The rooms were surprisingly modern and well appointed, with fine walnut furniture and cheerful pale blue wallpaper and matching curtains and a satin bedspread all in the garland pattern.
In addition to several fine wardrobes and dressers for her clothes, there was a dressing room between her bedroom and her husband's, a full bathing chamber, and a small room obviously intended as a nursery for a new born or a sick child. Yes, these were rooms she could be happy in with her beloved, but she thought with a pang how much a good woman like Peneloped deserved to be happy too, and yet had had all of her joy and chance at happiness stolen from her.
She barely heard one word in ten as the Jerome girls chatted gaily about the wedding as they helped unpack and exclaimed over her finer dark gowns, including a midnight blue with cream sprigs and lace edging around the bodice and loose sleeves, which they insisted she change into.
But Vanessa did not feel very much like celebrating. She only wished she had taken Clifford's suspicions seriously when he had first voiced them. She had instead been furious, eager to defend her family, and as a result had perhaps cost even more innocent people their lives.
But as she looked around the suite, an elegant set of rooms intended for a happily married couple to share, she knew she could not let their marriage be haunted by the past.
She had done what she could to bring Gerald to justice by taking the stolen jewels and handing them over to the authorities. Now she just had to let the magistrates do their work and bring Gerald and his band of highwaymen to justice.
"Vanessa, you haven't heard a word I've said," Josephine complained.
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking."
"I don't blame you for having a touch of the vapors. I know I shall on my big day, and Henry and I have known each other and had an understanding for quite some time. It must be strange marrying a man you've only just met again for the first time in years."
"And yet I feel I've known him all my life," she said with a winsome smile.
"Well, that sounds promising then." Josephine hesitated. "I know it's a bit forward of me, but if you need to know anything about, well, men and women together, you have only to ask. I know your mother died when you were very young. I'm not so sure your aunt had any notion of the matter. Mama is a very kind woman. She could explain..."
Vanessa blushed. "I think I have the theory, if not the practice. I'm sure it will be fine. Clifford is a good and patient man. Besides, that is really the least of my worries, with so many other things going on."
Josephine and Emma both stared at her.
Vanessa took a deep breath and began, "You might as well know now. It will be all over the district soon enough. My half-brother Gerald is one of the highwaymen who has been terrorizing the neighborhood. I fear he killed that poor woman we found in the sluice-gates."
The Jerome sisters did not seem surprised, but the two items of information she revealed next shocked them to the core.
"I have to tell you know, there is no way to break this news easily. We have an eyewitness who is giving testimony even now that the Cavendish cousins are also involved. I'm so sorry, Emma, if you have feelings for James, but he is not worthy of you. I never liked him, thought him wild and boorish whenever he was at the house visiting with Gerald.
"As for the identity of the poor dead woman in the sluice gates, we have reason to believe she is your cousin Martin's new wife."
"Martin?" Josephine gasped. "But how-"
"They were supposed to be visiting after their wedding, as you know, but never arrived. I found his small chased silver family Bible in amongst Gerald's other stolen items secreted in the back of a hidden drawer."
Emma looked stunned, and now Josephine began to weep. "Martin's wife is dead? Where is he? He carries that Bible with him everywhere. Oh Lord--" Jo's sobs choked her.
Vanessa shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. We have no idea. The Bransons are out looking for any sign of Martin at all. I'm praying for a miracle, of course, but fear the worst." She sighed heavily.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and managed to continue, "Given all that has happened, I will understand fully if you do not wish to know the woman whose brother has caused so much misery and unhappiness to your own family. You must also want to go over to your cousins' in Barton to provide what comfort you can. I shall send for the carriage and Henry can take you there."
Emma managed to recover her composure first. "Oh, Vanessa, it is not you we blame," she said sincerely, rising and smoothing her skirts with trembling hands. "But we must go to see if we can help in any way."
"Of course, I understand. That's why I'm telling you. There can be no friendship without trust. I hope in time we can put this behind us. But I'll understand if you cut me the next time we meet."
A tearful Josephine put her hand on her shoulder. "No, I shan't. As soon as Henry and I wed, we shall be sisters. None of this is your fault. You must not blame yourself for Gerald's excesses."
Emma took her hand. "I don't blame you either. You've saved me from a most imprudent and disastrous marriage. I knew James was wild. I did not pay heed to the rumors due to the supposed size of his fortune and his excellent connections. I can see reasons for Gerald behaving as he does, with no money, desperate, but the Cavendishes have no such excuse. Not unless they have managed to conceal their affairs very well from the rest of the world. They have done this out of pure evil and malice. I'm glad I found out what he was truly like before it was too late."
"There is no excuse for any of it. It is all greed and malice, and uncontrollable licentiousness," Vanessa said with a shake of her head, thinking of Penelope's sad tale.
