Dread slowly slithered over her. This man wasn’t someone she wanted to spend two minutes with. Let alone the amount of time he had in mind. He dragged her to a waiting carriage. How had they managed to evade the men who were supposed to be watching Evesham Hall? Hadn’t they been employed to keep them safe while remaining inconspicuous?
Clarence had told her about them. She had seen them following their carriages when they had traveled down here. They had looked like a private militia. Their numbers had been so vast. Sir Wilfrid certainly had gall to try and attempt to capture her under such a fierce guard.
He didn’t have many men waiting with the carriage. He was bold as brass doing this. The man was a bloody rapscallion, and far too dangerous. She had never felt so afraid before.
“You will pay dearly for this affront. You…you miscreant,” she muttered. He pushed her into his carriage, and then stood watching her with a jeering expression on his face.
“No, my love. You will pay dearly for it. Now, just wait here while I go and rid you of that little braggart you are married to. Soon, you will be a widow, and then, you shall be mine. His blasted family has all but ruined me here in England, so we shall away to France, where I still have a few contacts who owe me a living.”
He slammed the carriage door shut, and she moved to open it, only to come face to face with a brute. His face was covered with scars, and pockmarks, and he had eyes that sent a chill straight through her heart. “Move your pretty little arse back into the carriage, my lady, or I shall move it for you, and I wager you don’t want that.”
Frozen with fear, she did as he instructed, and sat trembling on the blue satin squabs. Where was Clarence? Would he be able to fight back against Sir Wilfrid or would the villain cut his throat? No…he would emerge victorious. Sir Wilfrid was far too confident for his own good, and he didn’t look half as capable as Clarence.
The bells stopped ringing and silence blanketed her world. The sound of a scuffle outside of the carriage made her strain her hearing. She listened for a voice she could recognize.
“Ann,” Clarence’s comforting voice emerged over the grunts of other men. “You are safe now, my love.” The carriage door was whisked open, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, her heartbeat finally stopped galloping like a runaway horse. She scrambled toward him, and he pulled her out of the carriage. Falling against him, she kissed him madly, and then breathlessly drew away.
“Oh, thank God. Thank God, you are safe. I do love you, Clarence, I have never felt such fear when I thought that you were going to be taken from me. I have been a bloody fool. Oh, Clarence, I thought I had lost you. I thought you…I thought you were in dire peril. I have never been so happy to see you. I am so sorry for what I said. Can you ever forgive me?” She knew she was rambling, babbling like an idiot, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. “You are so important to me…I couldn’t bear life without you now…that dreadful Sir Wilfrid told me he was going to make me a widow, and I don’t ever want to be a widow. I will never be able to earn your forgiveness, Clarence. I…I was such a little chit. Of course, Lord Spaulding is nothing like Sir Wilfrid—and Fanny…Fanny picked him…she wants to marry him, she told her father that there was only one man on Earth that she would marry, and that man was Lord Spaulding.”
“She did?” Felix sounded surprised.
“Hush,” Clarence said, his eyes softening with love. “There is nothing to forgive…I love you so much, Ann. Nothing you could say could ever push me away.” They kissed again, and then parted when Felix and Lucky cleared their throats.
“We hate to interrupt your kiss and make up, Clarence but time is of the essence, right now,” Lucky said somberly.
“Indeed,” Clarence said gruffly.
“Where is Sir Wilfrid?” she asked softly, not able to take her eyes off of Clarence.
“One of our guards is dressed like me and he is leading him around on a merry chase right now. Felix and Lucky came and warned me shortly after I set off from the Estate. He…he and Lucky spotted the danger. I failed to see it. I suppose my head was clouded with other things. The men watching, did as they were told, they watched and readied themselves to put Sir Wilfrid in a rather unfortunate situation.”
“I thought…I thought they weren’t doing their jobs. I thought they had left their posts,” she stammered. “I thought…I thought they were useless.”
