To Win the Lady (30 page)

‘Then I suggest
you find Warrior and carry on with the race. I need you to win, Major
Baverstock, for the sake of Rowan Park. It is all that matters to me.’

‘It’s too late.
I’ve lost an hour at least.’

‘No, it isn’t.
There is still a long way to go and anything could happen. Lord Barbour might
be thrown; his horse might go lame halfway between one post and the next and
he’d have to walk a few miles, wouldn’t he? He might even miss the way or slow
down, believing you have been taken care of.’

‘I can’t leave
you.’

‘The Corporal
will escort me back to the Barley Mow. Come on.’

Taking a deep
breath to steady herself, she walked away from him towards the track which continued
past the cottage and on through the trees towards the Great North Road. The
Corporal had gone that way to take care of the second conspirator. Because
there was little else he could do, Richard untied the mare and the cob and
followed. They had almost reached the road when they found Daniel sitting with
his back to a tree waiting for them. He had Charlie tied to another tree and
Warrior tethered near by.

‘There you
are,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘All nabbed, right and tight, and no harm
done to the beast.’

‘Good man,’
Richard said.

‘Corporal, I
have been trying to persuade the Major that it is not too late to go on,’
Georgie said. ‘He can easily catch his lordship, can’t he?’

‘Course he
can,’ Daniel confirmed. ‘I’ll look after the lady, sir, and them two Jeremy
Diddlers, don’t you worry none.’ He fetched the stallion and brought him
alongside Richard. ‘Come on, let me give you a leg-up. I got money on this here
race and so have a good many others.’

Richard,
realising that he was going to make no progress with Georgie that night, or
indeed ever, reluctantly allowed himself to be persuaded. He held his fidgeting
mount to look down at her. She was standing very still, making no move to go to
him or bid him goodbye. There was nothing more to be said; he dug his heels in
and cantered away.

‘Oh, miss,’
Daniel said, turning to her and seeing the tears streaming down her face.
‘There ain’t no reason for you to cry now, is there? It’s all over.’

She forced a
watering smile. ‘Yes,’ she said ‘it’s all over.’

Chapter Ten

Mrs Bertram was at her wits’ end. To have had no choice
but to invite the Viscount to accompany her back to Baldock was bad enough, but
then to be proved wrong about the route over the heath was even worse. She had
been in so much of a ferment over not finding Felicity and wanting to see
Georgiana as soon as possible that taking a short-cut had seemed to be the only
thing to do. His lordship had demurred about the possible state of the road,
but in the end had given way to her, and though she had been triumphant at the
time she was more than sorry for it now. For they had not gone far when a wheel
had fallen into a deep rut and thrown them both on to the floor in a great heap
of legs and petticoats. She felt mortified even now, when she thought of the
way his lordship had extricated himself from under her skirts and helped her
out of the coach.

They had stood
looking at the sorry state of it, while James, her driver, had struggled to
calm the horses. It had looked as though the axle had broken, and when James
had examined it he had said it was split but with a little ingenuity he might
be able to mend it well enough to get them to the Barley Mow. He had vouchsafed
the opinion that the inn would be able to effect a more permanent repair. Mrs Bertram’s
response had been to urge him to get on with it.

Even so, it had
taken some time because it had necessitated finding a piece of wood strong
enough and straight enough to strap round the axle, but after a diligent search
one had been found and, with the help of a few tools James kept in the boot and
some odd leather straps, the axle had been bound up and they had been able to
resume their journey at a snail’s pace.

It was no good
suggesting that they go faster; they were lucky they were able to move at all
and Harriet was obliged to contain her impatience behind a flurry of small
talk, which became more breathless and inconsequential as time passed. His
lordship was unfailingly calm and cheerful and had even helped the driver with
the repair, getting his lovely riding coat covered in axle grease in the
process.

