The Scoundrel's Secret Siren

by Daphne du Bois

  “Oh, Lord Winbourne!” her ladyship exclaimed, both embarrassed and relieved to see him. “She is gone! The poor child, I do not know what has got into her head, only her abigail says Lorelei received a message from Lady Julia, and dashed out of the house without any sort of escort. To Westminster! I cannot imagine what might have occurred – Lady Julia is such a sweet, clever girl.”

  She broke off in a sob and had to sit back down, quite overwhelmed. Constance anxiously produced a bottle of vinaigrette.

  Winbourne felt his temper rising sharply. He had never been very good at communicating with distraught females, and he had a very clear notion of exactly what the wretched girl had been about. On the edges of his anger, there lingered guilt: had she not told him that Julia would flee if he refused to lend her his aid? No doubt, Miss Lindon had gone in pursuit of the stupid child. But to fly in such a fashion!

  In was exactly the sort of absurdly idealistic thing she would do. He let himself suppose with all confidence that she was even then driving her stolen carriage through the dingy Westminster streets.

  Forcing his feelings under strict control, he said in his usual unflappable manner, “Have you any notion where she might have gone?”

  Lady Hurst was so overwhelmed with sentiment that she was unable to answer and Constance spoke instead, looking at him curiously. “She did not – only that she was headed for a coach house in Westminster. It must have been a matter of great urgency for her to have left no word – not even a brief note. Lady Julia had seemed depressed of spirits last night, but what could she want with Westminster? What if some evil should come upon Lorelei in that dreadful place?”

  Winbourne did not know what to say to that – he could not imagine the desperate worry that would cause Lorelei to take off in such a manner. Why, she had not even come to him for help. And no wonder, when he had refused to hear any more on the subject.

  “I believe that the fault is partly my own – and that I owe you an apology for that, Lady Hurst,” he said with a bow.

  “Apology!” exclaimed Lady Hurst. “Whatever for? Had you quarrelled with Lorelei last night? But even so, that couldn’t have had anything to do with Lady Julia.”

  “Nothing at all, madam,” the earl assured her easily.

  His mind raced while he reviewed all the particulars. If Julia was headed to Hunter’s estate, then she would wish to head south to Kent. There was an inn at Westminster, The George, where one could book a seat on coaches travelling south, but it was definitely not the sort of place a girl like Julia would wish to venture alone.

  He resolved that there was nothing for it but to go in pursuit, and quickly. He knew with certainty that he would not rest until he found Lorelei and his niece. Winbourne was about to storm out to do just that when further chaos erupted as none other than General Lord Ledley himself arrived at Lady Hurst’s door.

  By all appearances, he was as appalled to find the disturbance in the parlour as Winbourne had been.

  “Constance, Lady Hurst, what is all this? Good morning, Lord Winbourne – what are you doing here?”

  Since the lady of the house was far too distressed to explain matters to his lordship, Constance flew to embrace the man with a cry of “Papa!” before incoherently sputtering out the entire story.

  “Calm down, child! You know I don’t hold with blubbering and waffle. Now, since you seem unable to explain, I must request that Lord Winbourne do so. He appears the calmest creature in this room. And where is Lorelei?’

  Lord Winbourne was relieved to find that the general, tired and hungry though he was, was a perfectly sensible man. Instead of enacting Cheltenham tragedies, he calmly ordered his valet to proceed to the Ledley townhouse before sitting down with Winbourne to decide how they should look for the ladies. The general was every bit a man of action and seemed to have little patience for elaborate narratives.

  Winbourne suddenly found that he commanded the unwavering attention of the general and ladies when Lord Ledley asked his particular interest in Lorelei. It was obvious to Winbourne that Ledley was an astute man well aware of the earl’s reputation. He regarded the older man calmly before informing him that he intended to take Miss Lorelei Lindon for his wife, provided the general held no objections.

  “Wife!” Lady Hurst cried wonderingly.

