Reluctant Heir

by Barbara Miller

“Well, if you don’t want to marry me that’s all right then but I still think Claude would be a poor choice.”

  “I have no intention of marrying him either.”

  “Then I must warn you that Helen is set on it.”

  “She’s never said anything to me.”

  “She said something to me.”

  “Such as?”

  “Don’t come between you two or she would be shut of me with or without aid of legal counsel. I wonder if the solicitor is in her pocket.”

  “’Twould be my guess,” Tully said. “One of the grooms carried a letter to post addressed to a legal firm in York, her birthplace.”

  “How do you know all this?” Juliet asked.

  Gerard shrugged and answered for Tully. “Servants always know more than anyone. The plot thickens. Tully, where can I post this letter?”

  “The inn at Sudborough. Have you money?”

  “All that was in Father’s belt,” Gerard said.

  Twenty minutes later Juliet pulled the gig up at the inn and handed the reins to a groom. Tully helped Juliet down and looked not at all surprised when Gerard handed him a coin to post the letter and a guinea for himself. “Get yourself some new clothes but don’t drink yourself into a stupor while we shop for shirts for me.”

  “Not likely. Try not to start a brawl. I’m not a spry as I used to be.”

  * * * * *

  Gerard noted it was a little past noon when they returned to Old Stand. Tully left them and their packages at the front door, tied the cob he had ridden to the back of the gig, then drove it around to the stable. Gordon came out the front door and relieved them of the goods. “Your grandfather was beside himself at your disappearance.”

  “But Conrad knew where we went.”

  “As I found out when I inquired. Fortunately no one noticed Miss Chandler was also absent.”

  Their tardiness was not much remarked upon since luncheon appeared to be an informal meal served from the sideboard in the dining room when the members of the family wandered in and took what they wanted. But Helen saw them enter together and glared. Chandler looked up in relief and General Cochran stared at them but said nothing until he and Juliet had served themselves and taken seats.

  “Where the devil were you?” he demanded.

  “Sudborough. Repairing my kit. I came away from France with almost nothing so I have laid in a store of shirts and neckcloths. I shall have to wait for the other clothes to be made.”

  Nash looked dubious. “You ordered clothes in the village?”

  “Yes, they have a respectable tailor. I have always found it wise to patronize local craftsmen. It leaves a better taste.” Gerard glanced around the table with a smile. At least four people felt they had been insulted but could not quite figure out how.

  “Where did you get the blunt?” Claude asked.

  “I did not borrow from Juliet if that’s what you’re thinking.” Gerard buttered a slice of bread one-handed.

  Chandler laughed but tried to turn it into a cough.

  The general stared at him, then turned back to Gerard. “I suppose I should make you an allowance so you do not run into dun territory while you are here.”

  “No need. I’m flush. I say, is that fresh salmon?”

  His grandfather gave him a hard look. “If you are flush you are the first Cochran to say so.”

  He let this tacit acceptance of his paternity pass without note until his grandfather had taken a bite, then said, “I’ve told Conrad I’ll have that Tully fellow for a groom if no one else wants to lay claim to him.”

  “Why on earth would you want him?” his grandfather was provoked into asking.

  “I saw him in Spain once throw his leg over the nastiest horse in the regiment and it listened to him as though he had raised it from a colt.”

  General Cochran chewed for a moment in thought. “But he’s lame now.”

  “He has a way with horses. Anyway. I’ve hired him and paid him his first wages so if this all comes to naught I plan to carry him away with me.”

  The general stared at Gerard as though he had run mad.

  Gerard looked up at him and grinned. “That goes for Gordon as well.”

  At that the old man’s head snapped up. “That you will not. Gordon was raised here as a boy. He won’t want to leave.”

  “If he doesn’t fine but I’ve gotten used to him so I will make the offer.”

  “Pretty managing for a pretender,” Nash said.

