Lady Ellingham and the Theft of the Stansfield Necklace: A Regency Romance (22 page)

The delay had been an
inconvenience and Felicity could not stop in Masham as long as she had wanted
which was a shame, for she did not experience the censure that she had done at Ripon. 
She only stopped long enough to buy a large bag of juicy carrots for Artemis
and two huge Almond cakes for herself at the bakery.  She even dared to enter
the Inn for a glass of ale and if the Inn Keeper thought she was rather a
pretty boy, he would hardly see fit to mention it.  She could only allow
herself a half hour rest, as she knew she still had 15 miles to go and the
light would be fading shortly.

Felicity swung herself
back into the saddle.  Her bones were beginning to ache.  She had never spent
so long on horseback.  Even summer days riding out on leisurely picnics could
not really compare to this journey and she was beginning to tire.  Even more
worrying was the realisation that her beloved Artemis was tiring as well.  She
bent forward and patted the mare’s long silky mane.  ‘Good girl Artemis, you
are doing fine but I am afraid I may have to leave you at Middleham and hire a
hack.  They have fine stables there.  Papa knew the owner and they will look
after you well.  Don’t you worry girl it will only be for one night, I will
send the groom to fetch you tomorrow.’  Felicity sighed for she hated leaving
her beloved Artemis in strange stables but it was obvious that the mare had travelled
enough and needed to be stabled for a much-earned rest.

Felicity however was
not destined to make it to Middleham. As she was passing close to the ruins of
Revaulx Abbey Artemis began to limp.  Felicity jumped down out of the saddle to
examine her front right hoof and to her dismay noticed that the mare had lost a
shoe.  Felicity knew that she could no longer ride and it was at least another
four miles to Middleham.  She looked around her.  She could not stop here in
the middle of nowhere, so she had no alternative but to start walking.

  Felicity had not gone
very far when the clouds that had been threatening for the most of the
afternoon, suddenly burst releasing a heavy shower that had been hallmark of
this entire disastrous summer and within minutes, Felicity was soaked to the
skin.  She made her way to a copse of trees in the distance for shelter but it
was already too late.  She was wet through and with the wet, the extreme cold
of the November winter began to penetrate to her bones. Nothing could have been
worse.  The darkening clouds had brought about early decreasing light and she
realised that she was not going to make it home before darkness truly fell. Had
she not been so spirited she may have began to cry but she knew that would get
her nowhere and courageously trudged on getter colder and colder, weakening
each step of the way. The cold was insidious and slow and Felicity’s shivering changed
to a hypothermic numbness. As she trudged on she began to feel faint and it was
in this state that Alex found her.

Felicity heard
the sound of a horses hooves rapidly approaching and turned around to observe
the rider.   She was relieved because she knew that she could not go much
further. Perhaps the rider would send a carriage from Middleham to collect her
and all would be well after all.  As the rider approached, a large, dark
foreboding and familiar figure loomed before her.  It was Alex! His countenance
was strong, like a port in a storm but his face was grim and her relief turned
to dismay.  He pulled up beside her and dismounted, even in the state she was in,
he was the last person she wanted to see and her heart fell into the pit of her
stomach. It was the last straw. All she could think of was their last meeting
and she could not face anymore of the same.  She finally succumbed to the cold
and the shock and Alex caught her as she fainted into his arms.

Alex had not
expected to find her in such a state. She had bought some serviceable gents
clothes and a serviceable lightweight cape but the silly chit had not even
provided herself with a waterproof garment, a must for a long journey. He put
his hands to her neck, she was frozen to the bone and he knew that he would
have to get her to shelter and soon.  It had not taken Alex long to discover
why Felicity was walking, one look at her mare told him everything.  His mind
snapped rapidly into action assessing what to do and then he noticed a
farmstead about half a mile up the dusty road. He decided to make for it in all
haste.

