The Complicated Earl (12 page)

Tom mentioned tonight that he was going to allow me to announce my engagement to James and I knew I could carry on no longer
; I had to be with Sidney. We had discussed what would happen if Tom gave his approval and Sidney was true to his word springing into action after receiving a hurried note from me. He is determined to give me the wedding I have wanted my whole life. What could be more exciting than a dash to the border, being chased by an angry brother?

We will ha
ve left at three in the morning. I had to lie to Tom, which did not come easily, but I needed to prevent him finding out what had happened too early. Hopefully twelve hours or more will have passed before he sets out to follow us. I know he will but we shall do everything to keep ahead and make it in time. Sidney and I have been planning this for such a long while that he has been able to save and we can travel quickly and in style. He has promised to keep me in the lifestyle I deserve.

Anyway my dear Charlotte
, my marriage will benefit us all. I shall have the man I love and Sidney will have the income he needs to be a true gentleman. We can provide for you and Cecily and make your mother comfortable in her old age. I am so happy that our union will bring a better life to those I love dearly. We are going to be true sisters Charlotte! You will be able to marry a man you deserve, not one you are forced to take.

Please wish me well and forgiv
e me for not telling you sooner. I promise to be a good sister and wife and will see you on my return.

Yours in
affection

Sophie.

Isabelle looked at Tom. It was as if someone had kicked him in the stomach. “She loves him and believes she is doing the right thing for the whole family. Her motives are not those of someone who has set out to intentionally cause pain.”

“They planned
to get such a start that I shall almost certainly not catch them. She has underestimated me if she thought that would prevent me from finding them! I shall hunt them down however long it takes!” Tom stood up, anger taking over his shock.

Isabelle acted quickly, thinking as she
went along. “Mrs Arnold, thank you for bringing this to the Earl’s attention. He appreciates it, we all do. It has provided us with vital information that can only help. I’m sure you need to return home now and have a little time with your girls. Everyone is upset and we need to decide what to do for the best.” She was ushering Mrs Arnold and Miss Arnold out as she was speaking. Mrs Arnold looked at first as if she was going to protest, but one look at the Earl made her change her mind and she allowed herself to be led out.

“He won’t hurt my boy will he?” She asked Isabelle worriedly.

“No, he is just shocked as the rest of us are,” Isabelle reassured her, but not feeling totally confident in her words.

She returned to the room
once Mrs Arnold had been handed into the care of Benson and addressed Tom. “Are you determined to go after her even though it will be almost impossible to catch them?”

“Yes, they may be faced with unforeseen problems that would work to my advantage,” he replied
rising from his chair. “I need to go now.”

“Can you collect me on the way through? I just need to gather a few things toge
ther,” Isabelle said as Tom bowed to take his leave.

Her
words caused James, Mary and the Earl to say “What?” at the same time, which could not help but bring a smile to Isabelle’s lips.

“I
f you find her, what are you going to do? Yes you will scold her all day and night I expect and try and force her to come back, but do you honestly think she will stay with you? She will run away at the first opportunity she gets and no matter how you try you cannot keep her by your side all the time. You need someone to come with you,” Isabelle explained patiently, but quickly.

“Then I shall go,” James said.

“James, you are the second person she would least want to be faced with after her brother. She has rejected you and to be faced with you while she stands with her chosen lover, what can that achieve? I am not going to stand by while my brother is forced into a situation that only ends with a duel being fought, no thank you. I am the obvious person to accompany you,” Isabelle said firmly.

“Isabelle, you cannot travel alone with the Earl,
it is not appropriate. Let me come as well,” Mary offered.

“No, I need you to stay with James,” Isabelle sai
d gently. She turned to Tom. “You know you need my assistance, so stop delaying matters and let us set off. We can make a story up to explain ourselves while we are on the road. Each moment we stand here, we lose even more time. Shall we take your carriage? How quickly can you be ready?”

“I
shall collect you in half an hour,” Tom nodded and left the room quickly.

“I
sabelle...” Mary started frowning at her cousin.

