Prince of Ravenscar (Sherbrooke Brides 11)

“No one calls me that. I’m Vicky. Do you believe Julian is sorry as well?”

“How could he not be? She was his wife.”

“There was something wrong between them if Lily had private relations with another man, don’t you think? But I don’t think Julian shot her in the heart—I saw how shocked he was when he was trying to get her to wake up. But she couldn’t, you see, she was dead.”

Vicky continued after a moment: “Such a beautiful wedding it was, at Saint Thomas’s church in Ravenscar Village. They went to Italy on their wedding trip. How I wished to go with them, but Julian told me it wasn’t what was done, and he patted my cheek. Lily laughed at me. I remember she twirled around and around in her lovely traveling gown, and I heard her whisper, ‘I’m free, I’m free.’

“When they returned, Julian took her to Ravenscar, and I became the mistress of Hardcross Manor. I do a good job. Did you like the beef we had for dinner last evening? It was done precisely to my recipe. It was my mother’s recipe, actually. I miss her all the time, more than I miss Lily. My father never misses her, you know. I think he’s glad she died. The day of her funeral, he began humming. He hums all the time now.”

Sophie wasn’t pressing Vicky for information, Vicky was spitting it right out. Sophie heard herself ask, “You never saw another man, so perhaps Lily didn’t have a lover; perhaps that was simply gossip.”

“Then why would she spend so much time here when she was married to Julian? I mean, she was supposed to live at Ravenscar, but she spent a great deal of time with us. She said she didn’t want to take my place, that she was responsible for Ravenscar, and that was quite enough. But I ask you, Sophie, if she was always here, how could she manage Ravenscar?

“I don’t think she liked Julian’s mama very much. She said she was a bitch. Her grace has always been kind to me, but she wasn’t my mama-in-law, so maybe that makes things different.”

Sophie said, “Her grace is really very nice. She is very kind to both Roxanne and me as well. I’m sure she was very pleased Lily was her daughter-in-law.”

“Papa was telling me perhaps we should have a party, since you don’t ignore a duke’s heir, and that’s what Devlin is. I’ve known Devlin since Julian brought him to visit from Oxford. Julian had never met Devlin before he went to Oxford. Isn’t that odd? Well, that is what I heard Lily tell our father. She said his father’s family wished Julian didn’t exist.”

“You were eavesdropping?”

“Yes, I learn everything by listening at doors or standing by the wainscoting or hiding behind draperies. I am very good at it, have been for years now.”

“The wainscoting? But how does that make you disappear?”

“Oh, I simply stand very still and no one sees me, not really. I must leave you, Miss Wilkie—Sophie. I must meet with Cook to ensure she has the correct recipe for the dinner mutton. I like to decorate it with mint, you know, that’s what my mama did. I mustn’t forget the Yorkshire tea cakes. My father said he quite liked Miss Radcliffe’s father—Baron Roche, that is—said tea cakes were his favorite, and so perhaps she will enjoy them a

s well. I don’t particularly care for them, but that doesn’t matter, now, does it? Listen, I can hear my papa humming.”

Vicky left Sophie standing by the maple tree. Sophie didn’t hear the baron humming, but then again, she didn’t hear anything above the loud pounding of her heart.

What had Lily meant by saying, “I’m free, I’m free”?

27

Sophie ran into the manor, nearly knocking Julian over. He grabbed her arms to steady both of them.

“Sophie? What’s wrong?”

“Julian, I must speak to you immediately.”

He studied her face, then heard a soft rustling sound and looked up to see Vicky standing on the bottom stair step, smiling, looking from him to Sophie and back again. What had Vicky told her? Had it made sense? Frightened her? With Vicky, you never knew what would come out of her mouth next.

Fey, Richard called his sister, and then he would snort and add under his breath that she might as well be on the moon for all the good she was here on earth—the elfin child who would probably be happier dancing around an All Hallows’ Eve bonfire than partaking of tea in a drawing room, sharing her life with family and friends.

What had she said to Sophie?

Julian drew in a deep breath. Vicky was still watching him, that smile still on her mouth. It wouldn’t surprise him if two minutes from now, she turned into the mistress of Hardcross and asked them in for luncheon. It gave him a headache, probably gave a headache to her brother and father as well. He remembered Lily had said Vicky was an original. Then she’d added that Vicky always knew how best to get what she wanted, and how best to protect herself. Protect herself from what, he’d always wondered, but Lily had only shrugged, said nothing more.

“Hello, Julian,” Vicky called out. It wasn’t her young-mistress-of-the-manor voice, it was her fey voice. “Isn’t it a lovely day? I always adore a lovely day. I think Sophie does, too. It was lovely that day you found Lily lying dead in the garden, wasn’t it?”

Julian said to Sophie, who was staring gape-mouthed at Vicky, “Come with me.” He turned on his heel and walked toward the back of the manor. He opened a narrow door and walked into the small airless estate room, used only by the baron’s steward, now an old man who slept most of the time he was here, something no one appeared to mind in the least. Julian walked to another narrow door, opened it. Sophie walked past him into a small perfect gem of a garden.

She smelled jasmine, the hint of sweet lilies.

Lilies. She shuddered.

She walked past him onto well-trodden cobblestones that wound whimsically through the small garden, creating little curves and hideaways. It was natural, all the flowers spilling over one another, different scents mingling together. It was perfect.