The Rake's Rebellious Lady (12 page)

‘Oh, I do not know…’ She considered telling him that Mr Asbury had seemingly turned against her, but decided that she would keep it to herself. It was her problem, not his, and she might find that she was mistaken another day.

‘Well, you may forget any such foolish notions,’ he said and smiled at her in a way that made her heart jerk. ‘I do not think that anything could make me think ill of you, Caroline.’

‘Oh…’ She blushed slightly and looked down at her gloves, which were a fine York tan leather, smoothing at the fingers for a moment. ‘I trust you found your uncle well, Sir Freddie? Mr Bellingham told me you were called away unexpectedly.’

‘Yes, I broke my word to you, did I not?’ Freddie said and frowned. ‘I thought he might be unwell, but it was just a small matter of business—nothing important at all.’

‘Oh, I am pleased to hear that,’ she said. ‘I was a little anxious for your sake. It is awful to lose someone of whom you are fond.’

‘I suppose I am fond of the old reprobate in a way,’ Freddie said. ‘I must admit that we sometimes have words, but it usually blows over. Neither of us is one to hold a grudge.’

‘Oh…’ She looked at him inquiringly, but no further information was forthcoming. ‘My grandfather wishes me to visit him soon. I think my brother intends to go down at the
end of next week. Mama thinks that I should go with him, and return after a few days. She says she shall make my excuses to everyone.’

‘She does not go with you?’

‘Grandfather does not care for her. They fell out some years ago. She is terrified of him and I think that annoys him somewhat—and he suffers greatly from gout, which does not sweeten his temper.’

‘Ah, yes, the curse of many a rake at the end of his days, I think,’ Freddie said. ‘I dare say he likes his port too well.’

‘I am sure he does,’ Caroline said. ‘No, Mama does not go with me—though I think she may have other reasons for remaining in town.’ She smiled as he arched his brows at her. ‘I believe she has a beau…’

‘Indeed, that must be a happy turn out for her,’ Freddie said.

‘Yes…if I am not mistaken, which I think I am not.’ Caroline began to recount the story of her first meeting with her mother’s admirer, her conversation lively and entertaining. In this way their journey was accomplished and they were soon meeting up with their friends as arranged.

Freddie steadied his horses as they approached the park and smiled at her. ‘Do you know, I think we are almost there.’

C
aroline was a little shocked to see how large the company had grown by the time they arrived. It had been meant to be a private affair, but somehow the secret had got out and at least thirty of their acquaintance had turned up in their carriages to watch. Not only were so many of their friends there, a small crowd of interested onlookers had arrived to watch as the balloon was being made airworthy by the appliance of hot air into the great canopy. Indeed, so many people were crowded around it that it was difficult to actually see it when they first arrived.

‘Oh, there is quite a crowd,’ Caroline said as Freddie drew his phaeton to a standstill, and assisted her down. ‘It is very exciting, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, very,’ he said, amused by the bright look in her face. He wondered when she would realise that it was impossible to go through with her avowed intention, but said nothing to discourage her. He had no doubt that she would dare to do it, for he thought that she was afraid of nothing, but she must see that it would come to her aunt’s ears in no time at all. ‘Ah, here is your brother.’

Caroline looked at Tom as he came up to them. He looked excited and she suspected what he was about to say before he spoke.

‘I am told you mean to go up, Caroline—and there is one more place available in the basket. I should very much like to go with you. It would look much more the thing if I accompanied you.’ He glanced at Sir Freddie a trifle uncertainly. ‘I think perhaps you may have wished to take that place, sir—but it would wash better if it were me, do you not agree?’

‘Yes, I do, as it happens,’ Freddie said. He saw by Caroline’s expression that she was disappointed, but believed that if anything could get her through this without too much censure, it would be her brother’s presence in the basket. ‘You are very welcome to take my place, for I have been up before—several times, as it happens.’

‘Oh, you did not tell me,’ Caroline said, gazing at him in surprise. ‘But I suppose that is why you were able to arrange this…’ She saw something in his eyes. ‘Why, it is your balloon, is that not so?’

‘I must confess that you have found me out,’ Freddie said, amused. ‘I am fascinated by the idea of flight, Miss Holbrook. I believe that this is just the forerunner and that one day we shall have a much more controllable method of flying.’

‘No, do you, sir?’ Tom looked at him with unconcealed enthusiasm. ‘I have heard talk of it, but I thought it was all a hum. We must discuss this another day, when you have time, of course. I am very interested in anything scientific.’

‘You must dine with me at my club one day,’ Freddie said and frowned. In taking an interest in Miss Holbrook, he seemed to have landed himself with very much more than he
had intended. ‘We shall arrange it. And now I think the balloon is almost ready. You should make your way through the crush if you do not wish to keep the balloon master waiting.’ He looked at Caroline, eyebrows raised, but did not ask again if she were sure. Now that her brother had agreed to accompany her, it should cause no more than a few raised eyebrows from all but the high sticklers. She might find herself less popular in some drawing rooms than before, but that might be repaired.