“There
is no need to say anything Mary. I know what you are thinking. Would you come and help me pack?” Mary nodded her agreement and the ladies left the room. Isabelle did not speak again until she was in her bed chamber. “Mary I need you to take care of James, we both know how devastated he will be. He has never shown any partiality towards anyone else before Sophie and her rejection is going to hurt him more than if he was a younger man in the first flushes of love. I am worried about how he will react once this news really sinks in; he is in shock at the moment. He said he had flouted convention last night by dancing with Sophie three times; he will suffer even more gossip when this leaks out. Please take care of him.”

“I don’t think you are worrying unjustly,” Mary agreed as they both pulled clothes out of cupboards. This was not a task either wanted Isabelle’s maid involved with. The fewer people knew what was happening, the better. “Should I take him back to Hampshire?”

“Yes, let it be known that there is a family crisis. We are telling no lies, there is one. I do not want James facing people that only last night he was showing in all but the formalities he was engaged to Sophie. He will not be able to cope with the censure that would be aimed at him and Sophie. How soon will you leave?”

“We can leave this evening. That way it will look as if we have all gone together. Will you come to us in Hampshire
on your return?” Mary asked as the packing was completed in record time.

“Yes, that would be best. Whatever happens I don’t think the Earl will
return to Bath. He had already mentioned about going back to Kent, so I don’t think he will object to setting me down in Hampshire,” Isabelle said dressing as quickly as she could in her outdoor clothes.

“Are
you sure this is wise Isabelle? I did not want to be so frank but I have an idea of how you feel. I don’t want to see you being hurt even more,” Mary said gently.

Isabelle stopped tying her bonnet and turned to her cousin. “There is no hiding from you is there?” She smiled. “Mary, he needs help and I have to go, whatever the consequences.”

“Just be careful.” The cousins embraced and picked up the portmanteau. As they carried it downstairs Isabelle heard the carriage drawing up. She had wondered briefly if the Earl would set off without her, but had dismissed her worry. He was sensible enough to have realised the strength of her argument.

She met the Earl in the hallway with Mary. “Ready?” h
e asked as he picked up her portmanteau.

“Ready,” she nodded and walked through the door.

Chapter 9

As the carriage set
off the Earl turned to Isabelle. “I hope you are a sturdy traveller. I have instructed Jackson to keep to the fastest speed and as I have yet to meet a better driver, I expect the pace will be relentless throughout.”

“Don’t worry about me I shall
cope with whatever we need to face,” Isabelle assured him. She had noticed as she climbed into the carriage that the coat of arms on the carriage doors had been covered. A wise precaution. Tom would not want to broadcast to each inn they entered that the Earl of Standish was racing up the country.

They travelled in silence for a long time, each wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Isabelle worried about James. He had never cared for anyone as much as he had Sophie and she had repaid his affection by making a fool out of him. She had every faith in Mary and could only hope that her cousin would know what to do to ease his pain. She thought about Sophie. She did not hate her for what she had done. Sophie had wanted to marry Mr Arnold long before she had met James. Isabelle did not quite know how she would persuade her not to run off again if they did catch them before they reached Gretna Green, but she was sure that there would be plenty of time to think of how to handle such a difficult situation.

Tom
watched Isabelle as they travelled. She was deep in her thoughts and did not notice his scrutiny. He did feel pangs of guilt at allowing her to come along. He had only agreed to the scheme for selfish reasons. He wanted her with him. For her there could be a higher cost. He was putting her reputation in danger for the second time in two days, but he did not want to consider the thought of the journey without her. For the first time in his life he needed the strength of someone to help him get through the situation he was faced with and there was no-one else he would prefer to be at his side than Isabelle. He chose to push to the back of his mind the niggling thoughts that he had been wrong in pushing her away if he wanted her support. If they married he would always have her near him.

Isabelle
finally shook herself out of her deep contemplation and turned to him smiling, “We had better think of a story to present to the inns we stop at along the way.”

“We could be broth
er and sister?” offered Tom.

“Maybe, but we don’t look anything alike. What about cousins?”

“Everyone is going to think we are making a dash for the border whatever story we tell them,” Tom shrugged not in any mood to indulge curious innkeepers.

“Well we are, just not in the way they’d expect,” Isabelle smiled slightly.
She understood the dark mood, but she could not allow it to develop or it would feel an even longer journey.

“We could alway
s be a married couple,” Tom said quietly.

“Pardon?”
Isabelle could not help the flush that spread over her face.

