The Thoroughly Compromised Bride (16 page)

Lady Langley, surprisingly, had had little to say but in fact had been all that was kind and considerate.

Charles she had not seen since leaving the summer house, for he had sent a message excusing himself from dinner and had not appeared by the time Elizabeth escaped to bed. Nor had he been anywhere in evidence that morning when she had left Langley Hall with only Jennings to keep her company.

Well, it was over, she told herself, wiping the tears away resolutely, her chin rising with determination. There was nothing for it but to get on with her life, and to keep herself so busy that she would have no time to indulge in these morbid repinings. She would throw herself into redecorating the house in Bath, and when that was done, perhaps she would try her hand at writing. She had always wanted to do that. And, in time, the dull ache which seemed to be permanently lodged in her chest would go away along with the bouts of acute anguish which sometimes overcame her when her memories became too poignant. But even as she thought it, a new wave of despair swept through her at the thought that she would never again share a joke with him, and would most likely never even see him again.

Elizabeth was pulled up from the depths of her misery by the sudden slowing of the coach, which then drew to a lurching halt. As she exchanged questioning looks with Jennings, who sat across from her, she became aware of rapidly approaching hoofbeats.

“Oh, miss,” squealed Jennings fearfully, “‘tis a highwayman, for certain. We shall be robbed, and very likely killed with no proper escort to protect us!”

“Nonsense, Jennings! There is very little an escort could do against a determined highwayman, and we shall not be killed. He will be after our valuables, not our lives. Do get hold of yourself!”

“Well, I hope you may be right, Miss Elizabeth, but there is worse things than being killed,” muttered Jennings darkly.

Elizabeth flashed her maid one exasperated glance before turning her attention to the rider who had pulled up beside the coach. Her own heartbeat settled to a more normal rhythm as she took in the fact that the man wore no mask, and was pulling his forelock deferentially. Elizabeth lowered the window.

Leaning down to peer at her through the opening, the man gasped, “I’m come from Langley Hall, miss, wi’ a message from ‘er ladyship. Yer to turn back, if it please yer, miss. It’s yer aunt. She’s been taken right poorly and they’ve ‘ad to send fer the doctor.”

Elizabeth’s face paled, but she did not give in to the terrible fear which clutched at her heart. “You must ride back quickly, and tell her ladyship that I shall be there as soon as possible,” she instructed the rider.

As he galloped away in the direction from which he had come, Elizabeth calmly directed the coachman to turn about and return to Langley with all speed. She then turned to her blubbering maid, admonishing her to put a damper on her overwrought sensibilities.

Only when all this was accomplished did she allow her own apprehensions to take possession of her mind. What had she done? What if Aunt Emily had suffered a fatal attack because of her selfish pride? How would she be able to forgive herself for such a thing? Oh, pray God she would not arrive too late!

Almost ill with fright and worry, Elizabeth scarcely waited for the carriage to come to a full stop at Langley Hall before she jumped down, unassisted, and ran up the steps. The doors opened before she reached them and Charles stood there, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to take the hands he held out to her, and allow him to draw her into his arms.

“Sweetheart,” he soothed, “do not look so distressed. It will be all right, I promise you. Your aunt is resting comfortably and the doctor will be here shortly. Come and sit down while I get you a glass of brandy.”

She raised her head from where it had been resting against his chest, her frightened eyes scanning his as she clutched the lapels of his coat. “Oh, no, Charles. I must go to her at once!”

“In a moment, love. I assure you, she is quite comfortable at present.”

Charles’s voice was husky with the effort it cost him not to kiss the delectable mouth so close to his own, but an uneasy guilt lent aid to his powers of resistance, and instead, he led her to the library and assisted her into a chair.

As he went to pour some brandy for her, she asked anxiously, “Will she be all right, Charles? Please, you must not attempt to spare me. You must tell me the truth.”

“My darling, I give you my word, she shall recover. I am sure of it. Now, drink this and compose yourself. You will not wish her to see that you are so overset.”

“No, of course not,” she murmured, taking a sip of the dark liquid and coughing a little as it burned its way down her throat.

