Pascale Duguay (19 page)

“What is to stop Sir Rupert from doing the same?”

“Oh, it was all done good and proper of course. We had his man of business draw up the papers.”

“Ha! Sir Rupert must be the greatest pinchpenny of all of England! I would not trust him with my last coin. You may be sure those papers are tricked, especially if his own man of business drew them up.”

Lord Bingham blanched a little at that but refused to comment.

“Why could you not have done the same with me?” Patience asked now.

“Because had you gone ahead and gotten married before you turned twenty-one, no husband in his right mind would have sat by quietly and watch you give away your blunt. You may be sure the fellow would have contested the papers and caused a lot of trouble.”

“Papa, I will give you all of it if you will just release the Earl and let me go back to Aunt Louisa!”

“That is pretty talking indeed! To tell the truth, your offer is mighty tempting. But I have gone to much trouble to finally get you here, and I will not risk losing it all when half of the money is guaranteed to come my way now.”

“I thought you were a gambler!”

“One thing I am not is a fool! Rutherford would be sure to have something to say in the matter, seeing as he would lose out a very large sum to me. If I thought your Earl was in love with you, then I might have been more lenient. But had he been in love with you, he would have put a stop to all this right from the beginning. When I fell in love with your mother, I did not let anything stand in my way. He could have married you already by now and made sure no swindler took you away. Bah! Even the lure of a fortune could not make him marry you fast enough. Where is your Earl now I ask you?”

“Right here, as a matter of fact!”

Patience spun around in time to find the hooded figure had risen and was now drawing back his garment. When it fell from his face, she found herself looking straight into Julius’ eyes.

Patience ran over to Julius and threw herself into his arms, almost knocking him off his feet in the process.

“My lord! I am so glad you are all right! You managed to escape then?”

Lord Bingham’s face turned the colour of ash. “You! How did you get here?”

“Easily enough. I imagine I must have used the same road as you did.”

“But what about the ruffians he had set onto you?” asked Patience, still snuggled within his arms.

“Oh, that. I am afraid your father has underestimated me somewhat. Let’s just say those two louts will not be bothering anyone for some time.”

“Hand over the girl!” Sir Rupert suddenly demanded, withdrawing the pistol from his greatcoat pocket.

While Patience had been busy rejoicing, Carlton had used the opportunity to sneak up to the back door. He was now positioned in front of it, effectively blocking their way.

“Put that thing away, you fool!” Lord Bingham cried moving to stand in front of the couple. “Can’t you see the game is over? Give it up.”

“If you think I am going to let all that money slip through my fingers when we are so close to the goal, then you are the fool! Now come here, girl!”

A commotion suddenly erupted from outside the doors, causing Sir Rupert to turn his head that way. Julius, making use of this distraction, propelled Patience, her father and himself behind a nearby column just as the doors flew open, knocking Sir Rupert down to the ground. As he hit the floor, his pistol went off, the bullet shattering the wall exactly where the three had stood barely seconds before.

Female screams filled the church as bodies piled in the entrance. Philip, noting the pistol in Sir Rupert’s hand, kicked it away before picking him up by the scruff of the neck.

“What have you done with Miss Bingham?” Philip shouted.

“Speak this instant!” demanded Lady Westbury, jabbing him in the chest with her parasol.

“Philip, I believe the man will not be able to utter a sound if you continue to choke him so,” Julius said, stepping away from the column followed by Patience and her father.

“Julius! Miss Bingham!” cried Philip, releasing his charge who promptly fell back to the ground.

The couple were instantly surrounded by the new arrivals.

“Jessup, what took you so long? According to my calculations, you should have been here soon after Patience arrived.”

Jessup had recuperated the gun and now handed it to the Earl. “Mr. Rutherford took a shortcut but got lost along the way,” said the lad, rolling his eyes.

“Did I not say I believed you were taking a wrong turn, Philip?” said Miss Arlington.

“Yes, my love, but I did get us here didn’t I? And just in the nick of time by the looks of things!”

Lady Westbury, who had not missed the Earl’s comment to Jessup, said, “You mean to tell me you knew what would happen all along? Did you hear that, Henrietta?” Her hat askew and her cheeks flushed, she looked from the Earl to his mother.

