With His Ring (Brides of Bath Book 2) (29 page)

With her stomach turning, she began to climb
the stairs to Number Eight.

"But, Miss Glee," Patty protested, "ye can't
go to a single man's establishment."

"I know that!" Glee whispered. "That's why
I've brought you along, silly."

"What will Mr. Blankenship say if he finds
out?"

"It is my profound hope he never finds out.
I'm only going to be there long enough to fetch my earrings that
Mr. Jefferson most ungallantly took from me after I lost to him at
whist."

"You mean Mr. Blankenship doesn't know about
the earrings?"

Glee shook her head. "He'd just purchased
them for me, and I couldn't allow him to think they meant so little
to me that I could wager them in a meaningless game of cards."

Winded, Patty held onto the bannister as
they came to the second floor landing. "Mr. Blankenship himself
picked them out for ye?"

Glee nodded ruefully. "And they're ever so
precious to me."

"All right, gel, but let's hurry and be done
with it."

They approached Number Eight, and Glee
timidly knocked.

A moment later a male servant opened the
door, took an appraising look at Glee, and cocked a brow.

"I believe you have a package that belongs
to me. I'm Mrs. Blankenship."

He swung open the door. "Please come in. Mr.
Jefferson's been expecting you."

Glee and Patty entered the narrow hallway
and followed the servant to a small, dark drawing room where the
man instructed them to sit down.

* * *

In less than one hour, Gregory lost a
hundred pounds at the cock fight. After saying his farewells to the
Appleton brothers and the twins—all of whom also lost substantial
sums of money—Gregory climbed into his carriage for the short ride
back to Bath.

Though his friends had been their usual
boisterous selves this day, he had only halfheartedly joined in
their merrymaking. Ever since he had left Winston Hall, he had felt
deuced low. He supposed Glee and his friends were right. He
had
become an old stick. Glee had married him because she
thought they would have such great fun. But he was turning out to
be. . .Good Lord, he was turning out to be exactly like his father!
The pursuits of his not-too-distant youth now seemed intolerably
frivolous. Cock fights no longer held the allure they once had.
Neither did gaming. Or womanizing.

Fact is, it seemed to him Thomas Moreland
and George were the happiest, most well rounded men of his
acquaintance.

As his carriage pulled up to Queen Square,
Gregory saw the runner standing in front of his house. Why was the
runner not watching Glee as he had been so firmly instructed to do?
Gregory's chest tightened. Had something happened to her? Gregory
leaped from the carriage before it came to a stop. "Where's my
wife?" he demanded. The man had clear instructions to follow Glee
at all times—and to never show himself at Blankenship House.
Something was dreadfully wrong.

"I came here straight away, sir," the runner
said breathlessly. He stepped closer to Gregory and lowered his
voice. "You said as how Mrs. Blankenship was never to go near Mr.
Jefferson. . ."

"Yes? Speak up, man!"

"Well, she's at his house this very
minute."

Gregory issued an oath. "Come," he demanded,
running to catch his carriage. "To the Paragon Building," Gregory
ordered the driver.

During the short ride to Jefferson's
lodgings, the runner apprised Gregory of what he had observed
during the past forty-five minutes.

"I don't believe you have to worry about
your wife being up to mischief, sir. She's got her maid with her,
and. . .she's dressed in heavy mourning."

All Gregory could think of was poor Miss
Douglas and the fate that had befallen her at William Jefferson's
hands. If Jefferson laid a hand on his wife, Gregory would take
pleasure in killing him. Gregory's heart beat ferociously. His
palms were clammy. He felt as if his very life was in danger. Poor
Glee was such a babe. She did not deserve to be a pawn in
Jefferson's game of vengeance.

He pounded the top of the carriage,
signalling for the coachman to drive faster.

"You say my wife was on foot?" Gregory
asked.

The runner nodded. "And I ran all the way
back to your house, sir. I wasn't there a minute when you drove
up."

"Thank God," Gregory said in a trembling
voice.

The carriage skidded to a stop in front of
the Paragon Building, and Gregory leaped from it and hurried up the
steps. "What number is it?" he called to the runner.

"Number Eight. Second floor."

