“We’ve already bespoken coffee and breakfast,” the duchess said.
Sydney stretched his stiff legs. “I expect you’d like me to take my unwashed person elsewhere. Or there is a private parlor you could use.”
“We are quite comfortable here,” Alvan stated, “since it’s quiet, and it is you we have come to see.”
“You have?” Sydney looked at him more closely. He was a quietly elegant, good-looking man with cool, rather hard gray eyes. “Did you bring the horsewhips, or do your servants do that?”
“Do what?” the duchess asked, bewildered.
“Never mind.”
Lily and Mrs. Villin both came in, carrying trays of breakfast and coffee. Neither of them seemed remotely surprised, let alone flustered to have the Duke and Duchess of Alvan in their house for breakfast, and the duchess called them by name.
“You’ve been here before,” Sydney observed, pouring coffee into three cups.
“Actually, we were married here,” Alvan said casually.
“Which is interesting,” Sydney allowed. “But doesn’t explain why you are here now sharing breakfast with me.”
“Henrietta,” Charlotte said.
“She’s pure as the driven snow,” Sydney snapped.
Charlotte looked surprised. “Well, I know that. I want to know what’s the matter with her, why she has engaged herself to that man only a day after telling me she wanted to marry you.”
Sydney’s stomach churned unpleasantly. “Ask her.”
“I did. She won’t tell me.”
Sydney shrugged, studiously careless. “Young girls are fickle.”
“Yes, but that’s the thing,” the duchess said impatiently. “Henrietta isn’t. She never was. She is loyal to a fault. She was quite prepared to sacrifice herself on the altar of family pride.”
“Well, there’s your answer,” Sydney snapped. “She is pleasing her family.”
“No, she isn’t. For she told both my parents she would not accept Rudd if he asked, and she told me she loved you. So what changed?”
Doubt twisted through Sydney. It had done the same a couple of times last night, too, but he had been too hurt and too angry to pay it much attention.
“Rudd,” he said slowly. “He has been a few days with you now.”
“He was there when we arrived from Lincolnshire.”
Sydney reached blindly for his coffee. “He has compelled her…”
“I asked her that and she denied it. She won’t say why she has agreed, just that this is what she wants. But I have to tell you, Captain, it is very hard to make my sister do what she does not wish to. Nor is she easily intimidated. She is no milksop to be persuaded by a stern word or even any threat to her person. She was a fearless child, and I never saw that change.”
Understanding swept his breath away. “He threatened me. She thinks she’s doing it for me.”
Alvan frowned at him. “Can he hurt you?”
Sydney shrugged. “He could make things difficult for me, but no, of course he can’t hurt me.” He looked at the duchess. “Henrie doesn’t know that.”
The duchess cut herself a good-sized mouthful of ham. “Then I suggest you tell her before she gets much older and finds herself Lady Rudd.”
“I’d make her a widow quickly enough,” Sydney said savagely.
Alvan reached past him for the coffee pot. “That’s the spirit.”
*
Henrietta woke with a headache that just seemed part and parcel of her misery. But she knew she had to think through it, to find a way to help Sydney rather than simply stop Rudd from killing him. There had to be a way to remove Rudd’s power, or at least interfere with it. Her father was still an influential man, but she could not involve his friends without him knowing.
Alvan.
Charlotte’s husband was a duke, the most powerful nobleman there was. She lay in bed pondering what on earth use it could be to her while Eunice rose and dressed with the aid of the maid she had brought with her.
“Won’t you come down to breakfast, too, Henrietta?” she coaxed.
Henrietta rubbed her head, managing a brief smile. “No, I’m not hungry. But Charlotte will look after you.”
“Her grace is very kind,” Eunice said warmly. “Shall I get them to bring you up a tray? Or smuggle you a sausage in a napkin?”
Henrietta forced herself to laugh but said, “No, no, truly I don’t want anything. Thank you, Eunice.”
“Well, we shall ride together later on as we planned.”
