Richard was making his excuses to Victoria. ‘I really need to see Kitty before I go.’ He turned as she came back into the room. ‘Ah! Kitty.’ He murmured and cupped her elbow in his palm. ‘Come with me my love.’ And he took her back out into the hall. ‘Deacon? Can you get my valet to pack the essentials and I’ll need a fast coach with fast horses.’ Deacon bustled off without a word and Richard pulled Kitty into his arms. ‘I love you.’ he murmured and kissed her gently, ‘and I would love to spend every night for the next fifty years lying beside you, but Charles is my friend and I owe him my life. I cannot fail him now.’
‘I understand.’ She whispered hoarsely, ‘but don’t expect me to stand on the step and wave you off!’ she gasped as the tears started to roll and Richard kissed her deeply. Kitty struggled out of his embrace.
‘Be careful. I don’t want to lose you.’ She whispered and ran for the stairs like an athlete.
Once in her room, Kitty threw off the morning dress and petticoat, hurriedly donned the shirt and tried to tie the cravat. She threw on the britches, the skirt and jacket that Mary had prepared, snatched up the small case with her essential items in and a cloak. She ran down the service stairs to the stables and was just in time to see George Martin, the head coachman, climbing onto the driving seat.
‘Oh! George. I’m just in time.’ She blurted and he took her case and stowed it. ‘Make sure you set off immediately Lord Richard gets in the door. He’ll try to force me to stay behind and I’m not having it.’ ‘Yes, My Lady.’
‘And we must fly, George, we have to beat my brother to London.’
‘I understand, Countess.’ He said and held out his hand for her. She climbed in the carriage and tried to hide in the corner of the seat. George closed the door and climbed up onto the drivers seat next to the footman, flicked his whip and the four horses trotted forward. She tried to press herself in the corner of the coach, away from the diffused light of the lamps either side of the impressive entrance to the hall.
Richard skipped down the steps and the footman held the door. ‘To London only stopping for horses.’ He said firmly and stepped in the coach. As per her instruction, the footman slammed the door before Richard was even seated and as he looked at the shadowy shape in the corner, George cracked the whip, the carriage jerked forward and Richard topple against the seat. ‘What the devil?’ he blurted in shock as the lamp light fell across Kitty’s face. ‘I told you to stay here.’ He said his face flushed in anger.
‘Not on your life!’ Kitty murmured, ‘and it very well may be.’ Richard gained the seat opposite.
‘I’ve a good mind to stop the coach and tip you out on the side of the drive!’ Richard argued.
‘You can try, but I gave George orders not to stop for anything.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘So unless you wish to throw me out of a fast moving carriage, you’re stuck with me!’
‘Kitty, this is going to be very dangerous.’ He pleaded.
‘I know.’ She said firmly. ‘I’m probably more aware than you just how dangerous my brother is. I cannot let either of you do this alone.’
They both swayed in the seat as the carriage turned onto the road and suddenly they could hear George urging the horses on and cracking the whip.
‘This is going to be a very uncomfortable journey.’ Richard muttered.
‘Sleep is the way to combat it!’ Kitty said firmly. ‘You should lie down.’ And she curled up on the seat, and was asleep before the coach reached Barnard Castle.
Chapter 15
Richard opened his eyes and pulled his watch from his pocket. Fifteen minutes past seven.He thought.I wonder where we are.He yawned and looked across at Kitty sleeping with her thumb in her mouth again.So innocent.He clambered to his feet, opened the window and leaned out into the fresh slipstream. ‘George!’ he shouted and the coachman looked over the side of the carriage. ‘Where are we?’ Richard asked.
‘Just passing Newark-On-Trent, my Lord.’ George shouted down and smiled.
‘Can we eat at the next stop?’ Richard asked and George just nodded.
‘We missed the Yorkshire Dales.’ Kitty said as she stretched and yawned. ‘Good morning.’ She said coyly. ‘Did I hear you mention food?’
‘Yes. George says we can eat at the next stop.’ Richard said softly. ‘You do realise that Charles is going to have my hide!?’
