The Chaperone Bride

by Marina Oliver

  'What will happen to the Captain? And Miss Busby?'

  'I hope they will be transported to Botany Bay!'

  Joanna shivered. They had heard dreadful tales of the conditions suffered by some of the convicts on the long sea journey to the other side of the world, and the privations and near starvation they had endured during the first few years of the penal colony's existence.

  'How could a woman have conceived such a plot? It was her suggestion, you said.'

  'That is what the Captain said. And Dickon, I believe, is squealing, and has already said the Captain cheated at cards and dice. The constable found some dice in his pockets, and smashed them. They were loaded, so he will be charged with that too. And there were some playing cards in his room that were marked. It's no doubt he is a cheat.'

  'Do they have any notion who branded him?'

  'No, but it was most likely a man he had cheated. I do not think he will ever be discovered.'

  'So no one thinks it was you?'

  He laughed. 'That was a wicked invention of Miss Busby's. I know it won't help, but it's certain Thomas cheated your father. It's apparently been his way of life ever since he left the army.'

  They sat and chatted until Sir Kenelm, suddenly aware of the time, said she must go back to bed, and if she felt better in the morning she might get up for a few hours.

  'Yes, doctor!'

  'Minx! I'll say goodnight, and ring for Betsy to help you back to bed.'

  If only it were he who would help her, Joanna thought, and stay with her. She blushed rosily and turned away as he left the room.

  *

  Sir Kenelm needed to see where Joanna had been incarcerated. A few days later, when she had recovered, he suggested to her they ride out and look.

  'I want to know what it was like,' he explained over breakfast. 'I know it will be difficult for you, going back there, but those men are in prison, and I will be with you.'

  Joanna frowned and drank more coffee. 'I think I would like to see it in daylight,' she said thoughtfully. 'At the time I had small opportunity of seeing the outside of it before we were thrown into it, and when we escaped, of course, the only light was the moon. Not that I stopped to inspect it, I was too anxious to get as far away from it as possible, in case those men came back.'

  'Of course. 'You don't mind going back? It will not distress you?'

  She shook her head.

  'I sometimes wonder if it was all a horrid dream, until my feet remind me of the hours we spent tramping over the moors! When do you wish to go?'

  'It's a fine clear day, and warm. Have you anything planned, or could we go this morning?'

  Joanna nodded. 'If I can pull on my riding boots. They are ruined, and I have no new ones yet.'

  He stretched out a hand to her.

  'My dear, forgive me. I hadn't thought that could be a problem. You tell me the blisters are all gone, and you can walk without pain now, but the boots might be too tight.'

  'I will try them. If they are uncomfortable I will make slits in the sides. After all, they are already ruined. I'll do it straight away, and to be out in the fresh air and riding again would be pleasant.'

  She came downstairs a little while later to where he sat in the library, dressed in her habit and carrying a hat.

  'It was a struggle, but they are not painful, so I am ready. Betsy even managed to clean my habit, though it will never be quite the same again.'

  'That is only the cheap one you bought before our wedding. You must order a new, better one. I'll send to the stables.'

  Half an hour later they were up on the moors. Sir Kenelm had ordered Potts to accompany them, and despite what he had said to Joanna about her captors being in prison, both he and Potts carried pistols. There could have been other men involved in the plot, about whom he knew nothing. He had visited the alehouse Captain Thomas had been using, and found it a dirty, unappetising place, but the only man there had been a poor thing, with a vacant stare and limited understanding. His wife, who had no hesitation in ordering him about, had been the mainstay of it. Sir Kenelm doubted they had any involvement in what had been planned, apart from acting as a post office for the money. They were just convenient dupes who would ask no questions.

  They soon reached the trees where the ambush had happened, and Joanna led the way.

  'I am fairly sure this is the path we took,' she said. 'Yes, this is the hollow, I remember it,' she said some time later.

  The hut lay in the middle of the slight hollow, well protected from the wind and invisible until they rode over the rim of the depression. Sir Kenelm halted and looked round him, then urged Mephisto forward again.

