His Spoilt Lady (5 page)

Then, without
any warning, John released her, and Linnett staggered backwards,
befuddled and unbalanced by his sudden withdrawal. Startled, she
stared up into his face, noticing his tightly held jaw and
disapproving expression. “J..John?” Her faltering voice sounded
breathless and Linnett realised she was panting, so she placed a
hand over her heart unconsciously, to slow her breathing.

“So you like a
kiss, my girl?” he drawled with acid sweetness. “Did Charles not
come up trumps tonight... hmm? You thought that I might do as the
consolation prize perhaps?” John raised a sardonic brow.

Linnett was
totally bewildered, hurt and confused by his sarcasm, and a wave of
pure white rage washed over her. She lashed out with her foot
catching him a painful blow on the shin, and then raised her fist
and cracked him hard across his jaw. Spinning, she flew away
through the door, and yanking it open, she dashed back into the
ballroom.

John stood
stunned for a moment, then turned and rested his forehead on the
edge of the cool stonework of the balustrade, putting his arms up
either side of his head as he closed his eyes. God, he had been so
wrong! How could he have mistaken her ardour for that of a wanton?
Indeed, her passionate response had been a real surprise to him,
and now that he had so wounded her feelings it would be well nigh
impossible to court the chit! Damn her pride - damn his! He grinned
ruefully, rubbing the side of his face; he’d got rather more than
he’d bargained for, certainly not a maiden’s chaste slap. He’d had
lesser blows in taverns back home!

Linnett,
meanwhile, had made her way down to the garden. She slipped through
the warm, moist heat of the conservatory and out into the cool
spring air.

"Charles, where
are you? Are you alright?" she called.

Linnett walked
along the gravel pathway that wound between dark hedges and led to
the pond beneath the balcony. The pale moon cast eerie shadows in
front of her, and the gaps in the hedges loomed dark and menacing.
She shivered, glancing nervously from side to side. At last she
came to the pond, its black waters glinting still and oily in the
moonlight, but there was no sign of Charles anywhere. Linnett
wondered whether the pond were deep enough for poor Charles to
drown in. Gingerly, she reached down, placing her hand into the
cold black water. Shivering she leaned further forward on tiptoes,
her feet on the stone edge of the pond. She was unprepared for the
sudden shove in the middle of her back, and Linnett fell face first
into the black depths of the pond.

Coughing and
spluttering, she surfaced, gasping with cold and shock. Linnett
half swam and half stumbled to the edge of the pond, her hair
falling in a sodden mass over her face so that she could hardly
see. A strong arm reached for her and pulled her out onto the path.
Linnett grasped hold of what she realised was a body that was as
wet and as cold as her own. “Charles?”

“Yes, you
hellion, it’s me!” he hissed.

"Oh, Charlie,
I’m so very sorry, really I am! I suppose I deserve the fright you
gave me but Charlie.... really, look at me!"

Charles looked
at Linnett and started to laugh. "You do look awful, Linny, but you
deserve that... and worse! You could have killed me, you
witch!"

Linnett,
relieved that he was laughing and seemed unhurt, said, "I did know
there was a pond there but not how deep it was. I was so afraid
you’d be drowned! Oh my blessed temper, I don’t wonder you’d rather
marry Nancy!"

Charles slipped
his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Linny, I am
sorry about the misunderstanding. I thought Nancy would have spoken
to you of our mothers’ plans."

Nancy had, but
Linnett had chosen to think that Nancy was just warning her off a
man she fancied. Not for a moment had Linnett believed that Nancy
was telling her the truth! After all, she had known Charles for
years, as playmates when children, meeting up at odd times through
the intervening years at social occasions, and then finally at her
own coming out ball. When Nancy had introduced her to the tall
handsome young man she had just been dancing with, Linnett didn’t
straight away recognise him as her erstwhile playmate.