‘Charles tends to forget I’m a better swordsman than him.’ Kitty said firmly. ‘I know how devious Robin is and I can best him.’ She was keeping her attention on the scenery flying past the window. ‘Has it occurred to you that Robin has help?’
‘No.’ Richard said and frowned. ‘What do you mean help?’
Kitty looked at him and shook her head in exasperation. ‘Robin must have help otherwise somebody in London would have commented on seeing him.’ She explained and smiled wickedly. ‘Tell me, my love. Could you hit a Lady?’
‘Of course not! I’m a gentleman.’ Richard exploded
‘My point exactly!’ she said knowingly. ‘Robin is counting on your gentlemanly conduct, while he isn’t restricted by such limitations.’ She laughed coarsely. ‘Robin wouldn’t think twice about slapping a lady about if it suited his purpose. It was one of the hard lessons I learned when I was ten.’ Kitty turned her face back to the window. ‘It’s something Charles probably doesn’t realise and I know I haven’t told him everything that happened that night.’
‘What happened that Charles doesn’t know about?’ Richard asked hollowly.
Kitty kept her face turned away to hide the horror in her eyes, but Richard could hear it in her voice. ‘Robin came to my room on the pretext of a game. After he had engaged my attention in the rules, he slapped me across the face before he yanked back the bed covers and pulled me out of bed by my night gown.’ She took a shuddering breath. ‘I was only ten years old and his strength frightened me. As I opened my mouth to scream, his fist landed on the end of my nose, making me dazed and I don’t really remember what happened after that, except I was naked on the bed when Charles came through the door like a strong wind and Robin was flying across the room into my dressing table.’ She sighed and looked down at her hands. ‘I think the terrifying thing about the whole incident was the total lack of emotion in Robin’s eyes. It was as if I wasn’t there, he looked right through me.’
‘What does Robin look like?’ Richard asked softly.
‘Have you seen the painting in the informal drawing room at Grosvenor Square?’
‘The woman over the fireplace?’
‘That’s the one. That is my mother and that is what Robin looks like. He’s not as tall as Daddy and Charles, but he’s stocky and has mothers light coloured hair. I’m sort of between the two, mousy, Charles has Daddy’s hair, but Robin is almost blond, but not quite and his eyes are dark hazel and almost lifeless at times.’
‘Why do you think he has help?’ He asked perplexed. ‘Specifically female help.’
‘I would expect the new Duchess to be installed at Grosvenor Square when we arrive and she’s going to be very put out.’
‘Do you have a suspect?’ and Richard’s face went blank as he tried to take in what Kitty had surmised.
‘Yes, but I’m not prepared to reveal my suspicions just yet.’
‘Just a minute! You said Duchess?’
‘Yes, that’s correct. Robin’s wife!’
‘But Robin isn’t married, is he?’
‘I would think his accomplice has insisted upon it and as she’s as selfish as he is, it would have been a prerequisite of her assistance.’ Kitty smiled triumphantly. ‘It’s the only logical explanation for the incidents all season. Robin was banished from the residences and disinherited in February. Father summoned Charles home in March and I had my first ball the first week of March, when I received a chestful of jelly. But the incidents only took place in a ballroom. If it was a soirée, or a house party, nothing happened. Robin could only camouflage himself in a crowded ballroom, but in order to start his campaign o
f terror, he needed an accomplice. And it has to be a woman; otherwise the incident with the chamber pot couldn’t have happened. So Robin’s cohort is a woman, probably a titled lady who is thinking that she’s a duchess this morning. I wouldn’t be surprised to find her lounging in my father’s bed!’ she finished vitriolically. ‘And when I get my hands around her throat, she’ll wish she hadn’t listened to Robin’s proposal!’
‘I still don’t understand why Robin murdered your father.’ Richard said with a shake of his head.
‘For the money, Silly.’ Kitty said and smiled softly. ‘He was more likely to wait for my father to die in a more natural way, like an accident, falling from his horse or something like that. But Robin’s partner in crime has insisted on the title now! And she is not a lady to brook disappointment.’
‘You sound as if you know her really well.’
