Valor of Love (Scandalous Scions Book 2)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  He reached for her chin.

  Lilly reared back, bile rising in her throat. “Do not touch me,” she breathed.

  Blackawton t’sked with his tongue. “Your hesitancy isn’t necessary, my dear. You’re hardly a blushing virgin anymore, are you?”

  Her cheeks were glowing. She couldn’t look at the other man listening to this conversation. Her humiliation was deep enough already. “What do you want, Blackawton?”

  “My lord, to you,” he corrected.

  Lilly nearly laughed. Rank and privilege were hardly relevant at this point.

  Blackawton reached for her again and Lilly pushed back against the carriage wall. She felt the knob of the other door against the edge of her back. Her fear was almost immobilizing her. As Blackawton slid his hands around her waist, a gleam of pleasure in his eyes, she moaned.

  The coach was slowing for the corner. Park Lane would be busy. The driver would have to wait for a space to open before he could turn into the road.

  As Blackawton pawed her, his fingers sliding over the buttons of her coat and the rise of her breasts, her gorge rose.

  The carriage stopped.

  Lilly didn’t let herself think. She reached up behind her and pressed down on the little lever. The door opened and she let herself roll out of the carriage. She tumbled to the road, jarring her knees and hips and wrenching her arm.

  The rough bully inside the coach swore, using a word she had never heard before. He lunged for her. Lilly didn’t wait. She picked up her top hoop and ran for the edge of the road, right in front of a brougham that was following behind Blackawton’s. The pair of bays whinnied and rose up on their back legs. The driver cried out an angry protest.

  Lilly dodged around them and ran. It wasn’t ladylike and it was difficult in a corset. She didn’t care. She ran as fast as she could, regardless of the spectacle she was making. She rounded the little curve where Grosvenor Road turned into Grosvenor Square and cannoned into Elisa, who was almost running herself.

  They gripped each other.

  “Oh my dear God! Lilly!” Elisa cried. “Was that…was it him?”

  Lilly clung to Elisa as she shook. “Yes, yes, it was Blackawton! Oh God, Elisa, he knows where I live! He was waiting for us to leave!”

  Elisa looked over her shoulder, then put her arm around Lilly’s waist. “Come,” she said firmly. “Come along. We must get you away from here. Hurry, my dear. Back to the house.”

  Lilly tried to hurry. Fear drove her forward, when all she wanted to do was sink to the pavement and shiver.

  As soon as the door shut behind them, Elisa called out in a voice that was nearly a bellow. “Paulson! I need you at once!”

  A startled sound came from behind the staff door. Giles and Paulson and the younger footmen emerged, Giles leading them. Paulson followed more slowly.

  “Paulson,” Elisa said. “I need Giles to help me and Lady Lillian out to the carriage house. It is an emergency. We must be away from this house as soon as possible. Giles, would you help me with Lilly, please? Quickly now. Paulson, my dear, I need you to pretend we were never here, if someone—if a stranger should come to the door and ask. Can you do that for me?”

  Paulson drew himself upright. “Of course, my lady,” he said with dignity, his jowls wobbling. He gave soft orders to the younger footmen, who ran back to the staff door.

  “Thank you.” Elisa gripped Lilly’s waist once more. Giles had already slipped his shoulders under her other arm and Lilly was grateful for the support. She trembled too much to stand on her own and her knees and hips were weak. They were hurting from the jarring impact with the road.

  “One last lap, then you can relax,” Elisa told her.

  Lilly nodded. Her teeth were chattering.

  Giles led them through the staff door, into the back of the house. Down stone stairs and into a small room that seemed to be the back entrance way. He opened the door there and they passed through sideways, for Elisa would not let Lilly go.

  A short path led to the carriage house from there. Now they were outside once more, Lilly realized her cheeks were wet. She had been crying and had not realized it.

  One of the under footmen stepped out of a man-sized door. “This way, m’lady,” he murmured. A second footman and a lad in shirtsleeves and waistcoat were pushing aside a heavy door. Inside, Lilly could hear the nicker of horses and the soft voice of men talking to them.

