Wishing For Rainbows (Historical Romance) (21 page)

“They have lived next door to each other all of their lives. Why, anybody who had eyes in their head who saw them together was aware that neither of them could take their eyes off each other whenever they crossed paths. Trenton’s father often joked that Trenton hadn’t offered for anyone because he was waiting for Ursula.” Jeremiah shook his head as he stared thoughtfully into the fire. “He was right, wasn’t he?”

“You are a crafty old goat, Jeremiah. Really you are,” Adelaide murmured with no hint of censure. Instead, she stood up and poured him another brandy.

As Trenton stalked down the Ladies Mile, his scowl deepened as his worry grew. The weather had started to close in and from the look of things, the heavens were about to open. As a result, the usually busy pavements were now deserted because many had returned to the warmth of their sitting rooms. The lack of pedestrians gave him a clear view of the path ahead but he couldn’t see her.

“Where the hell are you?” He growled aloud as he scoured the empty side paths.

Given how wayward she could be sometimes, he wondered if she had told Adelaide she was going to the Ladies’ Mile, but had instead gone somewhere else. Where would a young lady like Ursula go though?

Determined to find her before the darkened sky released its deluge, Trenton increased his pace.

“Let’s go back,” Ursula sighed once she and Molly reached the end of the Ladies’ Mile. “I don’t like the look of those clouds.”

“It’s going to rain before we get home,” Molly replied dourly.

Ursula shook her head. “It will if we go through the park. I think we need to go down the pavement. It looks almost empty and is less meandering.”

As they made their way to the pavement that ran around the outskirts of the park, Ursula studied the trees around them. A cool wind swirled, heightening the rather heavy atmosphere. She could practically feel danger lurking all around her, and wondered if Alfred Sinnerton was still hidden in the bushes.

She had seen him earlier, standing hidden in the depths of the shadows - waiting. It was clear from the way he was leaning against a tree that he had been there for some time and had been following them, but why? What did he want?

“Molly?”

“Yes miss?”

Ursula scoured the trees beside them. “Keep an eye out for Alfred Sinnerton in the trees. He is a thin young man, about mid-twenties, with dark brown hair and even darker eyes.”

“Yes, miss,” Molly replied warily.

Suddenly, the low rumble of carriage wheels grew startlingly loud. Her eyes widened at the sight of the huge black carriage that rumbled to a stop right beside her. Before she could move, Alfred Sinnerton and his sister jumped down.

“What are you doing?” she gasped when Hyacinth ran straight past her and launched herself at Molly.

Before Ursula could intervene, she was grabbed around the waist and hauled off her feet by Alfred. Her scream was muted by the gloved hand he clamped painfully over her mouth. Although she twisted, wriggled and writhed, she was no match for Alfred’s strength and was dragged relentlessly toward the carriage.

“Get off me,” she gasped when she succeeded in yanking her head to one side. Her only answer was to have her hips shoved roughly into the carriage. Before she could regain her balance, she was hauled bodily inside. As soon as Hyacinth was aboard, the carriage door slammed closed and the carriage lurched into motion.

“What do you think you are doing? Where’s Molly?” Ursula demanded as she clambered onto the seat directly opposite Alfred and Hyacinth.

“Molly is a bit busy now,” Hyacinth declared coldly, completely unconcerned about any injuries she might have caused the innocent maid.

“If you have hurt her, I will ensure you feel the full weight of the law,” Ursula snapped. “This is kidnap. How dare you do this to me? Just who do you think you are? I demand you let me out right now.”

“I am not letting you go anywhere just yet,” Alfred snapped.

In contrast to the mild mannered young man Ursula had met before, the Alfred who sat opposite her now was cold and ruthless, and brought about a deep shiver of unease within her that made her feel slightly sick. She turned a glare on Hyacinth and shuddered at the similarities that lay between the brother and sister. They were so alike that if she didn’t know one was male, and the other female, she would have considered them to be twins.

