by Mary Nichols
She handed the letter to Mrs Summers without speaking. ‘Oh, dear,’ the good lady said when she had read it. ‘It is plain your stepfather has not relented. Your poor, poor mama…’
‘I am sure she was relieved to know I had arrived here, but I am worried that I might have put you in danger. Perhaps I should leave.’
‘Leave! I won’t hear of it. Your mother entrusted you to me and I mean to look after you.’
‘But—’
‘No buts, please. And it would take a brave man to get the better of Alexander Malvers. You really must tell him now.’
‘No. Don’t you see? While he is in ignorance, he is safe. They cannot say he aided and abetted if he was not aware that he was doing so—’ She stopped because they heard footsteps outside the door. Emma snatched the letter and crammed it into her pocket as Alex came into the room, ushering Mrs Yates in with her two children. ‘Here they are,’ he said cheerfully.
Mrs Summers was occupied for the next hour or so introducing Mrs Yates to the staff and showing her where she could sleep, a room on the second floor she was to share with Lizzie, who was old enough to help in the house. Sam was found a bed with the men who had living quarters above the stables.
Emma found herself alone with Alex and feeling tongue-tied, which was certainly unusual for her. But the letter, crackling in her pocket, was on her mind. It was very worrying and made her all the more determined to remain incognito. No one must know who she really was, no one at all. Any idea she might have had of confiding in Lord Malvers had been blown away on the wind. For his sake, as much as anyone’s, her secret must be kept. If her stepfather and Lord Bentwater were going to such extreme lengths to find her, then they would not take kindly to anyone frustrating them.
‘Was Mrs Yates pleased to leave that hovel?’ she asked when the silence became unbearable. ‘Was Sam able to walk?’
‘She gave every appearance of being glad to be out of it. As for Sam, I had him up in front of me. He is a lively young fellow and did not stop talking the whole way. He calls me Mr Lord. His sister is more reserved and somewhat in awe of me.’
‘I can understand that. I don’t suppose she has met anyone as lofty as you before.’
‘I am not lofty.’
She attempted to laugh, though it sounded cracked. ‘You must be well over six feet tall.’
‘Oh, that kind of lofty.’ He grinned. ‘Six feet three inches to be exact. Enough of that. How are you today? None the worse for your little adventure, I trust?’
‘I am very well,’ she said. ‘But I do realise how foolish I was to go alone and I owe you a great debt, for without you we might never have been found.’
‘It is my pleasure to be of service.’ He bowed formally, but he was smiling, his eyes glowing with amusement.
What would he say if he knew his services to her—and they had been many and varied—would not be appreciated in another quarter? Emma wondered. If he had not been on hand to help her, who knows but she would have given up her flight in despair and returned home? ‘Perhaps you should give up and let me stew in my own folly in future,’ she said. ‘I am coming to rely on you too much.’
‘I wish you would always do so,’ he said softly. ‘Rely on me, confide in me, trust me.’
He had made the opening for her, one she had never been able to find for herself and, if it had not been for that letter, she would have seized the opportunity to unburden herself, but now it was too late. She loved him too much to risk having him brought to book for luring her away from her family, or even indicted for kidnap. What did the law do to kidnappers? She had a feeling it might be a death penalty and it would do no good to tell her stepfather she had not been taken against her will. It was too convenient a way of explaining her disappearance and saving his face. ‘Oh, I do.’
‘Then are you going to tell me why you felt you had to run away yesterday?’
‘I didn’t run away. I went for a walk.’
‘Damn you, woman, you are trying my patience. What you need is a good spanking…’ He stopped and took her shoulders in his hands, meaning to give her a little shake, but he saw her eyes widen with shock as if she thought he really meant to carry out his threat. Was he such a tyrant? ‘I am sorry,’ he said. ‘I did not mean to frighten you. You are frightened, aren’t you?’
‘Not of you,’ she whispered. ‘Never of you.’
‘Then who?’
‘No one.’ She gave a cracked laugh. ‘I am frightened of no one. I am not afraid of the dark or ghosts or wild white horses or men who think that because I am a servant and ignorant I can be kissed with impunity.’ She had been thinking of James Griggs, but he thought she meant him and let her go, dropping his hands to his sides.
‘Point taken. Miss Fanny Draper is fearless. I am glad of that.’ He spoke tersely, angry with her, angry with himself for letting her disturb him to such an extent he could forget his manners. He must try to bring things back on to an even keel. ‘That means you will not be afraid of kidnappers.’
‘Kidnappers?’ she echoed. Did he know, had he known all along?’
‘Yes, at the regatta. You said you would do it. You haven’t changed your mind, have you?’
She breathed a huge sigh of relief, which was not lost on him. ‘Oh, that! Of course I will do it. After all, they are not really going to harm me, are they?’
‘They would not dare,’ he said.
Chapter Nine
‘Would you both like to come out in the carriage with me?’ Alex asked his aunt and Emma the following afternoon. ‘I am going to inspect the invasion fleet we have assembled down by the jetty and I’m going over to the island to see how the fortress they are building is shaping up. If you are to be carried there by your kidnappers, Miss Draper, it would be as well to see the place first.’
