To Marry A Matchmaker (Historical Romance)

by Michelle Styles

  ‘Run along? Where do you think I have appeared from, Sebastian? The corner shop?’ Henri tapped her boot against the sawdust. ‘You have caused me a great deal of trouble and this time you will be held to account. I’ll not be left holding pug puppies again.’

  ‘Never fear. No pugs were involved in this, cousin.’ He leant back in the chair and suddenly his gaze narrowed as he caught sight of the man looming behind her. A strange smile crossed his face. ‘You should be more concerned about yourself, Henrietta Maria. I have always been able to look after myself. Come out smelling like your blasted roses.’

  ‘Not this time.’ Henri glared at him. ‘You’re in trouble. You picked the wrong person to manipulate. Sophie Ravel is very dear to me. Answer the question—where is she?’

  ‘It looks from where I sit that you are the one in over her head.’ Sebastian rocked back on his chair. ‘This is a most intriguing development. You showing up here like this with the current company glowering over your shoulder. Not quite the scenario I had envisioned, but one that presents opportunities.’

  Henri ground her teeth and struggled to keep from throttling him. Sebastian was well on his way to being an impossible drunk. Her earliest memories were of her father in these sorts of dark sarcastic moods. She had always hated it. ‘You had to expect that someone would come looking for you.’

  ‘Why would you think that? I’m perfectly fine. Perfectly fine. Thank you for asking.’ Sebastian took a long draught of beer. ‘You told me to grow up and so I have. Can’t say I like it much, though. I’m going to make my fortune in the Californian gold fields.’

  ‘Sebastian!’ Henri stamped her foot against the sawdust-covered floor. She stepped back and encountered Robert’s bulk. ‘Robert, you promised to give me time. Go away!’

  ‘You’ve had your time. I measured it with my fob watch.’ He replaced his fob watch in his waistcoat. ‘Sebastian is starting to make comments about you. I won’t allow it.’

  ‘You will do nothing!’ Henri glared at Robert and willed him to go. With him standing there, Sebastian was likely to behave very badly indeed. Things were going to get a lot worse instead of better.

  ‘Goodness me, this sounds like a lovers’ spat if I ever heard one and here I thought you were only distant friends, Henrietta.’ Sebastian clapped his hands together like an eager child. ‘What an interesting development. Deep water, Henrietta, deep water is where you are at. Be careful you don’t drown.’

  ‘Sebastian! You are spouting fustian nonsense and flim-flam. No one is impressed.’

  ‘Allow me to handle this, Thorndike. Please.’ Robert grabbed Sebastian’s lapels and hauled him to his feet.

  ‘Keep your blasted hands off me, Montemorcy. I have nothing to say to you!’

  The entire public room echoed with the sudden silence. Henri winced. This little confrontation was about to become public gossip of the worst sort. She could imagine the tale being repeated on every lip from here to Newcastle and beyond.

  ‘Please, Robert. You promised! No violence.’

  Robert gave her a quelling look. He shook Sebastian. ‘Answer me! Where is my ward? She left with you! Where have you hidden her?’

  Sebastian rolled his eyes and made a considering noise. ‘I refuse to tell you while you are clinging to my jacket. And I do not believe you’ll hit me, not in front of my cousin. You want to keep her sweet, but you are deluding yourself. She’s utterly devoted to her late husband.’

  An ice-cold finger went down Henri’s spine. Sebastian had tried to make a mockery of Robert and was seeking to taunt him. He didn’t know about their liaison. He couldn’t.

  ‘You have no idea what I will do.’ Robert grabbed Sebastian again.

  ‘Sebastian! Robert!’ Henri stamped her foot. ‘Everyone is staring. You must know where Sophie is, Sebastian. Tell us now and stop playing stupid games.’

  ‘Not until he promises to behave.’ Sebastian stuck out his bottom lip. ‘It is a point I will not be moved on. I will not answer anything while I am being manhandled.’

  ‘Robert, everyone is looking,’ Henri said in an urgent undertone. ‘Think! Do you want your ward’s business known and the subject of taproom gossip? What happened to no violence and discretion?’

  ‘Very well, Henri.’ Robert loosened his hands and put Sebastian away from him. Suddenly, like a tap being turned on, noise filled the public room. Henri risked a breath.

