A Christmas Courtship (8 page)

Jonathan smiled bitterly. ‘How very fortunate for him. How pleased with himself he must be, to have won Deborah, to have the promotion, and to be assured of his inheritance. My, my, how he’ll strut down Bond Street when next he’s in London. How gaudy and impressive he’ll be in his new uniform, all set for the
next soiree when he should be boning up on the details of reconnaissance, at which he is less than efficient. How amusing and witty he’ll be among the Devonshire House set, when he should be turning his thoughts to the prospect of how to lead his men properly on the battlefield.’

‘We’re going to prove your innocence, Jonathan, and that promotion will be yours again,’ said Blanche sturdily.

‘Prove my innocence? How?’ He rose to his feet, glancing briefly toward the doorway, where Jake could be seen on the verandah, within hearing of every word that had been said. ‘What say you, Jake? Proving my innocence is a simple matter, is it not?’ he asked dryly.

Jake lowered his eyes. ‘But you
are
innocent, Master Jonathan.’

‘Oh, yes, I’m innocent all right, but I may as well be guilty for all the good my innocence is going to do me.’

‘What are you going to do, Jonathan?’ asked Blanche.

‘I don’t know. Stay here for the time being, I suppose.’

‘Come home.’

‘And be sitting there in readiness for Neville’s next visit? I’m not that much of a blockhead, Sis.’

‘Unless you intend to flee the country, Jonathan, you’re going to have to face the charges sooner or later.’

He was silent for a moment, and then nodded heavily. ‘I know, Blanche, and I will face them, but not just yet. I must at least
try
to build up a defense of sorts before I give myself up to the colonel.’

‘Father says that it’s in the colonel’s discretion to waive any charges if he thinks you’re innocent.’

‘At the moment the colonel thinks I’m guilty, Sis,’ pointed out Jonathan quietly.

She got up from the bench. ‘If only we still had that note….’

‘It’s gone well and truly to perdition, Blanche. Neville and his doxy will have seen to that. The fellow who picked my pocket must have been in their employ.’

‘Then Miss Jennings must be persuaded to tell the truth,’ declared Blanche with more optimism than she felt.

Jonathan gave a wry smile. ‘Persuade her to give up her cozy title and future of luxury? I hardly think it very likely, Sis.’
‘Nevertheless, we must try.’

‘I can’t leave the safety of this place to go to Eastington House, Blanche. The moment I showed my face, word would be sent to the colonel, and I’d be arrested to face a court martial.’

‘Then I must go to speak to her.’

‘You?’

‘Why not?’

‘She won’t receive you.’

‘Jonathan, I have to try. It just may be that I can persuade her to tell the truth, for she may not be as far beyond redemption as it seems.’

‘I wish I had your faith in human nature, Sis.’

‘Don’t be bitter, Jonathan, for it isn’t like you.’ She spoke gently, for it saddened her to see her beloved brother reduced to such circumstances.

‘I have every reason to feel bitter, Blanche,’ he replied.

She went to him, hugging him tightly again. ‘I know, but it’s going to be all right, I just know that it is. Come home with us now, Jonathan, for this place is cold and damp, and your bed awaits you at the cottage.’

He held her close. ‘Not tonight, Sis, but maybe if you are successful with Deborah. …’ He didn’t finish the sentence, for he knew it was a forlorn hope.

‘Please come with Jake and me,’ she pressed.

‘No, Sis, don’t ask me anymore, for I am determined to stay here where I feel safe. The only thing I’ve done wrong is to run away from the barracks, but now that I’ve done it, I need time to gather my wits. You do understand, don’t you?’

She nodded reluctantly. ‘Yes, I understand.’

‘Thank you, Sis.’ He kissed her forehead. ‘When will you go to Eastington House?’

‘First thing tomorrow, and then I’ll come back here tomorrow evening to tell you all about it.’ She managed a smile. ‘Who knows, maybe it will all be over by then.’

‘Maybe,’ he replied, but hollowly.

Jake stepped into the doorway. ‘I think we’d best be getting home again, Miss Blanche.’

‘Yes, Jake.’ Blanche looked at the blankets and food. ‘Jonathan,
are you sure you’ll be all right?’

‘One thing the army has taught me, Sis, and that is how to survive in difficult situations. I have food, water, blankets, and a roof over my head, so I’m bound to be all right.’ He hugged her again. ‘Until tomorrow night, then.’

‘Until then.’ She moved from his arms toward the doorway.

‘Sis…?’

She turned.

‘Thank you for believing in me.’

‘It wouldn’t occur to us not to believe in you, Jonathan, not to me, to Father, to Jake, or to Hannah. We
all
believe in you, and we’ll stand by you, no matter what.’