  They rode up to the hut and dismounted. The bar Joanna had described was still in place, and was obviously new.

  'No shepherd would have secured his hut this way,' Sir Kenelm said. 'It had obviously been prepared. Potts, can you remove it, do you think?'

  Potts nodded. He was already reaching into a saddle bag, and he brought out some tools. Soon both the bar and the brackets had been removed, and tied to his horse's saddle.

  'I want these to show the magistrates,' Sir Kenelm explained. 'Now, let me see inside.'

  He pulled open the door, and sunlight lit up the interior. The hole Joanna had made let in more light, and he could see how unnaturally bare the hut was.

  'I would have expected some old things to be lying round,' he murmured, before moving in and stretching up to the thatched roof. 'Joanna, my dear, come and show me how you reached up here.'

  She did so, and he saw how she had to strain to reach the branches of heather. He had been furiously angry with her abductors before, but seeing what effort she had had to make in order to pull down the thatch, he thought that if Thomas had been there at that moment he would not have been able to stop throttling him – slowly and as painfully as possible.

  He suppressed the anger and moved outside.

  'Thank you, I have seen enough,' he said, and Joanna looked at him, a query in her eyes. 'I did not fully realise how bad it must have been for you,' he said as he lifted her into the saddle. 'I trust they have really dreadful conditions when they are transported, but however bad they will be will not be bad enough. Come, let us go home.'

  *

  Chapter 12

  On the following day Joanna was surprised when Sir Kenelm suggested he show her round the ruins of the old castle.

  'You said once you'd like to explore, but since that time when the twins were in here I have had the gate locked. Would you like to see? While they are at their lessons?'

  'Yes, and hear about the history of it,' she said. 'Do I need to change into some old clothes?'

  'No, we will simply walk round, a staid pair of visitors. I've no intention of clambering on broken walls or rubble.'

  'Why the name Rock Castle?' Joanna asked as they went through the stable yard.

  'No one is really sure. It is believed the first people here who built the castle were named Roche. Perhaps they came from some place of that name in France, with the Conqueror. But the name changed to Rock, and so it has remained.'

  He unlocked the gate and they went in to the ruins.

  'The original wall of the castle outer ward enclosed what is now the stable yard and the ruins. My father separated them. Come, behind what remains of the keep there is a private garden. Or what used to be one,' he added, as they came to a patch of overgrown ground. There were all kinds of weeds, but Joanna thought she could smell some herbs, thyme and rosemary.

  'Some of the old maps we have show there were once trees here, probably fruit trees, but all traces of them have gone. There was a fire here during the Civil Wars, and that was the main reason the castle was abandoned and left to fall down.'

  Joanna turned to what had been the keep. Only the outer walls remained, and the floor had fallen in long ago, into what had been an undercroft. She saw the room where Amelia had been locked in and shivered.

  'Are you cold? Shall we go back?'

  'No,
thank you. I was thinking of poor Amelia, when she was locked in. She is frightened of the dark, and being enclosed.'

  He nodded. 'She told me something of it, what it had been like in the hut. You must have had a difficult time with her.'

  'She was terrified, which was not surprising after being caught by those men as well as being in the dark. But she was very good, she calmed down, and even went to sleep.'

  'And some good has come from it, for she now accepts you. She told me, that first day when you were asleep, you had asked her to use your name.' He laughed. 'She feels she is grown up now, but it was an excellent notion.'

  Joanna moved to where she could look through a gap in the wall and up towards the sky.

  'I can imagine living here long ago,' she said, 'but I much prefer the comforts of a modern house! One would always be aware of being in a fortress, expecting to be attacked at any moment. Was there a great deal of fighting in this area?'

  'I don't think there was, until the Civil War, and I believe that was an isolated raid. It is too far from useful towns where there might have been plunder. And it does not guard any river crossing, or a major road. In fact it is rather a puzzle as to why it was built here in the first place.'

  'So it served no real purpose apart from being a home.' Joanna laughed. 'I am glad, I don't have to dream about sieges and fighting, and people being shut away while their enemies tried to get into the castle.'

