‘If I were him, once this nonsense between my sister and him has been put to an end, I would take care to watch my back when walking by the river.’
‘I will pass the message along, the next time I see him,’ Michael said, fighting an urge to shudder.
‘Very well,’ Scofield said with another icy smile. ‘You may go, Mr Solomon. You may go.’
CHAPTER FIVE
Her second elopement was even more exciting than her first. Or perhaps nerve-racking was a better way to describe it. This time, she would be running away from the house, and must trust that Alister would devise a way to distract Mr Solomon and any other servants that might be watching her.
But he had given her no specifics as to how he was going to go about it. Five days had passed since she had found the message hidden in the bonnet, which had given her little more than the time and date and the instruction to run for the back gate when the moment came.
She was left hoping that he was as clever as her sister’s husband had been in arranging their escape. At the very least, he must be more clever than Mr Solomon. And that man was not easily tricked.
So far, the pathway to freedom seemed suspiciously clear. He was not in the garden today, nor had he been there when she had sneaked outside in moonlight to hide a carpetbag of clothing in the dog kennel. What would happen if he reappeared just as she was trying to leave? He did not seem the sort that would pick her up and carry her bodily back into the house. If she saw him, she would remain firm and walk briskly past him, ignoring any objections. If he touched her, she would scream loud enough to bring the rest of the servants from the house and claim that he had accosted her for no reason. They would take her side against a stranger, and they would subdue him, giving her time to escape.
She checked the watch that was pinned to the bodice of her gown. It was one o’clock. The time had come. She waited for the expected sounds of a distraction, but none came. Perhaps it was a silent commotion, if such a thing existed. Alister had told her to leave at one, and leave quickly, no matter what she saw or heard. But she had not expected to hear nothing.
It seemed she would have to make the initial move, but it was difficult with nothing to signal the time other than the watch ticking against her heart. Perhaps it was because she had been waiting for so long that the act of rebellion seemed impossible. At the moment, her mind was making hundreds of excuses to delay.
She would be leaving her possessions behind, other than the few things she could manage to fit in the small bag already hidden. To the linen and pearls that had been in her basket the previous week, she had added a spare gown and a few books she was too sentimental to part with. After the way he had treated Peg when she had eloped, Liv doubted that Hugh would allow her back into the house to retrieve anything she had forgotten.
For luck, she had put on the ridiculous bonnet that Alister had bought to hide the note. They would likely laugh about that while on the road north. It would make for a pleasant story to tell their children.
The thought of children and a future made her smile. Unlike the prison she lived in now, her house would be full of laughter and love. She could imagine her husband smiling fondly at her as a little boy twined pudgy arms around her neck. She would soothe their nightmares just as they cured hers.
It was time to go. All she had to do was run down to the garden, grab the bag from the kennel and...
What would become of her dogs?
She had to admit that Caesar had done nothing to endear himself to the staff or to her brother. But he had been so much better now that he had Cleo for company. She even suspected there was another litter of pups on the way. Who would take care of them? Who would find homes for them?
She wanted to believe that her brother would not solve the problem by having a groom throw a squirming bag into the river. But, seeing how he had disposed of people in his life, she found it hard to believe that his sympathetic nature would suddenly appear when greeted by a half dozen extra dogs.
She shook her head, refusing to think of the worst thing that might occur. She was probably just making excuses to explain a case of cold feet now that the moment had come to finally strike out on her own.
But she would not be alone. Not really. She would be with Alister, who had waited long and patiently for the right moment that they could marry. Now that it was here, it would be most unfair of her to back out.
She paused in her thoughts, examining the last one. It almost sounded as if she did not want to marry Alister. And the fact that she did had been a thing she had been quite sure of for some time. She tried to imagine the happy future again and found that, while her beautiful blond children were easy to picture, it was much harder to imagine Alister as part of the family.
This was all Mr Solomon’s fault. In the carriage on the way back from Mrs Wilson’s, he had done everything possible to sow doubts, even going so far as to stroke her hands and stare sympathetically into her eyes. She must not let him turn her head.
She enjoyed spending time with Alister. She liked being kissed by him and had been looking forward to the greater intimacies that would come with marriage. Most of all, she liked the way he treated her, as if she were the most precious woman in the world. He loved her. And she... She took a steadying breath. And she loved him.
If she was hesitating, there was no logical reason for it. She had simply to put her fears aside, leave a note to the maid about the care of the dogs and run before Mr Solomon reappeared and spoiled everything. She scribbled a few lines, tied the ugly red ribbons on her bonnet, took one last look in the mirror and bolted down the stairs to the main floor and freedom.
No one stopped her as she left through the kitchen door without an explanation. And, surprisingly, no one bothered her as she reclaimed her bag and made her way through the back garden to the gate. Mr Solomon was still not in his place beneath the tree, nor had he bothered to lock the gate in his absence.