‘What a Christmas this is set to be, eh?’ he murmured.

‘It may yet turn out well,’ she replied.

‘Ever the eternal optimist, Sis?’ He smiled a little ruefully.

‘Here you are, doing your best to put heart in me, and I haven’t even had the grace to ask you how you are.’

‘I’m very well, as you see.’

‘No suitors?’

She met his gaze in the darkness, and smiled. ‘No, no suitors,’ she replied, for now was most definitely not the time to tell him about Antony. With everything else that had happened to Jonathan Amberley of late, news of a possible Mortimer
brother-in-law
would have been too much.

There were tears in her eyes a she left him and made her way carefully around the veranda to where Jake waited with the horses at the foot of the wooden steps. Jake didn’t say anything as he helped her into the saddle, and a moment later they were both riding back up the lane toward St Mary’s church.

As they reached the postern gate halfway up the hillside, Blanche reined in sharply. ‘Jake, we forgot to warn Jonathan that Sir Edmund is in residence! The gamekeepers….’

‘Don’t fret so, Miss Blanche, for Master Jonathan will have seen the lights at the big house. You heard what he said, the army has taught him how to go on in difficult circumstances. He’ll be all right.’

‘I wish he’d agree to come home with us.’

‘He feels better where he is, Miss Blanche, and maybe he’s right. That plaguey lieutenant will be back, you mark my words.’

They rode in silence again, and as they reached the lychgate, Blanche reined in again. ‘I can’t go back just yet, Jake, I have so much to think about that I need to be on my own for a few minutes.’ She glanced toward the church porch. ‘Will you wait here for a while?’ she asked.

‘It would be better if we went straight home, Miss Blanche, but if you feel you need to think, then of course I’ll wait here. Don’t take too long, though.’

‘I won’t.’ She slipped down from the saddle before he had time to dismount, and then she handed him the reins. ‘Just a few minutes, so that I can sort everything out in my mind.’

The lantern swung rustily to and fro beneath the lychgate as she went through. Altar tombs and headstones loomed eerily in the darkness, and she could still hear the calling of the peacock from the grounds of Amberley Court. Her footsteps crunched on the gravel path, and the great iron ring in the studded door felt ice-cold through her gloves as she turned it and went inside.

Afaint glimmer of light shone from the altar, and she saw that someone had been remiss enough to leave a candle burning. It was a feeble light, and the church shadows crowded in on all sides as Blanche went slowly down the aisle. The candlelight glowed on the golden crucifix and silver-gilt plate on the altar and picked out the garlands of Christmas greenery twined around the columns nearby. There were posies of holly and ivy adorning the ends of the pews, and sprays of myrtle and laurel on the lectern from where the Reverend Green delivered his interminable sermons. The smell of candlewax and ancient stone pervaded the building, a timeless smell that hadn’t changed since medieval times, and that would probably be the same in hundreds of years to come.

She paused midway along the aisle, turning to look up at the gallery pew that presided over everything from the rear of the church. It was known as the Amberley pew because it had been endowed by one of her ancestors, another Lionel Amberley, and it was always occupied by her family. The light from the altar was too weak to shine on it, but she knew it so well that she could recall every festoon and angel carved so richly upon its ancient oak. She could also recall the Christmas boughs that she and Hannah had brought to the church only the day before to decorate the pew. They’d spent two hours carefully arranging the seasonal leaves, and had retired feeling well pleased with their efforts. Blanche remembered how happy she’d been then, looking forward to all the yuletide celebrations, and to singing carols at the Christmas services. It was Sunday the day after tomorrow, and until the arrival of Roderick Neville she’d had every intention of attending the morning services, but now, with things as they were….

She lowered her glance to the stone-flagged floor. So far it was unlikely that the story of Jonathan Amberley’s fall from grace had spread beyond the barracks in Cheltenham, but soon, as Roderick Neville had so spitefully predicted, it would be all over the country. The name of Amberley would be linked unfairly with scandal, and all because of a vile conspiracy by two people Jonathan had placed his faith in.

With a heavy sigh she went to sit in the front pew, gazing
toward the slowly moving candleflame on the altar, then she leaned her head back against one of the greenery-entwined columns and closed her eyes as she went over and over all that had happened.

Outside, Jake was beginning to feel very cold. A snowflake melted against his cheek, and he glanced up at the sky. A heavy fall of snow had been in the offing for days, and there was a subtle change in the air that told him it wouldn’t be long now, probably before morning. They were in for a hard winter in the new year, that much was certain. He hunched his shoulders, turning up his collar and wishing that advancing years hadn’t brought with them a variety of niggling aches and pains. His mind was as nimble as it had been when he’d been twenty, but his body wasn’t anywhere near as youthful.

