No Other Love (37 page)

“I know you are full of questions,” he said. “We shall answer them all later, but for now, I think it is imperative that we get away.”

Jack nodded, taking the reins and turning toward his horse. Sebastian went to the lad, saying, “Justin was hit.”

“What?” the lad exclaimed in a cultured, feminine voice, and strode over to Justin to inspect his arm.

“It’s nothing,” Justin insisted. “The ball merely grazed me. I’m fine. We need to go.”

Jack stood staring at the woman, dressed like a lad, speechless. He had recognized the voice immediately. It was Nicola.

“You!” Jack exclaimed in astonishment, striding forward to face her. “Good God! What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Jack,” Nicola answered calmly.

“How could you have let her come?” Jack snapped, fixing Justin with a furious glare. Calmly Justin took off his mask and gazed back at him.

“I would be interested in hearing how you think we could have stopped her.”

“But it’s too dangerous! She could have been hurt! Killed! My God, man!”

“It’s not a question of their
letting
me come,” Nicola pointed out. “I was planning to break you out of gaol. They insisted on coming along.”

Jack stared at her. “You planned to break me out of gaol by yourself? My God, have you run mad?”

“Please!” Justin hissed. “If we continue standing here arguing, we shall all be in gaol in another moment. My arm will last until the Dower House. You can fuss over me there, Nicola. And the two of you can continue to argue there, as well. But I, for one, do not intend to stay here and get caught.”

With those words, Justin swung up onto his horse, and the others, seeing the force of his argument, followed suit. They rode in silence, skirting the village and striking out across the fields. They could not ride at a fast pace for fear of injuring their mounts in the darkness, and it seemed to take a maddening amount of time.

But at last a large house loomed up before them. They rode up to the stables, which lay between them and the house, and dismounted. Immediately a man stepped out of the shadows and came toward them.

Sebastian turned toward the man and handed him his reins. “Ah, Harris, good man. Is my wife home?”

“My lord.” The man sketched a slight bow to him. “Aye, her ladyship’s here, and in fine form, too, if I may say so.”

“I am sure I could not stop you from doing so.”

The large man ignored his employer’s dry quip, going on to say, “I let one of the lads here put away the horse and gig, seein’ as how it wouldn’t matter. What with everybody knowin’ about her adventure. But I’ll do these myself, real quiet, like.”

“Good. If any of the other lads question you—”

The heavyset man smiled faintly. “Lord love you, them lads won’t go askin’
me
questions. And if I tells one of ’em to keep his trap shut, he won’t be openin’ it. You can be sure of that.”

“I am, Harris.”

The man gave a quick nod and began gathering the reins of the others’ horses. While he walked silently back into the stables, leading the horses, the three men and Nicola hurried across the yard to the kitchen door. Jack looked up at the side of the house as they approached it, a strange sensation moving through him. The tan stone house seemed somehow welcoming—no, more than that, almost familiar.

“Whose house is this?” he whispered.

“The Countess of Exmoor’s.”

“Your sister?” He turned toward Nicola, puzzled.

“No. The Dowager Countess.”

“Exmoor’s mother?”

“Oh, no!” Sebastian inserted. “Don’t say anything like that to the Countess. She despises the man. He is a distant cousin, inherited Tidings when her husband and son died.

“Did you not ever see her when you lived here? She used to live in Tidings long ago, when we were children, I suppose, but after her husband died, she moved here, to the Dower House.” Nicola paused. “Although I guess she was not here much. She stayed primarily in London after…the tragedy. That is where I got to know her.”

They reached the kitchen door and slipped inside. The large kitchen was deserted except for a lone man at the table, who jumped to his feet when he saw them, relief spreading over his face. “Lord Thorpe! Lord Lambeth! Miss Falcourt. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to see you.”

“Thank you, Mulford. I understand the ladies are here.”

“Indeed, sir. As well as everyone else.”

