Scoundrel (31 page)

Lily’s smile disappeared and she felt her mouth go dry. He looked so very remote today, so very far beyond her reach. “Actually, I’d hoped for just such an opportunity to meet with you today. There are, ah, certain things we must agree on between us.”

“Are there indeed?”

A dangerous light kindled in his eyes and she hurried to explain. “The obvious, of course, will be the courtship. I realize it must end when this weekend is over, but there are additional details to consider. For example, you must not tell my father or Sir Malcolm that you suggested the location of our meeting. I shall simply say that the meeting was entirely my idea, which happens to be the truth, and they will assume I suggested the location as well.”

The corners of Remmington’s mouth lifted. “I find that assumption highly unlikely.”

“Then I will say your chamber sounded like the most logical location. You did have several excellent reasons for meeting there, as I recall. They will sound just as logical when I repeat them as my own.”

“And what will you say when they ask why you wanted to meet with me in the first place?”

“Well… actually, I haven’t quite worked that part out yet.” She lowered her lashes. “I suspect I shall be a coward and lie.”

He tilted her chin up with one finger and captured her gaze. His thumb brushed across her cheek. “Lily, you never cease to amaze me.”

She felt sure her cowardice disgusted him, yet there was an oddly tender look in his eyes. Sophie walked up at that moment with Dr. Alexander in tow.

Sophie glared at Remmington until he let go of Lily’s chin, then she pasted on a bright smile and turned to Dr. Alexander. “This is my friend, Lady Lillian Walters, and her… and the Duke of Remmington. I just know Lady Lillian will want to hear about your experience in the Great Pyramid, Dr. Alexander. We were just discussing the peculiar rash of bad luck that seems to plague certain visitors to that wondrous country.”

“Yes, indeed, Miss Stanhope, there were many strange coincidences that occurred on
my
journey there.” Dr. Alexander lifted Lily’s hand for a kiss, then turned to give Remmington a formal bow. “Your Grace. Miss Stanhope tells me you are new to the study of Egyptology. What do you think of it so far?”

Remmington shrugged. “Who could fail to be impressed after this morning’s discovery?” He stepped aside to make room for Sophie and Dr. Alexander in the bay window.

The windowpanes above Lily’s head suddenly exploded, sending a shower of glass into the room. Remmington reached for Lily in the same moment they heard the gunshot, a distant report that shattered the split second of calm.

The room erupted into chaos. Several men shouted at once, and two women screamed. Remmington jerked Lily to her feet and got her away from the window, behind the protection of the room’s thick outer wall. He held her by the shoulders as his gaze swept over her, a quick, frantic search for injuries. A few splinters of glass clung to her cream-colored gown, but she looked unhurt. His heart began to beat again. He allowed himself a moment to cup her face in his hand, a paltry comfort to the fear that still coursed through him. The bullet had come so close to her! Inches. A few inches and she would be dead. He turned to search for any new danger, careful to keep her protected behind his back.

Dr. Alexander and Sophie still stood before the windows, and he shouted at them to move. They both ignored the order. Glazed, wide-eyed shock held them immobile, as if frozen in that moment of time. Sophie stood closest to Remmington, and he reached over to pull her to safety. Dr. Alexander stared out the window for another moment, then he looked downward, to the red stain that spread along his side. The doctor staggered a step. Remmington rushed forward to lower Alexander to the safety of the floor.

Another blast shattered through the windowpanes.

Acting instinctively, Remmington leaned over the wounded man’s face and tucked his head down to protect them both from the flying fragments of glass. His head turned almost immediately, his gaze instantly on Lily. She nodded, as if she knew he needed the reassurance that she was all right.

Shouts went up inside the house and more yells from outside. Those who hadn’t fled when the shots first rang out remained strangely silent, all but one woman who wept, loud and undignified. Everyone else waited to see what would happen next. People began to look around at one another, and a few lifted their heads to peer at the shattered window.

