"Good day, Lady Chillhurst," Demetria said.
She and Constance walked quickly toward the door. Gifford stalked after them.
Jared stepped aside to allow everyone out of the parlor.
Olympia saw Demetria slant a mocking glance at Jared as she went through the door.
"You were always a rather strange sort, Chillhurst, but this household is quite remarkable, even for a member of your odd family. What on earth are you about, my lord?"
"My domestic arrangements need not concern you, madam," Jared said. "Do not return to this house without an invitation."
"Bastard," Gifford muttered on his way out the door. "I only hope your poor wife knows what she's gotten herself into by marrying you."
"Hush, Gifford," Demetria said. "Come along. We have other calls to make this afternoon."
"I doubt they will be as amusing as this one," Constance murmured.
The visitors made their way out onto the front steps. Jared closed the door behind them without bothering to see them into their waiting carriage. He turned to Olympia.
"You will not receive any of those three again," he said. "Is that clear?"
It was the last straw as far as Olympia was concerned. She stalked toward the stairs. "Do not give me orders, Chillhurst. Lest you forget, I am still the one in charge of this household and you are a member of my staff. You will kindly remember your place and behave accordingly."
Jared ignored her outburst. "Olympia, I wish to speak with you."
"Not now, sir. This has been a most unpleasant day. I am going to my bedchamber to rest before dinner." Halfway up the stairs, she paused and glared back at him. "By the by, sir, did you truly sink so low as to press my nephews and Mrs. Bird to speak to me on the subject of marriage?"
Jared walked to the foot of the stairs and gripped the newel post. "Yes, Olympia, I did."
"You should be ashamed of yourself, sir."
"I am quite desperate, Olympia." Jared smiled a strange, wistful smile. "I will do anything, say anything, sink to any depths, resort to any tactic in order to make you my wife."
He meant it, Olympia thought. In spite of her foul mood and aching head, a thrill of excitement went through her. The last of her resistance melted like wax in a fire.
"There is no need for any more such maneuvers, sir," she said, still annoyed with him and vividly aware of the risk she was taking. "I have decided to marry you."
Jared's hand tightened fiercely around the carved top of the newel post. "You have?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, Olympia. I shall endeavor to see that you do not regret your decision."
"I very probably shall regret it," she said waspishly, "but I cannot see any help for it. Please leave me alone for a while."
"Olympia, wait one moment." Jared searched her face. "May I ask why you changed your mind since I last saw you, my dear?"
"No." Olympia continued on up the steps.
"Olympia, please, I must know the answer. My curiosity will eat me alive. Did the boys convince you to change your mind?"
"No."
"Mrs. Bird, perhaps? I know she is very concerned about your reputation, even if you are not."
"Mrs. Bird had nothing to do with my decision." Olympia was nearly to the top of the stairs.
"Then why have you agreed to marry me?" Jared called.
Olympia paused on the landing and looked down at him with cool hauteur. "I changed my mind, sir, because I have come to realize that you excel at the task of superintending a household."
"What of it?" Jared asked warily.
"Why, it's quite simple, sir. I dare not lose you. Good staff is so very hard to get, you know."
Jared gazed at her in amazement. "Olympia, surely you are not marrying me simply because I can provide you with an orderly household."
"Personally, I think that is an excellent reason for marriage. Oh, there is one more thing, sir."
Jared's gaze narrowed. "Yes?"
"Do you happen to know what the word Siryn might refer to?"
He blinked. "A siren is a mythical creature who lured unwary sailors to their doom."
"Not that sort of siren," she said impatiently. "I mean Siryn spelled with a y."
"Siryn was the name of the ship that Captain Jack sailed while he pursued his career as a buccaneer in the West Indies," Jared said. "Why do you ask?"
She gripped the railing. "Are you certain?"
Jared shrugged. "That is what my father claims."
"The drawings on the endpapers," Olympia whispered.
Jared frowned. "What about it?"
"The drawings on the endpapers of the diary are pictures of old-fashioned vessels sailing on storm-tossed seas, surging seas, if you will recall. One ship bears the figure of a woman on the prow. A siren, perhaps."
"I am told Captain Jack's ship had such a prow figure."
Olympia forgot about her headache. She picked up her skirts and flew back down the stairs.
"Olympia, wait. Where are you going?" Jared demanded as she rushed past him.
"I'll be in my study." She turned in the doorway. "I am going to be very busy for a while, Mr. Chillhurst. See to it that I am not disturbed."
Jared's brows rose. "Of course, Miss Wingfield. As a member of your household staff, it is my pleasure to carry out your instructions."
Olympia slammed the study door in his face. She went over to her desk and opened Claire Lightbourne's diary.
She stood gazing down at the design which decorated the endpapers at the front of the diary for a long time and then, very slowly, she picked up a penknife.
Five minutes later she tugged back the picture of the Siryn sailing the surging sea and discovered the map that had been tucked beneath it.
It was a map of an island. An uncharted island in the West Indies. But it was not a complete map, Olympia saw. It had been torn in half.
The other half was missing.
There was a sentence written on the bottom of the map fragment.
The Siryn and the Serpent must be joined, two halves of a whole, a lock that awaits a key.
Olympia quickly turned to the back of the diary and looked at the picture of the ship that sailed a tumultuous sea. Sure enough, the figure on the prow was that of a serpent.
Eagerly Olympia pried up the back endpaper.
There was no sign of the other half of the map.
Chapter 12
Jared placed his appointment journal to the left of his breakfast plate. Appointment journals were very reassuring things, he thought. They gave a man a sense of control over his own destiny. It was no doubt a thoroughgoing illusion, but a man who was prey to excessive passions treasured certain illusions.
"Lessons shall be conducted from eight until ten this morning, as usual," Jared said. "Today we shall be studying geography and mathematics."
"Will you tell us another story about Captain Jack in the geography lesson, sir?" Hugh asked around a mouthful of eggs.
Jared glanced at Hugh. "There is no need to talk while you are eating."
"Beg pardon, sir." Hugh swallowed the eggs in one gulp and grinned. "There. I'm finished. What about a Captain Jack tale?"
"Yes, Mr. Chillhurst, I mean, my lord," Robert said. "Will there be another story about Captain Jack?"
"I want to hear about how Captain Jack developed a special clock to help find longitude at sea," Ethan said eagerly.
"We already heard that tale," Robert said.
"I want to hear it again."
Jared covertly studied Olympia who was absently munching toast spread with gooseberry jam. The look in her eyes made him uneasy. She had had that same remote, preoccupied expression since she had come downstairs to breakfast.