My Lady Scandal (10 page)

Perry stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. ‘The devil, he did! Damned fine shot. I wonder why we did not hear about it. Shooting a highwayman would be quite a feather in his cap. He could have dined out on that for months.’

Nell was incredulous. ‘Are you
mad
? I tell you, he knows!’

‘Are you sure?’

‘He said so. Not only that, he warned us off doing it again, because of the attention it is bringing. Oh, Perry,’ she shook her head in despair, ‘what must he think?’

‘One more job,’ Perry repeated softly. ‘Tonight. They will hardly have had time to collect themselves. They certainly will not have had time to muster the troops. No; if we strike tonight, then we can call it quits and be done.’

‘But what about Carlisle?’

‘If he were going to give us away he would have done so by now. I believe the whole thing amuses him. The man has a very peculiar sense of humor.’

Nell opened her mouth to deny that Carlisle had anything of the kind and then shut it again with a snap. She was going to defend the Viscount despite the fact that Perry was right; he
did
have a peculiar sense of humor! ‘And the Wyndham ball?’

‘Oh, we will go; of course we will. But unfortunately you will come down with a sick headache and I will have to take you home.’ Perry grinned at her, not one whit perturbed by the events of the morning.

Nell was silent for a moment, thinking. ‘How much do we have, Perry? And how much more do we need?’

‘We have enough to survive. One more would give us enough to prosper.’

She nodded slowly, thinking about Carlisle. His face had been unaccustomedly grave, impressing on her how very unwise it would be continue on.

He has known the entire time what we have been doing
, she thought, mortified, their conversation in the conservatory that first night coming back to her. Of course he had known; he had been the one who had put a bullet in her brother and, worse than that, she could hardly blame him. He had thought himself defending his cousin from a band of cutthroats.

But to have said nothing to her afterwards... Nell did not know what to think. Worse, she did not know what to feel. The man had paved the way for them to enter into Society. Without his assistance, she was sure they would never have been welcomed so swiftly. It was as if he had gone out of his way to assist them, but as for the
why
of it...

She could not fathom his intentions.

‘One more job,’ she murmured, ‘and then what?’

Perry was watching her, eyes on her face. ‘We apply ourselves to the task of being the Marriotts of Holly Oak Hall. We live modestly – that is a given – but we become… respectable.’

Respectable! For the first time in years, they would be respectable. Nell found herself craving the state almost desperately. A modest life as her brother’s pensioner would surely be a pleasant one; he would always care for her comfort, would never turn her out to starve and she was quite sure no wife of his would, either. And she would be a truly excellent aunt.

As for Lord Carlisle, she would simply have to think about him later! He was a riddle she had neither the skills nor the experience to solve.

She gave her brother a smile. ‘One more job, then. Who shall it be?’

‘I did hear you say that you did not much care for Lady Moorcroft?’

Nell thought about it for a moment and nodded. Lady Moorcroft was an irascible older matron of quite excruciating gentility. She reduced emerging – and established! – debutantes to quivering wrecks on a regular basis, for she was related to the Prince of Wales and her good opinion was often given, though rarely sought. She had made an art form out of the poisonous set down.

And she positively dripped diamonds!

Ghastly woman that she was, she would be perfect.

Nell was looking breathtakingly lovely in ivory satin and, for a moment, Carlisle stood back and simply admired her. As ever, a cluster of young – and not so young – hopefuls was gathered around her, vying for her attention and Grif shook his head.

She might say that she was unfit for marriage - a belief he was beginning to feel he must question in the very near future - but if she wished it, Miss. Eleanor Marriott would be able to snare a very respectable match before the Season was done.

Not that he intended to let any man lay hands on Nell, without whom, he had already decided, he could not do without.

He might have only known the girl for several weeks, but she had wormed her way into his thoughts and his dreams so effectively that he knew his future would be desolate without her.

The trick would be to convince
her
of the fact. Carlisle knew he was in for a battle on that score. Nell might respond to his kisses; hell, she might even agree to be his mistress thanks to her own self-doubt, but he wanted far more than that. Nell Marriott was a rogue who had led a rogues life through no fault of her own, but he was damned if he was going to settle for anything less than legal entrapment. She was the kind of girl that was built to last forever and he suspected that he would never be bored with her as his wife. Breathless, yes, but never bored.

He was extremely relieved to see her here tonight, for he feared that she and her madcap brother might have decided to take one, last plunge to shore up their precarious finances.

Perhaps he should have intimated his intentions when he had seen them that morning, for marriage to Nell would certainly remove any need for them to find alternate forms of income. But telling Nell that he had known about her escapades had been shocking enough. Declaring his intentions would have overwhelmed her completely.

Even so…

Moving forward, he sliced through the group of men that surrounded Nell and bowed. She gave him a smile, although there was an unfamiliar shadow in her eyes when she looked at him, something he would have to chase away at the earliest opportunity.

‘Miss. Marriott,’ he purred, ‘how very fetching you are tonight.’

‘My Lord Carlisle,’ she returned, unable to stop a twitch of her lips. Carlisle never played the game as he ought to and was considered far too informal for a young lady’s own good.

The smile, he was sorry to see, quickly faded. He really needed to talk to her so that they could move past this awkwardness. He had to make her understand that whatever had happened in her past had no bearing on their future.