“Nothing of the kind. They wouldn’t be our mates if they couldn’t follow orders. Oh, they were vigilant, and Clarence handled himself quite admirably with the blackguards we tussled with,” Felix said, smiling broadly. “And with a foolish adversary like Sir Wilfrid it wasn’t too hard for the men to do what was required of them. The rest of his thugs have been dispatched, Clarence. Now, we only have to set the trap for that bastard. Do you still want to do it the way we had planned out, earlier?”
“Aye. I think he should continue along with his false sense of confidence. Don’t you?”
“Oh, I think it jolly good fun,” Felix said.
“Best bit of fun we have had in ages. Felix, I think you would look rather fetching in Ann’s scarlet cloak,” Lucky mused.
“It won’t fit me too well, but he’s such a daft arrogant fellow, he probably won’t notice until it’s too late.” Felix took his greatcoat off, and looked at Ann. “Can we make a trade, my lady?”
She stood dumbfounded for a few moments, and then with Clarence’s assistance, she slipped out of her cloak, and took Felix’s heavy coat instead. Even though it was a generous fit, it wouldn’t begin to fit Lord Spaulding’s large frame.
Clarence slipped out of his own greatcoat and placed it around her shoulders. “Give me, Felix’s, Ann, it is far too large for you. You will drown in it.” She handed him the heavy coat, and then, Clarence climbed into the carriage. “Can you see Ann back to the house, Lucky?”
“Aye, and then, I shall return so we can have our merry bit of a jolly.” He looked to the distance and sighed. “I see more carriages and riders on the way. I hope they are friend, and not foe.”
“Get Ann back to the Hall where she will be safe,” Clarence said quickly.
Lucky gripped her arm, and pulled her along with him. She hastened to keep up with him, and kept glancing back at the carriage until the door shut. Clarence was alone with Lord Spaulding, and now…now, they were going to trap the devilish Sir Wilfrid. She almost wished she could stick around and watch it all unfold. She wanted to see the look on the pugnacious cretin’s face when he realized he was well and truly trapped.
Chapter Seventeen
“Tiny, I think you should let me put on Ann’s coat. You are far too big. Sir Wilfrid is never going to fall for it. You are a bloody giant. He would have to be a ruddy clodpole not to notice.”
“Trust me, mate, he will fall for it. The man’s arrogance is his biggest failure.”
“No, I don’t think he will.”
“Be quiet, and try to blend in with the background, eh? I can hear someone approaching.”
Clarence fell silent, as the door was whipped open. “We shall have to leave without me ridding myself of your husband, my sweet. He has absconded, and the ground is crawling with men that are friends of Lord Evesham. We must away at once, or we shall be discovered.”
Felix pushed the red hood of Anne’s cloak away from his face, and looked over at Sir Wilfrid. “About that I don’t think our relationship is going to make it. I am already promised to another.” The deep timbre of Felix’s voice boomed throughout the interior of the carriage. Felix pulled out his pistol, and leveled it at Sir Wilfrid.
Clarence felt like growling, “Your judgement day is at hand, Sir Wilfrid. You shall not harass my wife any longer. You are well and completely ruined.”
“Your bloody relative Edward Lovett ruined me. I thought he was a harmless gentlemen with a talent at making blunt multiply, no one told me that he was…that he was…” Sir Wilfrid blustered, his eyes popping out of his head, and a vein in his forehead throbbed. He
looked as if he was going to have some kind of a fit.
“Well, go on, then, spit it out, man.” Clarence wanted to hear what Sir Wilfrid had to say about the man he respectfully called uncle. His uncle had to be a man of great power to instill such fear in the bastard that stood before him.
“He cannot seem to take his eyes off me, Clarence. I do look rather pretty, if I do say so myself. Red is my colour, don’t you think?” he asked, blinking at him in a coquettish manner and raising his voice in an attempt to make him sound less manly.
“I do,” Clarence agreed.
“Shall I have a bit of fun with the blighter?” Felix asked. “We could play kick him up the arse.”
“Is that even a game?” Clarence asked, laughing.
“It is when I play it, mate.”
Sir Wilfrid looked panicked, and he turned to run, only to slam straight into Freddie.
