A Commercial Enterprise

by Sandra Heath

  “My lord of Lexham,” he murmured, “I believe a word or two of explanation is required.”

  “I have nothing to say to you, Seymour.”

  “Oh, but you have, you have a great deal to say, my fine lordling, for kidnapping is not a pretty crime. Well?”

  “What a bad penny you are, Seymour, continually turning up when you are least expected and least wanted.”

  “How unfortunate for you, Lexham, but then my activities would not be of any concern to you if you did not have such foul crimes to conceal.” The pistol moved threateningly. “Your explanation, there’s a good fellow.”

  Dominic’s fearful eyes followed the pistol, but he said nothing.

  “Very well, I shall furnish a likely interpretation myself,” said Hal, his tone almost conversational. “If I have to guess why the Earl of Lexham would want to abduct his cousin, I would say that it is because he has perceived a rather neat way of circumventing his father’s will, the terms of which state that within six months he is not only to prove himself to be a good boy, he is also to have taken for himself a wife, a lady of name and property.”

  A shrewd smile played about Hal’s lips as he saw how Dominic’s eyes slid guiltily away. “What better name could that wife have than Lexham? And what more desirable property could she possess than Lexham House? You could not afford to wait for those six months to pass, could you? You saw that she was going to make a success of her venture and so you resorted to this extreme length in order to prevent her from keeping the house forever. Oh, you were cunning enough, I suppose, deciding to be all charm and honor toward the unfortunate lady, making certain that whispers sprang up about the apparent intimacy which had begun to flourish between two former enemies.

  “Her abduction would not then arouse the hue and cry it might otherwise have done, especially as it could be made to appear like a romantic elopement, brought about by true love and encouraged by the happiness and atmosphere of my sister’s wedding. There, is that not the truth of it, Lexham?”

  Caroline had listened in silence, and as Hal’s explanation unfolded, she knew that it was the truth. Now she understood Dominic’s sudden volte-face, she realized now why he had suddenly been so friendly and charming when encountering her with Mrs. Hollingsworth in Bond Street, why he had appeared so miraculously when she was stranded in Covent Garden market. It had all been part of a careful plan to lull her into unguardedness and to convince society that the bitter feud was ended, and in its place was a romantic involvement.

  How easily it might have come off, for everyone knew how narrow was the border between love and hate, how closely those two intense emotions marched together. No one would have truly believed her when she protested that she was abducted against her will, and Dominic would have been free to dispose of his detested cousin as and when he pleased.... She shivered a little, knowing that tonight she probably owed Hal Seymour her very life.

  The pistol motioned again. “Is that not the truth of it, Lexham?” repeated Hal.

  “How clever you are, Seymour, so sharp that with luck you will one day deal yourself a mortal wound.”

  “If I do, Lexham, you will not be around to rejoice about it.” Hal raised the pistol a little, seeming to take aim.

  Caroline’s eyes widened with shock and Dominic gave a start of fear, pressing back against the carnage. The coachman stared down from his perch, believing that he was about to witness a cold-blooded murder.

  Hal gave a contemptuous laugh then, lowering the pistol. “Not so brave now, eh? It is one thing to play the bully with a helpless woman, but quite another to face another man. It would give me great pleasure to put an end to you, but to indulge myself in such a way would not assist Miss Lexham, who would inevitably become the center of a scandal—which in turn might put her tenure of the house at some risk. Get out of here, Lexham, but I warn you that if you so much as come near this house again, or if you make one move against Miss Lexham, then you will hear from me—and I promise you that when I catch you, there will be no one around to see what fate befalls you.”

  For a moment Dominic was rooted to the spot with terror, but then he scrambled back into the carriage, shouting to the stunned coachman to drive on, and with as much speed as possible. The whip cracked and the team strained forward, but their efforts were eerily silent, their muffled hooves making no sound. Quietly the dark carriage drew away, its wheels turning secretly. Only the jingle of the harness broke the illusion that some phantom was abroad in London....