Alex threw
Felicity up onto the black stallion and climbed up behind her. He pulled her to
his warm body and surrounded her as best he could in his waterproof cape. It
did not take long to reach the farmstead but he only arrived to find the
farmhouse empty and deserted.  He cursed to himself.  The cottage was
unfurnished and had stone floors, no comfort here then.  He turned his
attention to the huge barn off to the right and walked over carrying Felicity
in his arms.  He kicked the door open. This was the better option he thought to
himself as he laid Felicity on a bed of straw. 

Alex brought the
horses indoors and tied them to a rafter at the far side of the barn. They
would have to wait for his attention as Felicity was deteriorating rapidly with
the cold.  He had to get her out of her wet clothing.  First he removed his own
waterproof cape, he was slightly damp but at least he was dry underneath.  He
removed his caped grey riding coat and shirt and laid them down.  Quickly he
got to work removing Felicity’s male garb, briskly rubbing her down with his
bare hands to revive the warmth and she responded with a shivering moan.  He
then dressed her in his own shirt and spread his grey caped riding coat over
her before getting to work to light a fire.  He made a safe clearing on the
earthen floor and placing down some straw for kindling, he used the logs that
he found piled against the wall of the barn as firewood. Then retrieving his tinderbox
from Victory’s saddle, he quickly lit a fire.  Although the fire could only be
kept low in the wooden barn, it soon began to radiate a comforting, glowing warmth.
Alex lay out all the wet clothes to dry, including Felicity’s riding habit that
he found wrapped in disintegrating brown paper attached to her saddle. He rubbed
down the horses and added some more logs to the fire before he could see to
himself.  Only then after checking that all was well did he slip under his grey
coat beside Felicity wrapping himself around her and warming her body with his
own. 

It took well
over an hour for Felicity to revive.  She lay as if floating on a cloud in a
distant dream as the circulation slowly returned to her extremities.  She went
from the sensation of cold numbness to burning pain as feeling returned to her
outer limbs, then eventually the pain subsided leaving her so warm and
comfortable she did not want to wake up. Eventually she opened her eyes to the
tickling sensation of what seemed like feathers on her nose.  She found herself
nestled up against a broad expanse of hard rippled flesh the warmth of which
seeped to her bones.  The sound of Alex’s voice brought her out of her reverie.
‘Are you awake trouble,’ he teased looking down on her tussled curly head. She
looked up in the direction of the voice.  Her head was nestled on his broad
naked chest and his right arm was looped around her shoulder.  Felicity jumped
up with a start, ‘Oh my goodness where are we?’ she gasped.

 ‘In a barn
somewhere south of Middleham my love.  I found you wet and frozen to the bone
and brought you here,’

She jumped
quickly to her feet and looked around her.  The fire gave off an almost romantic
glow and her clothes were scattered over beams and rafters airing in the warm
air.  She looked down at herself.  She was wearing a man’s shirt that reached
down to her knees, was far too big for her, and nothing else.  She looked down
at him.  He lay propped up on his elbows, biceps bulging, his broad chest
glistening in the flickering light of the fire and hair tapering to the
waistband of his breeches.  ‘For goodness sake,’ she exclaimed, ‘at least you
could put your shirt on,’

‘Now that,’ he
chuckled, ‘may be extremely difficult, ‘as I am afraid that you are wearing
it.’

Felicity took a
second look at the shirt she was wearing and realised for the first time that
it was not the shirt she had bought in Ripon.  The material was of much finer
quality and felt soft against her skin and what is more it was far too big for
her.  Her face glowed red in the firelight at the realisation of how it must
have got there and she brought her hands to her cheeks in mortification. ‘Oh
how could you,’ she gasped.

‘That is novel,’
he grinned, ‘not the reaction I would have expected, considering I have just
saved your life.’

Felicity was not
quite sure where to put herself.  He patted his hand on the straw beside him.
‘Come sit back down. I promise I will not hurt you.’

Felicity unsure
of herself returned to sit down. She sat down bringing her knees to her chin
and wrapping her hands around them.  ‘You will be wanting your shirt back then?’

‘Eventually my
love but I think we will have to wait until your own clothes are dry don’t you?
Meanwhile I think we should have something to eat.’

‘You have food?’
she marvelled as she began to unwind. 

