A Perfect Gentleman(38)
“I’ll see about fixing the door.” Mr. Thomas walked off into the kitchen.
“I’ll bring tea in a moment,” Mrs. Thomas offered.
It was as if none of them could leave the room quick enough.
“What is going on, Matt?” Jordan asked when they were in the hall.
He led them into the library and closed the door. Once his brothers and Elizabeth were settled he relayed the truth behind Mr. Cooper’s fall and all the details he could recall up until this morning. “I originally thought it could have been Stillwaite or one of the suitors who tried to kill Mr. Cooper.”
“But suitors would gain nothing in the demise of Miss Cooper,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Exactly,” John agreed.
“And the only person who would gain anything by Miss Cooper’s death is her uncle,” Jordan surmised.
“Those were my thoughts, but the man I encountered in her bedchamber was younger. Or at least he moved as a much younger man would.”
“Perhaps Stillwaite hired someone.” Elizabeth suggested.
Matthew didn’t know the answer and simply shook his head. “I need to hire guards and a staff. Miss Cooper cannot go on without anyone else in the house except her father and a valet.”
“No you don’t,” John answered.
“Yes, I do,” Matthew insisted. “Who is going to protect her and I can’t be here all of the time. Already Mrs. Montgomery has shredded her reputation with her vicious tongue. I can’t remain here a third night or Miss Cooper’s reputation will never recover.”
“Who would you hire?” Jordan asked.
“That is the problem. I have not lived here long enough to know who to trust.”
“You know us,” Elizabeth smiled at him.
It was kind of Elizabeth to want to help but the most she could do was act as a chaperone. “Thank you, but I need someone who can protect Miss Cooper.”
Elizabeth turned to John. “I believe your brother just insulted me.”
John chuckled and lifted the back of her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “He simply doesn’t know you the way I do.”
Yet another woman he did not understand. Though he certainly hadn’t meant to insult her, Matthew wasn’t certain how he had.
John continued to hold his wife’s hand and let it rest in the space between them on the settee. “As you have shared your secret, I will share mine and Elizabeth’s.”
Jordan and Matthew both leaned forward. What could they possibly tell them that nobody could know? Was Elizabeth increasing? They had certainly been married long enough for that occurrence to happen, but if that were the case, it wouldn’t remain a secret long.
“Why do you think I was on the Continent?” John asked.
“Gallivanting and avoiding buying a commission,” Jordan chuckled.
“Would you be surprised if I told you I worked for the Home Office?”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. “What exactly were you doing?”
“For the most part working in the stables at Tuileries and gathering information about Napoleon and the French and passing anything pertinent on.”
Matthew looked between Elizabeth and John and back again. His brother was serious.
“Did father know?” Jordan asked.
“Not until I returned. I was able to tell him right before he died.”
“You were a spy?” Matthew asked for clarification.
“As was I,” Elizabeth interjected.
“I thought you were a widow living in the south of France until my brother stumbled across you.” Jordan said. “Are you telling us that isn’t true either?”
It was hard enough to believe his brother had been working as a spy, but Elizabeth? She was a gently bred lady. Her grandfather was the Duke of Danby and her father a vicar.
She smiled at the look of confusion on his face. “I was a maid. I had the opportunity to search Napoleon’s office, often, and passed onto John any information I gathered.”
Both John and Matthew fell back into their chairs at the same time.
John laughed. “I do love telling people. The look of utter astonishment is always enjoyable.”
“Yes,” Elizabeth agreed. “But if we tell many more people, it won’t remain a secret and we still work for the Home Office.”
“You didn’t quit when you were married?” Matthew couldn’t believe John would allow his wife to remain in such dangerous work.
“We can’t return to France right now.” She shrugged. “There are things we can do in England, for the moment.”
“I am still not sure how you can help Miss Cooper,” Matthew said after a few moments.
This time Elizabeth laughed. “One can’t be a spy without being able to know how to protect oneself.”
“Or know how to shoot, fight, maim or even kill,” John added.
“We can search without anyone knowing we were there,” Elizabeth continued. “I know the weakness in this home already.”
Matthew looked around the room.
“If I wished to break in, I already know how I would go about doing so and you would never know.”
The thought that this home was so vulnerable sent a chill up Matthew’s spine.
“Trust me, Matt.” John leaned forward. “You don’t need guards you simply need me and Elizabeth.”
“You don’t need servants either,” Elizabeth added.
“Someone has to cook, and help with the house.”
Elizabeth grinned. “I will.”
“You?”
“I started off in the kitchens at the palace and worked my way up to maid.” She shrugged. “Besides, it is better if you don’t have others in the house since you don’t know who tried to kill Miss Cooper.”
“You have a caller, Miss Cooper.”
Grace glanced up from her chair beside her father’s bed to find Mrs. Thomas in the doorway. “Who is it?” Please don’t let it be Richards, Thorn or Draker.
“Lord Crew.”
Relief shot through her body and she jumped from her seat. “Thank goodness.”
She rushed out of the room to find him in the parlor with Vicar Trent and his brothers and sister-in-law.
He stood when she entered. “How is your father?”
“He will recover.”
“There hasn’t been a hearing yet, has there?”
“No.” She quickly assured him. “Lord Brachton wanted to wait.”
“I will have a word with that young man as soon as I leave here.”
“That won’t be necessary.” She glanced up to find the man they were just speaking of standing in the door.
Grace quickly came to her feet. “Lord Brachton, welcome.”
He sauntered into the room and bowed before her. “I was sorry to hear about your father. Did I hear correctly that he is recovering?”
“Yes.”
“Good. For his sake and yours.”
“Please, have a seat. I will ring for more tea.”
Lord Brachton nodded to the occupants in the room and settled into a chair beside the settee where Mr. and Mrs. Trent sat. Everyone already seemed to know each other so Grace didn’t bother with introductions.
“What would you tell me, Crew, if there were a hearing?”
“That despite his inability to talk, Mr. Cooper is of sound mind.”
Brachton nodded. “I suspected as much.”
Grace turned to him, a bit surprised. “You did.”
“I’ve known Vicar Trent too long. Had he been concerned about your father’s mental capabilities he would have let me know without hurting you in the process.”
Relief flowed through her.
“But Stillwaite isn’t about to give up. He visited me this morning demanding that a hearing be held immediately.”
“I don’t know what he hopes to gain,” Lord Crew announced. “Even if my friend is found in need of confinement, guardianship of Grace would not go to him.”
Brachton leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“Of course, I am only assuming. But in his will, Cooper named me Grace’s guardian if anything to happen to him. If I could not see to the task, Vicar Merker was named. He was very clear, at least vocally, that his brother was to have no control over Grace or the estate.”
“When did he write this will?”
“Five years before his accident.”
A slow smile came to Brachton’s lips. “I now know what to do.”
“You do,” Grace asked anxiously.
“I will agree that guardianship is necessary.”
“But it isn’t,” Grace interrupted.
Brachton held up his hand to silence her. “Stillwaite is insisting on a guardianship, and I will agree. However, I will name Lord Crew as that guardian.” He paused and looked around. “Who might have a copy of the will?”
“Mr. Larkin,” Crew answered. “He is the solicitor and took over when Cooper was injured.”
“I will read it myself and I assume that what your father wanted for you goes for himself as well.”
Lord Crew chuckled.
“It is up to Lord Crew to decide what to do with you and Mr. Cooper, and I can wash my hands of this mess.”
“He won’t have a chance in the courts,” Mr. Jordan Trent offered.
Grace wheeled on him. He worked for her uncle and they had just talked openly about this in front of him. “Are you going to help him fight Lord Crew?”