When neither of them seemed inclined to explain what they wanted with her, she slid over to the window but neither the window nor the door would open.

“The blind cannot be opened. The door is locked, and there is no handle on the inside so you can’t get out until we stop. I suggest you sit back and wait. We are going to be a while,” Alfred declared in a voice that was so matter-of-fact they could have been out for an afternoon ride.

Ursula glanced around the rather ramshackle carriage. “Where are you taking me now you have kidnapped me?”

“You will find out soon enough,” Hyacinth snapped.

“How dare you kidnap me like this?” Ursula snarled, as outraged as she was terrified.

“I am merely looking after our best interests,” Alfred replied crisply, and leaned back nonchalantly against the seat in a casual pose that was at odds with the seriousness of the situation.

Ursula wanted to smack him; and his sister too.

“You won’t get away with this,” she declared coldly when she had considered her options and realised there weren’t any.

“I already have,” Alfred declared smugly. “I am afraid that by the time your aunt discovers the maid, she will be too insensible to give them much detail about what happened to her. You will be long gone I am afraid, so will be unable to raise any help at all.”

“Adelaide will not stop searching until she has found me,” Ursula protested. “Trenton will scour every inch of London.”

“Ha! Trenton was too busy with his lady-love last night to even bother with you. What on earth makes you think that he will go to the time and trouble of searching for you?” Hyacinth scoffed.

Ursula looked at her and she tried to think of a suitable argument, but couldn’t. “He has promised my father he will look after me while I am here. He can hardly go back to Yorkshire and say that he has lost me while he was smooching with another woman.” She tried to make her voice sound as indifferent as theirs but failed miserably because it shook uncontrollably with fear.

“I don’t care what he promised your father, that man is a failure. You are a fool if you think that sleeping with him will make any difference to his relationship with Serena. Why, everyone who is anyone knows they are an item,” Alfred snapped scornfully. He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees to study her closely. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t know,” he mused wryly as he studied the hurt on Ursula’s face. “Well, well, well, he has managed to fool you too.” He laughed loudly. “Well, I suppose even soiled you will have to suffice.”

“Soiled?” Determined not to be panicked by him, she levelled a glare on him that could have frozen him to the spot. “I am no such thing.”

“Oh, come now. We saw you smooching with him in the street like a common whore. I don’t know why he didn’t pay you a penny for your services,” Hyacinth scoffed.

“Oh, you would know all about offering men a penny for your services then, would you?” she retorted.

The sharp sting of the slap she received across her cheek was loud in the silence of the carriage.

“Now, now, Hyacinth. It will do no good to damage the bride on her wedding day,” Alfred declared. He gave his sister a pointed look. “That will come later.”

“Wedding day?” Ursula stared at both of them and wondered if they had lost their minds. “I am not marrying anyone today.”

“I am afraid you will marry me today,” Alfred declared firmly. “You have no choice in the matter.”

“I will not,” Ursula snorted. “You are the very last person I would ever marry.” She threw a warning look at Hyacinth. “I don’t care how much you slap me, nothing could persuade me to go through with it. You will have to kill me first.”

“That can be arranged,” Hyacinth declared quietly.

“Go on then. Do it, because I should rather that than marry him. You have just wasted your entire day, if that’s what you have kidnapped me for,” she declared. She threw a scornful look at Alfred. “Then again, I am not surprised you have had to resort to actually accosting a woman on the streets to get her to marry you. I doubt there is any woman insane enough to want to marry you willingly. You are, by far, the very scourge of society. No wonder you mother is shunned by decent society. Having witnessed what she has raised, I am surprised she has managed to move amongst the
ton
for as long as she has without being cast out for being a fraudster.”

The second slap that Hyacinth landed against her cheek made her eyes sting. This time, Ursula wasn’t prepared to allow her to get away with it and landed a stinging blow in return before Hyacinth had resumed her seat.

“Hit me again and I swear that the next time I won’t stop,” Ursula ground out through clenched teeth.