  Sebastian rearranged his stock and brushed his jacket, taking so long that Henri was tempted to shake him herself. Sebastian was enjoying prolonging this, making Robert suffer.

  ‘Sebastian, stop playing games or I will hit you.’

  Sebastian stuck his nose in the air. ‘I refuse to respond to threats of violence. From anyone. And you can’t hit straight, Henrietta.’

  ‘You constantly underestimate your cousin, Cawburn. She doesn’t issue threats. She gives promises and she makes good on her debts, which is more than I can say for you.’

  Henri drew in her breath as she caught Robert’s look. A frisson went through her, warming her down to the tips of her toes. He believed in her.

  ‘Why should I know where that hellion is?’ He gave an angelic smile. ‘You may do what you want with her. I’m finished with her.’

  Henri stared open-mouthed at him, remembering how he always lost interest once Sebastian had bedded a woman. He had gone far too far this time. She wanted to put her hands over her face and weep for the pair of them.

  ‘You kidnapped my ward,’ Robert ground out. ‘You ruined her good name. I will not have her becoming soiled goods.’

  ‘She came with me willingly enough.’ Sebastian held up his hands. ‘Never let it be said that I forced a woman. We even stopped to get her basket. Does that seem to be the actions of a woman forced through violence? My mother’s carriage goes so slowly that I suggested stopping at this inn for the night as the wheel came off. and then, well…things began to go wrong. But on my honour as a gentleman, nothing happened.’

  Henri crossed her arms. She could easily imagine what the things were and unfortunately from the way Robert’s eyes narrowed, she knew he did as well. ‘Where were you heading with Miss Ravel, Sebastian? Jedburgh? Where did Miss Ravel think you were taking her? Were you going to marry her?’

  ‘It does not matter now.’ Sebastian made an expansive gesture, sloshing his beer over the tankard. ‘You were right, Montemorcy, as much as I hate to admit it. Miss Ravel and I would not suit. We have fallen entirely out of civility!’

  Robert uttered a low growl. ‘You will be going before a priest before you do anything.’

  ‘Robert! We need to find Sophie and get her side of the story.’ Henri grasped his arm. ‘It will be resolved. Somehow.’

  ‘This is where listening to you has brought me, Thorndike!’

  ‘I know,’ she replied quietly and wanted to curl up in a little ball. ‘Why didn’t Sophie—?’

  ‘I will show you where the lady is. The lady has particularly requested that no gentleman be allowed into her room. She has barricaded herself in.’ The innkeeper’s wife made a low curtsy in front of Henri and it was clear that she had followed every syllable of the exchange. ‘Thought there was something not right about that couple, I did. I said to Mr Mumps, you watch and see if someone does not come for that poor miss. Mr Mumps kept watch all night, he did.’

  Sophie had barricaded herself in? Henri raised her head. A flicker of hope went through her. Maybe it could be resolved, but first Robert would have to trust her.

  ‘Can you wait for the priest until you have spoken to Sophie, Robert? Give her a chance to explain her side? Learn the whole truth before exploding?’

  The silence stretched and then finally he gave a small nod. ‘If this is another one of your harum-scarum ideas, Thorndike, I will never forgive you.’

  ‘I will get Sophie for you and you will see that she is safe and unharmed.’

  ‘Good old Henrietta!’ Sebastian shouted. ‘I knew you’d be on my side.’
>
  Henri felt Robert stiffen at her side. Silently she willed him to believe in her, rather than in Sebastian’s words. Even now, he didn’t fully trust her and that hurt. But she would show him.

  ‘I want you to be alive when I return, Sebastian, so I might have the pleasure of tearing you limb from limb. Do precisely as Mr Montemorcy says.’ She put her hand on Robert’s arm and said in an undertone, ‘Trust me. I’m doing this for Sophie, not for Sebastian. Intuition will prevail.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘I believe the lady you seek is in there,’ the innkeeper’s wife said after they had climbed a flight of stairs. ‘It is our best room. She refuses to allow anyone in. I told Mr Mumps that he should have made them pay first. And now his lordship is claiming, if you please, that she has all the money.’

  The woman gave a small sniff as if she expected better of people who rented that particular room.

