Amanda Scott (36 page)

She had missed her opportunity to redeem her bracelet-watch, but Yarborne knew that Nicholas had prevented the meeting, and thus—she hoped—would not immediately reveal her debts to him and demand payment.

Thinking about the previous night, she wondered if her fear that Nicholas would look in her reticule had motivated her determination to please him. Fear of one sort or another had inspired her behavior before now, she knew, but she did not think her actions the previous night fell into that category. She had never guessed that intimate relations could be so pleasant, so enjoyable. Thinking of Sir Geoffrey, she realized that she had known, both from her disbelieving reaction at seeing Nicholas and from his assurances later, that her father had lied to her about an assignation, but she felt no anger. Sir Geoffrey Seacourt had lost all power to control her thoughts or feelings.

Suddenly, she wanted to find her husband, just to be with him. She hoped he had not gone out. Going into her bedchamber, she rang for Lucy, who arrived a few moments later, bearing a tray with bread, cheese, and a pot of tea.

“His lordship said you was to eat something, my lady,” Lucy said. “Lady Ulcombe wanted to rouse you when she ordered luncheon, but his lordship—my Lord Vexford, that is—said you was to sleep till you woke natural. Still, he said you weren’t to starve, and it’s my head as will be on the platter if you don’t eat this, ma’am.”

“I’m perfectly willing to eat, Lucy, thank you.” Munching and sipping from time to time while Lucy arranged her hair, Melissa then chose an afternoon frock of azure muslin and dressed with care but without wasting time. As soon as she was fit to be seen, she draped a light shawl around herself and went downstairs.

Finding only servants in the drawing room, the green salon, and the hall, she walked into the library through the open door to discover her husband, talking with his father. A footman hovered nearby, as if awaiting orders.

“Oh, I beg your pardon,” she said. “I didn’t know—”

“Come in, Melissa,” Nicholas said, his tone so grave that she thought instantly that he must have looked into her reticule, after all. Ulcombe, too, was looking unnaturally solemn. Only her habit of silence in the face of danger kept her from bursting into explanation. “Sit down,” Nicholas said, drawing a chair forward for her.

“I-I think I’d prefer to stand, sir,” she said.

Ulcombe said, “Look here, Nick, you’re frightening her witless, and we’ve no reason to think there’s any cause for that. Not yet, at all events.”

Melissa looked at the earl, all thought of the evidence in her reticule dissipating like smoke. “What is it? Not Mama! Aunt Ophelia? Oh, please, tell me, Nicholas. Don’t try to spare me. I can’t stand the wondering!”

“Penthorpe didn’t get home last night,” he said flatly.

“What?”

“A runner just brought word to us from St. Merryn House.” He gestured toward the footman. “I was about to send Silas to have Lucy waken you. We’ll send him up to fetch a cloak for you instead.”

“I don’t need a cloak,” she said. “I have my shawl. Oh, can we go at once?”

He looked as if he would insist upon the cloak, but Ulcombe said, “I’ve ordered you a carriage, my dear. I can’t go along, because my chaise is at the door and I’m just waiting for her ladyship to attend to some last-minute details before we leave for Wimbledon Park. Nicholas will look after you, of course, and Wimbledon is only six miles from London, so we can return in a trice if you need us. Not that there can be any cause for alarm yet. For all we know, Penthorpe just—” He broke off, as if he realized that what he was about to say was tactless.

Melissa said; “You think perhaps he overslept like I did, sir—only in someone else’s bed? I can assure you that he didn’t. As I keep telling everyone, Penthorpe adores Mama. He would never do what you suspect.”

To her astonishment, however, she learned soon after she and Nicholas arrived in Berkeley Square that Susan was not nearly so confident of Penthorpe’s fidelity.

They found the three ladies in the drawing room, and although Susan greeted Melissa with a hug, tears clung to her lashes. She said, “He has behaved so oddly since we came to London that there’s no telling what he has done, and you don’t know the whole. That dreadful woman has disappeared, as well.”

Melissa stared at her. “What dreadful woman?”

Charley turned from greeting Nicholas and said, “I told you how it was, Lissa. It’s that glitter and gilt woman. What’s her name?”

Melissa said only, “How can you know she’s disappeared, ma’am?”

Susan turned bright red, but after a pause during which she visibly struggled with her sensibilities, she said, “I awoke soon after midnight, you see, and couldn’t sleep. I waited and waited, and when he still had not returned by ten this morning, I was frightened. I had to know he was safe, so I-I sent a message to that woman to ask if she had seen him. But the footman returned without delivering it. He said he could not do so, because her ladyship is out of town. Oh, Melissa!”