"I only hope Malcolm Branson can consider the difficult position I was in, committed as I was. Though I have loved him for some time, I could not break off my engagement to James without causing scandal."
"Well, he's certainly caused enough scandal now, or will have done once he is exposed. I hope that will be soon. Clifford thinks if they are confronted, they will betray each other in order to try to save themselves."
Emma took Josephine's arm to help her to the door. "We must go. You will be all right, won't you?"
Vanessa came on the girl's left and aided her as well, then called down the corridor for Henry to come help. "I'll be fine. It will all be well. I'm in my new home now, and will be Clifford's bride tomorrow. He insists he wants to go through with the wedding regardless. Nothing shall happen to me with him by my side."
She escorted the women downstairs and told Henry, who appeared from the library, to take them home.
"But Clifford said-"
"I'll be fine. I have a house full of servants, and a wedding to prepare for. I shall lock myself in my chamber, and await your return or Clifford's."
Henry still looked torn, but Vanessa shooed him. "Go on. The sooner you get the girls to Barton safely, the sooner you can be back here. I can hear the wind picking up. I fear there will be a storm. Go now."
Henry helped the women with their cloaks and led them down to the waiting carriage.
Vanessa pulled her shawl more tightly around her blue gown as a cold breeze swept through the house. She shivered with unease. She watched the carriage drive away, then told the butler to watch out for Clifford and to let her know as soon as he arrived.
She went upstairs to her chamber and laid out all of her items in preparation for the morning. The vicar would be coming to perform the ceremony at eleven. Then they were to spend the night at Stone Court and journey up to London on Sunday after church for a few days on a honeymoon trip.
Clifford said he also wanted to show Vanessa the Stone family's small but elegant townhouse, and some of the delights of the capital. She certainly didn't care about anything so worldly, not after all she had discovered, and the only delights she was interested in could be provided by Clifford with his magnificent body.
But Clifford had other plans in mind for their trip, she was sure. He had not said it, but she could guess he also wanted t
o make some inquiries himself about Gerald, and now the Cavendish cousins. She hoped they would be able to get enough evidence to bring the men to justice. But she knew Gerald. He was nothing if not a plausible liar. He probably had a pack of untruths all worked out in case of discovery.
A small movement behind the curtains caused her to gasp and draw back quickly. But it was too late to flee. Far too late. Gerald emerged like the angel of death, a pistol pressed to the temple of a terrified young serving maid whose wide blue eyes were running with tears.
"Well, well, so you're marrying the bastard after all. Just thought I would come to pay my respects. Hope you don't mind that I let myself in the back door. And this kind young lady was only too pleased to show me to your room."
"Gerald, how nice of you to call," she said in an even tone, trying not to panic. "What can I do for you?"
"You can come with me now. We're going to visit Mason and Rogers, and they are going to give me exactly what I want. Your fortune."
"Come now. Don't be absurd," Vanessa said in her most lofty tone, trying not to reveal how terrified she was with a show of false bravado. "How much ready money do you think they would have on hand? Not to mention the fact that I have already signed a pre-nuptial arrangement with Clifford. I cannot go back on it now without leaving myself open to a breach of promise suit. As my solicitors they would never permit that. They will not give me the money now no matter how much I beg.
"Moreover, as soon as they see you waving a pistol around, they would call for the local authorities and you would be put in jail. Far better to take what I have now." She no longer had her reticule, so she reached for the pink band box in which she had placed her jewel casket. She offered it to him now. "Take all of them. I shall send you more once I'm married. I have never loved you as a sister should, Gerald, not after all your cruelties to me as a child, but I would not want to see you hang."
Gerald sneered. "So that's why you went into my room today to look for evidence of my wrongdoing? So you could save me?"
Vanessa paled, but steeled herself well enough that she did not flinch. "I needed to know the truth. We all do. Those innocent people... Did you never stop to think how many people you were harming for your own selfish pleasure?"
"Why should I care? No one has ever done anything for me!"
Vanessa's temper snapped then. "Father did everything for you! Everything! You killed both of his wives, didn't you? Yet still he protected you! He covered up for you when you poisoned your own mother, didn't he? He claimed it was an accident when you shot my mother in the back with an arrow. That I was the one who done it in the midst of some innocent child's play. I've carried that blight for years, with people whispering that I was mad.
"Only she didn't die at the archery butts, did it? It happened when you chased her through the maze, hunted her down like an animal. Assaulted and killed her when she wouldn't give in. I remember it all now. I saw you! I was concealed in the shrubbery playing hide and seek. I saw it all.
"By the time Peter came along you must have pretended to have been trying to help her. Father let me take the blame, said it was brain fever, but he had to have known that I could never have wielded the bow and arrow with such deadly force."
"Aye, I did it," Gerald snarled, all pretence at an end at last. "She was pregnant. Another child to drain the estate, another potential rival heir. I couldn't let it happen. Detested that slut for having you. I doubt you're even my sister!"
