Carola Dunn (25 page)

He was so positive, Lissa began to believe that somehow he might prevail. With a faint smile, she was about to tell him so when the footman she had left on duty outside Colin’s chamber came in.

“Miss...My lady, you’re wanted above stairs.”

She sprang up in alarm. “Lord Orton is worse?”

“‘Tis not what I were told, my lady. Seems his lordship had a nightmare, dreamt as your ladyship was gone. He’s a-crying fit to bust and he won’t believe you’re still here till he sets eyes on your ladyship for himself.”

“You see?” Lissa said to Lord Ashe. “He will cry himself into an attack.” She hastened out.

* * * *

Ashe returned to the drawing room. His mother had left, but his sister and Teague had their heads together over a collection of fashion plates.

“Rob,” cried Daphne, “is it true? She is Lady Felicia Milton?”

“She is,” he confirmed.

“How delightful. Heavens above, she must have some new clothes at once! Lord Quentin and I are quite agreed on what will suit her best. I shall take her to my modiste.” Sudden tears filled her beautiful eyes. “Oh, but Rob, what about Colin? Even if he were perfectly recovered, how am I ever to find another governess who suits him half so well? We shall never be able to be married!”

“As to that, I cannot help, but at least you need not fret for the present--Lady Felicia will not leave him now. Her situation is complicated and will take some time to straighten out.”

“There, what did I tell you, dear lady?” said Teague soothingly. “The chit...er, Lady Felicia is devoted to the child. Wouldn’t desert him while he’s not in plump currant.”

“Then I cannot take her up to London,” Daphne reflected. “I shall just have to order her gowns myself. It shall be a surprise!” She clapped her hands. “Fortunately Marlin has her measurements, I believe. Lord Quentin, pray remind me to ask her when we go to change for dinner.”

Consulting his watch, Teague said, “Time to go up now.”

They started towards the door. Half way, Daphne turned to enquire, “Does Lady Felicia ride, Rob?”

“I’m not sure. She grew up in the country.”

“Then I expect she does. She must have a habit.
A la militaire
, do you think, Lord Quentin?”

They went out together.

Not requiring half so long to change, Ashe headed for his mother’s sitting room. On the way, he recollected that Lissa had told him she did not ride. Very likely it was another of her taradiddles, another attempt to deflect suspicion. How could he ever have been angry with her for her deceit? She had acted throughout solely in what she saw as her brothers’ best interests.

Her stepbrothers’, rather. Or was Michael even that? The son of her stepmother and a subsequent husband...Exton’s son. With a suddenly sinking heart, Ashe wondered how he could possibly justify keeping the child from his father. Had he promised Lissa more than he could perform?

Chapter 20

“Is it true, Robert?” Lady Ashe lay on her sofa by the fire, looking every day of her age. “The girl is Woodborough’s daughter?”

“It’s true.” Ashe sank into a chair on the other side of the fireplace, his sleepless night at Colin’s bedside catching up with him. “Daphne’s immediate response was to plan a new wardrobe for her!”

“Naturally.”

“I did not care to discourage her--she needs cheering after the stress of Colin’s illness--but paying for it may prove a difficulty. If necessary I shall shell out the blunt, but will you pretend it comes from you? I doubt Lady Felicia would accept it from me, even as a loan.”

“Do you imagine she has so much proper feeling after what she has done? What on earth can have driven a gently bred young woman to such reprehensible behaviour?”

Ashe flared up. “Would you have had her abandon them to that monster?”

His mother looked confused. “Monster?”

“Oh, you mean her theatrical career.”

“I do indeed. Daphne may be a featherbrained peagoose but nothing could persuade her to tread the stage.”

“No?” he said ironically. “Was it not her intention of doing just that which brought down your...disfavour upon Lady Felicia?”

“In her own home! Quite different, though I cannot approve even that.” Her cheeks tinged with pink, she dropped the subject. “What monster?”

“I was under the impression you wondered what had driven her to abduct her brothers.”

“To what!” She reached for her smelling salts. Jumping up, Ashe reached for the bell-pull, but she waved him down. “I do not want Jane or my maid fussing over me,” she said crossly, sniffing at the vinaigrette. “I shall be perfectly all right, I vow, if you will only tell me a straight tale instead of dropping startling tidbits.”

