Edith Layton (9 page)

There was a significant silence, and then earl smiled down at Daisy. “Why not? Does that suit you, my dear?”

“Oh yes,” she breathed.

“Lovely,” Leland remarked sourly to Daffyd when they reached the main road again, and Helena Masters had thanked him and went to stand by her charge. “That’s set the seal on it. Well done. Or was it
quite
enough, I wonder? Maybe you’d prefer to come right out and say, ‘She’s all alone, will you protect this beautiful, vulnerable creature forever, Geoff?’”

“Damn,” Daffyd said. “I just wanted to know. Suppose I could have been more subtle. Well, what can you do?”

“
You,
my dear little brother, nothing. But
I’ll
continue to try. Her getting Geoff is like trapping a fish in a barrel. The man’s lonely, and she’s done everything but move in on him. I’ll be here to find out why and perhaps prevent that from happening.”

“For his sake?” Daffyd asked.

He got no answer.

The earl paused at the end of the lane, at the edge of the crowded road. “Here we are in the thick of things again,” he said. “What a mob. Shall we wait, and have an ice or some such?” he asked Daisy. “That way we can let those in this crowd who are bent on leaving right away do so. Most of them have to work tomorrow morning; we don’t. We can let them go first if you’d like. My carriage is waiting. We don’t need to hurry.”

People crowded the paths, moving forward like a living river, the crowd surging toward the exits to the park. Daisy hated being jammed in with a crowd. Anyone who’d been in Newgate prison would feel the same. She looked up at the earl. But before she could answer, she saw movement from the corner of her eye. The viscount came lunging toward her. She gasped and shrank back.

Leland had seen a man plunging toward Daisy and dived forward to intercept him. He felt a shove as the fellow pushed against him, and reached out to grab him. But the man ducked and spun, and ran away too fast for him to get hold of.

Daisy felt a sudden lightness on her arm. “My purse!” she shouted, looking down, “the bastard cut the strings and nicked my purse! Stop thief!” she shrieked. “Stop him! The bloke with the red kerchief ’round his greasy neck. The bloody bugger clipped my purse!”

Then she picked up her skirts and plunged
into the steam of humanity, shouting as she ran after him.

If there was anything Londoners liked better than a fireworks display, it was a chase, especially one in defense of a gorgeous lady. This lady cursed like a trollop and ran like an athlete, but that only added to the theater of the moment. They loved theater, too.

Leland usually enjoyed a spectacle, but not tonight. His long legs ate up the distance between him and the thief, whose red bandana was like a beacon urging him onward. Too soon, Leland felt his strength draining. Still, he kept on, frowning as he did, pushing people aside with no ceremony, wasting no breath on apologies.

The culprit heard the ruckus behind him and looked back to see a sea of Londoners chasing him, shaking fists and shouting curses. The little beauty whose purse he held ran after him, screeching. He put on a burst of speed, leaving her behind. The tall, lean gentleman who had been with her cut through the mob, bloody murder clearly written on his face.

The thief flung the purse he’d cut into the crowd, causing them to part and scramble, fighting like spinster bridesmaids to be the one who grabbed the bouquet. He bent double and barreled through the crowd ahead of him, pushing any hapless people who blocked his passage. When he came to a thicket at the side of the road, he ran away down a dark path.

“That’s it, oh, thank you,” Daisy managed to pant when a rumpled red-faced fellow who looked like a grocer on holiday proudly presented her with her reticule.

The earl came along a few minutes later. He was clearly winded, but recovered his breath enough to delight the crowd by presenting a golden guinea to the fellow who had retrieved the purse.

“He’s gone,” Daffyd said in disgust, as he emerged from the dark path the thief had taken. “There’s another path it led to, and a few hundred people on it, but not a sign of him.”

“Let him go,” the earl said. “No sense pursuing now. He did throw it back. Anyway,” he said, still catching his breath, “wouldn’t want to see a fellow face a noose for trying, would you?”

“Aye, you’re probably right,” Daffyd said regretfully.

After much mutual congratulation, the crowd slowly melted away, and went back to pushing toward the exits again.

“Don’t brood. You almost had him, Lee,” Daffyd said, seeing a peculiar expression on the viscount’s face. “He was ahead by a long shot but you were gaining on him. Then you slowed down and he took off. But it was a near thing.”

“Well, yes,” Leland said. “It’s hard to run in evening shoes. Had I been wearing my boots, I’d have gotten him.”

“You look very pale, my lord,” Helena said with concern. “Are you all right?”

“Pale as a sheet,” Daisy pronounced. “Sit down.”

