‘No, we’ll be fine. You look as though you would be better spending an hour flat on your back on your bed,’ I said sympathetically.
He grimaced. ‘It sounds exceedingly tempting. Oh lord, now what?’ We all turned as a smart travelling carriage, drawn by an even smarter team of matched bays, came to a halt by the front steps.
Adrien went to the door with the two of us, incurably nosey, on his heels. The carriage door opened before the groom could jump down and get to it and a young lady came tumbling out. There was no mistaking that mass of dark red hair, the wide smile and the vivid blue eyes.
Chapter Twelve
‘Rowena!’ Adrien was down the steps and swinging her up in his arms even as the groom gave his hand to an older woman. She cleared her throat and Adrien put Rowena down, ran a hand though his hair and managed a fairly coherent, ‘Good morning, Lady McNeil.’
‘Good morning, Mr Prescott,’ she said repressively and looked beyond him. ‘Miss Lawrence, Mr Franklin.’ Despite her tone, her expression when she looked at her daughter beaming at Adrien was indulgent.
‘I just had to come. Papa said you were in no danger, but how could he be certain? But then, after he had said that, of course, he couldn’t refuse to allow me to come.’ Rowena clung to Adrien’s arm and he looked as though he had just had a good night’s sleep and a stiff brandy.
‘Amazing what love will do for a man,’ I whispered to James.
‘We will be staying with my sister just outside Aylesbury,’ Lady McNeil explained.
‘But will you not stay here?’ Adrien protested. ‘I am sure my uncle, the new Lord Tillingham, would welcome you, and the ladies in our party would be delighted with some new feminine company, I know. It would be a favour to us if you would agree.’
‘Mama, please?’
‘I will go and speak to my uncle,’ Adrien said when Rowena’s mother hesitated. ‘I will simply report that you have called on your way to your sister, Lady McNeil. I will not prompt him, I promise, but if he tells me to offer an invitation, then please will you accept?’
‘Very well, thank you.’
The ladies were ushered inside while we made our excuses and went to the stables. I had a strong suspicion that Adrien was quite crafty enough to secure an invitation for Rowena and her mother without any actual prompting.
One of the grooms gave us directions for The Fox and Gander and we discussed this latest development as we rode at a walk to the village.
‘I have just remembered that Rowena’s half-brother is one quarter Indian,’ I said. Her father, Sir Andrew, had made his fortune in India and his first wife had been a half-Indian lady. ‘I wonder if that will influence Adrien’s attitude to Kumar. Or his own father’s, for that matter. It would be embarrassing if they demonstrate prejudice against their own nephew and cousin.’
‘I do not think the suspicion is based on his mixed race,’ James said. ‘Is that a major issue in your time? It isn’t so much now – I think it is the fact that he is baseborn that is making everyone very… careful.’
We discussed the effect of immigration on prejudice as far as the inn. James, who was distinctly envious of the liberalisation of attitudes to gays in my time was intrigued to discover that toleration was not widespread for every group. By the time we reached the inn door we were well on the way to setting the world to rights in both times and were in rather a good mood as a result.
That lasted as long as it took to locate Inish Kumar in a small private parlour where we were greeted with outright hostility.
‘Why have you been sent to spy on me?’ he demanded, glaring at James. ‘You are a relation of that tall, dark earl who is nothing to do with the family.’
‘This is James Franklin, who you recognised because of his resemblance to his brother, Lord Radcliffe. Just as it is obvious that you are related to the Prescotts,’ I said, hoping to soothe ruffled feathers. ‘I am Cassandra Lawrence, a friend of the Franklin family and of your cousin Adrien.’
The acceptance that he was a Prescott did lighten the frown a little, but not by much. I took a chair, and so did James, which left Inish to choose between sitting down with us in a friendly manner or standing before us like someone dragged in for questioning. ‘Why are you here?’ He sat with poor grace.
‘My brother was a neighbour of the late Viscount Tillingham,’ James explained. ‘We were called almost immediately the body was discovered. The whole crime is a mystery and, given that you visited Lord Tillingham shortly before he was murdered, we are interested to hear your account of the meeting. Any clues may assist in discovering the killer. You might have heard something, seen something that will be of use.’ James sat back and smiled his charming Trust me smile.
Apparently Inish was not susceptible to charm. ‘I was admitted by his servants. He insulted me by questioning my proofs. I saw no one el
se, I observed nothing peculiar. There was no assassin behind the curtains, no threatening letters written in blood,’ he added sarcastically. ‘I thought nothing but that this was a man who would be glad to prove my father did not name me in his will so that he, my uncle, could claim my lands. I know about this County Durham and the rich coal mines there.’
‘Voices were raised,’ I said mildly.
‘Are you surprised? Are you people with no pride, that you are not angered when your honour is questioned?’ He raised elegant, thin black brows. ‘I have travelled for months, at great cost in money and comfort, to claim what is mine, what my father desired that I possess.’
‘I can understand that you were angry and frustrated,’ I said. ‘But surely your cousin was only protecting your rights? What if you had been an imposter and he had handed over the deeds without proper checks?’
I could see that had struck home. ‘You have a point, Miss Lawrence,’ he conceded.
‘You did not return again?’ I asked, taking advantage of this slight mellowing.