by Lucy Monroe
Take a deep breath and calm yourself, my gel.” She patted Diana’s hand. “That’s right.
Much better.”
Not wishing to cause Diana any more distress, Annabelle decided to bow to the inevitable. “You may post the banns this Sunday, Ian.”
“I say, famous. Where’s Creswell? This calls for champagne.” Ceddy rang for the butler and Robert requested champagne. Creswell left the room beaming.
* * *
Sunlight filtered through Annabelle’s conscious. She opened one eye and confirmed that her maid had opened the drapes and the bright sun bounced off her white coverlet nearly blinding her. She quickly closed her eyes again and snuggled deeper into the covers. It must be late indeed if Purdy had opted to wake her. Unsurprised, she rolled over and tried to ignore the sunlight beating on her eyelids. She had lain awake almost the entire night reflecting on her decision to marry Ian.
The smell of chocolate wafted to Annabelle, tempting her to open her eyes once again. The maid had placed a tray with chocolate and toast on the table beside her bed.
The melting butter on the thick slices of toast made Annabelle’s mouth water. Groaning, she sat up. Purdy was nowhere to be seen. Relief filled Annabelle. She wasn’t up to another bout of congratulations by her ecstatic maid.
The thought of marrying Ian terrified her. Yet, she knew that no other course would do. She could not imagine life without him. When he had kissed her and touched her the day before, she had finally realized that she had no choice. If she didn’t marry Ian, she would always wish she had. She found him too appealing for her peace of mind. He said that he wanted her too and if the previous afternoon had been any indication, he did.
It didn’t make any sense to her, however. The man thought one of her chief attractions was her ordinary appearance. How could he be so attracted to her? She was still frightened that one day he would wake up and realize that he wanted someone more exciting than The Ordinary. Would he break his word and take a mistress? The thought sent her stomach churning.
She took a hasty bite of toast and chastised herself. No matter what Ian felt in the future, he would never betray his word to her. The thought that he might desire to do so continued to haunt her. She had to believe that she truly was all that he wanted. If that were true, then he must care for her. If he could care for her and desire her, he could love her. She was sure of it.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside her door. What could Purdy be in such haste over?
Perhaps Ian had called and here she was, not even in her wrapper. The thought galvanized her into action. Throwing back the covers, she leapt from the bed. She took another quick bite of toast before beginning her morning routine.
The door flew open, but it was not Purdy’s happy face that greeted her. It was the chalk-white countenance of Diana. She looked about ready to collapse.
“What is the matter? You look as if you have seen a ghost,” Annabelle said.
“It’s Mr. Thorn. He sent a messenger telling me to meet him again today with another hundred pounds. He threatened to sell the letters to a scandal sheet if I did not do so.” Diana’s words came out in a near-hysterical rush.
Annabelle pulled her friend to the window seat and forced her to sit. “Then we shall have to meet him. Now, you must calm yourself.” Diana turned wild eyes to Annabelle. “How can I be calm? You heard Robert yesterday. Everything must be proper. He would hate me if I brought scandal to his name.” She broke down and began sobbing. “I could not stand it if he hated me.” Annabelle rubbed Diana’s back, trying to soothe her. “Hush. Robert is not going to hate you.”
Diana began sobbing in earnest. “He already does. I’m sure of it.” Exasperated, Annabelle, admonished her, “Don’t be a goose. Robert loves you dearly. Anyone can see that.”
“Not anymore.” The tears did not abate. “Not after what I’ve done.” Robert must know about the pearls. “Even if he is angry, he will get over it.”
“He won’t. He looked so hurt. I’ve never refused him my bed before. Not in all the months we have been married.”
Annabelle began to feel as if she was at the theater and did not know her part. “Your bed? What are you talking about?”
“Last night. I was afraid he would realize that something was wrong and so I told him that I was too tired.” Diana wrung her hands. “He offered to just hold me and I told him I would rather not. He’ll never forgive me.” Annabelle felt on very shaky ground. What did she know about marriage? Still, Robert loved his wife and wasn’t going to hate her for something so trifling. When she said as much to Diana, the other woman’s eyes flickered with hope.