  The moment the carriage had turned into Mayfair Street, Hal checked that the pistol was not cocked before concealing it in a hidden pocket inside his coat.

  In spite of the shock of what had so nearly befallen her, Caroline still sensed his withdrawal, which was so deliberate that it was almost as if he had walked away from her. Her lips trembled a little as she drew her shawl more closely around herself. “S-sir Henry, I am so m-much in your debt, that I don’t know how I may thank you,” she began.

  “I do not require your thanks, Miss Lexham,” he replied abruptly, “let us just leave it that I happened to be in a position to again be of assistance to you.”

  “I cannot leave it simply at that, Sir Henry, for I do not know what dreadful fate might have befallen me had you not been here tonight.”

  He smiled coolly. “That fate, my dear Miss Lexham, would in some ways have been little more than your recent behavior has deserved.”

  Her breath caught and she flinched as if he had struck her. “How can you say that?” she whispered.

  “I can say it, madam, because whatever your cousin may have done, he found it extraordinarily easy to win your favors. I gave you my protection tonight, because it was no more or less than any gentleman of honor would have done, but do not imagine that any word or gesture on my part indicates a softening of my contempt for you. You appear to be a woman of little virtue, Miss Lexham, and therefore my advice to you is that you curb your immodest conduct or you will after all forfeit Lexham House.”

  She felt quite numb, and the hurt was so great that it became a physical pain, sharp and deep.

  “If that is truly what you think, Sir Henry,” she said at last, “I honestly do not know why you bothered to save me. You are entirely wrong about me, but I shall not attempt to defend myself before your unjust condemnation. I thank you again for rescuing me, and I do not think you will be able to find fault in my future conduct, for I will at all times be polite toward you—which in spite of my indebtedness to you, you certainly do not deserve.”

  Pride made her face him in that moment, for nothing would have allowed her to reveal the infinite suffering he caused her. Her head held high, she turned to go back up the steps, not looking back once as she entered the still-silent vestibule.

  But as she reached the safety and shelter of her own apartment, she could not stem the tears. Her whole body shook with anguish, but she did not make a sound. Leaning her head back against the closed door, she closed her eyes as she wept.

  * * *

  The sun had risen in a clear sky when Mrs. Hollingsworth brought her her coffee. Caroline was seated in the window, wearing a plain blue gown, her hair dressed neatly beneath her little day bonnet. She had restored a little color to her pale cheeks with rouge, but she could not hide the marks of weeping around her large, dark eyes.

  The letter her two abductors had so carefully left upon the mantelpiece now lay in ashes in the fireplace. She had read it once, and it confirmed everything Hal had said of Dominic; it purported to be a brief note from her, explaining her absence as an elopement with her ‘dearest Dominic’.”

  Mrs. Hollingsworth perceived at once that something was wrong, but for the moment she said nothing. Instead she rattled on about how quiet a day it would be after all the excitement of the wedding—and that peace and quiet would be a blessing for poor Gaspard, who had had something of a fright during the night when returning to his room after taking a walk in the fresh air with Boisville to dispel a headache.r />
  “An intruder had been searching his room and can only have left a moment before my poor Gaspard entered!”

  Caroline was immediately roused from her lethargy, looking up sharply. “At what time was this?”

  “Just as dawn was breaking, I believe.”

  Thoughtfully, Caroline stirred her coffee. An intruder in Gaspard’s room? And at that particular time? Could it have been Hal, who had been so fortuitously abroad at precisely that moment and who had taken the unusual precaution of taking a pistol with him?

  Mrs. Hollingsworth looked out of the window, noticing nothing in Caroline’s reaction. “What a lovely day it is. I believe it is even more fine than yesterday. I wonder if Lord and Lady Carstairs have sailed for France yet?”

  “No, I believe they intend leaving Dover later in the day.”

