Regency Mistresses: A Practical Mistress\The Wanton Bride (28 page)

‘I was hoping to bump into you again, miss.’

Emily spun about at that sibilant hiss to see Mickey Riley peering in her direction from a nearby shop doorway. Once certain that she had noticed him, and in a scene that Emily felt she had played out before, he sloped nonchalantly along the pavement a yard or two, then darted into an alley.

After a moment Emily followed him, her expression grim.

Although she had hoped to quickly deliver the letter in her pocket to Stephen, it was opportune that Riley had accosted her. She would dearly love to give him a piece of her mind! She suspected that Tarquin’s marriage had not been an unlucky aberration, but had been plotted in advance. It might not have come about but for this avaricious fellow.

‘We ought to stop meeting like this, Mr Riley,’ Emily said with harsh sarcasm.

Riley’s lips pulled into a sideways grin. ‘I’m flattered yer took the trouble to find out me name.’

‘Please don’t be. It was no trouble at all,’ Emily returned icily. ‘I do know who you are and much more about you besides.’

Riley cocked an insolent eyebrow at her, daring her to voice what she knew.

‘You go first, and make it quick.’ Emily crossed her arms over her waist in a display of impatience. ‘I have no intention of spending more than a minute or two with you.’

‘Well, that’s a fine way to greet a feller who’s been stood around hoping to give yer some news about yer brother.’

‘I already have some news about my brother, Mr Riley,’ Emily snapped in an underbreath. ‘Believe me, I would rather not know it. So, if you are about to tell me that he has been coerced to wed one of your …’ Emily swallowed the vulgarity. ‘One of your female associates,’ she resumed stiltedly, ‘you may save your breath.’

‘So you found out about Jenny, did yer?’ Riley cupped his stubbly jaw in a hand and glanced at her from beneath lowered lids. His devious mind turned over recent events. He came to the swift conclusion that Mark Hunter had relayed to Miss Beaumont the
unsavoury news. In which case that gentleman and this lady were
very
close. It was hardly a topic of light conversation. Riley had thought that if Mark Hunter were to babble to anyone about it he would have chosen old man Beaumont. Mickey gave his chin a final tickle. He’d need to tread carefully if he was to successfully play all sides against the middle or he’d risk losing a tidy profit.

With a careless gesture he said, ‘Now yer know why I was keen to find Tarquin. Don’t fret now. There’s a way to square it afore all hell breaks loose.’ He gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘’Course yer won’t want to worry yer ma and pa with it all. But keeping it quiet and putting it right’ll cost.’ Riley snaked his tongue over his lips.

‘And how exactly are you going to put it right?’

‘Well, now—that’s for me to know, and for you to pay to find out, ain’t it?’

Emily gave a little scornful laugh. ‘You fool! Are you about to ask for payment for a silly scheme to pretend the marriage didn’t take place? Jeremiah Plumb performed the service and is a bona fide clergyman, so I understand. What will you do? Bribe him to delete the records and in doing so embroil my brother in yet more trouble?’

Mickey gave her a startled glare.

‘It
was
your intention to do that, wasn’t it?’ Emily said with quiet incredulity.

‘You think you’re pretty clever, don’t yer, miss?’ Riley hissed. ‘But that ain’t what I wanted to speak to you about, although it do concern your brother.’ Mickey felt cheated. He had thought his plot quite ingenious, yet it had taken her no more than a few minutes to unravel it.

When he had set out today he had been unsure whether to go ahead with the Viscount’s wicked plan to entrap this lovely young lady for his own base needs. Now he thought it might serve her right. She could do with taking down a peg or two.

‘Tell me quickly what it is, then,’ Emily demanded. ‘I have an important letter to deliver.’