  ‘I believe I can find my way from here.’ Henri reached into her reticule and took out a coin.

  ‘As you like, ma’am.’ The woman gave a small curtsy and bustled off, muttering about people who had too fine a manner.

  Henri waited until she heard footsteps on the stairs. Then she tapped on the door. ‘Sophie? Sophie Ravel, are you in there?’

  ‘Henri! Oh, Henrietta Thorndike, is it you?’ Sophie called out. ‘Or am I dreaming? I’ve so longed for a friendly voice.’

  ‘Yes, dear, it is I.’ Henri felt a catch in her throat. She wanted something more for Sophie than to be hiding out in grimy rooms with peeping innkeepers. She wanted to throttle Sebastian. Sophie Ravel deserved so much more. ‘And Robert is downstairs.’

  ‘You have come to rescue me?’ Sophie’s voice sounded very young and uncertain. ‘I fear I’ve made an awful pickle of things, Henri. I thought…I thought I could handle him.’

  ‘Nothing that cannot be put right.’

  ‘You’re wrong. I know what happens next.’

  Henri tried the door handle, but the door was bolted from the inside. She put her hand on the smooth dark wood and willed Sophie to open the door. ‘Why did you go with Sebastian? You said that you had no interest in my cousin.’

  ‘I should never have quarrelled with Miss Armstrong, but she would complain about what a busybody know-it-all you are. And I know what a good heart you have. Everyone says so. Jealous cat.’

  Henri took a calming breath. She did things because she liked to make people happy, because she cared about them and wanted to help, not because she wanted to gossip about them. And right now, she was here, determined to help Sophie. ‘Miss Armstrong’s opinions are of no matter. It doesn’t explain why you went with Sebastian.’

  ‘He seemed so understanding. And I wanted…I wanted…well, that is…I thought I ought to see what a man who was unsafe in carriages was really like before it was too late. I’m here and hope never to see his face again and now everyone will say I have to marry him or—’

  ‘Sophie, I’m here to help. You quarrelled with Miss Armstrong because you said I had a good heart. Allow me to prove it. There will be a way around this coil. No one will force anyone to marry.’

  The noise of a bolt sliding filled the hallway. Henri relaxed slightly and willed Sophie to open the door.

  The door opened a crack and Sophie peeked out. Her normally well-coiffured hair hung down in snakes around her shoulders, her eyes were red, her dress creased and the lace torn. In her right hand, she brandished a reasonably sized frying pan.

  Henri stepped back and gestured in the empty hall. ‘See, me, Sophie, no one else. You’re safe.’

  Sophie burst into fresh tears and ran into the hall. Henri held her, patting her back until the sobs and hiccupping subsided. ‘Henri, I’m ruined. Really ruined. People will draw their skirts away from me. But nothing untoward happened. I shall become an Example!’

  ‘Sophie, your true friends will stand by you.’ Henri held the young woman away from her. ‘They always do. We’ll find a way around this. Did my cousin attack you? Did you know what he intended? Did he dishonour you?’

  ‘No, he didn’t get a chance.’ Sophie gave a tiny smile as she raised the frying pan. ‘Knowing how to use a cricket bat meant I could swing the frying pan with some force. It took three goes before he finally believed I was serious.’

  ‘Sebastian does rather take pride in his attractiveness to the opposite sex.’

  ‘Did Robert send you, Henri? Does he intend on making me marry Sebastian now? Sebastian said he would and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. He…he looked forward to taming me and he was going to spend every penny of my inheritance.’ A single tear trickled down Sophie’s cheek. ‘I won’t. I can’t. I wanted so much more from my life. You must tell him that for me. You will have to do it.’

  ‘I’ve no idea what Robert’s intentions are,’ Henri replied truthfully. ‘But he wants what’s best for you. He wants the truth.’

  ‘He won’t like the truth.’ Sophie shook her head. ‘I can’t tell Robert the truth!’

  ‘Why did you go with my cousin? Why not just go back to the New Lodge?’

  Sophie winced. ‘I didn’t really know how I felt about Sebastian except he made things more exciting and I was tired of being good. I thought…about you and how you met the love of your life and you eloped. You were my age. It was so romantic. I want romance in my life.’