“I
f we seem like a normal married couple, if such a thing exists, with a handsome carriage,” he acknowledged with a smile, “we would raise less interest than if we tried to pretend to be cousins. Keeping it simple is probably the easiest way.”

“And
being a married couple is keeping it simple?” Isabelle could not help laughing at the irony of being forced to act as a married couple to the only man she would ever consider marrying, but who had rejected her.

“Yes, we are travelling to family in the
North, we married last year and live in Kent. Nothing special, the type of people who blend into the background.”

“Why can’t we live
in Hampshire?” Isabelle teased, determined not to dwell on the emotions the thought of even pretending to be married to Tom stirred.

Tom
laughed for the first time that day. “We are living in Kent! It’s where my family home is and is a beautiful part of the world thank you!”

Isabelle
smiled and arched an eyebrow, “Yes my dear, whatever you say my dear.”

“That’s what I prefer
, a meek wife,” he grinned in return.

“Don’t ever really marry me then or you will be very disappointed.” Isabelle said li
ghtly enough, but she felt an emptiness in her chest as she said the words. To make her discomfort worse she decided she needed to clear another matter up sooner, rather than later. “What about sleeping arrangements if we are supposed to be married?” She blushed at her words, but she would be more embarrassed if faced with a situation at an inn.

“
Separate rooms of course, like every other couple,” Tom reassured her with a slight sneer.

“Like every other couple other than my parents,” I
sabelle said, ignoring the sneer.

“T
hey shared the same room? All the time?” Tom asked immediately curious. This was something that his parents had never entertained. His mother could not have led the life she had if she had been forced to accept different sleeping arrangements.

“Apparently so.
Theirs was a true love match and James said that they used to say that they did not want to spend a moment apart that was not necessary, so they had one suite of rooms. Father would go into his chamber when he was being dressed and undressed only. I’ve always thought it must be a lovely way to live,” Isabelle replied.

“I suppose so, I’ve never come across it before, so it’s
a completely new concept to me, but I could see the advantages.” Tom made it sound as if he was talking of sleeping arrangements, but he was referring to his mother. If she had shared a room with his father, she would have been prevented from so many male visitors to her chamber. The thought of it made him shudder and he tried to focus on Isabelle instead of the painful memories of the steady stream of visitors to his mother that had taken on a whole new meaning after the fateful day of walking into her bedchamber.

Isabelle blushed slightly at his inference. “Well I am relieved in this instance that my new husband is more traditional.
”

“I aim to please madam.”

Tom took off his glove and removed a small signet ring from his little finger. He handed it to Isabelle.

“What is this?” she asked taking the ring.

“It’s your wedding band. If you turn it round the thinner part will be on the outside of your finger and should just about pass. I wouldn’t want anyone to see you without a ring on your finger if you go without gloves,” he explained.

Isabelle tried the ring on. I
t was too big, but if she held her fingers together it did not look out of place and would pass as a wedding band. She put her glove back on and tried to get used to the feeling of having Tom’s ring on her finger, it was still warm from the heat of his hand and the feeling stirred her insides.

“You’d better start using my
given name too,” he suggested. “If you use it from now on there should be no mistakes. Do you object to me using Isabelle?”

“I don’t see why not,” Isabelle answered, liking the sound of her name on his lips. “We are going to be close friends by the end of the journey, so I don’t think it would be too inappropriate to use our
given names in this situation.” In her mind, he had always been Tom, so it should not be too hard using it.

“You may wish to throw me out of the carriage by the end of the
journey,” Tom teased.

“Probably,”
came the soft reply.

*

The first inn they stopped at was always going to be a trial for Isabelle. She hoped that her heightened colour would not be noticed as a sign of guilt, but the innkeeper was more concerned in providing for his obviously wealthy customers to notice Isabelle’s slight hesitance. They were taken to their rooms and the Earl hired a small parlour for them to eat in. Isabelle took off her outdoor clothes in her room and freshened up using the bowl of water placed on the side table. The room was plainly furnished, but clean. She had heard horror stories about inns up and down the country and was glad that this looked well kept. She joined the Earl in the parlour as the food was being laid out.