“Freddie!” Clarence said happily. “I thought…I thought you would be in Wiltshire with Julia.”
“We were going to spend Christmas with Julia’s family, even though my father kept insisting we spend it in Scotland, so we compromised and decided to come here. He shall be given a proper Christmas in the Cotswolds. I am looking forward to it myself. Lady Evesham did invite Ginny and her family, and she in turn invited us, and well, I think everyone is here. I hope you have the room, mate.”
“We have the room,” Clarence said, smiling.
“Mr. Lovett brought Lady Broadway with him as well. Lord Broadway decided to spend Christmas with James…and they are both spending it at their country retreat.”
“Oh, I bet that is going over well. According to Anne, it is a heap of rubble.”
“Ah, well, they’ll have to live with it. At least they have each other, and I hear that misery loves company,” Freddie grinned, and looked at Sir Wilfrid who had finally given up. “Now, what are we supposed to do with this little sodding bastard? What is that smell? Did you just mess yourself, or do you always smell like that?” he asked Sir Wilfrid.
“Bugger off, you lowborn bastard.”
“Now see here, Sir Wilfrid, when I was born, I became the Earl of Kilmun, now I am the Marquess of Knightwick,” Freddie said, grinning widely. “Besides, there is nothing wrong with being a lowborn bastard. Some of my best mates are lowborn bastards, ain’t that right, Felix?”
“Right you are, my friend.”
“So, what’s going to happen to him? I’d like to get him off my hands. We’re out in the open and he still smells. I would hate to be near him in an enclosed space. You need to acquaint yourself with a bath more than once a year, man.” Freddie scrunched his nose up disdainfully.
“We could get rid of him ourselves,” Felix suggested.
“I’m sorry to dash your hopes, Lord Spaulding but Sir Wilfrid will be taken back to London,” Edward Lovett said crisply, finally joining them. He looked quite powerful today, with an air of efficiency about him. The bejeweled walking stick he carried made him look every part the dashingly dapper gentlemen. “I did some further research into Sir Wilfrid’s dealings with the French during the Wars…and well, it seems he gave some critical pieces of information that aided Napoleon’s forces in winning a few battles that he shouldn’t have—and he was greatly rewarded for betraying his country. So…he shall have to atone for that.”
“I hate traitors,” Freddie muttered, lifting Sir Wilfrid off his feet, and giving him a good shake.
“I could save them the trouble,” Felix offered, directing the pistol at Sir Wilfrid. “Think of all the friends we lost, Freddie. Think of Maurice, Patrick, Angus, Sean, Jack, Robbie and Jonny, and so many more. Some of them were little more than lads. We lost so much, and he helped that along. This little son of a bitch, probably has some of their blood on his hands. There would be no fuss or muss, and we could all have a happy Christmas knowing this little bastard has been sent to hell. I hope they have a nice hot spot waiting for him.”
“While that does sound like an intriguing notion, son, I am afraid that I shall have to spoil your plans. I rather think…” Edward said, motioning for the men he had brought with him to step forward, “I do believe there are men back in London who would like to question Sir Wilfrid and see if there are others like him who have evaded justice. He shall pay in due course, you only need to be patient.”
“I would rather die now,” Sir Wilfrid said. “Shoot me, you bloody arsehole.”
“Now, how in the world, did he know that was one of my titles?” Felix asked, ready to oblige him.
Edward snorted. “Felix, put the pistol away. It’s not worth wasting the bullet on this blackguard. He’s a bloody coward. There is nothing worse on the face of the Earth than men like Sir Wilfrid. He truly is scum of the Earth. Take him away. Remove him from my sight.” The men nodded, and left.
“Don’t you have to go with them?” Clarence asked, climbing out of the carriage.
“Those back in London shall have to make do without me until after the New Year. Alice has asked me to stay here for Christmas. Her father, Mr. Thomas Somersby, has also joined our happy company. I hope you do not mind, Clarence.”
“Not at all,” Clarence said jovially. “The more the merrier, I always say, Uncle Edward.” His staff would be hopping to accommodate all of the guests. He would have to remember to reward them greatly for the effort they would have to go to during the holidays.