Hyacinth snorted and curled her lip, but thankfully settled back against the seat and turned her face toward the door.

Ursula turned her attention to Alfred and glared hatefully at him. “I don’t care what sick and twisted scheme you have concocted between you. You can force me into the church, but I shall never say the words you want me to say. I will never do anything to commit my life to yours. You shall rot in Hell for this.”

“You will do what you are told,” Alfred declared quietly.

“No, I will not.” Ursula snapped. “I am going to make sure you face justice for kidnap, abduction, false imprisonment. It will put you in jail for a very long time.”

“You have to prove we have done anything first,” Alfred challenged, clearly unperturbed by her threat. “You won’t get the opportunity.”

Ursula didn’t know if he was exceptionally arrogant, totally ignorant, or mentally unstable. Either way, she was seated in a carriage with people who were, with each passing mile, posing an incredible risk to her life. She had to find some way out of there. If only she knew how, she would be fine.

“Why me?” she asked quietly after several moments of worrying.

It appeared that Hyacinth had gone to sleep because her eyes were closed and she appeared completely oblivious to what was going on.

“Out of all the women in the
ton
; why me?”

“You don’t know, do you?” Alfred murmured after several moments of quiet contemplation. “You seriously don’t know.” He seemed to find this entirely amusing because he threw his head back and laughed almost hysterically. “Oh, this is classic. They haven’t told you. Well, well, well.”

“Told me what? What are you talking about?” Although the need to fidget was rife, she forced herself to remain perfectly still, and not allow him to see how much of an advantage he had over her.

Alfred stared at her thoughtfully. “You really don’t know, do you?”

Ursula refused to acknowledge or deny it.

“How did you like the flowers?” he mused rather than answer her.

She pierced him with a steady stare. “They were beautiful but creepy.”

“They weren’t my idea, of course. I told mother not to bother. The expense was too much for someone like you, but she insisted.”

“Ah, I should have known you would never do something like that. The writing was effeminate enough to be yours though,” she countered, ignoring the flash of warning in his eyes. He looked at her with such hatred that for a moment that she wondered if he would strike her too.

“You know nothing,” he murmured quietly.

“So, you did write them?” She asked in a voice that was laden with disbelief. “You sent those effeminate notes?”

“I wrote them at mother’s behest. She told me what to write. All of that nonsense was her idea,” Alfred sighed. “I knew they would be lost on you.”

“So, first the flowers, then you took to following me,” she mused thoughtfully. She wondered how long he had been following her every footstep without her knowing. Taking a wild guess, she pierced him with a stare. “It was you who broke into my bedroom, wasn’t it? You were also the one who sent me the message to meet you in the conservatory. What, were you hoping to abduct me then?”

“It would have been better for everyone if you had turned up alone. Unfortunately, you had to have that bounder, Calderhill, with you. If we had taken you then, all of this would be over with and I would have been able to get on with my life in peace.”

“You broke into my bedroom later that night when you weren’t able to accost me in the conservatory.” It wasn’t a question. When one attempt at kidnap had failed, they had tried another.

“It was all planned. We had everything ready to take you from the conservatory. When Calderhill turned up, and you left before he did, we had to think of something else. So yes, I broke into your bedroom. I nearly got you out too.”

“Only I woke up when I realised I wasn’t alone,” she finished for him. “How did you hope to get me out of the bedroom? I mean, you could hardly climb out of the window with me over your shoulder.”

“I was going to walk you straight out of the front door,” Alfred snorted. “Or carry you if you put up too much of a fight.” He said it with such glee in his eyes that she knew he would have rendered her unconscious if he needed to.

“So, when your schemes failed, you decided to follow me around and wait for another opportunity.”

“Mother won’t be thwarted, you should know that, my dear,” Alfred assured her.

“Don’t call me ‘my dear’,” Ursula snapped. “I am not your anything.”

“I shall call you whatever I damned well please,” Alfred countered.