Lady Sherry and the Highwayman (26 page)

Sherry had no notion of this female’s identity—save that she certainly seemed to know Andrew well—but there was no doubting her good heart. “Thank you,” she murmured, for want of a more appropriate response.

Lavinia gazed somewhat less appreciatively upon Marguerite, who had been so eager to witness the outcome of these perplexing developments that she had merely flung a cloak over her peignoir before rushing out of her house. “And who are
you?”
Lavinia snapped.

It was meant as a rhetorical question, perhaps, but Marguerite chose to respond. She explained very kindly to Lavinia that she was Lord Viccars’s
petite amie.
Lavinia gasped, fell back, and fanned herself all the more vigorously.

Startled as she was by Marguerite’s outspokenness, Sherry could not help but be amused by Lavinia’s shocked expression. She met Andrew’s apologetic eye. “Now I know we should not suit!” she said frankly as she gave him her hand. “Christopher has your five hundred pounds and will restore it to you. I can only say I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve put you to.” She turned toward Ned. “And
you
may look for a new position straightaway. Don’t ask me to give you a reference; you may be grateful that I don’t have you thrown into jail!”

Ned might have thanked Lady Sherry for her kindness then—certainly he should have done so—but the opportunity was denied him. The mention of five hundred pounds brought Captain Toby to his feet, in his hand the sword-stick that he had plucked from Jeremy’s limp grasp. “I’ll just have that five hundred pounds, my covy!” he said. “Or the rest of you may watch this fashionable fribble get his throat slit!”

Clearly, Sir Toby meant business. No argument was raised. Sir Christopher handed over the requested sum. The others moved away as he backed toward the door, drawing Jeremy with him, sword tip still pressed to that ashen individual’s throat.

He pushed Jeremy away from him and opened the door. “For the record, Micah here ain’t never taken to the road in his life. He was arrested in my place and so I felt obliged to interrupt his hanging. But since I
don’t
intend to adorn the gallows in my own turn, I suggest you all—”

The highwayman’s suggestion was never completed. Prinny pushed past him and into the room. From his mouth dangled a very large rat. Lavinia was of far too delicate a constitution to endure such a shock. She swooned.

“Mon Dieu!”
cried Marguerite, into whose arms Lavinia fell. Meanwhile, Jeremy was feeling none too well himself. He scrambled for possession of Lavinia’s fan and vinaigrette.

The cause of all this confusion failed to understand why his friends refused to appreciate him for showing them his prize. Perhaps they failed to realize that it was quite the plumpest of all this old house’s rat population that dangled from his jaws. Prinny decided that he would never understand humans. He sighed and collapsed upon the hearth.

Sir Christopher and Marguerite being engaged with ministering to Lavinia, and Ned to Jeremy, Micah took advantage of this opportunity to speak with Lady Sherry. “A neat-enough ending,” he murmured as he drew her down beside him in a chair. “They’ll never catch Toby now, not in the maze of old drains beneath this house.”

“You must be glad of that.” Sherry was feeling very shy. “No matter how richly deserved, one wouldn’t wish to see a member of one’s family hanged!”

“I suppose not.” Micah stroked Sherry’s arm. “Tell me, what do you think of the house? I purposely didn’t have most of it tidied up because I didn’t know what you would like.”

“What I would like.” Lady Sherry stared at him. “Surely you don’t mean to— I mean, it isn’t yours!”

“My foolish darling, of course it’s mine.” Micah’s smile was warm. “I tried to tell you I wasn’t a highwayman, but you wouldn’t listen, if you will recall. This house
is
mine, along with the title. I was en route to claim both when I was arrested in Toby’s place. I hope you are not too disappointed. Toby told me a great many of his adventures, and between us we must surely have enough imagination to fill in the blanks. What a grand time we shall have, love. Or should I say, Ophelia will, and Captain Blood?”

Could it be? Dared she believe? “You can’t mean that—” Sherry murmured, then broke off, aghast at the audacity of her thoughts. “Er, I would be happy to give you what advice I may about your house. And I would be pleased to have your advice about my book, Mi— Lord Grenville!”