“But, Mama, Penthorpe is not having an affair with her!” She explained about the magistrate and the writ, whereupon Susan burst into tears.

Lady Ophelia, who had been listening to them from her favorite chair, banged the tip of her cane on the floor and said, “Now, Susan, that will do. You did what you could, and surprised me mightily, I might add, by showing such unaccustomed spirit. Don’t spoil it now by flying into alt. The man most likely just didn’t get around to coming home. Put it off, like he does, and now he thinks he might just as well visit his tailor or his bootmaker first. He’ll turn up, you’ll see.”

Susan was not consoled, but less than an hour later, as they sat discussing various courses of action, the drawing room door opened with a snap. Penthorpe stood on the threshold, looking rather the worse for wear.

“Hallo, ducky,” he said to Susan. “Miss me?”

She flew into his arms. “Oh, where have you been? I’ve been sick with worry!”

“There, there,” he said, patting her and stepping into the room.

Melissa, staring at his tattered clothing, said, “What happened to you, sir?”

“Yes,” Charley exclaimed, “what on earth happened? You look as if you’d been dragged through a bush backward. And where’s La—”

“Charlotte, hold your tongue,” Lady Ophelia interjected sternly. “Penthorpe will answer our questions in his own good time. At the moment, I’ll wager, he’d like a glass of something to restore him, and a chance to make himself more presentable.”

“Damme, so I would,” the viscount said, “and I’ll take the glass of something first if you don’t mind. You, there,” he added to the footman standing solemnly in the doorway, “stop your gaping and fetch me some good Scotch whisky. My throat’s as dry as dust. If you won’t take offense at my appearance, ma’am,” he said to Lady Ophelia, “I’ll explain what happened before I go up to change.” When she nodded regally, he said bluntly, “I was abducted, that’s what happened.”

Everyone exclaimed in dismay, but Melissa saw that Nicholas was eyeing her stepfather narrowly. She could not blame him. Penthorpe’s explanation seemed preposterous. However, once he had sat down and accepted a glass of whisky from the footman, he began to tell his tale. Soon everyone, including Nicholas, was spellbound.

“I got separated from Nick at Vauxhall,” Penthorpe began glibly, avoiding his wife’s gaze. “Stepped outside the gate for a moment, to see if he’d gone looking for me, don’t you see, and dashed if someone didn’t cosh me over the head and fling me into a carriage. By the time I came to my senses, I was miles from London—somewhere between Baldock and Newmarket, I think.”

“Not simple robbery, then?” Nicholas asked.

Penthorpe shot him a look but said only, “No, didn’t even search me. I can tell you, I wished more than once that I had my pistol by me. It was lying useless in my bedchamber, but I’ll wager most men don’t carry pistols around London nowadays.”

“They don’t,” Nicholas agreed. “I keep mine in my bedchamber, too, when I’m in town, or locked in my gun room, but your villains might well have found your pistol if you’d had one.”

“I doubt it. They didn’t even, take my purse, which was a dashed fortunate circumstance, although I believe they just didn’t think to take it before I got away.”

Melissa said, “But how did you manage that, sir?”

At the same time, Charley said, “I want to know about Lady—”

Lady Ophelia snapped, “Be silent, Charlotte. If you cannot sit quietly and listen, then we will be happy to excuse you from the room.”

“Damme, but that’s an excellent notion,” Penthorpe said, glaring at Charley.

“Please, sir,” Melissa said gently, “tell us what happened next.”

“Employed a ruse,” he said, smiling at her. “Dashed clever one, too, if I do say so, although I admit those fellows—common ruffians, they were—weren’t the sharpest pair in the world. They must have counted on their size and intimidating nature to ensure my silence, for when they got hungry, they decided to take their meal at a common roadside tavern. Afraid to leave me, so they threatened to murder me if I gave them grief, and took me right in with them. The place was not any sort of place that caters to the gentry. Filled with tough-looking scoundrels, by and large.”

With a visible shiver, Susan moved to sit on a stool at his feet. Tucking her hand in his, she said, “It is a wonder they didn’t murder you.”

“Aye, it is,” he agreed, smiling at her and squeezing her hand, “but as you know from experience, my pet, it’s not as easy as some think to put a period to my life.”

Seeing Charley open her mouth to speak again, Melissa said quickly, “But what was the ruse, sir?”