Charles had
grown into a pretty but vain young man; he was weak and was very
much in awe of his large and domineering Mama. Linnett, on seeing
Charles again after so long, was captivated by his blond, foppish
and fashionable good looks. She had ignored Nancy’s proprietary air
and set her cap at him, flirting outrageously and claiming dances
with him whenever she could. Charles, who remembered Linnett and
their escapades as children, took her interest as the renewal of
their childhood friendship and nothing more. Charles felt wretched
at the awful mix up and at his own lack of perception. He looked at
her now standing in the moon light in her lovely green dress,
soaked and dripping in a ruin around her. Her usually pale hair
looked darker and it hung like rats tails, she had green slime
trailing over her shoulders and she looked frozen.

"Come, Linnett,
we can use your coach to go home in. We will drop you at Lavenstock
Hall first and then I will travel onto my house to change my
clothes and return to the ball. I will seek out your father and
tell him that you were feeling unwell and have withdrawn home and
that you will send the coach back to collect him." Charles, pleased
with his plan, turned and walked briskly down the gravel pathway in
the opposite direction to the house. "Come along, the stable yard
is this way and there is a gate to where the coaches wait- just
follow me!”

Linnett was by
this time too cold to argue with Charles, besides which the plan
seemed to be a good one and she certainly had no intention of
returning to the ball soaking wet! They crept across the stable
yard, yellow light shone out from the groom’s quarters above the
stables but all was quiet and no one saw them. Opening the gate
they edged along in the shadow of the wall, taking care that the
coach men should not see them. Linnett spotted her father’s coach,
"It’s over there, Charlie! The large dark green one, you can see my
father’s crest on the side. "

“Wait here,
Linnett,” Charles whispered. “I’ll check inside it and see if your
man is there.”

Luckily,
Charles found Davis the coachman happily snoozing inside the coach,
as he, not being a social sort, preferred not to go off for a chat
and a jar of ale as the other coachmen were inclined to do. If
Davis was surprised to see his mistress dripping wet and
accompanied by a young man in the same condition, well it really
was not his place to comment. He pulled himself up onto the
driver’s seat, grumbling acerbically as he did so. As soon as she
was inside the coach Charles wrapped a plaid rug around Linnett’s
knees and bade Davis to drive to Lavenstock. However, just as
Charles had settled himself onto the seat the door of the coach was
flung wide and John Foster jumped inside. He pulled down the window
and shouted up to Davis.” “Hold hard there, man; I will tell you
when to drive on!” Davis tutted and grumbled but obediently held
the horses in check. "Well!" John looked at each of them in turn,
“You two look a sorry sight I must say!” John settled himself
comfortably onto the seat next to Linnett, who flounced as far away
from him as the plaid blanket would allow.

“You!” she spat
furiously “What on earth are
you
doing here!”

Linnett was
extremely agitated by this unexpected turn of events. Her plan to
put Charles in an uncompromising position so that he had to marry
her was going so well up to the point John had arrived.

“Let’s just say
I feared for young Charles’s safety my dear. Well now, how cosy we
are! Setting off to Gretna Green perhaps? I must say you have
chosen a most interesting fashion to wear for the wedding, not so
much
Lady Greensleeves
as
The Lady of The Lake!
" John
grinned, and covering his fury well, he leaned back against the
seat and made himself comfortable.

"You
insufferable prig, answer my question! What in God’s name are you
doing here and following me again?” Linnett sneered at him and
pushed her wet hair back from her face. She leaned forward, glaring
venomously at John.

Her intensely
green eyes flashed dangerously, and John recognised the warning
signs of a temper tantrum beginning, so he responded mildly enough.
"I thought I had answered your question, Miss, uh, I apologise….
Lady Wainwright
. I followed you from the garden because I
was concerned for Lord Charles’s safety. After all, you did push
him off a balcony!"

Charles
hurriedly interjected, “Yes, but as you see, sir, I have had my
revenge!” He gestured towards the bedraggled and dripping Linnett.
“We are friends again now, are we not Linnett? I am sorry, but who
are you again?” Charles was having trouble keeping up with this
evening’s strange events.

“So... you have
had your revenge.... but what of mine?” John asked, not bothering
to answer Charles’s inquiry

“Yours, sir?
I’m afraid I don’t quite follow,” Charles said, events becoming too
complicated for him

“Then let me
enlighten you, Lord Charles. After you plunged from the balcony
this evening, I came upon this young lady leaning over the balcony,
shouting for a ‘Charles.’

