A Fraudulent Betrothal

by Natasha Andersen

  ‘I am Marianne’s twin sister, Clarissa,’ she told him, all too aware that in relating her name she was committing the ultimate sin if he turned out to be anyone other than the man she sought. ‘The real question,’ she continued, ‘is who you are, and what you know of my sister’s whereabouts?’

  He didn’t answer, but caught up her arm again and hurried her through the alley and towards a further wide street despite his limp, which seemed to be bothering him more and more. A swift glance up and down the roadway, and they’d crossed it, slipped down another alley and emerged into a stretch of greenery that was oddly familiar. She glanced around and recognized they were in the same park from which Marianne had disappeared, though at the far end from that she was familiar with. A much more remote and lonely spot too.

  ‘What do you want?’ The lad sounded desperate, but Clarissa fought down any qualms she may have felt. He wasn’t dangerous. Not to her, at any rate. She was sure of that.

  ‘My sister, Marianne. Do you know where she is?’ She saw the emotions openly displayed on his face and the lie that bubbled to the surface.

  ‘No. You have the wrong man.’

  ‘The truth please,’ she returned, desperation lending countenance to her refutation. ‘You can’t know what trouble she’s in.’

  ‘I must know,’ he temporized. ‘How can I tell if you’re truly her sister?’

  ‘I’m her twin, look at me,’ railed Clarissa. ‘We are as alike as two peas in a pod. Tell me. I must know, is she hurt?’

  Her desperation seemed to convince the lad and he quietly capitulated. ‘I’ll take you to her. It’s not far.’ Once he’d made the decision he opened up and treated Clarissa as the sister she was. ‘I couldn’t reveal her whereabouts until I was sure,’ he admitted. ‘She is presently living alone with me and would have lost her reputation if it became known. Also there is another reason.’

  ‘Lord Leighton.’

  ‘You know of him?’ The lad’s face was grim. ‘If news of this escapade comes to his ears then her future will be bleak indeed. He’s the most insufferable creature alive, and the very thought of him drives her to distraction.’

  Clarissa laughed. The thought of Leighton driving anyone to distraction was absurd, most especially her strong-willed sister.

  ‘It’s true, I assure you.’ The lad turned a most serious countenance on her. ‘You must not think anything out of the ordinary has happened either. I’ve been too weak until quite recently to make an attempt on her honour even if I were of a mind to do so.’

  Stephen looked so earnest that Clarissa was well on the way to forgiving him until she considered her sister’s plight.

  ‘You did her reputation no service,’ was all she could vouchsafe, ‘but Leighton won’t hear of it from me. Where is she?’

  By this time they’d emerged from the park and were approaching a ramshackle structure set in its own, badly neglected grounds.

  Stephen, somewhat stiffly, indicated a mouldering doorway that led on to a staircase. The smell inside was vaguely reminiscent of boiled cabbage and onion, but Clarissa made no attempt to hold back. There was another doorway at the head of the stairs and she stumbled through its dim portals into a room that had evidently been freshly cleaned and tidied. A familiar figure turned from the window and stared at her.

  ‘Clarissa!’

  ‘Marianne.’

  The two sisters clung together for several minutes before Marianne roused herself to take charge.

  ‘How’s your leg, Stephen? Can you walk a while further?’ Her voice held more than sisterly affection and Clarissa’s eyes opened wider. The pair were in love, truly the one situation she hadn’t expected to face, and one that could prove to be the ruin of them all.

  ‘I’ll be back before dark,’ he conceded and bowed in his stiff way to Clarissa. ‘Talk some sense into her,’ he requested.

  ‘Sense?’ Clarissa turned to her twin, perplexed.

  ‘He doesn’t know what he’s saying.’ Marianne dismissed the question easily. ‘I don’t have any refreshment to offer you,’ she told her sister, then laughed and embraced her again. ‘I’m truly glad to see you, but how are you here in London?’

  ‘Aunt Eleanor took me in,’ answered Clarissa. ‘She was missing one of the Miss Meredews, and once she’d seen how alike we were, the other would do as well.’

  ‘How like her to be so madly scatterbrain. Have you passed muster amongst my friends?’

