‘It made more than sense.’ Riordan spread his hands on his thighs. ‘By then, I knew I was falling in love with her. No one else held my interest, I was jealous of any man that looked at her. I saw off a nice baron who would have courted her.
All the signs were there. But then she refused me and there seemed to be no legitimate grounds for that refusal.’ Riordan chuckled. ‘After all, what is there not to like? I’m an earl, I have money and estates, I’m handsome, so the ladies tell me.’
‘And he can make a woman...’ Merrick began, but Alixe swatted at him.
‘That’s when she told me about her uncle using her marriage as a means of settling a gambling debt. She told me none too soon. The unwanted suitor, Wildeham, showed up four days later at the hearing with the Vales. He’s done his research. He knows exactly what the situation is and he’s used it as leverage to fulfil his own needs by throwing his lot in with Vale.’
‘Exactly how has he done that?’ Ashe leaned forwards, green eyes narrowed in thought, a shrewd look on his face Riordan didn’t like. Ashe saw something here that he’d overlooked. But that was why he’d called for his friends. He needed more viewpoints than his own.
‘He’s told the Vales he’ll help block my marriage to Maura by proving her unsuitable. They will get custody of the children and he’ll get Maura. To hedge his bets, he sent men here and seized them.’
‘Now he doesn’t have to comply with anyone’s demands. He doesn’t have to wait for the judge to decide about the contract. This Wildeham can simply walk away now and not testify any further if he chooses. He has what he wants.’
Genevra set down her tea cup and surveyed the group with solemn eyes.
‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law, we like to say in America.’ Genevra’s voice was quiet and firm. ‘There’s nothing stopping him from marrying her now.’
Genevra’s words had awakened his fears again. On her own, Maura would resist. But Wildeham had the children and Maura would do anything to keep them safe. The three people he loved most in this world had simply disappeared while he’d wasted his afternoon trying to make deals with a man who had already decided he wouldn’t deal with anyone. ‘I don’t know where to look or even where to start.’
‘We’ll start backwards,’ Merrick put in. ‘How did Wildeham discover she was here? What led him to you?’
‘The newspaper reports?’ Riordan said weakly. He didn’t really believe that answer. Only people who knew him would understand the references and there had to be more governesses in London besides Maura whose last name started with a ‘C’.
Merrick shook his head. ‘I doubt it. It’s likely not even something you did tipped Wildeham’s hand, but instead something she did, something she left behind on her trail.’
‘The agency,’ Riordan said simply. ‘Mrs Pendergast’s Referral Service for Well-Bred Ladies, or something like that.’
Merrick nodded and checked his watch. ‘It’s nearly six o’clock now, but if I hurry, perhaps we can talk to someone before it closes.’ He rose and Alixe did, too. ‘No, Alixe, you stay here. Mrs Pendergast, is it? I’ll need to work alone.’
Alixe laughed up at her handsome husband, one of London’s most notorious rakes before he’d settled to marriage. ‘Absolutely, my dear. I’d certainly hate to cramp your style.’
‘Perhaps it would help if Alixe and I interviewed the servants again about what happened here while we wait for Merrick,’ Genevra suggested. ‘There might be a fact or detail that has been overlooked. Now that the initial excitement of the incident has passed, people’s memories might be calmer.’
He was left with Ashe as the others moved off to their tasks. Riordan had no doubt Merrick’s efforts with Mrs Pendergast would bear fruit but that didn’t make the waiting any easier. ‘What do we do now?’
Ashe fixed him with a solemn stare and said very seriously, ‘Now, you and I talk. I can’t promise you’ll like what I have to say.’
‘You’ve always been honest with me, Ashe.’
‘Does she love you?’
‘Does she love me? What hell of a question is that?’
‘Is it one you can answer?’ Ashe looked at him meaningfully. ‘The one thing I’ve heard running through all you’ve told us is the plot to save the children. You would not have chosen to marry if not forced to it. Obviously she would not have chosen to marry either. She came here looking for anonymity, for escape.’