“No,” Leland said. “I’ll do better standing.” He put a hand to his heart in his usual gesture of sincerity, but then lifted it, looked at it, and frowned. His hand was covered with blood.

Daisy gasped as she saw the widening stain on the front of his jacket.

“I see the fellow was after more than your purse,” Leland said as he stared at his gory palm. “It appears he tried to take my life as well. If I sit, I doubt I’d stand again. So, shall we go?”

“Y
ou should lie down,” Daisy told the viscount.

“If I did everything I should, I’d be a very different man, and a much unhappier one,” Leland said. “Don’t worry,” he added more gently, “not only is there not enough room in this carriage for a maypole like myself to lie down, there’s no need of it.”

The viscount had gotten a knife thrust in his chest, and no one could be sure he was as well as he insisted he was. He sat in the carriage, head back, the earl and Daffyd close on either side of him so he wouldn’t be shaken by the ride. Daisy worried because he was so pale, and because of the amount of blood she’d seen. She sat opposite
him, alongside Helena, and they stared at their wounded companion.

“Nothing vital’s been punctured,” Leland reassured them with a faint smile. “Or I couldn’t be sitting here arguing with you. Nothing’s bubbling or spurting—sorry, but you force me to be graphic. How can I say it politely? However I put it, I’m not in distress. I’ve got handkerchiefs and my neck cloth binding up the wound, so I won’t be shedding any more blood. My only concern is being seen in public with a bare throat.
That
I’d never live down. I ought to have taken your neck cloth when you offered,” he told Daffyd, “because I’m convinced you wouldn’t have cared
half
so much as I do.”

“You’re right. I’d have just tied a handkerchief ’round my neck like the Gypsy I am,” Daffyd said. “Don’t worry about being seen. No one will see you but the doctor. He’s already been sent for.”

Leland peered out the coach window. “This is not the way to my house.”

“No,” the earl agreed. “It isn’t. You’re coming with me. I don’t trust you to care for yourself, Lee. You’re too casual with your life. You get a knife in your chest, diagnose the wound, whip off a neck cloth to blot up the gore, and pronounce yourself fine. That won’t do.”

“Worse if I pronounced myself dead,” Leland muttered. But though he joked, his voice was
fainter, his pallor pronounced, and those in the coach with him exchanged worried glances. “Any rate, even if it were bad, it’s always best to greet the devil with a quip. I hear he likes that…. Only jesting,” he said into the sudden silence. “Would you rather I moaned?”

“I’d rather you took it seriously,” the earl said.

“I’ve survived worse,” Leland murmured. “My poor heart must be impervious to insult by now, what with all the fair maidens who have rejected me, and the rivals who stabbed me in the back. But thank you, Geoff. I think I will take advantage of your hospitality, because…” He paused, and his eyelids fluttered down.

Everyone in the coach stiffened.

Leland opened his eyes, and laughed. “…because my valet would surely suffer a heart attack if he saw me in this state.”

They waited in the earl’s salon, not saying much because they were too anxious. Daffyd paced and Daisy looked out the window, while Helena sat quietly waiting. They relaxed when they saw the earl’s expression as he came into the room.

“He’ll do,” the earl told his guests. “The doctor says he’s lucky, the knife missed heart and lungs, but we guessed that. He might run a fever, and that would be another story. I’ve sent for his valet. Lee’s agreed to stay on here until I’m sure he’s
well, but not with good grace, I might add. He’d still be complaining if the doctor hadn’t given him a draught so he’d sleep.”

“I’ll postpone leaving in the morning, as I’d planned,” Daffyd said. “I’ll stay on, too, if you don’t mind. At least until I’m sure he’s better.”

“Do that, and he’ll rage himself into that fever we don’t want to see,” the earl said. “In fact, he mentioned it to me just now. ‘Send Daffy on his way,’ he said. ‘I’ll be fine.’”

“He’d say that if his head was cut off and on a pike,” Daffyd grumbled.

“If he could, yes,” the earl agreed. “He’s a remarkable man. He dresses like a dandy and carries on like a fop, but he’s pure steel beneath. He fences, rides like a demon, and spars with the Gentleman himself,” he told Daisy. “You wouldn’t know it from his conversation. He even worked with the government in secret when Napoleon was marching toward Paris again; dangerous work, too. Did you know that?”

“Aye,” Daffyd said. “What’s more, the little emperor has no hard feelings. Rumor says Lee’s visited him on Saint Helena since.”

The earl smiled. “The man could talk rings around anyone.”

“He’s a master of flattery, even I can see that,” Daisy admitted.

