Romancing His English Rose (Entangled Scandalous) (15 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Two pairs of eyes are better than one…

—The Duke of Lancaster

Less than a half hour later, Simon and Rose arrived at the ball. They were, as they expected, unfashionably early and as a result the grand room was practically empty.

Aside from their hosts, Lord Alvanley and Henry Pierrepoint, and the large number of servants milling around checking on last minute details, there was no one else about. This afforded Rose the chance to view the room’s decoration unobstructed. And it was really quite magnificent.

Lord Alvanley and Mr. Henry Pierrepoint were two of Prinny’s set, meaning where you found one, you invariably found the other. Rose knew from the ton gossip that Beau Brummell—the current male fashion standard of London society—and the prince had had a falling out that met its ultimate demise at a masquerade ball held at the Argyll Rooms last year by Alvanley, Pierrepoint, Brummell, and a fourth friend, Mildmay.

Rose had heard that Mr. Brummell had referred to the prince as Alvanley’s “fat friend” in front of God and everyone, putting the final nail in the coffin of that friendship. And while she didn’t know the whole story, she had to admit Mr. Brummell’s words certainly couldn’t have been taken any other way than as an insult, though whether deserved or not, she couldn’t say.

Still, considering the close relationship of the hosts to the royal family, Rose—and frankly all of London—anticipated a lavish affair this evening. And from what she was seeing, Rose was certain they would not be dissatisfied.

The ballroom of the Grosvenor Square house currently being leased by Lord Alvanley was very large and decorated in the grandiose scheme of silver and gold. The servants were dressed in either silver or gold, iridescent silver swags decorated the walls, and golden candelabras and statuettes holding their own flickering lights were set on tables, pedestals, and mantels alike. It really was a setting fit for royalty and, whether or not royalty actually appeared, the party guests were sure to not be disappointed by the affair.

“Isn’t this amazing, Simon?” Rose whispered. With so few people about, it seemed somewhat crass to be overheard “oohing” and “aahing” over the decorations, no matter how superb they may be. Having never been quite so early to a function, Rose was somewhat at a loss as to how to behave. “I knew we would arrive early,” she continued quietly, “but I had no idea we would be the first to make an appearance.”

Simon shrugged. “Most members of the ton know that Prinny will not show up until quite late, if at all. They will want to be here then. Therefore, we may find ourselves quite alone for some time. Sadly, not as alone as I would like for us to be.”

Simon gave Rose a truly devilish smile and she felt her bones turn to mush in an instant. Grabbing his arm tighter in an effort to remain on her feet, Rose forced herself to look again at the sparkling room. Seeing Simon in all his finery and charm was proving rather dangerous.

“Perhaps you would feel more comfortable with a glass of lemonade in your hand?” Simon suggested.

Rose nodded eagerly. “Oh, yes, that is a wonderful idea.” The two wandered over to the beverage cart and Simon poured Rose a lemonade and took a glass of champagne for himself.

Rose felt infinitely better with a glass in her hand. It was something to do, she supposed, lifting and sipping and so forth. She never did very well at idle things, and as talking in the empty room seemed so very loud, conversation with Simon was stilted at best. Fortunately, though, it wasn’t too much longer—a glass and a half of lemonade to be precise—before other guests began to trickle in.

Simon and Rose had had the time to determine the best location from which to watch the three entrances to the ballroom without seeming overly interested; however, as more and more people arrived, it became exceedingly difficult to monitor the arrival of every person from every entrance. Soon it became apparent that they needed to enlist some help if they wanted to spot Caleb the instant he arrived.

Therefore, when Sarah, Emily, and Hope stopped by to say hello, Rose wasted no time in filling them in on the plan for the evening and why it was so vitally important that they succeed.

“This is horrible, Rose!” Emily said, clearly dismayed by Rose and Simon’s suspicions. “What if we don’t stop him in time?”

“Then William dies,” Sarah said. And when everyone turned to look at her in horror, she crossed her arms and added staunchly, “So we will stop him in time.”

Everyone’s shocked expressions turned into wry smiles at Sarah’s typically abrupt attitude and Rose realized her friend was right. There was no “if” tonight…they simply must succeed.

…

“Right,” Hope said briskly. “We will all help you look for him. We should stay in groups of two. That way, if we see him, one person can keep him in her sights, while the other person locates Rose and Simon.”

Simon looked at Miss Stuckeley with a new respect. He hadn’t really taken the time to get to know any of Rose’s friends before and he was quickly beginning to realize that despite their quirks, they were a rather impressive bunch of females.

