The Gamekeeper's Lady (20 page)

Should she trust in Snively’s assurances that all would be well or her own instinct to run?

This was like one of Shakespeare’s plays where everyone pretended to be someone else. The only thing she knew for sure was that if she didn’t leave England she might never have her chance to learn her craft. And yet Snively had always been a good friend and right now he looked terribly upset.

She huffed a sigh. ‘Very well. I’ll wait one day to read this letter. But no matter what happens, I am leaving right afterwards.’

‘Fair dos,’ Snively said, looking hugely relieved. ‘I’ll go find us a ship. In the meantime, lay low.’ He pushed to his feet with a grunt.

‘Thank you.’

He rubbed his chin. ‘Your pa paid me well for this job, miss. But after all these years watching over you from a distance, I’ve come to think of you as one of my own.’

She reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘Thank you, Mr Snively. I do wish you’d tell who my father is so it won’t come as too much of a surprise.’ Or a horrid shock.

‘I gave my word. Tomorrow is soon enough, never you fear.’ His dark eyes twinkled. ‘Now when have I ever steered you wrong?’

She took a deep breath. Tomorrow it would be.

‘Radthorn!’

On his perch at the back of John’s curricle, Robert cringed at the sound of his mother’s voice. His heart plummeted. ‘Pretend you don’t see her,’ Robert hissed in John’s ear, careful to keep his head low.

‘Can’t,’ John muttered, neatly pulling into the curb on Bond Street. ‘Take their heads, Parks,’ he said in a louder voice.

Robert leaped down, and, keeping the horses between him and the diminutive lady on the footpath, ran to the bridles. He shifted so he could see his mother as she raised her face to look at his friend. She looked elegant as always, but beneath her jaunty red-plumed bonnet her face seemed more lined than Robert remembered. More careworn. Damn Charlie. Or was it the girls running her ragged? He prayed she didn’t look hagged because of him.

‘I didn’t think you were due in town for another week, John?’ she said, her voice calm and cool. ‘How is your grandmother?’

‘Very well, your Grace.’

‘And you, Robert?’ she said, raising her voice. ‘Why have you not called to see me?’

Startled, Robert jerked the bridle. He must have been mistaken. She couldn’t possibly recognise him like this. He patted the horse’s flank.

‘You jobbed at the bits,’ Mother scolded, appearing at the curb in front of him.

John’s rueful chuckle carried above the noises in the street while Robert drank in the sight of his beloved mother’s face, her fine grey eyes holding sadness and pleasure, her lips curved in an encouraging smile.

His throat burned and his arms longed to hug her slim shoulders. ‘Father won’t like it if you acknowledge me,’ he said roughly, bitterly.

Her eyes widened. She drew in a quick breath. ‘I knew you’d had an argument, but I thought it was you who left in a temper. Charlie hasn’t looked me in the eye since.’

Charlie wouldn’t. He’d agreed with Father. ‘You had best move on,’ he said, seeing her footman lingering a few yards farther down the pavement.

‘Come home with me, to Meadowbrook, and I’ll talk to the Duke. Sort it out.’

A lump rose in his throat. He swallowed and shook his head. ‘Please go, your Grace, before someone sees you talking to a groom and gets suspicious about the low company you keep. I certainly don’t want another episode like the one at White’s.’

Her gaze took in his garb and her eyes filled with pity. He felt ashamed to cut such a disreputable figure in her presence. ‘I’m so angry with your father,’ she said softly. ‘How you must have suffered. Come home. I’ll make him put it right.’

He stiffened, the events of that day rushing through his veins like poison. ‘What happened was my own fault, Mother. I must be the one to make it right. But what Father said…well, I’m sorry, it was unforgivable.’

‘As proud as ever.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘We cannot talk here. Your father is still at Meadowbrook. I came to town to visit an old friend who is ill. Call on me in the morning at the town house.’

‘I’m in a bit of a scrape. I will not bring more disgrace to the family.’ He couldn’t help his smile. ‘Are the girls well? How is Hal?’ The youngest son, born long after the other children and most beloved by his father.

Her eyes misted. ‘All are well. They miss you.’

His throat felt raw and full. ‘I miss them too. And Charlie?’

She shook her head. ‘He went to Durn on business.’

