaned backward, frowning at him in confusion and then glancing toward the study. “Is there some reason I can’t go in the study?”

Jasper tensed.

Brow furrowing, Algernon stepped out of his embrace. “Whatever is the matter? Jasper, what’s in the study?”

“Nothing,” Jasper said. “Some letters.”

“Letters on what subject?” Algernon asked, frowning deeply now.

Balking, Jasper folded his arms again. “About Ruth.”

Algernon barked a startled laugh. “Ruth! What is so secret about that? I’ve heard the rumours, Jasper.” Stepping close again, Algernon smiled playfully and took a light kiss. “My Lord Jasper, descended from Ruth Allesbury.”

“Yes,” Jasper said, confused and uncertain about Algernon’s cheerfulness. It seemed that Algernon had not made the connection as to why Jasper was taking an interest in Ruth. “I thought there might be some evidence of her remaining in Wealdhant, or some record of her in the neighbouring parishes.”

“Any luck?” Algernon asked, letting go and entering the study to warm himself by the fire.

“No. Not yet. None whatsoever.”

“A pity. Thank heavens, it’s much warmer in here. What did you think, that I should object to you researching Ruth?”

“Never mind,” Jasper said, eager to change the subject before Algernon made the connection. “What of the railway?”

“Oh!” Algernon exclaimed, and grinned widely. “We have it, Jasper.”

“Have what?” Jasper asked, coming to stand close to him, by the warmth of the fire. “What do we have?”

“The route. The revised route, the one we wanted. The one we worked out together. Mr. Sutton has approved and finalised it, and I have legal paperwork acknowledging as much.”

“You revised the route!” Jasper repeated, pulling him close in exuberant celebration. “Algy.”

“It gets better,” Algernon said, playful and ecstatic with triumph.

“Better?” Jasper said, hardly daring to hope.

“Do you understand what wayleave is, Jasper?”

Jasper shook his head.

“Ah, well,” Algernon tilted his head in thought. “Suffice it to say that, you see, well, it is as though, rather than selling them the land, we are leasing it to them.”

“Leasing it to them?”

“They have to pay us,” Algernon said, putting his arms around Jasper’s neck and brushing their noses together. “Proportional to how much they use the land. If the railway continues for years, then that steady income will remain, year after year, for far more than they would have paid to buy the land.”

“Leasing it!” Jasper repeated, stunned.

“Are you impressed, my Lord Jasper?” Algernon asked, his lips brushing against Jasper’s.

“I am,” Jasper replied, smiling more broadly than he’d done in years.

“And are you satisfied, my Lord Jasper?”

“I will be,” Jasper said. “If you are mine.”

“I am,” Algernon promised, and kissed him.

A
lgernon woke
to the sound of rustling.

He sat up with a start in the dark room and stared about. The fire had burned down to faint red coals, casting the faintest of red-gold shadows in only the immediate vicinity of the fireplace.

It was so dark in the room, heavy and thick as velvet, and Algernon felt as though he could hardly breathe.

Jasper’s arm was solid and warm around his waist, an anchor to safety and comfort. Algernon rested his hand over Jasper’s, reassured by his presence. A dream had likely awoken him, and not a sound at all.

Something creaked.

Yelping in surprise, Algernon scrambled backward until his back hit the headboard, which awoke Jasper.

“What the devil?” Jasper mumbled.

Grabbing for the candle and Congreves matchsticks set by the side of the bed, Algernon lit the candle at once and held it up.

“What is it?” Jasper repeated, frowning in confusion.

“I don’t know,” Algernon said. “Ghosts. Rats. Tamburlaine.”

“
Tamburlaine
?”

“The cat.”

“Oh.” Jasper yawned again, scanning the room without much concern. “What did you hear?”

“Rustling. A creaking noise.”

The candlelight flickered into the far corners of the bedroom, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. At most, there was a trunk with the cover left open which Algernon didn’t remember having done.

The something rustled again.

“It’s nothing, Algy,” Jasper said, reaching out and pressing down on Algernon’s arm to lower the candle. “Go back to sleep. Rats or cats or ghosts. None of it will harm you.”

At that, the trunk cover snapped shut. Algernon yelped.

