Chapter Nineteen
Anne arrived at Lord and Lady Harrison’s to a house full of over-indulged residents. She walked into Lady Victoria’s drawing room just after lunch. Inside she found not only her friend, Grace, but Lord Bingham as well. Lord and Lady Harrison had retired for a nap but Lord Bingham and Grace were lounging on the furniture. Grace was reclining on the settee complaining about how much she had eaten. She knew things had been strained here since the money misunderstanding and she was glad to see both Grace and Lord Bingham together exchanging friendly banter like they had before.
“Oh God, I can’t move. I think I am about to explode. I ate like it was Christmas, what possessed me to eat that much?” Grace swung her accusing gaze to Jasper who was sprawled on the divan near the window, “Why did you let me eat that much? You know I have a wedding dress to fit into in a few weeks.”
“I may have to let my seams out, as well; I forgot how Victoria’s cook puts on a good feast.” Japer shifted his position to stretch out his belly in an attempt to accommodate his lunch.
Anne entered the room with a smile; this may be easier than she thought. “Come along, you two, we are going for a walk.”
Anne wasn’t sure what but she knew her brother was up to something. His suggestion that she take Grace for a walk had sounded innocent enough but she knew him better than that. However, she couldn’t see what the harm would be in going for a walk either, so minutes after he left she’d gathered her things and headed out the door herself. Today was a lovely day for a visit and if Grace wanted to stroll around the park as well, it would be fun. Grace hadn’t left the house since her accident and that had been weeks ago. When she visited the other day, the bruising had almost gone so she should be amenable to being seen in public.
Amid grumbles about her working for the devil she managed to pry them from their positions and get them out the door in record time. She had a schedule to keep.
“You were right, Anne, we needed this,” Grace admitted as they strolled down the street. “My belly has stopped cramping and this fresh air is doing me good. I was getting stale cooped up inside all day.”
“Yes, Grace is right, this is much better,” added Lord Bingham. “Where are you taking us, Lady Anne?”
“Oh, nowhere really, I just thought we could all use some fresh air since it’s such a lovely day and it wouldn’t hurt for all of us to be seen together, getting along, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.” Grace reached out and grabbed her arm, linking it with hers as they strolled down the street.
Anne missed this. Before Grace had her fall, they had spent days together walking the streets. Grace was always keen to see the sights, and she enjoyed the freedom away from her mother and father.
Today was mild and the sun was trying its hardest to break through the clouds that had covered London all winter. There was a fresh breeze blowing and if she closed her eyes, Anne could almost pretend she was in a small town out in the country. That was, of course, if she ignored the traffic.
The streets were bursting at the seams with people. It appeared as though everyone had had the same idea and it was as if all of London was out in force enjoying the good weather.
Anne decided she was going to forgive her brother for all his wrongdoings of late and give him a kiss the next time she saw him for suggesting such a walk. Maybe he wasn’t such a nuisance after all.
Anne looked down at her friend and smiled. They were going to have a wonderful day today.
Meanwhile, Rupert Caine crept along the street, staying as close to the buildings as possible, trying to fit in amongst the aristocratic society browsing the shops on their way to the park, but his height wasn’t helping. He had on his best coat and boots but he still received sidelong glances from passing ladies and gentlemen. He sneered at them to keep them moving.
He had his target in his sights. He’d spotted Lord Wester’s sister first. The pair of them came towards him on the opposite side of the street. Their arms were linked together and their heads almost touched as they seemed to share a joke.
Miss Lancaster was a pretty little thing. Her hair flowed from her hairpins and floated around her face creating a dark halo where the light of the day caught it. Her blue cloak accentuated the curves of her body making her stand out from the crowd. Her head was thrown back in laughter and her body arched to accommodate the sound spilling from her lips. Impossibly, Rupert caught a tinkling of her laughter above the street’s chaos. It stopped him in his tracks, all he could do was stare. Who laughed like this? In public? It would be a shame to crush the life from such a vibrant being.