Penthorpe grinned. “Told you the place was filled with rough sorts,” he said. “Two louts sitting at a corner table looked over at my little group, and were clearly talking about us. Doubtless they were astonished to see a gentleman in company with that sorry pair, but I nodded at them and smiled. When the larger of my two oafs demanded to know what I was about, I said I had just given a signal to my friends that they were not to spare my captors.” He chuckled. “Told them the other pair were my bodyguards and had been following us, according to orders. Those orders, I added ever so casually, included not just rescuing me at the first opportune moment, but dispatching my captors as soon as such action became expedient.”

Nicholas raised his eyebrows. “Expedient?”

Penthorpe chuckled again. “Had to explain to them what it meant. To their credit, they did not require more than the barest definition. I said if they left at once, leaving me unharmed, my men would merely see to it that they did not try to capture me again. When they left the inn—at some speed, I might add—I went over to the other table and dropped two yellow boys on the table. When they demanded to know what I was about, I said I was working for the Bow Street magistrate. Said I was tracking thieves, and that the pair I’d been with were likely to lead me to a nice reward, which I would share with them if they were able to tell me where the lads went next.”

“Well done,” Lady Ophelia said, nodding. “Very clever of you, indeed.”

Susan’s eyes widened. “Those men won’t come here, will they?”

“No, ducky. I told them to seek me at Bow Street. Since they looked like a pair of thieves themselves, however, I think they’ll avoid that place like the plague. Still, I’ll trot round this afternoon and have a talk with the folks there, just in case they do learn something about my captors. Since they are likely to duck into the first bolt-hole they come to and stay there, I doubt they’ll trouble us.” He drained his glass and stood up, adding, “I’d best get tidied up. Then I can take my beautiful wife for a drive in the park, and put some color back in her cheeks. Why don’t you come along upstairs with me, Nick, my boy. Like to apologize properly for abandoning you last night.”

Nicholas got up at once, and Melissa, seeing that Susan intended to go with them, said, “Mama, if you are going to drive in the park, you’ll want to fetch a pelisse or a cloak, and put on your bonnet. I’ll go with you to your bedchamber, shall I? I’ve seen much too little of you since you came to London.”

Susan hesitated, then smiled and said, “Oh, yes, darling, do come with me.”

“I’ll come, too,” Charley said, getting to her feet.

“Oh, no, you will not,” Lady Ophelia said. “You will remain here with me, miss. I’ve got a thing or two to say to you.”

Going upstairs with her mother, Melissa felt a twinge of sympathy for Charley. She was not the only one who wanted to learn what Penthorpe knew about Lady Hawthorne’s disappearance, but Lady Ophelia was unlikely to spare her a peppery rebuke for so small a reason as that.

Alone with Penthorpe in the little room he used for his dressing room, Nick said, “What the devil really happened? You weren’t just wandering aimlessly about”

Just as bluntly, Penthorpe replied, “The only bit I left out was Clara. Met the wench looking as if she’d tried to swim the Thames in her gown and domino. She was drenched, but she wouldn’t tell me how it happened. My guess is she fell into that damned fountain. Ought to know better than to put such a thing so near the walkway.”

“But what had Clara to do with your adventure?”

“Asked me to find her a hack, so she could go home at once. Told her she’d get home quicker with the watermen, but she said she’d catch her death on the river and insisted on a hack. Either way, of course, she wanted to go in the opposite direction from where I’d left you. Couldn’t see dragging her along to find you, so I did as she asked. Only trouble was, we no sooner got out to the road than she said she saw a friend’s carriage. Before I could stop her, she scuttled over to the darker part of the road, and that’s the last I remember till I came to in a carriage that smelled too much of onions and other less palatable things to have belonged to any friend of Clara’s. The rest happened as I described it. I don’t mind telling you that if my made-up bodyguard does happen to track those villains to their principal, I won’t be sorry.”

“Do you have any idea who that might be?” Nick kept his tone casual, but he watched the other man closely.

Penthorpe grimaced. “I didn’t have a clue at first,” he said, “but when I came to my senses, I did expect Clara to be there with me. When she wasn’t, and the louts insisted they didn’t know any gentry mort like her, I began to think she must have had something to do with it. Later, I realized that she might have been hurt when they abducted me. Either way, once I’d returned to town and collected my rig from the stable near Lambeth Stairs where we left it last night, I decided I’d best look in on her. You needn’t mention that to Susan, however.”