Emily said, “Very well, Sarah and I will stay together. Obviously, Rose and Simon will keep their vigil together. Hope, perhaps you should look for Lady Lancaster? I am sure she would like to be apprised of the situation and you two could conduct your search together.”

“Perfect! Let us all depart at once,” Hope replied. Everyone nodded tersely and dispersed. Already Simon felt better about the feasibility of their task. Certainly with all of them keeping an eye open for Caleb the odds of him slipping past them would be greatly reduced.

“Do you think we should alert William and Hannah of our suspicions?” Simon wondered aloud.

“Definitely,” Rose said firmly. “I don’t want to upset them unnecessarily, but if all else fails, better that William is aware of the danger rather than succumbing to it!”

Simon had to agree she had a point. Though, if he were on the verge of getting married—and as far as he was concerned, he was—hearing about a possible death threat would put a damper on his spirits, it was more important that William knew he was about to be poisoned. Then he wouldn’t tempt fate by eating or drinking something he shouldn’t.

Simon began to scan the room for any signs of Caleb or William, but instead he caught sight of his mother. She and his father had been traveling a lot recently and even when they were in town, he didn’t see them often, so he was a bit surprised that they were in attendance. The two were standing with Lord and Lady Holderness and both his mother and Lady Holderness looked to be positively bursting with excitement at seeing him with Rose.

From across the room, Simon could see his mother gesturing to him. He gathered from all of her nonverbal cues that she wanted him to dance with Rose. Not especially opposed to the idea, Simon still had to sigh over the fact that his parents—specifically his mother, in this case—were still making his relationship decisions for him.

Then he looked at Rose, who was intently scrutinizing every man and mannish-looking woman coming and going from the ballroom, and he had to smile. Mother’s idea or not, dancing with Rose seemed like a very good idea. The music had just started with a slow melodic waltz, which would allow them to watch the entire room even as they danced, for they would have every reason to be going in circles, Simon rationalized.

“Rose,” Simon said, “would you care to dance?”

Rose looked at Simon as if he had grown another head. “Now?” she said in astonishment. “We are supposed to be looking for Caleb!”

“Yes, love, I realize that, however our mothers”—he paused to look pointedly in their parents’ direction—“would like to watch us dance. We should be able to see as well, if not better, from the dance floor anyway.”

…

Rose turned in the direction indicated by Simon and, indeed, their mothers were watching them with wide grins on their faces. Lady Holderness waved brightly in greeting, to which Rose waved weakly back. Resigned to the inevitable and recognizing that Simon was probably correct about their view from the dance floor, Rose looked up at Simon with a wry grin that served as her acceptance of his invitation.

With a sweep of his arm, Simon ushered her to a location somewhere near the middle of the gathering couples. Training her eyes on the perimeter of the room as the dancing started, Rose continued her observation from within the close hold of the waltz.

As they whirled and twirled around the room, Rose continually made eye contact with Sarah and Emily as they watched for Caleb. At one point, Rose also saw Lady Lancaster catch her eye. The dowager duchess was alone, however, and Rose wondered what happened to Hope.

Then she caught a blur of pale blue—the exact color Hope was wearing earlier—pass by her to the right and Rose realized that Hope was dancing, as well…with Lord Lichfield!

Rose remembered back to the night of the party recreation and how both Hope and Lord Lichfield had been absent. She wondered again if something was going on with the pair. She rather hoped there was. They made an adorable couple and she knew that Hope had been harboring feelings for the lord for some time now. How nice would it be to see another one of her friends nicely settled? Still, Rose had never seen Lord Lichfield utter two words to Hope. Perhaps the dance was just a polite gesture? One that Hope would strive to turn into something more, surely.

She smiled at the thought as the dance came to an end; then suddenly, she felt Simon’s grip tighten on her waist. “What is it?” she asked anxiously.

“Your friend, Miss Jardin…I think she sees something.”

Rose looked over to where she’d last seen Sarah and Emily and when she finally located them, Sarah was acting strangely, to be sure. As Emily was wending her way through the crowd to meet them at the edge of the dance floor, Rose could see Sarah popping up over the heads of the guests. Now granted, Sarah was taller than the average female and frankly most males, but even she could not be seen above a crowd of people unless she were, er, trying to be seen.

Rose groaned and shook her head.

“What, may I ask, is that girl doing?” Simon asked.