‘I’ve got a message for you from your brother.’ Mickey jutted his chin. He’d got her attention now! An immediate gleam of concern had widened her eyes. He held out a hand. ‘Crown’ll do it.’ Mickey felt a sense of triumph that the little madam was paying him for her ruination. His fingers sprang like a trap over the coin that Emily had furiously slapped there. ‘Yer brother sent Jenny a note and off we went to see where he’s holed up. He’s got no money, so it were pointless looking to
him
to square Plumb and give me a little consideration
for me efforts.’ A sneer curled Mickey’s top lip. It was the truth. He had certainly wasted his time with the loser. ‘He’s been drinking too much and sleeping rough since he bolted. Now he’s taken a chill and it’s turned nasty.’ Mickey slipped a look at Emily to see her reaction to the tale so far. He could tell she was anxious to hear more. ‘Jenny reckons all he needs is a dose of summat, and a hot meal inside of him, and he’ll be good as new.’ Mickey shook his head in a show of exasperation. ‘Yer brother’s fretting he might turn up his toes, and wants to see you. But he don’t want to see yer pa just yet ’cos he’s ashamed … naturally.’

‘Why did
Jenny
not come to see me sooner?’ Emily wailed in a stifled tone.

‘
I
take care of things where Jenny’s concerned,’ Riley stated threateningly. ‘Anyhow, it were only a day or two ago we got wind of it all.’ He gave her a fierce look. ‘Yer brother made it clear he only wants to see you. If you turn up with anyone else, he won’t show his face.’

Emily’s complexion was now quite ashen with strain. ‘Are you lying? Is this a ruse to extort more money from me?’

‘I could’ve arst fer more just now, miss,’ Riley
pointed out, adopting a pious look. ‘And I don’t want to see him push up the daisies any more’n you do.’

‘He’d be no use then, would he?’ Emily breathed furiously. Riley might have scoffed at Tarquin’s impecunious state, but Emily was sure the villain had not yet given up hope of finding a profit in her brother’s calamitous marriage. ‘Tell me at once where he is.’

‘I’ve got a rig. A jarvey won’t be keen to go that far. Be quicker ’n’ cheaper if I take you. Won’t arouse suspicion with yer parents if you’re there ’n’ back double quick.’

Emily cast a look at her feet; her head was feeling dizzy with milling anxieties. Riley was right on one score. Hiring a vehicle and driver would be costly, and take time. If he was telling the truth, and Tarquin was ill, she needed to see him immediately, and try to talk some sense into the dolt. It was inevitable that he must return home and face the music, ashamed or not, if he was to get better. Slowly she nodded, whilst prevaricating, ‘I can’t go right now. I need to get something from the apothecary for Tarquin. There isa potion that calms fever. I will meet you later this afternoon.’

Emily did not for a moment trust Riley, and was nervous about going anywhere alone with him. She urgently needed assistance, and there was only one person to turn to … Mark Hunter …

‘M
r Hunter is out, Miss Beaumont.’ Such was the butler’s polite response when Emily gave her name and requested an immediate audience with his master.

Geoffrey Lomax cast a dubious eye over the lovely young woman. It was obvious that she was a lady of good class, and that made her behaviour the more bizarre. It was not at all proper for an unaccompanied spinster to pay an impromptu call on a bachelor. His stern look softened a mite as he noticed her downcast expression. He deduced it was a matter of vital importance that had made her act bold and look glum. ‘If you would like to leave a message for Mr Hunter, I will make sure he has it directly he returns,’ he promised.

Chaotic thoughts cluttered her brain, keeping Emily wide-eyed and mute before the manservant. What was she to do? In a short while she was to meet Riley, and he had made it clear he would not wait if she were late for their rendezvous. But she desperately wanted Mark apprised of this latest development. Trusting Riley to his word carried a grave risk to her personal safety. The matter was too confidential to leave a verbal message with the butler, but a communication of some sort must be made. ‘Might I beg leave to have a pen and paper in order to write your master a note?’

A nod and a smile from Lomax invited her in to Mark’s mansion on Belgrave Crescent.

