To Win the Lady (31 page)

‘It is beyond
comprehension.’

‘It is the
truth. Now, having got that out of the way, what about Felicity? Where do you
think she may have gone?’

‘As she has not
come home, as I hoped, I am forced to the conclusion that she must have gone to
Gretna Green. Oh, how will we ever live it down?’ She heaved a huge sigh. ‘I
have done my best for you both, you cannot deny it, and to be put to the blush
by Lord Dullingham was the last straw.’ And once more she resorted to her
sodden handkerchief.

‘You must be
right about Gretna Green, but who is the man?’

‘I have no
idea.’

‘Come, we must
put our heads together. Who has been paying her more attention than usual?’

‘How can I know
that, when she had been staying with the Herewards? The Major, of course, to
start with, but after he left to make his arrangements for the race I don’t
know. She went out and about with Juliette and the young people of her set.
According to Lady Hereward, they were always well-chaperoned.’

Suddenly
Georgie understood. She remembered blushes and how one young man seemed to
bring Felicity out of her shell more than any other, and the use of a given
name, quickly corrected. ‘Including Captain Melford?’ she asked.

‘Yes, I suppose
so, but surely not? Isn’t Juliette...?’

‘What’s that to
the point? Do you know where Captain Melford is at this moment? He is in York,
waiting for Major Baverstock to arrive. And York is well on the way to Gretna
Green, is it not?’

‘Yes, but if
Felicity has gone there the Major will see her and he will be embarrassed and
angry and...’

‘I don’t think
he will, Aunt.’

‘Why are you
smiling like that? It is not the least bit amusing. Major Baverstock will
withdraw his offer...’

Georgie made
herself look suitably grave. ‘He hasn’t actually made an offer yet, Aunt.’

‘Well, he never
will now.’ She brightened suddenly. ‘Unless we can persuade him that Felicity
went north to see him win the race.’

‘Certainly not;
there has been too much pretence already, which is why we are in this bumblebath.
But I agree we must try and find her. If she wants to marry Captain Melford,
she must do it properly.’

‘If you are
right and it is Captain Melford and not some scapegrace or tulip, it would not
be so bad. But how are we to go? My coach is broken and the horses spent and
whatever shall we do about Lord Dullingham? He mustn’t know. Is it too much to
hope he has washed his hands of us and gone home by some other means?’

‘He would not
be so ungallant.’

‘We must
pretend to be going back to London and then turn round and go north. But the
coach!’

‘Aunt, there is
nothing we can do until daylight. Now, you try and sleep and I will see what is
being done about the coach. If it cannot be repaired we must hire another and a
driver too. Poor James must be as exhausted as you are.’

Mrs Bertram lay
back on her pillows and closed her eyes. Georgie bent to kiss her cheek and
left her, smiling a little. It had not occurred to Mrs Bertram to ask her niece
where she had been and what she had been doing, which was just as well; she had
had enough to contend with for one night.

Strangely
Georgie did not feel tired; she felt elated and so buoyed up with hope, she
wanted to laugh aloud. Felicity did not want to marry Richard! How blind they
had all been and how very stupid! But that did not alter the fact that Felicity
must be rescued from her own folly. An elopement would give the tattlemongers
something to get their teeth into for weeks to come.

She returned
downstairs and went out to the yard to make enquiries about the coach, but at
the back of her mind was another worry. What had become of Viscount Dullingham?

She discovered,
when she went out into the yard, that the coach had been taken into a workshop
at the back of the premises and men were already working on it by the light of
several lanterns. His lordship must have been truly silver-tongued, not to
mention open-handed, to have worked such a miracle.

There were more
people in the yard now as the spectators began to drift back to return the
mounts they had hired, to change their carriage horses or to order an early
breakfast. Grooms and ostlers, rubbing sleep from their eyes, hurried about,
calling to each other and commenting on the best twenty-four hours of business
they had ever done. Those few who had been on duty earlier had taken to their
beds and there was no one who had seen the carriage and its two occupants
arrive. Georgie was beginning to think Mrs Bertram’s wish had been granted and
the Viscount had returned home by other means, when he strolled into the yard.

She was so
relieved to see him, she dashed up to him and, without even waiting for him to
greet her, said, ‘Oh, my lord, how pleased I am to see you safe,’ which was
such an extraordinary thing to say that he looked completely nonplussed for a
moment.

Then he smiled
slowly and tipped his hat. ‘And, my dear Miss Paget, I must say how pleased I
am to see you safe. Now we have our mutual relief out of the way, do you mind
telling me why you think I might have been in any danger?’

‘Those men. Oh,
dear, I really do not know where to begin.’

‘I always find
the beginning the most effectual, my dear. Shall we go inside and find a
comfortable seat? I have a feeling this might take some time.’ He took her arm
and guided her indoors to the parlour where he found them seats in a quiet
corner away from all the young bloods who were going over every minute of the
race and forming their own opinions as to why the Major should have lost his
lead on Lord Barbour.

‘Now,’ he said,
when they were seated with two steaming cups of coffee before them, ‘I take it
you have seen your aunt?’

‘Yes, and what
a tale she had to tell. I am very thankful, my lord, that you were with her.’

‘I do not think
she is quite of the same mind, Miss Paget. Indeed, I’d go so far as to say that
some of the time she wished me in purgatory. There is something troubling her,
but whenever I opened my mouth to ask if I could be of any assistance she
started talking a great deal of trivial nonsense to prevent me speaking.’

‘Yes, I know,
she told me. I am sorry she did not feel able to confide in you.’

He smiled. ‘But
you are going to.’

‘Yes.’ She was
surprised how perfectly at ease she felt in his company. ‘It’s all on account
of my sister, Felicity. I am afraid she has been rather foolish, but it is not
entirely her fault.’