“What?” Lambeth took a step toward the man. “What do you mean?”

“Never mind that now,” Nicola said. “We need to get Lambeth’s arm cleaned and bandaged. Mulford, get me a clean rag, a bandage and a small bowl of water.

“Yes, miss.” The butler turned and hurried off to do as she bid.

“I’m just going to clean it with water now, Justin. We haven’t time for anything else. Later I’ll put something on it. But right now we have to hide Jack and get into our evening clothes. I suspect it will not be long before Richard and his men are here.”

The butler returned with the supplies, and Nicola ripped off Justin’s torn sleeve and began to clean the arm. At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened, and Bucky stuck his head in, looking anxious. When he saw the group in the kitchen, his expression changed to one of almost comical relief.

“Lambeth! Thorpe! Thank God.” He opened the door wider to admit his large frame. “We are in the suds now. Oh, I say, Lambeth, what happened to you?”

“Hallo, Bucky.” Justin greeted him with little concern. He was aware, as were Nicola and Sebastian, that their friend was somewhat apt to be thrown for a loss by the slightest change in plans. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. What happened here to get you in a twit?”

“Lady Ursula is here,” Bucky said, turning paler at just the thought.

“Good gad!” Justin exclaimed, stiffening.

“Hold still!” Nicola admonished him.

“What the devil is she doing here?” Sebastian asked. “She was supposed to be safely away with the Countess and Lady Buckminster.”

“I know!” Bucky looked aggrieved. “That is what I told them. And Lady Ursula asked if I didn’t want them here. Well, I mean, what could I say? Truth was, I wished them at the devil, but I could hardly say that, could I?”

“Them?” Sebastian asked, looking more alarmed. “Do you mean the Countess is here, too?”

“All of them!” Bucky exclaimed. “The Countess. My mother. Lady Exmoor.”

“Deborah!” Nicola stopped her dressing of Justin’s arm and turned to stare at him. “But how—why—”

“They took it into their heads to join us. Decided it would be more fun, the whole group of us together. I ask you—how could it be more fun to have Lady Ursula here?”

“Quite true.”

“Who is Lady Ursula?” Jack asked.

“Penelope’s mother,” Nicola explained.

“My future mother-in-law,” Bucky added sadly. He looked at Jack more closely. “I say, are you the highwayman, then?” He extended his hand in his usual friendly manner. “Pleased to meet you. Or, well, I suppose, not meet you, exactly. You stopped my carriage a few weeks ago, but, well, we were not really introduced.”

“True.” Jack suppressed a grin and shook the other man’s hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“So what did you tell them?” Sebastian asked. “About our not being here?”

“Oh! Well, I was at a dead loss, I’ll tell you. But Penelope made up a pack of lies.” He grinned in admiration. “I always knew she was a downy one, but I never realized just how clever she was. She said you had all gone to look for Alexandra and Marianne because they were late. And then she acted worried. She carried it off, but I could see she felt bad…you know, for worrying the Countess.”

“I am sure so,” Nicola said feelingly. “Blast it! I did not want to drag the Countess into this.”

Sebastian grunted. “And God knows what any of them will say if Exmoor shows up, looking for the escaped prisoner.”

“The Countess won’t say anything that she thinks would help Richard,” Nicola said.

“True. But Lady Ursula is always a wild card. And none of them will know how much their words could endanger us.”

“Well, there’s nothing for it now,” Justin pointed out. “We’re done here. Nicola, you had better get our friend upstairs. Thorpe and I will change and join the others.”

Nicola nodded and turned to Jack. “We are going to stow you away up in the attic.”

“Perhaps I had best show you, miss,” the butler began, but Jack had already turned and was headed toward the servants’ staircase.

“We’ll find it,” Nicola told him. “And I am sure that you will be needed in the drawing room.” The butler, like Sebastian’s coachman, was an old family employee and would have done anything for the Countess and her granddaughters, so he had been taken into their confidence. He was the only servant waiting on Penelope and the others tonight.