  ‘Sophie…you never knew me then.’ Henri sighed. Sophie deserved the truth. ‘I may have eloped, but it was not romantic. Edmund was seriously ill. We married so I could nurse him. I had a notion about saving his life and I suppose escaping from my parents. A woman should be a wife before she is anything else, my mother used to say, but I didn’t understand what she meant. I think I was too young to understand the different sorts of love.’ She closed her eyes and thought of Robert, how he was there for her in the quiet moments and how he challenged her without making her feel small or insignificant. And how the passion flared between them. She wanted to be his lover before anything. With Edmund, she had only wanted to be his ministering angel. Edmund would always occupy a place in her heart, but she wanted Robert with all his faults in her life. ‘I do know now.’

  ‘Sebastian seemed romantic and certain of his love. He wanted to make a grand gesture.’ Sophie ducked her head. ‘It seemed exciting, a man of his reputation interested in plain old me.’

  ‘You are far from plain, Sophie. But what went wrong?’

  ‘When we stopped at this inn and I became worried because I thought surely someone would have caught up with us. Robert couldn’t have believed the notes. I thought he’d have asked you. Then Sebastian seemed concerned about his hair, his problems with his coat and getting a pint of beer. He wanted…he wanted…Anyway…I hit him on the head. He refused to believe me about the frying pan. I did warn him, Henri, if he persisted I would.’ A tiny giggle escaped from Sophie. ‘You should have seen his face and he became ugly, not at all like he had been. It was the last blow to his head that sent him downstairs, shouting about how I was a hell-born fury and how he’d tame the wild-cat. I barricaded the door.’

  ‘He hasn’t touched you.’ A burgeoning hope bubbled up inside her. Sophie was unharmed and no longer infatuated with Sebastian. ‘He hasn’t actually ruined you?’

  ‘No, he hasn’t. My stepmother always is going on and on about keeping my reputation spotless so the family does not suffer, but how I must marry someone in aristocracy.’ Sophie hung her head. ‘Adventure is thoroughly disorienting. Like my canary, I prefer my gilded cage. And I left the door open for him. Do you think he will still be there?’

  ‘Your stepmother will do as Robert says. And I am certain that we can convince him. And, yes, I think your canary will be close by.’ Henri started to pace the hallway. Her mind raced. She could do this. She could save Sophie, but the words had to come from Sophie. Sophie had to tell Robert the complete truth and trust him.

  The young woman’s eyes widened. ‘Do you mean that? I don’t deserve you as a friend.’

>   Henri put her hands on the young woman’s shoulders. ‘Take responsibility. Tell everyone the truth, rather than saying what you think you want them to hear, and people will stand by you. It is the character of a person that is important, not the reputation. Reputation is what others think of you. Character is what you are.’

  ‘I don’t like myself very much now.’ Sophie gave a huge sigh. ‘I deserve to be unhappy.’

  Henri put an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. ‘Now, shall we get you cleaned up a bit before you go down? Grace is waiting in the carriage.’

  ‘Grace is here?’ A single tear ran down Sophie’s cheek. ‘Do you think she will clean me up and fix my hair before we go and see Robert?’

  ‘Life is always much brighter when you are properly dressed.’

  ‘Henri, you know my one regret about not marrying Sebastian is that you and I will not be related.’ Sophie gave a sad smile. ‘I don’t suppose after this, there is any chance you might fall for Robert, is there?’

  Henri took a deep breath. Fall for Robert? She already had. ‘I have no plans to remarry, Sophie. And no one has asked me.’

  ‘Then he jolly well should.’ Sophie put a hand on her hip. ‘And you should accept him.’

  ‘Whatever happens, Sophie, remember you have a friend in me.’

  * * *

  Robert glared at Cawburn, who continued to sit at the table, humming a strange tune. Robert wished that he could simply take Sophie and leave, but Cawburn had deliberately ruined the young woman and her prospects. Unless he could find a way around the coil, Sophie would have to marry this man and would suffer. It was something he didn’t want. Yesterday, everything seemed clear-cut, but today, it was far from straightforward and he hoped Henri would find a way. He gave a small smile. The man who prided himself on solving his problems had discovered he needed someone else. Henri was fast becoming indispensible to his well-being and that made the current arrangement entirely unsatisfactory.