‘If these other beneficiaries refuse to take up their parts of the estate, you are to administer Miss Winterley’s fortune until she marries or attains the age of five and twenty, my lord, but if you wish to leave, no more of this unusual document purports to you,’ Mr Poulson replied.
‘Good, good, something in my eye, y’know?’ Lord Leckhampton said and left the room to come to terms with that proof of Virginia’s deep affection.
‘Now, Mrs Wheaton and gentlemen, we come to the core of her ladyship’s will and most eccentric it is as well, but it was what she wanted. Lady Virginia has left a series of letters to be delivered to four people one by one. The first letter is to be handed over today, the second when that first gentleman has fulfilled his request from Lady Virginia or handed it back to the trustee and so on, until the last letter has been given out. Each stage of these tasks is to take no more than three months of your time and, on completion of the quarter of the year allotted to it, the next task will begin. I trust you understand so far?’
‘Dashed if I do,’ James Winterley said with a glance at Chloe that told them he would not come out with such a mild expletive if she wasn’t here.
‘Lady Virginia thought we needed to keep out of mischief, Jimmy,’ Lord Mantaigne said with a careless shrug.
‘I’m a busy man,’ Lord Farenze muttered grumpily and Chloe wondered if that was the reason her late mentor demanded he spend three months not being the viscount in possession.
‘Hence a provision her ladyship made for the time each of you will spend on your allotted task,’ the lawyer replied smoothly. ‘Peters here will be available so each of you can put his talents to good use in turn. In your case, Lord Farenze, perhaps he could turn land agent so you can concentrate your energies elsewhere. My junior partner has accomplishments I cannot always approve of, but he recently assisted the Duke of Dettingham with a series of confidential investigations as well as managing to bring the perpetrators of the Berfield outrage to justice.’
‘You must be very unpopular in certain quarters, Peters,’ Lord Mantaigne observed with a gleam of respect behind his easy smile.
‘Only if they know about me,’ he said with a long look at his senior partner that made the little lawyer shift in his chair.
‘I’m sure no whisper of it will leave this room,’ Mr Poulson blustered, but from his blush was conscious he’d let himself be carried away by a desire to impress.
Chloe flushed under the combined gazes of four interested gentlemen. ‘Of course I shall not reveal a word,’ she promised, wondering why she was here again.
‘Which brings us to your role, Mrs Wheaton,’ the lawyer said as if he’d read her mind. He pushed his eyeglasses up his nose and glared at the parchment in front of him as if will-power alone might change the words on it.
‘Lady Virginia left you her personal jewellery not already covered by bequests to family or friends and all her personal effects not likewise left elsewhere.’
Chloe allowed herself an audible sigh while she fought the urge to weep over such a magnificent gift. As a housekeeper she could never wear the exquisite pieces designed for a famous beauty in her scandalous prime, or use the delicately wrought objets d’art Virginia’s lord delighted in showering his love with, but owning them meant so much.
‘How kind and generous of her,’ she said, puzzled why she’d been allowed to hear so much before being told this, then dismissed.
‘Stay, Mrs Wheaton, I am not done,’ Mr Poulson said and she sank back into her chair and looked quizzically back at him. ‘There is a gatekeeper for this odd affair of one gentleman, then the next, taking up Lady Virginia’s quests. That person controls the allotted monies and letters for the next twelve months and will receive a generous stipend in return. I am to tell you that you have the role and must not argue.’
‘Me?’ Chloe managed faintly.
‘If you would take a look at this part of the document and confirm your true identity?’ he asked and Chloe sat open-mouthed.
‘How did she know?’ she managed to mutter numbly.
‘Your confirmation, if you please?’ he prompted, pointing to a passage in the closely written script that said Lady Virginia’s housekeeper-cum-companion was the Lady Chloe Bethany Thessaly, eldest daughter of the seventh Earl of Crowdale and late of Carraway Court in the county of Devon.
Numbly she nodded, then realised that wasn’t enough for the law. ‘Yes, that is my name,’ she affirmed and raised her chin, ‘What else did her ladyship tell you?’ she let herself ask.
‘Only that she had been very slow at putting two and two together and couldn’t imagine where her wits had got off to. Indeed, who knows what she knew and didn’t know about any one of us? I should not like to hazard a guess.’
‘Do either of you intend telling me who has been housekeeper here for the last decade?’ Lord Farenze demanded crossly.
‘Not now,’ she said.
‘Later, then,’ he promised, or was it a threat?
‘Who is the lucky recipient of Virginia’s first bombshell?’ Lord Mantaigne drawled.
Chloe was beginning to see past his assumption of lazy indifference and sensed he was both diverting attention from her and adjusting his own expectations in case he must start Virginia’s year of imposing her will on her favourite gentlemen.
‘Lord Farenze is first on Lady Virginia’s list, but he is at liberty to delay his task until later if he needs time to settle his affairs,’ Mr Poulson said with a glint of what looked like humour in his eyes.
‘I have no need; what is my so-called quest to be?’ Luke demanded and Chloe let tenderness quirk her lips into a betraying smile at the scepticism in his deep voice that he could be anyone’s hero.
Luckily the rest of them were watching him as if not quite certain if they were sharing a room with a primed incendiary or an occasionally uncivil nobleman.
‘You forget I’m not in charge of that part of the instructions, my lord. No doubt Mrs Wheaton will inform you of your task, once she has read Lady Virginia’s letter to her and understands her own role in this business a little better.’
If I ever do, Chloe added under her breath, trying to shrug off the feeling too many powerful males were focused on her as she tried not to squirm in her seat.
‘It might prove difficult to maintain a disguise with us happy band of adventurers to keep in order, Mrs Wheaton,’ Mr James Winterley cautioned with a wry smile she found rather charming when she caught echoes of his elder brother in his grey-green eyes.
‘Nevertheless, I am Mrs Wheaton for now and ask you all to respect my privacy,’ she made herself reply steadily, dread of the scandal if she made her true identity public making her shudder.
‘Am I never to know?’ Lord Farenze asked, frowning as he bent to stir the fire into a blaze.
‘If it ever seems safe for me to be other than a housekeeper, you will be among the first to know, my lord,’ she said briskly. ‘Now could I have my letter?’
The little lawyer bowed respectfully. ‘Here you are, ma’am,’ he said gently, offering the sealed letter as if it was a crown jewel. ‘I’m told this will cover the most salient points and expect any details can be discussed later.’
‘There’s one you managed to skirt round,’ Luke said with a long hard look Chloe admired the man for not flinching under.
‘My lord?’
‘Who is your fourth Knight of the Round Table, or do you intend keeping him secret until we spot some fool dashing about searching for dragons to slay for