Perhaps later tonight, when he could get her alone.

He glanced around at the assembled gentlemen. There were the usual young pups in the form of Mr. Arbuthnot and Lord Enderby, mooning over Nell as if she were a delectable pastry in the bakery window. Then there was Baron Carstairs and the Earl of Huntingdon, both older, both a little more worldly. They had much the same expressions on their face as the calflings, although it was accompanied by a faint sneer. He raised an eyebrow to the assembled company.

‘Dear me. You are besieged. I think, my dear Miss. Marriott, that you require saving. Come, let me introduce you to some amusing people.’

There was a general outcry at this, protests that Carlisle had no right to spirit away the prettiest lady in the room, but he ignored them, slipping Nell out from beneath their eager noses with consummate skill. She herself did not protest, which he found curious. She seemed surprisingly docile about the whole thing.

He was immediately suspicious.

‘Miss. Marriott?’ he enquired softly, ‘are you all right?’

‘I have the headache.’ She gave him a quick look and there was no doubt that there were faint signs of strain around her fine blue eyes. ‘So I am very grateful that you rescued me. It is most unfortunate; there are a great many people here tonight.’

There were a great many people. The large rooms were filling fast as new arrivals swelled the crowd even further. It seemed that half of London had turned out. ‘Can I get you something? A drink?’

‘Perhaps… could you please find Perry? I think… I think I might need to go home.’

‘But of course, there is no need for Perry. I can accompany you.’

This was met with a swift, upward glance before she hastily dropped her eyes. ‘No, thank-you. Perry would be best. He is familiar with the dreadful heads I get, you see.’

‘Very well. Stay here and I will return shortly.’

‘You are very kind.’

Carlisle went in search of Peregrine Marriott and found him with some friends in one of the drawing rooms. He came immediately, expressing his concern for his sister. ‘She does get these wretched headaches!’

Before another fifteen minutes had passed, the Marriott siblings were slipping quietly away, leaving with as little fuss as possible. Carlisle watched them go, expression grim. When Viola found him, five minutes later, he was still looking unusually grave. As she was in something of a state herself, she did not notice.

‘All men are wretched!’ she announced, glowering up at him.

Grif lifted an eyebrow. ‘A sweeping statement.’

‘Hugo was meant to be here tonight. He
promised
me he would be here tonight!’

‘Two hundred men have been assigned under his command.’ Despite her annoyance, Viola could not quite keep the pride out of her voice. ‘They will be all over the streets tonight.’

‘Will they indeed.’

‘Yes, but it is such a bore that he is not here. I have not seen him for three days. Do you not think that is grossly unfair?’

Grif nodded and commiserated that it
was
grossly unfair, that all men were swine, gently leading his cousin back towards a group of people they knew. Before she knew it, she was chatting away quite happily. Turning to say something to Carlisle, who had been at her shoulder, she found that he had disappeared. And search as she might, she could not find him.

Lord Carlisle was gone.

‘This does not feel right,’ Nell murmured to her brother.

They had been taken aback by the number of soldiers on the streets, groups of four that seemed to be prowling everywhere, both mounted and on foot. Fortunately, they had left their horses on the outskirts of town in Talbot’s care, opting to go on foot. But they had been forced to stay in the shadows and be very fleet of foot to avoid the patrols.

Lady Moorcroft lived near Berkley Square, in a large Georgian mansion with quite extensive grounds. They had reached it without apprehension, but now where hesitating across the road.

‘There is nobody around.’ Perry said, but she knew he felt uneasy as well. Tonight was different. They could both feel it. ‘Come on!’

Quickly, they ran across the road and slipped into the front garden, making their way around the back. Some of the downstairs windows were lit and several upstairs as well: servants, moving about the house.

Silently, they hurried across to a graceful elm that spread its branches obligingly close to a window. Agile as monkeys, Nell and Perry climbed upwards, heading for that window and the grand finale of their careers as thieves.

Frame nodded, ignoring the slang. Half of the recruits had been hired off the streets and were uneducated ruffians; but at least they knew those streets intimately.

He had told his raw recruits to hold back and keep their eyes peeled. They were to report to him if they saw anything untoward. The Captain wanted to catch these men red handed so that all the lords and ladies would be reassured that they were, once again, perfectly safe.

‘Stanley!’ His second in command saluted smartly. ‘Bring twenty men. We might just have something.’

‘Yessir!’

Turning his horse’s head, Frame hoped that they
did
have something. Trying to guard every house in the greater district of London was an impossible task, but it was expected of him, never the less. Could he really be so lucky as to catch the thieves behind the two robberies on his first night in command of the newly formed patrols?

He certainly hoped so. The prospect of his superior’s displeasure, along with long, frustrating weeks trying to track down ghosts was not a happy one. But perhaps, God willing, he could solve this problem tonight and then get back to the far more pleasurable pastime of romancing Miss. Viola Durham.

They had not been in the house for more than ten minutes when there came the sound of horses – many horses – from outside, along with the raised voices of men. Perry and Nell exchanged a glance before hastily pushing the large leather case - one of many - back into the drawer and closing it silently. Perry hurried across to the window and glanced out. What he saw made him curse and Nell felt her heart drop.