A Fine Caprice - A Regency Romance (4 page)

Cass looked at the man across the table thoughtfully for a moment,
then
nodded. ‘I would, of course, be delighted.’

Two hours – and a great many courses later – he had
cause
to re-evaluate the term ‘delighted’. There were some people who were foolish enough to believe that Fenshaw’s bulk made him slow but the man was anything but. He had a mind as sharp as the carving knife he had wielded so freely and had set out his plans for Cass most succinctly. The couple of days he had been contemplating for his journey into Dorset had
somehow
become tomorrow.

When the port was delivered, along with the sweetmeats, Cass leaned back in his chair and contemplated his host. ‘I’m not sure I fully unde
rstand why
you think Hadley might be
a spy. Forgive my bluntness but the man is a fool.
A wastrel, a dandy, a gambler who is far too fond of a pair of dice, yes.
I would not disagree with any of that.
But a spy for the French?
He can’t tie his own neckcloth without the assistance of his valet.’

‘I can understand your incredulity but I fear you have underestimated your cousin.’

‘I don’t think I have.’

Fenshaw grinned. ‘Even if he isn’t a spy, he is most certainly a dupe. What do you know of his fiancé
e
?’

Cass raised an eyebrow. ‘Ravener is
engaged
?’

‘I sup
pose I can take that as being nothing at all
. He became eng
age several weeks
ago t
o the Grand Duchess Maria von Kassel.
’
When his lordship continued to stare at him blankly, he elaborated.
‘Prussian royalty, apparently.
I cannot find much about her antecedents but she claims to be related to the tsars of Russia.’

‘The devil she does. And you say that this female is engaged to
Hadley
?’

‘You seem surprised.’

‘I am astonished,’
Cass admitted frankly, ‘considering I thought he was – ah – more European in his proclivities.
I have never known him to chase after a skirt. Well, not with a female inside.
’

Fenshaw’
s lips twitched.
‘A man can
flip on both sides of a coin, my friend.
Although in this instance I feel you might be correct. I doubt that this engagement is genuine. The Grand Duchess has been of interest to us for some time.’

‘Us, being the oddly shadowy figures that have been busy setting up a business of spying?’ Cass suggested delicately.

‘I am sure I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Of course not.’

‘I do, however, feel that an impartial observer
on the scene
might be helpful. Especially as your cousin is so very i
nterested in journeying to Dorset himself
.’

‘You said it yourself. Ravener is broke. He gambles, unsuccessfully, from all accounts. He dresses like a French roué; the bill from his tailor must be astronomical if those outfits he elects to go about in are any indication. And he has a
modest income. His dislike for
me stems, in great part from the fact that I am far better off than him. An unfortunate quirk of fate saw me with a parent that did not waste the
family fortune whereas
Bentmore
Ravener
was a
renowned
sot
who would have sold his lamentable children if it had been humanly possible
.
As a father went, he was hardly a man to aspire to.’

‘Ravener was not the most likeable of men.’

‘I suppose that is why somebody stuck a knife into him. I always felt a little sorry for Hadley and
his sister. A difficult start to
life, especially as Aunt Louisa
was delicate.’

‘Mad?’

‘Entirely. Although
I believe
the family preferred delicate
, thank you very much
.’

‘I can understand that you have certain family sympathies
Merridew
, although the Raveners are not, strictly speaking, your family
. But if Hadley Ravener is a traitor to this country then I will do everything in my power to stop him. More than that, I will take whatever measures I deem appropriate to discover who he is working with. I have someone quite specific in mind in this instance.’ Cass observed a change in the amiable Anthony Fenshaw. Gone was the cheerful good-hum
or, replaced by something
implacable. This glimpse of steel explained a great deal about his current position in government.

‘The Grand Duchess?’

‘Unfor
tunately not.
She is an obvious choice for observa
tion. No… I am referring to Sir Darryl
Hughenden.’

His lordship frowned at this.
‘
Hughenden?’

‘Indeed.’

‘But… surely you don’t suspect Hughenden of… what the devil are we discussing here, anyway? Spying?
Englishmen spying for the French?
I would be far more inclined to believe it of my cousin than of a man like Hughenden.’

‘I know. It does seem extraordinary does it not?’

‘But he is not a particular crony of Raveners.
Is he?’ Cass demanded, more disconcerted
by this than he had been by the prospect of his cousin being a traitor
. He knew Darryl Hughenden, had done since they were at Harrow, and then Oxford together. It would never have occurred to him that the man was anything but sound.

‘More like a crony of the von Kassel woman
,’ Fenshaw said gravely, ‘although I could be mistaken in this. That is one of the many things I hope to discover by sending you down to Dorset.’

‘You want me to discover if Hughenden is a spy? Because I’ll tell you right now,’ Cass said, a little irritably, ‘that I don’t believe it for a moment.’

‘Good. I need somebody with that kind of attitude.’

His lordship stared at his host, frustrated. ‘Why me? Good God Fenshaw, I am hardly the type of fellow a man like you is likely to recruit.’

‘Why?’ Fenshaw demanded
,
his former good humor apparently restored. ‘Don’t you think you’re up to it?’

‘Up to
what
, exactly?’