Henrietta nodded, though she could summon no enthusiasm. When Eunice and the maid left, she rose and opened the window to let in some fresh air before she washed and dressed as best she could without anyone to lace her up. Then, she sat at her desk and tried again to concentrate on a solution to this mess. Rudd had forbidden her to speak of their agreement to anyone, and certainly he had been able to prevent her note from reaching the Hart. But he would never know what she discussed in private with Charlotte and Alvan, and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that they could help.
Infuriatingly, the bedchamber door opened after only a few minutes. She was sure she would have had longer in peace.
Trying to squash her irritability, she turned. “Eunice, I hope you didn’t hurry on my acc—” She broke off, suddenly unable to breathe, for it was not Miss Blackridge who walked in and closed the door but Sydney Cromarty.
She stumbled to her feet and threw herself across the room and into his arms. “Oh, Sydney, oh, my love, you should not be here. Oh, thank God, I—” The rest was cut off by his mouth as he ruthlessly kissed her.
She clung around his neck, kissing him back, though tears streamed down her face. “You don’t hate me,” she whispered.
He brushed her tears with his fingers, a tender caress. “Of course I don’t hate you, although I confess, I had a few difficult hours.”
“You know I didn’t mean it?” she said anxiously, taking his face between her hands. “Everything has changed, but not my feelings for you.” To prove it, she pressed her lips to his. “But it cannot be, Sydney… How did you get in?”
“The duchess left a side door unlocked for me and gave me directions.”
Her eyes widened. “Charlotte? When did…oh, Sydney, you cannot be seen here!”
“I admit it would cause quite a scandal. You might be forced to marry me.”
She pressed her cheek to his. “Oh, God help me,” she said tragically. “I think I’ll have to marry Rudd, for I don’t see how even Alvan can stop him.”
Sydney urged her toward the bed and drew her down to sit beside him, his arm warm and comforting around her shoulders. “You had better tell me what happened.”
And so, she did, blurting out in a rush the awful interview that she had imagined she could control, the offer of marriage she had meant to dismiss but which had turned into a threat she could never have foreseen. She even told him about the intercepted note she had tried to send via Lily. Sydney’s arm tightened about her, and once his fingers dug briefly into her arm as though he could not prevent the reflex.
“He is a terrible man,” she finished with despair.
“No, he isn’t,” Sydney said flatly. “He’s a nasty little bully and a flim-flam man.”
Her mouth fell open, and he kissed it.
“What did you imagine, my sweet? That he has a network of spies and assassins all over the country, just waiting for me or any other of his enemies to do something he dislikes? That he could instantly mobilize people to shoot me, or poison me, wherever I was, just because you wrote me a letter?”
She searched his face, irritation that he wouldn’t take this seriously warring with hope that he was right, that she had been foolish and gullible. “Yes. I suppose that is more or less exactly what I thought. And how do you know it isn’t true?”
“Because I actually do have a network I can draw on for information—business people, traders, sailors, and friends in all walks of life. And
I have asked around. The man has a large circle of gossips who occasionally give him salacious snippets to hold over someone or other. But he has no real influence at all except on his tailor and a few frightened household servants.”
Henrietta exhaled slowly. “I suppose I should feel sillier. I did have moments of doubt, but I could not risk you, I could not.”
It earned her several more kisses that were sweet enough to distract her fears and let them seep away to nothing.
“Then he can’t hurt you?” she asked at last, brushing her lips against his.
“Not as much as I intend to hurt him.”
“Oh, but you mustn’t kill him, Sydney,” she said anxiously. “They might hang you.”
Sydney grinned. “I never thought I would say this, but I think we should involve the law. Who is the justice of the peace in the neighborhood?”
“Mr. Lacey, Matthew’s father. But what on earth can he be charged with? I cannot prove he threatened me.”
“Conspiracy, among other things. Hopefully, we can land my murderous little cousin with the same catch.” He rose, pulling her to her feet. “Shall we go and see Mr. Lacey together?”
