Lord Runthorne's Dilemma: A Regency Romance (7 page)

She dipped her head to murmur something to the child, and
Runthorne smiled. She looked so natural. He wondered if she would ever have a child of her own and felt a burning hope that she would. The child giggled and gazed up at Elizabeth with such trust that he felt his heart clench.

She was a
pretty child with hair perhaps a shade darker than Elizabeth’s and a sweet, heart-shaped face. Her clothes were shabby, but appeared clean and well mended. Heavy, ugly shoes hung from her skinny ankles, but at least she was shod. Many poor children went barefoot in all weathers.

She was about five or six years he judged, although it
was often hard to tell with peasant children as so many of them were undernourished. This one seemed better fed than most, so perhaps he was not too wide of the mark. She, Alice he reminded himself, clutched a bulky sack to her chest, as though it contained precious jewels.

He shook his head, and met
Elizabeth’s curious gaze. “I was just wondering how far to the town,” he said, which was no explanation, he knew.

“
And that made you shake your head?” Her smile warmed him. He had missed that.

“
Not exactly. I was considering if there was a haberdashery there,” he improvised.

“
So it was that that made you shake your head?”

Was there just a hint of laughter in her eyes
, he wondered? “I shook my head, because I decided that it was highly unlikely that there would be,” he said, hoping that that would be the end of the matter.

“
Please, Miss, what’s a haberdashery?” The child had a soft voice and, although she stumbled over the unfamiliar word, was better spoken then he would have thought.

“
A place where you can buy ribbons,” Elizabeth answered.

“
Oh we have one of them,” Alice said with pride. “It’s down Cock Street, along from the doctor’s house.”

Elizabeth
laughed. “So it is. There, my lord, your journey will not be in vain. I am sure Miss Lacey will be delighted with a length of ribbon.”

Privately,
Runthorne thought Aurelia would be disgusted with the merchandise available in a provincial shop, but he nodded.

“
So, is it much farther?”

Elizabeth
shook her head. “If that rise were not in the way, you would be able to see it,” she said. “I think you will be a little surprised.”

She was correct.
They paused for a moment on the brow of the hill. A substantial town bustled below them, and the sounds of healthy commerce rose on the still air.

“
It appears to be an affluent community,” he said.

“
For some,” Elizabeth nodded. “My apologies, Alice,” she said to the child before her, “we will not delay you any longer. I know you have many chores.”

“
Thank you, Miss.”

At first
they rode through wide, pretty streets lined with many little shops but, gradually, those streets grew narrower, darker, until they became a warren of alleyways and bolt holes.

“
Do not worry, my lord, I know where I am going.” Elizabeth said and Runthorne realised she had noticed his increased scrutiny of their surroundings.

“
Then I leave my safety entirely in your hands.”

“
Your trust is well placed,” Elizabeth said. “We are here.”

A slim woman stood in the street, one hand on her hip, the other supporting a
small baby. Her scowl melted into a relieved smile when she saw them. Like Alice the woman was poorly dressed, but clean. She dropped an absent minded curtsey.

“
Alice Turner, how many times have I told you not to wander too far away? I have been out of my mind with worry over you.”

“
Mrs Turner, please do not be too hard on Alice,” Elizabeth said, lowering the child to the ground. “We would have been back long since, but I was somewhat delayed.” The glance she shot him informed him where the blame lay.

“
Indeed, Mrs Turner,” Runthorne said, “had I not intercepted them, I am sure Miss Hampton would have been here a great deal sooner.”

“
Well as to that, sir,” Mrs Turner said, “I can’t say I like Miss Hampton coming here, alone.” She now turned her reproving look on Elizabeth. “You should take more care, Miss,” she said, as though she was an elderly matron. Runthorne judged she was younger than Elizabeth. “It’s not safe for the likes of you down this way.

“
Now, Alice,” she added turning her attention to the child, “you just make your curtsey to the gentleman and Miss Hampton. Wash your face and hands and have a bite to eat. There’s bread on the table, then you can get to work. I hope you have plenty in that sack, but if not you can start the spinning. Go on, child.”

“
Yes, mam,” Alice said, as Mrs Turner paused for breath. She sketched a curtsey then dashed into the tiny house still clutching her sack.

“
Mrs Turner, please do not blame Alice,” Elizabeth said, leaning down from the cob. She dropped her voice to a murmur so that Runthorne could not quite catch what she said. He did, however, see the gleam of coins passing from one hand to another.

Mrs Turner dropped a deeper bob than before.
“Well, Miss, you are kind to say so,” she said, clearly mollified, “but you shouldn’t let Alice bother you so.”

“
She is never a bother.” Elizabeth smiled and turned her cob’s head. “My lord, would you care to see a little more of our town?”

“
I would be delighted,” he said but, as they headed back to the main street, he paid little attention to the sights. He was too busy puzzling over the odd relationship between Elizabeth Hampton and Alice Turner.

***

The sun was high over their heads before they turned their mounts homeward. They travelled in companionable silence until Elizabeth suddenly pointed to a row of unnatural mounds in the distance.

“
It is said that those low hills over there are burial mounds,” Elizabeth said. She gave an odd, one shouldered shrug that brought a nostalgic smile to Runthorne’s lips. “I have no idea if that is true, but the locals enjoy scaring themselves with stories.”

“
Do you believe them?” He was surprised to find that he was truly curious.

“
Of course not,” Elizabeth said but she did not meet his eye.

He leaned forward in his saddle, dropping his voice to an appropriately sepulchral level.
“‘Do you dare to walk those hills at night when the mists rise up to swallow you down into the depths?’”