  The general fixed Winbourne with a quiet scrutiny for a few moments and the earl knew a moment of genuine nerves. He would not blame the man for refusing him – surely Lorelei deserved a more moral husband. Certainly his wealth and title were acceptable, but he was known as a Corinthian, a reprobate and a man with a heart of ice.

  He knew, as did the general, no doubt, that Lorelei needed a green, unjaded gallant, someone who would not distress her with his sordid past and aloof reputation.

  Winbourne looked the general in the eye. “I will not tell you that what you have heard of me is damned hum, because we both know perfectly well that it is not. My reputation is very well deserved. But I assure you I will not let any such thing taint Miss Lindon. Will you accept my offer?”

  “Hmm. Well, that would depend entirely on my daughter. You seem a sensible fellow despite what they say at the clubs. If she has no objection, than I have none, provided I receive some answers and assurances. But that is a conversation for another day.”

  “But what shall we do, father? Lorelei has run away, and to Westminster,” Constance whispered despondently.

  “Run away? Oh no, not Lorelei, child,” said Baron Ledley confidently. “There must be some other scheme afoot and Lorelei in the thick of it. She has pluck to the backbone, that girl. But I quite agree with you, Winbourne, that we had best go and find her, along with your missing niece.”

  Winbourne was astonished, though he hid it perfectly behind an impassive expression, as he bowed his head in polite agreement. He wondered what it was that had caused the general to speak as he had done.

  Any father in his right mind would have had Winbourne thrown from the house, surely, for daring to ask for such a woman as she. He would have done so, in the general’s place. The man was indeed an eccentric!

  Winbourne found that he deeply appreciated the general’s brisk manner and dry sense of humour. He was put in mind of his own father – though the last Lord Winbourne had been far less involved in the lives of his children, spending most of his time at the club, usually dicing. Ledley, notoriously, had no patience for unwise gambles and only rarely indulged in cards, for there he could best bend his formidable strategic mind to maximum effect. It was a brave man who went up against the general at cards and a poor man that left after.

  *

  At last, Lorelei located her friend in a particularly unpleasant area of Westminster, where dilapidated houses were complimented by nothing so much as general misery. Ragged, unwashed men, women and children loitered about even at so early an hour and the air smelled foul with a mixture of filth and gin, among other unsavoury odours.

  Lorelei tried not to look too closely at the starving waifs, because surely all of humanity ought have been weeping at such a sight. She also avoided looking at the alarmingly inebriated men who tottered around the street. Lorelei did her very best to convey a sense of confidence and purpose, aware that she obviously did not belong in such environs and that in no time at all she might find herself the victim of an abductor, murderer or worse!

  She shivered, for the weather had turned decidedly colder that day. It was as though the inhabitants of the bleak place were themselves shrouded in gloom and hopelessness. Catching sight of friend at last, she knew that somehow Julia’s plan had gone horribly, horribly wrong. It seemed she was just in time.

  Julia looked pale and dishevelled among the filth and squalor, her face set in a distressing look of horror. She stood cornered outside a tavern as a trio of dishevelled thuggish men towered over her little form. Lorelei wasted no time reining in the horses. The phaeton drew to a jerky halt, drawing the eyes of several loiterers, though not the thug cornering Julia.

&nbs
p; Calling over a bewildered-looking errand boy, Lorelei promised him a guinea if he would hold her horses until she returned. The boy made no reply, but accepted the reins. Lorelei thought wryly that Mr Taylor would have been struck dumb at the idea of his phaeton and pair so recklessly treated.

  Forgetting all about elegance or the inevitable ruin of her gown and boots, she leapt out of the carriage and rushed over to her friend, avoiding the worst puddles of indeterminate origin. The air was even fouler on foot.

  “Julia, there you are, you goose!” Lorelei exclaimed, ignoring the men, and assuming her most brisk manner. “I have been searching for you everywhere.”

  Julia gasped when she saw her friend, her eyes filling with equal relief and dread.

  “Why, her ladyship has a friend,” one of the filthy men jeered, turning to his two companions. The reek of gin on his breath made Lorelei nauseous. She took Julia firmly by the elbow.

