Free Drake's Lair by Dawn Thompson Page A

choice. Everything I had is gone, and I’ve nowhere to turn but to the Tinkers. They would take me in a trice, but they haven’t really room. I know keeping me for so long a time would be an inconvenience to them, and I couldn’t impose. Lord Shelldrake took advantage of that I’m sure, but he’s offered me an extravagantly generous sum, and he plans to rebuild the cottage. He’s also offered to lease it back to me once it’s ready. I’m to stay on here in the meantime.”
    “The devil you say?” the housekeeper cried. Her jaw fell slack, and her posture clenched.
    “The legalities of the sale will take time to complete, of course,” Melly went on. “But once I have the money, I will be able to go where I please.”
    “Oh, miss, don’t go. Stay ‘till the cottage is raised. It wouldn’t be right, you going off all on your own.”
    “I’ve been ‘all on my own’ since Cousin Calliope passed, Mrs. Laity, and I’ve managed quite nicely.”
    “But you don’t have you’re herbs—your wares—anymore. Here, you’ll have everything you need—fine food, an elegant roof over your head, folks to do for you… all the comforts you deserve.”
    Everything but peace of mind, and right now, she’d trade all of the above for just a smidgen of that. But this was the opening she’d been waiting for, and she pounced on it.
    “Can you sit with me a moment, Mrs. Laity,” she said. “There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
    “If it won’t take too long, miss,” she replied. “The auditors are just getting ready to leave, if you can imagine that in all o’ this, and I’m likely to be needed below.”
    “I shan’t keep you long,” she replied, resuming her place on the window seat, while the housekeeper squeezed her bulk into the wing chair across the way, and sat on the edge of it, spine-rigid, waiting.
    “I wish to know why his lordship is so adamant that I not pick his herbs?” Melly said flatly.
    “Have you asked him?” the housekeeper hedged, clouding suddenly.
    “I have. He avoided the issue. But it evidently is an issue, Mrs. Laity, and I wish to know what that is. I cannot for the life of me countenance his bizarre behavior over the matter. He positively flies into alt!”
    “Oh, miss, I think it’s best that you speak to his lordship direct about that. It won’t bode well for me if I’m caught carrying tales in that department.”
    “Mrs. Laity, it shan’t go any further than this room, I assure you. I would never jeopardize your position over anything.”
    “That’s just what it would be, if I go flapping my jaws about herbs in this house, miss. You’re going to have to ask his lordship. I’m sorry.”
    “I know I was trespassing, but it’s more than that. He means to destroy all the herbs on the estate just as soon as the storm is over. I’ve never been a difficult person to deal with. I’m not prone to be confrontational, but if someone tells me not to do something—especially something so insignificant as this is—they need to tell me why.”
    The housekeeper’s plump cheeks bloomed scarlet, emphasizing the spider veins that crazed them. She began to fidget, her stubby fingers troubling the corner of her starched white apron. She was clearly wrestling with something, and Melly waited somewhat less than patiently for her to speak.
    “T-the countess, Lady Eva, her name was, she took an interest in… herbal remedies like yourself before she died, miss. It could be something to do with that. Don’t ask me no more.”
    “You think, then, that my herb gathering recalled unpleasant memories?”
    “I already told you how upset his lordship was when she passed. That’s all I know, miss.”
    “He must have loved her very much,” Melly said absently. Why did her heart feel so heavy with that burden weighing upon it?
    “Yes, miss.”
    “And you can think of nothing else?”
    “No, Miss Melly, and… please —”
    “Don’t worry, I shan’t tell him you told me,”