Elizabeth
threw back her head and laughed. “I had forgotten,” she said. Then she bit her lip as she thought for a moment. “‘Oh, no, no, no,’” she gasped in a breathy, childish voice. “‘I do not dare, but I must, for if I do not my beloved brother’s life shall be forfeit.’”

He
grinned. It was a nonsense game they had invented, each trying to outdo the other in gothic silliness. He could not imagine playing it with anyone other than Elizabeth. Certainly not Aurelia.

Where had that thought come from?

“‘Should you dare to walk the paths of the dead, should you emerge unscathed from their chilly embrace, then your brother will be returned to you,’” he said, trying to ignore his disquiet. “‘But, beware, should you not escape the icy kiss of your forbears, not only your life but your very soul shall be sacrificed.’”

“‘
Oh,’” Elizabeth mimicked the horrified whimper of the true heroine to perfection. “‘They come, they come.’ Or, at least,” she added in her normal voice glancing over her shoulder, “he comes. Quickly, before we have to speak to him. No, my lord, do not look.”

It was too late.
Runthorne had already turned in his saddle. A tall, exquisitely dressed man rode towards them, mounted on a showy chestnut mare whose coat was the perfect match for her rider’s pomaded hair.

“
Gosh, Miss Hampton, is that you?” He raised his rakishly tilted hat and beamed.

“
As you see, sir.”
Elizabeth appeared resigned to their fate. “Lord Runthorne, may I present Mr Compton. He has a house just beyond those mounds.”

Runthorne
nodded. “‘Amongst the halls of the dead’,” he said.

“
Gosh, what?” Mr Compton’s toothy smile faltered.

“
Miss Hampton was just regaling me with the local history,” he said with, he felt, more patience than the other warranted.

“
Haw. A history man are you? I never quite took to it, not much in the old brain box, you know.” Neither Runthorne nor Elizabeth joined him in his neighing laugh.

“
The Marquess of Runthorne has joined my aunt’s house party,” Elizabeth said into the eventual silence.

“
Capital, capital. Glad to know you, my lord.” Suddenly, Mr Compton’s jaw dropped. “I
say
,” he said. “I say, I say, I say.”

“
So you said,” Elizabeth murmured. Runthorne stifled a chuckle.

“
Are you quite well, Mr Compton?” Runthorne turned in his saddle to see what had caught the Exquisite’s attention.

***

Miss Lacey, perched as graceful as a lily on an elegant palfrey, trotted towards them with Charles in tow. Elizabeth could not help admiring the figure she cut.

The girl
’s trim waist was emphasised by the beautiful tailoring of her habit and made to appear even tinier by the full flare of the skirt. A matching hat was balanced precariously on top of her artfully piled tresses and a single feather curled down to brush her cheek.

“
Runthorne, there you are,” she gushed, fluttering her fingers. Even her gloves were dyed to match her riding habit. Impractical, Elizabeth thought, but so stylish.

She
glanced down at her own, drab habit. It was at least six years out of date and showed a great deal of wear. In her heart she knew that clothes were not the most important thing in the world, little Alice and her family had taught her that. But she could not suppress a twinge of envy.

Miss Lacey
’s mare sidled and she did nothing to calm the animal, merely allowing it to shoulder Stuffy away. Elizabeth sighed. It would seem that the accord she and Lord Runthorne had enjoyed was now at an end. The palfrey continued to shy and dance in place, until he reached down a hand and took the reins.

“
Oh, you are so clever, Runthorne,” Miss Lacey said, “I always feel safe when you are with me.”

“
If you cannot manage a horse, you should not be riding,” he said.

Elizabeth
concentrated on her reins. Miss Lacey had been managing the horse extremely competently. It had not escaped Elizabeth’s notice that she only lost control of the animal when she was close to Lord Runthorne. Just because Elizabeth did not play the game did not mean she did not know the rules.

Or the tactics.

Elizabeth
turned her head away, ashamed at her unkind thoughts, and saw Charles watching her.

“
She will not impress him with that behaviour,” he said.

Elizabeth
decided it would be wise not to comment. “How is it that you are here?”

Miss Lacey
, now positioned between Lord Runthorne and a speechless Mr Compton, nudged her horse into a slow walk. Elizabeth and Charles fell in behind.

“
Miss Lacey informed me it was my gravest duty to accompany her.” Charles gave a wry smile. “I am Runthorne’s friend, after all, so I must dance attendance on his betrothed.”

Elizabeth
glanced at him. “You do not sound best pleased,” she said.

“
Elizabeth, your powers of perception are amazing.”

She
frowned. Charles was usually the most amiable of men, willing to indulge even the silliest of females. It was unlike him to sound so bitter. “Charles, forgive me if I am prying, but what has happened?”

Charles shook his head.
“My apologies, Elizabeth. I am a little annoyed, I admit but it is nothing.” He grinned, suddenly. “I had rather hoped for a more peaceful morning. Miss Granger had promised to show me the library.”

Elizabeth
nodded, understanding. Charles was renowned for his love of books, an odd diversion for a soldier many thought. Indeed, some had called it an affectation, but Elizabeth knew that he had a real appetite for books. However, Miss Lacey’s demands for attention, whilst irritating, would not normally have annoyed Charles to such an extent.

“
If Mary is too busy, perhaps I can show the library to you later today,” she said, “I think you will like it. Captain Maybourne has quite a collection.”

“
I shall look forward to seeing it,” Charles said, but he did not sound as enthusiastic as Elizabeth would have expected.

“
Well, at least Miss Lacey seems happy now,” Elizabeth said. Ahead Lord Runthorne rode silently whilst Mr Compton had revived enough to entertain the Beauty. Some people always seemed to get exactly what they wanted out of life and Elizabeth rather thought Miss Lacey was one of them. She hoped Lord Runthorne would not be made miserable in the process.