  “I’m of an age when I should be managing for myself.” Though he addressed Nash his gaze flicked toward Claude who was demolishing a dish of eggs.

  “What?” Claude asked.

  “Nothing, Cuz.” Gerard saw in Claude a flicker of the future he might expect for himself if he let others control him. He should be managing for himself. He should go to London and get a job in a hospital until he had enough money for the education he needed. Of course if he did that he would not need a groom and a valet. And he certainly would not be able to support a wife.

  “Here, I don’t like you calling me Cuz.”

  “You’re right, Claude. You have not given me leave to call you anything.”

  Well,” Chandler said. “What’s on the agenda for this afternoon?”

  “Tour of the estate,” Nash said. “If our French cuz is up to it. Father has put me in charge of his English education.”

  “Oh, why not?” Gerard said. Perhaps his grandfather was not as secretly benevolent as he was thinking. He might have given Gordon and Tully jobs out of duty rather than sympathy. To put Nash in charge of him might be worse than being captured by the French. But on the other hand that had already happened to him.

  * * * * *

  When Tully brought the black beast out for Gerard, Juliet said, “No. Absolutely not. He can’t ride that horse. We need a gig.”

  “Trust me Juliet. If Tully thinks I can handle him it will be all right.”

  “I wish I was half that confident,” his groom whispered. “I’ve had words with this brute but he’ll try to take you under a limb or else break your leg on a tree. If you’ve a mind to ride him stay out of the woods.”

  “I take it Nash chose my mount for me. Thank you for double bitting him.”

  “What good will that do if he’s dangerous?” Juliet asked, examining the double rigged horse and realizing for the first time that the general always rode his mounts this way.

  Gerard saw her scrutiny and explained. “A lot of military horses are so hard-mouthed they need the curb bit for stopping and the snaffle for steering. It will be fine.”

  “Is she right?” Tully demanded. “Should you not be riding?”

  “Just a glancing scrape to the ribs on our departure from France.”

  “Glancing blow?” Juliet said. “They had to dig the bullet out.”

  “You never could stay out of trouble,” Tully accused.

  “Are we going?” Nash demanded from the other side of the stableyard.

  “Just mounting,” Gerard said as Tully helped Juliet up onto her mare.

  “If Wagram has a choice he turns to the left,” the man advised. “I shall be right behind you.”

  “Which is the safest way to go?” Juliet asked Chandler as Gerard struggled up onto the tall black.

  “Oh, I thought we’d go though the home wood,” Nash said.

  “Woods. Wonderful,” Gerard said.

  “You must not do this, Gerard. You could die.” When she looked over at him he shook his head and smiled.

  “Tully’s right. I never can stay out of a fight.” He took one set of reins in each hand and that seemed to settle the beast for the moment.

  She hoped he had the braking reins in his good right hand.

  Chandler rode up to him on a large nervous bay. “Are you sure you are fit for this? You can always cry off.”

  “And leave Claude to bore sweet Juliet to death.”

  “Sweet Juliet?” Chandler raised an eyebrow.

  She saw the other men
string out three abreast and trot down the drive. Gerard started out between her and Chandler with Tully and another groom behind.

  “You did give me permission to court her.”

  “Have a care what you say in front of the others.”

  “Chandler, how can you be the most courageous man on earth in the wilds of France, abducting me and carrying me at great risk out of the country, yet fear our Claude?”

  “You have not had a taste of his temper. He is my age, yet until I attained my current height he could beat me to a pulp.”

  “But how did he provoke you into fighting?”

  “By using me against him,” Juliet said. “Claude may have inherited Nash’s intelligence if not his subtlety.”

  “I see. Don’t fly my flag as your champion unless I can truly protect you.”

  Juliet had been studying Wagram’s head tossing and teeth gnashing. She galloped ahead and whispered to the general. He turned his stately gray and came around to ride beside Gerard. Chandler moved up to Juliet’s side. She hoped General Cochran would rescue Gerard this time from his foolish pride.

