The Lady's Maid (21 page)

Seated alone at the vast mahogany dining table, she dragged her thoughts back to the present, toying with a plate of devilled kidneys, but she had little appetite for food. Harry’s brief visit had been frustrating, and she
had
a sneaking suspicion that Kate had been his main reason for visiting Kingston Damerell. She had seen the way he looked at her and had been quick to note the subtle change in his tone when he was speaking to her. She pushed her plate away; she was not proud of herself. She had put a stop to his romantic notions concerning Kate. She had lied to him. She had told him that Kate was engaged to Sam, and she could still recall the stark expression in his eyes as he had received the news. It had been a spiteful and foolish thing to do, but she had drunk too much wine and she had been jealous of the fact that he preferred a person of low birth to herself. She had seen her means of escape slipping from her grasp, and now with Papa at death’s door she was even more determined to become Harry’s wife. They would deal famously together for neither of them had a heart to break, and they would be impervious to future pain.

She sipped her coffee; it was cold. She rang the bell to summon a servant, and it was Toop who answered the call.

‘This coffee is undrinkable, Toop.’

He cleared his throat, standing to attention by the door. ‘You have a visitor, Miss Josie. I’ve shown him into the morning parlour.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Mr Challenor, miss.’

She leapt to her feet. ‘Why didn’t you say so in the first place?’ She rushed past him and ran across the entrance hall to the small room next to the library. She hesitated, glancing at her reflection in the gilt wall
mirror
. She patted her hair in place and bit her lips in order to redden them. She pinched her cheeks until they bloomed pink, and she took a deep breath. She must not appear too eager. She entered the room, pausing on the threshold and greeting him with an attempt at a smile. ‘Harry, how good of you to come. I thought you might have returned to London.’

He crossed the room in two strides and took her hands in his. ‘I couldn’t leave without seeing you. I gather there is no change in Sir Hector’s condition?’

‘None, I’m afraid. He seems to be lingering between life and death. It’s too awful.’ She dropped her gaze. ‘I am very glad you came, Harry. Your presence gives me such comfort.’

‘I’m flattered that you put so much trust in me, my dear Josie. Is there anything that I can do?’

She thought of Sam and the ready tears sprang to her eyes. She allowed them to roll unchecked down her cheeks. ‘Just having you here is enough, Harry. I’m in desperate need of a friend just now. Will you stay until …’

He took a clean white handkerchief from his coat pocket and pressed it into her hand. ‘Of course I’ll stay, if you think it will help.’

She blew her nose in the soft folds and smiled up at him. ‘You are too kind, Harry.’

‘Is there no one else who could be with you, Josie? What about Kate? Surely she is a comfort to you?’

Josie’s heart lurched against her ribs and serpents of jealousy writhed in her stomach. She closed her fingers around the handkerchief, crushing it into a
ball
. ‘I don’t see her any more. She has deserted me in my hour of need.’

‘How so? I find that hard to believe.’

She narrowed her eyes. She was fighting for her survival. Kate was her rival. ‘I told you at that dreadful wedding supper that she was engaged to be married. Well, her father didn’t approve and she ran away with Loveday.’

Harry was very still and his expression gave away nothing. ‘This doesn’t sound like the Kate I know.’

‘That’s just the point, Harry. You don’t know her as I do. I, for one, am not at all surprised.’

‘Where did they go? Didn’t her father try to bring her home?’

‘I believe they are lodging somewhere in Weymouth. She has broken her father’s heart, Harry. And mine too.’ Josie buried her face in his handkerchief and sobbed. She might have told a dreadful lie, but her grief was for the loss of the one man she could ever truly love, and it was genuine. There was no future for her and Sam; she must not weaken now.

‘She wouldn’t do a thing like that. Not Kate.’

Harry’s voice was harsh and when she took a peep at him through her parted fingers, Josie was shocked to the core by his stricken expression. She knew now that his feelings for Kate ran deep. Driven by fear and desperation, she let the hanky fall to the floor and she clutched his arm. ‘She has deceived us all, Harry. I loved her like a sister and yet she did not trust me enough to tell me what she planned.’ She stared up into his stony face. ‘I am so sorry, my dear.
It
seems that you were also deceived by her innocent face.’

