Somewhere I'll Find You (Capital Theatre #1)(32)

Eva looked perturbed. She rarely received impromptu visits because of her poor health. “I don't want to interrupt my time with my daughter,” she said. “Please ask him to call later.”

“Yes, ma'am, but…it's Lord Savage.”

“Lord Savage is in the entrance hall?” Julia asked numbly. At the housemaid's nod, she uttered a string of curses that caused the other women to stare at her in astonishment. “He mustn't know I'm here,” she said, striding toward the adjoining room, another sitting area in Eva's private suite. “Mama, have him brought up here and find out what he wants…but don't tell him anything about me.”

“What will you do?” Eva asked, clearly bewildered.

“I'm going to hide nearby. Please, Mama, don't say anything to him…I can't make any decisions now.” Julia blew her a kiss before disappearing into the next room.

Damon had set foot on the Hargate estate only twice in his life before now. The first time had been on the day of his wedding, when he was seven. The second was three years ago, when he had first approached the Hargates about their daughter's whereabouts. He had found Lady Hargate to be a quiet and pale woman, subdued in voice and appearance. Predictably, Lord Hargate was a cold man, the kind who considered himself superior to everyone he encountered. Since that day Damon had often wondered which one Julia Hargate favored more, her timid mother or her overbearing father. Neither possibility was appealing.

Damon waited patiently in the entrance hall. The interior of the house was luxurious, intimidating, almost churchlike, with its intricately vaulted ceilings and the smell of polished wood. What had it been like for a little girl to grow up in such surroundings? Had Julia Hargate filled the halls with boisterous shrieks and sent her childish voice echoing up to the lofty ceilings? Or had she played quietly in some private corner, lost in her own imaginings? His own childhood, with all its faults and uncertainties, was infinitely preferable to this.

Where was Julia now? Where would she escape to after being brought up in a place like this? Escape…Briefly he thought of Jessica Wentworth on the night they had met at the weekend party, and what she had said to him. I've never met a person who is comfortable with his or her past. There is always something we would like to change, or forget—

The housemaid returned and interrupted his thoughts. “Lady Hargate will see you, my lord. But not for long, if you please, sir, as her health is delicate.”

“I understand.”

The housemaid led him from the entrance hall to the upstairs, along thickly carpeted hallways and endless stretches of carved woodwork. Damon wasn't certain what he would say to Lady Hargate. He would have preferred to meet with Julia's father, and do whatever was necessary to force him to reveal his daughter's whereabouts. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to threaten or browbeat a sickly woman.

A mother with poor health…it occurred to Damon that this was another similarity he and Julia Hargate shared. Years ago his own mother had died of consumption, her body pitifully frail and her mind occupied with constant worry over the fate of her family. How unjust it had been for a woman who craved stability to be married to a gambler. If only Damon had been able to protect her from his father, and give her the peace and security she had deserved. The awareness that he had failed his mother would haunt him all his life.

He wouldn't abandon Julia Hargate and have her on his conscience as well. His own sense of honor demanded that he help her in any way possible.

He owed a responsibility to Pauline as well, but there was a difference between the two situations. Julia was a victim of circumstances she had been helpless to control. Pauline, on the other hand, was doing her best to manipulate him, and there was no doubt that her pregnancy was anything but an accident.

Entering a receiving room decorated in pale pink and salmon, he saw Lady Hargate seated in a large chair. There was something oddly familiar in her unyielding poise as she held herself upright and straight-backed, in the way she extended her hand to him as she remained sitting. She seemed exactly as he remembered, like a bird that infinitely preferred the shelter of its luxurious cage to the beckoning world outside. Once, she must have been a lovely woman.

Damon kissed her thin hand respectfully.

“You may sit beside me,” she said, and he obeyed at once.

“Lady Hargate, I apologize for the inconvenience of my call—”

“It is a welcome pleasure to see you,” she interrupted gently, “as well as an overdue one. Tell me, how is your family?”

“My brother William is well. Unfortunately my father has had a series of brain hemorrhages which have left him very weak.”

“I am sorry.” Her voice was filled with sincerity.

Damon was silent for a moment, debating on how to proceed. He didn't want to make small talk, and from the way she was looking at him, it was clear that she expected him to bring up the subject of Julia. “Have you heard from your daughter?” he asked abruptly. “You must have had some news of her. It's been three years.”

She was evasive but not unfriendly as she replied. “Have you continued your search for her, Lord Hargate?”

Damon nodded, staring at her intently. “Yes, without any luck. Julia Hargate doesn't seem to exist anywhere in the civilized world.”

In the next room, Julia pressed her ear close to the door, embarrassed to be eavesdropping but unable to stop herself. She was unbearably curious to find out what Savage would say to her mother, what tactics he would use to try to discover the truth.