The Officer and the Proper Lady (21 page)

‘But why the devil would they get involved in Hebden's vendetta now if they are the real murderer?' The horses, finding the reins slack on their necks, stopped. Hal did not appear to notice.

‘Guilt?' Julia suggested. ‘After all these years, preying on their minds until they become unhinged? Hebden's activities are making you all focus on that one event. Perhaps the guilty man thinks you and Marcus have discovered something and are getting close to unmasking him; that might explain an attempt at murder.'

Hal gathered his team and set them off walking again. ‘Well, we haven't. In truth, we never questioned Wardale's guilt, because to do so would have been to believe our father sent an innocent man to the gallows. He had no doubts then that his friend was guilty. After all, he came upon him, the knife in his hands, kneeling over Hebden as he lay dying on our terrace. And we have no proof now, just supposition.'

‘Was it in Hertfordshire?'

‘No, here at our London house. And Wardale was having an affair with Hebden's wife, to make things worse. My father strongly disapproved.'

‘Wardale made no counter-accusation?'

The horses broke into a trot, as though Hal had given them a signal. He reined them back. ‘He wrote a last letter to his
wife protesting his innocence and voicing his suspicions of my father. Nell showed it to Marcus and he told me of it.'

‘Oh dear.' Julia tucked her hand under Hal's elbow, feeling the need to offer some comfort. ‘But Nell cannot believe Lord Narborough guilty. However much she loves Marcus, she could not be on terms of such affection with Lord Narborough if she believed he had killed her own father.'

She thought some more as the horses took them into the shade of the elms. ‘Let us assume Wardale was innocent, and accept, of course, that your father is too—for, if nothing else, your own father would not plot to kill you.' Beside her, Hal stiffened. That friction again. ‘That means we are looking for a very clever man who was in the right place at the right time to kill a man he knew was a threat to him.'

‘We?'
Hal queried.

‘I am your wife now.' She leaned against his shoulder, thinking happily of last night. ‘And I am not going to sit around in ignorance expecting to be protected.'

Hal squeezed his arm against his side, trapping her hand more firmly. ‘Then do not treat Hebden lightly.'

‘We know he cannot have been the original murderer. Does Lord Narborough not suspect who it might have been?'

‘They operated in isolated groups for security. The three of them were trying to trace one French spy, to read his coded messages. They reported to a minister now dead. Even Veryan has not been able to trace any likely contacts or points of weakness, and he has better access than anyone to the files.'

‘Veryan?' she queried. ‘Lord Ked din ton, Verity's god father?'

‘Yes. He was a junior secretary at the time, so he knew nothing of it then. But last year, when Hebden began his campaign, he looked for clues, even set his new assistant on it. Nothing.' He frowned. ‘And the young man met with a
fatal accident shortly after he began the task. At the time it just seemed to be a random tragedy. Now, I wonder.'

‘Hebden is an intelligent man,' Julia observed. ‘Amoral, dangerous and vengeful—but also clever. If he believed your father and Wardale innocent, then he would be a powerful ally.'

‘No!' Hal said, reining in and turning on the seat to face her. He jammed the whip in its holder and took her chin in his free hand. ‘No, no and no, Julia. Marcus is right: we avoid that man like the plague. He can never be anything but a threat. I don't know what he does to women—you all seem mesmerised by him.'

‘No, you wouldn't under stand,' she agreed. ‘You are too close to see it. And you are a man. But he is very like you.'

‘W
hat?'
Hal's furious bellow had his leader rearing, sending the curricle slewing sideways across the drive. It took a moment to settle the animal. Julia kept quiet, clutched the side rail and concluded that frank speaking was not always ideal in marriage.

‘You are comparing me to that bastard?' Hal finally demanded. ‘Are you all about in your head?'

‘Not in your morals or your honour, of course not,' she said, half fascinated, half wary of the storm clouds in his eyes. ‘But you wonder why he is attractive to women. You are both very beautiful, very male, very fit young men with indecent amounts of charm.' Hal snorted. Julia noted the flush on his cheek bones and concluded that he was rather flattered by the description.

‘He uses all that, quite deliberately,' she said, thinking about Hebden, how he had looked at her, how he had used his voice and his body. ‘Looking back, he was as calculating as an actor. He knows perfectly well how attractive he is and he wields his personal attributes like another weapon, with
calculation. Heaven help the woman he un leashes that on without any artifice and in all sincerity.' Hal glowered.

‘You, on the other hand, are a gentleman. All that arrogance and self-confidence is quite natural, quite unconscious.' The glower became a scowl. ‘The charm is used with good manners and restraint—which makes it just as lethal for poor, unsuspecting females. We are apt to believe in it, you see.'

‘Apt to believe I am a flirt and a rake, you mean,' he said harshly.

‘Well, of course. Hal, I might not be very experienced, but I am female! And I cannot imagine anyone
without
your charm and address—and looks—being much of a success as a rake.