  ‘Largely, but you’ve yet to explain how you come to be living here. I understand Stephen is your only companion.’

  ‘Dreadful, isn’t it? To be left alone with a man who could seduce you.’ Marianne gaily laughed off the slur. ‘The truth of the matter is, that until the last day or two he was too weak to harm my reputation, and is sadly backward in doing so now. He is too much the gentleman, though I fear society will view it differently. Is he not magnificent though?’

  ‘He might be,’ conceded Clarissa uncertainly, though she considered his conduct argued no such thing. ‘I gather from your words you’ve acted as his nurse all these weeks?’

  ‘I had to, for who else would?’ Marianne’s tone might have sounded somewhat melodramatic to one who knew her less well than her sister. ‘He was set upon quite close by and left for dead; indeed would have died if we hadn’t come upon him. A gang of vicious bullies had attacked him with cudgels, urged on by Lord Dalwinton, the most thoroughly evil man I’ve ever met.’

  ‘Stephen looked in remarkable health to me.’

  ‘Only let me tell you the whole and you’ll understand,’ Marianne interrupted her sister. ‘Stephen, as I think I wrote you, is the heroic young man who protected me from Lord Dalwinton’s advances.’

  ‘I don’t see—’

  ‘You will. Following our initial meeting, I continued to see him off and on at parties, and though always surrounded by others we began to fall deeply in love.’

  ‘You were promised to Lord Leighton.’ Clarissa gasped at the impropriety of her sister’s conduct, then began to blush when she recalled her own perfidious conduct with the man she regarded as her sister’s future husband.

  ‘It was never formally announced,’ the little girl in Marianne pouted, ‘and my feelings replicate those foretold in the most romantic of novels. Oh Clarissa, I knew at once I could never go through with such a shameful engagement, not once I’d felt true love at last. You must know Lord Leighton was the biggest catch on the marriage mart and I accepted him only for his position. How green and foolish I was then, how little I knew my own heart.’

  ‘What of Leighton’s feelings?’

  ‘Stephen was due to leave for France to rejoin his regiment.’ Marianne ignored her sister’s plea, freely mixing her story with fulsome praise for her young lover. ‘He felt quite as he ought, I assure you. Until such a time as I was free from Leighton, he would not, could not, declare himself, but he wished to bid me farewell in more private surroundings than we frequently found ourselves.’

  Clarissa thought back on the times Richard had wanted to be private with her. Well, he’d contrived easily enough, even at society parties, and so would Marianne she was sure. However, she could sympathize with such a lover’s tryst as Marianne was mapping out. After all, Richard had arranged as much for her at Caroline’s house.

  ‘I took Sophie along to the assignation, she’s been a darling and we’ve lacked for nothing all these weeks.’

  Clarissa wasn’t so sure of that. The girl’s plain duty lay in telling her employers where Marianne was, not shielding her from exposure. In not following her duty, she might very well have contributed to ruining the reputation of the very mistress she professed to love. Evidently she hadn’t thought to tell Marianne her sister was in London either. Had she done so then the entire charade might have been brought to an early completion.

  ‘Don’t look so stern, Clarissa, my dear. I tell you, I had no option, nor Sophie either.’ Marianne collected her thoughts and returned to the story.

  �
��We came upon Stephen at the very moment the blackguards attacked him. I didn’t see Dalwinton at first, only my own brave love, attempting to parry their vicious assault with no more than his cane. It was a poor weapon and he was vastly outnumbered, but he defended himself courageously. I could see it was a hopeless contest, and in the end I ran forward to stop the affray. Sophie was at my heels, but the damage had already been done. Poor Stephen slumped to the ground while they continued to beat and kick him, only desisting when I threw myself over his body.’

  This was one act Clarissa could imagine. She knew her sister to be utterly fearless when it came to defending those she loved. It sounded as though she’d been foolish as well.

  ‘Sophie too, flung herself fearlessly into the fight. I believe they would have thrust me out of the way and continued to beat Stephen if she hadn’t run at them whirling my reticule around her head. They ran off then, vicious cowards one and all, and that’s when I saw him: Dalwinton – standing a short way off with his damnable valet, both of them laughing at the damage those thugs had done. Aye, and paying them off in full sight of us.’

