Snowbound With the Notorious Rake

by Sarah Mallory

‘Get out! I never want to see you again. Ever.’

  Lawrence stared at the rigid figure before him. She was shaking, her face paper white.

  ‘Perhaps, in the morning…’

  ‘No—never,’ she spat at him. She put out her hand to clutch at the back of a nearby chair, breathing deeply so that when she spoke again her voice was low and held barely a quaver. ‘You will not darken my door again and you will not see or speak to my son. We shall be leaving Mersecombe as soon as I can make arrangements, but until that time it shall be as if you never existed. Do you understand me?’

  Lawrence straightened, overcome by a dark, despairing anger. It had been a very long day, his body ached from the blows he had sustained and the cut on his head throbbed painfully. He had successfully concluded his investigation and exposed Magnus Emsleigh for the villain he really was. He shook his head, saying angrily, ‘I did not come here to be rewarded, but to be so summarily dismissed is harsh indeed!’

  ‘You have brought it upon yourself.’

  ‘You have made yourself both judge and jury and have found me guilty without giving me any chance to defend myself!’

  She shook her head, her hand coming up in a little gesture of denial. Lawrence fought down the angry words that crowded his head. In time she might know that she was wrong, but he had already spent a whole year trying to prove his worth to her. Enough was enough. He scooped up his hat.

  ‘I cannot make you trust me,’ he said quietly. ‘You have made it perfectly clear tonight that you do not want to try. I know that you have had one bad husband and you came pretty close to taking a second. I understand that. It is enough to make anyone wary, so I shall not trouble you again. But I beg you will remember I am, always have been and always will be your humble servant.’

  With a final stiff little bow he turned on his heel and walked out of the house.

  Chapter Ten

  Rose heard the front door slam, then the silence of the sleeping house pressed in around her. She closed her eyes.

  ‘I was right to send him away.’

  She felt the hot tears squeezing out and running down her cheeks. Angrily she brushed them away. She must stop this, she had wasted tears enough. From now on the only man in her life would be her son.

  Rose was determined to avoid Lawrence at all costs and when Sir Jonas called upon her the next day she cautiously enquired if she would have to give evidence.

  ‘No, no, I will take statements from you and your boy and that should suffice. Sir Lawrence doesn’t see any need for you to go all the way to London.’

  ‘London!’

  ‘Aye. Emsleigh’s being taken there now. We arrested Captain Morris this morning, too, and put him in the same coach. Sir Lawrence is helping my men to escort the pair of them.’ He shook his head. ‘A bad business, this. When Abel Wooler came to see me yesterday I was much inclined to dismiss him—after all, it was his word against the captain and the rest of the crew. Not only that, but he was accusing Emsleigh of being behind it, one of our foremost citizens! But then Sir Lawrence turned up, and once I had seen for myself the cargo stashed away in Hades Mine I realised there would be a case to answer.’

  ‘What will happen to Abel?’ asked Rose, momentarily diverted from her own unhappiness. ‘He signed the original affidavit, did he not, to say that the ship and cargo had been lost?’

  Sir Jonas pursed his lips.

  ‘Aye, he did, but as Sir Lawrence pointed out, Wooler had just lost his brother and was out of his mind with grief at that time. As soon as he came to his senses he realised the error of his ways and came to me to confess. I have been to see him this morning and told him he’d nothing to fear as long as he has told me the truth.’

  Rose looked down at her hands.

  ‘And…will Sir Lawrence be in London for long?’ she asked casually.

  ‘Oh, most likely. He told me he means to sell Knightscote—seems this business has given him a dislike for the place.’

  ‘Well, then, that’s settled,’ she murmured, almost to herself.

  Rose was slightly shocked to feel so bereft and sought for some occupation to fill her day. In the end she decided to accompany Sam to the stables, where he was to go riding with Evans. She changed into her riding habit and was just stepping out of the door with Sam when Janet returned from the market, her basket piled up with food.