‘And I cannot pretend I do not enjoy having a husband who is—' she felt the blush but carried on anyway ‘—experienced and attractive.' He smiled at her, but she could see he was troubled. ‘Hal—what is it? Why are you and your father so con strained with each other? I see him and Marcus talking together, easy with each other. You and your father are always so polite, so distant. And why do you say things that make me think that you are not always happy to be the rake you say you are?'

For a long moment she thought he would not answer her or would pretend he did not under stand. ‘I'm the second son, of course. And I was always the wild one. Marcus is serious. He will make an excellent earl one day, take his seat in the House, do all the right things. He even managed to lose his virginity in the correct manner—discreetly at the age of seventeen in a fashionable bordello that he had care fully re searched be forehand.

‘I, on the other hand just found girls—and sex—almost too good to be true. I was not the most attentive scholar at the best of times, if the subject was not military history or mathematics, so I'd give our tutor the slip and be off, explor
ing this much more interesting subject. I'd get beaten when I got back, but that seemed a fair exchange for kisses and exploratory fumbles in hay stacks.'

The horses were ambling now, the disciplined hand they were used to slack on the reins. Julia kept quiet and let him talk. ‘And then, of course, the inevitable happened and I thought I had fallen in love. The trouble was, she was not some willing milkmaid who had spent a few years being tumbled by rustic swains and knew what she was about. This was the squire's daughter.'

‘How old were you?'

‘She was seventeen. I was fifteen. Looking back I'm not sure who seduced who, but there we were one summer's afternoon in the long grass of a woodland glade—' Julia gasped. ‘Quite. Just like the glade where you and I…met. I was clumsy, but enthusiastic. I have no doubt we were making a great deal of noise. And then a riding crop landed hard across my ado les cent buttocks and there we were surrounded by my father, her father and his head game keeper.'

Hal collected his team and drove in silence for a few minutes. ‘They arrived in the nick of time or I'd have found myself a very young bride groom, but you can imagine, perhaps, the impact of it all, being hauled off a sobbing girl while three large men yell at you that you are a
whoreson, rakehell, good for nothing young goat.
My father was deeply disappointed in me: I was turning out even worse than he expected. He has a strong moralistic streak and my be ha vi our deeply offended and distressed him, I can see that now.

‘I could have reformed, been penitent, returned to my books and forswore women. Instead, I set out to prove him right, and I also set out to make sure that no woman ever had cause to complain of my performance in bed.'

Julia digested this, swallowed several forth right comments
on the be ha vi our of her father in law, and said, ‘But you like women, don't you? Not just the sex. That's why you flirt.'

‘True.' There was a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth now.

‘Are you really worried about reforming for me? I wish you would not: I like you as you are.'

‘Loose women as well?' he asked, eyebrows lifting.

‘I hope not, if I am honest,' she said. ‘But I would be hypocritical if I objected: you married me to save me from being compromised. It is not as though you promised me a love match.'

‘No, I didn't, did I?' he said slowly. ‘But I promised you fidelity at the altar. I never meant to marry, I never expected to find a woman who would accept me as I am. There will be no other women, Julia. Only you.'

‘Good,' she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder for a moment. ‘I am glad.'

They did not speak after that, driving in what seemed to Julia to be a companionable silence around the park and back to the house. Not a love match, but no other women either. If Hal said that, then she trusted him. And, of course, it was best to harbour no foolish fantasies about his feelings for her. She had always known that love was too much to hope for in marriage.

 

‘I'm thinking of going to Risinghall,' Hal remarked at break fast two days later. Julia looked up from her egg, wondering why he had not mentioned his Buckinghamshire estate earlier. ‘It occurred to me while I was shaving,' he explained, smiling at her. ‘The weather is holding, everything here is quiet. It is about time you saw your new home.'

And perhaps as we drive down, we can discuss what he expects me to do,
she thought.
Live in the country while he is posted to goodness knows where? America probably.
She
dug the point of her spoon into her boiled egg, the certainty stealing over her that she would not be happy to live like that. Other officers' wives followed their husbands, she knew. It could not be harder than that hovel in Mont St Jean had been. But would Hal allow it?

‘Not until Monday, I trust,' his mother said, cutting across her thoughts. ‘I am sure Julia will not wish to travel on a Sunday.'

‘True, Mama. We will do that then, the day after tomorrow, if it will suit you, Julia?' He drained his coffee and stood up.

‘Yes, of course, if that is convenient for Lady Narborough. Hal, might I have a word before you go out?' She was not going to wait, she decided. They would have this out now.

‘Of course. I will be in the library when you are ready.'

She went to find him twenty minutes later, feeling rather less like a new bride who had woken that morning to her husband's caresses and more like a candidate for a housekeeper's position.

‘Hal, what are your intentions when your wounds are completely healed?' she asked without preliminaries, as she sat down on the opposite side of the library desk.

‘To go to Horse Guards and ask about my next posting.' He put down the pen he was holding. ‘I thought a week or so in Buckinghamshire should see me fit. You will like it down there: it is peaceful and very beautiful. One of these days, when I sell out, I think I will start breeding horses there. You can come up to London with me when I return, if you like, or stay.'

‘And live here, if I come back?'

‘We can find our own town house if you wish,' he offered. ‘I expect you would like to be close to mother and father and to the Stanegates' house.'

