“The lender’s bruiser never got behind me other than when he tossed me out into the street.”
“Could you have been hurting too much to even feel it?” Devin asked.
“Could prob’bly have got run over by a team of horses and wouldn’t have felt any worse than I already did. I’m not sure what the devil happened after I told the driver to get us the hell out of that neighborhood. I remember tumbling over face-first to the floor of the coach, and I must have been out cold because the next thing I knew I was lying on the cold ground somewhere. I remember getting up and walking dizzily through empty streets for a time, and then I must have blacked out again. I suppose a thief from that area could have seen me leaving the moneylender’s house and thought my pockets would be full. Or I just appeared to be an easy mark, as beat up as I already was.”
“But where was Donald’s driver when all of this was happening? How did you get back here? Did you walk? And where is the coach now?”
William shook his head. “Don’t know, but I don’t doubt things like that happen all the time in that seedy part of town.”
“Were you robbed?”
William sounded as if he were trying to laugh but quickly cut it off. “Of what? My pockets were already empty. I gave everything I had on me to the lender. So I get stabbed for some coin and the thug gets none? Is that a bright side I should be looking on? Yes, I suppose it is.”
Devin wouldn’t call it a bright side, but an attempted robbery was the only thing that made any sense. A fancy, crested coach in an area riddled with thieves. Any one of them could have jumped on the back of the coach and waited until the driver turned onto a deserted street before getting rid of the driver, then entering the coach to find William unconscious on the floor. Anger at finding Will’s pockets empty could have caused the blackguard to stab Will and toss him out of the vehicle before driving off with it.
Donald’s driver pretty much confirmed that scenario when he returned to the house soon after dawn. He told Devin and Donald he’d been surprised from behind and kicked off his perch, cracking his head in the fall, so he’d spent most of the night passed out at the side of the road. But at least he’d found Donald’s coach on the way back. It had been abandoned in a better part of town, which was probably the only reason no one else had hied off with it. That, Devin thought, was the only bright side to the night.
Chapter Twenty
THE DAY AFTER THE Hammonds’ ball Amanda was still furious at Devin Baldwin and his loose tongue. That had been a short truce, if it could even be called that. She didn’t have to listen to just one lecture because of what he had said within earshot of her cousin at the end of the ball, she’d had to sit through four! He’d had no right to utter that warning about Robert Brigston’s dragging her into a scandal simply because she’d scoffed at his advice.
Rupert delivered his lecture on the way home that night. “I’ll allow that you might not have heard the gossip before you danced with Brigston, but for Cupid to warn you off, you must not have been paying attention.”
“He’s got a name, it’s not Cupid,” Amanda mumbled under her breath.
“Don’t change the subject, puss. You did see that Lord Robert was asked to leave the ball? How often does someone get kicked out of a ball, eh? I’ll warrant you’ve never seen it happen before.”
“I didn’t see it happen this time either,” she was quick to point out.
“I did,” Rupert said. “And it implies that what was flying through the gossip mill tonight has some basis in fact.”
“It implies nothing of the sort. Maybe a message arrived that summoned him home for some reason and our hosts merely delivered it to him. Or maybe he got a little too foxed before the end of the evening. I have seen men asked to leave for that reason before.”
“Don’t make excuses for this boy. He caused a major stir. It was all anyone was talking about. And if he has no intention of marrying yet, then he shouldn’t have been trying to charm every deb in sight tonight. He’s not for you and you know it. Even if none of it’s true, he’s now got a scandal attached to him. So you’ll be keeping your distance until that goes away—if it goes away.”
“That’s not fair!” Amanda looked to Rebecca for some help, but her old friend was giving her a stern look, too, so she obviously agreed with her husband. Very well, so it looked bad for Robert Brigston, and Amanda couldn’t blame them for their concern, but it still wasn’t the least bit fair!
“Perhaps not,” Rupert allowed, “but that’s what Uncle Preston will want to know about.”
“Rue, don’t you dare!” she gasped.
But his lips were set mulishly. She knew he would tell her father, that nothing she could say would deter Rupert, because it didn’t even matter if that gossip was true, it only mattered that Lord Robert had a scandal brewing about him. Which for the time being made him absolutely unsuitable for her.
Then her brother arrived today, just in time to prevent her from leaving for the promenade in Hyde Park and making sure she missed it completely. And he was furious.
“Have you taken leave of your senses?” Raphael shouted the moment he walked into her bedroom. She was surprised he even knocked first and waited until she called out that he could enter. She was already dressed for the park and was about to put on her coat and gloves. His face was red with anger, and he only had to look at Alice once to get the maid to hurry out of the room.
“I didn’t do anything except dance once with the man!” Amanda shouted back.
“So you know exactly why I’m here? ’Course you do. Well, that will save time, won’t it? Don’t ever speak to Brigston again.”
“We could discuss this reasonably if you’d stop shouting. I thought you, at least, would keep an open mind, particularly when nothing has been proven yet.”