Somehow, just having Charles near was immeasurably comforting and that, along with the brandy, soon made her feel more hopeful and relaxed. Becoming aware that she had not even removed her bonnet and pelisse, she did so, then smiled at Charles. “I am feeling much more the thing now and should like to see Aunt Emily if I may.”

“Certainly, my sweet. Come along and I shall take you up to her.”

Elizabeth felt another shock of fear as she stood at her aunt’s bedside. The curtains at the window were drawn and there was only one branch of candles burning in the chamber, but even in that dim light, she could see the unnatural pallor of Aunt Emily’s complexion, and the hand she took in her own was alarmingly cold.

Aunt Emily’s eyes opened and she smiled faintly. “You have come,” she whispered in a thready voice. “I knew you would, my love. You are a good girl, and I should not have lost my temper with you.”

“No, no. Aunt Emily. It was all my fault. But you must not try to speak. You must rest and regain your strength, my dear.”

“So good to me,” whispered Aunt Emily, closing her eyes once more.

Elizabeth’s hand went to her mouth as she turned her apprehensive gaze towards Charles.

He looked nearly as disturbed, and shot a sudden look, which seemed strangely angry, at his sister, who stood at the other side of the bed. He opened his mouth to speak, but was forestalled when Lady Langley declared, “I believe I hear the doctor now!”

The door opened and a rotund little gentleman, carrying a small black bag, bustled officiously into the chamber. “Well, well,” he said, approaching the bed as Elizabeth and Charles stepped back to make room for him, “What have we here?”

When Lady Langley had described Aunt Emily’s symptoms to him, he nodded his head wisely, said, “Hmmmmm,” then demanded that the room be cleared of all but her ladyship so that he could get on with his examination.

Elizabeth’s objections to being excluded were soon overcome, and Charles led her from the room after telling his sister, rather sternly, that he wished to see her in the library when she was free. He then escorted Elizabeth to her chamber, advising her to rest and promising that she would be called and could speak with the doctor as soon as he finished ministering to her aunt.

The waiting was an agony for Elizabeth who, unable to rest, spent the time pacing in her chamber. But finally she was summoned to the hallway outside her aunt’s door, where the doctor awaited her.

“Shall she recover, doctor?” Elizabeth asked pleadingly.

“Oh, yes,” replied the doctor, “I have every expectation that she shall, so long as she is kept quiet and not allowed to become agitated over anything. If that should happen, I can guarantee nothing.”

“Oh, you needn’t fear. I shall allow nothing to overset her, I promise you.”

“Good, good!” responded the doctor. “I have left a draught with her ladyship to ensure that the patient gets plenty of rest, and I shall call again tomorrow to see how she does.”

As soon as the doctor had gone, Elizabeth hurried back to her aunt’s bedside, where she spent the remainder of the afternoon until dinnertime, watching Aunt Emily sleep. At both Lady Langley and Charles’s insistence, she did leave her aunt long enough to go down for dinner, but was back again as soon as the meal was over, and would have stayed for the entire night had not Charles assured her that either he or Margaret would be with her aunt the whole time. Even then, she might not have allowed herself to be persuaded had she not been so exhausted, both emotionally and physically, and had Charles not pointed out that with the medication supplied by the doctor Aunt Emily would very likely sleep soundly throughout the night.

It was not until Elizabeth was in bed, mentally reviewing the events of the day, that it occurred to her to wonder at Charles’s attitude towards her since her return. It struck her, in retrospect, that he had been rather warmer than one might have expected, given all that had gone before. Had he not used several endearments when speaking to her? Yes, definitely he had. But what did it mean?

She shook her head irritably. She must not fall into the error of thinking that it meant more than it actually did. After all, he was an accomplished and practised flirt, and endearments had always come easily to his lips. And yet, the ones he had employed today had seemed subtly different from those he had used when first they met. The way he had spoken to her today, the tenderness she thought she had glimpsed in his eyes, the caring concern he had shown her did not seem to betoken mere flirtatiousness.

