To Marry A Matchmaker (Historical Romance) (23 page)

‘I suspected as much. Intentions count for naught, as you once said to me.’ Cawburn tapped the side of his nose. ‘For a considerable sum, I’m willing to forget the matter.’

‘I’m no more receptive to this sort of blackmail than the previous attempt.’ Robert leant forwards and caught Cawburn’s lapels. ‘Do I make myself clear?’

He let Cawburn go.

‘Nothing happened between Sophie and me. I had intended to wait until we were married. It was going to live in my mind as perfection itself.’ Cawburn wiped his hand across his mouth. ‘Now, she will live for ever in my memory as the one who thankfully got away. We would not have suited. Her golden curls blinded me and I mistook her lively manner for a pleasant disposition.’

‘You will keep a civil tongue in your head. Particularly in a public place.’ Robert resisted the primitive
urge to smash Cawburn’s head in. How dare he seek to blacken Henri’s name in that way! It only served to show that Cawburn had no scruples.

Cawburn stood, swayed slightly and gestured to the innkeeper. ‘I require a private parlour. This gentleman is paying. When the women emerge from upstairs, kindly usher them there. Then we shall see who is right.’

The innkeeper tossed Robert a questioning glance. Robert nodded and handed the innkeeper a gold coin. The innkeeper led the way to a well-appointed back room where a low wood fire burned. The room would do. Robert allowed Cawburn in before he blocked the entrance.

‘Your private parlour, Cawburn,’ Robert said, bowing low. ‘What do you think Miss Ravel will say? How will she tell this tale?’

‘Do not try to change the subject, Montemorcy.’ Cawburn trailed his finger along the edge of a table and inspected it for dust. ‘Did you or did you not make love to my cousin?’

‘It is none of your business.’

‘I will take that as a yes.’

Robert finally lost control over his temper. He reached back and landed a punch square on Cawburn’s chin. The man crumpled to the floor. ‘You ought to hold your cousin in higher regard.’

‘I do hold Henrietta in high regard.’

‘Enough to know that she hates the name Henrietta?’

Cawburn fingered his chin. ‘You will regret that. Henrietta always takes my side. You will have lost her.’

‘Fairly hard to lose what I never had.’ Even as he said the words, Robert knew he would fight for her and her
right to live her life how she wished it—and make damn sure he was going to be in that life.

* * *

‘God’s nightgown, Sebastian! What happened to your face?’ Henri asked, coming into the private parlour. The pair were seated at opposite ends of the room, glaring at each other. Robert appeared as she left him, but Sebastian was sporting a rather large swelling just below his right eye.

‘He encountered my fist,’ Robert said, rising to his feet. His face was far more shuttered than she had seen it. ‘But I believe we understand each other now.’

Henri’s heart sank. After all her work with Sophie, he wouldn’t listen to the truth. He’d hit Sebastian because of Sophie. He was going to act the same way as he’d done yesterday—leaping to conclusions and expecting everyone to agree with them. The pain in her head threatened to become a full-blown headache.

‘Henri, he hit me,’ Sebastian said with a petulant pout.

‘I dare say you deserved it.’ She tapped her boot on the ground. ‘It can go with the other lumps on your head.’

‘You know about those.’ Sebastian winced and gingerly felt the top of his head. ‘Why did she have to tell you about those? It is bad enough to have been bested by him, but by a mere slip of a girl.’

‘Tell you about what?’ Robert sat up. ‘What did Sophie do to you, Cawburn? How did she best you?’

‘Hit me on the head with a frying pan,’ Sebastian admitted, making a face. ‘The little hell-cat will get her come-uppance. Nobody does that to me!’

Robert’s face froze, but Henri fancied that he was
struggling to keep a straight face. She bit her lip and hoped. Surely now Robert would listen to Sophie before he started publishing the banns.

‘I have brought Sophie down, Robert. And the missing frying pan. She will explain all. It is really quite simple. Pay attention, as you have a tendency to overcomplicate.’ Henri grabbed Sophie by the hand and led her into the room.

‘Sophie! Your stepmother will be delighted to see you when we get back to the New Lodge.’

Robert opened his arms, but Sophie held back, clinging to Henri’s hand like a limpet.