  ‘Well, here’s a to-do and no mistake,’ she announced as they stepped back to let her come in through the gate. ‘All over the village, it is. Mr Emsleigh taken off to Lunnon to stand trial and Miss Emsleigh—’

  ‘Yes, Janet, I know.’ Rose hastily interrupted her. ‘I am going to visit Miss Emsleigh now, to offer her any assistance I can.’

  Janet stopped and stared at her, frowning.

  ‘You never are. After what she said—’

  ‘I was very nearly her sister,’ Rose reminded her. ‘I cannot abandon her in her hour of need.’

  ‘Her need!’ Janet snorted. ‘Why, her maid’s been tellin’—’

  ‘I will not listen to gossip, Janet, and neither should you. Come along, Sam!’

  Rose grabbed her son’s hand and hurried him out into the lane.

  ‘What is wrong with Miss Emsleigh, Mama?’ Sam turned his innocent eyes up to her.

  ‘She is being blamed for her brother’s villainy,’ Rose replied, her cheeks flushed with indignation. ‘She has been cruelly used!’

  She looked and sounded so fierce when she said this that Sam dared not say more, and they continued in silence to the stables.

  ‘I beg your pardon, ma’am,’ exclaimed Evans, surprised. ‘I did not know you were planning to ride out with us and I have not saddled your mare…’

  ‘I only decided this morning that I should like some exercise.’ She made sure that Sam was out of earshot and continued quietly, ‘I shall have to make arrangements for the pony to be returned to Sir Lawrence, and soon.’

  ‘Will you, ma’am?’ Evans looked surprised. ‘That’ll break the little man’s heart.’

  The knife inside Rose twisted a little further.

  ‘It cannot be helped. We have imposed upon Sir Lawrence long enough.’

  ‘But I hear Sir Lawrence is gone to London, ma’am. He won’t be wantin’ the pony sent there.’

  ‘No, so you must write and ask for instructions.’ She felt a little guilty about leaving such matters to her groom, but told herself it was best for her not to be involved.

  ‘Very well, ma’am. But until then you’ll let Master Sam ride as usual?’

  ‘Yes…yes, I suppose so. And there is no need to say anything to Sam just yet,’ she added, quelling another ripple of guilt. ‘No point in making him unhappy for any longer than is necessary.’

  She waited patiently for her mare to be saddled, but then declined to ride with Sam and Evans up onto the moor—there was a visit she dreaded, but felt herself obliged to make.

  She arrived at Emsleigh House to find the front windows shuttered and the door closed. There was only one nervous-looking groom in the stables and he suggested she should enter the house by the garden door. The butler met her in the hall with the air of one pushed to the limit of his endurance.

  ‘I beg your pardon, ma’am, but we are constantly being pestered by tradesmen and the mistress insisted we should shut up the house.’ He gestured towards the stairs. ‘Miss Emsleigh is in her boudoir, ma’am. If you wait here, I will announce you—’

  A loud hammering on the door interrupted him.

  Rose’s kind heart was touched at the thought of Althea’s distress.

  ‘No need, I will announce myself.’

  She picked up the train of her riding habit and looped it over her arm before hurrying up the stairs. She had never been a close friend of Althea, but she recalled being taken to her dressing room on one occasion and hoped she could remember the way. There were signs of disorder everywhere: half-filled trunks stood in doorways, pictures had been removed from the walls and harassed-looking servants were hurrying
back and forth.

  Rose arrived at Althea’s room and gave a soft knock. A muffled sound that could have been ‘come in’ followed and she entered, closing the door quietly behind her. The room was quite as disordered as the rest of the house, but a number of smashed ornaments in the fireplace suggested that Althea was not in the sunniest of moods. She was pacing up and down, her blond curls jumping and her colour heightened to make her face an unattractive mottled red and white.

  ‘Oh, it’s you.’ She barely glanced at Rose as she came in. ‘Have you come to gloat?’

  ‘Of course not. I came to see if you needed anything.’

  ‘Nothing that you can provide—unless you have a spare fortune I may use to set myself up abroad?’ Her lip curled. ‘I thought not. I always said it was a mistake for Magnus to offer for you. He could have done much better for himself than an impoverished widow with a brat to look after.’