‘I do. At one time she was considered a best friend,’ Kitty shook her head. ‘One of the Frilly Five, as my father used to call us. But she did something unforgivable.’ Richard raised his eyebrows in query. ‘It was Millicent’s wedding day and “the duchess”, I’ll call her that for now, was an attendant. Now Benjamin Carter is a Marquis, like Charles and he will inherit the Dukedom of Cumberland from his father, the incumbent Duke.’ She looked at him squarely in the face, ‘the duchess tried very hard to tempt the Marquis of Carlisle into an indiscretion.’
‘The devil she did! Did Carlisle fall for it?’ Richard asked, despite himself he was fascinated by this revelation.
‘Not quite, but almost. Poor Benjamin suddenly found himself alone in the Library with “the duchess” and he was lucky that Millicent knew her so well. I saw her follow Benjamin into the library and alerted Millicent. We stood outside the door and listened to Benjamin desperately try to extricate himself from a difficult predicament. She blatantly harangued him for sex and when he wouldn’t give in, she threatened to tear her clothes and accuse him of raping her. Millicent pushed me through the door, making him jump, but she looked daggers at me, all I did was tell him Millicent was looking for him and he scuttled out so fast you’d have thought a demon was on his tail.’
‘What did “the duchess” say?’
‘Nothing, but I gave her a piece of my mind and I think Millicent cut her dead and asked her to leave the festivities. We haven’t spoken as such since.’ Kitty was quiet for a moment. ‘That’s why she said it like that!’ she gasped and looked at Richard in triumph.
‘Said what?’ Richard asked.
‘I saw her at the ball they day before I met you. When I was dowsed in claret. I saw her and she said “I see you’ve had another little accident!” It was so vitriolic that Charles asked me what was wrong with her, but I managed to fob him off, now I think she knew why I was sitting with a wine stain on my dress.’
‘Surely if Robin was at the ball you, your father or Charles would have recognised him.’ Richard ventured, thoughtfully.
‘Not necessarily. I once saw my father in his robes for the House and he was wearing a white powdered wig under his coronet. I didn’t recognise him at all and screamed that there was a strange man in the house. My mother laughed fit to burst and Robin called me an idiot, but only after father had said “It’s me Kitty!” did I recognise him. It wouldn’t take much for Robin to change his appearance sufficiently to go unnoticed.’ She sighed. ‘A white wig, a cushion under his waistcoat, even some makeup, “the duchess” would help him with that and he may have put on or lost some weight since February.’
They felt the coach slow and heard George calling to the horses. The carriage pulled up with a jerk outside a coaching house and Richard opened the door and jumped down. ‘Come along, my love. We can eat something and stretch our legs.’ Kitty stepped out beside him and pulled her skirt around her legs and the cloak around her shoulders.
Once inside the Inn, the innkeeper set a feast of bacon and eggs before them and they tucked in like starving waifs. George stood at the bar and ate a bacon sandwich, chatting with the innkeeper.
‘We’ll be in London by this afternoon, so long as we don’t have some form of disaster.’ Richard murmured as he filled his mouth with crisp bacon and savoured the salty taste.
‘My Lady?’ George said softly and Kitty looked up at her father’s favourite coachman.
‘Yes, George?’
‘The innkeeper told me that Robin Stafford passed through here at daybreak and his brother Charles was an hour behind him.’ George said softly. ‘I thought he was dead?’ he asked plaintively.
‘We thought so too, George.’ She pushed a chair out. ‘Have a seat and I’ll explain what my heartless brother has done now.’
Richard listened to it all again as he finished his food and was surprised that Kitty ate quite well for a change.
‘Excuse me for saying so, Your Ladyship, but I liked the Duke, we had some fun when we were young and I’m going to miss him.’
Kitty laid her hand on his forearm. ‘I think we will all miss him, George.’ She patted his arm. ‘How is the coach fairing?’ She asked pertly.
‘I’ve got the lads greasing the axles Countess and I checked all the tack at the last stop and replaced a harness. So, touch wood,’ he stroked his fingers over the table top, ‘we shouldn’t have a problem.’
‘That’s fine.’ Kitty said and drained her tankard. ‘Shall we make a move then?’ George nodded and left with alacrity.
Richard helped Kitty into the coach and they got settled quickly, within five minutes they were moving again. Richard was quiet until after they’d left Great Gonerby, just outside Grantham, behind them.