‘Sophie, remember what we spoke about. It must come from you, not me. The whole truth.’ Henri tried gently to prise her fingers away. Sophie was going to have to do this bit on her own.

‘Henri, you promised to be my ally,’ Sophie whispered. ‘I might need you to say the words.’

Henri gave the young woman a little push into the centre of the room. It was Sophie’s turn to stand up for what she wanted. ‘You must, Sophie. Tell your guardian precisely what you do and do not want. He is far from a mind reader. He needs to hear your words. He needs to know how you fought to protect your honour. Without embellishment.’

‘I have no wish to marry Lord Cawburn, if you please, Robert.’ Sophie moved away from Henri and stood in the centre of the small room. Although she looked young and vulnerable, her voice did not waver and her back remained straight and proud. Henri nodded. Sophie was using the exact form of words they had agreed. She told the whole story from beginning to end. Robert lifted his eyebrow once or twice when she mentioned how she had
tricked Henri and then how she had used Henri’s suggestion of hitting him over the head with a frying pan.

‘I do not believe even after today there is any cause for me to marry him,’ Sophie finished, clasping her hands on her chin as Henri had practised with her. ‘Lord Cawburn has done nothing to dishonour me. As for a partner to go through life with, Lord Cawburn is far from ideal. I believe I can do better, much better, and Lord Cawburn deserves someone who will love him for the man he is.’

The room seemed to hold its breath, but then Robert burst out laughing.

‘I wish I could have seen Cawburn’s face when you hit him. Thank you for telling me the truth,’ Robert said. ‘Ultimately I want you to be happy. Your friends and family will stand by you. And hopefully you have learnt your lesson. And, Thorndike, that was a totally unnecessary gesture you suggested at the end. Melodrama at its worst.’

Henri glared at him. He was supposed to be moved to tears, but the situation amused him. ‘Are you accusing me of interfering? You never behave how you’re supposed to!’

‘It was Sophie’s recital of the truth that swayed me, not the gesture. I saw you make a motion to Sophie to bring her hands up. I’d have hoped that you thought better of me than to have to be swayed by play-acting. I wanted the truth and Sophie spoke it.’

Henri’s insides ached. Play-acting. Perhaps it was, but it was in a good cause. And he was laughing at her efforts. ‘I…I…wanted to help. Details are important.’

‘And you did—by telling Sophie to always carry a frying pan!’ His eyes softened. ‘Thankfully she is not
afraid to use it. And there is the evidence of Mrs Mumps. The only person who should be frightened about his reputation is Lord Cawburn.’

‘Do you mean that, truly?’ Sophie’s face broke out into a wreath of smiles. ‘I’m not sure I want a Season, either. Far too many rules. I’m beginning to love the country.’

‘With your ability to wield a frying pan, Miss Ravel, I do not believe anyone will trouble you if you change your mind about London,’ Sebastian said. His face became wreathed in schoolboy innocence, the sort of look that Sebastian used when he was up to something. ‘Now, Henrietta, sweet cousin, what are we going to do about your predicament?’

‘Sebastian, are you going to tell me why Robert hit you?’ Henri put her hand on her hip and attempted to turn the conversation away from her so-called predicament. ‘What did you do to annoy him?’

‘Henrietta, I am wise to your tricks. I requested this parlour not for Miss Ravel’s convenience, but to spare your blushes. You may come down from your high horse and speak civilly to me if you want to keep your present lifestyle. Things are going to change.’

Henri took a step backwards. She glanced between Sebastian and Robert. Robert shook his head. And it crashed over her. Sebastian had guessed. He knew what she’d done.

‘I explained this before, Cawburn,’ Robert said, moving over towards her. ‘Your blackmailing days are over. Lady Thorndike will be marrying me, if it comes to it.’

H
enri stared at Robert.
Marrying
him?

A pulse of warmth leapt through her at the thought of being his wife, but she ruthlessly squashed it. She was not going to marry anyone. She wanted his friendship, not his hand in marriage, not if he didn’t love her. It was all decided. They were intimate friends. He hadn’t asked her first. He’d waited until Sebastian forced the issue. She wasn’t about to marry anyone because someone else proclaimed it necessary. Robert had to want to marry her, and Robert had proudly proclaimed that he wasn’t in the marriage market.