They agreed to go and he went out to the stables to arrange for the carriage to be made ready. He found Sam eagerly grooming his horse, which stood shivering with pleasure.
Joe nodded towards the boy. ‘He’ll earn his keep, my lord, though he is full of questions: why, who, when and where. Don’ seem he’s ever satisfied.’
‘That’s how he’ll learn, Joe. I wonder if I ought to put him to school?’
‘You can’t send every little beggar to school.’
‘No, but I could start one, couldn’t I? What do you think?’
‘No good asking me, Major, I never had any schooling m’self.’
‘I’ll think about it. Will you have the horses put to the carriage, please? I am taking my aunt and Miss Draper into Bowness. You can drive us.’
‘Oh, so she’s still Miss Draper, is she?’
‘Yes, not safe for her to be anything else, is it?’
‘I suppose not, but it makes me wonder where it’s all going to end.’
‘Me too. She had a letter from London, which seems to have put her into a panic. If Runners have been employed, they’ll be looking for kidnappers…’
‘Meaning you?’ Joe was busy putting one of the horses in the shafts as he spoke.
‘I suppose so.’
‘What are you going to do about it?’
‘Marry her myself.’ The determination behind that statement took him by surprise. He realised all his doubts had fled; it had not been his decision, so much as fate’s. And it had been made at the precise moment he decided to offer his inside seats to the two ladies at the Swan with Two Necks. So much for his resolve not to marry. What had happened to his determination not to let any woman rule him as Lawrence had been ruled? But Emma was not Constance. Emma was herself, unique among women. ‘When she decides to tell me who she really is,’ he added. ‘Can’t go marrying Miss Fanny Draper, can I? She doesn’t exist.’
‘And you think her stepfather is going to stand for that, do you?’
‘He’ll have no choice.’
‘Then if you take my advice, Major, you won’t waste no time about it.’
‘After the regatta. I can’t do anything before that.
’
Joe had harnessed the other horse and checked everything was ready. ‘There you are, my lord, all ready to go. I’ll take it round the front of the house, shall I?’
Bowness was a busy little place, the hub of life on Windermere. Situated on the eastern shore by the narrowest part of the lake, it had a jetty and a quay from which all manner of boats plied on the water. A ferry left regularly to cross over to the other side of the lake, knocking hours off the time travelling round its shores. The lake, which was over ten miles long, was divided into two by a string of wooded islands, the largest of which was owned by a Mr Curwen and was called Long Holm. It was not this island that would be the scene of the ‘invasion’, but a smaller one a little to the north. From the shore it was easy to see the wooden walls of a fortress being constructed on its highest point. Alex hired a boat and he and Joe rowed the ladies over to see it.
Although it looked very realistic from the lakeside, it was not a permanent building and could easily be taken down when the regatta ended. They wandered all round it, inspecting the wooden turrets that were being made to look like stone with grey paint. Cannon poked out from embrasures in the walls. ‘Will they fire?’ Emma asked him.
‘Yes, but they won’t be loaded, just make flashes and a great deal of noise when the fleet comes near.’
‘And the ships will fire back?’
‘Yes, then they’ll send in a landing party to fight their way inland to rescue you and bring you back. Are you still prepared to do it?’
‘Yes, why not? Will you be leading the rescue party?’
‘Oh, most definitely.’ He paused to look closely at her. She had rebuffed him that morning, but had she really meant it? He had given her every opportunity to tell him about her stepfather, but she had not taken it. Surely she did not suspect he would hand her over to that apology for a man? ‘You do not have to go through with it if you would rather not,’ he said quietly.
‘Why should I not? Do you think I am afraid?’
He laughed. ‘No, for you have assured me that you are afraid of nothing. Besides, there is nothing to fear.’
Nothing to fear, she thought. Nor was there from him, but her whole being was screwed up with fear; she saw her stepfather or Lord Bentwater round every corner, waiting to pounce. And how would she recognise a Bow Street Runner if she saw one? She did not know how much more of it she could stand.
‘Shall we return to Bowness and find somewhere to eat?’ he asked, noting the thoughtful look on her face and wondering what was passing through her mind. ‘Then we can go and see how the ships are coming along. They will be setting sail from Waterhead. The spectators will be able to watch the whole thing from the hills all round the upper part of the lake.’
They returned to the mainland and ate a simple snack at Low-wood Inn on the way back to Waterhead. Afterwards they left the carriage on the road to walk down to the water’s edge and here they found the strangest collection of vessels Emma had ever seen. Alex’s yacht, the Lady Jane, had been painted over all and given a superstructure that, from a distance, made it look like a very small warship. Other yachts had been similarly disguised and there were rowing boats and an old ferry, which he intended to fill with ‘invading troops’.
‘The ships will be crewed by their owners,’ Alex said. ‘And the invading troops are volunteers, mostly men who have been working on the conversions.’
‘I am sure it is going to be a great talking point,’ Mrs Summers said. ‘But you said something about other attractions.’
‘Yes, stalls and booths are being organised by the town’s shopkeepers and rowing and swimming races.’
