Hide And Seek

As luck would have it, that very afternoon, Drew entered the library where Jordan had closeted himself, mainly to avoid any of the other occupants of the house. Many of the guests had left earlier that morning, though some still remained and seemed to spill into all the rooms in which he had sought solitude. Clearly, their houseguests had little inclination to things literary, to his enormous relief.

After a brief exchange which might be called ‘catching up’ in any normal family, Jordan wasted no time in raising his dilemma. “The question remains, however, what I would do should I decide to resign my commission. Edward is full of vague promises, but—”

“I would not count on our oldest brother.” Drew interrupted Jordan’s statement with a swiftness that spoke volumes. “We both know the extent to which he would go to avoid meeting his obligations, family be damned.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Jordan responded, thankful that his brother wasted no unnecessary time on platitudes or pretence. “Which still leaves the matter of life after the army. I am quite resigned to the simple truth that I shall have to make my own way. The question remains: what and where?”

Drew drew a breath and fixed his gaze on his glass as if it could somehow provide the answers. His thoughtful expression suggested he had something on his mind, but aside from that, there were no clues as to what that might be. Jordan, long since accustomed to the reality that his brother gave nothing away until he had sifted the facts very carefully, took a slow sip of his brandy and resigned himself to what could be a lengthy wait.

Surprisingly, he had only swirled the amber liquid in his glass a few times before Drew took a breath and cleared his throat. “What are your thoughts on the Cape?” he asked, the apparent deviation from their previous discussion catching Jordan unprepared.

“The Cape?” He set his glass down carefully. “What about it?”

“Have you considered settling there?” The question seemed simple enough. On the surface, Drew’s interest in the answer seemed merely cursory, but Jordan knew better. The family politician was adept at hiding his true feelings, but it was unlikely that he asked out of simple curiosity. There had to be a very good reason behind the seemingly innocuous enquiry. Jordan’s mind raced through various possibilities, discarding them all as unlikely. Still, he couldn’t move beyond the obvious conclusion that his brother had knowledge of something that might make the Cape worth thinking about.

“Not in any definite way,” he hedged, conscious of the lengthening silence and vexed beyond measure at the unreadability of his sibling.

“Well, you might want to change your mind.” Drew made a movement as if to stand, and Jordan knew the moment was all but past. Any aid he might receive from his brother was rapidly sliding beyond his grasp. Inwardly cursing the sense of need that compelled him to speak, he plunged in and hoped his tone did not reflect his sudden desperation.

“What do you know that I don’t? Come, Drew, don’t be vague. I’m an officer, so you can trust me not to blab what I hear in this room. But if you know something worth knowing…”

He let his statement trail into nothing. Somehow, he simply couldn’t bring himself to beg. That was not how they did things in his family. True, they never asked for help, either. He’d learned the stupidity of that particular trait, but still, a man had his pride. Asking was one thing, but the manner of it didn’t have to diminish one in the process. This was the crucial moment. He recognised that as he watched Drew’s carefully blank expression for clues he knew would not be forthcoming.

Jordan held his breath, waiting—hoping—to hear something that would alter the direction of his life.

Intrigue Most Unbecoming...

"Well?" Annette settled herself comfortably in the brocade chair opposite Hebble and arranged her gown carefully. Edward sighed and regarded his wife with a mixture of disapproval and what might be pride. Their guest, however, now wore a shuttered look, his thick-set features unreadable but for a certain avarice which

Of Scandals, Schemes And Subterfuge...

The Countess of Walmer slammed the door behind her with a vicious resentment that she did not bother to hide. It made a most satisfying sound, but the effect was a little wasted, for Selby was her only audience. His customary dignified and impassive demeanor remained unruffled. Even a single eyebrow raised in disapprobation might have provided some measure of assurance that her distress had at least been noticed by someone.

She swept into the library only because she noticed the movement on the first floor landing, a sign that one of their guests was no doubt making their way downstairs for breakfast.Annette had no desire for breakfast, nor for the onerous company of anyone at that present moment in time. Being dismissed, especially by a gentleman and in such cruelly

A Twist In The Tale

From the comfortable chair behind his desk, Edward, the current Earl of Walmer, watched the tense scene in the garden with one ear tuned to the droning complaints of his unwelcome companion. He knew he should focus more on his guest rather than the tableau outdoors - the man was arrogant, to be sure, but he did hold the aces - but one could forgive a husband's natural concern over his wife's previous romantic attachments.