She laughed to herself. It was clear that Hugh had placed too much confidence in the man, probably in response to his arrogant manner. He might have been lucky on the first attempt. But when challenged a second time, it seemed he would be even easier to escape than his predecessors. She walked out through the gate and down the street to the corner, totally unhindered, casting an occasional glance behind her, still amazed at her luck.
The carriage was waiting, just as Alister had promised, out of sight of the house. He stood by the open door, waiting. ‘I had begun to worry that you were not coming,’ he said, glancing at his watch. ‘We agreed on one o’clock.’
‘It is only a little past that now,’ she said, not bothering to check the time again. She could not deny that she had dawdled. But she doubted, after listening for years to her complaints about it, that he would understand how hard it had been to leave the only home she had ever known.
‘It does not matter,’ he said, patting her hand as he helped her into the carriage. ‘Now that we are together, we will not have that problem again.’
She smiled back at him, not sure if she was relieved or annoyed. ‘Of course not,’ she said at last, giving him another smile.
‘I have our trip perfectly planned,’ he said, glancing out through the window. ‘We will be out of the city within the hour, long before your brother discovers you gone, and will continue on the road north for six hours. We will be stopping at the Two Crowns, which is an inn known for its cleanliness and excellent food.’ He checked his watch again, as if assuring himself that there was still time to make dinner. Then his attention shifted back to her as he consulted a notebook he pulled from his pocket. ‘We will leave the inn at dawn, since we can assume that your brother will be mounting a pursuit—’
‘What did you do to get rid of Mr Solomon, who was supposed to prevent all this?’ she interrupted.
Alister laughed. ‘Nothing at all. I came prepared, of course,’ he said, raising his pocket flap to rev
eal the butt of a pistol.
‘You meant to shoot him?’ she said, shocked.
‘Only to frighten him away,’ Alister assured her. ‘But it was not necessary. No one was there. It seems you have been worrying over nothing.’
‘Oh,’ she said quietly. She had been telling Alister for two years about the dangerous men that made an escape from the house impossible. But now that they had tried it, it had been easily done. It was one more reason to hate Michael Solomon. He had failed in his job and made her look like a fool.
But Alister was probably right that Hugh would send someone after them and confirm her fears. Of course, it should be Mr Solomon. If he was in any way competent, he should notice that she had gone long before her brother had and start his ride north only a few hours after them.
He would probably catch up with them at the first inn. When she had imagined this trip, she had given a lot of thought to the hours they would have to spend while passing the nights on the way to Scotland.
It would finally happen.
They would do the thing that lovers did, something she did not even have the nerve to name aloud. It would be legal, moral and common, after they were married. But while they were on the way to the marriage, there would be two, or perhaps three, very long nights. It was what she had been thinking about for almost two years.
But now that the time was almost upon her, she could not seem to stop imagining Mr Solomon bursting into the room a moment before things began and rescuing her. Her imagination was wrong. It would be an interruption, not salvation. She should not want to go away with him, just to be returned back to London and incarceration in her brother’s house.
But in the scenario she was now picturing, when she did not go willingly, he swept her up into his arms and carried her bodily from the bedroom. Her struggles against him were half-hearted, and soon she settled into his arms and clung to him.
Her mind searched the picture for Alister, wondering what he might make of it. But in her fantasy he was either absent or impotent, for he did nothing to stop what was happening. He was certainly not wielding a pistol to keep her at his side. He was simply not that sort of person.
‘Olivia!’
Her mind snapped back to reality, and the exasperated man sitting across from her in the carriage. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You have not been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?’
In truth, she had not. But it had not seemed very important, when she had lost interest. She shrugged and smiled. ‘It has been a rather overwhelming day.’
‘Of course,’ he said, smiling and patting her hand again. ‘But now that we are on our way, you can relax. You have seen the last of your brother and his overbearing ways.’
‘For a while, at least,’ she said, taking a deep breath. ‘Once we are married, perhaps he will relent and let us back into the family.’
Alister sniffed. ‘Even if he does, I see no reason that we have to respond to the invitation. We will have everything we need, once we are together.’
She should be encouraged by that sentiment, for it was proof that Mr Solomon was wrong. Alister wanted her for more than her titled family and the allowance she might be provided. All the same, she could not imagine cutting Hugh, should he reach out to them. ‘If not that, then perhaps I can see my sister again. Hugh prevented all contact after she ran away.’
Alister sniffed again. ‘That was, perhaps, the only wise decision he made. Her choice of husband was not appropriate, nor was the way she ran off.’
It was strange that he would point a finger in the midst of their own elopement. But she chose to ignore it, focusing on his censure of Peg. ‘She is my family, Alister, and I miss her most sorely. It can do no harm to locate her direction and exchange letters with her, if only to see how she is getting on.’
‘We will discuss this later,’ he said. ‘There is no need to think of her when you should be focusing on your own honeymoon.’ He smiled, as if the matter was settled.
She smiled back at him again, trying to ignore the feeling that, once they were married, he would have no reason to discuss anything with her. He would be the one making the decisions.
