by Gail Mallin
‘Light the candles before you go, there’s a good fellow.’
There was an implacable note of dismissal in that request! Deciding discretion was the better part, Blake took the hint. Whatever it was that was bothering him, his master plainly didn’t want to discuss it.
Speedily, Blake completed his tasks and, ushering his minion before him, quit the room.
Light spilled from the tall candelabrum which his butler had set on the table. Randal poured himself a glass of port and lifted it up to survey its deep colour before conveying it to his lips. Its taste was rich upon his tongue, but his mind wasn’t on wine.
How long had he sat here lost in thought? Dusk had crept unheeded into the room and he hadn’t even heard his butler enter. Randal frowned. Such careless inattention would have cost him his life once upon a time, aye and on more than one occasion that he could remember!
‘Blister it!’
He wasn’t in the army now, but still it irked him that he seemed to have lost control over his thoughts. His mind kept spinning off, returning endlessly to that strange encounter yesterday with the woman who had pretended to be his long-lost cousin Kitty.
Her dark beauty had touched off a chord of response in him, awakening desire and a memory which had never died. Once, years ago when he had been campaigning in Egypt, he had been offered a small painted alabaster figurine. The fellah selling it had sworn it was that of an ancient queen. Enchanted by the delicate perfection of the little statuette, Randal had bought it.
Later, it had been stolen from his lodgings, but every detail of its rare beauty remained clear in his mind. His unknown visitor had the same elegant swan-neck and the same long eyes as that ancient queen. They slanted above those marvellously sculpted cheekbones, as black as a Stygian night and as mysterious!
Who the devil was she?
Randal shrugged his shoulders impatiently. Her name scarcely mattered. She was an adventuress and a damned clever one. If he hadn’t had that letter from Gerald Sullivan he would have been taken in by her poise and confidence.
The thought rankled, but Randal strove to ignore it.
‘What will she do now?’
He spoke the words aloud, but found no answer in the quiet silence. Would she really dare approach his lawyers as she had threatened?
A reluctant grin touched his well-cut mouth. Unless he missed his guess, that little baggage had the nerve to try anything! And if she had the proof she claimed, their office must be her next port of call.
Draining his wine, Randal decided it behoved him to alert Messrs. Hilton, Tyler and Dibbs. It was time he paid a call on Godwin and he could look in on the lawyers and save them the journey out here.
He set down his empty glass and rose to his feet.
If the wench chose to persist in spite of his warning he supposed he would have to put an end to her game. An unsavoury public dispute over Nabob Nixon’s fortune would distress his sisters.
However, as he strolled from the room, Randal was aware of a vulgar hope that she wouldn’t give up so easily. He would enjoy the chance of another encounter with his dark enchantress!
Chapter Three
Kate was surprised to find herself the sole occupant of the breakfast parlour when she made her way to this smartly-furnished apartment shortly before ten on her first morning in Abbey Square.
‘Beg pardon, Miss Kitty, but there’s no need to wait on her ladyship,’ announced Thorpe, the elderly butler. ‘She always breakfasts in her room.’
Kate thanked him and he indicated the laden sideboard.
‘Can I help you to some of this gammon, Miss Kitty, or perhaps you’d prefer kippers? Should you fancy something cold, I can recommend the beef. Cook has a nice touch with roasting.’
Surveying the vast array of silver chafing dishes laid out in readiness Kate repressed a shudder.
Allowing him to shepherd her forward to inspect their contents, she chose a small slice of ham and a very modest helping of buttered eggs and sat down at the breakfast table. Thorpe then brought her a pot of coffee before withdrawing with a kindly admonition to ring for him the instant she required anything further.
Left to consume her breakfast in peace, Kate made a mental note to tell Alicia that she couldn’t face gargantuan feasts at this hour. Theatre life had destroyed her early morning appetite, but she didn’t want to hurt Thorpe’s feelings or Cook’s.
