What Remains of Heaven

Chapter 17

FRIDAY, 10 JULY 1812

Arising early the next morning, Hero Jarvis took one look at the platters of eggs and sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms set out on the buffet in the breakfast parlor, and turned away to order her horse brought around.

The previous night’s wind had brought a heavy cover of angry clouds to hang low over the city. As she trotted her big bay up and down the Row in Hyde Park, her groom following at a tactful distance, the first drops of rain began to fall. She ignored them.

It had occurred to her at some point in the middle of a long, sleepless night that by focusing all her thoughts and energy on the murder of Bishop Prescott she had been avoiding dealing with the disastrous effect of his death on her own future. Yet every time she tried to think about it, she found her mind shying away.

The thunder of approaching hooves drew her attention to the gate. Looking up, she saw the lean figure of Viscount Devlin cantering toward her. She checked for the briefest instant, then trotted on.

“It’s raining,” he said, bringing his Arab in beside her bay. “Or didn’t you notice?”

“If one doesn’t ride in the rain in England, one seldom rides.”

His eyes narrowed with amusement. “True.”

“I assume you’ve sought me out for a reason,” she said bluntly, anxious to have him gone. “What is it?”

“Several things, actually. First of all, I’m wondering why you failed to mention your father’s opposition to Prescott’s translation to Canterbury during our discussion yesterday.”

She let out a huff of breath that fell somewhere between a laugh and a genteel expression of derision. “What, exactly, are you imagining? That my father played the role of Henry the Second to Bishop Prescott’s Thomas Becket?”

“The thought had occurred to me.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

He was startled into a sharp burst of laughter. A silence fell, filled with the creak of saddle leather, the squishing thunder of their horses’ hooves. Once again, she was the one to break it.

“You said ‘several things.’ What else?”

He kept his gaze on the distant treetops. “I fear, Miss Jarvis, that you have been less than honest with me about the purpose of your recent visit to Bishop Prescott. Or should I say visits?”

She kept her hands and seat relaxed. But some inner agitation must have communicated itself to the bay, for it began to sidle. She corrected it immediately.

After a moment, he said, “No comment?”

She turned her head to study his fine-boned, handsome face, but she could detect no sign that he had discovered her secret. “The Bishop is dead. How, pray, do you presume to know what passed between us?”

The rain began to fall harder, slapping the leaves of the chestnuts along the Row, drumming on the turf. The Viscount readjusted his hat. “A remark the Bishop made about an old friend in need of counseling.”

Inside, her stomach did an unpleasant flip-flop. But she had herself well in hand now. “There is obviously some sort of confusion,” she said evenly.

“Perhaps. Although I can’t help but wonder: three visits? Over one speech?”

The rain was coming down now in buckets. Water ran down the Viscount’s cheeks, found its way down the back of Hero’s collar. She said, “Perhaps we should continue this conversation at some future date in a less damp environment.” Signaling her groom, she turned the bay’s head toward home. “Good day, my lord.”

She was aware of his gaze upon her, of him watching her, as she left the park.

She did not look back.

Returning home to Berkeley Square, Hero dismissed her maid, stripped off her riding habit, and went to stand in front of her dressing room mirror.

She stared at her reflection dispassionately, her hands splayed across her lower abdomen. Her body was still slim, her stomach flat. But for how much longer? One month? Two? For how long could she continue to move amongst the haut ton of London? The high-waisted, fashionable dresses of the day would disguise her changing shape for a while, but the time was coming when she would need to go away.

It had been her intention to spend the coming autumn and winter in the Welsh mountains, at the home of a dear cousin. Hero knew the name of the couple who was to receive her child, but they had been carefully kept in ignorance of her identity. And without Prescott, her ability to transfer the child to its adoptive parents without betraying her own identity was seriously compromised.

She thought about contacting the couple directly, then rejected the idea out of hand. To do so would mean condemning herself to a lifetime of looking over her shoulder, worrying always about exposure and blackmail. She needed to find some other alternative. Quickly.

She was running out of time.