The silence intruded into his contemplation, and he felt compelled to drag his attention back to the matter at hand. Joseph Hebble had ceased speaking, and his gaze had now fixed on the couple on the bench sitting too close than propriety allowed.

Down The Garden Path

Dawn mirrored the cold that still clamped itself around his heart. Jordan borrowed a hack from the stables - one of the best, of course, though the groom seemed a little put out by his effrontery - and allowed Rogue to have a well-earned rest. The gelding nickered a welcome in passing but seemed content to remain stabled while his master took to the fields.

The snow had stopped for now, but drifts lay deep and deceptive and a good gallop seemed unwise though he was sorely tempted. Instead, he let the mare pick her own course for most of circuitous ride, content to breath deep and

Making a meal of it...

It seemed the Earl and Countess had chosen to spend this, their first Christmas out of mourning, in some style, and the green room was fair filled to overflowing when Jordan at last entered – a trifle late, to be sure, but he neither felt nor displayed any sense of guilt as he greeted a few familiar faces and availed himself of the glass proffered with a carefully schooled expression.

The butler ran a quick eye over the youngest St John brother and nodded, and a distinct twinkle lurked in his eye as he turned to resume his station at the door. No doubt I owe him, Jordan thought, his batman’s insistence that he wear the dreaded pantaloons now explained. Certainly none of the other family members had thought to warn him that the holidays were but an excuse for a house party, and that dressing for dinner would be required.

Not, of course, that if would have worried him. His mood was such that very little penetrated beyond the cold indifference he felt, though he knew he pattered the phrases and made the right noises at the right time. No-one, not even Annette, who stole the odd puzzled glance at him right through the interminable dinner, would have guessed that he felt anything but relaxed. A sterling performance, all in all. The Old Man would have been proud of him.

Possibly for the only time in my life. Instead of regret or guilt, the thought brought a smile.

Unfortunately, the girl – surely she could have been no more than sixteen – seated opposite assumed he had smiled at her and promptly responded with one of her own. Just as unfortunately, her attempt to seem both a little bold and a little shy all at the same time fell horribly flat and Jordan was obliged, with some difficulty, to school his features against his amusement at her expense.

He noticed she seemed a little ill at ease, and for a moment allowed his attention to be diverted to an unobtrusive examination.  She was pretty enough, in a slightly blowsy way that definitely hinted at merchant class. His eyes drifted further up the table to the solid fellow seated close to Edward. It didn’t require much intelligence to notice the similar, almost square features, and a shared inner discomfort as if they wore their finery with no familiarity. Father and daughter, he decided, and immediately lost interest.

“No uniform, Sir?” Grateful for the diversion, Jordan turned to the Rector – another brother, of course – and shrugged, choosing to ignore the formal address of one who should show a little more familiarity. Not that anyone expected less of Leslie. He was a man of the cloth, after all, with an excruciating sensibility for his hallowed station.

“On furlough.” Jordan saw little point in expanding on the bare bones of truth.

“Oh?” Leslie took a slow sip of wine – for his constitution of course, as even his Divine Master was known to do – and licked his lips. Jordan ignored the hated habit and simply waited. Leslie seldom spoke without having some point to make, be it wrong or right. “I had heard that you had sold out.”

The words, addressed in the Rector’s pulpit tones which had long since become a daily habit which endeared him to no-one, and having fallen in a brief lull in the general conversation, were audible to all and drew an immediate reaction. Jordan steeled himself to ignore the sudden inspection of a good two dozen pairs of eyes.

“Oh, but of course not!” Annette’s exclamation seemed oddly passionate and, as if suddenly conscious that she had spoken without thinking, and that almost the entire table had turned to regard her in astonishment, she took a moment to wipe her mouth delicately with a napkin. “Goodness,” she exclaimed then laughed as her husband flashed her a swift and angry look. “Everyone knows that Jordan is married to the army.”