Apart from the fact she didn’t want to upset anyone, Kate was shrewd enough to realise it would be stupid to risk setting the servants against her. Gossip flew fast belowstairs and there was going to be talk enough. It was too much to hope for that her appearance in Chester would meet with universal approval, but things would be easier if Kitty was deemed to be a proper young lady.
Forking up the last mouthful of her unwanted eggs, Kate ruefully reflected on how the rest of the company would envy her current luxury. Their usual bed was to be found in cheap lodging houses or even in the wagons alongside their props and costumes. What’s more, they had often gone hungry when the takings were poor.
Kate laid down her knife and fork with a sudden clatter. Guilt was extremely bad for the digestion she was discovering!
It was all Redesmere’s fault. If he had been not been so disobliging, she need never have troubled Kitty’s godmother. Now, as a result of his stupid objections, she was forced to make shameful use of Alicia, who deserved better.
Kate squirmed in her seat remembering how Alicia had summoned Thorpe yesterday and ordered him to send George, the young footman, to the Hop-Pole to fetch her bags and settle her account.
‘You don’t wish to return to the inn, do you, my dear?’ she had added, turning to Kate who had quickly answered, ‘Only to pay my shot, ma’am.’
Alicia looked puzzled. ‘There is no need. George will take care of everything.’
‘I cannot allow you to foot my bills,’ Kate insisted, every instinct protesting that it was bad enough pulling the wool over Alicia’s eyes without letting her fund the deception.
‘Lud, child! We shall not argue over a few shillings, surely?’ Laughing, Lady Edgeworth had wagged a scolding finger at her.
Kate had continued to protest, but had been forced to drop her objections for fear of hurting Alicia’s feelings.
The incident had left a bad taste in Kate’s mouth and reinforced her desire to get the whole business over and done with. I shall go and see the lawyers today, she resolved.
She had meant to discuss her plans with Alicia last night, but her hostess had been engaged to dine with friends.
‘I think I should cry off,’ she’d fretted. ‘It seems so inhospitable leaving you to a solitary supper on your very first evening.’
‘Actually, I’m quite tired and would like to go to bed early,’ Kate had fibbed and, reassured, Alicia had allowed herself to be persuaded.
Kate had been glad of the chance to be on her own. Being plunged back into the kind of life she had once known was much more unsettling than she had anticipated. Alicia’s beautiful house was more luxurious than the small country manor on the shores of Lake Bassenwaite in which she had grown up, but it was still familiar territory.
She had forgotten how pleasant it was to have servants on hand to fetch and carry!
For an instant Kate allowed herself to imagine what her life might have been like if she hadn’t attended that fatal performance of Romeo and Juliet while visiting her grandmother in Carlisle.
It had been the first time she had ever been inside a theatre and she was thrilled by the performance, which in truth had been no more than average although she had been too inexperienced to realise it. When Francis had walked on stage and begun to speak in his caressing voice her heightened senses had reeled. With his long elegant legs displayed to advantage in tights and his romantically disarrayed black curls he had seemed the perfect hero.
Caught up in the magic of the night, Kate had immediately tumbled headlong into a deep infatuation, which she mistook for love.
&nb
sp; Stop daydreaming, my girl, Kate admonished herself sharply, forcing herself back to the present. You can’t afford to get too used to being a young lady again. When this charade is over, it’s back to work for you!
Kitty had promised her £500 in return for her help. It would allow her to pay off the last of Francis’s creditors. The prospect of being clear of debt for the first time since her marriage was delightful, but the fee wasn’t enough to free her of the need to earn her living.
And what respectable household would employ her? Unless she lied about her past she would never obtain a genteel position.
You went through all these arguments three years ago when Francis died, she scolded herself. Nothing has changed today, except that you are feeling nostalgic!
In her mind Kate could hear the echo of Mary’s advice after Francis’s funeral when she had told her friend that she was thinking of leaving the company to go into service.
‘Why give up your friends and a profession you’ve learnt to enjoy to drudge in some kitchen? You’d probably earn even less than you do now and while it might be a more respectable way of life you would be still be a fish out of water. I think you would be lonely and, worse, you are too pretty to avoid trouble!’