‘Oh, yes, Tom, do let’s go,’ Caroline said and started off a little ahead of him. She knew that word of her adventure would reach her aunt swiftly, but she was determined to go through with it. Even her brother’s presence would not make it all right in her aunt’s opinion, though she thought that her mother might accept it as just another of her naughty tricks.

Caroline was helped into the basket by her brother. She had a feeling of tremendous excitement as she looked at the man who was preparing to take them up. He introduced himself as Mr Jackson, smiling at her as he began to explain the principles of hot-air ballooning, which she listened to with interest.

‘Oh, this is so exciting,’ she cried as there was a roaring sound above her head and the balloon began to lift off from the ground. For the moment they were still attached to the anchor ropes, because they were not quite ready to cast off. ‘How high shall we go, sir?’

‘It depends on the currents of air,’ Mr Jackson was explaining to her when all of a sudden there was the sound of something snapping and one of the ropes gave way. Because they still had another rope tethering them to the ground it made the balloon shudder and tip to one side, and then go crashing downwards.

Caroline screamed as she felt herself falling. The shock of a hard landing sent the basket lurching over to one side and she stumbled, but recovered her balance quickly. She realised immediately that there could be a danger of fire and scrambled quickly over the sides of the basket. She saw Mr Jackson do the same and called to him. All around them there was noise and confusion, and it was only when Caroline felt strong hands pulling her clear of the ropes and debris that had fallen on top of them that she realised she wasn’t badly hurt. Shaken and bruised, she looked into the face of the man who had pulled her clear.

‘Caroline!’ Freddie cried. ‘My God! You could have been killed! Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?’

‘I’m all right,’ Caroline said, shrugging off the shock as if it were nothing. ‘Just a little bruised I think…but where is Tom?’ She looked around for her brother and saw that he was lying on the ground a short distance away. It looked as if he had been thrown clear before they crashed, and he was lying very still. ‘Tom! Is he dead?’ she cried and now there was fear in her eyes as she ran to him. ‘Tom…’ She fell to her knees beside him on the ground, looking at him anxiously. ‘Tom! Tom, my dearest…’ she cried, horrified by the turn of events that had ruined their happy day. ‘Oh, Tom, speak to me…’

‘Let me have him.’ Freddie was by her side almost at once, laying her brother down carefully and making an examination of him. ‘He is still breathing,’ he said after a moment. ‘I think he may have broken his arm, and he must have hit his head, for he is unconscious.’ Caroline had remained on her knees, watching him handle her brother with an expertise that spoke of his having done such a thing before. How sure
and gentle he was, so reassuring in a crisis. Now his eyes met hers as Tom gave a moan of pain. ‘It is as I thought, but I believe it might have been much worse. I think we may safely move him to somewhere more comfortable.’

‘He will do better in my curricle than your phaeton.’ George Bellingham had come up to them unobserved. ‘Let us get him into it. I will engage to take him home and you must come after in your own rig.’

Behind them, shouting warned of fire and Caroline glanced back to see that the canopy was blazing. Mr Jackson was leading the efforts to put out the flames before they got out of hand, but it was certain that the balloon was ruined.

‘Oh, Freddie, your balloon…’ Caroline cried.

‘It is of no consequence. I am grateful that none of you was hurt more. As for Tom, I think we should get him to an inn,’ Freddie said, frowning. ‘The sooner a doctor sees to him the better.’ He glanced at George.

‘As you say. I know of a small discreet place near by. The Henderson Arms. You may follow me if you wish.’ He glanced at Caroline. ‘I dare say you would wish to accompany your brother?’

‘Yes, please.’ She glanced at Freddie. ‘You will forgive me? I must go with Tom.’

‘Of course.’

Freddie bent over the half-unconscious Tom, lifting him in his arms and carrying him, with some slight assistance from George. Tom moaned and seemed to come to himself for a moment, his features registering extreme pain as they moved him. They laid him down in the curricle, Julia having vacated it for the greater ease of his comfort. She was white with distress, tears hovering on her thick lashes.

‘It is too awful,’ she said to Caroline. ‘I know you wish to go with him, but I shall follow with Sir Frederick, if I may?’

‘Yes, of course,’ Caroline said. ‘Oh, poor Tom. He was so looking forward to this trip—and to many other things, I imagine. This will quite ruin his visit.’

She climbed into the curricle, taking her brother’s head upon her lap, and soothing his head with her fingers. She glanced round to see what Freddie was doing, but he seemed to be making arrangements with his tiger. He looked round just as the curricle began to move off, catching sight of her pale face, though by then she had turned her attention to her brother and was whispering words of encouragement. She was not sure that Tom knew she was there, for he seemed to have fainted again, but she continued to stroke his head and talk to him, believing that Freddie knew what he was saying when he said that it might have been much worse.