He chuckled, ‘Of
course I have food.  I my love, do not go running off in the middle of the
night unprepared. Grandmother arranged for a food parcel but I ate something at
Ripon so I still have it.’ Alex jumped up and took the package from his saddlebag.
He opened up the wrapping and removed a large ham and egg pie, some chicken
legs, macaroons and lemonade.  Alex looked over to her, ‘If you would prefer
something hot I did notice a small duck pond a little way back, I could nip
back out with the shotgun.’

‘No, No,’
Felicity beamed, ‘this will be just fine.’

‘Good,’ he
sighed quite relieved, ‘as I did not relish the idea of going out in this weather
to shoot a duck.’

The two of them
tucked in to their supper and Felicity realising that he was no longer angry
was able to relax. ‘I do not understand,’ she said, ‘After last night I thought
you would be glad to see the back of me. Where is Richard?’

‘I will never be
pleased to see the back of you,’ he corrected, ‘As for Richard, I believe he
will be approaching Lealholme Manor as we speak, wet, tired, frustrated and
extremely worried for he took the Great North Road and did not find you. When
we do not turn up tonight, he will no doubt spend a few fraught hours but there
is nothing we can do about that now.  I am sure he will survive.’

Felicity bit her
lip feeling a little guilty. ‘Well he should not have worried.  He should have
known that I would be all right.’

‘But you were
not alright were you? It is lucky I turned up when I did.  It is November and
you would have frozen to death in the middle of nowhere.’

Felicity,
already recovered from her ordeal was back to her normal self.  ‘Well I did not
know I would be caught in such a vicious shower did I?  It was most
unfortunate. If it were not for that, I would have been fine.  I got this far
didn’t I?’

‘Yes you did,’
he laughed, ‘but if after a horrendous year when the rain has hardly stopped, you
thought you could make this journey without at least a small shower, you must
have windmills in your head.’

Felicity looked
around the barn in the soft glow of the firelight. ‘Are we to stay here all
night do you think? It cannot be far to Middleham now?’

‘Oh I think so.’
Alex replied, ‘The rain is heavy and it is pitch black outside.  There is not
even a good moon to light the way. We shall just have to make the best of it,
don’t you think?’

‘It is just,’
Felicity hesitated frowning, ‘It is just... I do not think Richard will quite
like it if we stay here.’

Alex gave out an
amused throaty laugh, ‘Since when have you worried about what Richard would
like. I am sure Richard would do the same in similar circumstances and if not,
well he can go to the devil. I am not going to catch pneumonia for the sake of
his sensibilities.  He will just be relieved that you are safe and sound.’

‘It is not
that,’ she faltered, ‘if we stay here all night by ourselves he may insist that
you marry me and then where would you be?’

‘Exactly where I
want to be,’ he chuckled, ‘you are in a very compromising situation my love. 
Now you have no choice and will have to marry me, whether you like it or not. 
I have not changed my mind; I still want to marry you.’

Felicity sat
with her mouth open, ‘But last night. Last night you said...’

‘Last night I
was angry,’ Alex interjected, ‘When I first saw your wrist I was shocked and
then when everything fell into place my shock turned to anger but even then I
realised that your motives were pure if not somewhat misguided.  What you have
to realise Flick, was that I was even angrier with myself.  I could not speak
with you straight away and had time to reflect on the matter, and what I would
have done if I had caught you and my own thoughts frightened me.’ 

That night I saw
you, a stranger standing in my bedchamber with the moon reflecting behind you
and I was ripe for murder. Goodness knows what would have happened if I had
succeeded in hauling you up from that balcony.  Every hour I thank God for the
moment your glove slipped off your hand, for I would have beaten you to a pulp
before I realised what I was at. The thought scared me and it does even now.
Can you forgive me for last night Flick?  I was not really angry with you. I
love you.  I was just so angry at the thought of what I could have done to you and
I had to make you realise it.  I know now that I made a real botched job of it
and scared you out of your wits.  I cannot even be angry with you for running
away.’  Alex looked intently at Felicity, ‘so what do you say, will you marry
me?  I dare say Richard may force you to after tonight.’