Emily stepped over the threshold and into a vast hallway. Absently her mind registered its opulence; smooth flags on the floor were of the same pristine marble as the graceful pillars that soared out of sight. Whilst the butler disappeared to fetch writing implements for her, she noted the stark elegance of Mark Hunter’s home. She paced nervously, oblivious to being surreptitiously observed from outside.

When Barbara’s equipage had drawn up at the kerb a few minutes ago, she had been immensely frustrated to see Emily hurrying up the wide stone steps. She had been on the point of using them herself!

She had swallowed her pride, and her fears that she might be hastening her own demise, to come to see Mark. Her hope had been to find him in a mellow mood and thus receptive to sharing sweet reminiscences of their youth. Barbara’s scowl deepened. The sight of the Beaumont girl had shaken her optimism, seeded doubts that Mark might be swayed by appeals to his memory … or his virility.

The footman closed the huge doors, cutting off Barbara’s view of Emily, thereby prompting a few unladylike expletives to roll off her tongue. She slammed her back against the squabs. It seemed that Miss Beaumont was soliciting Mark’s attention without so much as a maid in tow as token chaperon. But there was little satisfaction in knowing that her rival was a brazen baggage.

A furrow marred her brow as she sought for a reason why Emily might act with such audacity. Barbara was still ruminating on that conundrum when she heard the door again being opened. Quickly she shifted forward on the seat and twitched aside the blind. She watched as Emily descended the steps and headed off at a fast pace.

A smile curled Barbara’s tinted lips for Emily’s countenance had been puckered with strain. Perhaps Mark had been disgusted by her shocking intrusion
and had sent her off with a flea in her ear. She had not been inside the house above ten minutes.

Assisted by a footman, Barbara was soon out of her carriage and mounting the steps.

‘Mr Hunter is not at home, Mrs Emerson.’ Mr Lomax coupled the information with a dour expression. He had never warmed to this woman despite knowing she had, for many years, retained her position as the master’s favourite lady friend. His lids descended over eyes studying Barbara’s lush figure swathed in muslin and a flimsy silk cape. Obviously the woman had attractions … if no sense on how to keep warm on a chilly day. And Mr Hunter was certainly a red-blooded gentleman.

Barbara sailed past Lomax and into the house with all the pomp of a woman who believed it her right to do so. She twirled about and gave the butler a perfunctory smile. ‘How disagreeable to have missed him. But he was not expecting me, so I cannot scold him.’ Her features were a study of insouciance as she glanced about. Her dark eyes darted back to a piece of parchment resting on an ebony surface. Idly Barbara moved in that direction to check her appearance in a gilt-framed mirror positioned over the console table. Her bonnet ribbons were loosened, then made more secure, but all the
while covert glances were scanning what she now recognised to be a letter. On it she could decipher Mark’s name, and it had undoubtedly been written in a female hand. Barbara’s heart jumped a beat, for she had noticed something that indicated it could be from only one woman: the ink was still moist! Swiftly she turned her back on her reflection and regarded Lomax, but her hands were gripping the edge of the table behind her.

Her mind was suddenly overwhelmed by the whispered words she had overheard on Lady Gerrard’s terrace.
But what if there is a child … what are we to do then?
Did Emily Beaumont now know for certain she was increasing with Mark’s child? Such staggering news would certainly prompt her to disregard etiquette and urgently seek him. And she
had
looked violently troubled when she left this house a short while ago.

Barbara’s fingers tightened on ebony as she strove to contain her tormented imaginings. ‘I shall not leave a message and you need not tell Mr Hunter that I called.’

Mr Lomax elevated a quizzical eyebrow. ‘As you wish, ma’am.’

Barbara’s exploring fingers located paper and snatched. Suddenly she surged towards the door,
rapidly covering marble in small steps. ‘I think that is all,’ she said as she swept past Mr Lomax. A regal nod at the footman bid he attend the door.

‘Does your wife know what you get up to?’

The drawled irony made Tarquin shoot up out of the armchair. The young woman who had been balancing astride his lap tumbled awkwardly sideways. She quickly scrambled to her feet whilst smoothing down her skirts and giving Tarquin’s arm an admonishing thump for such rough treatment.