“Julius is only funning. He would never do such a thing, of course,” Lady Rutherford stated.

“I am sorry to disappoint the both of you, but yes I did. I was hoping some good would come out of all this, and I believe it has.”

Julius’ glance went from Philip’s arm wrapped protectively around Miss Arlington’s form to Patience having a civilized conversation with her father instead of giving him the thrashing he deserved.

“And I thought you were such a sensible, no-nonsense man!” exclaimed Lady Westbury.

“Isn’t that why you and Mother wanted to pair me up with Patience in the first place? So that I would lose some of my starchiness and come to love adventure, drama, and make-believe?”

Lady Westbury chuckled at that. “I never thought your mother and I would succeed so well!”

Patience joined them along with Mr. Findley.

“Will we be having a wedding after all?” the old man asked.

“That shall depend on the lady,” Julius answered.

Patience looked up into Julius’ laughing eyes and smiled in return. “Not before you and I have a long-overdue discussion.”

“Then the answer must be no for the time being.”

The Reverend Findley nodded. “Please come again when all is settled. I will look forward to performing the union.” He shook both their hands before walking back in the direction of his sanctuary.

“I must ask you, my lord, how did you know my father had set a trap for you?”

Julius spotted Lord Bingham being berated by his sister. Certain the man could not hear them he answered, “That was the easy part. You see, I once read a note your father had written to you pretending to be Philip that first night he tried to take you away. He attempted the same trick with this last note pretending to be my steward. Why it did not occur to him that I would not recognize my own steward’s handwriting is beyond me, but I certainly recognized your father’s. At all events, I do not think we should tell him. This knowledge may prove useful should he be so foolish as to try anything underhanded in the future.”

The Earl caught Jessup by the arm. “And this nosy scamp here turned out to be quite useful. He was actually the brain behind the plot to catch the ruffians.”

Jessup looked quite pleased with himself. “When I learned what your father had done, I told the Earl to send his carriage as expected with two Bow Street Runners inside. Those coves must have been dicked in the nob to think they could get away with such a plumper!”

“Yes well, enough talk. Your parents will not recognize you when they see you next.” Julius gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Although the boy has impressed Bow Street so much that I would not be surprised if Jessup became the youngest Bow Street Runner in history.”

“Julius, that fellow I almost strangled is gone!” Philip suddenly cried out.

Julius shrugged. “I was hoping he would make a run for it. It saves us the trouble of wondering what to do with him!”

“But what if he tries to harm Patience again?”

“As to that, I will shortly be paying him a visit and hope to make myself very clear. Those ruffians hired to assail me will surely speak out once they are arrested. When Sir Rupert and Lord Bingham learn I will only dismiss any accusations made against them should they behave in the future, I am sure we are not likely to encounter any more problems from that quarter.”

Lord Bingham, having escaped his sister’s clutches, approached in time to hear the last part of this speech. “No you will not,” he assured them. “No offence, but I find I prefer the relative safety of the gaming tables over the uncertainties inherent to dealing with my daughter.”

When they arrived at the park, they met a much restored if somewhat agitated Mr. Williams, who wasted no time taking Patience aside.

“I am so glad you are unharmed. You must believe me when I say that I would never have forgiven myself had anything happened to you. Although your father used some low-handed means to bring me to do his bidding, it does not excuse my cowardly actions in the least. Both my father and grandfather would be ashamed to own me were they to hear of this!”

Patience patted his hand in a comforting gesture. “Do not worry. There is no need for them to be informed of today’s doings. I was afraid my father had used you abominably. Please do not trouble yourself any more over this unfortunate incident. Now, I have the perfect balm for that bump of yours. If you will give me your directions, I will have a jar sent to you as soon as I get home.”

“You are too good,” said Mr. Williams, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Patience tried not to show her amusement at Mr. Williams’ obvious distress. She could not help thinking that had he been the one to pick her up the day she fled her father’s home, he would likely not have survived the experience. If Jessup had not come to tell her they were ready to leave, she might have sat all afternoon patting Mr. Williams’ hand.

