The Convenient Bride (24 page)

By this point she had stolen, lied and embarrassed her family more times that most could count, and finally Lord Ashcroft felt that he had little choice but to send her to a convent in France. 

How she escaped and returned to England was still under investigation but she was next heard of in London, styling herself Madam Marie Poisson, claiming to be 18 years of age and living off the charity of her male friends.

Her life after that had been a succession of men who courted her and often offered her the position of mistress, but since none would offer her
marriage, she refused them all, preferring to keep her options open.

Mr Pennington believed that s
he still harboured dreams of marrying an aristocrat, so while she even had an offer to become the mistress of the Marquess of Branton, she refused. It was marriage or nothing, so she had been heard to say.

In recent years, it seemed that her desire to marry was mentioned less,
although she still refused to remain faithful to any one man, unless they were to ask for her hand.

When her mother died f
ive years ago after a fall, she did not attend the funeral but soon afterwards, residents in Croydon spoke of a young French woman, who asked many questions about Mrs Pond and a few claimed that they had recognised her straight away. Word of this French stranger seemed to have made it to her father and he returned to Croydon, where there was a meeting between the two. No one seemed to know what was discussed but many speculated.

Mr Pennington seemed to believe that Lord Ashcroft had offered Mary her mother’s house and a monthly allowance. It seemed that Mary, or Marie as she now called herself, had refused.

Now 69, Lord Ashcroft was in failing health and confined to his bed, so he had refused to meet with Mr Pennington’s associates. His servants however, had confirmed much of what Mr Pennington suspected. It was their belief that Lord Ashcroft kept the house in order, cared for by two local widows, because he hoped that one day Mary would come to her senses and return.

They spoke of deep love between their master and Sarah, the servant, and despite her wayward manner, they believed that he truly loved his daughter, if only because of
how much her mother had meant to him. They all wished that the girl would come to her senses and visit her father before his death, if for no other reason than to cheer him in his final days, but they didn’t hold out much hope.

Lucy was pulled from her thoughts as she spied a coaching in ahead, and knew that she had to stop and rest Arthur again. This was her second stop
, but her fear drove her to a break of no more than half an hour each time. Poor Arthur would be in a state by the time they reached London, but she was sure she could beg or borrow another horse once there.

After her second break
, she rode straight through at a canter until she arrived at her bank. She hoped that May or Donald had already been here and paved the way for her request.

She should have stopped and donned her riding skirt again but
even if she had, her hair was wild from the ride and besides, she was far too worried to observe social niceties at the moment. She walked brazenly into the bank, drawing the eye of everyone present and was quickly ushered into her banker’s office, where she was relieved to see May and Donald.

“What’s happened?” May asked, observing her odd dress and dishevelled appearance. She pulled Lucy into an embrace while Donald patted her shoulder.

“I had another letter this morning. I must have the ransom money by the close of business today.”

May pulled away and nodded her understanding. “We were just discussing that.”

Lucy handed the second letter to Donald, who was clearly waiting to read it, then turned to her banker, Mr Harris, who seemed unable to look at her as she was presently attired. She sat opposite him as he took his seat behind the desk and began shuffling papers.

“This says that your next letter will be at your London home,” Donald noted.

“Yes, I was tempted to go straight there and wait but I knew the money was more important.”

There came a knock at the door and Mr Harris called
, “Come in.”

“Mr Harris, S
ir, there’s-”

“Just wait a moment boy,” he said to the young clerk.
“Now, Lady Stark, I have agreed the terms of a loan with your brother-in-law,” Mr Harris said, keeping his eyes on the papers before him.

“But S
ir-” The young clerk spoke up again.

“
In a moment, boy!” he turned to Lucy. “Due to the amount, we will have to secure the loan on your estate but we already have written consent from your trustee. We are just drawing up the contracts now.”

“And I can have the whole amount in cash?”
Lucy needed to be certain.

“We do not keep that amount on the premises but we are arranging with other banks to cover the ransom amount.”

“Thank you, Mr Harris.”

“My, uh, oh.” He looked up and noticed her clothing again. “My ple
asure.” He coughed a few times.

“
How long until I have the funds?” Lucy asked.

“Sir?”

Mr Harris just glared at the boy this time, before turning towards Lucy once more.

“We are do
ing our best but all I can guarantee is, by the end of business today,” Mr Harris explained. “Perhaps you would like to wait in here.”

“Actually I must stable my horse and find another.”

“Where is your horse, Lady Stark?”

“Outside tied to the railing. I was in a hurry.”

“That’s what I came to tell you, Mr Harris,” the clerk spoke up again. “The horse is on the pavement and it’s causing some problems for passers-by. I was told to ask if Lady Stark could move it.”

“We’ll wait
at Lady Stark’s house; it’s just two streets away,” Donald told Mr Harris, then he turned to Lucy. “I can take care of the horse and find you a new mount.”

“Thank you Don,” Lucy looked relieved.

“Can you bring the money to her house?” Don asked Mr Harris.

“Yes, I
don’t see why not. I’ll bring the money and contract, and perhaps some of our vault guards to make sure I‘m safe.”

After a few quick handshakes to seal the deal, they left.

Lucy rode in their carriage to the house; Donald drove it while his groom walked Arthur to the closest stables, where he could get a nice rub down and rest.