‘What in damnation …?’ Tarquin’s unshaven jaw dropped to his chest. Agitatedly he scraped his fingers through his lank, flaxen hair, all the while gawping at Mark. ‘You just gave me the fright of my life, Hunter. What in damnation are
you
doing here?’ he snarled, fumbling at his breeches, his face ruddy with embarrassment.

‘What am
I
doing here?’ Mark echoed in a tone replete with sarcasm. He looked about the comfortable, if spartanly furnished, room. ‘Last time I saw the deeds I owned this lodge. I thus feel quite entitled to use it. More to the point, Beaumont, is what the hell you are doing here. Besides worrying the life out of your family, of course. But then I suppose you’ve not given much thought to any of that, have you?’

‘I hope you’re not going to preach,’ Tarquin muttered. ‘You’re no saint by any means.’

‘True; nevertheless you need a lesson over this.’ Mark moved purposefully closer, but halted when Tarquin’s companion skipped to shield him with her dishevelled figure. She continued to button her bodice, but up went her chin, and she challengingly met Mark’s eyes.

A contemptuous look was directed over her head at Tarquin before Mark strolled away to examine what was on the small dining table. He picked up a fork and turned over the remnants of a half-eaten meal of cheese and venison. A bottle of claret had a small amount left in it. Mark recognised the wine as from his cellar—a particularly good vintage—and it prompted him to wryly smile and wonder what provisions, if any, were left in the store. Mark poured what remained of the claret into a tumbler and tossed it back in a gulp. As he replaced his glass he remarked drily, ‘I see you’ve not gone without …’ A significant glance lingered on the woman. ‘Does your wife care that you’ve abandoned her? Or perhaps the honeymoon is already over.’

‘This
is
my wife,’ Tarquin admitted petulantly, and flung himself down into the chair he’d recently vacated.

‘Ah … I take it the honeymoon is progressing well, then.’ Mark took a more interested look at the pretty young woman and realised he vaguely recognised her. If his memory served him correctly, he had spotted Riley and her loitering in the vicinity of the
modiste
’s shop on Regent Street. On that occasion she had been wearing a flamboyant hat that had shielded her features. ‘Your manners are sadly lacking, Tarquin. Aren’t you going to properly introduce us?’

Tarquin did so, tersely. He gained his feet with a sigh and ambled to stand by his wife’s side in a show of grudging loyalty. Jenny slipped her hand through his arm and rewarded his gallantry with a little peck on the cheek. Mark received from her a glower that dared him to comment.

‘I suppose my marriage is common knowledge if you’ve come here looking for me. No doubt my father is beside himself and Mother is prostrate on a sofa with her salts—’

‘They don’t know,’ Mark cut sharply over Tarquin’s self-pitying whine. ‘And you had best give some serious thought to what you intend to do about the mess you’re in.’

‘He’ll cut me off without a penny.’

‘Can you blame him? You must have understood the risk you were taking.’

‘I hardly understood a blasted thing! I was so far in my cups, I was barely conscious throughout the service.’

Irritably Tarquin shrugged off Jenny’s possessive grip and stomped to a window of the hunting lodge. He gazed out through brown bars of bark to greensward in the distance. Finally he sighed and said, ‘It’s a God-awful mess. I don’t know what to do.’

‘You’ve got about half an hour to decide; then, ready or not, you’re coming back with me.’ Mark said in a voice that brooked no refusal. He glanced about. ‘I’m afraid your sojourn enjoying all the comforts of home, at my expense, has just ended. And to make sure you fully understand that … I’ll take back my spare keys.’

Tarquin turned his back on the pastoral view of Enfield Chase. Reluctantly he fished in a pocket, then lobbed metal on to the table. His mumbled gratitude for enjoying free hospitality was soon followed by, ‘So if it is
not
common knowledge about my marriage, how did
you
find out?’