  Rose fought down her anger. Althea was upset and quite possibly frightened.

  ‘Well, it will not come to that now,’ she said quietly. ‘Will you remain here?’

  ‘With tradesmen hammering on the door for payment day and night?’ Althea picked up a teacup from her breakfast tray and hurled it at the fireplace. ‘Damn Magnus for leaving me in this mess!’

  ‘Althea, please, this cannot be good for you—’

  ‘You know nothing of the matter. Magnus has so many debts that everything in this house will have to be sold to pay them.’ She began pacing the floor again. ‘I have some money, but not enough to live in this style. I shall be able to keep only two servants—three at the most. How could Magnus do this to me? I could scream with vexation!’

  ‘My dear, you must try to stay calm,’ Rose urged her. ‘Think of your condition.’

  Althea stopped pacing and stared at her.

  ‘Condition? Oh, that—I am not really breeding.’

  ‘You…you are not?’

  ‘Of course not. It was an attempt to force Lawrence to marry me.’ Althea scowled. ‘I doubt he can be persuaded to do so now.’

  The room started spinning and Rose put her hand on the wall to steady herself.

  ‘Althea, I do not understand… You are not carrying his child?’

  ‘No, of course not. Did you really think it was true?’ She gave a scornful laugh. ‘You must be the only one who believed it!’

  ‘But how could you say such a thing, and say it so publicly?’

  Althea shrugged her white shoulders.

  ‘I never intended to do so, until I saw the way Lawrence looked at you. That put me in such a rage. He had never so much as squeezed my fingers, though I gave him every encouragement. La, I was quite disappointed, for he has such a reputation. I had planned to seduce him at the ball, but I soon realised that would not work, and when I saw he meant to leave I announced I was carrying his child. I thought it would be a sure way to give you a disgust of him and to force him into marriage. Only Magnus would not support me. That was a blow, I can tell you. I see why now, of course— Daunton was his enemy—but it put me in a damnable position. And I was so remiss I did not think to warn my maid, so when she went to market yesterday and heard them sniggering behind their hands she lost no time in telling everyone she could find that I could not be with child because my courses were as regular as a clock and I have never missed one. Heavens, was ever a woman cursed with such a well-meaning wretch.’ She suddenly became aware of Rose’s presence and rounded on her.

  ‘Are you shocked? Well, Miss Propriety, if you had not been so caught up in your own petty concerns you would have snapped Magnus up last spring, then he would have been able to send all that cargo to market months ago, and none of this would have happened.’

  ‘Surely you do not condone what he has done?’ asked Rose, appalled. ‘A sailor lost his life when they sunk that ship!’

  ‘What do I care for that? With the insurance, and the profit from the cargo, we could have settled our accounts and lived very comfortably.’

  She continued to rage, sending the saucer and teapot the same way as the cup, and ignoring Rose, who edged towards the door and made her escape. The butler suggested she should slip out through the kitchens to avoid the growing number of tradesman at the front of the house.

  Rose followed his advice and collected her horse. She trotted out of the yard and was cantering away down the drive before any of the irate crowd at the front door could accost her. Once out on the road she turned onto one of the many lanes that led up onto the hills, forcing herself to concentrate on pushing the mare on until she was at last on the moor with the icy wind whipping at her cheeks. The occasional drift of snow remained in a ditch or against a north-facing ridge, in stark contrast to the dull winter browns of the moor.

  So, Lawrence had been telling the truth all the time. She turned her face up to the heavens. She had willingly given him her body, so why had she been so afraid to trust him, to believe him? Rose looked around, suddenly restless. She needed to see Lawrence, to beg him to forgive her, but that was impossible. He was miles away by now. But he would come back, wouldn’t he? He would return and she would throw herself on his mercy. She remembered the stony, implacable look on his face when he had left her.

  I shall not trouble you again.