Lord Holybrook stood up to take control of the situation. From his place near the door, he barked orders to the servants to search the grounds. Worried that Holybrook would get himself shot, Remmington reached behind him and tugged the heavy draperies closed. At least the shooter could no longer see his targets, assuming he hadn’t fled. It took a certain amount of bravery for an assassin to remain in position after the first shot. Only a fool would linger after the second. Remmington hoped for a fool. A fool who would soon hang for his crime.

Holybrook left the room to direct the search. Several men volunteered to join him, an air of suppressed excitement in their expressions.

Typical, Remmington thought. A bored Englishman never turned down a good foxhunt. It obviously didn’t occur to them that they might be of some use at the scene of the crime. Before anyone else thought to demonstrate a misguided sense of duty, he snapped out his orders.

“Lathrop, Sanders, and Bothwell.” He motioned toward a group of young man who stared at him from the floor. “Carry Dr. Alexander to a bed. Lady Holybrook,” he said, turning to look at his hostess. She’d already made her way to Dr. Alexander’s side. “Show them to the doctor’s room and send for a physician.” He glanced over his shoulder at Lily and Sophie. What he saw made him scowl. He fixed his sights on two middle-aged women who crouched near the fireplace. “Lady Penrose and Mrs. Rumford, go to the kitchens and make certain a servant brings hot water, a clean tablecloth, and a good pair of scissors to the Queen’s Chamber.” No one moved. His deep voice bellowed through the room. “You have your orders!”

Lady Penrose and Mrs. Rumford rushed from the room. The men made their way forward to carry Dr. Alexander away. Remmington stalked over to Lily and knelt beside her. Both women were showered with glass splinters, some clinging harmlessly to their dresses, others sprinkled in their hair. Their whispery, floating gowns might be all the fashion, but they’d offered little protection against the deadly shards of glass. Just one small scratch marred Lily’s arm, an injury so minor that earlier he’d overlooked it. Sophie’s injuries looked much worse. She’d suffered a large cut on her arm and a myriad of small scratches, but the three-inch triangle of glass that protruded from her shoulder worried him most. The penetration might be much deeper.

Sophie lay immobile on the floor while Lily did her best to stanch the flow of blood around the wound with the hem of her gown. “The physician needs to look at Sophie’s shoulder,” Lily said in an even voice. Her calm demeaner impressed him. The sight of Sophie’s injury would make most women faint, but Lily seemed to realize this was no time for hysterics. “The glass will be easier to remove if he gives her laudanum beforehand.”

“Alexander needs the physician more than Sophie at this moment.” His voice was harsher than he’d intended, but Lily didn’t seem to take offense. He nudged Lily aside and carefully lifted Sophie into his arms. “I’m taking her to the Queen’s Chamber. Lily, I want you to stay dose by my side where I can see you.”

The billiards room was nearly empty now. Only a handful of people still huddled on the floor. Others had fled when Remmington pulled the drapes. Harry appeared in the doorway just as they left the room. His face paled when he caught sight of Sophie’s wound.

“My God.” His gaze met Remmington’s. “I had just ducked into the library for a spot of brandy when I heard the shots. What can I do to help?”

“Find one of my men and send them to my chamber upstairs.” He brushed past Harry and didn’t stop again until he reached the Queen’s Chamber. There he carefully laid Sophie on the bed. “Lily, find a chemise or a nightgown to hold near the wound and another for her arm, more if you have them.”

“Just take it out,” Sophie whispered. She looked down at her shoulder. “It hurts terribly.”

“The doctor will be here soon,” Lily said, as she patted Sophie’s uninjured arm.

“Lily, do as I say.” Remmington grabbed Sophie’s hand as she reached for her shoulder. “Don’t touch it.”

Lily brought over two nightgowns and he wrapped one around Sophie’s arm and tied it in place with a ribbon.

“I’m going to take it out now,” he told Sophie. “It might cause more damage if we leave it in.”

He braced one hand against her good shoulder to pin her body to the bed. After a quick examination of the wound site, he grasped the shard of glass and carefully pulled it free. Sophie moaned as he did it, but she remained stiff and didn’t fight him.

“Good girl,” he murmured. After a quick look at the long, bloody shard, he tossed the glass aside and placed the second nightgown over her shoulder, his palm pressed down hard to put pressure on the wound. “All of it came out. It’s a clean wound, but deep. I’m going to keep my hand on your shoulder until the bleeding slows.”