“It’s more than that,” Daffyd said. “He never says what he doesn’t mean.”

The earl shook his head. “Let’s not go on like this, it sounds like we’re at a wake. Lee’s very much alive, and I hope to keep him that way. So,” he said seriously. “Time to get down to nasty details. Do you think the knifing was an accident? A cutpurse who got frightened when Leland lunged at him? Or do you suspect something else?”

Daisy frowned, Helena looked surprised, but Daffyd nodded approval.

“Good question,” he said. “Could have been a mistake: The fellow was trying a simple slice and run, and that don’t make for accuracy. And Lee’s big and he was going at him like a charging war-horse. He could have just frightened the filching cove so much he struck out and cut by accident. I don’t know. Now, I do know we’re a pack of old lags, so we always have crime on our minds. If it was something else, was Lee the mark, or one of us? We’d be fools not to think about it.”

He stared at Daisy. “No one’s angry at me at the moment, that I know of. Anyone mad at you, Daisy? I’m not saying it was you the cove was after; think of the risks he took when he knifed Lee. If he’d nabbed a purse and thrown it away before he got caught, he might have got clean away. Even if he was caught with it, he’d have got off light if your purse was light, too. And ladies don’t carry too much lolly. But flashing a blade at a gent? Everyone knows it’s the nubbing cheat for
attempted murder, if the victim’s a gent. Did he mean it or not? Was he just a rattle pate, or a murderer? We’ve got to think of everything.”

“Too right,” Daisy said. She saw Helena’s expression, and translated for her. “Pickpockets have to be careful they don’t nick too much money, or they’d be hanged if caught. And it’s certain hanging for trying to kill the gentry. We don’t know if the bloke was out for money or blood. Was he such a fool that he tried to stab anyone who might catch him? Or was he sent to do murder?”

She looked thoughtful. “As for me having any enemies…I’ve got some who are vexed with me, true. But they’re all back in Botany Bay, and far as I know none of them mad enough to be after my head. It was my hand they wanted. Although I think I see them everywhere, I’ve never really seen them anywhere.”

“Did Tanner have any relatives who disputed his will?” the earl asked.

Daisy made a sour face. “He had no kin, or so he said. That’s why he took a job in the Antipodes. And he had no will. He couldn’t write. The judge gave everything to me, because I was all there was. And I think, because the judge knew Tanner, he thought I deserved it.”

“And you, Geoff?” Daffyd asked. “Anyone angry with you these days?”

“The man who hated me is in his tomb, Daffyd.
I don’t know of any others. But I’ll think on. I’ll also send word to some of our old friends who did settle here in London and ask them. And I’ll call in Bow Street. I’ll have to ask Lee, too,” he added unhappily. “But not today.”

“Don’t worry,” Daffyd said. “If I know my man, he’s already dreaming on it. He doesn’t miss much. In the meanwhile, it’s late. I’ll see the ladies back to their hotel. While I’m out I’ll get some old friends to watch their rooms tonight. Never fear,” he told Daisy.

“I don’t,” she said simply. “I’ve got my own blade up my sleeve. I didn’t think to flash it tonight, because it happened too fast. I’ve got a barker, too. I should have brought it with me, but I thought it was safe in London.”

“A barker?” Helena asked, frowning.

“A pistol,” the earl translated.

Helena gasped.

Daisy turned and rounded on her, her eyes flaming. “Yes, I carry a pistol, Mrs. Masters. I learned in a hard school. Lessons for living, they were, and they served me well because here I stand, don’t I? If it distresses you, then we’ll just have to part company.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Helena said, eyes wide.

“Aye, I know.” Daisy sighed. “Don’t pay attention to me, Helena. I’m tired and angry, but not at you. See how anger works? Likely it
was
a cull who got too excited and panicked who cut the
viscount. He looked like murder on wheels when he came at the cove,” she told the earl. “But even if it wasn’t that, I’m ready. Who knows what enemies a person can make just by breathing? Tanner had dozens who wanted him dead, so I learned from him. He always went armed, hand and foot. And you, Helena?” she asked suddenly, “anyone mad at you?”

“My friends are all in the countryside,” Helena said nervously. “And I’ve no enemies. At least, so I think.”

“There it is,” Daisy said impatiently. “So. What time can we come back tomorrow?”

The earl and Daffyd stood looking at her, the earl with a slight smile, Daffyd with a wide grin.

“Heart of oak, no fainting or wailing, and no retreating,” Daffyd said with approval. “That’s the daisy, all right! You know what? I think all girls should go to Botany Bay instead of finishing school.”