“Your pardon, Mama.” He gave her a brief summary of Lissa’s history. “So, you see, cruelty drove her to kidnapping, and, as I told you before, hunger drove her to the theatre.”

“So you said, but perhaps she made up the story of the penny bun to win your sympathy.”

“Mother, I was there when Michael, wakened in the middle of the night, apologized for eating more than his share! I saw the scrap of currant bun with my own eyes. None of them had any way of knowing I would be there....”

“In the middle of the night!”

“She tried to stop me going with her. I insisted, though by then I had given up...my original plans for the night, shall we say. In any case, we were well chaperoned by the boys.” He pondered a moment. “You know, at the time I thought it was a sort of waiflike charm which attracted me to her, but now I believe it was always her air of gallantry. Why else should I have so easily conceded defeat? Even then, I wanted to protect her from every distress and misfortune.”

“Oh, Robert,” cried his mother, “she may be a lady, and in need of succour, but need you marry her?”

“I have already asked her, Mama,” Ashe said in a stifled voice. “She will not have me.”

Unable to believe anyone could possibly refuse her son, Lady Ashe promptly came about. “My dear boy, this was scarcely the time to make a proposal of marriage, with Colin still ill and her affairs all in confusion.”

“Becoming my wife would solve most of her difficulties.”

“Is that what you told her? Is that in fact why you wish to wed her? Pure chivalry?”

“Good Lord, no!” Under her probing eye, he flushed. “I love her.”

“Did you tell her so?”

“No,” he admitted. “I said something about finding a solution, and then popped the question.”

“No wonder she refused, then. I daresay Lady Felicia has the pride proper to her station. Taking a husband simply to be rescued would not suit her at all. Nor would you care for a wife who married you for such a reason.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” Ashe said wryly.

“Fustian! You must extract her and her brothers from their entanglement with that most undesirable preaching person--shockingly vulgar!--and then make another offer, explaining your sentiments properly.”

Hiding a smile at his mother’s complete volte-face, Ashe agreed that dealing with the abominable Exton was the first order of business. He knew Michael was a prime favourite with her, so he kept to himself his doubts about his ability to wrest the child from his father.

He had to manage it somehow. Even if he could bear the thought of returning the little boy to the horrors of such a home, Lissa would never marry him if he failed.

She might well refuse him again anyway, he reminded himself. An attempt at seduction was hardly the ideal way to introduce oneself to a well-brought-up young lady!

Too late to remedy that. The sooner he dealt with Exton, the sooner he could set about courting her in due form.

“If Colin is well enough to do without me, I shall go up to Town tomorrow.”

“Then I trust you mean to dine with us this evening,” his mother said tartly. “You have slept through the dinner hour every day since your return.”

“I’ll try to stay awake, Mama,” he promised, rubbing his eyes, “but first I’ll just make sure Lady Felicia does not wish me to stay up with Colin tonight.”

Lady Ashe went through to her dressing room to change for dinner. Before repairing to his apartments to follow suit, Ashe went to the nursery wing. In the day nursery, he found Nanny Bessemer sitting by the fire, nodding over some mending. She roused as he entered and blinked at him in bewilderment.

“Good evening, Nanny.”

“Evening, Master Robert. Why, you’re quite growed up.”

“Yes, Nanny. I’m looking for your present charges. Where are Peter and Michael?”

“Master Michael’s abed,” she said firmly, “and staying there. ‘Tis past his bedtime, and the child plumb wore out with all the excitement, what with Master Colin dreaming his friends was all gone away. Nowt’d satisfy the poor lad but to see ‘em all together, Miss Findlay too. You won’t let ‘em leave, will you, Master Robert? I don’t know how Master Colin’d go on without ‘em, and that’s the truth.”

“I’m doing my best to make sure they stay, Nanny, but it turns out Miss Findlay is actually Lady Felicia Milton.”

The old woman nodded, accepting the news with the imperturbability of one whom a long life had inured to surprises. “A proper lady, allus kind and polite and bringing her boys up likewise, all three on ‘em. Master Peter’s reading to Master Colin now.”

Ashe went to the sickroom. Colin was asleep, Peter at the bedside reading to himself, the nurserymaid by the fire sewing a rent in a small pair of breeches. The boys always needed new clothes, Ashe noted with a smile.