“The fool proposed to three young women last night just to seduce them. That’s something that doesn’t make the rounds without some substance.” Raphael paused when he noticed the blush climbing her cheeks. “Good God, you, too? I think I need to kill him.”
“You don’t need to do anything of the sort. They were also saying he doesn’t want to marry a’tall.”
But Raphael continued to grouse as if he hadn’t heard her. “Were you the third? Bloody hell, I’ll wager you were a fourth proposal, weren’t you, that no one has heard about yet? Admit it.”
Amanda started to laugh. “Will you listen to yourself? Which is it, he doesn’t want to marry or he wants to marry everyone in sight? Those are contradictory rumors, Rafe, which just proves there’s not much substance there. You more’n anyone should know how gossip can get out of hand.”
“What I know is that scandal attaches by association, truth or no truth.”
She didn’t miss his point, it just infuriated her that he was making it. “Am I the only one to realize Brigston was just teasing? Good grief, how could those silly girls think he was serious? How could you think it was anything other than harmless flirtation? Have you never made some outlandish statement to a woman—prior to Ophelia, of course—that was just an exaggeration intended to be amusing? And it did make me laugh.”
“Beside the point.”
“There’s no scandal yet, Rafe, but what is scandalous is how he’s being slandered like this, all because he’s a prime catch and the rest of the young lords are green with jealousy. There wasn’t any real competition until he showed up. And they’re trying to make sure it remains that way by blackening his name before he even gets his foot in the door. Until everyone actually got a look at him last night, the gossip about him wasn’t the least bit nasty, just the opposite. That alone supports that jealousy turned it bad.”
“Why do you defend him? I swear, Mandy, if you think he’s the man you’ve been waiting three Seasons for, you will put that notion out of your head right now.”
There was no talking to him when he took this brotherly protective stance, so she tried to assure him in another way. “I don’t think that. In fact, Larissa an
d I finally figured out what my difficulty has been.”
“Pray tell?”
“Love at first sight. Don’t laugh, but that’s what I was expecting to happen. And when it didn’t happen with all of the young men I’d met so far, I just assumed none of them would do.”
“You aren’t joking, are you?”
“No, I wish I was. Look at how much time I’ve wasted just because I was under such a wrong assumption. For instance, Lord Peter last year, he was adorable, but—”
“Mandy, a word of advice. Don’t ever tell a man he’s adorable.”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t. I wouldn’t. But my point was, he was very pleasing to look at, yet I ignored him because I didn’t fall head over heels for him immediately. But if I had pretended interest long enough to get to know him a little better, then I might not have found him to be so boring after all and could have slowly fallen in love as I should. But of course it’s too late now, he married someone else that very Season.”
Raphael rolled his eyes now. “Don’t take this new notion of yours too much in the reverse. Don’t try to pretend something is there when it really ain’t.”
“Then what should I be looking for?” When he glanced down and even looked a little embarrassed, she added, “That was a serious question, Rafe. Pretend I’m not your baby sister for a moment and just answer me.”
“It’s not the same for a man,” he hedged. “You should be discussing this with a woman who’s found love and can give you the right perspective on it.”
“I already did that, with Larissa yesterday. But all she said was that she was missing her husband terribly—well, before he was her husband—but that’s how she knew she was in love with him.”
“An excellent point! I miss Pheli the moment I leave her sight.”
Mandy giggled. “Do you really?”
“’Course I do.”
“Did Ophelia come with you today?”
“No, but I’ll send her—”
“I don’t want to wait when we’re already having this discussion. You came here today to warn me off one of the few men I’ve actually found interesting.”
“That is a good basis to start with, just not with this scandalous chap.” Raphael raised a golden brow. “A few men? Ah, that’s right! Pheli mentioned that chap you need to ride a horse for. D’you want me to arrange riding lessons for you?”
She grit her teeth. “Already arranged.”
“Excellent. Concentrate on that, m’dear, then I won’t feel this need to kill someone.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “Don’t change the subject, Rafe. Being eager to see a man can’t be the only clue I should be looking for.”
“Stop looking for clues and just enjoy—”
“Don’t tell me that again. I tried that last year and it didn’t help a’tall.”
He made a sound of exasperation. “Yes, but last year you were still just looking for love at first sight. Now you know better, as you say.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t at first sight for you, either, was it?”
“It was something at first sight, but we’re not discussing that.”
She perked up. “What?”
“Mandy . . .” he said warningly.
“You have to tell me!”
He crossed his arms over his chest and said sternly, “I don’t have to do anything of the sort.”
Her brows knit thoughtfully. “Are you talking about attraction? That you were attracted to Pheli from the first moment you saw her? But who wasn’t? She was and still is the most beautiful woman in all of England. So is that really a good indication?”
He sighed now. “Better’n most. Without that at least, you’d just be having a mundane marriage you’ll be very dissatisfied with. Just don’t mistake attraction for love. It ain’t the same thing a’tall.”