  The housekeeper smiled. “How wonderful it must be to be going on honeymoon to Venice. I know that it is considered a little vulgar to use that word, but honeymoon is so much more romantic and descriptive than merely going away. Oh, well, I cannot stand here daydreaming about such things. I have work to do. And today I must convince Gaspard that he must be more careful about locking his window properly. I’ve told him time and time again that there are more thieves in Mayfair than anywhere else, for it’s here that they find the houses containing most valuables.” She went to the door.

  “I will not be long,” Caroline called after her.

  The housekeeper looked gently at her. “Take all the time in the world, my dear, and if you feel like remaining quietly in here, then you do so.”

  Caroline smiled. “Thank you, but it will do me more good to find something to do.”

  “I don’t know what has upset you, my dear, but if there is anything I can do to—”

  “There isn’t anything, Mrs. Hollingsworth, but thank you all the same.”

  When the housekeeper had gone, Caroline sipped her coffee, thinking again about the mysterious intruder in Gaspard’s room. Of course it had been Hal; that was the obvious explanation for him being out and about at the very time when Dominic’s henchmen had come to seize her.

  Hal had been searching for something in Gaspard’s room, but what? Evidence of a Bonapartist plot here in London? Evidence of a connection between the chef and the arrested assassin, Cantillon? The thoughts milled urgently around in her head, and at last she got to her feet. She would have to ask Hal about her suspicions; she would have to confront him and risk his displeasure and continued contempt.

  Chapter 28

  It was to be well into the afternoon before she found an opportunity of speaking to him, for he had come down very late for breakfast and had then gone out. As he had descended the grand staircase, Caroline had been greeting some newly arrived guests. Her eyes had met his, and he had accorded her the coolest of greetings, which coolness her response matched. He could have known nothing of the truth from her expressionless face. Several people noticed the chill exchange and wondered greatly what had happened to give rise to such a remarkable contrast.

  He returned to the hotel in the early afternoon, and after writing a number of letters in the library, he went for a stroll in the gardens, where the daffodils were now in full bloom and the blossom trees were bright with pink and white. It was here that at last she confronted him.

  “Sir Henry?”

  He turned toward her. “I don’t think we have anything to say to each other, Miss Lexham.”

  “You may think not, but I happen to think differently, sir,” she replied. “It concerns the intruder in Monsieur Duvall’s room last night.”

  His eyes narrowed and she saw the veiled expression close over his face. “Intruder?”

  “I believe you know full well to whom I am referring, Sir Henry.”

  “Miss Lexham,” he said a little testily, “I have no desire to discuss this or anything else with you.”

  “I am sorry to hear it, sir, for I have every intention of doing just that,” she retorted, an edge to her voice. “Although you may think it is none of my concern, I happen to think that it is very much my concern as it is taking place on property which for the moment at least belongs to me!”

  An angry brightness flashed in his eyes at her defiance, but he saw that a lady and gentleman strolling nearby were glancing a little curiously at them, and so he suddenly changed his manner, even forcing a smile as he offered her his arm. “Very well, Miss Lexham, what is it you wish to say to me?”

  They walked side by side, but although her hand rested on his sleeve, it was as if a chasm gaped between them. They were complete strangers, with none of the easy rapport that had once distinguished their relationship.

  “I am waiting, Miss Lexham.”

  “I believe that you were the intruder, Sir Henry.”

  “You certainly have come straight to the point, haven’t you?”

  “I have little reason to do otherwise, sir.”

  “So it seems. I do not admit to anything, Miss Lexham.”

  “Does that include the possibility of Bonapartists in this hotel?”

  He halted, turning to look at her. “What a very quaint notion, Miss Lexham.”

  “Is it? Correct me if I am wrong, but I strongly suspect that your brief to guard the Duke of Wellington has led you to Monsieur Duvall, and that that was the reason why you so suddenly decided to have your town house refurbished and why you took up residence at the Oxenford. I further suspect that the forthcoming banquet is expected to flush out any conspiracy, and that that is why you have arranged it and why you are so closely involved in it.