‘Maura would do anything for the children. She adores them.’ Even as he said the words, Riordan saw the truth of Ashe’s question. Maura had called him extraordinary. She’d desired him. But never once had she said she loved him.
‘Anything for the children?’ Ashe repeated.
‘Even marry me, apparently.’ Riordan swallowed hard.
‘And you? You would do anything for those children, even marry a woman you’ve only known for a month.’
‘Six weeks,’ Riordan corrected in desultory tones.
‘Are you sure you’re in love with her and not in love with the solution she provides? Be honest, Riordan, you didn’t even know her real name until today.’
‘That doesn’t mean we’re just going to let her rot.’ Riordan jumped to his feet, pacing the room.
‘Of course not. But it does mean you should think about what you do afterwards,’ Ashe said. ‘If you can prove Vale is after the trust funds, you don’t need to worry about marriage. Vale will have no more grounds to contest the will. Everything he does in that regard will look suspect and, frankly, English justice doesn’t like to tamper with peers.’
Riordan knew he spoke with authority on that point. Ashe’s own father had left a potentially troublesome will naming regents to oversee the estate as long as his eldest son lived. Ashe’s brother had been mentally incompetent, a victim of a nervous breakdown. As odd as the request had been, it had been upheld with ironclad backing.
‘I can tell you’re upset with me,’ Ashe cajoled. ‘You always pace when you’re angry. I just want you to have a good marriage. When it happens, it’s for ever, Riordan. You don’t want to look across the dinner table some night and ask yourself what you’re doing with her, how did you end up here? If you were free to choose, would your choice be the same?’
‘Milord.’ Fielding bowed at the door, a salver in his hand. ‘This arrived for you at the back door.’
Riordan picked up the note. It was folded and written on heavy paper.
Wildeham then, he guessed. A hired man would have set a note on thin, cheap paper, assuming he could write at all. The message was hardly surprising. He passed the short note to Ashe.
‘Leave Maura to me and the children will be home before midnight,’ Ashe read out loud.
Very simple, very easy, except he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave Maura to the fate her uncle had designed. He loved her, and while Ashe had a point it seemed to matter less. Did Maura love him? Maybe. But he wouldn’t have his answer until he found her.
‘If the boy is waiting to take a reply, tell him no.’
‘Is that all, milord?’
‘Yes. Simply no.’
In the hour before Ashe and Merrick’s arrival, he’d walked every inch of the house, trying to organise his thoughts. He supposed he’d succeeded. All his thoughts had organised around one thing: Maura. She was there in each room; the house was full of memories of her. In the time she’d been at Chatham House she’d left her mark. There was the sitting room where he’d made her laugh until brandy had come out her nose. The dining room where they’d made love against the wall, where he’d first flirted with her, where she’d hosted a dinner party for him, the drawing room where she’d dazzled his guests, the staircase where he’d watched her descend, the study where he’d kissed her the first time, the library...the list went on. There were other places, too, that would be irrevocably changed for him. He would never go to Gunter’s again without remembering the way her eyes had lit up over the chocolate ice. He would not fly a kite again without thinking of tha
t day in the park.
‘I wish you’d say something.’ Ashe shoved his hands in his pockets and balanced on the balls of his feet.
Riordan smiled. ‘Come with me, Ashe. While we wait for Merrick, I want to give you a tour of my house and show you my etchings.’
Ashe looked at him as if he were headed for Bedlam. ‘I’ve seen Chatham House before, and I don’t really think I need to see your, um, etchings.’
‘Yes, you do.’ He would show Ashe Chatham House and all the ways that Maura had changed it. There would be no doubt of his feelings then.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘You should know we’ve made the earl an offer. I do not expect it to be refused.’
The familiar snide tones made Maura jump.
Her stomach plummeted. Wildeham was here! She swivelled her head around to find the voice in the dim light of the room, careful not to wake the children.
They’d fallen asleep against her, exhausted by the ordeal and the fright. She gently dislodged them from her arms and rose, trying to mask her own fear. This was so much worse. She’d been wrong all along. Her uncle hadn’t been hunting her. It had been Wildeham.
‘How can you do this? The children are innocent,’ she challenged, arms crossed and defiant.