‘When did they leave?’ Harry fixed her with a hard stare. ‘I must go after them and bring her back. She is too fine a person to be allowed to throw herself away on a scoundrel.’

She felt his muscles tense into bands of steel. ‘It won’t do any good, Harry. I – I don’t know how to tell you this …’ She paused, eyeing him warily.

‘What? What is it that you must tell me?’ His eyes were hard and his voice as cold as steel.

‘They were caught in a compromising situation. It is too horrible to talk about.’ She lowered her gaze. ‘It is not something that a lady can discuss with a gentleman.’

‘Are you trying to tell me that they were lovers?’ Harry gripped both her hands in his. ‘Is that what you are saying, Josie?’

‘Yes, I’m afraid so, Harry. It is just too sordid. He could not even wait to make an honest woman of her before … I can’t bring myself to put it into words.’

He relaxed his grip, dropping his hands to his sides. ‘You’ve said enough.’

‘And you will not attempt to follow them? It will do no good; I can assure you of that. Kate is very strong-willed.’

‘No, I won’t follow them, but I must leave at once.’

‘You’ve only just arrived. You can’t go so soon.’

‘I can see that my presence here is only making matters worse. I think it best if I leave right away.’

‘But what about me? I thought you were going to stay and be a comfort to me?’

‘Tell me honestly, Josie. Is Sir Hector in imminent danger, or not?’

She could not look him in the eye. She turned away, biting her lip. ‘His condition is the same as it was, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t need you here, Harry.’

‘You don’t need me, my dear. You never did. There is not a pennyworth of tenderness in your feeling for me. I’ve known that all along.’

He made a move to leave the room but Josie barred his way. ‘That is just not so, Harry. I – I love you.’

He looked deeply into her eyes, and a wry smile curved his lips. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘How can you say that to me?’

‘Because I know it’s true.’ He picked up his handkerchief from where it lay on the floor and he wiped the tears from her cheeks. ‘I’ve led an entirely selfish life up to now, Josie, but the ladies with whom I dallied were always worldly-wise. They were not in love with me, nor I with them.’

‘I don’t want to know about your past exploits,’ Josie said angrily. ‘I’m telling you that I love you and I need you here, by my side.’

‘When a woman tries to convince a man that she has tender feelings for him, she should look at him with love in her eyes.’

Josie grasped his hand and held it to her cheek. ‘But I do love you. I do.’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve seen more emotion in the eyes of a hardened card sharp than in yours, my dear. You fell in love with Copperstone, not with me. I’m truly sorry about your father, he’s a good man, but I
can
do nothing more here.’ He turned on his heel and left the room.

Josie stared after him in disbelief. In a flash of rage, she seized a porcelain figurine from a side table and hurled it at the door as it closed behind him.

Almost immediately, the door opened. Josie held her breath, thinking that it was Harry returning to tell her that he was sorry for the cruel way in which he had just spoken to her, but it was her uncle who entered the room. His patent leather shoes crunched through the shards of broken china. ‘My, my,’ he said, smiling. ‘What a little virago you are to be sure, Josie. I take it that all is not well in paradise.’

She backed away from him. ‘Shut up.’

‘That’s not the way to talk to your future protector, my pet.’ Joseph advanced on her with a lascivious look in his dark eyes. ‘I passed young Challenor in the hall. He did not look very happy, so I take it that he has resisted your abundant charms.’

‘Think what you like, you hateful man,’ Josie snapped. ‘Leave me alone.’

‘Now that wouldn’t be very kind of me, would it, my angel?’

Josie slipped past him and ran to the door, but just as she reached out to grab the doorknob Joseph spun her round to face him, pinning her to the wooden panels with his corpulent body. He placed his hands either side of her head so that she could not turn away from him and kissed her on the lips. She kicked out with her feet, but it was hard to breathe with his considerable weight pressing her to the door. She opened her
mouth
to cry out but he forced his tongue between her lips, and she could feel his warm saliva running down her chin. The more she struggled, the harder he pushed himself against her. She knew very well what he was doing, and as he moaned with pleasure she bit his tongue as hard as she could. He pulled away from her with a yelp of pain. ‘You little bitch.’

