Marcus dragged his eyes from Jemma’s alluring presence as a familiar sight at the edge of his vision drew his attention. Beneath his breath he cursed. From the moment he’d read Wyndham’s astonishing letter this afternoon, thoughts of his mortally ill uncle had been pushed to the back of his mind. Now he could see a carriage bearing the Gresham crest slowly patrolling the street as though the coachmen were searching for someone. He knew they were looking for him. Dr Robertson had sent for him earlier than he’d expected and he’d been away from home when the message had arrived. He’d told Perkins, his butler, he’d be visiting Wyndham and would be no more than one hour. The coachmen had doubtless been despatched to Hanover Square to find him.
A feeling of deep remorse washed over him, yet still, to his shame, he felt reluctant to quit Jemma’s side. Abruptly he removed her arm from his. ‘I think we must continue this conversation another time, Miss Bailey.’ He executed a curt bow. ‘Unfortunately I have pressing matters to attend to.’ With that terse farewell he forced himself to take two crisp backward paces so a space was immediately between them. A moment later he’d stepped past and was striding towards the carriage, raising a hand to hail it as he went.
‘Indeed, there is no need to talk further about any of this, sir.’ Jemma felt mortified to be so abruptly abandoned. But he was moving with such speed and purpose she could tell that the sharp words she’d sent after him had gone unheeded. A knot of sorrow tightened in her stomach. She had a feeling that if they’d continued walking and talking just a little longer perhaps they might have gone their separate ways more contentedly than they’d come together. As it was, nothing about the situation had improved. Pulling her bonnet brim low to shield her hot, watery eyes, she plunged her hands into her coat pockets and moved swiftly on.
Chapter Four
Marcus paused on the threshold to his uncle’s bedchamber to dart an astonished enquiring glance at the physician. A glimmering hope that his uncle had made a miraculous recovery was dashed as Dr Robertson slowly shook his head. The prognosis was the same despite the fact the Earl of Gresham was once more conscious and propped up on a sumptuous array of satin bolsters and pillows.
On one side of the bed, ensconced in an armchair, was an elegant, elderly lady. Marcus had expected Mrs Paulson would still be here. She had been sitting quietly embroidering in the very same position when he had quit the sickroom earlier that day. He gave her a nod and a wonky smile, hoping that it adequately conveyed that her constant presence pleased him.
Victoria Paulson had been his uncle’s mistress for three decades and was a similar age to Solomon. At times Marcus had wondered whether, if the couple had come together sooner in life, when Victoria was young enough to bear children, she might have given Solomon a son. They would then have married to legitimise the union and the child, and the course of his own life might have taken a very different turn.
Having pressed Solomon’s hand and returned Marcus a hushed greeting, Victoria rose from her chair and left the gentlemen alone.
Solomon’s exhausted smile for his nephew was curtailed as a cough rattled out of him. On hearing his master gasping, a servant sprang forwards, thrusting out a beaker of milk. Solomon flapped feebly at the fellow. ‘If you’ve got nothing stronger to offer me, then go away,’ he wheezed and tugged a burgundy velvet coverlet against a chest that was pumping erratically. ‘Might as well let me have a brandy,’ he threw peevishly at Dr Robertson. ‘Ain’t as if it’s going to kill me.’
Dr Robertson relented, gesturing to the footman to carry out his patient’s request. At that Solomon found enough energy to weakly grin and brush together his dry palms.
Marcus swiftly approached the dais at the centre of his uncle’s bedchamber upon which was set a huge four-poster bed. He stopped with one hand splayed against a square mahogany post, feeling as awkward and apprehensive as he’d been at eight years old when introduced to his noble guardian for the first time. Instinctively he knew that this was to be their final meeting in this life.
Solomon beckoned him closer with a fragile-looking finger but, when Marcus immediately extended his hand, it was gripped with surprising strength.
‘You look much improved, sir,’ Marcus began. ‘Perhaps cognac is not wise as you are a little better.’
The old boy exhaled a breathless chuckle and set free his nephew’s fingers. ‘Looks ain’t everything, y’know,’ Solomon imparted in a droll whisper. ‘I’m still dying. I’m still able to appreciate a good brandy, too.’ Marcus’s hand had dropped to rest on the velvet coverlet and he gave it a fond pat. ‘Don’t look so miserable, m’boy. I’m ready. I’ve had a good innings. I saw off three score years ‘n ten eight years ago. That’s six years more’n Patricia achieved.’ An increased glitter appeared in his sunken black eyes as he recalled his spinster sister. Patricia had pre-deceased him just last summer despite being in fine fettle up until two weeks before her maid had discovered her dead in bed. ‘And it’s a deal more years than your father saw.’
Marcus bowed his head, nodding it slowly in acknowledgement of the sorrow they shared at Rufus Speer’s unconscionably early demise at the age of thirty-two.
His father had been a military man and away on campaign for a good deal of Marcus’s early childhood. Major Rufus Speer had been killed in action a few days after his only child’s eighth birthday. Thereafter, Rufus’s brother, Solomon, had taken Marcus under his wing and treated him like an adopted son. It was widely held that Solomon Speer, Earl of Gresham, had felt it unnecessary to marry in order to produce an heir. In his eyes he’d had one since the day his younger brother had died with a Frenchman’s bullet lodged in his chest.
‘I know I’ve said it before,’ Solomon whispered, ‘but he’d have been mighty proud of you, m’boy.’
‘He’d have been equally proud of you, and grateful for what you’ve done for me, as I am,’ Marcus returned simply. ‘I should have told you that more often than I have.’
‘Don’t get maudlin on me.’ Solomon clucked his tongue in mock irritation. He gave the hand resting on the bed another affectionate pat. ‘As for Rufus…I would have expected as much from him had our stars been swapped. He was a good brother. He wouldn’t have let me down. So, like it or not, I had no choice but to take you on and make the best of things.’ Solomon’s doleful tone was at odds with the twinkling eyes that settled with paternal pride on his beloved nephew.
Marcus mirrored his uncle’s wry grimace. Solomon was requesting that the full extent of his dues stay, as ever, unuttered. No fuss, no fanfare, no expression of the great affection that bound them as close as father and son. If that was how Solomon wanted it to be to the end, so be it. Marcus simply wanted to grant this finest of gentleman everything he desired during their precious final moments.
The branched candelabra set on a dressing chest was throwing wavering light on his uncle’s face, highlighting the patches of feverish colour on his parchment-like cheeks. As Solomon sank back further in to his downy pillows, Marcus could tell that his little show of strength, his lively conversation, had sapped his vitality. A piercing glance at the doctor, grimly vigilant, answered Marcus’s unspoken question. His uncle was unlikely to rally from unconsciousness a second time.
‘Had a visitor this afternoon—no, I had two,’ Solomon corrected himself with a flick of a finger.
Marcus found a suitable spot on the bed and, careful not to disturb his uncle, perched on the edge. He felt tightness in his chest and a lump forming in his throat, but he would not allow mournfulness to mar what little time was left. There would be days a-plenty to indulge his grief. ‘Let me guess on that,’ he said, mock thoughtful. ‘Munro came to chivvy you in to letting him have the chestnut while