‘Good God.’ Durn was the gloomiest of the Duke’s properties, located in the wilds of Yorkshire. No one ever went to Durn willingly.

Mother smiled wearily. ‘I worry for him. He is not happy.’

A chill entered Robert’s chest. ‘I’m supposed to feel sorry for him?’ He headed back to his seat.

Mother looked up at John over the horses’ backs. ‘I’m glad you found him for me, John. Keep him safe.’

‘Always at your service, your Grace,’ John said. He flicked his leader with his whip and the curricle moved out into the traffic. Robert stared straight ahead, not daring to look back in case he did something rash like leaping down and giving her a hug. No doubt some bright spark would take him by the collar to the nearest constable for assaulting a lady.

‘Damn,’ he muttered.

‘Quite,’ John said. ‘Bloody well, quite.’

And damn him for a fool for getting tangled in another woman’s toils. And still he kept not wanting to believe what she’d done.

They left Mayfair and entered the city. Here the bustle was all about commerce, the businessmen purposeful and the poor more ragged. John pulled up outside a well-maintained bow-fronted office with a sign proudly proclaiming the name of Mr Edward Bliss. A fellow leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the street ran a knowing eye over the horses. ‘Hold ’em for you, mister?’

‘Get a move on, Parks,’ John chortled.

Robert glowered. ‘Ask if either of them have visited,’ he muttered and leaped down to take the nags’ heads.

John stabbed his whip in the holder and stepped down. In the unhurried saunter of the polished gentleman, he entered the solicitor’s office.

The wall-lounger sloped off.

John was back in less than a moment. He shook his head imperceptibly. Robert wasn’t surprised. Neither Snively nor Frederica was a fool. Still, he’d had to try.

‘You didn’t say who was asking?’ he said, when they were on their way again.

‘As we agreed,’ John said. ‘Where now?’

‘Drop me off at the Angel. I’ll start by looking in all the inns within walking distance of here. And then try farther afield.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘There isn’t a prig in the City who will talk to you looking like that,’ Robert said. ‘And besides, I want you to check on ships to Italy. See if any left in the last day or two and if any are due to sail within the next few days.’

‘Do you want me to look at the list of passengers?’ John said, grinning over his shoulder, then executing a nice weave between a baker’s van and a hackney.

‘Thank you,’ Robert said with feeling.

‘What are friends for? You don’t know how I kicked myself after that meeting outside White’s.’

‘Water under the bridge and far out to sea,’ Robert said, clapping him on the shoulder, then cursing as he realised his
faux pas.

John laughed. ‘I’ll leave these tits with the groom at the inn and we’ll begin the hunt.’

A knock sounded at the door. Mindful of Snively’s strictures, Frederica approached it cautiously, listening. ‘Who is it?’

‘Chambermaid, miss. To make up the fire.’

The voice was familiar. Betty had been in and out several times during the day. Frederica turned the key and stepped back.

The maid bustled in with a coal scuttle. ‘A man was asking after you and the other gentleman, miss. Described you he did.’

Frederica’s heart gave a warning thump. ‘What man?’

‘Young ’un. Handsome too.’

‘What did you tell him?’ They had given false names at the inn.

‘Nothing, miss. As your friend requested. Thought I better let you know.’ The girl emptied half her bucket on the embers in the grate and poked at them vigorously.

The thumping in her chest picked up speed. ‘Yes. Thank you.’ She fumbled in her reticule and found some coins. Her fingers encountered Snively’s pistol primed and ready to fire.

The girl rose to her feet. ‘Will that be all, mum?’

Frederica nodded and pressed a sixpence in the girl’s ready palm.

‘Tell no one I am here.’

‘No, miss.’

Frederica opened the door and the girl and her coal scuttle slipped out.

Frederica swung the door closed. It stopped short of the frame. The toe of a scuffed brown boot appeared in the crack.

Frederica backed away, watching the door swing open.

‘Miss Bracewell. This is a pleasure,’ said a voice full of anger.

Chapter Eleven

‘
R
-Robert?’ Frederica sat down heavily on the sofa instead of running and throwing her arms around his neck as she wanted, because this was the Robert of weeks ago. Dark. Aloof. He looked as if he wanted to throttle her. ‘What are you d-doing here?’

He stalked in, his eyes raging, his expression murderous. ‘You didn’t think you’d get away with it, did you? That I’d accept your blame?’