“Peagoose!” responded Micah. “It’s not your advice I want!” And then he proceeded to kiss Lady Sherry so thoroughly that any doubts she retained about the nature of his feelings were laid forever to rest. Indeed, so thoroughly did Micah perform this pleasurable task that it caught the attention of the other occupants of the room.
“Tres bien!”
said Marguerite admiringly, while Lord Viccars looked embarrassed again and Sir Christopher fond. Ned and Jeremy ignored the incident altogether, the latter pondering how this adventure might be put to the best use and the former lamenting the loss of five hundred pounds. Lavinia, who had just recovered from a swoon, threatened to succumb to another. “Christopher!” She gasped. “How can you just stand there and watch your sister being
compromised?”

“Compromised?” echoed Micah, who had taken Lavinia in dislike. “This is nothing, ma’am. If you had a notion—after all, I did spend several days in Lady Sherry’s book room.”

Here Sherry felt obliged to add her own wicked comment. “Reading
The Giaour.”

Micah cast her a fond glance. “And—but I won’t make you blush! There’s nothing for it that I can see but that I must marry her to save what’s left of her good name.”

“Oh, Micah!” Sherry whispered as Lavinia sputtered with outrage, torn between horror at the notion of illicit goings-on beneath her roof and profound curiosity as to just what those goings-on had entailed. “Are you certain you wish to marry me?”

“I have no choice,” Micah replied manfully. “You have been closeted alone with me while I was without my shirt!” Marguerite giggled, Lavinia gasped, and the gentlemen remained tactfully silent while Lord Grenville kissed Lady Sherry yet once again.

And so our adventure draws to an end, with Lady Sherry in happy prospect of union with the lover of her choice and Lord Viccars reunited with his; with Lavinia’s horror at the goings-on beneath her roof being soothed by Sir Christopher, who had in mind some
goings-on of his own when they returned to Longacre House and never mind if it
was
the middle of the afternoon; and Prinny snoozing on the cold hearth with his plump prey clutched between his front paws. It was an adventure that would be long remembered by all even peripherally concerned: by the ladies Throckmorton and Dunsany, who would long speculate in the presence of a silent Lavinia on how Lady Sherry had made so sudden and so brilliant a match; by the ladies Cecilia and Sarah-Louise with regret and relief; by Williams and Briscoe, who by tacit agreement with their employer never discussed the events of a certain night; by Sir Christopher, who recalled with fondness the afternoon when his Livvy had been persuaded to broaden her knowledge of conjugal affairs. Daffodil, too, would remember the business that led her to break off altogether with Ned, who was no sooner turned off from Lady Sherry’s employ than he was hired by Jeremy, who had discovered in himself a sudden desire for a new groom, and which in turn led Daffodil to console herself in the arms of the strong-sinewed footman whom she was eventually to wed.

Aunt Tulliver continued in Lady Sherry’s employ until her death many years later of nothing more dramatic than a peaceful old age. Marguerite continued as Lord Viccars’s
petite amie
for many years, until his second marriage, at which time she passed without regret from being a
femme entretenue
to the proprietor of a most exclusive bordello.

After their marriage and a prolonged and very blissful honeymoon abroad, Lord Grenville and Lady Sherry took up residence in the family’s ancestral house. Although Lady Sherry did not emulate her sister-in-law by turning out a prodigious number of progeny, she did continue to write novels, and
Ophelia and Captain Blood
remained a very popular edition for several years. Prinny took up residence with them and enjoyed himself immensely, terrorizing the rat population and his surrogate mama when she came to call. Once they no longer had to dwell together beneath the same roof, Lavinia and Sherry discovered that they liked each other very well.

As for Captain Toby, the rogue who set in motion this whole tale, no word was ever heard of him again. Although there were certain periodic rumors of a brigand who plagued the Continent for some years thereafter, who never offered harm to a lady, and who—

But such speculation is pointless. Suffice it to say that Captain Toby graced no English gallows under his own or any other name.

Copyright © 1986 by Maggie MacKeever

Originally published by Fawcett Coventry (0449208052)

Electronically published in 2007 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by  printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228

     http://www.RegencyReads.com

     Electronic sales: [email protected]

This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.