‘As jokes go, Mr Montemorcy, this is a pretty poor one. I don’t need your protection from my cousin.’ Henri crossed her arms and regarded Robert through a narrow gaze. They had agreed last night—intimate friendship, not marriage. She refused to become someone’s wife because society dictated. It had to be because Robert wanted to marry her. And he didn’t. ‘You have not asked
me, nor have I accepted. This fustian nonsense must cease. Someone might get the wrong idea.’

‘As head of the family, I accept on your behalf, Henrietta,’ Sebastian said, coming over to her and putting an arm about her shoulders. The gesture was designed to hold her in place rather than seek comfort. Henri shrugged several times, but his grip only tightened. ‘I was reasonably pleased that Montemorcy has decided to do the decent thing without too much
persuasion.
That you are far worse than Miss Ravel is self-evident. However, I’m willing to be
persuaded
otherwise if I have made a mistake.’

The back of Henri’s neck prickled a warning. Sebastian’s easygoing demeanour had vanished and in its place she saw controlled fury.
Persuasion
was a euphemism for money.

‘What do you want, cousin?’ Henri tried to make her voice sound carefree. Sebastian was seeking to unnerve her, that was all. He wouldn’t truly demand money to keep his silence. He had his code. Surely he hadn’t sunk that low? Robert had to understand that he didn’t need to sacrifice himself for her good name. ‘I’d have thought he’d be the last person in the world you would like me to marry.’

‘Did you think, sweet cousin, that I can’t recognise a woman who has been well-loved?’

Before she could move, Sebastian lunged forwards, caught her chin between his forefinger and thumb and held her face steady. Henri forced herself not to flinch or look away and meet his searching gaze with calm fortitude. Above everything else, she had to stop Robert from making a sacrifice that they’d both regret. She
couldn’t bear the thought of him resenting being forced into marriage, of losing him slowly inch by precious inch because he had been forced. If Robert married her, she wanted it to be for love.

‘Has drink completely addled your mind, Sebastian?’

‘Even now, you wear a glow that was not there when I left yesterday morning.’ Sebastian gave a menacing glance towards where Robert stood. ‘Doesn’t she look truly exquisite, Montemorcy? A tasty morsel?’

‘You will keep a civil tongue in your head!’ Robert ground out. ‘There are ladies present.’

‘I do beg your pardon, Miss Ravel,’ Sebastian said with heavy irony. ‘Henrietta Maria, answer the question. Did you spend last night alone?’

‘That, Sebastian, is none of your business!’ Henri gasped, wrenching her chin away as anger surged through her. Sebastian had to be made to understand that if he persisted in this stupid jape, he would be making her life a misery. ‘You have no right! Stop trying to excuse your bad behaviour!’

Robert, to her annoyance, cleared his throat, but she refused to look at him. Who was he simply to announce that they were going to get married without asking her? She wasn’t some parcel to be passed around. There was a difference between a loving marriage and a forced one. She knew the difference. She refused to have a one-sided love match. She’d seen how her mother hadn’t coped and how the anger and resentment had driven her father away.

Sebastian blew on his fingernails. ‘I am, for all you like to forget it, the head of our family. It is my business
when my cousin decides to recklessly endanger her reputation.’

‘That is rich coming from…from a confirmed fornicator.’ Henri crossed her arms and refused to look at Robert. If Robert had wanted to marry her, he had had ample opportunity to ask her. All this morning in the carriage. She would have refused without question, but it would have been out in the open. She didn’t want to have a husband because society dictated that she had to have one. She didn’t want a husband at all. She wanted a friend and…a lover. She wanted someone who would be there for her always and who thought she was special.

Instead he was being forced into it by Sebastian of all people. Blackmailed. Henri’s blood ran cold. Sebastian’s debts. He didn’t care who paid as long as it wasn’t him.

‘Is this about money?’ she whispered.

‘It is different for a man.’ Sebastian put a hand on Henri’s shoulder, but she shrugged it off. ‘Come, Henrietta, what am I supposed to do? Turn a blind eye to your misdemeanours? Allow you to become the subject of common gossip?’