“Ah, Isabelle my love
, just in time to eat,” Tom smiled at her as she entered. He saw the look she gave him when he uttered the greeting and the feelings of guilt returned for the hundredth time that day. She looked as if he had driven a knife into her when he had called her ‘my love’. He was in no doubt that she had feelings for him and he questioned whether he had been fair in bringing her. He could offer her nothing.

“Thank
you my dear,” Isabelle replied, friendly enough. But it had taken her a moment to recollect herself when she had been addressed in such a way. It had given her pleasure to hear her name on his lips, but to be called ‘my love’ when she knew he did not mean it hurt her more than she would have expected it to. It was probably because the events of the ball were still fresh in her mind. She would need to cope in a better manner.  This longing for something that she could not have was not healthy.

They sat and ate in silence at first, but Isabelle broke
the quiet. “Do you think we shall catch them?”

“Yes,”
came the firm reply. “Sophie said that they were to travel well, but they will be hiring carriages; I know Arnold did not have his own. That means they are relying on the quality of hired vehicles, which isn’t always consistent. Also, Jackson is a better driver than anyone they will hire, so each day we will gain on them. Hopefully enough.” He added a little uncertainty entering his voice.

             
The rest of the meal was spent quietly. They spoke, but both were worried in their own ways and the banter they were used to exchange was not forthcoming. They decided to retire early to enable them to have a restful night.

The following morning, they set off very early. They were the first people to stir apart from staff and the air seemed very chilly as they climbed into the carriage. Isabelle covered herself with a rug, it was a comfortable carriage, but even the best was chilly on such a morning. They set off at their usual high speed.

“How long will it take us?” Isabelle asked as the countryside once again started to pass them at a rapid rate.

“It’s a little under three hundred miles, so normal
ly I would say it would take around six days, but with the speed we are travelling and the short stops, I am hoping that it will take no more than four. Hopefully we will pass them in less than that. Are you sick of travelling already?” He asked with a smile. Isabelle had not complained about anything so far, she was proving to be the perfect companion on such a journey.

“No, not at all!
I have had such a sheltered life that really any journey has to provide some interest. I am just curious,” Isabelle replied.

“Have you never travelled so far North before?”

“I’ve never travelled so far before! I am ashamed to say my existence has been between Hampshire, London and Bath. There is a little line on a map that shows my carriage travelling that route and no other,” Isabelle admitted shamefacedly.

“Many people don’t travel too far. Men are more fortunate
I think in that respect. We go on our Grand Tour. I was on mine around six years ago. I had delayed it slightly because of Sophie.”

“Ah, so you w
ere exploring exotic places when I was having my first season in London. I must say it was very rude that you did not come and pay your respects, leaving me to the fortune hunters of that particular season!” Isabelle teased.

“Yes it would appear I was busy enjoying myself
on the continent. By the time I had returned you had tired of London society, condemned us all and moved to Bath!”

“I must say that I don’t really understand why Gretna Green is so popular,” Isabelle said changing the subject from herself.

“Why?” came the curious response.

“Well six days isn’t exactly a dash to the border is it? It’s more like a long and arduous journey. I’m not sure I could maintain my calm for six days if I knew my family were chasing me.”

Tom laughed. “It’s fortunate that your family are far more welcoming than most others and you will never need to consider such a journey.”

They settled back in
companionable silence. Tom appreciated that Isabelle did not need entertaining while they travelled, she seemed to know when he was willing to talk and sensed when he wanted time to think. She would watch out of the window, although what she saw of the country was actually very little as it did seem to go past in a blur. Tom had spoken the truth when he had said how fast Jackson would be travelling. Isabelle hoped the carriage could stand such relentless usage.

At the second horse change Tom
suggested that they get out for a quick stretch of legs and a bite to eat. Isabelle welcomed the thought of being able to walk around for a few minutes and prepared to leave the coach when they stopped. As they pulled into the yard the Earl let out an oath. He turned quickly to Isabelle and apologised.

“I’ve just seen an acquaintance of mine. We may be able to get out unseen, but he knows I’m not married, so we c
an’t be seen together.” Tom moved to the carriage door and went to step out, Isabelle hung back a little until she was given the go ahead.

The moment he stepped onto the ground he heard his name being called. “Standish? Standish? Is that you? By God, I thought it
was, how the devil are you old man? What are you doing in this neck of the woods?”