The Season(76)

“Strange fellow, but harmless,” he said, distracted. “I suppose I understand why Mother invited him, but I find it very odd that he would attend. As helpful as the uncle has been, Blackmoor is thoroughly able to see to his duties himself by now. I think it’s time for him to return to his prior life.”

“Indeed,” Ella said, meeting Alex’s eye.

With a shake of the newsprint, Will closed the paper, folded it to its original position, and placed it on the table in front of him. Raising himself up to his full, looming height, he offered a short bow to the girls and spoke, taking two more biscuits from the tray. “I suppose I ought to raise the miscreants. Be warned…when we return, they shall devour everything in sight.” Garnering a smile from the three friends, he entered the house to find his brothers.

Alex snatched another biscuit off the tea tray herself, nodding her agreement with Will’s prediction. She needed to eat her fill before Nick and Kit arrived, or she’d have no chance of leaving this particular meal full.

Once Will was out of earshot, she spoke quietly to her friends. “Lucian Sewell and the Baron Montgrave are on their way here? I would guarantee they aren’t coming because of my mother’s reputation as a hostess.”

“Likely not,” Vivi said. “I think that when Blackmoor returns from the hall, we should sit our fathers down and discuss our next steps.”

“Agreed.”

Ella nodded, then pulled a familiar volume from her reticule, saying, “Well, I can cross one next step off of our list. I spent much of last evening reading A History of Essex. And guess what I discovered.”

“What?” Alex leaned forward, hoping for a major revelation.

“Absolutely nothing. Aside from the fact that Essex has a thoroughly uninteresting history.” She placed the book on the table between them.

Alex lifted the book and ran her fingers over the embossed letters on its cover. “I gave the earl’s copy back to Blackmoor. Where did this copy come from?”

“Your father’s library. It’s incredible to me that there isn’t a house in the county that doesn’t have a copy of this exhaustively boring book. Even more so that the earl would have used it for his last missive.”

“Perhaps it had something to do with his love of the land,” Vivi suggested.

Ella shook her head. “Perhaps, but it simply seems too random. There has to be a reason he chose this book.”

The two girls continued their hypothesizing as Alex turned the book over and over in her hands, reviewing the last few days in her mind, trying to remember everything she could about the book and where they had found it. Ella was right. This was not random. Yes, it had been luck that they had found it…but it was no accident that caused the earl to choose that book to carry his final words. What was special about a book that could be found everywhere?

Ella’s voice echoed in her mind, There isn’t a house in the county that doesn’t have a copy. As the words turned over in her brain, she remembered Gavin saying the same thing—Every household in the county must own a copy.

“That’s it!” Alex exclaimed, her voice filled with astonishment. She looked up at her friends, both of whom were wide-eyed. “The earl didn’t choose the book because it was so close to his heart. He chose it because every house has a copy! It’s not the volume in London that has the information. There must be a second copy at Sewell Hall!”

The words came in a flood of anxiety. The book held the information that would damn Montgrave and Lucian Sewell and save Blackmoor. She had to get to it—and to Blackmoor—before anyone else did. With the men set to arrive that evening, before dinner, she had only a few hours to do so. She stood from the table, so quickly that she toppled her teacup, leaving Vivi to right it for her. “I have to find Blackmoor. Now.”

Ella stood. “We will help you.”

Alex shook her head. “No. This, I have to do alone. I don’t know what will be in that book but, whatever it is, it is bound to upset him. He has to face that without an audience.” She clasped Ella’s hands, looking from her to Vivi. “Help me by keeping my mother off the scent? Again?”

“Because we were so excellent at doing so the last time,” Ella pointed out wryly.

Alex smiled quickly, already moving toward the steps that led down into the gardens. “Thank you! I shall be back soon—with Blackmoor in tow.”

They watched her go, rushing through the garden and down the long, sandy path, which led through a field of bright yellow cowslips that separated the Stafford and Sewell lands. “She’ll be ruined if she’s not careful,” Ella said.

“Nonsense. He’d wed her in a heartbeat if he thought she’d have him,” Vivi replied.

“Quite.”

A half an hour later, Will, who had been waylaid on his walk back from waking his brothers, rejoined them. He picked up his newspaper and bowed low to the girls, saying, “I’m afraid I must take my official leave. It seems a carriage has broken an axle on the main road and it falls to me to play rescuer.”

“We shall miss your company, my lord,” Vivi offered with a smile.

“And I yours,” he returned. “My brothers will be down shortly, however, to entertain you until they are required to entertain the early guests.”

“Are there guests here already?” Ella asked, curious.