  “How much do you suppose the return of two such pretty treasures would fetch from their most exalted families?” another asked his companions.

  “We are leaving, right now, and you would do well to step aside,” Lorelei informed them coldly, drawing herself to her full height. She held Mr Talbot’s horsewhip at the ready, prepared to defend herself in this veritable den of crime.

  “Would we, pretty?”

  The ruffians laughed heartily, eyeing Lorelei in a way that made her wish she had thought to bring a pistol. One of them made a move to grab her, when he froze suddenly and a cold, familiar voice spoke from behind him.

  “I would watch my hands if I were you, my good man. This sword is very sharp.”

  Lorelei felt a sense of relief flood through her as the ruffians parted, revealing Lord Winbourne. The earl looked majestic in his many-caped cloak, an expression of cool derision on his face and a raging fire burning in his eyes. Lorelei’s heart skipped a beat.

  The point of Winbourne’s sword rested against the back of the thug who had been about to grab Lorelei.

  She could see fear and comprehension dawning slowly in the blurry eyes of their would-be abductors, as they spat on the ground, muttered expletives and backed off, deciding that having their blood spilled was not worth the trouble.

  “I am going to lower my sword, and you are going to walk away without so much a glance behind you. I warn you that should you disobey me in this, I won’t feel the least remorse over dispatching you,” Winbourne informed the man still held frozen in place by his sword.

  In a moment, Lorelei and Julia were left facing Winbourne’s displeased expression. Julia grew even paler.

  “If you will only be so good as to await us in the carriage, niece, I wish to speak privately to Miss Lindon.” His expression was unreadable, and Julia shot a worried, apologetic look at Lorelei, who stood stubbornly unmoved.

  He was certainly setting himself up for disappointment, if he thought he was going to bully her into contrition! Lorelei thought angrily as she met the earl’s dark gaze. Any trace of the joy she’d felt at his timely arrival faded like mist with the coming dawn.

  Julia walked slowly towards the carriage, still looking doubtful.

  “Well, what have you to say for yourself? Did you come here thinking to join my absurd niece in running away to the country?”

  Lorelei shot him a furious look. “Certainly not! My own intention to remove from London had nothing to do with Julia’s elopement. I simply find that the country will suit me rather well just now.” Then she realised what she had just admitted, and covered her mouth in horror.

  “Ah, yes: to live and die in obscurity, I suppose. Did you think to flee today, or would you have given Lady Hurst a brief respite before indulging in your own scandal? It may interest you to know the poor woman was shockingly distressed at your abrupt exit.”

  “And for that I am sorry. But it is for the best that I should leave. Did you think I would stay to shame my family, or live forever under your scorn? I think not,” the young woman retorted, unbowed under his cold anger. “And I would have removed thus quietly to Ledley, if only Julia had not decided to make her hare-brained flight.”

  “Shame? Whatever could you mean?” Winbourne looked genuinely bewildered beneath his fury, giving Lorelei pause. “You have thought better of what has passed between us, then? You wish after all, to wed a quiet biddable fellow and be well rid of me, my dear?”

  “Wed? No! When I …woke, you were gone, without so much as a word. What was I to think but that you had disdained me for my lack of morals?”

  “I left a note! Did you not find it?”

  “A brief and callous note, which served only to enforce my certainty of your disfavour!”

  Winbourne was truly taken aback – he had not thought there was anything wrong in his note. After all, it was only a way of explaining his absence and promising his return. He could recall nothing either cold or dismissive in it.

  “This is absurd,” he said at last, at a loss for other words. “And your morals, whatever state they may be in, surely do not bother me, a man of dissipate past.”

  “Your past! As if that matters!” she exclaimed fervently, hoping he would read the truth of her heart in those words. “There is nothing in you that could ever taint me. I, however, will be the talk of the town.”

  “The Devil you will!” he replied, voice laced with passion. “Now we’ll have no more of this nonsense and you will come back with me, meet your father and do me the honour of becoming my wife. No more of these night-time gambols, Miss Lindon. I expect my countess to remain by my side and entirely at my disposal.” His voice dropped into a sensual caress.