“We have everything you asked for,” Lady Penrose announced from the doorway. Mrs. Rumford followed her into the room, then a maid who carried a bucket of steaming water.

“I want you and Mrs. Rumford to help Lady Lillian,” he said to Lady Penrose. “You will have to cut Miss Stanhope’s clothing away so the physician can stitch the wound. You,” he told the maid. “Find out where Lady Holybrook keeps the laudanum and bring it back here with a glass of something to drink it with.”

The maid bobbed a quick curtsy and disappeared through the door. Lady Penrose and Mrs. Rumford hovered near the end of the bed.

“Come, ladies. Who has the scissors?”

“I do.” Mrs. Rumford held up a pair of scissors. “Your Grace, you cannot stay here. We have to remove Miss Stanhope’s clothing.”

“She will bleed to death if I leave.” He released an impatient sigh, then nodded to Lady Penrose. “Get the coverlet from my bed across the hall. You can use that to preserve Miss Stanhope’s modesty.”

Lily took the scissors from Mrs. Rumford and started cutting away one of Sophie’s sleeves while Lady Penrose retrieved the coverlet. Through the open doorway, Remmington saw Harry and one of his outriders in the hall. He motioned them into the room with a jerk of his head.

“Come closer,” he told the outrider. He murmured an order only the outrider could hear that sent him from the room again. To Harry, he said, “Did they catch him?”

Harry shook his head. “Jack and two of your outriders are in pursuit, as well as Lord Holybrook’s servants and a few of the more adventurous guests. One of the gardeners saw a man ride off a few minutes after the shooting, but it sounds as if he had a good head start.”

Remmington lowered his voice so Sophie wouldn’t overhear their conversation. “Make sure Lord Holybrook knows that Miss Stanhope needs the physician’s services just as soon as he’s done with Dr. Alexander. In fact, tell him the wound is very likely as serious.”

“The physician is tending Dr. Alexander now,” Harry said, his voice just as quiet. “Holybrook had invited him to stay the weekend in case Lady Orwell’s gout acted up. A rather fortunate coincidence, as it turns out. I will make sure someone tells the physician he has a second patient.”

Harry left at the same time the maid arrived with the laudanum. The outrider followed her into the room, holding something bulky under his coat. Lady Penrose took charge of the laudanum while Lily and Mrs. Rumbford continued to cut Sophie’s clothing away beneath the coverlet. Busy at their tasks, the women didn’t notice when the outrider handed a pair of pistols to Remmington. He tucked them within easy reach under the bed, then ordered the outrider to stand guard in the hallway. Lady Penrose held up the bottle of laudanum and squinted through the green glass at its contents. She poured a dose into the glass of water, took another measurement of the bottle, then poured another splash of laudanum into the glass. Remmington sincerely hoped she knew the difference between the dose that would calm and the dose that would kill.

“That’s enough, Lady Penrose.” Lily obviously shared his concern, yet she continued to work with brisk efficiency, her movements steady and sure while Mrs. Rumford hovered at her shoulder, hesitant and uncertain. Remmington knew that if he ever fell victim to a serious injury, he wanted Lily at his side. She knew how to handle herself in a crisis.

“Could you prop her up a little?” Lady Penrose asked.

Sophie’s face was stark with pain, her mouth set in a tight line, but she managed to drink the medicine. “Grim stuff,” she said, with a soft moan as Remmington laid her down again. She turned her head toward him. “It isn’t over yet, is it?”

He regarded her for a moment in silence, then slowly shook his head.

“I suspected as much.” Her voice was weak, her skin pale already from loss of blood. “Does it need to be sealed?”

“I don’t think so,” he told her. The news made Sophie visibly relax. “The laudanum will take effect in a few minutes. That will help ease your pain.”

“I don’t think I can watch,” Lady Penrose whispered.

Remmington’s mouth quirked downward. “You and Mrs. Rumford may leave. Thank you, ladies, for your assistance. “

The two women didn’t argue. They made a hasty exit.