By the time
they turned into the yard of the inn, well past midnight, Mrs Bertram was
aching in every joint and glad to descend and make her way into the parlour,
leaving Lord Dullingham and her driver in the yard to give instructions about
the repair of the coach. The room was empty except for a lone waiter,
collecting up dirty glasses. ‘I had expected to find my niece here,’ she said,
looking round the untidy room; they had obviously been very busy earlier in the
evening. ‘Miss Paget, you know. Has she been here?’

‘There’ve been
a good few young ladies, one way and another, ma’am, seeings everyone wanted to
see the riders go through. None here now, though.’

She turned as
the Viscount came into the room. ‘We missed them,’ he said.

‘So I have
discovered, but where is my niece?’

‘I am afraid
she never arrived,’ he said. ‘Nor the horse either. Richard went on without
it.’

Mrs Bertram’s
reaction to this was to fall on him in a faint and, as she was no lightweight,
she almost took him down with her. He managed to haul her to a chair and shout
at the waiter to fetch a feather and soon the stench of burning feathers being
waved back and forth beneath her nose revived her. Almost at once she began to
cry.

‘Do not
distress yourself, dear lady,’ his lordship said, helping her to sit up so that
she could fish her handkerchief from her reticule. `You have had a most
upsetting time. I have bespoken a private room for you. The landlord’s daughter
will help you to bed.’ He beckoned to the waiter. ‘Bring a bumper of brandy.’
And as the man obeyed he said, ‘Drink this down and then go and rest. Things
will look much better after you have had some sleep. In the meantime I shall
endeavour to find out what has happened to Miss Paget.’

‘Where, oh,
where can she have got to? Oh, I shall never live it down. Never. Never.’

‘Compose
yourself, ma’am, I beg you. No doubt she is safe and sound and so we shall
discover in the morning.’ He looked up as the innkeeper’s daughter entered the
room. ‘There you are. Would you help Mrs Bertram up to her room? I am afraid
she has had a shock.’ To the lady herself he said, ‘Go now. I shall see you in
the morning.’

‘You do not
think I shall sleep, do you? Oh, what is to become of us all?’ She carried on
in like vein for several minutes but as she allowed the young woman to conduct
her from the room at the same time, she was soon lost to his lordship’s
hearing.

He went out to
the yard to hire a mount, but learned, as his son had done before him, that
there was nothing to be had. Unable to proceed very far, his lordship contented
himself with walking down the road a little way, looking in the hedgerows as he
went, just in case Georgie had been thrown, though if Richard’s account of how
she could ride were to be believed that was highly unlikely. And where was the
horse?

He began to
suspect foul play. He sincerely hoped nothing had happened to her for he had
become very fond of her. She was a spirited thing, practical and forthright. He
had been amused and impressed by the way she had spoken to those soldiers after
the hold-up, as if she were defending him! It was a funny thing about them.
They had been no ordinary highwaymen and the fellow who had been shot had once
been one of his grooms. He had dismissed him for ill-treating a horse. Had it
been done for revenge? It was rather excessive, if it had.

The road he was
walking along went through a wood and was dark as pitch. Georgie might have
been lying at his feet and he would not have been able to see her; he should
have brought a lantern. He turned to go back.

Georgie pulled
the mare up in surprise. Surely that was her aunt’s chaise in the inn yard?
What was it doing here? Mrs Bertram should be on her way to Dover by now to
catch the packet to Calais. She slipped from the horse, leaving the Corporal to
deal with the horses and hand the prisoners over to the town watch, and hurried
inside. The landlord, who was dozing in the chimney corner, roused himself at
her entrance and tried to look alert, but he had been at work for nearly
twenty-four hours and it was an effort.

‘Mrs Bertram,’
Georgie began. ‘My aunt.’

He nodded
wearily. ‘First room at the top of the stairs.’

It was all
Georgie could do to make herself walk and not run up the stairs and knock on
the door. A weak voice bade her to enter.

Her aunt was
propped up in the bed, fully clothed. Her face was ashen and her hair all awry.
As soon as she caught sight of Georgie, she burst into fresh tears.