  Lorelei paused a moment and stared up into his eyes, not at all sure she’d understood him correctly.

  “Your countess?” she whispered breathlessly.

  “Just so. Ridiculous girl – did you think that I could leave you? That I would ever dishonour you? I could not bear the very thought and had gone to make arrangements so that I might offer for your hand with the propriety you deserve.”

  He lifted the fingers of her hand and kissed them. “Unless you would rather not? I can only say, Miss Lindon, that for the remaining days of my life, whether they are to be happy or otherwise, depends entirely on you.”

  His eyes told her that he spoke entirely in earnest.

  She was startled by the uncharacteristic hesitation that suddenly coloured his voice.

  Despite herself, and before she had so much as a moment to think, Lorelei reached out and took his hands in her own. She wanted very much to cry, to laugh and to kiss him all at once. It seemed that Winbourne correctly read her expression, however, because in that moment, his lips descended upon hers and she melted willingly and utterly into his kiss, safe in the comforting hold of his arms.

  There, she would have been content to rest forever. Only the necessity of breathing and the societal demand that they seal their vow in some sort of public ceremony forced them to break their embrace, but only temporarily. Lorelei knew in that moment that there was not another man in all the world whom she would rather marry.

  Taking his voluminous greatcoat off without seeming to think about it, he placed it over her delicate shoulders, much too small for the garment. The Earl of Winbourne looked utterly content with the world until something seemed to occur to him.

  “You stole Taylor’s carriage!”

  She surprised him by laughing. “Ah. I only borrowed it. I mean to give it back. I am certain he’ll forgive me for driving it. I am a dab hand with the reins and whip, you know.”

  “Hmm.”

  Epilogue

  The wedding of the Earl of Winbourne and his new countess was a quietly tasteful affair.

  The engagement had been announced in the Society journals as was only proper, but despite the best efforts of the earl’s eldest sister, neither the bride nor groom could be persuaded to make much of a fuss of their nuptials.

  Lorelei had been deeply amused to find herself the subject of many envious looks, as calculating mam
as and snide debutantes alike wondered how it was that so unremarkable a girl had endeavoured to win for herself so fine a matrimonial prize.

  Among the numerous wedding gifts with which Winbourne presented his bride, the first and most private had been her mother’s pendant. He returned it with a rueful grin, explaining that he no longer needed to keep a trinket of hers when he would now have all of her for the rest of his life.

  Lorelei had laughed and worn it to the wedding: it went beautifully with the cream and gold crepe gown that Lady Hurst had had made for her. The dress made Lorelei look as though she were glowing in the late summer sun. Winbourne’s breath caught when he took in the lady before him.

  The bride’s father, the General Lord Ledley, was extremely joyous to see his elder daughter well married. He seemed especially pleased that she had managed to achieve this blessed state without any effort on his part. He called her a capital girl, and happily wished the new husband the best of luck keeping her out of mischief.

  Then, catching sight of a joyously teary Lady Hurst, he had most solicitously turned his attention to the lady. Watching them, Lorelei quite made up her mind to give the stubborn general a push in the right direction. Winbourne heartily refused to be dragged into any such scheme, declaring that it was much too soon to make an enemy of her father-in-law by meddling in his personal affairs.

  His new wife’s impish smile made him feel just a little bit wary.

  Following the announcement of the engagement, Mr Taylor had joked heartily about Winbourne whisking away the lady before any other fellow had a sporting chance of winning her affections. Lorelei had laughed, of course, but she knew that no other gentleman would have had a chance. Her heart had belonged to Winbourne from the first moment she’d met him on her ghost hunt.

  If Lorelei was now Julia’s aunt by marriage, this only served to strengthen their friendship. Julia declared laughingly that she relied wholeheartedly on her friend to assist in planning her own upcoming nuptials. At his bride’s insistence, Winbourne had at last prevailed upon Lady Bassincourt, and Julia was betrothed to Mr Hunter.