Disgrace and Desire (12 page)

‘I would rather you told me about Lady Allyngham.’

‘What is there to tell?’ Alex responded lightly. ‘She is a beautiful woman.’

‘And you have known her a long time?’

‘Almost all my life. We grew up together, as neighbours. She is a very loyal friend.’

‘Then perhaps you know what it is that she is hiding from me.’

Alex did not reply until he had made his first shot.

‘All women have their secrets, Major Clifton.’ His derisory grin flickered. ‘As a man of the world you must know that. Now…’ he nodded towards the billiard table ‘…I have made my play; it is time to see what you can do!’

By the time they returned to the drawing room the card tables were packed away and the party was gathered about the crackling fire, drinking tea. There was a burst of laughter as they entered: Mr Renwick was entertaining his guests with stories of his childhood at Renwick Hall.

‘Always falling into some fix or another,’ he chuckled, shaking his head. ‘The woods were our favourite playground. The poor gamekeeper came pretty close to peppering us with shot on more than one occasion.’

‘Ah, but boys will be boys,’ murmured Mr Briggate, steepling his fingers.

‘And not only boys,’ put in Mrs Cromer with a laughing glance at Eloise, sitting beside her on the sofa. ‘My cousin here was for ever in trouble with Lord and Lady Allyngham.’

‘Meg, please, you will put me to blush!’ Eloise protested laughingly.

‘No, please, do go on, Mrs Cromer,’ Sir Ronald begged. ‘We can never hear enough of Lady Allyngham.’

‘She and my cousin grew up together,’ explained Meg.
‘Anthony treated her more like a boy than a girl, and as often as not when I came to call they would be out together clambering over the rocks or climbing trees,’ She nodded towards Alex. ‘And that young man was usually with them. Three scamps they were, but inseparable, until the boys went off to school and Eloise was sent to Bath, where she learned to be a lady.’

‘Ah, so your youthful companions were lost to you after that,’ remarked the eldest Miss Briggate, sighing.

‘Not at all,’ replied Eloise, smiling. ‘We were together in the holidays and once my schooling was over I returned to Allyngham and saw them often and often.’

‘And you were all as wild as ever,’ laughed Meg. ‘The number of times I called and found that Eloise was in disgrace and had been confined to her room! My poor Aunt Allyngham was in despair, wondering how to deal with such a hoyden!’

‘I think I must defend my lady,’ put in Alex, smiling. ‘She was loyal to a fault and often took the blame for our pranks.’ He walked across and stood behind the sofa. ‘Of the three of us, Lady Allyngham was the sensible one. She spent most of her time rescuing Tony and me from our more outlandish scrapes.’

There was general laughter, Mrs Renwick began to refill the teacups and Jack wondered if anyone else had noticed Alex’s hand rest briefly on Eloise’s white shoulder. His eyes made a quick sweep of the room. Most of the guests were chattering but Sir Ronald was silent, staring intently at Eloise, his fingers tapping on the arm of his chair and a sly smile on his face. Jack frowned. He misliked that smile. The man was dangerous, and if Lady Allyngham had somehow offended him, perhaps rejected his advances…

He broke off from his reflections as Miss Briggate brought
him a dish of tea, but even as he joined in the general conversation he made a mental note to keep an eye on Deforge.

It was gone midnight when the party broke up and Eloise accompanied her cousin up the stairs to the main guestrooms. She was very sleepy and was tempted to remark that remaining virtuous all day was extremely tiring, but she did not think Meg would appreciate the joke. They parted on the landing and Eloise retired to the cosy silence of her bedchamber. Several candles were burning and the draught as she shut her door set the shadows dancing on the painted panels of the room. There was no sign of her maid, and she tugged on the embroidered bell-pull, impatient now to get out of her gown. Something on the bed caught her eye, a small, pale square on the near-black of the covers. A letter.

A sudden chill swept through her bones. Her fingers were not quite steady as she picked up the paper and unfolded it. The heavy black writing danced before her eyes and she turned the paper towards the light, blinking until her vision cleared.

‘I beg yer pardon, my lady, I wasn’t expectin’ you quite so soon.’

Eloise pressed the paper to her chest as Alice bounced into the room. She must think, and quickly.

‘Alice, I need you to run an errand for me.’