Kate remembered how she had protested although in her heart she had suspected that Mary might be right.
‘Francis made you miserable, but now he’s gone things will be different,’ Mary had declared. ‘He wasted your talent and stopped you getting the roles you deserve, but I’ll wager that if you stay you’ll be the company’s leading lady within a year.’
Her friend’s prediction had come true. She’d become a successful and popular actress through sheer hard work and effort. She had even managed to forget Francis and learnt to be happy again. So why then did she suddenly feel so depressed?
Could it…could it possibly have something to do with that look of contempt on Randal Crawford’s handsome face as he had dismissed her?
Kate gave herself a little shake. She was being foolish beyond permission!
Fiend seize Crawford! He could think what he liked of her. She was no adventuress, although her youthful folly had put an end to her claim to respectability.
No amount of regret could change matters. Instead of dwelling on what might have been if her father had been more kind and her grandmother less self-centred, she ought to be concentrating on thinking of a way to discredit Kitty’s supposed drowning before his interfering lordship spread the news all round town!
Filled with a fresh determination to win Kitty’s fortune for her, Kate made her way to the morning room, where Alicia presently joined her.
‘Ah my dear! You are down already. I hope you slept well?’ Alicia greeted her with a smile.
‘My bed was wonderfully comfortable, thank you,’ Kate responded politely.
In point of fact, she hadn’t experienced a restful night. To her annoyance, a pair of vivid blue eyes had haunted her dreams.
Lady Edgeworth sat down and Kate asked her if she had enjoyed her dinner party.
After a full description of this event, Alicia continued, ‘I announced your arrival, my love, and everyone was desirous of an early introduction. Once word of your visit gets out I dare say we will have the whole town calling.’
Kate tried to look pleased.
‘In fact, Kitty, I thought I would make a list of all the people you ought to meet. It wouldn’t do to leave anyone out…now where did I put my writing tablets?’ Lady Edgeworth broke off her discourse, her expression distracted. ‘I was sure I left them in here.’ She peered short-sightedly around.
Kate spotted the little writing set on one of the side tables. ‘Is that the set you mean, ma’am?’
Alicia nodded and made a move to rise from her seat.
‘Allow me.’ Kate quickly jumped up to get them.
‘Thank you, child.’ Alicia accepted the set of tablets from her. ‘I see you have your Mama’s pretty manners. I did wonder whether living at such a remove from civilisation you might…’ Realising that her remark might be construed as criticism she hastily amended what she was going to say, ‘Well, it was doubtless very silly of me, but I did worry that you might speak with a…a coarse accent.’
Kate, who was a gifted mimic and could abandon her own ladylike tones at will to ape a large number of convincing accents, looked suitably shocked. ‘Papa would never have permitted it. He maintained a cultured person must always avoid slipshod speech.’
In truth, Kitty didn’t sound like a foreigner, her gentle voice was as refined as her godmother might wish!
‘You know, my dear, nothing can be so fatal to a girl’s chances as an ugly voice,’ she continued earnestly as Kate returned to her seat. ‘I think it more off-putting a fault than a bad complexion or graceless figure for a man may close his eyes, but it is not so easy to stop one’s ears.’
Kate nodded dutifully, concealing her amusement at this sage pronouncement.
‘Only a lack of dowry is more prejudicial.’ Lady Edgeworth shuddered at the very thought. ‘Not that we have to contend with such a disaster in your case, thanks to your grandfather finally deciding to make amends for his atrocious behaviour. I could wish he had relented sooner, but at least he saw sense in the end.’
She beamed at Kate. ‘Why, we might even contrive a brilliant match for you!’
‘Mama needs me at home so my visit cannot be extended once the business of my legacy is concluded,’ Kate exclaimed, her amusement rapidly vanishing.
‘All the more reason not to waste time, my love!’ Alicia gazed at Kate with obvious satisfaction. ‘Youth, beauty and a fortune! You will be besieged by admirers!’
The sinking feeling in the pit of Kate’s stomach grew worse.
