A Most Unusual Governess (22 page)

As he assessed the situation, knowing that Sarah was somewhere inside but that rash action could endanger her life, he heard a commotion and saw a figure coming out of the door. It was Mr Haversage. Behind him came Sarah, and then... Maud de Bracy.

His mouth set in a grim line. Maud. He had not suspected her jealousy would carry her this far. She was holding Sarah by the arm now, forcing her along behind Mr Haversage. But Sarah, turning suddenly and catching Maud off balance, broke free.

James was upon them in an instant. He leapt across the intervening scrubland, catching Mr Haversage's arm just as he was preparing to bring it down on Sarah's head. 'Not this time,

Haversage. Not ever, he said, his muscles like steel as they bore Mr Haversage s arm further and further back.

'Randall!' said Mr Haversage, his face going white. It was one thing to attack a woman; quite another to face a hardened man.

'James!' cried Sarah. And despite her predicament her heart soared.

It was the only chance Maud needed. With Sarah momentarily distracted, and James twisting Mr Haversage's arm behind his back into an unbreakable lock, Maud whipped a small pistol out of her reticule.

'Let him go,' she said.

James looked at her unflinchingly. 'No.'

'Let him go, I say.'

You don't care enough about Haversage to kill for him,' said James commandingly. 'Put the gun away.'

'Haversage is nothing,' she said. 'Nevertheless, you are going to let both him and me walk away. No one is going to ruin my reputation, James; neither him nor you.'

Your reputation's ruined already,' said James. He held out his one free hand, whilst putting pressure on Mr Haversage's arm with the other to keep him compliant. 'Give me the gun.'

'If I walk away from this with Haversage, then no one will ever know what happened here,' said Maud, waving the gun at him more purposefully.
‘B
ut if I let you take Haversage, he will drag me down with him at his trial. He will tell everyone that I helped him abduct your precious governess. And I'm not about to let that happen. I have too much to lose. So you are going to let him go.'

1 can't do that,' said James steadfastly.

'Oh, no?' enquired Maud. She turned the gun until it was pointing at Sarah. 'Can you do it now?'

James wavered. Maud saw it and smiled. Sarah, taking advantage of her momentary lapse of concentration, acted more quickly than thought, and in a single fluid movement knocked Maud's arm sideways. Shocked, Maud dropped the gun and Sarah quickly retrieved it.

Seeing it was useless, Maud finally conceded defeat.

James looked at Sarah in admiration, then took the gun, and Sarah was glad to let it go. She left James to look after Maud and Mr Haversage and went to find the coach driver who had brought

James to the cottage, and who had been instructed to wait at the end of the road. She sent him to fetch the authorities. There were questions and explanations, but fortunately James's father had been well known in Bath and the matter was therefore conducted with a great deal of discretion.

Sarah, as soon as she was no longer needed, and worn out by the events of the morning, retreated to a fallen tree and sat down, grateful for a few minutes peace and quiet in which to relax her overstretched nerves.

James, excusing himself, went over to her. Looking down at her he was filled with feelings of longing and tenderness. Their argument seemed unimportant in the face of everything that had happened since. 'Sarah... Sarah... ' he said, sitting down beside her. Her hair had come loose of its pins and a gleaming auburn strand fell across her white face. He reached out his hand and stroked it back behind her ear. His fingers lingered, savouring the contact with the beautiful young woman before him. Because even now, to him, she was beautiful, though her face was white and her features drawn. 'Sarah, I thought Pd lost you.'

She turned towards him. His eyes were every bit as black and velvety as she remembered, and they were full of tenderness and concern.

Would it have mattered? If you had?'

'You can ask that?'

'I didn't know... '

This has all been a terrible ordeal for you,' he said, seeing how drawn she looked. He took her hands. They were icy. Gently he began to chafe them. 1 should have brought a hip flask,' he said. 'Some brandy is just what you need to warm you through.'

Sarah gave a wry smile. I'm glad you didn't. I do not like it one bit. Besides,' she added, her smile softening as she looked down at his hands, which were massaging her own, 1 think I prefer this way of warming through.'

He smiled; a warm smile. Just for a moment it was as though they were back in the picture gallery at Watermead Grange, with no arguments and misunderstandings standing between them.

Her hair fell loose again and he pushed it back, this time pinning it so that it would stay in place. The feel of his fingers on her scalp was soothing, and she wondered briefly how it was that his

hands, which had produced such electric sensations within her on her last night at the Grange, could now be so comforting.

'James —

There will be time for explanations later. For now, I'm just glad that you are safe. It took courage to tackle Maud like that,' he said.

Sarah gave a rueful smile. 1 don't think it was courage. I think it was more like desperation. I couldn't let her pull the trigger, at least not without trying to stop her.' She frowned. 1 never realised that Maud was so unhinged.'

'Nor did I. If I had known, I would never have let her anywhere near you.'

You weren't to blame.'

She shivered, remembering Maud's unbalanced behaviour.

'Here,' he said. He took off his coat, revealing his snowy linen and the outlines of his powerful chest. He put the coat round her shoulders.

Sarah snuggled into it. It was warm and musky, and carried the lingering scent of him.

You look exhausted,' he said. He turned and beckoned the coachman. I'm sending you back to Laura Place.'

'Are you not... ?' she asked, disappointed that he did not mean to go with her. The look on his face when Maud had levelled the gun at her had given her hope that James's feelings for her were as deep and sincere as her feelings for him, and their earlier misunderstandings, at that moment, seemed no more than a bad dream.

1 can't come yet,' he said regretfully. There are still a number of formalities to be attended to. But I don't want you here whilst they're dealt with, and you will not be dragged into it, I promise you. It seems that Haversage has been guilty of various other crimes and the authorities have been looking for him for some time. There is no doubt that he will be imprisoned for them. Now go. I will come and see you as soon as possible.'