‘A joke is a joke, Sebastian.’ Henri hated the cold dread that filled her. Sebastian could not be serious about ruining her if she failed to marry Robert Montemorcy. She pushed the panic away and attempted to hang on to rational thought. ‘You are not going to tell anyone, Sebastian. Mr Montemorcy is a gentleman. He will keep quiet as well. You are simply seeking to create a storm in a teacup because your own marriage plans went awry and you need money. Your debts are there because you gamble.’

‘Your cousin is not joking.’ Robert gave Sebastian
a deadly glance. ‘He intends to use the information to discredit me within the business community.’

‘And that would harm your business?’ Henri thought of the hundreds of workers who depended on Robert. And all his plans. He created jobs for people. Sebastian wanted to take all that away.

Robert gave a shrug. ‘Men do business for all sorts of reasons. But a big enough scandal could hurt.’

‘I would never dream of joking about such matters.’ Sebastian held up his hands. ‘It was your choice to be with Robert Montemorcy. You made your bed, Henrietta, now have the good grace to lie in it. Marriage or else banishment from polite society. You like being good, accepted and helping people, Henrietta. You would be desperately unhappy being bad and wicked. It goes against your nature. You told me to find a way to pay my debts and I have. You, or rather Montemorcy, will pay.’

Henri stared at her cousin in open-mouthed horror. She’d considered him spoilt before, but she had never realised the depths of his depravity. She put her hand to her head and tried to think clearly. Marriage to Robert was not the answer. And she refused to allow Sebastian leave to ruin her life.

‘Robert! Mr Montemorcy, explain why it is impossible for us to marry. Sebastian, you are acting exactly like you accused Robert of acting. You did not like it then. Why should I like it now?’

‘And quite frankly,’ Sebastian continued as if she had not spoken, ‘I do not care whom you marry as long as you do marry.’

‘Cawburn, you go too far!’ Robert said in a furious voice. ‘You will stay within the bounds of propriety. We
agreed. Henri is not to be bullied. I will not have Henri forced against her will. I take all the blame for the situation. We’re engaged and if—’

‘Are you saying that my guardian dishonoured Lady Thorndike, Lord Cawburn?’ Sophie asked. ‘When?’

‘I draw a veil over the particulars, Miss Ravel, as you are unmarried.’ Sebastian inclined his head. ‘Thankfully, Mr Montemorcy showed a particle of common sense. It pains me that my cousin fails to grasp the gravity of the situation.’

Henri crossed her arms and silently consigned Sebastian to the darkest corner of hell. ‘All the times I smoothed the ruffled feathers and made certain no outraged husbands followed you. You are the most despicable type of hypocrite, Sebastian English! You will not get a halfpenny farthing from me ever.’

‘But I thought marriage was supposed to be the making of people.’ Sebastian batted his eyelids. ‘I believe it would have been the argument you used with me if I had chosen to dishonour Miss Ravel in that fashion.’

Henri reached out and slapped his face.

‘Ouch, that hurt!’

‘And that is for a good many other things as well.’

‘Cawburn, I will speak with Lady Thorndike in private,’ Robert said, stepping between Sebastian and her. ‘Violence is not going to solve anything.’

His bulk hid her from Sebastian’s triumphant gaze and Henri used the few heartbeats to regain control of her emotions. There had to be some way that she could reason with Robert and make him see. It was marriage in general she was against. She enjoyed Robert’s company too much to marry him. She did not want to risk losing him. And there were so many ways she could lose
him—death, boredom and even to someone else as her mother had lost her father. Her heart stopped. But she also risked losing him if they did not marry—so was loss inevitable? But which way would hurt less? Was it the hurt she feared? And what about the love she felt for him? Henri tried to concentrate and to think logically.

‘I am not sure I should let you, Montemorcy,’ her cousin said. ‘Your being alone with Henri is what brought us to this impasse, as it were. In good conscience, can I be that derelict in my duty?’

‘You will allow me to speak to Henri.’ Robert used a slow voice that allowed for no dissent. ‘You know
my
intentions are honourable, Cawburn.’

‘I’ll wait with Grace,’ Sophie said. ‘There is no need to fear, Robert. I have decided to be the model of decorum from here on out. I have no wish to experience an abduction again. They are beastly uncomfortable and inconvenient. I wonder why popular novels make them seem so exciting. They make you miss your tea.’