“You go to sleep, too,” Jasper groused in the general direction of the trunk. Leaning up, he kissed Algernon to reassure him. “They’re only ghosts, Algernon.”

“What do you mean
only ghosts
? Ghosts are... well, they’re ghosts! Unsettling, at the very least.”

Jasper took the candle from him and blew it out, leaning over him to set it back on the nightstand. “They’re your ghosts, Algernon. My ghosts. If you’re the lord of the manor, and as the supposed descendent of the Allesbury line. What exactly do you suppose they’re going to do?”

When Jasper put it like that, it did sound more silly. He couldn’t think of anything that ghosts had ever done in the stories he’d read other than to creep about eerily. That alone had always seemed plenty terrifying. “Murder us in our sleep?” he suggested.

Jasper kissed him again on the corner of his mouth. “They won’t. If Ruth and her sisters became ghosts, however it was that happened, then they are only sad and lonely. Restless. They are your ghosts now, Algernon. Don’t mind them.”

“That is unfairly reasonable of you,” Algernon grumbled. Subsiding, he nestled into Jasper’s arms once again, trusting that as long as he was with Jasper, he was safe. “You’re
certain
they shan’t murder us in our bed?”

“Go to sleep, Algernon,” Jasper murmured in his ear, hugging him close once again.

Smiling at Jasper’s pragmatic acceptance of the probable haunting of their manor, Algernon nodded off to sleep once again.

T
hey shared a very
modest breakfast together in the kitchen with Mrs. Underwood.

Algernon kept grumbling that he was cold and hadn’t had a bath, but his complaints on these topics mostly subsided when Jasper kissed him. There were no servants but Mrs. Underwood to provide for them, since Algernon’s other servants hadn’t arrived yet from London. It turned out that Miss Wotton the maid-of-all-work had gone to visit her sister, Mr. Ingram had taken ill, and Algernon had simply failed to locate Mr. Dabney’s house before giving up.

Jasper fought another grin at that, amused at how unaccustomed Algernon was to coping on his own. It seemed that he had always had servants, to some degree, particularly the attentive Mr. Cullen. And now he was the lord of Wealdhant, unless Jasper took the title from him, and they were allies.

Lost in thought, Jasper reached for his cup of tea and sipped at it, half-listening to Mrs. Underwood and Algernon chatting about the problem of their skeleton staff—Mrs. Underwood had promised to fetch Mr. Dabney, since she would need to make a trip into the village, and the two of them were speculating generally on the topic of when the London staff would arrive.

“And then I want to have rooms set aside for the younger Misses Waltham,” Algernon said.

That drew Jasper’s attention at once. “What do you mean?”

“Oh!” Algernon said. “I realise now I forgot to discuss it with you. I had spoken of the matter with Phoebe. If I am Tabitha’s heir and you are Ruth’s, then we are cousins, and I could not abide that my cousins would continue to live in a three-room cottage.”

“It is a four-room cottage,” Jasper corrected him.

“It is unsuitable. They are ladies of quality now. They shall each have their own rooms and I shall engage a lady’s maid apiece for them.”

“I think that’s excessive.”

“It is the absolute minimum of what might be acceptable,” Algernon said. “They are heirs—oh, well, I suppose they’re not legally heirs yet. But I shall arrange the paperwork so that it is legal. It seems only reasonable.”

“Can you really mean that?” Jasper said, amazed at the suggestion. “You would make my sisters your heirs?”

“Why should I not?”

“You cannot be truly certain that we are related.”

“I suppose not,” Algernon said, making a moue with his lips as he thought it over. “Your claim is a local legend and mine may be a typographical error. Both are tenuous. But this is, after all, our situation.”

Algernon’s grin suddenly took a turn for the recklessly mischievous and Jasper narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“You could marry me,” Algernon suggested.

“I cannot marry you,” Jasper said, fidgeting as he glanced toward Mrs. Underwood, who could hardly have failed to notice that the two gentlemen had shared a room the night before.

Algernon’s face fell. “Whyever not?”

“Because we are both men, Algernon, for heaven’s sake! Or did you forget that?”

“Sometimes you are charmingly rustic, Jasper,” Algernon said, mirth returning. “There are such things as weddings between men—they are called ‘molly’ weddings, you see—even though they may not be recognised by law. But in my mind, you are my friend, my ally, my family—however distant—and my lover, are you not?”