“Well, I certainly never thought so.” Elizabeth set down her knife and fork with a quiet, ladylike gesture. His sister-in-law wore, Jordan noted with amusement, her vague and somewhat silly look – one he knew, though he doubted others had ever paid enough attention, was a perfect mask for an exceptionally bright and practical mind. “Why,” she continued gaily, seemingly quite unaware that she had now become the centre of attention, “I do believe it is the other way around entirely, I mean, the way they drag him from one place to another, and persist in pinning all those medals on him, and are forever recalling him when there seems to be just the most minute hint of trouble… oh, one can only believe that the army thinks itself married to him.”

Not for nothing did Jordan believe she might just be the only one of the family he could possibly be fond of. Still, he laughed with the rest and made no attempt to catch her eye lest he betray her unnecessary but endearing attempt divert the company from an uncomfortable reminder of he and Annette’s history – something not mentioned but quite obviously not forgotten.

“I do believe it is time, ladies.” Annette rose gracefully and even managed to smile at the stone-faced footmen who hurried forward to draw back her chair. “We shall leave you and the gentlemen to your port, dear.” She rested a hand on his shoulder for just a brief moment, a tellingly possessive demonstration, then led the ladies out.

As the doors closed behind them, more than one gentleman let out a small sigh of relief, and quite a few more glanced uneasily between Edward and Jordan, both of whom seemed oblivious to the general sense of discomfort around them.

“Good man, Selby,” Edward said cheerfully as the solemn butler placed the tray with the glasses on the table. The gentlemen, more at ease in the familiarity of tradition, settled into a somewhat desultory conversation which revolved primarily around horseflesh and hounds, and which favourite was tipped to win the upcoming races. Jordan willed himself to relax into the inanities and longed for an excuse to remove himself to his chamber.

“Come now, Jordie, you haven’t answered Lionel’s question y’know.” Edward slid into the chair opposite. Jordan decided he’d rather have the odd young lady than the Earl’s oily smile.

“Because is there is no answer,” he said equably, his veneer polished and polite. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. Toying with it, is all, getting a little bored now that Boney’s rousted.”

“There is India,” Leslie interjected.

“Lord, no, too hot by all accounts.” Drew pulled out the chair between Jordan and Leslie and settled himself with the languid ease of a politician. Third in line, and with a good few rungs of the political ladder behind him, he tended to regard his siblings – the Earl included – with something close to superior bewilderment.  It wasn’t an endearing habit and, although just short of supercilious, did manage to create a satisfactory degree of separation between him and his siblings that at times was quite tempting. Perhaps, Jordan though, he should learn the trick.

Still, though Jordan was tempted to ask him just what he personally knew of the supposed heat in India, he silently acknowledged that, out of all of them, Drew had perhaps shown the greatest degree of success. He had, after all, married Elizabeth, and while that lady could not be boasted a beauty she nevertheless was possessed of wit and intelligence, not to mention a substantial inheritance.

“Devilish hot,” Jordan agreed. “But, thankfully, not on my horizon. If I choose not to sell out, I will rejoin my regiment at the Cape.”

“The Cape!” Leslie choked on his wine – a good clergyman of his status did not, after all, succumb to the worldly temptations, even of port – and it took a moment of solid back-thumping by Drew, who seemed suspiciously enthusiastic in delivering the remedy rather than genuinely concerned for his brother’s welfare, before he was able to vent his horror. “Among the savages?”

Jordan smiled, a brief moment of pure enjoyment in the bleakness of his existence. “By savages I take it you mean the black tribes? But of course. It is my duty as an Englishman to bring the light to the darkness – surely you, of all, people understand?”

Leslie, though a little fuzzed with the languor of the grape, knew full well he was being ribbed and, as expected, took exception. He began a valiant but somewhat blustery protest, which prompted the company to a burst of raucous laughter which quickly silenced him.

“Oh,” Jordan added as they all rose to join the ladies. “Let’s not forget the Philistines.”

“Philistines?” Leslie asked in frigid tones. Of course, his retreat into splendid superiority was somewhat diminished by this irresistible bait.

“Oh leave off, Jordie.” Drew chuckled and thumped his palm on the table. “The Boers, Lionel. Those dirty, hairy remnants of Dutch occupation that by all accounts terrorize the servants of the crown as much as do their native counterparts.” Leslie sniffed and gathered the rest of his dignity about him like an invisible mantle.

“I take it,” he said with cold dignity, “that it’s spelt B-o-e-r, and not b-o-o-r?”