  Just, she thought, the occasional nightmare she had now about being shut in by her own enemies.

  *

  Sir Kenelm went several times to Leeds in the next few weeks. He had to give his evidence against Captain Thomas and his associates, but he said he also wished to hear about the progress of affairs on the continent. The cosy domestic closeness of the night they'd eaten in her room was not renewed. In fact, after showing her the ruins of the castle Sir Kenelm seemed colder, more withdrawn, and Joanna wondered whether it was all to do with concern for Matthew, and the prospect of more battles against Napoleon, or something else. On several occasions he stayed the night in Leeds, and Joanna, however much she told herself it was none of her business, could not help speculating he might have renewed his liaison with Selina Kirk, or even found another mistress.

  If she discovered that he had indeed sought out another woman, she would be devastated. She had entered, freely and with open eyes, into a marriage of convenience. She had not expected to grow to love her husband, but it had happened. In many ways, she thought, this was worse than it had been when she did not love him. Now, every time she saw him, she craved his smiles. She longed to touch him and to feel his hand on hers, his arm around her waist. She was restless when he was away from her, and suffered pangs of jealousy when she imagined him with another woman. And all the time she had to maintain a tranquil demeanour, greet him calmly, and never for a moment let him suspect she had feelings for him warmer than simple gratitude.

  Not only did she have to hide her feelings from him, she had to conceal them from her very astute friend Brigid. The new governess was a resounding success with the children. They enjoyed their lessons, said she was fun, and wanted to be with her even outside schoolroom hours. Joanna worried in case Nanny might feel neglected, but Brigid was tactful and frequently made excuses to leave them with the old woman.

  Brigid was a favourite with all the servants too.

  'She isn't too proud to chat wi' us,' Betsy said. 'And when she rides out with the twins, they often go into a farm kitchen to eat cakes. She gets on with everyone. Not like that cat Busby. Has she been sent to Botany Bay yet?'

  'Soon, I expect,' Joanna said, laughing slightly. 'You are more bloodthirsty than I am, Betsy.'

  'Well, what she did was wicked. I think she oughta be hanged!'

  'She'll enjoy being a convict much less!'

  Life for several weeks was uneventful. Joanna had new curtains made for the drawing room and dining room. She ordered one of the new closed stoves, much to Cook's delight, and had even embroidered two chair seats for the morning room.

  Her embroidery skills were, she thought, improving. Brigid offered to help, and they often sat in one of the small saloons during the afternoons Brigid was not with the children, or when they did not ride out, sewing and chatting.

  These quiet times were a pleasure for Joanna, apart from her having to ensure she did not give away to her friend what her feelings for Sir Kenelm were. Brigid would never betray her, she knew, but to have anyone else, even her best friend, aware of her secret would be intolerable. That was something she had to keep to herself.

  Her main cause for satisfaction was the changed attitude of the twins. George had always, to a large extent, followed Amelia's lead. Now Amelia accepted Joanna he too became friendly. Brigid helped. Without Miss Busby dripping her poison, and the twins being aware Joanna and Brigid were friends, they no longer resented her.

  Sir Kenelm had congratulated her on this achievement.

  'I feel I know my own children better these days,' he said.

  So when he came home from Leeds one day and suggested taking Joanna to London for a few weeks, she begged him to take the twins too.

  'It is very frustrating. I cannot find enough news here in Yorkshire, not even in Leeds,' he said one evening when he had just returned from two days in the town. 'There are people I can talk with in London, who know far more of what is happening than appears in the newspapers. Would you like to go? It would not offend you, as you are still in mourning for your father?'

  Joanna shook her head. 'My mourning is only for convention, what people expect who do not know the circumstances of his death. I can wear half mourning in company, even if I do not wear the colours I do here at home. I need not go out in Society, but I would enjoy being there, perhaps visiting Miss Benson. But I would not like to leave the twins behind.'

  'You fear for them? Thomas is safely behind bars. And we make sure they are guarded, a groom always with them when they ride out, and he is armed, for fear someone else has the idea of kidnap.'