  ‘I gather Stephen wasn’t as dead as you feared.’ Clarissa attempted to lead her sister back to the story.

  ‘No, but he was badly beaten and for days afterwards I feared he might die at any moment.’

  ‘Why didn’t you bring in a doctor and have him nursed properly? Aunt Eleanor would have called on her own physician for you. Stephen would have been better off if he lay anywhere else than this hovel.’

  ‘Dalwinton!’ Marianne accused. ‘He spoke to me directly before he left. He cursed his minions who wouldn’t stoop to harming a lady and threatened to finish Stephen off himself. Indeed, he might have done so if Sophie hadn’t stood up to him. I had no one I could trust other than her, and with Stephen dying in my arms, I could barely think of what to do next.

  ‘Sophie was so staunch and she arranged it all. One of her relatives owns the property and was content to rent out this room and aid us in the task of carrying Stephen in. It’s not as comfortable as I’d like, nor as spacious, but under the circumstances I had no option. It was a safe haven for us. A doctor was sent to attend Stephen’s wounds, not perhaps a man of the first respectability, but kind to us and unlikely to mention the matter to Dalwinton. For the rest, Sophie saw to it that all our needs were met.’

  ‘What about Stephen? Didn’t he have anything to say about your situation?’ Clarissa had thought the lad was a gentleman at the least.

  ‘As to that, you may think yourself as one with him. I can see you’re horrified to think I’d risk my reputation, as was he. I don’t think it, and I never will. While Stephen was still in peril of his life, I couldn’t leave him. Nor could he send me away, when he was still comatose.’

  ‘And now? He’s recovered his strength, but you remain closeted here. Is he still in peril?’

  ‘He’s in the greatest danger, Clarissa. Dalwinton is out for revenge. He’s too much the coward to fight man to man, but he’d have been all too pleased to see Stephen die there and then. I’m convinced he’ll take advantage of any opportunity to complete the job. As to my love, he continued to flit in and out of consciousness for more than a week, and even later, when he was awake, he lay for days in a fever, raving. I just couldn’t bring myself to leave him, not even if Sophie herself should engage to nurse him.’

  Clarissa reached out a hand to comfort her sister, who was beginning to sob at the memories stored up. Marianne caught hold of her emotions, however, and continued to speak.

  ‘By the time he’d regained his health well enough to understand what was happening, it was too late to mend my reputation. He knew as well as I that I was hopelessly compromised. Not that it mattered in the least because he intended to marry me anyway, despite his lack of prospects. He was elevated first to lieutenant, then to a captaincy, gazetted in the field for outstanding bravery under fire, but with the wars in France at an end, his promotions may not be confirmed by the Department for War. He would then revert to the rank of ensign, for he has no money of his own to purchase a commission.’

  Clarissa found a new respect for the abilities of the young officer. For two such heady promotions to have been earned on the battlefield he must not only have been fearless, but an extremely talented leader of men.

  ‘I should have returned to Aunt Eleanor’s protection long since, despite the damage to my reputation, and so Stephen is forever telling me. When I was nursing a helpless invalid there can have been no impropriety, but I cannot leave him even now, when I’m terrified Dalwinton will make another attempt on his life. Leighton also; if he learns we’ve been closeted together for so long, he may well call Stephen out. He’s a crack shot and accounted a swordsman of some merit.’ Marianne sobbed out loud in her fear. ‘Stephen is as brave as a lion, and would never back down from such a challenge.’

  ‘I don’t believe Leighton will challenge Stephen to a duel.’ Clarissa smiled, holding back her real reasons for thinking so. ‘Only think of how foolish that would make him appear. For either you or he to cry off is one thing, and it has to be admitted it could cause a stir in some quarters, but a duel is quite another. That would argue a far more serious rift, and while the gossip in its wake may ruin you, it would also make him a laughing stock.’

  ‘I cannot go back to Aunt Eleanor now, Clarissa. While I was nursing a helpless invalid, there could have been some scope for forgiveness, but I’ve been away far too long. The gossip must already have started.’

