The Bet

Myles stared at his father and stepped back to allow him into the room. Barnabas only glanced momentarily at Estelle, but didn’t raise issue with the impropriety of her being in his son’s bed chamber in an unclothed state. That is, until his gaze landed on the red marks on her neck.

“What in the Devil happened to you? That reminds me, what was all that screaming last night? I locked my door as you said and sat down on the bed to wait but must have fallen asleep. What’s going on around here? Where is Isaac? Where is everyone? I cannot find Vernon either. He has gone to blazes.”

Myles stared at his father. He had never seen him so agitated and waited for several minutes for his father to vent the worst of his concerns before he lifted a hand to halt him.

“Slow down, father,” he murmured gently. “Now, I take it you cannot find Isaac or Vernon.” It wasn’t a question because his father had just said as much. Out of everything his father had just rambled on about, as far as Myles was concerned they were the two most important points, mainly because missing people often wound up dead. He closed his eyes on a silent prayer that neither man had been murdered, but knew they needed to locate them to be sure.

“Yes, I just said so, didn’t I?” His father snapped.

“Yes. Well, someone tried to kill Estelle last night. They tried to strangle her,” Myles explained. “Which is why I told you to lock your bed chamber door last night. I didn’t want to leave her again in case the killer came back.”

“It’s that blackguard, Isaac, that is who is doing this,” Barnabas grumbled.

Myles didn’t like the wild look in his father’s eye. When a particularly hard gust of wind howled relentlessly outside, Myles dug deep for his patience. His father was quintessentially an outdoors person. He didn’t take too well to having to sit around inside all day. Myles suspected that his agitation with the events unfolding about them would settle just as soon as Barnabas was able to take a walk in the fresh air. Until then, they just had to try to appease his father in some way, if only to stop him doing something rash through ill-temper.

“Have you checked Isaac’s room?” he asked peaceably, unsurprised by the sharpness of Barnabas’ response.

“Of course I have, you daft boy,” Barnabas snapped huffily. “He isn’t in there. Cranbury checked the room from top to bottom. There is no sign he even got into bed last night. His bed has not been slept in. The footmen haven’t seen any sign of him either.”

Myles, ignoring the slight scolding, sighed heavily. He issued Estelle with an apologetic look. She smiled her assurance that she didn’t mind one bit. In fact, she quite liked bearing witness to the domestic side to their relationship. It made them seem more like people and less like caricatures of pomposity. She realised then that she had put far too much emphasis on their wealth and title and had over-simplified the fact that they were in fact still people: people who did have a domestic life, and bickered occasionally. In fact, she had seen far more follies and foibles about this particular family that had made her own family life growing up seem perfectly staid and proper.

“Has the house been searched?” Myles asked.

“The footmen are doing it now. They have guns, Myles. Who in the blazes-?”

“I did,” Myles interrupted. “Last night someone tried to strangle Estelle from behind. They also stabbed Gerald in the back. Whoever this person is, they like to creep upon on people. Anyone who is unarmed won’t stand a chance. Any man with a gun can fire behind him. It isn’t difficult to do. It just means that the footmen aren’t putting themselves in too much danger when they are on guard, protecting people while they are asleep. While I am happy to place my faith in their capabilities, I will not have it on my conscience if one of them are killed protecting the family because th

ey were unarmed. I am sure you agree.”

Myles levelled a look on his father that dared him to deny it. Barnabas nodded, his face grim. He knew his son was right.

“Of course, you are right to do so,” Barnabas blustered. “I just wished to blazes it wasn’t necessary.”

“As we all do, I am sure, father,” Myles replied smoothly.

In spite of the seriousness of their conversation, Estelle felt her lips twitch as she watched Myles put his father firmly in his place. Not only had he taken command of the situation, indeed the entire household, but he had also soothed his father’s concerns in a swift and adept way that was exemplary, and left little room for argument. Mentally applauding him, Estelle smiled when he looked at her.

Myles blinked beneath that sunny smile, and felt something warm and tender flip over in the region of his chest. He knew then that he was well and truly sunk, even if last night hadn’t confirmed their future together. In his eyes, Estelle was now as much a part of him as his heart; she was his heart. He just couldn’t tell her just yet. He didn’t want her to have any misapprehension that he had ulterior motives. He had, but that ulterior motive was to persuade her to accept a lifetime together, in spite of the familial troubles the house was mired in right now.

She must think this house is full of lunatics, he mused wryly. However, had to acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the strange circumstances that had drawn them together he would most probably never have had the chance to spend this much time with her, and might have missed out on the only chance he would ever have in his life of finding true happiness.

“Excuse me, sir,” a maid said timidly from the doorway.

Estelle’s stomach sank to her toes when she saw the tears on the young girl’s face.

“It’s Miss Beatrice. You have to come and look,” she whispered. Thankfully, there was none of the wailing and weeping they had endured yesterday. However, the effect on the room’s occupants was no less severe.

Barnabas stormed out of the room toward his sister’s bed chamber further down the corridor. Myles held his hand out to Estelle.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Myles murmured gently. “Beatrice rarely rises before noon, and sleeps like the dead.”

He lapsed into horrified silence when he realised what he had just said but it was too late to call the words back. Although Estelle offered him a soft smile of reassurance, his phraseology hovered over them as they followed Barnabas down the corridor.

Myles followed his father into the room, and tugged Estelle in behind him.

“Damn it all to Hell,” he swore as soon as he saw his aunt. He slid a shaking hand through his hair and stepped closer to the bed.

“Oh, dear God no,” Estelle whispered when she saw Beatrice.