Mrs. Underwood blushed and fidgeted.

“You’re being unreasonable,” Jasper chided him. “And sentimental.”

“I am resolved. Phoebe and Ginevra shall be my heirs, no matter what you make of it. After all, it is only just.”

Shaking his head with long-suffering fondness at Algernon’s nonsense, Jasper sighed and accepted it.

“Now then, I wish to see to my correspondence,” Algernon said, “and we are keeping you from your duties, Mrs. Underwood, though I do appreciate your company.”

Getting to his feet, Algernon headed for the door. Jasper followed him.

“What are your plans for the day, Jasper?”

“I…” Jasper began, then hesitated. His plans for the day had been to continue the search for evidence of Ruth, which would be more difficult in Algernon’s presence. Worse, Algernon seemed to be headed directly for the study. “I thought I might also see to my correspondence.”

“Oh,” Algernon said, pausing with his hand on the study door. “I suppose we’ll need a second study, won’t we? After all, it would be very distracting to us both if we were to share the study. I’d never get anything done with you sitting nearby looking… well, looking as you look.”

“How do I look?” Jasper asked.

“Very handsome,” Algernon said, and strode into the study. “Irresistibly handsome.”

Jasper sighed at him, reaching out to hook an arm around Algernon’s waist and pulling him close. “You are,” he said, and then tensed his jaw as he hesitated over his words. Algernon smiled down at him, playful and irrepressible as ever. “Also very handsome,” Jasper finished.

“I am glad you find me so,” Algernon said, kissing him sweetly and then detangling from him. He took one step toward the desk and stopped. “Oh, dear me. You have your papers here already, of course you do. I shall find somewhere else.”

“That doesn’t bother you?” Jasper asked.

Already heading for the door, Algernon looked back and shook his head. “No, why should it?”

“I thought you would accuse me of usurping your place or some such.”

“Not at all. It is a shared place, Jasper. We are allies, and we shall share Wealdhant. I am resolved. And after all…” Algernon stopped, mouth half-open, and blinked several times.

“Algernon?”

“Your…” Algernon said. “Your research. As to Ruth. If you find it, that would make you a legal heir of Wealdhant.”

Jasper tensed. “Yes.”

Brow furrowing, Algernon folded his arms. “You were seeking that already. In case I didn’t return, so that you could make a case against the railway.”

It was true, but not entirely so. Jasper’s mouth felt dry. “Yes.”

Algernon was still thinking it all through. “But Ruth was the eldest.”

“Yes,” Jasper said, more carefully. He wasn’t certain he could have kept it secret for long, and it was hardly surprising that Algernon had realised his true motive.

“So that would make you the heir!” Algernon said, eyes widening. “Lord Jasper of Wealdhant!”

He sounded almost pleased about it.

Puzzled, Jasper stared at him. “It would.”

Algernon smiled. “I think that’s only fair, don’t you?”

“Fair?”

“It is just,” Algernon said, crossing back to Jasper’s side. “That would make me your heir, and then your sisters next in line.”

“You don’t… you aren’t angry?” Jasper asked.

Algernon laughed. “Why would I be angry?”

“I thought you would see it as me trying to depose you.”

Laying his hands on Jasper’s waist, Algernon stepped close to him and smiled. “Would you be rid of me, if you had your claim legitimised?”

Jasper swallowed, wrapping his arms around Algernon’s waist. Algernon’s eyes were warm and mirthful. “I want you to stay.”

“I want to stay,” Algernon said. “I want you, Jasper. And Wealdhant. I’m home, now, you see. And while you must understand that I shall most likely always be inclined to love adventures and innovation, you shall be my voice of reason. You are steady and reasonable, and I am visionary and perhaps a bit more reckless than is entirely beneficial for my health. I do think that together we might restore Wealdhant to its former glory, don’t you?”

A smile pulled at Jasper’s lips and he nodded. Although they might still quarrel, Jasper now trusted that Algernon would do his best to protect the interests of Wilston and all the inhabitants of the village and the estate. “That would please me very much. My Lord Algernon.”

Algernon laughed with pleasure and rested his head against Jasper’s. “My Lord Jasper.”