‘I’m sure it’s been explained already.’ He feigned patience. ‘They’re insurance.
You won’t run. I know you, Maura, and you’d never leave them. It did surprise me that you played me false in that regard. I didn’t imagine you’d leave your family and refuse to honour the debt. It disappointed me as well.’ He circled her, a sneer on his lips. ‘I had such plans for you, for us. Your aunt Mary is beside herself with worry. She’s taken to her bed. Here she thought she had a wedding to plan for her dear niece who was going to make a spectacular match, only to discover you’d run off with no regard for her and your young cousins.’
Maura stood her ground. ‘I will not be guilted into returning. I will not marry you.’
‘You may have no choice.’
‘You can’t kidnap me.’
Wildeham laughed at that. ‘You call this kidnapping?’ He made a wide gesture to encompass the elegant suite. ‘First of all, I have papers which clearly define the nature of our relationship. You can’t kidnap wives. Second of all, kidnappers don’t whisk people off to expensive hotels with first-rate trappings. They take you to dark cottages in the wilds where no one would ever find you.’ He shook his head, mocking her claims. ‘I think you would find your version of the story very hard to sell.’
‘You sent men with guns to my home. We were forcibly removed. There were witnesses. A servant was shot.’
‘At least one.’ The glib remark put fear into Maura. If he was this callous about the shooting, what else would he dare without so much as a blink? Wildeham’s violence knew no bounds. ‘Your earl was most impressive today.’ He trailed a lazy finger down the bodice of her gown, chuckling when she stiffened. ‘You’ll come to like a little petting, my dear.’ Maura fought the bile rising in her throat. If Riordan had been hurt, she would not forgive herself.
‘Don’t worry, my dear,’ Wildeham crooned. ‘Chatham’s fine, for now. I did tell him what a tease you were, how you entice men all the time, how you had no business entering into any commitment with him when you were promised to another.’ He stopped here to pick at a spot of lint on his sleeve. ‘I think he was rather hurt to know Caulfield wasn’t your real name. He didn’t know.’ He tsked. ‘Secrets are always bad business, Maura. Anyway, I made him a deal. He should be receiving it right about now. The children will be going home shortly, I should think. But maybe not. It depends on you.’
‘What deal?’ Maura asked, trepidation ratcheting up her nerves. Wildeham positively made her skin crawl.
‘The deal where he leaves off any claim to you in return for getting the children back. And, of course, you agree to marry me. They could be asleep in their beds tonight, all of this nothing more than a bad memory, an incident that could have been avoided if their governess had been truthful and done what she was told.’ He shook his head. ‘All of this could have been avoided, Maura, if you’d followed directions. If you’re worried about the children, you have only yourself to blame.
This is your fault; don’t think the earl won’t understand that.’
He leaned forwards as if imparting a secret. She could feel his breath against her cheek. ‘Don’t think he’ll spare you a second thought, Maura. You made him look the fool today at that hearing; you and your little lies solidified the Vales’ claims that the earl is no better than his reputation. If he loses the children, it will be your fault, too.’
‘And if I don’t comply?’
‘Then I’ll send the children to the workhouse or an orphanage. I’m sure Chatham would eventually find them, but he won’t thank you for your hand in it.’
‘I hate you.’ Maura spat the words with vehemence.
‘You really hate yourself. I am just a convenient target,’ he whispered silkily, drawing a clammy hand the length of her jaw. He paused, feigned concern in his eyes when she flinched at the contact. ‘Oh dear, you didn’t think the earl actually loved you? You didn’t think he saw you as anything more than an easy solution to his problem, did you? Well, it will be over soon enough. I’ll leave you to your thoughts.’
The children for her. Maura waited until Wildeham left the room before swiping at the tears smarting in her eyes. He was wrong, he had to be wrong!
Riordan would come. Riordan would never accept such a deal. Riordan loved her, he’d said nearly as much. But not exactly.
Wildeham’s words haunted her. Maybe Riordan would say anything to get what he wanted. Maybe she’d been blind, had wanted to be blind to realities.