  “Are you sure you can handle old Wagram? He must be twenty if he’s a day.”

  “He has been thinking himself retired,” Gerard said.

  “Yes, how did you guess?”

  “The usual progression for a battle horse who survives.”

  His grandfather cleared his throat. “You can turn back and choose your own mount.”

  “I am more used to playing the hand fate deals me.”

  Juliet knew this for a truth. Gerard just seemed to accept whatever happened to him.

  “Or Nash?” the old man asked.

  “Why did you put him in charge of my repatriation?”

  “It was Helen’s idea. She thought it might help you get to know one another.”

  Gerard laughed. “I’m sure she’s right.”

  Juliet thought this was going to be the worst ride of her life and she did not see what she could do to stop it. Was this what the wives of soldiers felt, this utter helplessness in an emergency? She didn’t just want to pick up the pieces when Gerard failed. She didn’t want him to fail. And she realized she was being unfair because she didn’t want him to try. He had asked her to trust him and she should but that didn’t mean she would not still be terrified for him.

  * * * * *

  Gerard paid attention when they paused at the overlook before the drive descended to the woods and Nash pointed out the stud farm to the east and the sheepfolds and storage barns to the west. Some of the tenant cottages along the road were also visible from the vantage point.

  “Good ground,” Gerard said.

  General Cochran slid a glance his way. “Do you mean that in the military sense?”

  “What? Good ground to defend? The place is called Old Stand. But I was speaking agriculturally.”

  Then Gerard saw it, the slightest twitch of the old man’s mouth. His grandfather had a sense of humor, perhaps a reprehensible one but there it was. It was the sort of thing that reminded him of his father.

  Then Nash gave the office to lope and Wagram almost shot from under him. Gerard pushed aside all his careful dressage lessons and recalled their wild escapes in Spain on his father’s string. He had the reins for the curb bit in his right hand and was able to keep the beast to a jog. He should ask Tully what had become of his father’s horses.

  As his groom had predicted Wagram veered left toward a tree and only by pulling on the snaffle reins was he able to avert a collision with a branch. He circled the horse and came up behind the others. Wagram then sidled in his canter toward a large beech on the left. So Gerard had to use his right arm to manhandle the horse to the right. Tully growled at the brute and the great black ears flicked about as the beast staggered back onto the path.

  He kept telling himself he had the power to control the horse, he just had to be willing to use it. The others were cantering ahead except for Juliet and Tully who hung back to observe his struggle. Gerard feared some injury to those near him so he sprang Wagram and let him do what his heart demanded, lead.

  Once he had passed the others the horse became calmer. Unfortunately Gerard had no idea where he was going. The hoofbeats that approached on his right turned out to be Nash. At least his uncle could ride.

  “You are off the main track,” Nash shouted.

  Gerard slowed the horse and turned it to the left in a wide arc where the woods were more open. Wagram made another feint at a tree trunk and Gerard cursed in French as the stitches tore in his side. This was altogether not working. But he brought the beast around and rejoined the family on a more pronounced track. With unfortunately one overhanging limb. But he was ready and growled in the stallion’s ear as he ducked. This spooked the horse and almost impelled him into the back of General Cochran’s gray.

  Finally they made it to the main road with Wagram fighting the bits ferociously.

  Nash turned an amused eye on him. “Perhaps you should walk him.”

  “Or we should turn around,” Juliet said. She looked terribly frightened and no demonstration of competence was worth one moment of worry or fear for her.

  “No, I simply must have a discussion with this horse. No need to wait for me,” Gerard said as he rode the beast back toward the home wood and straight at a tree. With a warning growl he turned the horse to the right by force, throwing it on its side. He hopped off as the horse struggled to right itself but jumped back on and found his stirrups as the beast struggled up and shook itself. The sound of Gerard’s laughter must have come as a surprise to it and all of them. He repeated the maneuver once more, omitting throwing the horse down and the animal obeyed the right turn when Gerard growled in his ear. Then he relaxed the reins and let Wagram get within crushing distance of a trunk. Another growl and a kick in the flank scooted the beast back into the track. Finally Gerard galloped back to them and stopped the lathered horse with still some bit jiggling but more control than before.

