A Kiss in the Dark (18 page)

“I did not see Sandy about,” he said after curt greetings had been exchanged.

“He is upstairs, patrolling the hall,” Cressida replied. “Can I help you, Dauntry?”

“A glass of wine would not go amiss.”

That was not her meaning, but she was obliged to pour him a glass of wine. She had hoped to discover what he wanted, do it quickly, and be rid of him.

Miss Wantage was just suggesting a game of Pope Joan, when Sandy was heard in the hallway. Fearing that Antonia was not far behind, since she did not know of her brother’s arrival, Cressida jumped up and dashed into the hall.

“Tell Lady Harold her brother is here,” she whispered to Muffet, whom she had taken into her confidence. “And put the dog out, Muffet.”

“His lordship told me he has stationed his three footmen around the doors. How are you to get the lassie smuggled out, missy?”

“She is not due to leave for nearly two hours. I shall be rid of Dauntry long before that. We shall have to distract a footman while she leaves.”

She returned in a flurried state to find Miss Wantage drawing a deck of cards out of her sewing box.

“Now that we are four, we can have a few hands of whist,” she announced. “Lord Dauntry prefers whist to Pope Joan.”

Miss Wantage could drag a game of whist out for hours. “I do not feel like cards this evening,” Cressida said. “In fact, I have a slight migraine.” She looked hopefully at her caller, to see if this got him from his seat.

Dauntry was looking a question at her. He had sensed a lack of warmth in her greeting, and wondered at it. He began to outline where he had placed each footman, and how they were to patrol the house by turn, with Sandy prowling loose as well.

“Let us check the windows as well, to be perfectly safe,” he said with a sapient look to Cressida.

She sensed that he wished to be alone with her, but was so eager for him to leave that she ignored it. “Muffet has checked the windows,” she replied.

‘‘You recall the misunderstanding about the library door the night Tory went up to the castle,” Miss Wantage reminded her. “It might be a good idea to just check the library and see she has not left it ajar again. There is no counting on servants to do anything.”

Before Cressida could object, Dauntry rose and held out a commanding hand to her. She rose stiffly to accompany him.

As they walked toward the library, he said, “Have I accidentally stumbled into the ice house instead of the dower house?”

“It has been a trying day,” she said, and opened the library door into a dark room.

Dauntry found the tinderbox and lit two lamps. Cressida went to check the handle of the door and gave a shriek of alarm. A pair of close-set eyes peered in through the glass of the French doors, giving her a fright. Dauntry was immediately behind her, his arms protectively around her shoulders.

“It is Gaunt, my footman,” he said. “You really are a bundle of nerves tonight. I told you he was there.” Gaunt nodded and moved away from the door into the shadows.

Dauntry turned her around to face him, still holding on to her shoulders. “Is it just fear of the intruder that upsets you?” he asked, gazing at her with shadowed eyes.

“I have other things on my mind,” she said distractedly.

“Other things, or other people?”

She gave a guilty start. Did he know Antonia was here? “What do you mean?” she asked nervously.

“To be more precise, I mean another person. Specifically, the duke.”

“The duke?” she asked, surprised. “I have not given him a thought since coming here.”

His harsh features softened to pleasure. “Well, that is some small consolation at least. Cressida, I think you know—”

She heard a sound at the doors leading outside, and glancing at them, she saw Sandy pawing the glass, while the footman attempted to pull him away.

Dauntry had come determined to speak, but between the unexpected audience and the lady’s state of distraction, he found it uphill work. He took a deep breath to make one more effort.

“I think you know how I feel about you,” he said.

Cressida could not like his timing, but she felt a jolt of pleasure jar her heart. Her lips trembled open, and she gazed at him expectantly. His hands slid down from her shoulders to draw her into his arms.

“Well now!” an exasperated voice announced from the doorway into the corridor. Turning, they saw Tory squinting her eyes at them. “I can see I came at a bad time,” she said with an apologetic glance at her mistress, “but there is a bit of trouble abovestairs, milady.”

“What sort of trouble?” Cressida asked. Antonia! What could have happened to her?

“No need to get into a fit, milady, if I could just have a moment of your time. It is about Sandy. Hasn’t he gone and chewed the toe out of a blue kid slipper.”