But no! It would be much wiser not to think along such lines. He was simply being kind, offering friendship and support in a difficult situation, and she must be grateful for that and not ask or wish for more. It would be the height of idiocy to begin imagining that he harboured sentiments that did not exist. It would be foolish beyond permission to do so, tantamount to self-flagellation on her part. She must not be such a silly goose as to open herself to the pain of rejection once more.

But despite her resolution to put a strong guard upon it, she could not prevent her ridiculous heart from swelling a little with hope.

While Elizabeth was thus occupied, Charles stood stiffly, hands clenched at his sides, facing his sister across the width of Aunt Emily’s bed. “Damn it, Margaret! I tell you, I do not believe I can go through with this! I must have been mad to have agreed to such outrageous chicanery. Lord, never in my wildest imaginings did I ever think that I might one day fall in with any of your cunning machinations!”

Aunt Emily, propped up against the headboard with a profusion of pillows behind her, turned her worried eyes from Charles to her friend as Lady Langley straightened from where she had been diligently cleaning the layer of pallid
maquillage
from
Emily’s face.

Lady Langley cast a look of disgust at her brother. “Good God, Charles! This is no time to come over all righteous! You had no such scruples last night when you agreed to this, and it is working beautifully, you must admit. What do you imagine Elizabeth will do if she discovers how we have tricked her before you have had time to win her over? If you think she will remain here in such an event, you are a great nodcock! I wish I may see it! She would leave on the instant and you would be thrown into flat despair again. How else do you propose to keep her here, pray?”

Charles threw himself into the bedside chair. “Confound it all, I don’t know! But I had not considered how frightened she would be, and I cannot bear to see her so.”

“ ‘Tis very handsome of you, but I had not thought you to be so pigeon-hearted. You are making a great piece of work over nothing! There is not the least occasion for this nonsensical flight of yours. Elizabeth is not such a frail creature and, in any case, by tomorrow we shall allow Emily to seem much improved. I shall apply a much thinner coat of face paint and on the next day we may not need to use it at all.”

Charles glanced at Emily’s face with distaste. “Where the devil did you come by that disgusting stuff, anyhow?”

“Oh,” said Lady Langley, bending to her task once more, “we were used to have frequent amateur theatricals here. They were all the rage, you know. And what a fortunate thing it is that I saved this ‘disgusting stuff,’ but I always knew that I would one day find a good use for it.”

Charles watched the operation in brooding silence for a moment, then asked, “And what do you suppose will happen if Miss Godwin should forget herself and slip out of character at some point in this charade?”

“You must call me Aunt Emily, dear boy!” twittered that lady.

“Oh, I think there is not the slightest danger of such an occurrence,” his sister told him confidently. “It cannot have escaped your notice that Emily has a most amazing talent for acting. I do believe she might have had a career on the stage, had she so desired.”

Aunt Emily blushed with pleasure. “Indeed, I do think I did quite well, did I not? And truly, it has been rather diversing, though it is a trifle wearing to pretend to be sleeping for such lengths of time, and I
do
hope I shan’t be obliged to plunge my hands into that freezing water too often.”

“No, no! I do not think that will be necessary again,” her friend assured her.

“Good Lord!” Charles groaned. “I do not believe this! You are both bedlamites, and I have allied myself with you! If Elizabeth should ever discover this, I would not wager a groat on my chances of winning her!”

“Then you had better work quickly, and bring her to hand before she does discover it, had you not?”

Charles only groaned again.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

In the morning, Elizabeth visited Aunt Emily before going down to break her fast, and was pleased to find her aunt seemingly improved. She still seemed more weak than Elizabeth could like, but her colouring, while not yet natural, appeared less pallid than on the previous day, though it was difficult to be sure in the subdued light of the room. However, when her niece suggested that the drapes be opened, Aunt Emily became so agitated that Elizabeth did not insist.

The physician arrived soon after breakfast and was shortly closeted in the bedchamber with Aunt Emily and Lady Langley, and once again Elizabeth was excluded. But though she resented this banishment, she accepted it without demur when the doctor quietly reminded her that Aunt Emily must not be overset.