Riordan was an experienced flirt, after all. She’d known his measure from the first, warned herself from the beginning about his nature. But she’d been too willing to ignore those signs, and look where it had landed her—kidnapped and on the brink of marriage to an absolute reprobate of a man who meant to make her life a complete misery. Her only hope of rescue lay with a man who would be debating right now whether or not he could trust her, whether or not she was worth it, a man who had asked her to marry him, but had not told her he loved her.
That was when the fight went out of her. The only thing she could be sure of, was herself. She had to finish this adventure as she’d begun it, alone. The only bargain she could trust was a bargain she made. If selling herself to Wildeham was the only way to see the children safe, then that was what she’d do.
*
‘I have news!’ Merrick sailed into the drawing room, waving a sheet of paper in his hand. ‘Mrs Pendergast was very generous.’
Everyone looked up expectantly. It seemed he’d been gone an age. Merrick passed the slip of paper to Riordan. ‘A man came to the agency making enquiries.
It was Wildeham. She regretted telling him anything, but he had a knife.’
‘Did you console her?’ Alixe teased.
‘I did my absolute best,’ Merrick answered before continuing. ‘This explains how he found her.’
‘But it doesn’t explain where she’s been taken.’ Riordan didn’t want to squash his friend’s excitement, but he wasn’t sure this information constituted headway.
‘It tells us who is helping him,’ Ashe clarified. ‘It might be important. We can start asking around in certain places where men of his ilk are for hire. Chances are someone’s heard of him.’
Merrick shook his head. ‘I doubt it. Mrs Pendergast said he had an accent like he was from up north.’ He nodded in Riordan’s direction. ‘Exeter. That means Wildeham is working privately. He’s not as certain of his claim. He’d have Bow Street on it if he thought he was entirely legitimate. I would bet Maura is not tucked away in any hidden location. Wildeham doesn’t know of any place to stash her.’
‘Hiding in plain sight?’ Riordan supplied.
‘Could be. Less likely to look like a kidnapping then at least,’
Ashe said. ‘Do we have any idea where Wildeham might be staying? Does he have a town house?’
‘That could be like hunting a needle in a haystack.’ Alixe sighed. ‘He could rent a town house, or rent rooms, or stay at an inn, he could be on the city limits or in any one of the neighborhoods.’
‘The possibilities are never endless if you know the person,’ Ashe said slowly, turning towards Riordan. ‘What do your powers of deduction tell you? You’re the only one of us who has actually seen the man. Is he the type to stay in a cheap inn on the outskirts of London?’
It was usually so easy to play the fortune-telling game, to amaze a lady with the ability to guess certain things about her: her hobbies, whether or not she rode and rode well. But this was different. Tonight, his mind was cluttered with worry and doubt. What if he guessed wrong? It would cost them wasted time chasing a red herring. ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea,’ he stalled. ‘Ashe, that’s just a thing I do, a parlour trick, really.’ He wouldn’t stake Maura’s future on a game.
‘It’s more than that and you know it,’ Ashe pressed. ‘And it’s all we’ve got right now, so you might as well try.’ Ashe rose and asked a footman to bring writing materials. ‘Just start talking, tell us everything you know and I’ll write it down.
We can make sense of it together.’
Riordan began. He started with the man’s clothes: the well-tailored cut of them, the closely clipped moustache, the straight teeth, the buffed nails—all signs of a man who took his personal grooming seriously. He moved on to the accessories the man had carried on his person: the Malacca wood walking stick, the multi-fobbed watch chain draped across his waistcoat adorned with tasteful gold fobs, the high polish of his boots, the ruby stick pin in his cravat, the very slight paunch starting to swell beneath the waistcoat. Even the most discerning of eyes would not catch it, hidden as it was beneath the layers of waistcoat and jacket, but Riordan had noticed. He’d noticed everything about the man who had threatened Maura.
‘Wildeham does not strike me as a man who parts with his comforts easily or willingly,’ Riordan said at last, his repertoire of remembrances exhausted. ‘He did not strike me as a man who’d travel without luxuries.’
How to Sin Successfully (Rakes Beyond Redemption) Page 19