A smile seemed to rise up from her toes. “Oh yes!” Her gown slipped off her shoulder and she blushed, hastily jerking it back it up, “I dressed in a hurry. If you wait five minutes”
“Let me do it,” he offered. “It will be quicker.”
She hesitated, only too aware of the intimacy of the situation. Then she turned her back. His fingers were sure and efficient, speaking volumes for his past. But there was no room for jealousy of unknown women as his fingers brushed her naked skin. She gasped at the touch of his lips on her back and shoulder and nape.
“Every line, every curve is so lovely,” he murmured. “I could drown in your scent.”
Nervously, she twisted her head and met his mouth, hot and devouring. Her bones melted. Flames of desire leapt deep in her belly. She gasped and gasped again, and he dragged his mouth free, his breathing ragged.
“Let us go,” he said hoarsely, “before I unlace you all over again.”
She swallowed, forcing herself to think. “We can leave by the window.”
Laughter hissed from his lips. “In broad daylight? It might be fun, but I feel we’d be more discreet leaving the way I came in.”
“I suppose most people will still be at breakfast.”
Seizing her hat, she went to the door and opened it a crack before peering through. Discovering the passage was empty, she beckoned Sydney, and they ran together to the back stairs. They had to dart into a cupboard to hide from one of the visiting servants laboriously climbing the stairs with a tray for her mistress.
“Susannah’s maid,” Sydney breathed in her ear.
Henrietta was almost surprised to discover she did not mind. They were having too much fun, and Lady Carew was as much his past as childhood. They ran down the rest of the stairs to the passage below, dodging two of her parents’ friends en route to breakfast, and finally made it out of the side door.
“My horse is at the east side of the wood,” Sydney murmured.
“I’ll meet you there.” Henrietta walked briskly round to the stables and gave orders for her mare to be saddled. She met with little resistance when she rejected the offer of a groom to accompany her.
“I have an escort,” she said carelessly.
There had clearly been horses in and out already this morning, for no one batted an eyelid. Although she didn’t want her family worried, on the whole, she thought she did not care if she ran into any house guests on their journey.
Ten minutes later, she joined Sydney on the east edge of the wood. His eyes gleamed, and she smiled with happy excitement as they galloped off side by side.
Chapter Seventeen
By chance, they encountered Matthew on the road near Seldon Manor.
“Hello!” he exclaimed. “Where are you two off to?”
“Looking for your father,” Sydney said succinctly.
“He’s in his office, but mainly to hide. Got a thick head if you ask me. Where’s Eunice?”
“Going to breakfast when I last saw her.” Henrietta frowned suddenly. “Oh dear, we had a plan to ride later. It was to meet you, wasn’t it? She’ll think I’ve abandoned her, which I have, only it is important.”
“It had better be,” Matthew said, scowling. “For Rudd won’t like you careering around the countryside with him. Or anyone else.”
Henrietta smiled. “Well, I have discovered I don’t care what Rudd likes or dislikes. In fact, that’s why we’re going to see your father. We want him to arrest Rudd and Charles Cromarty.”
Matthew glanced along the road, clearly torn between love and adventure. “Damn it, I have to come with you,” he decided. “This is too good to miss.”
Sydney grinned and kicked his horse into motion.
Very quickly after that, Matthew was leading them through a side door that led straight into his father’s study. In this way, miscreants could be hauled before him without the chance of them encountering his family.
Frowning, Mr. Lacey glanced up from his newspaper, then dropped it in surprise and rose to his feet. “Bless my soul, Miss Henrietta! What are you doing here? Matthew, you blockhead, why do you bring her in this way?”
“Oh, we asked him to, sir,” Henrietta said quickly. “Mr. Lacey, are you acquainted with Captain Cromarty?”
Lacey’s brows flew up. “Silford’s heir? No, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.” He stretched out his hand, and Sydney stepped closer to shake it.