He kicked the door shut with his heel and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Or did you think I wouldn’t find out until they had me clapped up in prison?’

Her heart thumped madly against her ribs. ‘I don’t know what you mean. I helped you escape.’

His lip curled in disgust. ‘While you and Snively helped yourself to his lordship’s family heirlooms.’

She gasped, shocked by the fury in his eyes as much as his words. She gulped a breath. ‘Don’t be r-ridiculous.’

‘Then you won’t mind coming with me to the magistrate and clearing this whole thing up, will you?’

She clutched her reticule against her chest, felt the weight of the pistol inside. Snively had warned her that she had enemies in the Bracewells, but she hadn’t expected Robert to be one of them too. Trying to look natural, unconcerned, she tucked the reticule between her and the sofa arm, fiddling with the strings as she spoke. ‘You are talking in riddles. Isn’t it rather dangerous for you here in London? Or did Lady Caldwell keep her promise and have the charges dropped?’

He snorted. ‘You know very well there is little Maggie can do about what you and your partner in crime have laid at my door. You are coming with me to Bow Street and you are going to admit the whole wretched scheme. Where is the silver? Have you sold it?’

‘Silver?’

‘The Wynchwood family plate you and Snively ran off with.’

He was talking nonsense, but she did not doubt his intention to hand her over to the authorities.

She eased her hand inside her reticule and gripped the pistol firmly. ‘I took nothing that was not mine.’

‘Don’t play the innocent with me. I know better, don’t I?’

Heat rose to her cheeks. He made everything sound so horrid. Sordid. She might have known he’d use her past against her. Everyone did.

She drew out the pistol and cocked it with her thumb, just as Snively had shown her.

Robert started back. Then he grinned, an unpleasant curl of his lips. ‘You don’t think I’m scared of that little pop?’

Her hand shook. Her heart galloped. She felt hot all over. Shoot Robert? She couldn’t. She just needed to hold him at bay until Snively came. She levelled the pistol at his chest and swallowed. ‘In the r-right spot, it will do significant d-damage,’ she said, her voice shaking.

He took a step towards her.

‘Stay where you are.’
Don’t make me do this.

He lunged and knocked the pistol aside, then wrenched it from her hand. ‘If you are going to threaten a man with a pistol, you had better fire it right away.’ He released the cock and slipped the pistol in his pocket.

She crumpled against the sofa back, a little ashamed of her cowardice and a lot relieved. She couldn’t have shot him, no matter what. ‘I won’t go back. I would sooner you shot me than marry Simon.’

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Damn Simon. Where is the silver? Tell me the truth or I swear you are going straight to Bow Street. You and your accomplice.’

She glared down her nose at him. ‘We did not take any silver.’

‘Are you telling me Snively did this without your knowledge?’

He was shouting. She struck the sofa cushion with her fist. ‘You are mad. I’m no thief, any more than you are. And anyway, what concern is it of yours if I did take the silver?’

His jaw hardened. His voice lowered to a growl. ‘You made it my business when you let them think I’d taken you with me. I am charged with abduction.’

She gasped. ‘What?’

‘When they found me gone and you gone, they assumed I had stolen you away, just as you planned.’

‘No!’

‘They found the evidence you left, my hat, blood, and the silver gone. You must have taken it.’

‘We didn’t.’ She stared at him. ‘Why would Uncle Mortimer make it look as if we had stolen the silverware?’

A startled expression crossed his face. ‘Your uncle lied?’

‘What else can it be? I swear to you, I came away from Wynchwood with nothing but the clothes on my back and my portfolio.’

Anger leached from his face, leaving only mortification, his cheekbones stained red. ‘Oh, hell,’ he said. He passed a hand over his face. ‘I thought…Forgive me.’

He looked so devastated that she nodded, though she wasn’t sure how she felt after his accusations.

He sat down beside her on the sofa, his eyes full of regret. ‘Could Lullington have taken it to pay Maggie’s debts?’

Maggie. As before, the casual use of his lover’s name made her chest squeeze. Jealousy, when she had no right to be jealous. She forced herself to think, instead of feeling hurt. ‘The silver isn’t worth much at all. And he could have had it without stealing it, too. Simon would have been only too glad to settle his debts with some old plates and cutlery.’

‘Bloody hell.’