The laughter that greeted this made Daisy feel better. But nevertheless, she looked into the shadows when she left the earl’s house a little while later.

Daisy was up early the next morning, even though she had not slept much, or well. That, she thought, was Leland Grant’s fault. She had gotten into bed and thought about his wound, wondered at his stoicism, and then, in the small hours, worried about his survival. He was such a
cool, sardonic man, it was difficult to picture him helpless. And he was young and strong. But she’d seen death come to young and healthy people too many times. And so every time she’d closed her eyes, she’d thought of the possibility of seeing his knowing blue eyes closed forever. She’d only drifted off to sleep at last by promising herself she’d see him in the morning.

The man was an enigma; she was both attracted and distracted by him. But whatever he was, he’d offered his life for hers, and she didn’t forget a debt. At least, that’s what she told herself when she’d realized how upset she was by the attack on him, and how much he dominated her thoughts.

She dressed in shades of pink today, from her bonnet to her walking dress, colors carefully chosen to brighten a sickroom. She’d also bought a bag of sweets and a book the bookseller promised her was all the rage with the gentry these days.

She and Helena got to the earl’s house just in time to see Daffyd leaving it. He’d only had time to say good-bye to Geoff and tell Daisy that Leland was feeling better before he left London. That reassured Daisy. She knew that as much as he wanted to get home to his wife, he wouldn’t have gone if his half brother was in danger.

She picked up the hem of her skirt to go up the stairs when Helena stopped her with a light touch on the arm.

“A lady can’t visit a gentleman in his bedchamber unless they are related, however ill he may be,” Helena said apologetically.

“You hold with that, Geoff?” Daisy asked the earl, tapping a toe on the floor of his marble hall.

He bit back a smile. She looked ready to explode, her patience clearly held by a thread. He looked at her companion.

“I was hired to keep Mrs. Tanner company as well as to tell her how things were done in London,” Helena said helplessly. “I can’t approve what I know Society would not.”

Daisy looked mulish. “I know what’s proper but I can’t and won’t desert a friend in need. The viscount got cut trying to help me, didn’t he? Fine thanks if I let him rot away alone upstairs without so much as a thank you, because ‘a lady doesn’t go into a fellow’s bedchamber unless they’re related!’ I keep telling you—I’m not a lady! And if I were, I wouldn’t want to be that kind of one. Anyway, if he’s in bed with a knife wound in his chest, and I’m fit as a fiddle, I don’t see how he
could
compromise me! If he even wanted to, that is,” she added.

“Anyone would want to compromise you, Daisy,” the earl said gallantly. “Though I doubt even Lee’s up to it this morning. He’s not exactly rotting away upstairs, by the way. He’s well attended and is doing fine, but yesterday took a lot
out of him and the doctor’s draught slowed him further. He’s no danger to anyone but himself, if he insists on doing too much.”

“What say you, Mrs. Masters?” he asked Helena. “Daisy clearly will have her way. I don’t want her climbing in the window. Why not agree and look the other way—metaphorically, that is. I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Helena frowned. “But the servants…”

“Don’t gossip, they’re loyal to me, to a man and woman,” the earl said. “I trust them implicitly.” He saw her hesitation, and took pity. The woman obviously had morals and didn’t want to take her salary if she couldn’t provide what she’d promised.

“If Geoff thinks it’s all right, then,
certainly,
so do I,” Daisy announced.

Helena saw the fond look on the earl’s face as he looked at Daisy. “Very well,” she said with resignation, “What can I say?”

They went up the stairs, into the long hallway, and finally paused outside an oaken door.

The earl eased the door open. “Lee?” he called, “are you ready for company?”

“I was from the moment I heard they were here,” Leland’s voice said. “I’m decently dressed and delighted to receive them. Show them in, if you please.”

Daisy followed the earl in, but had eyes only for the man in the huge bed. Leland was lying
down, propped up on pillows, but otherwise she’d never have guessed he was in any way hurt. He wore a maroon dressing gown over a white shirt and gray breeches, and if it weren’t for the fact that he wore morocco slippers instead of boots, he needed only a neck cloth to look ready for a stroll down the street.

It was true he was pale, but that only made his eyes look bluer, as he looked at her. She caught her breath as she met that calm regard. “Welcome,” he said, “I’d bow, but my bandages are so tight, I might sever my body at the waist, and I think I’ve treated you to enough gore already. Thank you for coming; I’m glad the sight of my blood didn’t put you off me forever. How are you this morning? I love your gown, Mrs. Tanner; the color brightens my day.”