  Elisa’s driver, Portman, came toward them, pulling on his coat. “Where to, my lady?”

  “For now, the Williams house on Park Lane. We may be going farther than that, Portman. I’m sorry, I don’t have any details as yet.”

  “Never ye mind, m’lady, we’ll sort it out. Here, let me get the door for ye.” He opened the door, then stood back. Giles heroically helped Lilly up into the carriage, almost lifting her off her feet. She needed the help. Her limbs were heavy and hard to move.

  Elisa climbed up and settled next to her, pulling her onto the seat properly. Then she reached over and plucked the tartan blanket off the front seat and shook it out. She laid it over Lilly and tucked it in around her. Then she pulled her up against her. “Hold tight,” she whispered.

  Lilly lay against her shoulder and shivered.

  The images were there, brighter and hotter and more insistent than they had been for a long time. She was helpless to make them stop. All the tricks she had learned over the years to push them from her mind would not work now.

  The memory of his weight on her. The smell of his breath. Whiskey and cigars and sour sweat. The pain.

  She didn’t remember arriving at the house. When hands plucked at her she tried to fight them off, her panic rising in her throat, until a voice whispered in her ear. “You’re safe, Lilly. You’re safe.”

  She closed her eyes with a sigh.

  * * * * *

  After laying Lilly on the bed, Thomsett was almost pushed out of the room by the two anxious women.

  He didn’t mind—there was more than enough to do right now. Thomsett hurried back down the stairs and found Raymond in the drawing room, talking to Monroe and Pritchard.

  “Mister Davies will not be difficult to find,” Raymond was saying. “He will either be at his offices, or at the law courts. Lord Farleigh may be difficult to track down. You must do your best. Don’t come back until you find him. Thomsett, could you give them a pound each in coins, for cabs? It will save time.”

  “Thank you my lord,” Monroe said. “That will be helpful. We will find them, not to worry.”

  “Perhaps, Princess Annalies…?” Thomsett suggested.

  Raymond nodded vigorously. “Yes, by God. She would flay us all alive for keeping her out of this and she might know just the people to deal with the man, too. Stop off at the Davies house, first, Monroe. Ask the Princess to please drop everything she is doing and come at once.”

  “Yes, my Lord.” Monroe jerked his head at Pritchard, whose eyes were wide. “Come on,” he said shortly and strode to the door.

  That left the two of them alone in the drawing room.

  Raymond scrubbed at his hair. “Are you as blind to this business as I, Thomsett?”

  “I have done a great deal of guessing and speculation of late, my lord,” Thomsett said. “Yet I believe I know less about the matter than you.”

  Raymond dropped into the nearest chair with a heavy sigh. “I had no idea…” he breathed. He looked up at Thomsett. “Did Elisa say anything else to you on the way upstairs? All I heard was that Blackawton had interfered with Lilly and that we must take her out of town at once.”

  Thomsett hesitated. He recalled Lilly’s white face against his arm as he carried her upstairs. Her cheeks had been wet with tears. “Lilly was afraid that something like this might happen,” he said.

  Raymond stared at him.

  “I mean, forgive me, my lord, I meant Lady Lillian.”

  Raymond waved away his apology with a quick, irritated gesture. “You’d better sit down and tell me all you kno
w, Thomsett. It appears you know more than I do, after all.”

  Thomsett was reluctant to sit down. It wouldn’t look right. Neither did he want to give intimate details while standing over Raymond. He pulled one of the upright chairs next to the sideboard over to the big chair Raymond was using and sat on the edge and leaned forward.

  “I have only recently surmised that a matter in Lilly’s past weighed upon her. I understand she was a successful debutante?”

  “She was.” Raymond smiled. “Men made fools of themselves over her. She was gay and pretty. Even my mother envied her for the becoming way she dressed. Then it all stopped. Everything. The balls, the season. Lilly announced she had accepted Elisa’s offer and would take up a post as governess.” Raymond grimaced. “She was never the same after that.”

  “When was that, my lord?” Thomsett asked. “Was it, perhaps, around the time that Blackawton sailed to India to take up his commission?”

