Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

E linor had no idea why she’d allowed herself to be talked into attending the Christmas festivities at the Hepworths’ rather elegant country house on the outskirts of Millcastle. If she was honest, no one had forced her to attend—she’d wanted to go. The mere thought of enjoying Christmas with people who wouldn’t treat her as a burden was curiously enticing. And to go with Mr. Totton, a man who had restored her faith in humanity, was as close to perfection as she was likely to achieve in her new life.

She glanced over at him as he drove the gig toward an arch on the side of the house which led into a stable yard. He wasn’t a particularly handsome man, and he rarely smiled, but there was a strength to him that calmed and steadied her.

A boy came to hold the horse’s head and she waited until Mr. Totton came around to offer her his assistance to alight. She put out her hand, but he reached up and placed his hands around her waist bringing her effortlessly to the ground. For a moment, she was pressed against the starched white shirt she’d ironed for him and could smell the hint of his bergamot shaving lotion.

“Thank you, sir.” She made the mistake of looking up at him and he smiled at her.

“Mrs. Smith?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Might I ask a favor of you?” He hesitated. “Would you mind being less of my housekeeper and more of my friend during this event?”

“But what will people think?”

“Do you care? It’s not as if either of us are married or behaving dishonorably, is it?”

“I’ve never been married, sir.”

“I thought as much.” He smiled at her again. “If you can’t bring yourself to call me Thomas in public perhaps you might use Mr. Totton rather than sir?”

“As you wish.” She tentatively smiled back. “I must admit to being out of practice in how to behave in society.”

“This is Millcastle, not London.” He set her hand on his arm. “We can behave exactly as we like.”

They entered the hall and a maid immediately ushered Elinor up to the bedroom where she would stay the night to take off her cloak and change her shoes. She waited as Elinor dithered over whether she should unpack her possessions and gently cleared her throat.

“I can attend to your clothing while you dine, ma’am.”

“Oh! Thank you. I’m not used to being…” Elinor paused. She was supposed to be enjoying herself, wasn’t she? “Thank you, that would be most kind.”

She paused to check her appearance in the mirror and patted her hair. She was wearing her best Sunday dress for the evening’s entertainment and would change into her borrowed gown for Christmas day.

“I can help you curl your hair tomorrow ma’am, if you wish?”

Elinor couldn’t remember the last time she’d had help with anything.

“I would appreciate that.”

The maid beamed and headed for the door. “I’m Bea, ma’am. Mrs. Hepworth asked me to take special care of you over the next two days.”

“Thank you.” Elinor followed her out of the room and toward the stairs. She hesitated on the galleried landing, which looked down onto the hall and the large Christmas tree. Loud voices and laughter came from the open doors where the other guests were gathering. Elinor took a deep breath and reminded herself that she had been invited and that at least two people at the party wished her well.

She gathered her skirts and set off down the shallow steps, her heart beating far too fast. The butler met her at the foot of the stairs and bowed.

“Mrs. Smith? Please follow me. Mrs. Hepworth is in the drawing room.”

Her hostess wore a tartan gown in red, brown, and green with a lace trimmed ribbon around the bodice and a matching rosette in her hair.

“Mrs. Smith.” She took both of Elinor’s hands in hers. “Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for the invitation.”

Elinor looked cautiously around the room but could see no one more threatening than several Hepworth employees, and the rather irascible Dr. Nash who even terrorized the navvies who worked on the railways. His wife, Ruby, who was also plain speaking, but far kinder, was already an acquaintance of Elinor’s from church. She came over to Mrs. Hepworth’s side.

“It’s nice to see you out in company, Mrs. Smith.” She patted her rather large bump. “My husband is being insufferably overprotective and I’ll rely on you both to stand up for me if he gets too bossy.”

“When is your baby due, ma’am?” Elinor asked.

“Within the next month, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Ruby smiled. “You’d think a man who has assisted at several births would be more sanguine about such a natural event, but my dear husband is such a worrier.”