They progressed through the city slowly, which was the only pace possible in London traffic, and Alister spent much of his time staring out of the window, craning his neck to watch behind them as if, despite his earlier words, he expected the pursuit to be hot on their heels. After almost an hour of vigilance, he relaxed in his seat and stared across at her with an expression that she might have described as self-satisfied. ‘It is finally happening,’ he said, grinning again. ‘After years of planning, you will finally be mine.’
They were just the words she’d needed to hear. He still loved her, no matter how long they’d waited. ‘And you will be mine,’ she added joyfully.
He laughed. ‘Do not be ridiculous.’
Her smile faded. ‘I did not intend to be. You are mine, just as I am yours.’
He gave her the sort of smile that one gave to frustrating children and shook his head as if he could not quite believe that he needed to explain. ‘Possession is not a mutual thing, my dear. If it were, it would be terribly difficult to decide what belonged to whom.’
‘That is true of objects, perhaps,’ she said, glad that this was a simple semantic argument. ‘But not when it comes to love. When we marry, I will give you my heart and you will give yours in return.’
‘In a way, perhaps,’ he said, still not convinced. ‘But if we were having a proper church wedding, the matter would be much clearer to you. The vicar would ask, “Who gives this woman?” and your brother would hand you over into my keeping.’ He frowned. ‘If Scofield had not been so stubborn, that might have happened. Instead, I must steal you away.’ He smiled again. ‘In any case, you would not see a similar moment in the ceremony when anyone stepped forward to give me to you.’
It was true, of course. But she had never given the matter much thought. It was just as well, for if she brooded on the symbolism of the thing she might begin to feel as constricted as she did in the keeping of her brother. And never, in the years he had courted her, had she felt inhibited by Alister’s affection.
‘It is just as well, I suppose,’ he added. ‘For I could not think of a single person to stand up with me, should I need one.’
‘I had forgotten,’ she whispered, sorry to have reminded him. He had told her when they had met that he was an orphan and seemed so sad at the fact that she had been careful not to mention it again.
‘But now I shall have you,’ he said, smiling fondly at her and reminding her what it was that had made her come away with him in the first place. ‘You shall be my family. It will be a new beginning.’
‘For both of us,’ she said, hesitating until he nodded in agreement. Then she broached the subject that had worried her before leaving. ‘I was wondering, after things settle down, if we might persuade Hugh to part with my dogs.’
‘Your what?’ he said with a raised eyebrow, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
‘Caesar and Cleo,’ she said with a small laugh. He was only feigning ignorance. Until Mr Solomon had taken to skulking about in it, they’d spent hours in the garden together playing with the pugs.
‘Once you are married, you will have little time for them,’ he said with a shake of his head.
‘What will I be doing that will take the whole of my day?’ she asked.
‘Taking care of the children, of course,’ he replied, as if it should be obvious.
‘But, even in the best of circumstances, we will not have even one child for quite some time,’ she reminded him. ‘And the dogs do not need much entertainment. For the most part, they are fine keeping company with each other.’
‘So you admit that you don’t need them,’ he replied, preparing to turn back to the window and end the conversation.
; ‘It is not that I need them, exactly.’ She wet her lips, hesitant to admit the truth. ‘It is that I fear that Hugh might take some sort of revenge upon them, once I am gone.’
‘Has he shown violence towards the dogs before?’ He was giving her a look so reasonable that she felt irrational by comparison.
‘It is not what he has done to the dogs that frightens me,’ she said. ‘It is what I know he is capable of.’ Of course he had never harmed an animal, as far as she knew. But he had gone to great lengths to control her and her sister. ‘Since he does not allow me to see other people, he must know that my dogs are my only company. If he has them, he might threaten them to try to get me to come back...’
Alister gave her a firm smile and a shake of his head. ‘I will not allow you to go back. So it does not matter what he does to them.’
‘But it does,’ she insisted. ‘I would feel so much better if I did not have to worry about them.’
And there was that smile, unwavering and obtuse. ‘You will forget all about them in time. In any case, the point is moot. We will not have the space for a pack of dogs in our home.’
‘I had not thought of that,’ she said, cowed.
‘I am not a duke, you know,’ he said with a slightly bitter laugh. ‘Once we are married, you will have to do without some of the frivolities you are used to. This is the first sacrifice you will have to make, and I am sure it will not be the last.’
‘You are right, of course,’ she said, trying not to let her voice quaver. ‘I should not have bothered you.’
He gave her an approving look, satisfied that she understood.
Then, to lighten the mood, she tugged at the ribbon tied beneath her chin, undoing the knot and flipping the end in his direction. ‘You have not complimented me on my new bonnet.’
He glanced up at it without a sign of interest or recognition. ‘Oh, yes. Very nice.’
She was not normally the sort of girl to pout over a lack of compliments, but she could not help a small moue of displeasure. ‘It is the hat you chose for me. The one that contained the note about this trip.’
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