“I’m afraid we need your help as magistrate,” he said bluntly. “And as a friend to Miss Maybury’s family.”
“I am at your disposal,” Mr. Lacey said at once. “Some refreshment? Coffee? Wine?”
They refused politely but took the seats they were offered.
“I wish to report an attempt on my life,” Sydney began, and explained the exciseman on the rocks beneath the Hart.
“But you were smuggling,” Lacey said bluntly. “Were you not? And you have no witnesses to your story, besides your own men who will hardly count.”
“If I was smuggling, it was to cover other comings and goings on His Majesty’s business. I believe those protecting the shores have orders not to shoot at my ship. But you will know where to confirm that.”
“And there were witnesses,” Henrietta told him. “My brothers and I were there. Only one of the excisemen had his weapon aimed at the sea.”
“We believe he was paid to shoot me by my cousin Charles Cromarty,” Sydney said. “In conspiracy with Lord Rudd, who presumably supplied the fee since Charles’s pockets are to let.”
Mr. Lacey’s mouth fell open. “Rudd?” His gaze flew to Henrietta. “Your betrothed.”
“I was coerced,” Henrietta said firmly. “So it does not count.”
“Leaving that aside for the moment, have you proof of such a conspiracy?”
“No,” Henrietta admitted, “But—”
“Yes,” Sydney said, laying a slightly crumpled paper on the desk before the magistrate.
Henrietta’s eyes widened in surprise.
“It’s a note from Charles to Rudd,” Sydney explained, “requesting funds for the purpose. It’s quite explicit.”
“How on earth did you find that?” Henrietta demanded.
“I told you, I have many friends, and his household is frightened.”
“It’s enough to question Cromarty,” Lacey allowed. “If he’s in the neighborhood.”
“He is, and I believe he’ll give you Rudd, too.”
Henrietta closed her mouth.
Lacey said, “But I need to identify the exciseman in question. For many reasons, not least of which he might identify Cromarty and Rudd. Neither of you are impartial witnesses.”
“But you do believe them, don’t you?” Matthew interceded, which earned him his father’s scowl.
“Exactly what is your interest in all this?” Mr. Lacy demanded.<
br />
“Friendship, curiosity, and justice,” Matthew said promptly.
Henrietta cast him an admiring glance, although Sydney only grinned.
Lacey grunted and stood up. “I’ll go to the revenue office now, and then—”
“Might I make a suggestion?” Sydney intervened. “While you do that, I could bring Charles to you. At the Hart, perhaps, to save further intrusion into your home.”
“I’ll go with him,” Matthew volunteered.
“Hmm, perhaps you’d better, since I doubt I can persuade Miss Maybury to go home. Overton will not be happy about her galivanting about with the captain here.”
Matthew grinned. “Do you mean I’m their chaperone?”
Sydney stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “You can be Henrie’s honorary aunt. Let’s go.”
Outside, they crossed the lawn to where they had left the horses. At the last moment, Sydney loped after Mr. Lacey to the stables, to make sure he was taking a burly escort with him.
“So,” Matthew said to Henrietta. “You and the captain.”
“Me and the captain,” she agreed, uncaring of her grammar, which would have made Miss Milsom shudder.
“Damned if I know why, but you do seem well suited.”
Henrietta smiled and gave him a sisterly hug. “So do you and Eunice.”
Matthew hugged her back, and they laughed together in perfect understanding.
*
On her return to Audley Park, Charlotte felt quite pleased by her intervention. She had not been unsure about going to the Hart in search of Captain Cromarty, but it had seemed vital to discover what sort of a man he truly was.
“Is Captain Cromarty here?” she had asked Lily after answering the girl’s delighted greeting.
Lily had hesitated. “Yes, but I’m not sure he’s fit for polite company.”
“Bosky?” Alvan had inquired.
“No, sir, I don’t think so, but he’s like a bear with a sore tooth and he’s only been asleep a couple of hours.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Charlotte had demanded.
The Unmarriageable Collection (Books 1–3) Page 61