‘Riley told me. He’s been trying to use your
mésalliance
to extort money from Emily. I’ve no doubt he would have blackmailed you instead had he discovered where you were hiding.’ Mark glanced at
Jenny. ‘I take it your wife has
your
best interests at heart, not Riley’s?’

Tarquin looked affronted at that but, nevertheless, shot a dubious look Jenny’s way.

She had the grace to immediately blush. ‘I tried to put him off going after your sister,’ she insisted. ‘I told him to forget all about the Beaumonts and find another punter who’d cough up easy. But he’s a stubborn blighter. He wouldn’t let it rest.’ She raised doe-eyes to her husband. ‘I could’ve let on to Mickey where you was hiding, but I never did … honest …’

‘Emily’s embroiled in this?’ Tarquin had suddenly recaptured control of his shocked senses. His hoarse demand cut across his wife’s reassurances. Her little nod sent both his hands to cup his face, and he shook his head in a show of remorse.

Jenny snuggled against him, said softly, ‘I come here today to tell you about Riley and what he’s up to now, ’cos it ain’t right, and I want no part of it. I would’ve said sooner about your sister, but …’ the pink in her cheeks deepened to crimson. ‘… you distracted me and it slipped me mind.’

Tarquin fidgeted on the spot. He couldn’t deny he had given Jenny very little opportunity to strike up a conversation since she arrived about twenty minutes
ago. He cleared his throat, asked stiffly, ‘What have you to tell me about Emily?’

Jenny seemed suddenly tongue-tied. It was not the frowning look from her husband unsettling her, but the callous stare from his friend. Suddenly the fellow made a violently impatient gesture, making her jump and slip behind Tarquin.

‘If you know that Riley is planning more mischief in order to extort money from Miss Beaumont …’ Mark began.

‘It isn’t that,’ she blurted. ‘Mickey’s getting paid all right, but not from her.’ She looked at Tarquin apologetically. ‘He’s made a bargain with a fellow who’s got a fancy for your sister, and wants a chance to be private with her. Mickey, the vile devil, is getting paid to set up a meeting between them.’ Jenny quickly glanced away from the terrifying glint in Mark Hunter’s eyes.

‘What nonsense!’ Tarquin snorted. ‘I know Stephen Bond fancies Emily, but he’s a decent fellow. He hasn’t got it in him to plot a seduction, I’m sure of it.’ He shot a look at Mark and paled, for his friend’s features might have been hewn from stone.

‘What arrangements has Riley made? How is he to lure her there? Is it to soon take place?’ Mark fired the questions at Jenny.

Jenny blinked rapidly and moistened her lips. ‘It’s soon,’ she admitted. ‘I know Mickey wants to get his hands on the cash quick as can be. But that’s all he’s let on to me. By my reckoning he’ll use Tarquin as the bait.’

‘And who asked Mickey to set it up?’ Mark demanded with icy quiet. ‘And don’t lie to me.’

Jenny simply gazed forlornly at Tarquin for support. But he seemed to have retreated into a daze. His thumbnail was being whittled away by worrying teeth.

‘Tell me the name of the devil or by Heaven I’ll throttle it out of you!’ Mark gritted at Jenny through unmoving lips.

‘Steady on, Hunter …’ Tarquin snapped to attention to remonstrate on his wife’s behalf.

‘It’s Devlin!’ Jenny suddenly shouted with tears of fright sparking in her eyes. She knew that she had just burned her bridges by betraying Mickey. If he ever found out his money-spinner had turned sour due to her, he would not hesitate to seek revenge. She took a deep breath and repeated shakily, ‘It’s Devlin … that’s who it is … the brute …’

Emily looked up at the façade of the house and frowned. Moments ago she had disembarked from
Riley’s gig and now stood with him on gravel that formed a circular drive to an elegant double-fronted residence. She took a look about. The property was definitely isolated from its neighbours, but was of grand proportions, and that put it beyond Tarquin’s pocket even had he been flush.