  “The duke’s sudden decision to remove the banquet to the Lexham is the reason for Monsieur Duvall’s change of heart, and therefore the reason for a similar change in you, Sir Henry. If I am correct, and I am sure that I am, then I would like you to tell me so, for I believe that I have the right to know if my hotel is to be the scene of an attempt to assassinate the duke.”

  For a moment he was silent. “You have evidently given the matter a great deal of thought, Miss Lexham.”

  “In between my various improper activities, sir, I have obviously had little else to do,” she replied coldly.

  A faint humor gleamed momentarily in his hazel eyes.

  “I am waiting, Sir Henry.”

  “Very well, I admit that up to a certain point you are correct, Miss Lexham, that is indeed why I am involved in the banquet, it is indeed why I left the Oxenford. That is where it all ends, however, for there has been reliable intelligence from France that if there had been a conspiracy here, it was no longer to be put into operation.”

  “But you are still at the Lexham, Sir Henry.”

  “So I am, to be sure. That is because it has been deemed a wise precaution, no more and no less. In the past there have been very definite connections between Gaspard Duvall and certain Bonapartist extremists.”

  She stared at him. “But that simply does not seem possible, not of Monsieur Duvall!”

  “Come now, Miss Lexham, do not be naive. He is a Frenchman.”

  “But—”

  “Even a chef is allowed his political views and his patriotism, madam; surely you will agree with that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Duvall supported Bonaparte and this political leaning brought him into contact with some of those we now know to have conspired to assassinate the duke. My brief, as you describe it, was to keep an eye upon him, which is precisely what I have been doing, to the best of my ability. It is now firmly believed that there is no danger to the duke on this side of the Channel, but, with your permission, of course, I intend to remain here at the Lexham at least until after the banquet.”

  “As a precaution?”

  “Yes, Miss Lexham, as a precaution.”

  “And was your intrusion into his room last night also merely a precaution?”

  His eyes were opaque. “Yes. You need not concern yourself that your premises are to be the scene of a historic murder, Miss Lexham. The name of your hotel will not go down
in the annals of time as the place where the hero of Waterloo met his doom. Have I allayed your fears?”

  “I suppose so.” But as she spoke she knew that she was not entirely happy.

  “Excellent,” he said with some asperity. “Now we may terminate this disagreeable discussion. Good day to you, Miss Lexham.” He stepped away, inclining his head with an outward appearance of courtesy for the benefit of anyone who might be looking, but in reality the gesture was insulting.

  She fought back the tears as she watched him walk away across the flowery lawn.

  * * *

  Meanwhile a new arrival was approaching the doors of the Lexham Hotel, his rather battered and lowly hackney coach being greeted with curious and astonished glances by the two footmen as it turned into the wide courtyard. Weary and aching after his two-hundred-mile journey from Selford, Richard Marchand gazed out at the great house, unable to conceal the amazement he felt on seeing how splendid was his cousin Caroline’s inheritance. Dismay followed closely upon the amazement, for if this was the life she now knew, what possible hope could he have of persuading her to return to Selford with him?

  He alighted heavily at the steps, nodding at the porter, who tentatively inquired if he could be of any service. “Yes, you may inform Miss Lexham that Mr. Marchand is here.”

  “Very well, sir. If you will please take a seat?” The porter ushered him into the vestibule and indicated one of the comfortable sofas.

  Richard sank wearily onto the sofa nearest the fireplace, glancing around unhappily at the elegant furnishings, the efficient waiters, and the little page boy who was searching for one of the guests, his high-pitched voice ringing out clearly.

  Only seconds passed before Richard became suddenly and sharply aware of the conversation of two gentlemen seated nearby.

  “And I tell you,” said one, “that you would lose your wager. The lady has succumbed. She’s Seymour’s mistress, right enough. I knew that when I spoke to him about her yesterday at his sister’s wedding. He was doing his damnedest to appear disinterested in her activities, but the opposite was obviously the case.”