‘Charles is going to have my gizzard for this.’ He muttered as the coach slowed for the inn at Great Casterton, just outside Stamford.
‘He might have mine too, but I would rather face Charles’s wrath, than know that I let you both walk into a danger you weren’t prepared for and didn’t see.’ She reached across the coach and stroked her hand over his stubbly chin. ‘I would rather be here with you and face the danger, than stay safe at Mickleton knowing that you both could be stabbed in the back by that little rapacious harlot!’
The carriage jerked to a standstill and Richard stepped out to relieve himself in the pot room of the Coach House. He sauntered across the yard on his way back to the coach when he heard somebody call him.
‘Richard?’ a familiar voice shouted. ‘Damn me, it is you!’
Richard turned to see his eldest brother, the new Earl of Rutland striding out of the tap room.
‘Robert!’ Richard extended his hand and waited for his brother to join him. They shook hands.
‘What the devil are you doing at Stamford?’ Robert asked his young sibling. ‘I thought you were up in Durham?’
Richard smiled. ‘Let me introduce you to my betrothed.’ He said and Robert spluttered into laughter.
‘Married? You? That’ll be the day!’
Richard opened the carriage door. ‘Lady Amelia Stafford, meet my brother, Lord Robert Dunsmore, the Earl of Rutland.’ He looked at his brother’s dumbstruck expression and said to him. ‘Robbie, meet my future wife, Kitty.’ Robert took Kitty’s hand and bowed over it and she acknowledged with a nod.
‘You’re going the wrong way.’ Robert said caustically. ‘Scotland is in the other direction.’
‘I have her father’s approval!’ Richard said indignantly and made Kitty inhale sharply. ‘Well I did before he was murdered yesterday.’ He said and frowned.
‘Thomas Stafford was murdered?’ Robert blurted in shock and Richard walked him across the yard to relate the events from the previous day.
‘You should tell Charles to relax.’ Robert said firmly. ‘There is absolutely no way for Robin Stafford to take his father’s seat in the house of Lords without the written proof that he hasn’t been disinherited.’ He sighed. ‘If I know anything about it, I know this. When our father died I had to produce his will, a sworn affidavit that I am a legitimate child of the marriage and a sworn statement from Dav
id that he wasn’t going to contest the accession.’ He patted Richard on the forearm. ‘The Lord Chancellor will already have all the documents he needs to tell Robin Stafford where to go!’ He laughed coarsely. ‘The Duke will already have furnished Eldon with a copy of his will and his instructions for the title to go to Charles, so he shouldn’t worry.’ Robert climbed into his carriage. ‘If Robin’s being sought by the Runners for the killing of the Duke of Albany, he won’t be at large for long.’ He settled himself on the seat. ‘Shall I give your regards to Isabelle?’
‘If you would.’ Richard said with a smile and closed the door of the carriage.
‘Don’t forget to send me an invite to the wedding otherwise Isabelle will never forgive you!’ and he tapped on the roof with his stick. Richard watched his brother’s carriage pull away and then Kitty called him.
‘Richard, the carriage is ready!’ He turned abruptly and strode back to her carriage and jumped inside.
Charles’s thigh was trembling with the effort of staying on his feet in the stirrups.Maybe I should have listened to Kitty!He berated himself. He had the distinct feeling that Kitty knew something he didn’t and the conviction that she was already on her way south, as her reckless nature would dictate. He hoped Richard would be able to stop her, but he feared that Kitty would just find another way, even taking another coach and travelling separately.
He hadn’t really taken a lot of notice of his environment, except that the landscape was fairly flat as he was galloping through the fens of Cambridgeshire. He could see a cloud of smog ahead from the little village he would pass through next.
Charles could feel his mount beginning to flag. ‘Just a few more steps.’ He urged her on. He knew he was only half an hour behind his brother. Having travelled this road for twenty years man and boy, the coaching houses knew them both and the landlords greeted them by name. Each Innkeeper had been shocked to see Charles on a horse and had asked if he wanted to hire a carriage, but he’d declined, just asking for their fastest horse.
The Theft of a Dukedom Page 19