  'No, it is not that. I feel we are getting on well now, and I do not want to risk that. Besides, there is a great deal in London which would interest them.'

  'Tyburn! And the Tower, especially the dungeons.'

  She laughed. 'Why not? Oh, not an execution, of course, but to see the reality of prisons might make George less bloodthirsty.'

  'How soon can you all be ready? I will send Firbank and Mrs Aston, with a couple of maids and a footman, to open up the town house, then we can follow in a few days.'

  *

  This journey was so different from her journey north with her father. Then they had drifted from town to town, sought the cheapest lodgings unless he had been lucky at cards the previous day, when they would stay at the best inn in an effort to meet well-heeled gamblers. Now they travelled in comfortable carriages and stayed at the best inns as a matter of course.

  'We will use my post chaise,' Sir Kenelm said. 'Venner and Betsy can go in the large travelling carriage with Brigid and the twins.'

  'And Sally,' Joanna reminded him. 'Won't it be rather crowded?'

  'The twins don't take up much room, and I prefer to have you to myself.'

  Joanna wished it was because they were truly man and wife, but she realised it was because he might want to talk to her in private. Would he, perhaps, warn her that in London they would go their own ways, and she must not depend on him for company? Of course, most married couples had their own friends, and different interests, so she must expect it, but the prospect of having to make her way on her own, and without a circle of friends, or even acquaintances, terrified her. It would be almost as bad, she thought, as being kidnapped. By now, in late May, the London Season was in full swing, there would be many entertainments, and no doubt, once people knew Sir Kenelm was in town, he would receive many invitations.

  'Why have you not spent the Season in London for so many years?' she asked impulsively soon after they had left Rock Castle.

  He shook his he
ad. 'Pride, I think.'

  'Pride?' That was a most unlikely reason.

  'Yes.' He paused for a while, then continued. 'Before I married Maria I was, I believe, popular both with my male friends who enjoyed the same sort of sport I did, and females who were on the catch for a husband. I was, somewhat to my surprise, considered a good catch,' he added, laughing. 'I did not have an important title, and my fortune, though large, was not exceptional.'

  Joanna nodded. She had no notion of what was considered a good fortune, but it was clear Sir Kenelm was far wealthier than she had at first supposed, and could spend lavishly. And no doubt part of the attraction, at least for the young ladies, was his elegant figure and handsome face.

  'Then I married,' he went on. 'It was a good match, very appropriate. Maria came of a good family, she had several suitors, some more eligible than I. But I have told you how disastrous a marriage it was. I could not bear, after she died, to face my old friends and acquaintances who knew how she had betrayed me. I suspected they would blame me, wonder in what way I had failed her, and I could not endure to see them speculating, laughing at me.'

  'No, they would not!' Joanna exclaimed.

  He shook his head at her, smiling at her vehemence.

  'Perhaps not, but I did not care to risk it. Even though malicious gossip has a habit of being overtaken very swiftly by newer causes of wonder, I was a coward and feared it.'

  'They will have forgotten now,' Joanna said. She could not bear to see him looking so sad as he recalled those days. He had clearly loved Maria, and been bitterly hurt by her, so badly damaged he could not contemplate a normal marriage for fear he would again suffer such disillusionment.

  'Two of my sisters will be in London,' he said, deliberately changing the subject. 'Catherine is expecting to be confined early in June, and is remaining in Hampshire. It is her first child, and the first grandchild in her husband's family. Elizabeth and Sophia will be in London, though, and they are both longing to meet you.'

  'Tell me about them.'

  'Elizabeth is the eldest in the family. Her husband is the Earl of Sheldon, and they have six children from the age of eighteen to four years. Charlotte, the eldest, is being presented this year, and her two younger sisters will also be in Hanover Square. The boys are at school. Sophia is two years younger than I, her husband is plain Mr Langston, which was a disappointment to my mama, but his wealth made up for the lack of a title. They have just two boys, much the same age as the twins, but they will be at school, thank goodness.'