‘And will it all be ready in time?’
‘Yes, I am confident it will, but we must pray for fine weather or people will not turn up.’
‘And then what?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘What is going to happen when it is all over? Are you going home to Norfolk?’
‘I shall have to go some time, you know.’ He paused. ‘But there are things I must resolve first.’
Amelia looked sharply at him. ‘I understand,’ she said.
Emma was quiet as they made their way back to the carriage for the short journey back to Highhead. He was going back to Norfolk. He was going to leave her and she didn’t know how she was going to bear it. Her life stretched out before her empty and barren, and how long would Mrs Summers keep her on as a companion? She did not earn her keep; in fact, she was costing the dear lady money. Something must be done.
Alex was also wondering what could be done. He had no intention of going back to Norfolk without her. He had two weeks before the regatta, two weeks in which he must make her see that if she were married to him, she had nothing to fear from her stepfather or that rotter, Bentwater. His resolution not to marry had been blown away by an exasperating, opinionated woman who had wormed her way into his heart and could not be evicted. Life without her was unthinkable.
After the regatta. If it were a success, it could be repeated year on year, but that would not be enough. He must set up workshops to employ the talents of the men he had recruited. A great many wealthy people, attracted by the beautiful scenery, were building homes in the area now. The small, scattered villages and towns were bound to expand. Bricklayers, carpenters, painters, tailors, bootmakers, harness makers, horsemen of all sorts, gardeners and watermen would be needed and the extensive outbuildings of Highhead Hall would make several small workshops. The house itself would become a school for their children. He would speak to the Reverend Griggs, who would be the best one to advise him about setting up a school. The Rector was still not convinced the regatta was a good idea, but had ceased to oppose him. Alex wondered if it was because he had seen James following Emma after the picnic and then come down again alone, rubbing a sore elbow and scowling; he might have guessed what had happened, especially if it was not the first time James had behaved in that fashion. He might have decided it would not do to cross Viscount Malvers. Alex was content to let him go on thinking it.
Highhead Hall was his and he did not legally need his aunt’s agreement for his plans for it, but he would not have dreamed of going ahead without it. He hoped she would consent to live at the dower house at Buregreen with his mother, when he and Emma moved into the main house. He thought of her as Emma now, but reminded himself he must not call her that until she told him to.
She had been animated on their tour of inspection, but now she sat quietly in the corner of the carriage and the shadows had come down over her face again. Oh, how he longed to banish them for good. And he would too. Soon.
He took the opportunity the next morning, when Emma was outside with Sam, to talk to his aunt about his ideas. ‘Aunt, can you spare a moment?’ he said, finding her in her little parlour, writing letters.
She laid down her pen. ‘Yes, of course.’
He sat opposite her and told her of his idea of making the Hall into a school, ending with his suggestion she should move in with his mother. ‘The dower house is substantial and in good repair,’ he said. ‘There is room enough for two of you not to get under each other’s feet.’
‘I have always been fond of my sister,’ she told him. ‘But I think it would not serve. Two strong-minded women sharing a house is not a good idea. And besides, my home is here, by the lakes, where I have been happy with my husband and brother.’
‘Of course. It was only an idea.’
She smiled. ‘You will need a housekeeper for your little school, so why don’t I stay on and fill that role?’
‘Are you sure about that? Children can be noisy and adventurous and you have been used to a quiet life.’
‘Too quiet sometimes. Having Emma here has taught me that I should be making myself useful. I am not in my dotage yet, Alex.’ He noted her use of Emma’s real name, but did not comment on it. Obviously, his aunt trusted him, even if Emma did not.
‘I know that. I never meant to imply you were.’
‘And there
is Emma to consider. What is to happen to her?’
He stood up and began pacing the floor. It was the time for truth, with his aunt at least. ‘I hope she will consent to marry me, but I am not at all sure of her. If she had any regard for me, she would have given up this pretence of hers long ago.’
‘I suspect she is afraid, Alex.’
‘Of me?’ He stopped his perambulation in astonishment. ‘I cannot believe that.’
‘Not of you, for you. She is afraid her stepfather has enough influence to have you arrested for kidnapping her. He has to save face in the eyes of the world and it is my guess Lord Bentwater is not letting go. He, too, needs to save face.’
‘That’s nonsense.’
‘Perhaps. I don’t know. You have met the man—what do you think?’
‘He’s a leech, a charlatan, but if Emma and I were married, there would be nothing he could do, would there?’
‘Would you be marrying Emma simply to remove her from his influence? It would be just like you, boy, soft-hearted as you are, but not a good basis for a marriage.’
‘Good God! Do you think that? Would she think it?’
‘We have not discussed it. That is for you to do.’
‘But, Aunt, I love her dearly, there is nothing I would not do for her, give my life if necessary.’ It was the first time he had admitted that, even to himself.
‘Have you told her so?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Then don’t you think it is about time you did?’ She smiled suddenly. ‘For a man of the world, a soldier used to command men, and I’ve no doubt a favourite among the ladies, you are being exceptionally tardy. What is holding you back? Are you afraid?’
‘No. She does not make it easy.’