“Do you think so?” Then she collapsed in tears again. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t sleep with him tonight either. I must avoid him or he will discover something is wrong and then he’ll find out about Mr. Thorn. Then he’ll hate me.” Annabelle wasn’t about to point out to Diana that Robert was bloody well going to figure out something was wrong when his adoring wife started avoiding him. Ian would have to find Mr. Thorn and soon.
“Really, Diana, stop crying like this.” Annabelle handed Diana a handkerchief. “Mr.
Thorn has played into our hands quite nicely.” Diana mopped up her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“When he comes to meet you at Gunther’s today, Ian will follow him.” And this time, he won’t lose him, she mentally added. “He will discover where Mr. Thorn lives and retrieve the letters for us.”
Diana stared at Annabelle as if she had suggested dancing naked down St. James Street. “You cannot think of telling Ian. He would tell Robert and all would be lost.” There was nothing for it. Annabelle explained about Ian discovering the sold pearls and following Mr. Thorn once already. “He already knows? This is a disaster.” Annabelle grew impatient with her friend. “On the contrary. This is a blessing and I suggest you see it as one. Mr. Thorn is no match for Ian in any way.” Diana gave her a watery smile. “I see that you think very highly of your fiancé.” Annabelle felt herself blushing and turned away. “That is neither here nor there. The fact is, we can trust Ian and he will take care of finding Mr. Thorn’s lodgings.” Diana grudgingly agreed.
“What time are you to meet Mr. Thorn?”
When Diana named the time, Annabelle sucked in her breath. It was less than an hour away. “Quickly, I must dress and send a note to Ian.” While Diana pulled out clothes for Annabelle to wear, Annabelle wrote a note for Ian telling him about the events of the morning and instructing him to find them at Gunther’s and follow Mr. Thorn to his lodgings. She sealed it and rang for Purdy. When the maid came, Annabelle handed her the missive. “See that this is delivered immediately to my fiancé at Lord Finchley’s home.”
“Yes, milady.”
A short time later, Annabelle and Diana entered Gunther’s with trepidation. They had not seen Ian. Annabelle feared that he might have been out when the message was delivered. She and Diana ordered ices and took a table in the corner, partially shaded from view by a Chinese screen.
Annabelle steamed with fury. Every nervous gesture detected in her friend just served to increase her rage at the callous monster who could so spitefully use Diana this way. She wished for the hundredth time that she had not given Diana that horrid promise not to tell Robert about the blackmail.
She had a great deal of confidence in her brother, regardless of his sometimes sanctimonious ways. She believed he would have thoroughly dealt with the menace of Chester P. Thorn. When she said so to Diana, the latter became almost hysterical in her pleading for Annabelle to keep her secret.
“Calm yourself, Diana. I gave you my word and I intend to keep it. Robert will not hear of your secret from me.”
“I’m glad to hear that, yer ladyship,” said Thorn as he pulled a chair from a nearby table to join the ladies.
“You can’t sit here. Are you mad? Someone will see and it will be remarked upon,” said Diana anxiously.
“What, I can’t sit with my own cousin?” asked the oily
man.
Some of Annabelle’s fury spilled over. “You may have these spurious letters you have threatened Lady Hamilton with, but there is absolutely no proof that you and she are in any way related. You will not address her as such either.”
“High and mighty, aren’t we? Well, your friend here,” he pointed at Diana with his thumb, “knows I mean what I say. If you don’t want my company, then the easiest way to rid yourself of it is to pay me the money that you owe me.”
Annabelle saw no sign of Ian. She needed to prolong the meeting with Thorn for as long as possible. “First, you will show us the letters.”
“You know I only bring one at a time like.” He pulled a creased piece of paper from his wrinkled coat and placed it on the table in front of Diana. She took it and slid it immediately into her reticule.
“I’ll take my money now.” He put out a hand, dirt encrusted under his fingernails.
“When can I have the rest of the letters?” Diana asked desperately.