‘It’s very kind of you to offer to introduce me to your acquaintance, ma’am,’ she said firmly. ‘However, I have no desire to find a husband.’
Disappointment flickered over her hostess’s plump features. ‘Your mama might not like the notion,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘Never mind. At least you can enjoy an agreeable flirtation or two while you are here.’
‘I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to become too much of a social butterfly,’ Kate said hastily.
‘But why ever not, Kitty?’ Surprise rounded Alicia’s eyes. ‘I remember your Mama telling me how disappointed you were when you could not take me up on my previous offer to give you a season.’
Kate shifted a little in her seat, trying to think of some good reason for Kitty to have changed her mind.
‘I was younger then, ma’am, and more inclined to frivolity,’ she began, but Alicia swiftly interrupted her.
‘Lud, child, you are only one and twenty now! Hardly a greybeard or don’t you like parties and dancing, eh?’
Kate did.
‘There! I knew it!’ Triumph coloured her hostess’s pronouncement. ‘Your face betrays you, my love! You would enjoy cutting a dash.’
Kate nodded reluctantly, suppressing her irritation at her own lack of self-control.
‘You have too lively a manner to fool me into thinking you a quiet mouse, my dear.’
Abandoning that tactic, Kate tried another.
‘My purpose in coming here was to secure my legacy, ma’am, nothing more. I know it would cost a great deal to launch me into society and I could not impose on you by putting you to such expense.’
‘But I should enjoy sponsoring you!’
‘I cannot allow you to do so.’ Kate smiled to take the sting out of her words, but her tone was firm.
Alicia played with the little pencil attached by a gold cord to her tablets. ‘You will be in possession of your own fortune soon,’ she murmured. ‘I’m sure a bank loan or some such could be arranged to tide you over.’
Kate shuddered.
‘Surely your mama wouldn’t begrudge you spending a little money on enjoying yourself?’
Kate refuted this objection. ‘Mama would not, but the very notion of debt is abhorrent to me, ma’am.
I will not spend a shilling which isn’t my own,’ she announced, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had hoped to persuade Lord Redesmere into advancing some money.
He, damn him, hadn’t been open to persuasion!
‘Your prudence in waiting until your legacy is handed over is admirable, my dear.’ Alicia’s tone was politely doubtful.
It was obvious to Kate that her companion did not hold the same views on finance, but it was unlikely Alicia had ever been physically threatened by duns. If she had, she would be wary of incurring debts she could not repay!
‘All the same, it seems a pity to waste this opportunity and there is another solution if you will agree to it.’ Alicia leant forward eagerly. ‘My husband left me very handsomely provided for and I can easily afford to act as your banker myself until this silly delay is cleared up.’
‘But, ma’am—’
‘I don’t want to press you, but pray consider, my love! You lost most of your wardrobe fleeing Ireland. Surely you wish to replace your gowns?’ Alicia’s tone was gently persuasive. ‘Please, Kitty. Let me loan you some money if you won’t accept it as a gift.’
‘I know you mean well, ma’am.’ Kate bit her lip, wondering how to reject the offer without hurting the older woman’s feelings. ‘However, I did manage to bring one valise away with me from Uncle Gerald’s and as for the rest, I have guineas enough for my needs if I’m careful.’
‘You are much too young and pretty to have to worry about economising!’
‘I shan’t go into a decline for the lack of a few new dresses.’ Kate essayed a cheerful shrug.
Alicia sighed. ‘You mustn’t think I am offering my help merely for your benefit, Kitty my dear. If you were to sit at home all day, I would feel obliged to stay at home too!’
In other circumstances Kate would have been amused by this artless confession, but there was genuine distress in Alicia’s hazel eyes.
‘I do so want you to enjoy this visit, Kitty. I should feel I was failing in my duty to you and letting your mama down if I didn’t provide you with proper entertainment.’
Her heart sinking, Kate knew she was beaten. She could think of no convincing reason to refuse Alicia’s help and without a good excuse it was ungracious to go on protesting.