Patience took a seat next to her aunt. At Lady Rutherford’s orders, they drove off in the wake of Julius’ phaeton followed by Lady Arlington’s carriage and finally Philip’s vehicle. The procession reached the Earl’s house in good time. It seemed he had planned for this turn of events as well since they were soon sitting down to tea accompanied by an ample assortment of pastries. After this fine repast, they all adjourned to the salon.

Patience, after making sure her aunt was deep in conversation with Lady Rutherford, deemed it was well past time to speak with Julius, and interrupted his conversation with Philip.

“My lord, may I have a private word with you?”

“If you will excuse me?” The Earl bowed to Philip before taking Patience by the arm and leading her out of the room. They went up a flight of stairs then down a long corridor and did not stop until they reached the very last door.

“Where are we?” Patience asked noticing they had entered a vast bedroom decorated in dark tones obviously more suited to a man’s tastes.

The Earl executed a gallant bow. “Welcome to my bedchamber!”

Patience shook her head at him. “Julius! We cannot speak here!”

“Why ever not? If you wish to be private with me, then it is the only place where we are sure not to be disturbed. My servants never enter this room at this time unless directly summoned, and I would think that this would be the last place where our guests would look for us.”

Julius sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him. Patience hesitated briefly before moving to join him. “Well, if you are sure.”

“I am.”

As soon as she made contact with the bed, Julius wrapped his arms about her and kissed her with such intensity that she barely felt herself falling onto the coverlet. When she was finally able to draw breath, Julius had thrown one leg over hers, neatly pinning her to the bed.

“Julius! I mean to talk to you!”

“Then go ahead, love.” He nibbled on her earlobe, sending little sparks of pleasure running down the whole length of her body.

Patience, not willing to be deterred, took a deep breath and trying to ignore the kisses he was now raining along her neck said, “Julius, I do not know how much you may have overheard while I was speaking to my father in the church, but the short of it is that if you marry me before I turn twenty-one, you will receive my dowry. It is an inheritance left to me through my maternal grandmother. But if you wait until the date set for our wedding, I will be twenty one and the whole will revert to me.”

Patience gasped when Julius tugged at the front of her dress and licked the valley at the top of her cleavage.

“Julius! Are you attending me?”

“Yes, darling, but I must say I find this conversation very annoying,” Julius responded before moving lower still.

Patience could not resist the moan that escaped her. Using every ounce of willpower she possessed, she forced her hands to push his head away in order to pry his mouth from her heated skin .

“Julius, pray listen to me!” she said in exasperation.

Julius let out a sigh against her chest before slowly lifting his head to look at her. “I
have
listened to you, love. But I find all this talk to be quite unnecessary. To please you, however, I will endeavour to answer your unspoken questions. One, I do not want your money. You may give it all to your father if you wish, though I sincerely hope you will find a more worthy cause. Two, I will be glad to marry you on the date originally set for our wedding; and three, I intend to kiss you senseless right now. Any more objections?”

“No, my lord,” Patience answered meekly.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. This might also help to convince you.” He retrieved a folded sheet from his breast pocket and handed it to her.

Curious, Patience took it and spread it open. Glancing at the writing, she uttered a sound of surprise. It was a list headed with the title
My Requirements in a Wife.

As her eyes scanned the page, Julius recited the words aloud, “My wife must be wellborn, of course. Her manners unpredictable, her disposition caring and loving. In conversion she must use her cunning intelligence to come up with the most formidable stories or most useful piece of advice. Physically, she must be on the short side so that her lord may get off his high horse and worship at her venerable feet. And last but not least, she must possess bewitching green eyes, lovely red curls, and an enchanting dimple in her left cheek so that her lord will not be able to keep his hands off her.”

When Julius reached the end of his recital, Patience put down the sheet of paper. With tears of joy running down her cheeks, she reached out and gently took his face between her hands.

“I love you, Julius.”

“And I adore you, my little imp.” Julius closed the distance between them and kissed her fiercely.

The door of the bedchamber suddenly burst open.

“Julius!”

“Patience!”

The couple looked up to find the shocked faces of Lady Rutherford and Lady Westbury staring at them.

“You were gone for so long, we started getting worried lest some other dreadful thing should have happened to you!” cried Lady Westbury.

“Could you not have waited until after the wedding? What will people say if they hear about this?” chided Lady Rutherford.