At this point they were near enough to Emily for her to have heard the question and she turned to look back at her friend. When she saw Sarah’s head reappear and disappear in random intervals, she answered wearily, “I gather she is jumping up and down every few feet so that we may follow her successfully as she, in turn, follows Lord Shrewsbury.”

“Rather than try to understand our friend’s odd antics, perhaps we should just go after her. The sooner we find her, the sooner she will stop,” Rose recommended.

Unable to argue with that logic, the three of them quickly followed in Sarah’s wake. When they found Sarah, she was crouched awkwardly behind a large golden Aphrodite statue.

“Oh good, you found me,” Sarah said in hushed tones.

“It would have been impossible not to,” Simon muttered.

“What was that?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” Rose rushed to say, glaring at Simon. “Just show us where Lord Shrewsbury is.”

Sarah straightened immediately from her cramped position and, looking around slyly, she pretended to yawn…flinging one arm out in the direction of the back right corner of the room. She followed the direction of her arm with almost seizure-like jerking movements of her head going in the same direction.

“Stop that,” Emily ordered in a brusque whisper, reaching out to lower her friend’s flailing arm and stop her head motion. “We see him!”

…

Caleb Collicott, the current Earl of Shrewsbury, was standing idly by a group of people in the corner of the ballroom. He was not engaged in the conversation, nor did he even appear to be listening. He was rocking back and forth on his heels and playing absentmindedly with a large ornate ring on his right hand.

“Has anyone seen William or Hannah yet?” Simon asked softly.

The three women shook their heads.

“Then I guess all we can do now is keep an eye on Caleb and wait,” he proposed.

“Why don’t we just take the ring from him?” Sarah said grimly, rubbing her hands together devilishly. “Then the little toad can do no harm at all.”

Simon raised his eyebrows. “While I like the way you think, Miss Jardin, I think justice will be better served if we catch him in the act.”

Sarah let out a big sigh of disappointment and Simon almost found himself laughing. Viscount Claredon’s youngest child was certainly a peculiar thing, but at the same time she was somehow very likeable. Suddenly he could see why David was so loyal to her. It was a shame his friend couldn’t find his way to having deeper feelings for the girl.

He sobered quickly when he saw Caleb push away from the wall he was hovering near and head off in the direction of the far entrance. Simon swung his glance over to the entrance and he just caught sight of William turning to speak to someone to his left, presumably Hannah, if the glint of golden hair was any indication

“They’re here and Caleb is on the move,” Simon whispered gravely. “I think now it would be best if Rose and I took over the job of trailing Caleb. You two”—Simon looked at Emily and Sarah—“go warn William and Hannah. We don’t want to cause them any undue stress, but if Caleb makes a move and we are not there to stop him, it will be up to them. Don’t do anything foolish. If Caleb poisons something, William needs to know not to eat or drink anything.”

Emily and Sarah gave Simon a curt nod and headed in the direction of William and Hannah. Within seconds, the crowd had swallowed them up and Simon and Rose gave chase to Caleb.

Trying to stay inconspicuous, they shadowed his path around the large room. Simon was also keeping an eye on William and Hannah, and the gap between the couple and Caleb was closing slowly but surely. Any time now a move was going to be made and Simon could only hope that the deadly action could be anticipated and prevented.

Chapter Nineteen

Stand on firm ground; from there, you can deal with anything.

—The Duke of Lancaster

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Rose and Simon followed Caleb to within yards of where William and Hannah were standing. The happy couple appeared to be completely unaware of the drama unfolding around them. They were laughing and talking with their parents. Lord Lichfield, Hope, Sarah and Emily were nowhere to be seen. They must have been held up by the larger than normal crowd surrounding the edge of the dancing area.

The group had stopped to gather near one of the beverage carts where everyone seemed to be partaking of the refreshments. Keeping his mannerisms slow and casual, Caleb sidled up behind the group and then ducked quickly behind a swag of silvery material hanging in front of a balcony entrance and partially behind the table of drinks.

From there, Simon and Rose could see that Caleb was in the perfect position to access any of the group’s drinks, provided they set them on the table next to them. Unfortunately, while Caleb was in the ideal location for his mission, Simon and Rose had no way to get any closer to the man without being seen themselves.

Simon turned to Rose and said, “Stay here.”

“Where are you going?” Rose asked.

“I’m going to see if I can get onto that balcony behind Caleb.”

Rose looked over at Caleb again and beyond him. If Simon could, indeed, find a way to access the balcony from outside, he would be able to attack Caleb from behind completely undetected. It was a brilliant idea, provided Caleb did not choose to poison William between now and the time it took Simon to get into place.