‘At this time o’ night, m’lady?’

‘Yes, I am afraid so.’ She turned and tried to give her maid a confident smile. ‘I need you to carry a message to Mr Mortimer for me.’

Alice’s eyes grew round.

‘Mr—but ’e’s in the east wing, with all the gentlemen!’

‘I know, Alice, and I am sorry to ask it of you but it is very important, and I cannot trust anyone else.’ She added
coaxingly, ‘You have known me since we were little girls together at Allyngham: you know I would not ask if it was not very important.’

She could see the maid mentally girding her loins as she digested this.

‘Very well, Miss Elle.’ Alice drew herself up, looking very resolute. ‘What is it you want me to do?’

Eloise stood by the little gate into the rose garden, clutching her cloak around her. She prayed that Alice had carried her message faithfully. A sudden movement to her left made her jump: someone was approaching. She relaxed a little as she recognised Alex’s familiar form.

‘Now, Elle, what is all this?’ he whispered.

‘He has written.’ She held up the note. ‘It is too dark for you to read it, but he wants me to meet him, tonight, at the Temple of Diana.’

‘Does he, by thunder! Then I’ll go back and fetch my pistol—’

She gripped his arm.

‘No, no violence! But I want you to come with me, Alex, and hide in the woods. The letter says I am to come alone but I do not think I am brave enough to do that.’

‘Of course I will come with you, I would not let you go unattended to meet the villain.’

‘Good. We will set off now, if you please. I expect him to be watching out for me, so we must go separately. You must take the path through the woods, I will follow the lower track beside the lake.’

‘It could be dangerous.’ Alex caught her arm. ‘You do not have to do this, Elle.’

‘I do,’ she replied softly. ‘You know that until we destroy the journal we cannot be safe.’

‘There is a way out of this that does not involve paying the blackguard!’

‘Go abroad, you mean? The Allyngham name would still be tarnished, and I will not do that to Tony’s memory.’ She squeezed his arm. ‘Wait for me in the woods, but be ready to come if I call.’

They hurried through the rose garden and Alex set off up the hill. Eloise watched him disappear into the trees and felt a slight moment of panic. Giving herself a mental shake, she pulled her cloak more tightly about her and set off along the lakeside path. Black clouds were scudding across the sky, occasionally blocking out the moon and making it difficult to see the ground in front of her. The sudden cry of a fox made her jump and at one point an owl flew silently overhead like a sinister dark angel. Eloise walked on, keeping her eyes fixed on the solid shape of the temple in the distance. A slight breeze blew across the lake, rippling its calm surface. The trees sighed and a tingle ran the length of her spine: unseen eyes were watching her, she knew it. She left the lakeside and made her way up the slope towards the temple. The steps and the portico gleamed white in the moonlight, but deep shadows filled the interior. Taking a deep breath, she climbed the steps and entered.

The square temple had a glazed door and large windows on each of the four sides, casting a silver-grey light into the centre. Eloise was immediately aware of a figure standing in one of the shadowed corners. His face was a ghostly pale disc against the blackness around him.

‘I have come,’ she said, steeling herself to keep still. ‘What is it you want of me?’

‘Well, that depends.’ The grating whisper jarred on her stretched nerves. ‘How badly do you want the return of that book?’

She shrugged. ‘It is worth something to me, I admit, but not much. There are no names in it, after all.’

He laughed softly.

‘Oh, come now, Lady Allyngham. A full year’s reminiscences: dates, places. It would not take a vast intelligence to work out the identities of those mentioned. I have not yet decided if I should publish it in book form—look how popular Caro Lamb’s
Glenarvon
has become in just a few months!—or perhaps I should release it to the newspapers, little by little…’

‘How much do you want?’ she interrupted him sharply.

‘Everything.’

‘Now you are ridiculous!’

‘Am I? To prevent your ruin, and that of your friends?’

Anger surged through her.

‘Step out of the shadows,’ she challenged him. ‘I am tired of talking to nothing. I want to see the villain who dares to threaten me!’

Again that soft laugh.

‘Villain, madam? I am your most ardent admirer.’