Unfortunately the congestion he caused when he stopped drew attention from the very people he was stalking. His heart ran cold when he spotted the ladies’ other companion. The man’s great coat flapped in the wind as he stepped protectively closer to the ladies. Rupert had made unintentional eye contact with him just before he ducked behind a carriage parked waiting for its owners to return. Shit. Lord Bingham. He hadn’t anticipated him. Lord Wester had clearly stated that Miss Lancaster would be out with Lady Anne and no one else.
So now Lord Bingham knew he was there. This might prove interesting. He and Bingham went back a few years. They had met at Eton. No one would suspect Rupert to have set foot within 300 metres of a place such as that, and Rupert made damn sure it stayed that way. There were very few alive today who knew where he really came from. Lord Bingham simply happened to be one of them.
Rupert knew this job was going to be difficult, especially with Bingham involved. The challenge of a job such as this was the very reason he took it on. He let out a snort of laughter; it definitely wasn’t for the money!
He’d hoped to get this horrible thing done without being detected. It was bad enough the lies he had to spin to stay alive in this game. Sometimes he himself could hardly tell where he ended and the lies began. Not for the first time, he looked at his life and felt disgusted. The tightness in his chest increased and he prayed, as he did daily, that the good Lord would finally take him from this Godforsaken place.
What had possessed him to agree to this? Some things he did he had to, but he certainly didn’t take pleasure in hurting innocents. There was no choice in it now; he’d already made his decision.
Not wanting to waste another minute, he stepped around the carriage where he’d been hiding and wove his way through the traffic and across the street.
His quarry had disappeared!
He looked around the footpath, spinning in circles, desperately trying to locate his prey. It had been years since someone was able to give him the slip; ironic it had been Bingham who was able to do it all those years ago too.
Back then they would vie for the same women, forever trying to put one over the other fellow. It was disconcerting it was a woman this time too. He shook his head to clear it; this reminiscing was bringing back too many unwanted memories of who he used to be.
“Where’d they go? Don’t tell me you let them get away?”
Rupert almost jumped at the sound of the voice, almost. He glanced down at the slimy worm at his side and disgust rolled over his body.
“I’s thought ye said ye won’ be ’ere for this.”
“Oh, I decided to watch. Nothing like a bit of sport eh? Pity one couldn’t lay a bet on the outcome,” Lord Wester exclaimed excitedly and a bit too loudly too, by the looks they were receiving. “There’ll be plenty of blood, won’t there?”
Rupert’s skin crawled as he looked into Lord Wester’s eyes. There was madness lurking in there all too close to the surface. This man was a lunatic!
“There they are!” Lord Wester pointed excitedly across the road. “After them quickly!”
The little man pushed him! Rupert couldn’t believe that the little twerp actually laid a hand on him. He flexed his muscles and by the look on Wester’s face he’d noticed the subtle movement of his coat as his shoulders bunched. The little man wisely stepped back out of arm’s reach.
�
�Ye can’t be ’ere, yer fool. Away with ye.” When the stupid man didn’t budge Rupert picked him up by his arms so he could look him straight in the face, “Get. Out. Of. ’Ere!” Rupert said slowly and quietly.
Wester’s face paled and as soon as he gave a quick nod, Rupert released his arms. Wester fell to the ground with a thud. Rupert smiled menacingly at the man sitting in a heap on the walkway. “I’s suggest ye head ’ome now.” Then he stepped back out into the street and wove his way through the traffic back to the other side.
“What’s happening, Jasper?” Grace whispered up to her companion. He’d whisked Lady Anne and her across the street and around the corner so fast she almost didn’t notice they were now heading back the way they had come. All she received for an answer was a grunt and a tug on her arm, urging her faster.