Vanessa restrained her temper. "It doesn't matter what either of us think or feel any longer. And you really have no reason to fear me. Father left everything to you, after all, apart from some minor bequests to our cousins. I only got a few things of my mother's. I've never taken anything from you. And I can't do anything to you now, even knowing what I do. Not after so many years. Besides, who would believe the word of a confused and hysterical eight-year old girl?
"But those things you stole will testify against you. Even now your victims are claiming back their own items."
"I could say I bought them in London quite innocently," he bluffed.
"And young Martin Jerome and his wife? How did you happen to get hold of his family Bible? It is not something any decent young man would ever have sold, and his wife was raped and murdered."
The maid, who had been hanging limply in his grasp, now began to struggle with all her might, kicking and scratching in a desperate bid for freedom.
The gun went off, sending shards of mirror flying in all directions. The hysterical maid dropped to the ground and crawled away.
Vanessa picked up a heavy candlestick and prepared to defend herself. She could hear footsteps charging up the stairs and voices raised in consternation.
"They heard the shot. They're coming for you. Give yourself up, Gerald, now."
"If I can't have everything, I'll make sure you and Clifford don't either." He grabbed the candelabra nearest him and held it up to the curtains, which began to flame like writhing snakes.
Vanessa threw the candlestick at him, hitting him squarely between the eyes.
She ran over to her boxes and snatched up the only weapon she had, her fine silver dagger her aunt had given her as a paperknife.
Gerald grasped her wrist in a crushing grip. Before she could stop him, he began yanking her toward the casement.
Vanessa pulled back desperately, but Gerald's manic strength prevailed. He hauled at her hard and jumped out of the window. It was over thirty feet to the marble-slabbed terrace below. To fall or jump would mean almost certain death.
Vanessa yanked and twisted, trying to wrench her arm free. She could feel herself being dragged inexorably right along with him.
She threw herself to the floor and leaned back with all her might, wedging one hand against the sill, and jerked her other arm. Still unable to break free, she swivelled her wrist. The dagger still in her right hand gouged into the tender flesh of Gerald's inner wrist, forcing him to let go of her at last.
A flash of lightning lit the night sky, and was followed not by thunder, but an unearthly shriek. Vanessa heard Gerald hit the paving slabs with a sickening thud. Then her room was full of exclaiming servants bursting through the door.
Clifford pushed his way through the throng and pulled her into his arms. "Are you all right?" he gasped. "We heard a shot."
"I'm fine," she panted, gripping her throbbing arm. "Gerald! He jumped. Is he-"
Clifford scrambled over to the window and looked out, then ordered the servants to fetch water to help put out the conflagration as the curtains and wallpaper crackled.
Almost all of them obeyed, while two helped the hysterical little maid to her feet and carried her from the room.
Clifford and Vanessa stared at each other for a moment. She had the sensation of looking at him from across a great chasm. Her brother's scream echoed in her head, and she felt numbed, inert, as if caught in the throes of one of her paralyzing nightmares. Except she knew that it had been all too real. She had escaped death by a hair's breadth.
"He's badly injured, Vanessa. He hasn't got long. I'll send for the doctor, but--" He shook his head.
She stayed him. "Are you going to save his life just so he can hang?"
He sighed. "If we leave him there to die like a dog, we will be no better than he was."
"He assaulted my mother, tortured her. Left her to die like a dog. Why shouldn't I do the same for him?" she asked bitterly.
He cupped her chin tenderly. "Because you're better than he is. If you do nothing but burn for revenge, he will have ruined all of our lives, just as he intended. Don't let him win. Let's send for Dr. Gold."
She nodded, and gathering her skirts stiffly, began to head down the stairs toward the back of the house.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
"You don't have to do this, Vanessa," Clifford said in a low tone, taking her elbow to support her as she marched down the stairs, her back ramrod stiff, to look her dying brother in the face one last time.
Vanessa sa
id through tight lips, "I do. I have to make peace with the fiend, or he'll haunt me forever."
She made her way downstairs and on to the terrace as the storm roared overhead, the wind tearing at her hair and gown like a demon. She approached the prone body, and saw his eyelids flutter for a second.
"I know you can hear me. I just want to tell you I forgive you, Gerald. You thrived on evil and hatred. But I forgive you. You planned to lose me at cards to one of the Cavendishes, didn't you? They were the other highwaymen. Why rob people, take the risk of getting caught, when you could help yourself to my fortune another way? If I married either of them, you would have had access to all of my money through them.
"Except that Clifford ruined your plot, he and Malcolm Branson. How ironic. Your perfect little scheme was destroyed by a trick of chance. Only it wasn't chance, Gerald. They cheated. Did you know that? They cheated that night in order to protect me."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 1 Page 31