He stepped forwards and as the cloak of darkness fell away she recognised Sir Ronald Deforge. Eloise knew a momentary insane desire to laugh. The fear, shock and horror she should have felt was outweighed by relief. Relief that it was not Jack Clifton. Despite everything she had been afraid her judgement had let her down where Major Clifton was concerned. She stared haughtily at Sir Ronald as he stood before her, one white hand resting negligently on his silver-topped cane. With his tight-waisted frockcoat and tasselled Hessians he looked as if he had just strolled in from Bond Street.

‘An admirer who would stoop to threats,’ she said, her lip curling. ‘Tell me, how did you obtain the diary?’

‘A stroke of great good fortune, nothing more. Some time
ago I was travelling back to town on the Great North Road and when we stopped to change horses a ragged wretch approached me. He wanted the fare to London and offered to sell me the journal.’

‘So you bought it.’

‘Of course not. I do not deal with thieves. He had no idea what it contained, I doubt if he could read well enough to know its true value. No, I had him flogged, and told him I would return the book to its rightful owner.’ He grinned. ‘Of course, I did not then know what a pleasant task that would be.’ He moved closer. ‘I admit when I first read that journal I thought only to sell it. After all, I guessed it must be worth something to protect the revered Allyngham name. But then you came to town and I was captivated. The more I see you, the more you inflame me.’

She suppressed a shudder and stepped away from him.

‘And you disgust me.’

‘Now that is a pity, my lady, because there is only one way I will give up the journal to you.’ He waited until she had turned again to face him. ‘You must marry me.’

Eloise laughed at that.

‘The full moon has affected your wits, Sir Ronald! I would never do that.’

‘Oh, I think you will, madam, when you consider the consequences of
not
becoming my wife. I can tell by your look that you are not convinced. Perhaps you think to wrest the book from me. You will not succeed. It is with my lawyer in London, in a sealed box. He has instructions to make its contents public if anything should happen to me. Anything at all,’ he added softly, ‘so you should pray no ill befalls me!’ He moved towards her. It took all Eloise’s will-power not to back away. He reached out to touch her face. ‘Do not look so shocked, my dear, you might even enjoy being my wife.’

She brushed his hand aside.

‘It astonishes me that you should wish to marry someone you do not know.’

He bared his teeth in a leering smile that made her feel physically sick.

‘Oh, I know you, Lady Allyngham. I have seen you in the salons and ballrooms, throwing out lures to every man in the room. And remember I have read that journal. You are a woman of experience, not averse to the more…unusual demands of the male.’ His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist as she began to back away.

With a cry she tried to pull free. A shadow fell upon them and she heard Alex’s curt voice from the open doorway.

‘Let her go, Deforge!’

Sir Ronald’s brows rose.

‘So you did not come alone as I instructed.’

‘Did you think I would be that foolish?’ she retorted, struggling against his grasp.

‘I thought you had more concern for your friends.’

Even as Sir Ronald was speaking Alex launched himself forwards. Deforge released Eloise and leapt back, putting his hand to the top of his cane and unsheathing a lethal-looking blade.

‘Alex, be careful, he has a sword-stick!’

Her warning came too late. Deforge lunged and the blade pierced Alex’s shoulder. He staggered back. Eloise tried to grab Deforge’s arm but he shook her off so violently that she fell to the floor. In horror she watched him advance upon Alex, who retreated to the door. Moonlight glinted on the sword as Deforge slashed Alex across the thigh and following up with a kick that sent him tumbling down the steps and on to the grass.

Eloise was still struggling to rise when another shadowy
figure flew past the window. She saw Sir Ronald turn but before he could defend himself his head was snapped back by a swift, hard punch to the jaw and he crashed to the ground.

‘Attacking an unarmed man is not worthy of you, Deforge.’

Jack Clifton bent to pick up the sword-stick. For a moment a look of pure hatred transformed Sir Ronald’s face.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Taking a stroll in the moonlight. It appears to be a very popular pastime.’ Jack stepped into the little room and held out his hand to Eloise. She allowed him to help her up, aware of the tension within him. Despite his casual words he was taught as a bowstring, alert and ready for action.

‘So she has caught you in her web, too, Clifton.’ Sir Ronald was climbing to his feet, one hand feeling his jaw.

‘We will leave the lady out of this, if you please.’

Sir Ronald laughed.

‘Your concern for the lady’s reputation is touching, Major, but misplaced, believe me.’