‘The beginning,
if you please, Miss Paget.’

She took a deep
breath and told him the whole story.

‘Then we must
go to York,’ he said when she had finished. ‘The race must be nearly over, but
we will learn the result all the sooner, don’t you think? Is that not reason
enough to go?’

‘Yes, my lord,
but we cannot allow you to inconvenience yourself...’

‘Nonsense, it
is quite an adventure, is it not?’ He was suddenly serious. ‘I must take my
share of the blame for what has happened and the sooner all is put to rights
the better. Now, you must not worry about a thing.’

‘Thank you, my
lord. But there is something else I ought to tell you. While you and my aunt
were having your adventure, I was having one of my own.’

‘Go on.’

He listened intently
without comment while she related it and when she had finished he patted her
hand and smiled. ‘You were wonderfully brave, Miss Paget, and I am sure my son
would agree with me.’

‘I knew those
men were no ordinary highwaymen,’ she said. ‘Can you think why anyone should
want to harm you?’

‘No, but it’s
of no consequence.’

She was not
sure if he was telling the truth or not, but she could hardly call a man of his
calibre to account, and if he chose to keep his thoughts to himself, then that
was his affair. She had not been completely honest either; she had not told him
of her love for Richard. She dared not, not until the business with Felicity
had been sorted out and Richard himself had confirmed his love for her; he
might even want to wash his hands of the whole Paget family. But oh, how she
hoped not. He had given her a taste of paradise and she wanted to feast on it.

‘I do not trust
Lord Barbour not to try something else to detain Rich - Major Baverstock.’ She
corrected her slip very quickly but she was sure he had noticed.

‘We are a match
for him, are we not? Now, it is nearly daylight. I shall go and see how the
coach repairs are coming along and order breakfast for us all, while you go and
wake your aunt and tell her that I have taken over the arrangements for the
whole journey. You had better find one of your men and give him a message for
your housekeeper. We can’t have a hue and cry because she thinks you are
missing, can we? I am afraid there will be no sleep for you.’

‘I do not mind
in the least.’

An hour later,
with a good breakfast inside them and a new axle on the coach, they were
standing in the yard wondering if it would be safe to entrust the driving to
Mrs Bertram’s exhausted driver, when Bert Dawson came in on the night mail with
another of the Rowan Park men. They had been patrolling the early part of the
race and had been able to snooze on the coach bringing them home. Dawson,
Georgie knew, would be discretion itself and readily agreed to drive them. One
of the grooms from the inn was given an exorbitant sum to ride ahead and
arrange for fresh horses to be ready at the posting houses and in no time at
all they were on the road again, hoping to snatch some sleep on the way.

It was a
forlorn hope. The coach was old and uncomfortable and the road in many places
so full of potholes that they were thrown about like sacks of grain, and Mrs
Bertram, remembering what had happened the evening before, was in a paroxysm of
fear that fate would repeat itself. She would have liked to insist on going slowly,
but she was as anxious as everyone else to reach their destination as speedily
as possible.

Late in the
afternoon, when they were still several miles short of Grantham, his lordship
suddenly broke the silence. ‘We’ll go to my shooting box. It’s only a mile or
two out of our way and we will be sure of a comfortable bed and a good meal.’

‘But we won’t
be expected, my lord,’ Georgie demurred.

‘My staff are
used to unexpected comings and goings, my dear. They will rise to the occasion
and find something, even if it not a banquet. And we will be able to set off
again tomorrow much refreshed.’

‘But ought we
to delay, my lord? Felicity has two days’ start on us.’

‘Yes, but she
will have travelled by public coach, the mail at best, and I doubt she will
leave York again immediately. My son will undoubtedly remain in York another
day to rest and perhaps to celebrate, and Captain Melford is bound to want to
join him in that.’ He smiled. ‘And to settle his wagers, one way or another.
Add to that your sister’s undoubted fatigue and you have pressing reasons for
remaining another day.’

He sounded so
calm, she felt reassured. ‘Do you really think so?’

‘Yes. Now, what
do you say?’

Georgie turned to
look at her aunt who was sound asleep in the corner with her bonnet fallen over
her face. Poor thing, she had tried to keep awake because she’d felt she ought
to converse, but had given up the struggle a few miles back. She needed a good
night’s sleep; they all did. `If you are sure it will not be too much trouble.’

He put his head
out of the window and called up to Dawson. ‘Take the turn to Melton Mowbray,
driver. You’ll find a gate on the right-hand side about five miles up the road.
Missen House, it’s called.’ He turned to smile at Georgie. ‘The house was my
mother’s childhood home, but since I inherited it has been used by the family
as a shooting box, though truthfully it is a trifle larger than one would
expect.’

Georgie smiled
at his understatement when she saw the house, standing at the end of a long
straight drive; it was a substantial country mansion. And what was even more
surprising was the fact that it was not shut up as she had expected. The
curtains were drawn back and some of the upper windows were open. The minute
the coach drew up, the front door was opened by a man in a black tailcoat who
stood on the step peering at them as if unsure whether to welcome them. But, of
course, they were in Mrs Bertram’s old coach, not the spanking new Dullingham
carriage. As soon as the vehicle stopped, Lord Dullingham stepped down and
turned to help Mrs Bertram down.

She was still
half asleep, having been shaken awake by Georgie when they’d turned in at the
gates. Now she looked about her, unsure where she was. The Viscount smiled.
‘Welcome to Missen House, ma’am.’ He went to hand Georgie down but she had
already climbed out and was shaking the creases out of her riding habit. It was
when he turned to escort them up the steps that he saw the servant. Georgie
noticed the slight pursing of his lips and the drawing down of his brows; it
was an expression she had seen on Richard when he was displeased. ‘Who are
you?’ his lordship demanded.