Even though she was not from this time, she knew one did not race down the street. The demands of genteel society necessitated one to slowly promenade gracefully down the street, greeting everyone you met. She and Anne could barely get a nod out to the greetings that were called their way as Jasper herded them back towards the Harrisons’ manor. He weaved them in and out of the crowds, elbowing people out of their way if they dared not move fast enough or happened to be standing conversing with friends. The worst moment came when he ran down an elderly woman and didn’t allow the ladies to stop and help the old dear up.
She managed to steal a glance at Anne before being tugged faster still and seeing her friend’s face flushed and sweaty. She had had enough. Grace dug in her heels and refused to take another step. “Jasper,” she hissed, “what are you doing? Anne can barely breathe and I have a stitch in my side. Have you ever tried running in a corset?” she asked. “No? I thought not!”
Jasper stared down at the little minx and Lady Anne beside her. Both their faces were bright red and their breath huffed from their lips in great clouds as they tried to regain their composure. Grace had her hands on her hips and, if she’d been tall enough to manage it, he was sure she would’ve been glaring down her pert little nose at him.
“I have to get you back to the house.” There was no time to explain about the man who was trailing them. The man who he thought was long dead. The man who had tried to kill him on more than one occasion. The man who he saw coming around the corner right now!
“Now. We are going now.” He grabbed both of their arms and tried to drag them along behind him. Both girls refused to move. Terror filled his body. He had never felt this way before, but the very thought of Grace being anywhere near Rupert Caine caused his body to start shaking uncontrollably.
Grace looked in wonderment at the man she was to marry. What had gotten into him? It was one thing to haul them down the street but quite another to shout at them in public. The whole neighbourhood stopped to stare. Those who weren’t on the streets themselves, peered from their windows. Shame flushed her face as snatches of conversation reached her ears. At Anne’s gasp she realised the words had reached her ears as well.
“Jasper,” Grace managed to say, pretty calmly too, she might add, considering her teeth were clenched so tightly together they were in danger of snapping off. “Please explain what has gotten into you? Why are you dragging us down the street? And in the wrong direction, I might add. We were supposed to be going to the park!”
“There is no time, woman!”
She noticed his teeth were clenched just as tightly as hers and his arms were shaking, she presumed in the effort not to strangle her. She had dared to ask a question, after all.
Jasper opened his mouth, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat when he looked over her shoulder. Where he wasn’t able to budge her and Anne before, he swung them both around behind him with ease.
A large man in a well-worn coat and scuffed boots stood in front of Jasper. Grace and Anne peeked out from behind Jasper to have a closer look at the strange man. People stopped in the street to stare, straining their ears to hear the conversation that was about to take place.
“Bingham,” the large man said in hushed tones, “if you don’t want to make this any messier than it has to be, let’s get off the street. I, for one, have brought enough attention to myself for one day, and I don’t imagine you want this to become a public spectacle.”
Jasper blocked her as she tried to come out from behind him, his arm trapping her in place. The man was beyond infuriating; who was this man he was talking to? He spoke so quietly, she almost couldn’t make out what was being said.
“What are they saying?” Anne asked her. She couldn’t get around Jasper’s arm either.
“Do I trust you enough to go somewhere that isn’t in public view?” Jasper asked of the man.
“You know me, mate; I would warn you beforehand if I meant to kill you. Besides, you fared well enough against me last time.”
Grace could hear the humour in the man’s voice and could well imagine him sneering down at Jasper.
“It’s not me I’m concerned about and you well know it.”
“Aye, and it’s the lady behind you I’m worried about too. You need to get her out of sight. Now.”
“You need to tell me what is going on first, Caine.”
“Do you know a man called Wester?”
Jasper tensed but before he could reply, Anne’s head popped out from behind him to look the strange man in the eye.
“What about my brother?”
“Your brother, eh? Is that how he got you out into the street today?”
Jasper and Grace both turned to stared at Anne. Her face went red. “I…umm…well…you see, the thing is…umm. Robin asked me to take a walk with you to the park today.” The words rushed from her lips. “What is he up to? What has he done now?” she asked the unfamiliar man.