‘Always the practical one, Sophie. I look forward to the new Sophie,’ Robert said with a laugh. ‘It will make your stepmother’s head rest easily at night. All she wants for you is to be a happy and respectable young woman.’

Sophie stopped and kissed Henri’s cheek. Her eyes sparkled. ‘I’m pleased we’re to be in each other’s life after all, but I do think you could have told me before about the secret engagement. When did Robert ask you?’

‘He hasn’t,’ Henri ground out, ignoring Sophie’s startled exclamation. ‘I have not had the opportunity of refusing the offer.’

Henri practised counting to ten while she waited for
the room to empty. Robert, to her annoyance, appeared to be enjoying her anger. When Sebastian left, he shut the door with a decisive click.

‘How could you do this to me?’ Henri asked. ‘How could you declare to all the world that we were getting married? You have not even asked me.’

‘You might at least wait for the explanation, Thorndike.’ A muscle twitched in his jaw.

‘Why? It won’t change my answer.’ Henri kept her head upright. She would be dignified. He was being forced into this, just as she had once forced Edmund. Just once, she’d liked to be asked first. ‘Forced marriages are always a disaster.’

‘We must speak, Henrietta. Sensibly. Without you flying into a rage. Consider for a moment the alternative. Do you truly want that? More to the point, do you think I would have arranged this, any more than you arranged the note? You spoke of trust and trust must run both ways. Do you trust me?’

‘Trust you?’ Henri froze. He was right—she had behaved precisely in the same fashion that he had. She had chosen the fear instead of waiting for the truth. She swallowed hard. ‘Marriage wasn’t in my plans. I explained that.’

‘Then what is,’ he asked softly, ‘now that we both know it will be impossible to keep our relationship a secret? Plans can change, Henri.’

Henri thought about the alternative. A life outside the confines of society—one of late mornings, decadent afternoons and sensuous evenings. No longer would she be forced to call on women who were more interested in gossip than people. She could behave exactly how she pleased without trying to be good. She wouldn’t have to
be interested in what people did. Or have the satisfaction of seeing how her schemes improved people’s lives. Conventionality was not morality, but it was comforting.

The anger fled from her, leaving her shoulders bowed down by sadness. The dream that she didn’t dare speak was for ever gone. She wanted Robert to marry her for the right reasons, not to save some reputation that didn’t matter a jot in the grand scheme of things.

She wanted to beg him to sweep her into his arms and whisper that he had always intended to ask her. Instead he glowered at her and allowed the silence to grow.

‘This is a dreadful mess,’ she said when her body screamed for her to do something and stop the dreadful silence from pressing down on her. ‘There must be a way around this coil.’

‘Must there? Your cousin is a determined and desperate man. You were right. I have come to regret harassing him about his debts. Your ideas are at least equal to mine. I did overcomplicate matters.’

‘Giving in to blackmail is out of the question.’ Henri ran her hands up and down her arms, trying to get some warmth back into her body. She refused to allow Robert even to contemplate such a thing as giving in. ‘He’ll only come back for more. I wish that I’d seen it earlier.’

‘He’s been emotionally blackmailing you for years. Telling you that it was your fault about Edmund’s death. It is why you helped him, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. No. I wanted to stop feeling so alone. Sebastian needed my help.’ She looked at her hands. ‘I suppose you think me foolish.’

‘No, I think you have a generous heart, my dearest Thorndike. The most generous heart I have ever encountered.’

Henri put a hand to the side of her head.
His dearest Thorndike.
‘This situation is nothing either of us wanted. You should have done everything in your power to prevent it. There was no need to kiss and tell. Particularly not to Sebastian.’

Something went out of Robert’s eyes. Henri squirmed slightly. She had not meant the words as harshly as they came out of her mouth.

‘Your cousin guessed without me uttering a single word. I declined to answer his questions as any gentleman would.’ Robert’s gaze travelled slowly up and down her and she remembered what it was like to have his skin touching hers. ‘Henri, your eyes are sparkling and a certain lustre hangs about you. He asked a specific question, I answered as best as I could without lying. I refused to lie, Henri, even for you.’