  Raymond closed his eyes. “This was not the first time…” he breathed and hung his head. “Oh, poor Lilly!”

  “No, I do not believe it was the first occasion,” Thomsett said. “Lilly has tried to move on from that first occurrence. It has been difficult for her.”

  “So I am beginning to understand,” Raymond said. His voice was hoarse. “The monster!”

  Thomsett nodded. “That is a good name for him.”

  “Why would no one speak of this?” Raymond demanded. “Why would they not tell the police, or try to have him arrested for the deed?”

  “And shame Lilly even further?” Thomsett asked. “Ruin her reputation and make her a pariah among society? You know how society treats fallen women, my lord. I believe Lady Elisa took Lilly in to protect her from that ruin. It was bravely done.”

  “Yes. By God, yes, you’re right. They would have destroyed her spirit at the least, had the truth come out. She would have been shunned and more. I see, now, why Natasha would not confide even in me. She did not want me to think less of Lilly.” Raymond sighed. “It is a sorry business.”

  Thomsett shook his head. “I do not believe the business is over with yet. It is clear that Blackawton worked to find Lilly here in London. He may have been watching Lady Elisa’s house, too. In fact, I am certain of it. Lady Elisa is correct—Lilly must be taken out of London.”

  “To Cornwell, then?”

  “Blackawton knows about Innesford. Everyone in London does,” Thomsett said. “It should be somewhere unexpected.”

  “You mean, we should hide her away?” Raymond asked, sounding appalled.

  “I mean exactly that, my lord,” Thomsett said. “You are not thinking as Blackawton does—as I suspect he thinks. I have met the type of man before. They are ruthless and they are mired in fanciful thought that makes no sense to ordinary people. After six…seven years?”

  “Seven,” Raymond said.

  “The same year as Lord Innesford died?” Thomsett asked sharply, his heart squeezing.

  Raymond looked at him. “A connection,” he breathed. “I never did find out how he died…”

  Thomsett shook his head again. “That is not the important matter today. The critical matter is how Blackawton will respond. After seven years, he returned to England and one of his first actions was to seek Lilly out. I believe he is fixated upon her.”

  Raymond breathed in, then let it out. “I don’t doubt there are men like that in the world. I just find it difficult to believe a man of such rank could descend to…this.”

  “I believe he has used that rank to hide his proclivities,” Thomsett said. He rubbed his temples. “This is all conjecture, my lord. I would not dream of impugning the reputation of a good man. If I am right, though, he deserves far more than any words I could use to speak against him.”

  “We will work to make sure he receives what he deserves, only this must be handled carefully, so very carefully, Thomsett.”

  “My Lord, the unexpected place…perhaps, Northumberland?”

  Raymond considered him, frowning. “The wilds of the north. Why there?” he asked.

  “My commission, my lord. I was with the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers Regiment of Foot. They are stationed at Newcastle when not on active duty. I know the area well.”

  “I am sure you are just as well-known there, too, Thomsett,” Raymond said. “When you are recognized, word will pass and the military have intimate connections with society. However, your general idea is a good one. There is a man I know only a little from when I was at Cambridge. Diggory Newman.”

  “My lord?” Thomsett said, puzzled.

  Raymond smiled. “I saved the lad from a severe beating once. He was a puny boy and a weak man, too. He is stout of heart, though, despite his lack of physical strength. He will remember what I did for him. He is Baron Dalehouse, now. His estate is in Yorkshire.”

  “On the moors,” Thomsett said.

  “You know the estate?”

  “I know the moors, my lord. I was born there.”

  Raymond nodded thoughtfully. “It may well work. We will take Lilly up there tomorrow, on the early train…why do you look at me that way?”

  “My pardon, my lord. You cannot do anything but sit here in your townhouse and pretend that nothing is awry.”

  Raymond glanced at the window, his throat working.

  “Yes, he will have someone watching this house, too. If he is as thorough as I think he is, then he will have someone watching the Davies household, too. All of London is familiar with the members of the Great Family.” Thomsett stirred. “No one of the Family can deviate from their normal, everyday activities.”