“Surely that can wait until later,” Dauntry said at his most daunting.

Tory fixed her mistress with a commanding eye. “How is a lady to go out with only one slipper?”

It was Antonia’s slipper that had been destroyed, then. She was preparing for flight and had no other shoes to wear.

She gave Dauntry a conning smile. “You quite underestimate the importance of a lady’s slippers, milord. I shall come at once, Tory.”

“I knew I did not stand high in your estimation, but I had not thought an old shoe took precedence over—”

“But they were my very favorite slippers. Do not let me detain you, Dauntry. I am sure you have more important things to do. We shall be quite safe with your footmen. Good night.”

“I shall make a tour of the house and return— after you have tended to your slipper.”

On this angry speech he went out.

“I’m that sorry, milady, for I can see you are making great time with his lordship,” Tory said, “but Lady Antonia—I ought to call her Lady Harold, but never mind. She has flown into a fit of tears about her shoe. We tried a pair of yours—I knew you would not begrudge her one pair when you have nine sitting in your room—but she could put both her dainty little feet into one of yours. She says she cannot go barefoot on her wedding trip, and who shall blame her? Miss Wantage’s are even larger, and us servants have nothing fine enough for a lady.”

“Send Jennet to the castle to bring a pair of Antonia’s own slippers down here. The cook there knows she is here.”

“The very thing. But Jennet is busy trying to keep Lady Antonia’s wailing down to a roar. I’ll send the backhouse boy.”

“And I shall try to think of some excuse to be rid of Dauntry. It is clear we will never get Antonia bounced off while he is here.”

“You must do it, but do it gentle. His lordship has a bit of a temper. Used to getting his own way.”

"Yes, I had noticed,” Cressida said.

“While you are in spirits, milady, I have a confession to make. Circumstances obliged me to tell you a small white lie. About counting the spoons after Lord Harold’s visit—it was no such a thing. I wouldn’t want you to think him light-fingered. It was to make you believe he was Melbury, you see. I knew you’d learn his little ways sooner or later. The untruth has been bothering me,” she said piously.

“I quite understand, Tory,” Cressida said, and went upstairs.

Cressida found Antonia in the rose guest chamber, examining a well-chewed slipper. She held it up to show her hostess when she entered. “Oh, milady, only see what Sandy has done. Did Tory tell you?”

“Indeed she did. Tory has sent in secret to the castle for another pair of slippers. Dauntry was here, and may be returning, so you must be very careful not to come downstairs. He has posted footmen at all the doors as well.”

“Why do you need a footman at the doors? You have a butler.”

“It is because of Lord Harold’s breaking in last night. He gave us quite a fright.”

Antonia giggled. “Fancy anyone guarding the doors against Harold! His head will be big as a pumpkin when I tell him. Now that you know it was only Harold, you do not require the guards at the doors.”

“That is true,” Cressida replied, “but if I turn them off, Dauntry will want to know why, and you do not want him to know Harold and you are back.”

“You must not tell him! We would never hear the end of it. But how am I to get away unseen, with footmen who have known me forever standing guard?” she asked, her lower lip already quivering in disappointment.

“We shall create a diversion at one of the doors to distract the footman. Beau will make some fuss. Best to do it before Dauntry returns, I think. You slip out while Beau keeps the footman busy. Beau will meet you and take you to the edge of the road to wait for Harold.”

The quivering lip steadied just before lifting in a smile. “How exciting! It is just like an elopement.”

Cressida encouraged this mood. The poor girl would have a longish wait, and needed the excitement to keep up her spirits.

While awaiting the delivery of the slippers, Antonia had Jennet pack her bandbox. As soon as the slippers arrived, she put them on and crept to the head of the staircase to await her escape.

Belowstairs, Beau and Cressida met to discuss the matter. To escape Miss Wantage, who was bound to put in her oar and create difficulties, they went to the library, pretending to discuss sailing. Other than condemning the yacht wholesale as a monstrous waste of money and an invitation to drowning, Miss Wantage took no interest in it. It was arranged that Beau would go out for a stroll, leaving by the library door, and letting the footman see him. When he got beyond Gaunt’s view, he would shout and thrash about, pretending he had been attacked, to draw Gaunt from the door to his rescue. Antonia would then slip out unseen, hide in the bushes, and wait for Beau to join her.