  ‘I’ve taken your place, remember? I was accepted by society at large, and by all your friends too. Even Leighton. There is no gossip, nor need there ever be.’

  ‘Your sister’s quite right, Marianne.’ Stephen had returned and was standing in the shadows and had been listening to their conversation for longer than either of them knew. ‘You must make your return to society. If Leighton will release you from your vows then we’ll be wed as soon as we may. I went to the War Office today and reported back for duty. They were sympathetic to my injuries, but I must leave for the Continent within the week.’

  ‘Stephen, you—’ Marianne’s attempt to debate the issue was brought to an abrupt stand when the young officer ignored her arguments and turned instead to her sister, Clarissa.

  ‘Can you arrange for Marianne to return to her family with no scandal attached?’ he asked.

  ‘I believe so.’

  ‘Then it’s best done quick. I’ve been at my wit’s end trying to think of a way out of this unholy imbroglio. We plan to marry as soon as we can, but it wouldn’t do for her situation here to become known. My mother died when I was young and my father, a man of the cloth, succumbed to the influenza not long after I joined up, so I have no family to escort her to, and neither can I leave her in this house until the deed is done. The neighbourhood is not respectable, nor one in which a lady should reside alone. You, too, must leave us in good time; the evening is closing in and it’s already beginning to grow dark. I fear the streets here, disagreeable as they are during the day, only grow rougher with the onset of night.’

  ‘I’ll arrange matters for you,’ promised Clarissa. ‘There are others I must consult, those who already know of the deception being practised. A day at most. I’ll return here tomorrow, but, as you say, I must leave for home immediately before my own absence is commented upon.’

  Clarissa’s farewells to her sister were short lived, but inevitably attended by some tears, shed in equal measure by each of the twins. Stephen saw her out and escorted her on her way.

  ‘You should have insisted Marianne leave you as soon as you recovered your senses,’ she accused him once they had left the house.

  ‘I know,’ he replied. His eyes were unable to return her gaze and he dropped his head. ‘I did speak to her, I promise you I did, but she wouldn’t attend to me.’ He flushed. ‘I don’t mean to excuse myself,’ he told her in a small voice, ‘or my scandalous behaviour in allowing her to stay with me under such circumstances. The tr
uth, if it must be told, was that having her so close was as sweet to me as staying was to her.’

  ‘I doubt if she’d let you send her away,’ Clarissa agreed with him reluctantly. What would she herself do if it was Leighton in trouble? ‘She always was the more wilful of us twins.’

  ‘This is the way.’ Stephen motioned towards the narrow opening that led into the park, but Clarissa begged him to return forthwith to Marianne.

  ‘It’s getting darker by the minute and I can find my way from here,’ she told him readily. ‘Walking the streets alone at night might be unusual conduct in a lady, but to be caught in the company of a strange gentleman in such a place would outrage all propriety.’ And she strode off into the dark with an airy wave, determined to bespeak a hackney as soon as she reached the more respectable streets on the far side of the park.

  *

  Clarissa was halfway across the greensward, in plain sight of the streets she knew so well, when she realized she was being followed. She turned to face her pursuer, more or less certain it was Stephen following in her wake despite her denials, and only realized her mistake when a black shadow sprang on her out of the gloom.

  Afterwards she could only recall the brief vision of an arm raised high before something exploding on her skull. Then she was falling, a black tunnel closing in on her vision.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Clarissa Imprisoned

  Clarissa didn’t remain unconscious for long. She was vaguely aware of someone lifting her; a big man, and strong enough to throw her over his shoulder without exerting a significant effort. She stilled herself, some sentient sixth sense warning her not to betray her wakefulness. She would stand more chance of evading her captors if she retained the advantage of surprise.

  The others walked behind, sufficiently far to the rear she couldn’t quite catch what they were saying. Two only, she decided, but couldn’t be sure; one whose voice was familiar, and far more refined than any footpad had the right to own. She nearly betrayed herself when she recognized the tones, for Lord Dalwinton was amongst her captors! She told herself she shouldn’t have been surprised; she’d known the man was searching through the neighbourhood, knew he suspected her part in the deception. Knew too, he was looking for the proof. What the devil did he want with her?