  “Are you finished?” his grandfather asked less in irritation than amazement.

  “For now. I rather like this old brute. I think I shall always like to ride him.”

  “Why on earth?” demanded Juliet. “He just tried to kill you.”

  “Ah but we have an understanding now. At least I know what this enemy is apt to do and we have a truce of sorts.”

  General Cochran shook his head and they went west up the road toward the cattle barns.

  Gerard could feel blood sticking his shirt to his ribs but the joy of beating Wagram to a standstill made him feel so good that the stabbing in his side could be ignored to some extent.

  Taking the lane around the western perimeter of the estate they passed the sheep fields where all the stock was out at pasture dotting the green hillside with white. Finally the party rode back at a tired trot along the lane. They were dismounting in the stableyard when Nash stared at Gerard.

  “There is blood on your shirt,” he said in an undervoice.

  “Gerard looked down where his coat had gapped open and laughed. “What do you care so long as it isn’t yours?”

  “But how were you injured? I did not see you crash into anything.”

  So he had not been told. “If you must know I was shot by my own servant during Chandler’s abduction of me from France.”

  “What?” Nash squeaked.

  Gerard handed the reins over to his groom. “Tully, cool Wagram down and feed him well. We have reached an understanding and I plan to ride him always.”

  “I thought you might,” Tully said as he took the reins and turned the horse to walk him. “By the way, there’s blood on your shirt,” he said out of the side of his mouth.

  “Yes but don’t mention it to Juliet or Chandler for that matter. They feel bad enough already.”

  Tully nodded and led the horse away to cool it.

  Having Nash follow him into the house on his heels was disconcerting for Gerard. Could it be that the man was not the villain he’d supposed.


  “But did Father know about this?”

  Gerard turned at the base of the stairs. “Yes, why?”

  “And he said nothing to keep you from riding?”

  “No blame will attach to you if that’s what you are thinking though to be following your mother’s promptings toward bringing about my ruin is not well done of you. The general will respect you a good deal more if you take your orders and your tone from him.”

  This left Nash gaping at him from the foot of the stairs while he marched up them to face the recriminations of Gordon. After this dedicated individual had cleaned his side and bound his ribs again Chandler broke into the room. “Is this true? Your wound opened again?”

  “Just tore two of the stitches. It will mend but it’s too late to have it sewn again. Who told you anyway?”

  “Nash.”

  Gerard frowned at him. “I hardly expected him to care.”

  “He wants you proved an imposter. He doesn’t want to kill you.”

  “Are those his words or your guess?”

  “His words and I believe him.”

  Gordon excused himself to carry the bloody basin away.

  “So it’s Claude who is my next worry. Tell me about him.”

  “His mother died giving birth to him. She was always in delicate health.”

  “That could turn a child. I can’t see Nash choosing a sickly wife.”

  “Nash was very wild until Helen arranged for him to marry a London miss against his will.”

  “A girl his mother chose? How could she force him to do that?”

  “By withholding money from him.”

  “The general knew that?”

  “The general found him uncontrollable as well.”

  “Nash must have hated the whole situation.”

  “Yes, he could never get on with Diana. I think that’s why he spent so much time in London. She was fragile, too fragile for Nash. Helen raised Claude.”

  “That explains much.”

  “You are here now. The general likes you. Does it matter?”

  “It matters if Claude’s expectations are still to rule Old Stand someday. We need a plan.”

  “We need a great deal more than a plan. Nash tried to unseat you with guile. Claude won’t be so gentle. Perhaps Juliet is right. We have risked your life to buy us our security.”