“Gaunt will be with me by then. I shall have to continue my stroll after being attacked. I am a brave soul,” Beau said, “venturing back out into the night after being set upon by a band of thugs.”

“You are right. No one would believe it,” Cressida said, frowning.

“Thank you very much!”

“No, it will not fadge, Beau. I must slip out with Antonia and accompany her down to the main road to wait for Harold while you distract Gaunt.”

“What if Dauntry comes back asking for you?”

“Tell him I have gone to bed with a headache. I have already complained of one.”

“But that leaves two ladies waiting on the roadside an hour in the dark, and you are left all alone to return from the main road after Antonia leaves. Better for you to go out and make the racket to distract Gaunt, and I shall slip out with Antonia and accompany her to wait for Harold.”

“I believe you are right. Yes, that is what we will do. The only problem is how I am to get out of the house to create this racket. I can hardly go out for a stroll alone at night. I need an excuse.”

“You shall require a breath of air, we go out together, I shall say I want to blow a cloud and walk Gaunt a little away from the door, you run beyond sight and holler. When we run to your aid, Antonia sneaks out. You blushingly admit you was scared by your own shadow and nip back inside. I go on for my stroll to finish my cigar, and meet up with Antonia.”

“Yes, and we shall extinguish the lamps in the library to keep the doorway nice and dark. I shall wear a dark mantle as well.”

Cressida thought about it a moment, envisaging the scene in her head, then said, “It begins to sound like a French farce. All we require is a few more doors and some lovers to hide behind them. Never mind, it will have to do.”

They went over their plan a few times, Cressida got her dark mantle, then had Antonia smuggled down to the library, where they had extinguished the lights so Gaunt could not see in. The plan began auspiciously enough, although the darkness outside was a little frightening when they first stepped out. As her eyes became accustomed to the dark, Cressida could see the park spreading before her, spotted with darker shadows that were trees and bushes. A pale white moon looked down from the black heavens. The breeze from the sea was chilly.

Beau offered Gaunt a cigar, and they stepped off a few paces to protect Lady deCourcy from the smoke. She began to walk away from the house into the park, toward the shadowed concealment of the spreading elm, where she stopped. No, she must go a little farther, though it really was rather frightening. The library door was easily distinguishable from there, if Gaunt should chance to look. The leaves above, stirred by the breeze, emitted a menacing hiss.

She was just about to continue, when a form came lunging out from behind the tree to attack her. She felt her arms being seized and pulled roughly behind her. Fear jolted her heart, momentarily holding her speechless with terror. Who could it be? Was it Harold, come early? No, he could not be here yet. She couldn’t see her attacker, who was behind her, but she felt the rough strength in his hands and arms. Her heart banged in her throat.

She was just summoning breath and courage to shout, when the strong hands on her arms suddenly loosened their grip. Why had he let her go? She emitted one ear-splitting scream, then jerked away and began to run. Her attacker grabbed the tail of her mantle and pulled her back roughly.

“Cressida?” the man asked in an incredulous voice.

She recognized that voice. Turning to peer over her shoulder, she saw the unmistakable form of Lord Dauntry. While still digesting this unwelcome fact, she heard running footsteps, and soon Beau and Gaunt were at her side. She cast one quick peek at the library doors and saw a dark form slip out. Antonia did not realize the scream was genuine, that Dauntry was there. It might still work. Antonia had escaped unseen.

“What the devil is going on?” Dauntry demanded. “Cressida, why are you out alone at night? What is the point of my guarding the house if you choose to leave it? If I had been a ken smasher, I might have killed you.”

Her mind went temporarily blank. She just stared at Dauntry with guilt writ large on her face. Fortunately, Beau came to her rescue.

“Why, she was not alone, milord. We came out together. Sid had a migraine, wanted a breath of air. I came out with her. I was just blowing a cloud with Gaunt, not two steps away.”

“You are not paid to blow a cloud, Gaunt, but to protect Lady deCourcy’s house,” Dauntry said angrily.