She nodded, but her thoughts were already ticking away. There were two men she found exceptionally handsome, so she was attracted to both of them, and since she couldn’t fall in love with both—that wasn’t possible, was it?—she could agree with her brother that attraction and love weren’t the same thing. But her family wanted her to ignore one of those men. She knew she should, but she’d had no choices to pick from until now, and after being at this husband-hunting business for so long, it thrilled her to actually have more’n one choice to consider.
She would keep her family’s concerns in mind, but she was still going to talk to Robert again to find out for herself if it was more than just the jealousy of his competitors that had stirred up the pot. She just wouldn’t go on a private walk with him in the park. That wasn’t a good idea a’tall. But at the moment, all she wanted to do was give Devin Baldwin a piece of her mind for causing her family to worry needlessly.
Chapter Twenty-One
AMANDA WAS AMAZED SHE’D managed to get out of the house with only her maid in tow. But she had been holding one of her two new riding habits in the box it had been delivered in, and she’d showed it to her aunt, saying, “I think they’ve mixed up my fittings with someone else’s because this don’t fit a’tall, so I’m taking it back to find out why. I won’t be long—unless some new material catches my eye.”
Julie had already added her wisdom to the tally yesterday afternoon after Raphael had gone back home. At least her aunt’s lecture hadn’t been as daunting or as long as Rupert’s and Raphael’s had been, probably because Amanda decided not to defend Lord Robert anymore and just agreed with everything her aunt had to say on the matter.
“It’s times like these that you need to be more circumspect than usual,” her aunt told her. “You can’t have your name linked to this foolish boy’s in any way a’tall. Can’t talk to him, don’t want to even be in the same room with him.”
With Amanda just nodding, Julie didn’t have too much more to say. “Bless your brother, I knew he could make you see reason.”
Yet the fourth lecture showed up before dinner last night. Well, maybe it wasn’t really a lecture, but it ensured that no more lectures would have to be given—her father had come back to town and was staying for the Season.
“I didn’t come to hear excuses,” Preston told her as he sauntered into the room. “I came to make sure you won’t need to give any.”
Amanda wasn’t displeased with her father’s arrival, for whatever the reason. Since her first Season, she’d hoped that he would come to town with her, but he never did because they had so many relatives who already lived in London that he didn’t need to chaperone her. So she’d never tried to talk him into it because the whole family knew he didn’t like staying in London for any length of time.
So her laugh was happy as she jumped up from the sofa to hug him. “Rafe already beat my brow.”
“Brothers are good for something, aren’t they?” Preston teased.
At least her father wasn’t angry about being forced to stay in London just to keep an eye on her. But he did intend to accompany her everywhere now—except to Bond Street. He drew the line at that.
He said the last time he went shopping with her mother, he almost strangled her before she was done. He was joking, of course, but added, “I swore I’d never go through that again and I won’t. But I’ll send my man with you if you haven’t had your fill of shopping yet this year.”
Which caused Amanda quite a dilemma. If she told anyone in her family where she was really going and why, she didn’t doubt that Julie would insist she take one of the men in the family with her, since they were all familiar with horses and she wasn’t. She wouldn’t mind that a’tall, just not for her first lesson. If she couldn’t manage to get on a horse today, then there wouldn’t be any more lessons, so there was no point in telling anyone in advance that she was going to try, only to have to later admit failure. Besides, she was going to give Devin Baldwin a piece of her mind the moment she saw him today, and she wanted some privacy for that.
Her father didn’t elect to stay with his sister during this longer trip to town, since the house o
n Arlington Street was already crowded with Julie, her two sons, her new daughter-in-law and Amanda. He was going to stay at Raphael’s town house instead and even told Amanda to consider doing the same, now that he wasn’t leaving London until the Season was over or she got engaged, whichever came first. She would probably change households—after she was done sneaking off for this first visit to Devin’s farm. And her father hadn’t sent his man over yet, so this morning was probably the only opportunity she’d get to go out for a few hours with just her maid.
Julie just waved Amanda off, believing her tale. Alice did nothing but complain in Amanda’s room before they left and started complaining again the moment they got into the coach because she knew exactly where they were going.
Alice had been Amanda’s maid for more years than Amanda could remember. A plain-looking woman of middle years, she hadn’t been dismissed when Amanda first went off to school; she’d always been right there to resume her job whenever Amanda came home to Norford Hall. She was an excellent maid, but due to their long years of close association she did take certain liberties such as never holding her tongue when she had something to say.
“You didn’t have to lie about it,” Alice said as soon as she lowered the shades on the coach windows and started helping Amanda to change into the riding habit, which fit her perfectly well. “Lying just leads to more lying, and soon you won’t know what’s true and what ain’t. It never serves any good purpose and will just make you feel guilty for doing it.”
Amanda sighed, already feeling that guilt more deeply than she cared to admit. She’d barely been able to say those words to her aunt when not one of them was true.
But the reason for lying was still a more powerful motivator, and she shared that with her maid. “What if I can’t do this? Baldwin made it sound so easy, yet he also pretty much dared me to try it, so I have a feeling even he doesn’t think I can do it.”
“Then don’t do it,” Alice said stubbornly. “It’s not worth deceiving your family—”
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