All
houses must have at least a caretaker or housekeeper in permanent residence, often both, to keep the place clean and get help in the event of any troubles. Presently Lucy’s had rather more activity than that because the redecorating work was being carried out, and workmen were busy papering the hallway and front parlour.

Lucy didn’t feel at ho
me here for a number of reasons; one, she hadn’t lived here without her parents, two, the workmen made it hard to relax and finally, she was too worried about Max to relax anywhere at the moment.

She
headed straight to the housekeeper, enquiring about any post. There were two letters for her that the housekeeper hadn’t yet forwarded on. One was from an acquaintance but the other was in the same handwriting as the ransom demand. Lucy tore it open and read the contents.

“What does it say?” May demanded, anxious for news.

“I can’t tell you,” Lucy said, folding the letter and putting it away.

“Lucy!”

“May, I can’t! If I reveal these details to anyone, they threaten to kill Max and Charles. I must go alone.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Donald informed her.

“And even if the letter said nothing about telling others, I couldn’t let you come, Donald. You have two young children and you need to be there for them. This isn’t your fight and I won’t endanger you.”

“It is my fight, Lucy, because Max is May’s brother
and Charles is her father. I can’t leave this only to you.”

“And what if they’re watching
us and kill them because you come with me?”

“Lucy, it’s a bluff, no one is watching us.”

“It might be a bluff,” Lucy conceded, “but I won’t bet their lives on that and I won’t allow you to gamble with their lives either.” She tucked the letter into her breeches to prove her point. “Now, did you speak with the detective yet?”

“We haven’t had an opportunity,” May admitted. “We were going to go there after we’d been to the bank.”

Lucy closed her eyes and nodded. “Well, no matter now. I suppose we should try to have a late lunch while we wait.”

“We’ll go and see the detective now.” Donald said.

“It’s too late to do any good,” Lucy argued. “One way or the other, this will all be settled by tonight.”

“Still, it can’t hurt to go and see him. If something does go wrong, then we’ll be ahead of ourselves and if Charles and Max are back with us by nightfall, then there’s no harm done.”

Lucy wanted to tell them ‘no’ outright, but she knew that would be an odd thing for her to do and that it might raise their suspicions, so she held her tongue.

“Fine, but at least stay for something to eat. You
have been doing my bidding all day, it’s gone three o’clock now and I can’t send you out again on an empty stomach.”

“Very well, but just something simple,” May agreed.

They left after eating some sandwiches and then extorting a promise from Lucy, that she wouldn’t leave until they returned.

Lucy
was anxious for the banker to arrive so to keep herself busy, she headed to the attic rooms, where her parents’ belongings had been stored after their deaths.

Anyone with any sense carried a gun when they travelled but Lucy’s was just a
small, single shot pistol. Her driver was armed, after all, so anything more seemed like overkill. Besides, a larger gun would take up far too much space in her reticule.

Her father however, used to carry a three barrelled pepperpot gun. It took a little hunting but
Lucy finally found the box that he kept it in when at home, and brought it downstairs to clean and load it.

Due to the design of her riding habit, the jacket flared out over her hips and
when she wore one, over the top of her riding skirt as well. As such, Lucy found that she was able to tuck the gun into the small of her back, under the waistband of her breeches, without it being noticeable below the jacket. She took her small, single shot gun and placed that in her riding boot, pleased to see that it too wasn’t visible, though it was a little uncomfortable.

Thankfully her banker arrived at half past four and after signing the contract he had brought, he happily left the satchel of money with her. Lucy thanked him and headed to
the closest stables, where locals kept their horses when they were in town. She bribed the manager five pounds for the use of his fastest horse (which obviously wasn’t his but belonged to another client) and once it was saddled, she slung the large satchel over her neck and under one arm, and then headed off towards the ransom meet.

Charles and Max had just about given up hope of Big helping
them to escape when he came in, a long knife in his right hand and the bottle of laudanum in his left. He looked from one man to the other, as if trying to decide something.

“All right, I’ll ‘elp you, but you better keep your word about not pressing charges.”

He used the knife and began cutting through their bonds.

“What changed your mind?” Charles asked
, as Big helped him to his feet.

“
The dandified fella came back and I heard ‘em talking. I agreed to a simple kidnap and ransom, I didn’t agree to become party to killing. Don’t matter ‘ow desperate we are, I ain’t no murderer.”

Once both men were freed, Big stood in front of the door to stop them and handed the bottle of laudanum to Charles.

“You’d best take a good swig of that before you go. We only found you the first time ‘cos of your cough.”

C
harles did so and handed the bottle back.

“Now, head left th
rough the trees until you get to the road, then turn right; you’re about a twenty minute walk from the village.”

“What
about the smoke to the south?” Max asked.

“Farm labourers
’ cottages, they don’t have no horses. You’ll be able to get yourself a horse in the village though but your best bet for help is the Bow Street Runners in London, ‘bout ten miles away.”

“There isn’t a constable closer?”

“One man ain’t gonna be much help against five. ‘Sides, a fast horse can get you there in no time.”

“Won’t you come with us?” Charles asked.

“They’d know somethin’ was up. I’ll stay ‘ere, try and make sure they don’t realise you’re gone for a while.”

***

Donald had realised that Lucy didn’t want them to meet with the detective and he reasoned that the detective must know where the ransom exchange was supposed to be, so after introductions, his first question was, “What property does Madam Poisson own or have access to locally?”