She frowned. ‘They are saying you abducted me?’

‘It appears so.’ He laughed softly, and shook his head. ‘You know my father always predicted I’d come to a bad end.’

He sounded so resigned it hurt her to hear it.

‘I will go to Bow Street,’ she said bravely. ‘Tell them I’m safe and say I stole the silver.’

He picked up her hand and kissed the back. The brief brush of his lip sent a hot shiver down her back. ‘If you do that you’ll be forced back to Wynchwood. I thought you might be on a ship to Italy by now.’

And she would have been, if Snively hadn’t been so excised about her father’s letter.

‘Where does Snively fit into all of this?’ Robert said. ‘Is he another of your lovers? Was
he
your first?’ He spoke lightly, as if he didn’t care, but she heard an edge of distaste.

A horrid feeling invaded the pit of her stomach. It writhed as if full of snakes. It was her fault he thought her a bawd, but the suggestion made her feel sullied. She wanted to tell him to leave. But he was knee deep in her midden and he deserved the truth. ‘We aren’t lovers. Mr Snively is…was employed by my father to watch over me until the terms of my uncle’s guardianship ended.’ She raised her gaze to meet his. ‘It seems my father left a letter that I am to receive on my twenty-fifth birthday. It will reveal his identity. Quite truthfully, I’m not sure I care, but Mr Snively thinks it is important and he also thinks my uncle somehow learned of its existence.’

Robert frowned as he listened to her explanation. ‘All this fuss and intrigue over a letter? Where is this letter?’

‘A solicitor called Bliss—’

Robert straightened. ‘The name Bracewell let slip in Radthorn’s presence.’

‘Then Mr Snively is right. My uncle has learned of the letter’s existence.’ Her shoulders drooped, but she forced a smile. ‘It is odd of my uncle to go to such lengths to keep me from learning my father’s identity, when I’d almost prefer not to know. I would have left as soon as I have my money from the publisher, but Mr Snively has his heart set on my making an appearance at the solicitor’s office in the morning.’

She got up and paced to the window, standing to one side to look out.

‘Mr Snively believes that if my uncle catches me before his authority ends, he will do anything to marry me to my cousin,’ she said quietly.

Anger surged in his veins. ‘Against your will?’

She nodded. ‘Uncle Mortimer could have me declared incompetent and locked away until I agree.’ Her lips twisted in an unusually bitter line. ‘After all, what gently bred woman wants to run off to Italy and p-p-paint when she could m-marry and have children and be happy.’

Robert felt sick hearing almost his own words.

Her eyes darkened, became huge in her face. ‘Or they might use my mother’s promiscuity against me.’ She raised her gaze to meet his. ‘Lady Caldwell no doubt guessed about us.’

‘Damnation, this is a pretty tangle.’ His voice sounded harsh. He wanted to offer aid, but had none to give. As a wanted man, he could barely help himself. ‘Where is Snively now?’

‘Booking a passage to Italy. He has a friend watching for my uncle outside the solicitor’s office.’

The wall-lounger, no doubt. ‘Snively should know your uncle is on his way.’

Robert watched her pace around the room, forcing himself to remain where he was instead of taking her in his arms. He was a complication she could not afford.

‘I should leave London tonight,’ she muttered. ‘Forget about the letter. My father never wanted me any more than my mother did. I was an embarrassment when I was born and nothing has changed.’

‘And yet you are curious to know who he is.’

‘Curiosity killed the cat,’ she murmured softly. The tragic set to her mouth made his stomach sink. There was something here he didn’t quite understand.

The door slammed back.

Robert leaped to his feet, his hand going for the pistol in his pocket. Too late.

Snively, looking belligerent, had a pistol pointed at Robert’s chest.

‘To what do we owe this pleasure, Deveril?’

‘Is this a private party?’ another voice said and John entered with a pistol pointed at Snively. ‘Or can anyone join?’

‘Oh, r-really,’ Frederica said. ‘I have never seen anything so r-ridiculous. Come in, Lord R-Radthorn, and close the door before we have the whole inn crowding in here with loaded weapons.’

A rare grin creased the corners of Snively’s eyes. He tucked his pistol in his pocket. Robert gave John a nod, and his friend did the same.

‘It appears we have a problem,’ Frederica said to Snively. ‘Robert has been accused of running off from Wynchwood with me and the silver.’