‘I meant, you would not want me to come with you, wherever you are posted?'

‘No!' The idea had never occurred to him, she realized with a sinking heart. ‘For Heaven's sake, Julia, wasn't your last experience of military life enough?'

‘I would rather know what was happening, share things, see things, than stay here out of touch.'
Out of your life.
‘I would not get in the way or interfere, I promise.'

‘I am not worried about you interfering, I am worried about your safety. And your comfort,' he added.

‘Many officers' wives followed their husband in the Peninsula, I know,' she retorted. ‘If you teach me to ride, I will be able to get out of danger, won't I? And as for comfort, I do not expect pampering. I expect to do my duty as your wife and that, I believe, means being with you.'

‘Your duty,' he said flatly. ‘I see.'

What could she say? That she loved him and could not bear to be parted from him? And then what would he say to cover his dismay at discovering that he had to bear the burden of her emotional attachment as well as his responsibility for her welfare?

‘No,' he repeated. ‘I am sorry, Julia, but that is final.'

I will not argue, not now,
she told herself, closing her lips on all the arguments.
He can change his mind—he married me when he was determined not to
.
I just have to find the right approach and the right moment.

‘I under stand,' she said, attempting wifely meekness. Hal narrowed his eyes at her but did not pursue it. ‘I will go and organise an early departure for Monday, shall I?'

‘Yes,' he agreed. ‘That would be best. I will see you at dinner.' And he went out without dropping the passing kiss on her cheek that had become his custom.

 

‘That was an excellent sermon,' Lady Narborough remarked, leading her party out of the precincts of St James's
Palace and onto the gravelled walk bordering Green Park. ‘One can never be certain, with the Chapel Royal, if one will be honoured with the Royal dukes and their habit of talking through out the service.'

Julia, on Hal's arm, rather thought she would have liked to see one of the corpulent and blunt-spoken brothers of the Regent, but deemed it tactful not to say so.

Marcus was escorting his mother, while Verity walked with her father in front. ‘Are you sure Father will be all right walking?' he murmured to his mother. ‘He could have gone with Nell in the barouche. I can still go back to St James's for a cab.'

‘I think the fresh air will do him good.' Lady Narborough studied her husband's erect back. ‘His colour is better and he has his stick.'

As she spoke, Lord Narborough flourished it in greeting and a group that had been walking across the grass towards them waved back.

‘The Veryans,' Hal explained. ‘Viscount Ked din ton is an old friend—a junior colleague of my father's when…when there was the trouble, and he is Verity's godfather. I mentioned him the other day.'

‘I remember. He wants to give Verity a harp.' Julia nodded. ‘Those are his daughters, I have seen them with Verity.'

‘And Alexander, his son. He's up at Oxford, a don of sorts, I believe. Mama thinks he would do for Verity.'

‘Really?' Julia studied the young man as he approached. His father was tall, slim and dryly elegant and looked intimidating intelligent. The son was a blurred copy: shorter, plumper, less perfectly tailored, but his pale eyes were as sharp and assessing as his father's. He certainly did not look like the dashing hero of Verity's innocent day dreams.

There was a flurry of introductions. The Misses Veryan
talked to Verity about new gowns and ignored Julia. Mr Alexander Veryan positioned himself where he could look at Verity and made rather laboured conversation with Lord and Lady Narborough, and Lord Keddin ton came to shake hands with Julia.

He had a certain astrin gent charm, Julia decided, and he would probably be excellent company provided one said nothing foolish and did not allow oneself to be intimidated by him. ‘What a very pretty rose,' she remarked, seeing his button-hole. The slim white bud had petals edged with green.

‘Unusual, certainly. Allow me, Mrs Carlow.' He plucked it from his coat and handed it to Julia.

‘Why, thank you, my lord.' Julia twirled it under her nose, inhaling the sweet apple scent of the rose and the tang of the herb backing it. ‘Rosemary, I would never have thought of that. It goes so well.' She tucked it into the top button hole of her pelisse as the three of them walked to join the others.

‘Very good to see you out and about, sir,' she heard Alexander Veryan saying in his carrying, lecturer's voice. ‘Nothing like making an appearance to put a stop to all those rumours.'

‘What rumours?' Lord Narborough said. Hal swore viciously under his breath and took an urgent stride forward.

‘Why, about that murder and the hanging all those years ago,' Alexander went on, apparently unaware of both Carlow sons bearing down on him and of Lady Narborough's white face. ‘No-one who knows you takes any notice, naturally. Still, nasty to have talk about French spies, just now. Although
I
do not consider it the slightest bit suspicious that you did nothing at the time—why should you have if the man was guilty?'

‘Alexander!' Lord Keddinton's voice cut through his son's chatter. ‘Damn it, do not repeat that vicious garbage.'

‘I just thought I'd congratulate Lord Narborough on facing it down—oh, I say, sir! Are you all right?'

Marcus and Hal reached their father as he toppled, his left fist clenched over his heart, his lips blue. Lady Narborough swayed and Lord Ked din ton caught her in his arms as Verity screamed.