“Men often are,” Mrs. Hepworth agreed. “Elijah was in a terrible state when I was expecting Alice.”

She looked across the room to where her husband sat with his daughter on his knee and an extremely doting expression on his face. Alice, who was as dainty as her mother, looked like a little doll next to her large father but she obviously didn’t fear him in the slightest and was, in fact, telling him off about something while he meekly nodded.

“She has him wrapped around her little finger,” Mrs. Hepworth said.

“Charles is the same with Nora.” Mrs. Nash sighed. “I think he’s hoping this one will be a boy to even up the household.”

“I’m hoping this baby will be hale and hearty.” Dr. Nash joined them and glanced down at his wife. “Bear that in mind before you consume too much pudding.”

“I shall eat as much pudding as I like.” Ruby Nash raised her chin.

Dr. Nash quickly looked away and his gaze landed on Elinor. He frowned. “I’m sure I’ve seen you before somewhere, ma’am but I can’t for the life of me remember where.”

“I’m Mr. Totton’s housekeeper, sir.”

“That’s not it.” He studied her so intently she wanted to turn and flee. She’d forgotten he had aristocratic connections. She should have recognized the upper-class drawl of her childhood. “You remind me of someone I knew in London…”

Mrs. Hepworth gently cleared her throat. “Please don’t mind, Dr. Nash, Mrs. Smith. Sometimes his manners stray into the brusque.”

Dr. Nash bowed to Elinor. “I do apologize, Mrs. Smith. You’re an extraordinarily beautiful woman and once seen, such beauty does tend to stick in one’s head.”

“Perhaps it was a portrait,” Mrs. Nash said. “But whatever it was you are embarrassing Mrs. Smith.” She took her husband’s arm. “I’ll take him away before he says anything worse.”

Elinor tried to laugh but it was a forced effort. Mrs. Hepworth touched her shoulder.

“There is nothing to fear here, Mrs. Smith. I will not allow anyone to hurt you.”

Elinor realized she was trembling and that her hostess was looking at her with some concern.

“I apologize, ma’am. I’m not used to company and tend to feel some apprehension when I’m the center of attention.”

“I quite understand,” Mrs. Hepworth smiled at her. “And here is Mr. Totton come to look for you. I have him as your partner for dinner so if you wish to take his arm and proceed toward the dining room you can enjoy a quiet evening together.”

“What happened?” Mr. Totton murmured as soon as Mrs. Hepworth moved onto her other guests.

“Nothing, sir,” Elinor said quickly.

“You know I’ll keep your secrets, ma’am.” He looked into her eyes. “There’s nothing you could tell me that would shock me.”

Elinor sighed. “I hoped that if I kept my troubles to myself no one would bother me. I find I become anxious around people I’m not familiar with.”

“And what exactly did the good doctor say to make you feel like that? You are shaking.”

Aware that he must have been keeping an eye on her, Elinor replied somewhat tartly. “I thought you promised me a convivial evening, sir, with nothing to worry about,”

“No, I asked you to consider me as your friend and this is what friends do, Mrs. Smith, they look out for each other.” He held her gaze. “I would appreciate it if you would tell me what is going on.”

She sighed. “Dr. Nash said I reminded him of someone he’d met in London.”

“He does have connections in the city,” Mr. Totton said thoughtfully.

“High ones?”

“Yes, his father is an earl.”

“Then he might have met my—” Elinor stopped and then reluctantly continued. “My mother. I am supposed to resemble her greatly.”

“I assume she is no longer living?”

“She died when I was twelve,” Elinor replied. “My father remarried the same year.”

“And that, I assume is when your life changed and not for the better,” Mr. Totton said. “Shall we go into dinner? I believe Mrs. Hepworth’s butler is about to come and hurry us along.”

To Elinor’s relief, dinner proceeded as planned. Dr. Nash kept any further thoughts he had about her to himself and she was able to enjoy the meal, and the excellent wine served with it. It was very pleasant not to have to cook and even nicer not to have to clear up. She joined the ladies in the drawing room where Mrs. Hepworth’s daughter and her stepchildren awaited them.