“I assume that
you are the said Charles and not some other poor unfortunate my
fiancée has plunged into the pool tonight?”

Linnett
spluttered with outrage, and Charles first shook and then nodded
his head as he was having real difficulty following John’s tale.
John continued, “ I was not too keen on my fiancée calling for
another man so I took the opportunity to remind her of our
betrothal arranged this very afternoon by Sir Thomas Wainwright and
myself whereupon... I kissed her. This young, um,
lady
then
brutally attacked me! Allow me to show you the bruising to my
face.”

John tilted his
head so the light caught the darkening bruise adorning his
cheekbone.

“What?” Linnett
shrieked, staring at him in disbelief. “This is complete and utter
nonsense! I cannot believe I am hearing this…this tissue of lies!
How
dare you
distort what happened tonight! Have you
forgotten that I rejected you outright, that there was no
engagement?” Linnett was so incensed that she leapt up, hitting her
head on the coach roof. She dropped straight back down into her
seat again, rubbing her head and glowering at John.

Charles was
getting rather tired by now and still felt incredibly confused. His
head was hurting him, and he thought perhaps he may have banged it
during his fall from the balcony. He was finding it difficult to
follow the present chain of events, but in desperation, he clung to
what had just been revealed.

“Sir, is what
you say true?” Charles asked, in a bemused tone. “Sir Thomas
Wainwright approves your suit and supports your betrothal?”

John looked
Charles steadily in the eyes. “Sir Thomas Wainwright himself
arranged the match. Tell me, young man, do you feel you have a
prior claim to Linnett’s affections?”

Charles looked
horrified.

“Good Lord no,
sir! I had no idea that Linnett was about to become betrothed!
Please let me assure you that this evening’s circumstances are
entirely innocent and that Linnett’s er . . .integrity should not
in any way be held in question. Although her
reputation.
..”

Here Charles
faltered and mopped his brow with a wet handkerchief pulled from
his sodden waistcoat. God, he thought, what an awkward situation
this was, to be sure. If John was indeed betrothed to Linnett, then
at least he would be free to seek the restful charms of Nancy,
which was what he had originally planned before this evening’s
fiasco. The scandal that seemed only a step away in this present
compromising situation could possibly be averted if one of them was
engaged to Linnett. Charles was under no illusion that found alone
and in their present bedraggled state, he would be honour-bound to
offer for Linnett should John decide, in view of present
circumstances, to break their betrothal. Charles realised after
tonight’s escapade that life with Linnett as his wife would be
little better, if not much worse, than life with his mother. Here,
then, was John, offering a splendid solution to the problem and he
was going to do his damndest to encourage him without getting
caught up in some melodrama of Linnett’s own making.

Lord Charles’s
musings were interrupted by a howl of incredulous rage from
Linnett. “I am not betrothed to you, you imbecile!
Charles, he
is lying
!”

Charles and
John snapped in unison, “Be quiet, Linnett!”

John held out
his hand to Charles.

“I accept your
assurances as a gentleman of honour, Lord Charles, that nothing
unseemly has occurred here tonight. I will endeavour to keep this
evening’s scandalous events between ourselves but that is on the
understanding that you undertake not to see my fiancée alone
again.”

Both men
ignored yet another of Linnett’s spluttering yelps. Charles shook
John’s proffered hand and readily agreed. “I suggest that I leave
the pair of you alone to make your arrangements while I find an
alternative way home. I congratulate you both on your engagement
and wish you good night!” So saying, Lord Charles hurriedly opened
the coach door and leapt out into the darkness. Linnett was
pleading with him the whole way through his pretty speech, but
Charles focused solely on John and ignored Linnett completely. He
counted himself very lucky to be leaving this mess unscathed.

John was
extremely satisfied by the way things had turned out. Linnett’s
lack of decorum had placed her in a position where she would have
had no choice but to accept his proposal of marriage, and when she
had calmed down sufficiently, she would realise that this was
indeed the case.