Gregory shot to the stairwell and ran up the
stairs. When he came to Number Eight, he did not knock. He stormed
in. "Where's my wife, Jefferson?"

Chapter 25

Gregory ran down the hallway, checking each
room for Glee. In the drawing room, he found Patty with her mouth
gagged, but he didn't stop to unbind her. If she was gagged and
bound, so was Glee, and he had to find her before that devil
defiled Glee's innocence.

Gregory called to the runner. "Untie my
wife's maid." Then he bounded up the stairs and threw open the
first door he came to. And there stood Glee, her mouth bound, her
watery eyes wide with fear, as she backed into a corner to get away
from Jefferson. Gregory's fury exploded so thunderously he barely
registered his relief that she was still clothed.

In a single stride he grabbed Jefferson and
rammed Jefferson's head into the plastered wall. In the second it
took Jefferson to recover, Gregory crashed his fist into
Jefferson's face. "So help me, I'll kill you," Gregory threatened
through gritted teeth.

Jefferson lunged at Gregory, but Gregory
ducked to evade the hit, and Jefferson went flying onto the top of
his bed. Before he could get up, Gregory had swung his weight on
top of him and proceeded to pummel the sides of his head.

Footsteps sounded outside the room and a
scuffle ensued. Gregory spun around to see the runner pounding
Jefferson's man servant. The servant was no match for the runner.
Soon, with the servant nursing his wounds in the corridor, the
runner entered Jefferson's chamber.

Jefferson eased himself up on his haunches
like a dog. The blood on his face trickled to his blue satin bed
covering.

"Be a good man and untie my wife," Gregory
ordered the runner.

Gregory walked around the bed, away from
Glee, and stood with his back to the door staring daggers at
Jefferson. "I thought after the business with Miss Douglas you were
completely without principle. Now I know you're without a soul.
Damn you to hell, Jefferson!"

Jefferson collapsed back on the bed. "Take
her and go. You don't have to worry about calling me out. I'll
leave England at once."

The man was a coward, too. He knew he
couldn't best Gregory on an even field, and he likely knew
Gregory's fury was so great he would not shoot to wound, but to
kill.

Released from her bindings, Glee flew to
Gregory and flung her arms around him, weeping. "I...I..just wanted
to get your earrings back from him," she sobbed.

Gregory scooped his wife into his embrace.
All his anger at her melted under the sheer relief he felt at this
moment.

"Take them," Jefferson uttered, waving
toward the desk. "They're in my desk."

Gregory put Glee at some little distance
from him and bent to kiss her forehead, then offered her his
handkerchief.

After she wiped her tears, she walked to the
desk and found her earrings in the top drawer. She clasped them in
her hand and walked to the door, where Gregory met her before
slamming the door behind them.

By now Patty had been released of her ties
and she flew—crying—into Glee's outstretched arms. "I'm so very
glad Mr. Blankenship came when he did," she managed between sobs.
"That man is a monster."

Gregory turned to the runner. "See that the
maid gets safely home. I wish to speak privately with my wife in
the carriage. And. . ." he paused, meeting Patty's thankful gaze,
"I hope we can depend upon your discretion."

Patty nodded solemnly. "I couldn't love Miss
Glee more if she were me own sister."

Before they departed, Glee hugged Patty once
more.

In the carriage, Glee broke into sobs again.
Gregory scooted closer and settled his arm around her. "It's all
right, love."

"How can you call me love when you must
think me horridly wicked?"

"You're not wicked," he said softly.
"Foolish, perhaps, but never wicked."

She buried her face into his chest. "Oh,
Blanks, I'm so terribly sorry. I
did
love your earrings so.
No gift has ever meant more. But I lost money to the vile Mr.
Jefferson at whist that night at the Assembly Rooms and nothing
would appease him but that he would have my earrings. He told me
later the only way I could have them back would be if I kissed
him."

Now he understood Glee's peculiar actions
that day he had observed her in Sydney Gardens. "The kiss I
witnessed."

She looked up at him, nodding, great tears
sliding down her cheeks. "Then the beast wouldn't return them. I. .
.I didn't want you to think I didn't cherish them. I was dreadfully
anxious to get them back. That's why I came here today."