“Right,” Rose said, looking at him meaningfully. “I suggest you hurry.”

Simon squeezed her hand and left to find another way outside.

Seconds after he departed, Lady Lancaster appeared at Rose’s side as if by magic. “Where is Mr. Trumbull going?”

Rose jumped and clasped a hand to her heart, as if that would somehow calm her rapid pulse. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” Rose gasped.

“Do what, dear?”

“Sneak up on people.”

“My dear girl…I do not sneak. I merely approach…quietly,” Lady Lancaster explained. “Now are you going to tell me where Mr. Trumbull has gone? Surely now is an ill-advised time for a person to relieve oneself.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t gone to…you know. He is trying to access the balcony behind Lord Shrewsbury.”

“Ah,” Lady Lancaster remarked. “That is a much better use of his time, I must say. But if your young man cannot make it to the balcony in time, I suppose it will be up to us to stop Lord Shrewsbury.”

Rose nodded and she balled her hands into fists.

Ten minutes later, Rose saw Simon’s face appear on the other side of the reflective glass, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief. She had begun to think she really was going to have to stop Caleb herself.

Not that he had made the slightest move to do anything thus far. He seemed to be waiting for just the right moment, and honestly, until William set down his glass, there was not much Caleb could do…if, in fact, William was Caleb’s intended target. Rose realized he could just as easily attack Hannah.

“I see Mr. Trumbull has succeeded in his task,” Lady Lancaster remarked.

“Yes,” Rose replied. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

And wait they did, though not for too terribly long. It was just minutes later that Lord and Lady Rochester—Hannah’s parents—stopped by to say hello and William set down his glass to shake his future father-in-law’s hand. Rose quickly looked at Caleb, expecting him to make his move immediately. She was not disappointed, therefore, when Caleb turned an attentive eye on William’s champagne glass.

With a meaningful look at Simon through the glass, Rose slowly advanced on Caleb’s position. Simon, too, looked prepared to come through the balcony door. His timing would have to be perfect, for if he opened the door too soon, the chilly wind would alert Caleb of his presence instantly.

Rose held her breath in anticipation as Caleb flipped open his fancy bejeweled ring and slowly moved his hand closer to William’s glass.

What happened next was quite possibly the most insane sixty seconds of Rose’s life.

Just as Caleb tipped his ring over the top of William’s champagne glass—allowing a powdery substance to pour into the sparkling liquid—Simon burst through the balcony door and tackled him. Caleb let out a high-pitched shriek and every eye in the room turned toward the sound.

Rose ran forward, leaping rather gracefully, she thought, over the two men wrestling on the floor, to snatch the poisoned drink—which William had grabbed off the table in an effort to save from the scuffle—out of his hand.

With a pointed look, Rose silently urged Sarah and Emily, who had just managed to get to the couple’s side, to usher William and Hannah away from the commotion. Hannah sent Rose a confused and alarmed look, but Rose just smiled and waved her off, as if it were nothing. She didn’t think for a minute that her friend would buy her performance, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances.

Turning back around to check on Simon, she found that he was now sitting almost calmly atop the still wildly thrashing Caleb. He looked quite pleased with himself and suddenly Rose realized why. In his hand was the ring—the poison ring—and dozens of perfectly respectable witnesses had seen him remove it from Caleb’s finger.

Rose felt her own smile coming on and soon it turned into a full-fledged grin. Out of the gathering crowd, Lady Lancaster emerged with two very large, very official looking Bow Street Runners and one Dr. Mathieu Orfila.

“Gentlemen,” Lady Lancaster said to the Runners. “Please arrest this man at once.”

At the sound of her voice, Caleb became very still and he looked up at the imposing woman.

“On what charge, my lady?” one of the Runners asked.

“The attempted murder of the Earl of Pembroke and the suspected murder of Frederick Collicott, the late Earl of Shrewsbury.”

The entire ballroom gasped at the accusation and everyone turned to look at the sad little man currently positioned under the heavy weight of Mr. Simon Trumbull.

Caleb hissed, “You have no proof.”

“Oh, but we do,” Rose stepped forward to say. She held her hand out to Simon, who set the deadly ring carefully in her palm. She, in turn, presented the ring and the now fatal glass of champagne to Dr. Orfila and continued with, “We have the ring you used to transport the poison and the poisoned liquid itself.”

With a nasty sneer, Caleb said, “The ring is empty and the champagne looks just fine to me. I don’t see any poison, do you?”