He handed her into the coach, giving the coachman instructions to see her safely back to Laura Place.

The journey was not a long one, and Sarah was pleased to find herself once more among familiar surroundings. On her return she had to give a brief account of the affair to her worried brothers but then she was free to retire to her room. Her nerves had been strained to the limit, and she was

glad to have a chance to rest before James arrived.

* * * *

'I don't like it, Nick,' said Geoffrey, as the two brothers sat in the library talking over Sarah's ordeal.

'Neither do I.'

'How could Randall let Sarah get mixed up in something like that?'

Sarah's account of her ordeal had been sketchy and, as she had been suffering the after effects of shock, not very coherent. So that Nicholas and Geoffrey had formed no very accurate idea of what had happened. The one thing they had been able to make out was that Sarah had been involved in a dangerous and frightening situation, and that Lord Randall had somehow been involved.

The man's a scoundrel,' said Nicholas shortly.

He had never met Lord Randall, but Sarah's early letters from the Grange in which she had painted James as a cold-hearted and arrogant monster, together with this latest situation, had been enough to convince him that Lord Randall was a dreadful man.

Why did he have to come to Bath in the first place?' complained Geoffrey. 'He's no business here. He should have stayed in Kent.'

'I wish he had,' said Nicholas. Tt would have saved a lot of trouble, and a lot of distress. But as he hasn't it's up to me, as the head of the family, to make sure he doesn't bother Sarah again.' He was taking his new responsibilities seriously, and was determined to protect his sister, whatever the cost.

*Yes, but what can you do?' asked Geoffrey practically.

'I can spare her any more of Randall's attentions,' said Nicholas. 'Starting today. If he tries to see Sarah
I’ve
given strict instructions he must be told that Miss Davenport is not at home. I won't have him bothering her, or leading her into difficult or dangerous situations.'

'Good for you, Nick. Show him you mean business. But what if he calls again tomorrow?'

The answer will still be the same. And the day after that and the day after that: Miss Davenport is not at home.'

Lady Templeton was reclining on an elegant chaise longue in the sitting-room of her London home. On the chair facing her sat a middle-aged woman, her new companion, who was reading aloud from Pride and Prejudice, one of Lady Templeton's favourite books. But despite Griselda's lively reading, Lady Templeton could not keep her mind on the story, entertaining though it was.

Thank you, Griselda,' she said as her companion reached the end of a page, *but I think I have heard enough for now.'

Griselda looked at her enquiringly. Lady Templeton usually liked to hear a chapter at a time, and she wondered if anything was wrong.

'No, nothing,' said Lady Templeton, in answer to her question. Saying a minute later, 'Oh, what's the use of denying it. Yes, there is something wrong. It's this estrangement between Sarah and James.'

She had seen her nephew on his return from Bath and, although James had meant to say nothing about it, she had learnt the full story. It had not surprised her. James and Sarah had seemed so eminently suited that she had been half expecting them to fall in love for months.

Who would have thought it,' said Griselda sympathetically, 'Miss Davenport thinking he was only proposing to her because she was no longer a governess?'

'I would. In her own way, Sarah is just as proud as James. Her pride never spills over into arrogance, but nevertheless she has a healthy amount of self-respect. And what young lady with any self-respect would accept a man who made no attempt to tell her that he loved her when she was a penniless governess, but declared his feelings as soon as her situation changed?'

'But it wasn't like that!' protested Griselda.

'I know that, and you know that, Griselda, but Sarah doesn't. And now, with Sarah constantly saying she is "not at home", there is no way for her ever to learn her mistake.'

You don't agree with Lord Randall, then, that if she loved him she would trust him? You don't think that, if she truly loved him, she would know that he could never propose to her just because of her changed circumstances?'

But she does trust him, said Lady Templeton. Why else would she have turned to him when that wretched tutor abducted her? She had her brothers to turn to. Why, then, turn to James, if she did not trust him?'

Griselda sighed in agreement. Her tender heart felt for the young couple, and she indulged herself in a momentary wish that she could wave a magic wand and set everything to rights. Magic wands being in short supply at Templeton House, however, she had to content herself with paying attention to Lady Templeton instead!

'Even James recognised it,' she said. 'He knew it himself. Which is why he went to see Sarah, after he had seen to all the formalities; to set everything between them to rights.'

'And that is when she refused to see him?'

Lady Templeton sighed. That, and every other time he called. She was never "at home".'

The two ladies were silent for a time. And then, It doesn't make sense!' declared Lady Templeton. Why wouldn't she see him? It isn't like Sarah to hide herself away. She is an honest, open person; forthright and outspoken. Something must be behind it. And I mean to find out what.'

'But what can you do?' asked Griselda with a sigh.

'I can bring them face to face,' said Lady Templeton practically. 'And if they don't end up reconciled at the end of their meeting, then I will wash my hands of them altogether!'

Griselda shook her head sorrowfully. It would be nice if you could do it. But how?'

'As to that,' said Lady Templeton with a twinkle in her eye, 1 have an idea.'

* * * *

The days passed slowly for Sarah.

At first she had expected James to call at any moment, but as the hours had dragged by, turning into days and then into weeks she had had to accept at last that he did not mean to come.

She had been so sure, at the moment when Maud had levelled the pistol at her, that James loved her. The fear in his eyes - fear which had been wholly absent when the gun was pointing at himself - had told her far more eloquently than words could ever have done, just how much she meant to him. And his conduct towards her following the ordeal had been tender and concerned. But why, then, did he not come? Especially as he had told her that, as soon as the formalities had been attended to, he would call on her straight away.