‘Discovering what it is Ravener
- or Maria von Kassel – is so eager to get their
hands on in the house of Abel
Merridew. Illuminating the real relationship
between the Grand Duchess
and your cousin. Or unmasking the man who, I am growing more uncomfortably certain of all the time, is one of the most cunning spies that this country has ever produced?’
Summarized in such a fashion,
Lord Merridew could only stare at his companion. Fenshaw smiled. ‘I think you’re
exactly
what we need.’

‘Good God!’

‘So you will go to Dorset tomorrow?’

‘I will?’

‘Certainly. The sooner we start, the sooner we will be able to identify what must be done.
Just poke around the place. They say it’s riddled with priest holes and God only knows what else. The coastline around those parts has an interesting repu
tation as well you know and Abel
Merridew has always had a reputation for aiding and abetting smugglers. God only knows who else he’s been aiding.’

‘Dear Uncle Abel has always been most
enterprising
,’ his nephew agreed. ‘The family don’t like to talk about just
how
enterprising
.’

Fenshaw grinned. ‘
Damn glad I ran
into you this morning
,’
he
said cheerfully, draining his glass of claret and dabbing at his lips with the napkin he had tucked into his neckcloth. ‘It saved me having to hunt you down.’

‘I can hard
ly believe my luck either
.’

Fenshaw chuckled
. ‘You like to pretend you’re a feckless lay about but I know better.’

‘On the contrary,’ Cass assured him earnestly, ‘I am a
feckless
lay about. Just ask anybody. My relatives will all attest to it.’

Fenshaw laughed and
deposited his napkin onto his plate
. ‘There is more to you than you like to pretend, Merridew. I
have always thought as much.’

‘Yes, but there is no need to share it with the world,’ Cass pointed out, aggrieved. ‘This is all damned inconvenient. I was supposed to be going down to Tattersalls tomorrow. More th
an that, my sister expects me to host
her ghastly rout on Friday evening. She’s borrowing the townhouse
because the guests won’t all fit in to her place in Berkley Square
.’

‘What the devil has she got on?’

‘My niece has
come out. Apparently all of London must now meet her.’

‘
Sounds like hell.
You’ll be delighted to e
scape such a dreary affair
,’ Fenshaw said with hearty good humor. ‘I will be expecting to hear from you via t
he mail. And it’s quite likely you’ll
be contacted when you are at Abbey Cross.’

‘I will
?’

‘Indeed. I have several agents in the area
keeping an eye on things
.’

‘Agents?’

‘You have much to learn,’ Fenshaw said benignly as he prepared to take his leave, heaving his considerable frame out of his chair.
‘But I feel sure that you are a quick study Merridew
so I will be more than happy to teach you
. Until next time
, take care of yourself, won’t you
.
It would cause me a pang if my newly recruited peer suffered from a sudden case of metal poisoning.
’

‘Hadley is hardly likely to stick a knife into my ribs!’

‘Don’t be too sure of that. And
I
would be
a great deal less sure when it comes to his friends for he keeps company with some very dubious characters.’

‘I can take care of myself, thank you.’

‘Of course you can.
I’m depending on it.’
And
with that rather unsettling comment,
he sailed out of White’s dining room like one of Lord Nelson’s
battleships at full mast.

Cass watched him go with disgust. He could hardly believe that his day had turned against him
so thoroughly
. He, who usually took considerable pains to avoid unpleasantness (and this incorporated any number of scenarios, from running errands for cantankerous elderly relatives to providing social leverage for his sister’s children – Friday being one such occasion he had not been fleet enough on his feet) had been waylaid by a master
and he could see himself being extremely inconvenienced by the entire situation. He thought about what Fenshaw had told him
, still a little incredulous
. Could his cousin
really be a spy?

If Cass had
doubts
about Ravener’s dubious behavior
it was
n’t because of any quibbles about
the man’s moral fortitude; Hadley had none and would cheerfully slit Cass’ throat if he thought he could get away with it
and help himself to whatever money such an act would entail
. No… it was more the fact that Hadley Ravener was even less inclined to inconvenience himself that Cass was. He was selfish all the way down to
the
bone
but more than that..
.
he was a physical coward who could not stand the sight of blood, especially his own.
So while he was prepared to believe that Hadley would be perfectly willing to gain financial ground by underhanded means, he wouldn’t risk himself to do so, not unless he could be sure of getting away with
it.

Cass
left White
’
s feeling as if
he was no longer in charge of his own desti
ny
. He must summarily arrange to go down to Dorset on the morrow, investigate what his fool of a cousin was up to, along with the woman he appeared to have gotten himself engaged to. Now
that
, at least, was a sham. There was no way in hell that Ravener was marrying a
ny
grand duchess. Now if it had been a grand
duke
… Cass grimaced at the very thought. Damn Hadley Ravener for putting him through such nonsense.

The final
suggestion,
that he should discover if
Darryl Hughenden was
involved in the goings on in Dorset was
the thing that made him uneasy for, just as Cass could not countenance that his cousin would be so foolish as to risk his own skin, he found it difficult to believe that a man like Hughenden might be involved in anything dubious for
quite the opposite reason. Sir Darryl
Hughenden was an excellent fellow. They had ended up drunk together on numerous occasions, albeit some years ago when they were caught up in the laudable activities of education. But Cass would have been prepared to swear his old friend was a good man and found himself disconcerted to discover others did not share his point of view. At the very least he could perhaps take a look at his cousin’s affairs and convince Fenshaw that Hughenden had nothing to do with anything untoward.