‘Aunt, whatever
is the matter?’ Georgie ran to comfort her but it was some time before the lady
could speak coherently.

‘I did not know
what to do,’ she said, between sniffs and dabs with her handkerchief. ‘And then
his lordship came and I simply could not tell him, and he insisted on riding
with me, and then we broke down and you were missing. Oh, Georgiana, such a day
as I have had, I never wish to endure another like it.’

‘Aunt, do
please compose yourself and tell me why you are here. Were you on the way to
Rowan Park?’

‘I went there,
but your housekeeper said you had left on that great horse of yours, so what
could I do but come after you? And then who should come along but Lord
Dullingham, asking if he might ride with me, and how could I refuse him? But if
he finds out the truth we are done for.’

‘His lordship
is here?’

‘Yes. Did you
not see him?’

‘No.’

‘I believe he
might have gone searching for you.’

And come to
some harm. They had arrested two conspirators but how could they be sure there
were no more? Had they finished off the job they had started when they had held
up the coach? Oh, had they not had enough troubles for one night? If only
Richard were here! She forced herself to pay attention to one thing at a time.
‘Aunt, please tell me what has happened. Why did you abandon your plans to go
to France?’

‘This!’ Her
aunt fumbled about in her reticule and produced a piece of much folded paper.
‘This is what Lady Hereward found on Felicity’s pillow yesterday morning -
well, the maid found it but it amounts to the same thing. She, her ladyship, I
mean, brought it round to me just as I had all my packing done and was about to
leave. The chit meant me to be gone before it was found, I’ll wager.’

‘Found on her
pillow?’ Georgie’s heart sank. What had her foolish sister been up to? She
opened the note and read it swiftly. Felicity had written:

Dear Lady
Hereward

I am indeed
sorry for the inconvenience and embarrassment I must surely cause you, but I am
in desperate straits. I know that as soon as this race to York is done Major
Baverstock will return to speak to me and I cannot
 
put off seeing him again. I am leaving to be with the man I love.
We will be married as soon as possible. I thank you most sincerely for looking
after me so comfortably.

She had signed
it simply, ‘Felicity.’

Georgie’s
reaction was so mixed up she did not know whether to shout for joy or join her
aunt in tears for the mull Felicity had got herself into.

‘Why are you
smiling?’ Mrs Bertram asked. ‘It is no laughing matter, I can tell you. Poor
Lady Hereward is prostrate with guilt that it should have happened. under her
roof, though to be honest she always was more relaxed over discipline than I
ever was. And now she is paying for that folly and us with her.’

‘I hope you did
not tell her so.’

‘No, she feels
badly enough about it without me ringing a peal over her. And I am partly to
blame for allowing the chit to go to her.’

‘It was very
thoughtless of Felicity not to think of that. But where can she have gone?’

‘I thought she
might have come home to you, that she had heard something...’

‘Heard what?’

‘Of course I
denied it, denied it absolutely, said you wouldn’t be such a scapegrace, but it
is gaining ground...’

‘What is
gaining ground?’

‘I thought
Felicity must have come home to tell you to your face that she did not want to
marry the Major. I had to let the Colonel go to Dover without me. I came post
haste to fetch the pair of you back to London. We must announce both your
engagements at once, before there is any more scandal...’

‘Please, Aunt,
what have you heard?’ But she knew the answer and it sickened her.

‘That you have
been entertaining Major Baverstock at Rowan Park and none there but you and a
couple of cork-brained servants.’

‘They are not
cork-brained and if it were not for them...’ Georgie paused. ‘It was Lord Barbour
who put that rumour about, Aunt. It was he who came to Rowan Park and tried to
rape me. Now, don’t go into a spasm, please, or you will not hear the end.
Major Baverstock was in the stables at the time, talking to Dawson about his
horses. Fanny ran and fetched him and he sent his lordship packing.’