“I told you. One at a time.” Thorn was starting to sound agitated.
“What guarantee does Lady Hamilton have that you won’t publish the remaining letters?” inquired Annabelle coldly.
“You’ll just have to trust me, now won’t you?” Annabelle wanted to take a horse brush and wipe the malicious grin right off the evil man’s face. She would sooner trust a snake. Diana opened her reticule and Annabelle sent a silent signal for her to wait. Diana looked at her questioningly, but redid the drawstring on her bag.
“I am afraid that we need a little more assurance.” Annabelle fought to keep the contempt she felt for Thorn from her voice.
He glared at her. “You ain’t getting’ it. Now, where’s my blunt?” Diana again opened her bag and withdrew the money. “Here is the hundred pounds.” She handed Thorn a pile of banknotes. “When can I expect delivery of the other letters?”
“I’m thinking I need two hundred pounds for this letter.” Diana’s eyes took on a desperate quality. “I only received two hundred pounds all together for my wedding pearls. How am I to pay for the next letter if I give it all to you now?”
“That’s not my worry, cousin.”
When Thorn emphasized the word cousin, Annabelle had to take a deep breath and let it out slowly or she would have put her parasol to good use over the man’s head.
Annabelle laid a calming hand on her sister-in-law’s clutched fingers. She gave her a reassuring squeeze before turning to confront Thorn. “If you want to see one more pound out of Lady Hamilton then you will keep to the original agreement. If you do not, I will tell my brother about the letters and let him deal with you.”
Thorn squirmed in his seat. “Here now, you wouldn’t do that. It would upset your friend here and your brother wouldn’t thank you none either.” Annabelle let all the disdain she felt for the odious man show in her face. “I have only refrained from telling my brother because of a promise I made to Lady Hamilton. If, however, you change the terms of your agreement, I will consider my promise null and void.”
“There’s no reason to get hasty now. I was just trying to get a little for meself.” Thorns voice took on a whining quality.
His words didn’t make any sense. “Don’t try to convince me that you are giving the proceeds of your little scheme to an ailing mother, or any such thing. Every guinea is going into your greedy pockets.”
A look of fear suffused Thorns features. “Just give me the hundred and be done with it. I’m in this alone, I am.”
Diana did as he asked and Thorn jumped from the table. He headed toward the door like all the demons of hell were after him. What had gotten into the man?
“I don’t see Ian. Do you think he is waiting outside?” Diana asked.
Annabelle stood up. “I don’t know. We’ll have to go outside and see.” When they came out of Gunther’s, they saw nothing of Ian. Thorn got into a hansom cab.
“We’ll lose him if we don’t do something quickly,” Annabelle exclaimed.
Diana twisted her hands together. “I don’t know what we could do. He’ll recognize us if we try to follow him and it might make him angry enough to publish the letters.” A gentleman alighted from a hansom cab in front of the ladies, almost blocking their view of Thorn. Annabelle jumped into the cab.
“Annabelle, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to follow Thorn. Find Ian and tell him that I will meet him at Aunt Griselda’s.” She tapped on the roof of the cab. “Follow the cab that has just pulled into the street. There’s an extra guinea for you if you don’t lose him.” The cabbie took her at her word and lurched into the horse and carriage traffic on the street. Annabelle waved at Diana from the window before turning her attention to the direction they were going. She had to brace her feet against the bench opposite to stop herself from ending up a heap on the floor as the cab lurched from side to side.
After what seemed like an interminable time in the swaying conveyance, Annabelle perceived a change in the sounds and sights around her. She could hear the loud calls of street vendors selling meat pies amidst the piercing call of gulls. Strong odors wafted in through the cab window. They must be near the docks.
The carriage came to an abrupt halt. Annabelle peeked her head out the window in time to see Thorn walking up the street. She recognized the area as one she had been to once to meet with some women concerning her cause. Jumping down from the carriage, she paid the driver and offered to double his wages to wait for her.