"And he tried to ravish you." Gregory
tightened his hold on her. "It's not your fault, sweetness. The man
was only trying to get back at me because I somewhat exposed him
for the vile creature he is in London. He hates me so much he
wanted to wound me in the worst way."

"What happened in London?" she asked. "I
perceive it has something to do with a Miss Douglas."

He frowned. "Miss Douglas's brother was a
friend of ours who was killed in the Peninsula. Appleton and
I—along with George—promised to look after her." He stopped and bit
his lip. "We failed miserably."

"What happened to her?"

"Jefferson promised marriage but failed to
deliver on the promise when Miss Deouglass became. . .You needn't
concern yourself."

A moment later Glee said, "He got her with
child, did he not?"

Gregory nodded solemnly.

Glee sighed. "Well, Blanks, at least we have
succeeded in convincing the
ton
ours is love match."

He settled a kiss on the top of her head.
"Apparently so."

She saw that his knuckles were bleeding.
"You're hurt! Oh, Blanks, I should never forgive myself if you were
to get hurt saving your foolish wife from Jefferson's clutches. I
was so terrified when you were fighting. I was afraid he would draw
a knife on you. He's such a wicked man."

"Had there been a knife in his bedchamber, I
have no doubt he'd have tried to use it on me."

"How did you know to find me? And rescue
me?"

"Since I'm far more well acquainted with
Jefferson's character than you, I hired a Bow Street Runner to
follow you, with instructions that William Jefferson was a
dangerous man. So when he saw you enter Jefferson's building, he
came straight away for me."

"Thank goodness. But I thought you'd still
be at the cock fights."

"As it happens, I didn't have to take Thomas
and George home because they didn't come. Thank God they didn't,"
he said throatily. "Had I returned them to Winston Hall, I'd have
been too late..." Emotion choked his voice.

"Oh, Blanks, you're my knight rescuing me
from the evil dragon. You're the bravest man I've ever known."

"I wouldn't say that. I merely protect
what's mine."

She snuggled up to him as they drove from
one end of Bath to another. He had told the coachman to drive
anywhere and not stop until he told him to. Gregory, cradling a
whimpering Glee to him, oddly did not want the ride to end. He
could not remember ever feeling such utter contentment.

"Did you say my brother did not attend the
cock fight?"

"I did. He didn't."

She sat up ramrod straight. "George miss a
cock fight? He must be on death's door."

"Not him. Diana, and I daresay that's worse
as far as George is concerned. He's most devoted to her."

Glee's face went white. "Diana's at death's
door?"

"No. No. She's merely suffering with a fever
that the doctor assures George will go away, but George is beside
himself with worry. Thomas said George didn't leave her side all
night."

"I must go to Winston Hall," Glee said.

Gregory conveyed the new direction to the
coachman.

At Winston Hall, Glee brushed past the
butler who opened the door to them. "I've come to see my sister
Diana."

At the sound of Glee's voice, Felicity came
running from the drawing room.

"How is she?" Glee asked, her brows drawn
together.

By now Thomas had joined them at the foot of
the stairs. "I wouldn't know," Felicity said, directing a glance of
mock outrage at her husband. "Thomas will not allow me to go near
her room—because of my condition."

Glee smiled up at Thomas. "Thank you,
Thomas. I feared Felicity would force herself into the sick room,
and that wouldn't do at all—because of her condition." Glee started
up the stairs. "I'm sure George could use some relief—and I daresay
Diana needs a level-headed female. I'm persuaded Colette is utterly
useless at a time like this. The French are so given to vapors, you
know."

Gregory put out a hand to block Glee's
progress. "I don't know if I like the idea of
you
going to
the sick room, my dear."

Glee turned back and gazed at him with
wonderment on her face. "Oh, Blanks, my darling, that's the nicest
thing anyone has ever said to me." Impulsively, she threw her arms
around him and kissed him briefly. "But you must know, I am
never
sick. Tell him, Felicity."

"Glee does enjoy excellent health. She's
never even had a headache."

Resigned to his wife's decision, Gregory
watched her climb the stairs. Then he realized he was not behaving
that differently from George. He really did care for Glee. Of
course, he wasn't in love with her as George was with Diana. They
had neither shared a bed nor the creation of a child in their
image. As had George and Diana. And Felicity and Thomas.