“But of course, old boy,” Dres returned smartly, “though I daresay there’s little distinction between them, come to think of it.”

“Spoken like a true Englishman.” Edward slapped Jordan on the back in a gesture which somehow spoke both familiarity and contempt. “I applaud you, little brother. But if you do decide to stay, you know of course I shall do everything in my power to ensure that you are settled as you deserve.”

“I have no doubt you will.” Jordan kept his response distant but agreeable, yet the cold understanding, cemented by a knowing look between them, spoke the truth far more eloquently.

Jordan wondered with wry amusement just what Edward thought he deserved. Whatever it was, it would be heartily unpleasant.

Seventh Son Rebellion Part 2

A groom, unsmiling and taciturn, ran up to snatch the bridle as Jordan stopped alongside the sweeping stone stairs which led up to the heavy front doors. Though a stranger, the man's grim expression was coldly familiar. Clearly little had changed with the demise of the old Earl - Cliffside was still managed with the iron hand that left little room for cheer or any display of human warmth.

Jordan shrugged, as if the gesture could somehow dislodge the chill that settled around him, a cold that had little to do with the snow falling softly into the gathering darkness.

The doors swung open even as he approached.

"Selby. Good to see you." Jordan forced a lightness into his tone as he shrugged out of his greatcoat and handed it to the butler.

"And you, Mister Jordan, Sir." The old face, lined with the tales of many years, managed a broad smile for just a moment before it settled once again into the imperturbability of long practice. Yet... Jordan caught an odd look, a quick expression of disquiet.

"Is something wrong, Selby?"

"Oh no, Sir. Not all all." Selby turned quickly to close the doors with a quiet thud, and when he turned back he had his butler mask firmly in place. Only his eyes darted away, then back, and fixed themselves firmly on a spot somewhere beyond Jordan's shoulders. A sense of disquiet, of unease, settled around him, but he bit back the instinctive question. No point in pressing the man. Selby was nothing if not the model of the perfect butler. Jordan suppressed a sigh.

"Jordie!"

He turned towards the sound of her voice, a part of him smiling, another part registering the incongruity of it here in the cold marble hallway of what should have been home.

"Annette. What are you..." She paused three stairs from the bottom, her small hand resting on the balustrade, slender fingers tight around the smooth wood. Her face, oddly pale, flashed a myriad of emotions - surprise, fear, discomfort, joy... His eyes caught hers, held them, and he read the growing distress in their wide, honest blue depths. Instinctively, hungrily, his gaze swept over her, down to the tiny blue slipper that peeped out below the hem of her gown, then back upward, driven by a discordant sense of unease.

"Annette?" He heard the harshness, the disbelief, in his question and saw her flinch. A part of him - some deep, primitive part of him - reveled in it, wanted her to feel the same pain that knifed through him as reality struck home. He wanted to look away, wanted to tear his gaze back to the perfect blue of her eyes and the memory that had been his truth for so long but, perversely, his eyes remained drawn to the impossible, the soft lines of silk that clung to her swelling abdomen.

"Jordie... I..."

"Don't." He drew a shuddering breath, the motion buying time as he struggled to regain some measure of sanity, to escape the escalating sense of implosion that sucked the life from him, that left him stranded in some desolate place of pain.

"You must understand..."

"Understand what? You're carrying another man's child, Annie. How do I understand that? You gave yourself to another man...to someone else...to...to who, Annie?" Somehow he knew, knew with a certainty that crushed the breath from him in an aching rush. He turned, slammed his fist into the wall, the pain of it swallowed in the greater sense of loss and anger and despair. "Who, damn you? Who?"

"Her husband."

The cold, clipped tones penetrated the haze and struck home. Jordan sagged against the wall, fighting the rage, fighting the urge to hurt, to maim... yes, even to kill. All his experience, all his years of discipline and rigorous training in the field... he drew on it now, held on to it like a drowning man to a single, fragile rope. His hands clenched and unclenched, his breath rasped with the effort of fighting down the nausea and the frenzy of hatred that threatened to engulf him. Silence brooded hard and long and frightening.

Then, when he had finally gained mastery, imposed control beneath a layer of relentless coldness that settled around him like death, Jordan turned back to face his brother.