“Hmmm,” Rose hummed, actually enjoying the attention for once. “I suppose if you were to drink the champagne in question, then I might be inclined to believe you. Does that sound fair?”

It came as no surprise when he mumbled, “I’m not particularly thirsty at the moment.”

Rose snorted. “Just as I thought. Well, as it happens, we don’t need you or anyone else to drink the champagne. The good doctor here”—Rose motioned to Dr. Orfila with a bright smile—“can test for the poison in both the liquid and on the interior of the ring. Once we have his results, you, Lord Shrewsbury, won’t have a leg to stand on…ah…once you are allowed to stand, that is.”

The sound of tittering laughter spread through the room, followed by the ever growing whispers of conversation. Soon the whispers turned into a roar and Rose realized they had lost their spectators in the face of this delicious new scandal. Which was fine with her. Suddenly, she was ready for the whole night to be over.

When the Bow Street Runners stepped forward to take custody of Lord Shrewsbury, Simon was finally able to remove himself from his cousin. Grumbling to himself, Caleb was dragged away by the officials amid the pointing and whispers of his peers.

Lady Lancaster turned to Rose, Simon, and Dr. Orfila, and said, “Now then, Dr. Orfila…have you everything you need to complete your studies?”

Dr. Orfila looked down at the ring and glass in his hands. “Yes, my lady. I believe I will be able to get the answers you need very soon.” The doctor then looked at Rose and Simon and said, “You two are quite remarkable. Lady Lancaster filled me in on the details of your mission. I am very impressed with your powers of deduction. Very impressed, indeed.”

Rose blushed and Simon grinned.

Smiling, Lady Lancaster said, “I will see you out, doctor. Please contact us as soon as you have your results.”

“Certainly, certainly,” Rose heard Dr. Orfila reply as he and the duchess headed toward the nearest ballroom entrance.

Grabbing Rose’s hand, Simon lifted it to his mouth for a kiss. “We do seem to make an excellent team, love.”

Rose felt her knees turn to jelly. “Yes, we do,” she whispered.

“So, what happened!” a number of voices said in near unison, startling Rose, who was quickly becoming lost in Simon’s eyes.

Moving to stand beside Simon while still clinging warmly to his hand, Rose turned to face their friends. In addition to Rose’s girlfriends, Alexander and David had joined the group.

“And where have you two been?” Simon said in exasperation to Alex and David. “I really could have used your help earlier.”

“We stopped by White’s for a drink or two before heading over here,” Alexander replied quite readily. “How were we to know you were trying to catch the biggest villain in London tonight?”

“We didn’t just try,” Simon grumbled. “We did catch him.”

“So you did, my good man. Congratulations!” David said, slapping Simon on the back. “Now tell us all the gory details,” he added in a low voice, rubbing his hands together in a positively Machiavellian way—much like Sarah had earlier in the evening.

Rose and Simon complied readily.

When they were finished, Rose saw that her friends looked somewhat disappointed.

“Is that all that really happened?” Sarah said, clearly disillusioned by the truth.

As Rose was nodding her head, Simon was shaking his. “Rose didn’t tell you the best part.”

Rose looked at Simon, confused, and everyone else perked up.

Smiling cagily, Simon elaborated, “When Caleb was protesting the accusations, he actually suggested that the champagne was not poisoned…so Rose suggested he drink it to prove it.”

“My, my…our little Rose has thorns,” Alexander said approvingly.

Rose blushed. She had forgotten about that. Now that she thought about it, it was a rather brilliant move on her part.

“Nicely done, Rose,” David chimed in.

“So, what happens now?” Emily wondered.

“Dr. Orfila does his tests,” Simon answered. “Once we have proof of a poisoning we will present our evidence to the authorities. Then it will be up to them.”

“This may be unchristian of me,” Hope said brusquely, “but if any man deserves the gallows, it’s him.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Now, if you will all excuse us, I think I will escort Rose home. It has been a stressful night and I think we both could use some sleep.”

Rose smiled her thanks to Simon. She was rather tired. And how amazing was it that Simon could tell? She really was a lucky woman to have fallen in love with such a good and kind man.

Their friends murmured their understanding and said a quick good night, once again offering their congratulations. Then Simon took Rose by the arm and guided her through the ballroom and out into the main hall. When Simon asked the footman to order around his carriage, they learned that Lady Lancaster—anticipating their needs—had already done so.

I must remember to thank the duchess, Rose thought with a wide yawn, as Simon helped her inside the vehicle. She really is such a dear.

Then Simon leapt into the carriage after her and within moments they were on their way.