  “Then—”

  “I will take her,” Thomsett said.

  Raymond considered him for a long moment. “What about Baumgärtner and the manor?”

  “I don’t want it,” Thomsett said shortly. Honestly. “My absence will be a complete answer for Baumgärtner. He will go away with his deed and that will be the end of it.”

  Raymond put his fingertips together. “Only, is this—escorting Lilly—is this not walking into the conflict you say you wish to avoid?”

  “The purpose of stealing Lilly out of London is to run away and hide, not confront the enemy. Hiding is something I have been doing for a number of years now and I am good at it.” His tone came out wry.

  Raymond considered him. “I can write a letter for Dalehouse. It will ease your way. A situation on the estate would be better than a lonely place on the moors. It will be better protected and no one counts the noses of residents on an estate.”

  “While a new tenant in a small town will be the talk of the place inside a day. Yes, I agree with you,” Thomsett said. “A letter would be useful, thank you, my lord.”

  Raymond sat back again, with a gusty bellow. “You’re observant, Thomsett. And you seem to have earned Lilly’s trust, which is a difficult thing for anyone. I considered myself her friend, yet she did not confide in me, so I would ask you as her friend to protect her to the best of your ability.”

  “Of course, my lord. It doesn’t have to be asked.”

  “Nevertheless, I ask it of you. I don’t know what will happen—you seem to have a better grasp of Blackawton’s thoughts than I. I will do what I can to end this, one way or another.”

  “I appreciate that, my lord. I will call upon your resources if I have need of them.”

  “You will have the family’s gratitude, too,” Raymond said.

  “Let us deal with Blackawton first,” Thomsett said. “Then, let us speak of gratitude.”

  “Yes,” Raymond said flatly. “Now, Thomsett, what do you need? How do we do this? You are the soldier. Advise me.”

  Chapter Nine

  “I must admit,” Lady Laceby said in her uneven voice, “that I had not anticipated how busy your home would be, Lady Elisa. You do welcome all sorts of people, don’t you?”

  “I do,” Elisa said calmly, turning her teacup around so the handle was in the correct position to pick it up. “I find a wide variety of
people to be stimulating. It does not do to become too accustomed to one’s surroundings. That is how habits calcify. Don’t you agree?”

  Lacy Laceby dropped her chin to consider Elisa carefully. “What an unusual idea,” she said, apparently unaware that she had demonstrated Elisa’s point precisely.

  Elisa hid her smile and pushed the plate of scones a little closer to Lady Laceby. The woman seemed to have an infinite capacity for eating. Elisa understood that the food in India was not the same as one was used to eating here, yet Lady Laceby ate as if she had not eaten for the twenty years she had been living in Bombay.

  Elisa looked through the lace panels at the windows, out onto the square. Her discomfort rose as she remembered that the house may be under observation at any time. Raymond had been specific in his instructions. “You behave exactly as you would normally. You meet your appointments, you walk in the Park—only, you will become the most sociable person in the Park. Speak to everyone you know. Stay visible. Don’t walk there. Have Portman take you and bring you back. Contrive never to be alone. Otherwise, it is as if Lilly is still teaching the girls upstairs in the nursery and all is as it should be.”

  It was easy to contrive to never be alone. Elisa was afraid to be alone, especially outside. She spared a thought for Lilly, whom Raymond had spirited out of London that night, and wished her well. Then she turned her attention back to Lady Laceby.

  “You asked to speak to me, Lady Laceby,” she said.

  Gloria Laceby put her cup and saucer down on the table with a firm touch, as if she had been waiting for Elisa to say just that. She leaned forward a little. “Patricia’s coming out was a success. I wanted to thank you for your efforts on her behalf and on behalf of my husband and I.”

  Elisa smiled. “It was no effort. We have adored having both your children here and my own children were grateful for the company. Will and Jack are the firmest of friends and Sharla and Jenny are, too.”

  “John and Patricia have grown into fine young people to be sure,” Lady Laceby replied stiffly. “However, I do have to wonder at the company they have been keeping.”