“Splendid, splendid,” Edward said, smiling. “Once Christmastide is over, I shall have to go back to London to tidy things up there. I do hope I can return to my beloved Lark Hall soon. I miss it terribly, but oh, what a beautiful place Evesham Hall is.”
“Don’t worry, you will be back in your treasured banyans and relaxing like the lazy country gentlemen in no time at all,” Freddie said.
“I pray you are right, lad.” Edward’s visage remained serious for a few more moments, and then, he smiled. “Come along, Clarence, you have a lot of family to greet. Your father and mother are here, and so is Cyril, and your Grandmamma made the trip as well.”
“Oh, how lovely,” Clarence said. “Shall we go inside, warm ourselves by the fire, put up the decorations, and sing some carols?”
They all murmured their agreement, and headed back toward the house. He had wanted a memorable Christmas, surrounded by those he loved, and now he would have it.
*****
They were all gathered in Evesham Hall’s magnificent Drawing Room.
Valentina sat at the pianoforte playing merrily while they all sang God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The house was bedecked with greenery, and the feeling of Christmas was in the air, and they were about to gather round the snapdragon bowl.
As darkness beckoned, they had lit the candles from the Yule log, and they had thrown a sprig of holly onto it so they could burn their troubles from the past year away and while their candles were being lighted, everyone remained silent and made their Christmas wishes for the coming year. He had wished for his happiness with Ann to continue. Soon, they would play the snapdragon game.
This year the Christmas bowl had been filled with brandy, and in the center of the bowl was a tasty little plum pudding. The brandy had been poured over it, and raisins, currants and almonds had been thrown into the liquid. Once it was lit on fire, they would all try to snatch out the treats that were in the bowl all the while knowing they were at risk of burning their fingers.
The Lovett girls were excited about it because they believed in the tradition that said the person who fetched out the most treats would find their true love within the year. With the room darkened, as it was, it would be quite a sight with the blue flames dancing across the liquid.
When they returned from Midnight Mass, they would exchange gifts, but there was one thing he knew—this year, Ann had been his greatest gift. His family had a tradition of giving one gift for every day of the Twelve Days of Christmas and his Uncle Edward had told him earlier that it had been a tradition brought by Clarence’s great-great-grandmother who had been born a Lovet
t.
Following another tradition first established by Queen Charlotte, they had also brought in a Christmas tree, and it was illuminated with small wax candles, and decorated with bunches of sweetmeats, almonds, raisins in papers, and fruits and toys. The tree glittering with tinsel and glass was quite a magical sight, and put peace into his heart. They had a bit of fairyland in their Drawing Room, and it had captivated the younger Lovett children who sat on the floor near it and watched it avidly.
Ann left her mother’s side, and came to stand with him. He put his arm around her, and she leaned in close. “Happy Christmas, Clarence. I feel as if I am in heaven. I think this is what I always wanted, but never had at this time of the year.”
“It is the most blessed time of the year, my love.”
“Indeed,” she murmured. “What did you wish for when we lit the candles, from the Yule log?”
He chuckled. “If I told you…it might not come true.”
“I wished…I wished for more of this,” she confessed, letting out a blissful sigh. “Shall you take part in the snapdragon game?” she asked softly, looking adoringly up into his eyes.
“There is no point in doing it this year,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I fought Cyril for the right to all of the treats last year…”
“And…” she encouraged.
“And, I came out with the largest amount. And do you know, I believe the tradition works. I did find my true love within the year.”
“You had already found me, Clarence. I was the one who hadn’t yet realized the best thing to happen was standing right in front of me, desperately attempting to gain my attention. I was the nincompoop. I was the fool.”
“And that, my love,” he murmured, drawing her close, “Is why my Christmas wish last year was for you to finally see me in the light I wanted you to see me in. And…it succeeded at long last.”
“Oh, how I adore you, Clarence.”
His Christmas Angel (A Regency Holiday Romance Book 8) Page 18