“Yes, miss.”

Nicola followed Jack, with Sebastian and Justin on her heels. Bucky, with a martyred sigh, returned to face Lady Ursula. Jack led the way up to the second floor, where the stairs ended. They emerged onto the main hallway, and Jack, without hesitation, went down the corridor a few steps and turned right at a small hallway that branched off the main one. Sebastian and Justin parted from them there, going down to Marianne’s room, where their evening clothes lay waiting for them. Nicola, however, went with Jack. She was a little surprised to find a narrow staircase at the end of the short hallway. Jack started up it confidently, and she followed.

The third floor hallway was darker and narrower, with more doors opening off it. It was, as in most houses, where the servants resided, and consequently it was plainer, with much smaller rooms. Once again Jack strode confidently down the hallway.

“Wait,” Nicola said. “We need to find the attic stairs.”

“Past the nursery,” Jack said, pointing ahead of him.

“What?” Nicola stared at him. “How did you know that?”

“Why, you can see them,” he said as they reached the farther end of the hallway, where, indeed, a very narrow, very steep set of stairs led up to a small door.

“You must have better eyes than I,” Nicola said. She had been unable to distinguish the steps at this end of the dark hallway. “But how did you know that was the nursery back there?”

Jack, who had gone up the stairs, paused at the door, frowning. “I don’t know. It’s odd. I just—somehow knew where to go, where the rooms were.”

He turned the doorknob and went into the attic, with Nicola on his heels. The candle he carried made a small pool of light in the vast darkness of the attic. He held it up and peered around as far as he could. “It looks like it would be hard to find someone in here.”

“That’s what Penelope said. She said it always scared her to come up here, it was so big and full of trunks and old furniture and all sorts of things.”

“Oh, no, it’s a grand place to hide.” A peculiar look crossed his face.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” Nicola asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing. It’s just…I feel so strange. As if I’d been here before. As if…I suddenly saw a place in my mind—a little area behind a great big trunk, and there’s an old rocking horse there, most of the paint peeled off him, and…”

He started walking through the attic, winding his way around sofas and chairs and trunks of clothes, the detritus of centuries of family. The light of his candle fell eerily on the nearest objects, leaving the back of the huge room in gloom. Jack circled around some boxes, then stopped, looking confused. He turned and shoved aside a hatbox and peered over the chest on which it had lain. There stood a large, humpbacked trunk and, next to it, an old red rocking horse, one runner broken, the paint worn thin and peeling. Nicola stared at it, an icy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Jack…how did you—”

“I don’t know.” He turned and looked at her. “I don’t know how, but I seem to know this place. Perhaps—perhaps my mother used to work here when I was young. Before we moved, before I was ill. I don’t remember anything before that illness—it’s as if the fever burned away all my memory. But I was at Granny Rose’s when I was sick—I remember that. So perhaps we lived with her till then. My mother could have worked for the Countess, I suppose. Maybe I came with her sometimes. Maybe we even lived up here in the servants’ quarters.”

“That would be odd,” Nicola said. “I mean, to have a maid with a child living with her. But the Countess isn’t like other women. She is a compassionate woman. Perhaps she let your mother keep you here with her. That must be it.”

Jack nodded, looking thoughtful, and they turned and made their way back to the attic door. They stopped at the door, and Nicola turned to Jack.

She hesitated, then said, “I want you to know that I did not mean to lead Richard to you. I swear to you. Richard tricked me. He made me think that you were in danger, and I panicked and ran to warn you. It never occurred to me that it was a trick, and I didn’t think to look for anyone following me. I was stupid, but I swear to you, I meant you no harm.”

To her surprise, Jack smiled. “I know.” He reached out and put his hands on her arms. “I never thought you had betrayed me.”

“What?” Nicola gaped at him. “But you said—you wouldn’t even see me at the gaol!”