Bound By A Scandalous Secret. Diane Gaston
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hugged or clasped hands with many of them, asking them all questions about their welfare and listening intently to their answers. She shared information about her sisters and her half-brother, but, unlike her cynical conversation with Ross about her siblings, all was sunny and bright when she talked to the servants. So they would have no cause to worry, perhaps?
‘Lorene—’ she went on ‘Lady Tinmore, I mean—asked me to convey her greetings and well wishes to all of you. She is stuck with our host, I’m afraid, but I am certain she will ply me with questions about all of you as soon as we are alone.’
Ross remembered no such exchange between the sisters, but it was kind of Genna to make the servants believe Lady Tinmore thought about them.
Finally Genna seemed to remember him. She gestured towards him and laughed. ‘Lord Rossdale! I do not need to present you, do I? I am certain everyone knows who you are.’ She turned back to the servants. ‘Lord Rossdale begged for a tour of the house, but really only so I could see all its beloved rooms again and make this quick visit to you. I am told little has changed.’
‘Only the rooms that were your parents,’ the housekeeper told her. ‘Lord Penford asked for a few minor changes in your father’s room, which he is using for his own. He asked for your mother’s room to be made over for Lord Rossdale.’
Ross turned to the housekeeper. ‘He needn’t have put you to the trouble, but the room is quite comfortable. For that I thank you.’
Genna looked pleased at his words. ‘We should be on our way, though. I am sure Lady Tinmore will wish to return to Tinmore Hall as soon as possible, so we do not overstay our welcome.’ She grinned. ‘I am less worried about that. I’m happy for our cousin to put up with us for as long as possible. I am so glad to be home for a little while.’
But, of course, it would never be her home again.
There were more hugs and promises that Genna would visit whenever she could.
Ross interrupted the farewells. ‘Might we have a lamp? I suspect some of the rooms will be dark.’
A footman dashed off and soon returned with a lamp. Genna extricated herself and, with eyes sparkling with tears, let Ross lead her away.
When they were out of earshot, she murmured, ‘I miss them all.’ She shot him a defiant look. ‘No doubt you disapprove.’
‘Of missing them?’
‘Of such an attachment to servants,’ she replied.
He lifted his hands in protest. ‘That is unfair, Miss Summerfield. What have I said or done to deserve such an accusation?’
She sighed. ‘You’ve done nothing, have you? Forgive me. I tend to jump to conclusions. It is a dreadful fault. After this past year mixing in society, I learned to expect such sentiments. Certainly Tinmore would have apoplexy if he knew I’d entered the servants’ wing. No doubt that is why Lorene stayed away.’
‘Does your sister disapprove of fraternising with servants as well?’ He would not be surprised. She seemed the opposite of Genna in every way.
‘Lorene?’ Her voice cracked. ‘Goodness, no. But she tries not to displease Tinmore.’ She shrugged. ‘Not even when he could not possibly know.’
‘What shall we see next?’ he asked, eager to change the subject and restore her good cheer.
‘I should like to see my old room,’ she responded. ‘And the schoolroom.’
They climbed the two flights of stairs to the second floor and walked down a corridor to the children’s wing.
She opened one of the doors. ‘This was my room.’
It was a pleasant room with a large window, although the curtains were closed. She walked through the space, subdued and silent.
‘Is it as you remember?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘Everything is in the right place.’
‘You are not happy to see it, though.’
She shook her head. ‘There is nothing of me left here. It could be anyone’s room now.’ She continued to walk around it. ‘Perhaps Lorene knew it would feel like this. Perhaps that is why she did not wish to come.’
He frowned. ‘I am sorry it disappoints you.’
She turned to him with a sad smile. ‘It is odd. I do feel disappointed, but I also like that I am seeing it again. It helps me remember what it once was, even if the remembering makes me sad.’
Ross had rooms in his father’s various residences, rooms he would never have to vacate, except by choice. For him the rooms were more of a cage than a haven.
‘Let us continue,’ she said resolutely.
They entered every bedroom and Genna commented on whose room it had been and related some memory attached to it.
They came to the schoolroom. She ran her fingers over the surface of the table. ‘We left everything here.’ She opened a wooden chest. ‘Here are our slates and some of the toys.’ She pointed to a cabinet. ‘Our books will be in there.’ She sighed. ‘It is as if we walked out of here as children, probably to run out of doors to play.’
‘To become Boadicea?’ Ross remembered.
She smiled. ‘Yes! Out of doors the fun began.’ She clasped her hands together and perused the room one more time. ‘Let us proceed.’
They peeked in other guest bedchambers, but she hesitated when they neared the rooms that had been her parents’. ‘I certainly will not explore Penford’s room.’ She said the name with some disdain.
‘You seem inclined to dislike my friend,’ he remarked.
‘Well, he might have let us stay here a while longer.’ She frowned.
‘Dell only inherited the title last summer. I believe your resentment belongs to his father.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Oh. I did not know.’
Dell might not desire him to say more. Ross changed the subject. ‘I have no objection to your seeing your mother’s bedchamber,’
She recovered from her embarrassment and blinked up at him with feigned innocence. ‘Me? Enter a gentleman’s bedchamber accompanied by the gentleman himself? What would Lord Tinmore say?’
‘This will be one of those instances where Lord Tinmore will never know.’ He grinned. ‘Besides, for propriety’s sake we will leave the door open and I dare say my valet will be inside—’
Her eyes widened in mock horror. ‘A witness? He might tell Lord Tinmore! We would be married post-haste, I assure you.’
She mocked the idea of being married, so unlike the other young women thrown at him.
Her expression turned conspiratorial. ‘Although I am pining to show you something about the house, so we might step inside the room just for a moment.’
With no one else would Ross risk such a thing, for the very reason of which she’d joked.
He opened the door and, as he expected, his valet was in the room, tending to his clothes.
‘Do not be alarmed, Coogan,’ he said to his man. ‘We will be only a moment.’
‘Yes, Coogan.’ Genna giggled. ‘Only a moment.’
‘Do you require something, m’lord?’ Coogan asked. ‘I was about to join the servants for dinner, but I can delay—’
‘We are touring the house and Miss Summerfield wishes to show me something about the room,’ Ross replied. ‘Stay until we leave.’
Ross was glad to have a witness, just in case.
She stepped just inside the doorway and faced a wall papered in pale blue. She pressed on a spot and a door