Snively pinched his lower lip between this thumb and forefinger. ‘Aye. So I hear at Bow Street. They, too, are watching the solicitor’s office for both of you.’

‘Wynchwood must have laid information against me,’ Robert said. ‘He must have reached Town.’

‘Could be Lullington,’ John said.

Robert wanted to curse. ‘We need a plan.’

At almost midnight, the private parlour was stuffy. Frederica looked pale and at the end of her tether. Robert felt as if he hadn’t slept for a week.

‘All r-right,’ Frederica said. ‘So we have all agreed on what we cannot do. Does anyone have any idea of how we should p-proceed?’

The other men, Radthorn and Snively, stopped arguing and looked at her.

‘They are watching Bliss’s office at all points of the compass,’ Snively pointed out. ‘There is no way into the building without being seen.’

‘Why not a ladder?’ Radthorn said. ‘Wait until the small hours, climb in through a window. Miss Wynch-wood could walk down the stairs from the inside first thing in the morning.
Voilà.’

‘A baby could spot a ladder,’ Snively said scornfully. ‘What about a disguise?’

‘I have an idea,’ Robert said. It had been niggling away in his mind all evening. But it was risky. Everyone looked at him expectantly. ‘A decoy.’

Snively frowned. ‘What sort of decoy?’

‘Someone disguised to look like Miss Wynchwood trying to look like someone else,’ Robert said.

John gave a soft whistle through his teeth. Snively looked thoroughly mystified.

Swiftly, Robert organised his thoughts. ‘We dress another woman to look like Miss Bracewell in disguise. One of us will escort that woman along the street. The watchers will spot the decoy and give pursuit when she runs off, giving the real Miss Bracewell the opportunity to slip inside the office unseen.’

‘It might just work,’ John mused. ‘Lullington will be the hardest to fool.’

Snively perked up. ‘I can make a bit of a diversion in the street. Make ’em really confused.’

‘We will need someone of Miss Bracewell’s height and build,’ John said. ‘Make her look as if she is wearing a disguise, while Miss Bracewell should look ordinary.’

‘Puts Miss Bracewell at terrible risk,’ Snively said heavily.

They all stared at Frederica and her face went bright red. ‘What about the chambermaid?’

‘The lass who let me in earlier?’ Robert mused. ‘She’s about your height and build. Do you think you could charm her into helping us, John?’

John snorted. ‘Along with the promise of a guinea or two.’

‘We’ll need a hat with a veil and a heavy cloak,’ Snively added.

‘For me?’ Frederica asked.

‘No,’ Robert said. ‘You will look like any other woman out shopping. Perhaps a close-brimmed bonnet to hide your face, but that is all. I think this will work.’ For weeks he’d felt as if he’d been marking time, going through the motions of living, except for the interludes with Frederica. Now energy coursed through his veins. ‘John, find the maid. Snively, your diversion will have to be big enough to distract the men waiting in front of the office.’

‘Leave it to me.’

‘Then we will plan for mid-afternoon when the streets are crowded. I will go there ahead of time to see if I can spot them and their locations. We will meet back here around midday. Are we agreed?’

Heads nodded.

‘Tomorrow, then, gentlemen.’

Despite her cheerful front, Robert worried that all was not well with Frederica. When her blush had subsided, she’d looked paler than before. Her eyes showed strain.

He hung back as the room cleared. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m sorry you got dragged into my troubles.’ Her brave smile pierced his heart. ‘Whatever happens, you must not take any chances. I could not bear it if you were arrested.’

‘A duke’s son doesn’t get arrested,’ he said with a smile and a note of confidence he didn’t quite feel. ‘Or at least, not for long.’ He reached out and took her hand. Her fingers were icy, chilled to the bone, despite the warmth of the room. ‘You are freezing.’ He drew her nearer the fire and stirred the coals.

She shivered again and stretched her fingers against the heat. ‘Robert…’ she smiled up at him ‘…thank you for trying to help me.’

The words held real gratitude. The look of longing in her eyes as she gazed at him weakened his resolve to leave at once and seek lodgings with John. It seemed with this woman, he had no will. ‘It is no more than any man would do.’ He spoke briskly, matter-of-factly, in case she read his longing to pull her close and kiss away her fears.