Page 67 of Captivating the Countess
“Capital try, baby sister.” Rain held up his hand. “If I let you in, then I have to let in the entire household. Go back to your piano. I’ll show them up.”
Alicia stuck her tongue out at him as if she were still five-years old. Lady Ives looked alarmed. Trying to hold himself together when he felt as if he were cracking down the middle, Rain gestured at the stairs. “Lady Craigmore is doing fine. I’ll take you to her.”
“If you’re not letting anyone in to see her... In where? Was there really some sort of trouble?” Gerard didn’t sound overly concerned as he trailed after his wife, who was practically racing up the marble stairway as if she knew where she was going.
“It depends on whether you believe spirit voices.” Rainford knew the earl was a Malcolm as well as an Ives and not only believed in the family weirdnesses, but had a few of his own. He simply preferred to sound sane when he talked with someone outside his family.
Lady Ives cried her sister’s name, and the duke’s door flew open. Despite all warnings, Bell ran to greet her sister. The twins hugged and cried and laughed and retreated into the ducal suite, closing the door behind them.
“Would you care to join them or would you prefer a glass of brandy and a little common sense?” Rain asked politely.
Gerard snorted in derision. “A hen fest or your fine brandy? Difficult choice.” Knowing his way around the castle, he turned around and headed back to Rain’s study.
After introducingher twin to the duke, Bell retreated to the elegant bedchamber Rain had ordered her to stay in. “Did the aunts truly telegraph youbeforeI was hurt?”
Iona took off her hat and shook out her still too-short blond curls, fluffing them with her fingers. “They weren’t specific. They simply said danger, and I made poor Gerard rush us to the train station. You don’t look too injured.”
“It’s still a ridiculous journey on the basis of very little,” Bell scolded. “And I escaped with little more than bruising, although it could have been worse. I had one of my comatose spells, and apparently an entity declares I was pushed down the stairs. For all I know, the entity did it. We have one who slams doors.”
“Then we must take you away from here immediately!” Alarmed, Iona refused to sit.
“And go where?” Bell took a chair. Her bruises ached too much to stand for long. “Do you know of any place that is without spirits? I cannot run from myself.”
With a sigh of disgruntlement, Iona dropped into the other chair by the fire. “I rather hoped the Ice King would freeze any ghost daring to show itself.”
Bell gestured for Button to bring them tea. She actually had a use for a personal maid! It seemed rather incredible. She’d prefer to be back at her books, but not while her sister visited.
“Rainford is not as icy as he seems, I’ll warn you. He’s like your husband in that. They assume the airs society expects of their positions, but underneath...”
Iona’s eyes widened. “He’s a raging fire of passion? I sensed that in Gerard. I must get closer to Rainford. He always seemed simply cold.”
“I wouldn’t say raging fire.” Amused, Bell accepted her cup from the maid. “The marquess is not mercurial or romantic or easy to anger. He is a physician, after all, and he’s developed this supernaturally calm voice that even woke me when I was comatose. I’d call him more... intense.”
“You’re in love with him!” Iona exclaimed, then silenced as she considered this development.
“I did not say that,” Bell argued. In love with a man who already had a houseful of ghosts and eccentrics? It seemed unlikely. “I admire him.” Well, she’d gone to bed with him, so perhaps she more than admired him.
She wasn’t telling her sister that. “But now that you’ve mentioned it... Perhaps you can obtain a better sense of the guests than I can. My gift for ghosts is essentially useless, but if you could determine who might want to harm me...”
“Hmmm.” Iona sipped her tea, distracted from her matchmaking. “I’ve never attempted to deliberately determine character or guilt or whatever you’re asking. That’s not a simple matter like smelling happiness or anger. I’m not sure how it would work.”
“Start with Lady Pamela and Lady Dalrymple. They seem displeased with me. After that, I have no notion of who might wish me ill, and I’ll have to believe I simply stumbled.”
“Is there any chance that you have learned, or might learn, something from your position that has worried someone? What about Rainford? Could he actually—”
Bell cut off her twin with a vigorous head shake. “No. Not possible. Aside from the fact that I only keep household books, it’s not in his nature to so much as murder an insect. He’s forceful, but in a quiet way. He’s very much lord of all he surveys. He is of the sort who would find a much more devious means of shutting me up, if needed. Only, his intended ran off with his steward, and he made it easier for them, not harder. He is not cruel or vengeful.”
“What about the other family members? His heir? Perhaps his heir fears Rainford will marry you and cut off his expectations.” Iona nibbled a crumpet.
Bell wrinkled her nose. “You can test Teddy, I suppose. He’s an artist and a bit helpless. Rainford’s family is unconventional, but I don’t see any harm in them.”
A door slammed.
Bell winced—but she didn’t feel faint.
Another door slammed. That was quite the outside of enough.
The ghost wanted to speak—again.