The man looked around at the people gathering around them. “Like I said, we should get out of public. Where’s your house, Bingham?”
“Victoria’s house is just down the street, we could go there. If you’re in luck, Harrison will be there too,” Jasper said.
“Ah, Victoria, I haven’t seen her in ages. How is the old girl? She finally managed to snare Harrison did she? She always did have her sights set on him didn’t she?”
“Umm, Japer, don’t you think you should introduce us?” Grace asked.
“I would be honoured to make your acquaintance, Miss Lancaster, but it’s best to leave the introductions until we are safely inside.”
“But…”
“Grace, he’s right, we need to get off the street.”
The walk the rest of the way back to the Harrison’s was kept to a normal pace and they managed not to attract any more attention.
Hoskins opened the door of the manor as they approached. No emotion was detectable on his face as he admitted them.
“Is my brother-in-law still at home?” At Hoskins’s affirmative reply, Jasper continued, “Please inform him we need an audience straight away.”
“Jasper, is that you?” Victoria’s voice came from her drawing room just off the foyer. “Tell Grace I need her to try on those dr…Oh!” Victoria came into the hallway and spotted the man with them. “Rupert Caine?!” She flew across the room and flung herself into his arms. “Is it really you?”
“Victoria,” Rupert chuckled, “aye, it’s me.”
“Get your hands off my wife.” The cold tense words rang through the house. Every eye rose to the top of the staircase where Neal now stood.
Victoria stepped back and Rupert’s hands fell to his sides.
“Good to see you, Harrison.” Rupert stepped forward as Neal descended the stairs and offered his hand to him. “May I offer my heartiest congratulations upon your marriage?”
“We have been married for ten years now, congratulations are a bit late don’t you think?” Neal looked at Rupert’s extended hand but didn’t offer his own when he reached the bottom. “I thought you were dead.”
“Could someone please tell me what is going on here?” Grace asked, looking from one face to the ne
xt.
Jasper was the first to answer. “Yes, well, Neal, it appears we need your study…and you. Ladies, if you will excuse us?”
The men filed down the hall, leaving the women to stand in the entrance. “Come, ladies, I think we need a drink. And something a bit stronger than tea, don’t you agree?” Victoria led them into her drawing room but left the door ajar so the men couldn’t sneak by without them knowing.
“Victoria, who was that man?” Anne asked when they were seated. “And how does he know my brother?”
Handing them each a glass of sherry, Victoria sat down in her favourite chair. “That man is Rupert Caine, second son to the Duke of Kensington.” She took a large gulp of her drink. “He went to war, like most second and third sons, but he didn’t come back, ever. No one saw him again since the day he left. He never came home to visit, at least not that I heard, and a few years ago it was rumoured he was killed in battle. Lord Kensington even had a funeral service for him and everything. To see him here doesn’t make sense. As for how he knows your brother, Anne, your guess is as good as mine.”
“So if you know him, then why was Jasper running away from him in the street?”
“I need another drink, how about you; do you need a top-up, ladies?” Victoria rose to refill her glass. “Jasper and Rupert went to Eton together. They got along well enough at first, I suppose, but, well, let’s just say boys will be boys and one misunderstanding led to another and they tried killing each other a few times.”
“Really, and you let him into your house?” Grace asked in surprise.
“Keep in mind that neither of them was successful, and really they were just boys back then. I’m sure Rupert won’t try to kill anyone today.”
“But then why was Jasper running?”
“I suppose we will just have to wait for the men to tell us, won’t we?” Victoria said before finishing off her second glass. “Refills, anyone?”
Neal shut the door of his study and then took the most comfortable chair in the room. Jasper couldn’t really blame him; it was his house after all.
“Would you care to tell me why you had your hands all over my wife, in my own house, and why the hell you aren’t dead?” Neal demanded as soon as everyone sat down.
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