‘You dirty old dog,’ Josie hissed, kicking him hard on the shin. ‘If I were a man I’d kill you for that. As it is I’ll just have to tell Aunt Hermione.’

She tried to push him away but he caught her by the hair. ‘Breathe a word of this to anyone, and the moment my dear brother expires you and your mother will be out on the street.’

Josie spat in his face. ‘You are a disgusting pig. My father is not yet dead. Until that time, he is the master here and not you.’ She gave him a mighty shove, catching him off balance and made her escape. She fled from the room, tearing across the hall and up the staircase to her bedchamber. She locked herself in and paced the floor, too angry and distraught for tears. She could hardly believe what had just happened. It was like a bad dream – no, a terrible nightmare. She had been convinced that she could wrap Harry round her little finger, and that he would marry her once Kate was safely out of the way. Now it seemed that she had totally misread the situation. He really had fallen in love with Kate, and her attempts to blacken her friend’s name had backfired. Now she was the loser in the complicated game of love.

Josie paced over to the window and rested her forehead against the cool glass. What had she done?
She
had told a dreadful lie about her dearest friend, and she had alienated the man she wanted to marry. Her knees gave way beneath her and she slipped to the floor, covering her face with her hands as great rending sobs convulsed her whole body.

How long she stayed there, huddled against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on her arms, she did not know. She must have cried herself to sleep, as time seemed to slip away from her. She came to her senses at the sound of someone hammering on her door. She raised her head, staring blearily round the room. ‘Go away.’

‘It’s Hickson. Open the door at once, Miss Josie.’

Slowly, she rose to her feet. Pins and needles shot up her legs and she hobbled slowly across the floor. She unlocked the door and opened it just a crack. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

Hickson thrust the door wide open. ‘You must come immediately.’

There was a note in her voice that brought Josie back to reality with a jerk. ‘Is it Papa?’

‘Best hurry or you’ll be too late.’ Hickson hurried off with Josie following close behind.

As she entered her father’s room, Josie knew that it was already too late. Her mother had collapsed across Sir Hector’s inert body and she was weeping. Hermione was standing at the foot of the bed, holding a lace handkerchief to her lips, and her blue eyes were swimming with tears.

Dr Smith laid a hand on Josie’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Damerell. There was nothing that I or anyone
else
could have done to save him. Please accept my sincere condolences.’

‘He felt no pain, Josie dear,’ Hermione whispered. ‘It was so sudden. We were sitting with him, your mama and I, and Dr Smith had just come into the room, when Hector opened his eyes and he looked up at Marguerite. I swear that his lips moved and then he closed his eyes with a deep sigh, and he was gone.’

‘Mama.’ Josie tried to raise her mother, but Marguerite clung to her dead husband as if she would never let him go. ‘Mama, please.’

Dr Smith cleared his throat. ‘Perhaps we ought to leave Lady Damerell and allow her time to grieve.’

‘He’s gone, Mama,’ Josie insisted. ‘Papa is at peace now. Come away, please.’

Hermione hurried to her side, placing her arm around Josie’s shoulders. ‘The doctor is right, Josie. Come with me, my dear. You must be strong for your poor mama’s sake.’

Josie hesitated, staring down at her mother’s prostrate figure as she wept over her husband’s body. Looking at the dead man’s face, Josie saw, not her adored father, but a stranger lying on the bed. His pale features might have been carved from Carrara marble. The spirit of the man whom she had loved and respected was gone. A shiver ran down her spine, but no tears came. She had spent her grief and she felt wrung out; withered and dry as a dead leaf. Hermione was murmuring something in her ear, but the words were all jumbled up and meant nothing. Someone was holding her hand. Josie raised her head and found
herself
looking into Hickson’s slate-grey eyes. ‘Come with me, Miss Josie. A lie-down is what you need.’

‘But, Hickson, I can’t leave Mama.’

‘Mrs Damerell will stay with her until I get back.’ Hickson led her out of the room. She lowered her voice. ‘Everything belongs to you now, and you must not let the servants see you weaken, even though you are grieving for Sir Hector. He would want you to be strong.’

Josie said nothing as she went slowly back to her own room. Hickson and all the servants would discover the truth soon enough.