* * *

It seemed an age until they reached the hotel, though it was in truth only a short distance from where they had gathered in the park. George Bellingham jumped down, giving his reins to a groom who came running.

‘Stay with Tom, Miss Holbrook,’ he told her. ‘I shall arrange for a room and a doctor, and then return. We shall have him carried to a chamber and then his hurts can be tended.’

‘You are so kind,’ Caroline said, her face pale and anxious. ‘If anything happens to Tom, I shall never forgive myself. He only went up in the basket because he thought it would protect my reputation.’

‘You must not blame yourself,’ George said. ‘No one could have known that a rope would give way like that…it
was most odd.’ He shook his head. ‘Excuse me, I must waste no time in arranging all.’

Caroline watched as he strode towards the inn and disappeared inside. She continued to stroke her brother’s head and counted the seconds until her friend returned. It seemed an age, but he brought several men with him, and, within moments, Tom was being carried inside the inn and up the stairs to a room where he was carefully deposited on clean sheets. Caroline hovered nearby, wondering what she might do for the best, but she had hardly had time to think of taking off his boots before she heard voices behind her and turned to see Freddie and another gentleman, who she realised was a doctor.

‘We were lucky enough to find a doctor at the site of the ascension,’ Freddie told her with a grim nod. ‘We shall need to cut his coat off, Caroline—and Julia is waiting downstairs alone in the parlour. I think you should keep her company—it will not do either her or your reputation the slightest good to be seen in an inn parlour alone. You may be able to stand it, but she ought not to be exposed to undeserved censure.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Caroline said in a small voice. His tone had been harsh. He was clearly very angry and she felt that he was blaming her for her part in this affair. Indeed, it was all her fault and he was right to censure her! ‘I shall do as you say, sir.’

He did not seem to have heard her, for he paid her no attention as he went to the bed and, with the assistance of the physician, began to cut away Tom’s tightly fitting coat. Caroline threw an unhappy glance at the bed where her brother was just beginning to moan once more, clearly roused from his stupor by the pain their ministrations had caused him.

‘Bear up, old chap,’ Freddie said encouragingly. ‘You will
be right and tight in a while. Doctor Fortescue has had practice enough at binding the wounds of soldiers. He will make short work of this.’

Caroline went down to the parlour. Sir Freddie’s tone to her brother had been kind, which told her that he was angry at her alone. Her spirits had fallen to nothing, for she had taken the blame of Tom’s injury upon herself and was distressed by his pain. There was no denying that he would not have been there had she not teased Sir Freddie into arranging the whole thing. It was no wonder Sir Freddie had lost his good opinion of her! She had behaved shamelessly in demanding to be taken to the mill and insisting on being taken up in a balloon.

Julia was the picture of dejection when Caroline entered the private parlour that their host had provided, but she was not alone, for George was with her. She jumped to her feet as soon as she saw Caroline, running towards her, her face wet with tears.

‘How is he?’ she asked. ‘Please tell me that he is not dead—I do not think I could bear it.’

‘Julia, do not be foolish, my dear,’ George expostulated with a gentle smile for her. ‘I do assure you that Freddie knows about these things. Tom may feel groggy for a few days, but I dare say he will come about and be none the worse for it.’

‘The doctor is with him now,’ Caroline said, taking Julia’s hands and holding them tightly. She lifted her head, summoning her courage. ‘I dare say he will soon have him patched up.’

‘Do you think so?’ Julia blushed for she realised that she must have betrayed herself. ‘I was so distressed…it was a
dreadful thing to happen. Sir Frederick says that Mr Jackson has examined the rope and it had been tampered with, but I am not sure what he meant…’

‘Tampered with? In what way?’ Caroline was bewildered.

‘I thought it odd that it should just snap like that,’ George said, nodding to himself. ‘Freddie is always meticulous about things like that, as is Jackson. The rope had been frayed by a knife or some such thing.’

‘Then it was deliberate…not an accident?’

Julia gave a cry of distress. ‘Who would do such a wicked thing?’

‘I do not know,’ Caroline said, putting an arm about the girl and drawing her to a wooden settle to sit down. She could feel Julia trembling and sensed that the girl had been much affected by the accident, perhaps the more so because it was Tom. ‘I did not truly see what happened, because it was all so fast. There was no time to think about anything.’

‘It was quite deliberate.’ George looked at her above the head of his niece, who was hanging her head and on the verge of more tears. ‘Whoever the rogue was, he meant to cause a dreadful accident, though why I cannot say.’

‘Why should anyone wish to harm poor Tom?’ Caroline said, and turned as she heard an indrawn breath behind her. ‘You startled me, Sir Freddie. Please do not tell me that it is bad news about Tom?’

‘Nothing of the sort,’ he said. ‘It is as I thought. He has a broken bone in his arm, but the injury is not life threatening. We can only be grateful that no one else was badly hurt. It does not bear thinking of. You could all have been killed.’