Mrs. Hepworth’s face lit up as she rushed over to embrace her family. “How lovely it is to have all my darlings home for Christmas! Dan, you’re getting so tall! Ada, dearest, how are you enjoying London?”

There was clearly a lot of love between them, which gladdened Elinor’s heart. Her experience with her stepmother and new family had been very different and, in the end, had driven her to run away from everything she had known. Her only regret was that she had lost contact with her only surviving brother.

If she wrote to her stepmother and inquired about his whereabouts, would she even reply? Or would she send someone to bring Elinor home to face her wrath? She couldn’t risk it. Perhaps in years to come when the current viscountess was dead, Elinor would contact one of her stepsisters who might be more amenable to assisting her.

“You’re looking far too serious, ma’am.” Elinor jumped as Mr. Hepworth addressed her in his loud, jovial voice. “Would you care for a hand of cards?”

“With you?” She studied him doubtfully.

He smiled making the hard lines around his eyes crinkle. “Why, yes, Mrs. Smith. I hear from my wife that you play whist very well and I’m in need of all the assistance I can get.” He offered her his arm. “Now, come along before anyone else tries to steal you away from me.”

He escorted her to the far corner of the room where the card tables had already been set up. She found herself facing the vicar and his wife who already looked terrified by the prospect of dealing with the notoriously competitive Mr. Hepworth. He drew out a chair for her and sat opposite. He winked as he pulled a handful of coins out of his pocket. “We’ll keep the stakes to pennies, vicar, don’t you worry, and before you ask, Mrs. Smith, as you’re my partner I’ll stand surety for you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The vicar cleared his throat and shuffled the cards. “Are we ready to begin?”

Elinor settled down to enjoy herself. She’d always loved playing whist and with Mr. Hepworth as her partner, she expected she’d be in for a very enjoyable evening.

Thomas waited until Elinor was comfortably settled at the card table before going in search of Dr. Nash. He found him outside in the garden smoking a cigar. There was a bright moon that illuminated the frost on the grass and the trees and even made the distant gloom of Millcastle look almost picturesque.

“Mr. Totton.” Dr. Nash nodded to him. “Would you care to join me?”

“That would be most kind of you, sir.” Thomas took his time over the ritual of preparing the cigar and lighting it. “I don’t often indulge but it is one of my guilty pleasures.”

“The ladies don’t like it,” Dr. Nash observed as he blew out a smoke ring. “Makes a mess of their carpets and God help you if something catches fire.”

“Understandably so.” Thomas hesitated. “I have a horror of fire. My wife and child perished in a house fire in Leeds.”

“Not due to your smoking, I hope.”

“No, they believe something caught fire in the kitchen, and in such a poorly constructed building, the flames spread far too quickly to be put out,” Thomas said. “I was at work in the mill and knew nothing about it until I came home and found my whole street in an uproar and half the houses burned to the ground.”

“That’s terrible,” Dr. Nash said. “And far too common an occurrence in our overcrowded cities.”

He hesitated. “My condolences on your loss.”

“Thank you. It was a long time ago.” Thomas smoked his cigar while he thought how to pose the question, he really wanted to ask without revealing too much.

“Dr. Nash…”

“Spit it out man. You of all people know I work with the navvies and have heard almost everything the world might throw at a man. I won’t be shocked whatever you tell me.”

“You mentioned that Mrs. Smith reminded you of someone.”

“Oh, that’s it, is it?” Dr Nash raised an eyebrow. “You must have wondered how a beautiful woman with an upper-class accent ended up being your housekeeper. I certainly have.”

“From the small amounts of information Mrs. Smith has revealed, I believe she felt she had no option other than to leave her home.” Thomas took another puff off his cigar. “She was terrified when I first met her.”

“And you’re wondering whether I can remember who on earth she reminds me of?” Dr. Nash frowned. “It wasn’t someone I was well acquainted with, I can tell you that.” He paused. “It was probably another woman. That particular eye color is rare enough to be rather noticeable.”