Following Thorn up the busy street, she thought the area looked rougher than she remembered. Women stood leaning against the buildings and called to the passing men, offering things that made Annabelle’s ears burn.
Thorn turned up an alley and Annabelle followed. The buildings on her right and left blocked the light, casting things into sinister shadows. She wondered at the wisdom of following Thorn on foot. In his hurry, he did not notice Annabelle or anyone else for that matter. Annabelle heaved a sigh of relief when he led her out of the alley and she once again was bathed in daylight.
Oh no. Thorn was meeting someone. He went to a closed carriage and climbed inside. The curtains were drawn so Annabelle could not see if it was occupied. Intuition told her that it was. It was not the sort of conveyance that Thorn would be using.
Knowing that she could not possibly follow the carriage on foot, she headed back toward her waiting cab. When she came to the alley, she had to force herself to go inside.
The relief she felt when she came out on the side where she had left her cab was short lived.
Two rogues blocked her way almost immediately.
“Olly, looks like we’ve got ourselves a new bird. What do you say, ducks, you want to play wiv’ me and Olly?”
The man speaking was short and so thick with muscle that he looked fat. Olly, a tall man with more than one day’s stubble on his unwashed face, greeted the suggestion with a leer. The sight of his thin lips open over brown and decaying teeth sickened Annabelle.
Her stomach lurched at the thought of “playing with” the pockmarked and greasy-haired man. Her knees grew weak with fear. She darted a glance to where her cab was waiting and felt her first tremors of terror. It was gone. She turned to run back the way she had come, but got no more than a step before Olly’s friend grabbed her from behind.
Chapter Thirteen
Ian heard Belle’s scream before he saw her. His insides, already tight as the spring on a wrist-clock, went cold with fear. He kneed his horse to a gallop and sped toward her defiant cries. Whoever had her didn’t know what they were getting into, he thought with grim satisfaction as the sound of scuffling and men’s curses reached his ear.
The scene he came upon turned his insides to water.
Belle was caught between two men. The first had her arms in his mangy grip and the other, a short powerfully built man, was fighting to control her legs. The fury that had been eating Ian since he found Diana outside Gunther’s and she had told him about Annabelle following Thorn raged out of
control now.
The tall, ugly man yanked on Belle’s arms and Ian vowed that was the last thing the ugly rotter was going to do. He swung off his horse and commanded the animal to stay.
Knowing Nightsong would not move until he gave the signal again, Ian stormed over to the bastards with their hands all over Belle.
He took great satisfaction at the sound of bone crunching as he planted his fist in the jaw of the man holding Belle’s arms. The miscreant howled in anguish and dropped his hold on Belle. Gripping Annabelle’s torso with his left hand, Ian let his right elbow fly back and connect with the face of the shorter man.
The bastard didn’t fall, but did grunt and let go of Belle. Ian scooped her up and headed back to his horse. Belle clutched at his shoulders, her face pressed against his neck. The trembling in her body infuriated him. Ian swung her up onto his horse and made sure she had a firm hold on the saddle before turning to finish the work with the two bastards who had dared to touch his fiancée.
The ugly one was standing again, but he swayed on his feet. Ian ignored him. One good blow and he would be history. The short man was smiling at Ian, clearly every bit as stupid as he looked. Ian moved forward with sure deliberation. The short man bellowed as Ian picked him up and tossed him against the wall of the building. A demi-
rep who had been watching the entire exchange with interest screeched as the man rolled off the wall and landed on her feet. He did not move again.
Ian turned his attention to the one with a broken jaw. He must have been smarter than he looked because he was already running down the street. Two short whistles brought Nightsong near. Swinging up behind Belle, Ian kneed the horse into a gallop.
They had to get out of there before more of the blackguards’ friends showed up.
“You know, if you had gotten here just a few minutes before, I would not have lost Mr. Thorn. What took you so long? Did you not get my note?” Ian thought he had been angry before, but that was nothing compared to how he felt when Belle took him to task for his lack of timeliness. “And if I had come five minutes later, you would be lying on some bug-infested cot with one of those bastards buried between your legs.”