Peter came over to meet him. “Did you want to see Lissa, sir?” he whispered anxiously. “She was so tired I sent her to bed. I can easily wake her if Colin needs her, but I’d rather not disturb her just to talk to you, if you don’t mind.”

“You have answered my question. If she’s willing to leave him to you and the girl, then I need feel no qualms about retiring to my own bed after dinner. I shall arrange for reliable servants to take turns through the night. It must be nearly your bedtime, is it not, Sir Peter?”

The lad flushed. “Lissa said she told you everything, sir. Even the nurserymaid seems to know. I...I’m sorry we had to lie to you. Michael’s still little, you see. It wasn’t right to let my stepfather treat him like that. Sir, do you...do you think we’ll all burn in Hell for telling so many lies?”

“Certainly not!” Ashe exclaimed, much louder than he had intended. He glanced at the bed, and Peter swung round to do the same. Colin slept on.

“Sshh!” Peter reproved.

Ashe drew him out to the passage. “Certainly not,” he repeated quietly, “if there is any justice in this world or the next.”

“Lissa said that sort of lying isn’t a mortal sin. She said lots of what my stepfather taught us is nonsense, like all children being already damned when they’re born, before they have even had a chance to be wicked. She made it a sort of game, his rules and real rules, Reasonable Rules, that ladies and gentlemen follow, like being kind and polite to everyone. But some are the same, and sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which.”

“My dear boy, I fear I am not up to a theological debate at present, if ever! You will do better to continue to consult your sister. I must go and change now. I shall send someone to relieve you with Colin. I’m off to London in the morning to set about extricating you from this muddle.”

“Oh, I nearly forgot, Lissa wrote a letter to the lawyer she said to give to you.” Peter extracted a folded sheet of paper, a trifle crumpled, from his pocket. Smoothing it, he handed it over, then laid a hand on Ashe’s arm and looked up at him pleadingly. “You won’t let him take Michael back, will you, sir? Even if I have to go?”

And Ashe found himself promising, “I shan’t let him have either of you, my word upon it.”

A gentleman’s word was his bond. He would keep his promise even if he had to kidnap the boys and flee the country!

* * * *

Not even his imprudent promise could keep Ashe awake. Having sought his bed immediately after dinner and fallen asleep within moments of laying his head on the pillow, he was up early on the morrow. He was glad to escape the house before any but servants were about.

Thus he avoided accompanying Daphne and Teague, who had announced at dinner their intention of leaving for Town in the morning if Colin had suffered no setback. They would likely not set off until noon, and their leisurely notions of travel did not suit Ashe’s present impatience.

He also avoided--cravenly, he admitted to himself--what was bound to be a battle royal between his mama and Lissa. Lady Ashe, quite properly, intended to remove Lady Felicia from the nurseries to a more comfortable and elegant chamber.

Ashe was perfectly certain she would refuse to be removed. Whose stubbornness would win the day he was happy to wait until his return to discover.

Another beautiful October day allowed him to reach Dover Street by late the same evening. First thing next morning he sent for his solicitor. Occupied in court that day, Mr. Plumditch returned a message that he would be delighted to call upon his lordship at five o’clock in the afternoon, if convenient.

Frustrated, Ashe agreed.

The lawyer arrived on time and a footman ushered him into the library. A tall, spare man, he had a very high forehead, and his bushy eyebrows looked like furry caterpillars trying to crawl up the empty space, giving him an air of permanent astonishment. He apologized profoundly and profusely for keeping his lordship waiting.

“An unavoidable delay, my lord, though I need hardly say that had your lordship intimated a situation of extreme urgency--”

“No,” Ashe cut him off, waving him to the chair facing the desk, “not extreme, though I am eager to get the business under way. Do sit down. Madeira?” he offered, feeling a sudden need of a little fortification before he broached that business.

“Thank you, my lord, a small glass would not be unwelcome.”

Halsey had efficiently provided a decanter in case it was wanted. As he poured, Ashe asked, “Do you happen to know a lawyer by the name of Oldham?”

“Of Weldrum, Oldham and Weldrum, my lord? I am acquainted with the senior partner, and know of Mr. Oldham by reputation. Your lordship has business with him? Not, I trust, of an adversarial nature?”