“If you do remember anything, might I ask that you tell me rather than Mrs. Smith?” Thomas asked. “The last thing I want is for her to feel afraid again and that she must leave.”

Dr. Nash looked at him. “You’re sweet on her, aren’t you.”

Thomas didn’t reply and Dr. Nash grinned.

“As you wish.” He bowed. “I’ll tell you if I remember a name.”

“Thank you.”

After finishing his cigar, Thomas returned to the drawing room and was soon drawn into conversation with a group of Mr. Hepworth’s employees. He kept an eye on Mrs. Smith who appeared to be thriving at the card table with his employer as her rather loud whist partner.

Mr. Hepworth only stopped playing when his youngest daughter, Alice, who was four, came over and tugged on his coat tails until he picked her up and gave her his entire attention. It always surprised Thomas how gentle his employer was with those he loved and his complete indifference as to what anyone else thought when he showed that softer side of himself.

Thomas walked over to where Mrs. Smith sat talking to the vicar.

“Would you like a drink, ma’am?” He offered.

“No, thank you.” She smothered a yawn behind her hand. “I think I’ll go to bed. I promised Mrs. Hepworth I would be up bright and early to help with the children.”

He held out his hand to assist her to rise and she took it.

“Thank you.”

He was yet again struck by how beautiful she was and how trusting her gaze. She was a different woman to the one he’d given shelter to over a year ago.

“May I escort you to your room?” he murmured.

“Not without causing gossip,” she replied. “The bottom of the stairs will suffice.”

“As you wish.”

She said her good nights, offered her thanks, and he walked her through to the hall where someone had placed a convenient branch of mistletoe on the arch under the stairs.

“May I?” He pointed at the mistletoe.

He didn’t miss her quick glance around the hall before she went up on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Mr. Totton.”

“Goodnight, Mrs. Smith.”

She leaned in, her breath caressing his skin. “I did notice there is a connecting door between our suites if you care for me to use it?”

“I’ll leave that entirely up to you, ma’am. I wouldn’t wish to impose.”

She took a step back, the soft welcome in her eyes fading. “I apologize if I have overstepped. Good night, sir.”

He watched her ascend the stairs then turned and went back into the drawing room where he helped himself to a large brandy from the decanter. He’d hurt her, he knew it, but there was something about her lack of trust that upset him. What else could he do to prove that he was a good man?

He finished the brandy and poured himself another one.

Nothing.

His frustration quickly died as he realized his expectations were unfair. What right did he have to demand anything? She was already beholden to him for a place to live and a wage. Did he really want to become the kind of man who insisted on payment in kind—in eternal gratitude? She deserved better than that.

He considered going and apologizing but had a sense she wouldn’t welcome his presence in her bedroom that night even though he yearned to make it up to her in the most basic way possible. And they were in his employer’s house and servants talked…

“Mr. Totton.”

He turned to find Dr. and Mrs. Nash behind him.

“I thought of a name connected to the woman I met in London.”

“Yes?”

“Her last name was Redmayne. I don’t know anything about the family, but I’m fairly certain that was it.”

“Thank you, Dr. Nash.”

“I hope it helps.” The doctor nodded and followed his wife into the hall and up the stairs, his arm around her waist. Thomas took the advertisement out of his coat pocket and looked at the initials at the end of it. There were two R’s... Were they from Mrs. Smith’s new family or her brother? He had no idea. The only person who might know was Elinor and he certainly wasn’t going to bother her tonight over such a matter.

Mr. Hepworth came over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Come and have a drink, Thomas. I was just telling my wife about how we met and she’s eager to hear the whole story.”

“I hardly think it shows me in a good light,” Thomas remarked as he obediently followed his employer over to the fireplace where the remaining guests were gathered. “As I recall, I was drunk and fighting your navvies.”

“Aye, you were, but it makes me look very well indeed.” Mr. Hepworth winked. “And all I care about is impressing my wife.”