  The bleak wind cut through her cloak and she shivered. The moor stretched away on all sides, no sign of life in any direction. Even the stunted trees looked black and decayed. Lifeless. Perhaps it was already too late

  She turned her horse and headed for home.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘Well, I am pleased that business is out of the way!’ George Craven followed Lawrence out of the lawyer’s office and into the waiting carriage. ‘Can’t tell you how grateful I am to you for sorting out that little matter, Daunton. With the cargo recovered, and the ship’s captain making a full confession, we have a strong case against Emsleigh. And I’ve learned it is not the first time the man has come up against the law—it seems he’s been sailing close to the wind for years, with his lawyers successfully defending him against several charges of smuggling. He’s always escaped because there’s never been enough evidence, but this time we’ve caught him fair and square. Well done, my friend.’

  Lawrence settled himself into his seat.

  ‘How soon will it come to court, do you think?’

  ‘Oh, not ’til the spring,’ replied Craven cheerfully. ‘Until then Emsleigh is safe enough in Newgate; he seems to have enough funds for a few luxuries while he waits for his trial. Brrr!’ He shivered. ‘If I’m not mistaken we shall have snow before morning. The sooner we get out of the cold, the better. I’ll drop you at your rooms and collect you again in, say, two hours. Will that be time enough for you to change? I am going to buy you the best dinner White’s can provide!’

  ‘Really, George, there is no need—’

  ‘Nonsense, man, you have saved me from ruin. And you are in no rush to go to Hampshire?’

  ‘None at all. In fact, I may well remain in town for Christmas.’

  ‘What, you will stay away from Daunton House for another year? My family will be deeply disappointed. They hoped that after the amount of time you have spent there this year you would be making it your home.’

  ‘And I probably shall—but not yet.’

  ‘Ah, I understand.’ George nodded and gave him a knowing wink. ‘Christmas time. You would have that army of aunts, uncles and cousins descending upon you and they would be colluding with my family, doing their best to make you forget your grief over m’sister, but only making it worse with their dismal sighs and sympathetic looks.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘No wonder, then, you would rather remain here! I’d stay with you, but—well—you know how it is. Having come so close to ruin this summer, I am minded to settle down. M’father is getting too old to manage the estate now, so I thought I would live at home and help him.’

  ‘Very commendable,’ said Lawrence gravely.

  ‘Aye, I think so,’ said George
, pleased with himself. ‘But I don’t travel down until tomorrow, so tonight you and I will have one final spree!’

  Lawrence frowned up at the imposing frontage of Samlesbury House as the carriage drew up before the door.

  ‘Really, Craven, I am not sure I am in the mood to be sociable.’

  ‘Nonsense, you are out of practice, having lived like a monk this past year! This isn’t one of your starched-up ton parties—Nancy Samlesbury will have packed the place with dashing young matrons, everyone of ’em eager for a little light-hearted dalliance.’ George Craven jumped out of the carriage and held open the door. ‘Come along, Daunton, I have already told our hostess I would be bringing you with me and I daren’t disappoint her.’

  Stifling a sigh, Lawrence followed him into the house and up the curving staircase towards the noisy ballroom. Lady Samlesbury swept across to them as they were announced.

  ‘So you have brought him.’ After flashing a smile at Craven, she turned her attention to Sir Lawrence, holding out her hand and fixing him with kohl-rimmed eyes that held more than a hint of an invitation. ‘My dear Sir Lawrence, you have become a positive stranger at our little parties.’ Her fingers tightened their grip as he bowed over her hand. She waited until George had moved away, then she lowered her voice to murmur in his ear, ‘I was afraid you had forgotten me and our…time together.’

  The corners of his mouth curved upwards.

  ‘How could I ever forget such a pleasurable experience?’

  She moved closer, peeping at him over the top of her fan.

  ‘Perhaps we should try to recreate it…’

  ‘Fie, Nancy, that was two years ago, before you married Samlesbury and became a respectable married woman. Would you make him jealous?’

  ‘No, alas.’ She sighed, fingering the exquisite diamonds at her neck. ‘Not when he is so generous to me.’ With a laugh she tucked her hand into his arm.

  ‘No, Lawrence, you are right, I must behave myself now. But there are many ladies here who are eager to renew their acquaintance with you…’