Suddenly he sat up more in the saddle, turning to look back down the lane in the direction of the fishing house. He could hear a horse approaching, moving at a slow walk up the lane toward him. Every sense was alert as his sharp eyes raked the darkness. Who could it be? Master Jonathan wouldn’t leave the fishing house, and besides, there hadn’t been any sign of his horse. Whoever it was must have come over the footbridge from the Bishop of Gloucester’s land, and the only sort of person who’d do that was a person that was up to no good, like a poacher….

It wasn’t wise to stay out in the open by the lychgate, and so Jake turned his horse quickly toward the village, riding it and leading Blanche’s toward a field gate a short distance away. But as he was about to ride into the field, Blanche’s horse suddenly resisted, tossing up its head and pulling its reins from his hand. Jake uttered a curse beneath his breath as the animal trotted back up the lane, its trailing reins bringing it to a halt again by the lychgate.

‘Damn you for a flea-bitten nag,’ he muttered beneath his breath, maneuvering his own horse into the field and
positioning
it behind the hedge, from where he would be able to see the unknown rider pass by.

The other horse came slowly closer, and Jake strained to peer through the hedge. At last the rider came into view, a man in a
cloak and a cocked hat. A
military
cocked hat! Jake’s breath caught. Lord above, it was Sir Edmund! He must have come out of the park through the postern gate! He was bound to see the riderless, side-saddled horse in the lane by the lychgate and draw the obvious conclusions that its lady rider was in the church. Would he just ride on by, or would he go inside to see why she was apparently out on her own in the dark? Jake instinctively knew it would be the latter, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Sir Edmund rode closer, and then saw the horse. He paused for a moment before urging his own mount toward the lychgate and dismounting. Tethering both animals to a holly tree that hung over the wall beside the gate, he then pushed through and went up the path toward the porch. From his hiding place in the field, Jake could only watch in dismay, for the last thing Blanche Amberley needed now was another meeting with the new master of Amberley Court.

In the church, Blanche knew nothing of what was happening outside. She was about to get up to leave when the door opened suddenly and Sir Edmund stepped inside.

Startled, she rose swiftly to her feet. ‘Sir Edmund?’

‘Miss Amberley?’ He closed the door and tossed back his cloak so that he could tuck his cocked hat beneath his arm. ‘Forgive me for intruding, but I saw your horse by the lychgate, and guessed there would only be one lady to whom it would belong.’

‘Wasn’t Jake there too, Sir Edmund?’

‘Jake?’ He came down the aisle toward her, a rather thin smile on his lips. ‘Let us be honest, Miss Amberley, the last thing Mr Cutler would do would be to wait around for me to come upon him in the dark. The natural instinct of any poacher is to make himself scarce when a landowner hoves into view.’

She was glad of the darkness, for her cheeks had colored. ‘I-I don’t know what you mean, Sir Edmund.’

‘No? You do surprise me, Miss Amberley.’ He halted a few feet away from her and leaned back against the side of a pew, folding his arms as he studied her. ‘Tell me, Miss Amberley, do you often come here at night?’
‘Do you?’ she countered, thinking that it was very strange that he should be out on his own on his fiancée’s first night at Amberley Court.

The faint smile continued to play on his lips, as if she amused him in some way. ‘What a very surprising young lady you are, to be sure. First I come upon you standing up to Lady Hetherington’s rage, then I have to virtually pull you out of a ditch, and now I find you sitting alone in a deserted church. Are all the young ladies of Gloucestershire cast in the same remarkable mold?’

‘I’m glad you find me so amusing, sir,’ she replied a little coolly. ‘No doubt I seem very rustic indeed compared with Lady Hetherington, but thankfully we cannot all be great London ladies.’

‘Don’t misunderstand, Miss Amberley, for I wasn’t laughing at you. On the contrary, I find you refreshingly different.’

‘Don’t patronize me, Sir Edmund, for I do not appreciate it,’ she said stiffly.

He smiled again, but this time it was a warm smile that reached his eyes. ‘I’m not patronizing you, Miss Amberley, I’m paying you an honest compliment. Is that so hard to believe?’ He straightened. ‘I realize that you and I got off to a very bad start when first we met two years or so ago, but as I said earlier this evening, I would prefer to be on amiable terms with you, if that is possible.’ Pausing, he looked at her in the candlelight. ‘Is your heart engaged, Miss Amberley?’ he asked suddenly.

Her lips parted in astonishment. ‘I-I beg your pardon?’

‘I believe the question was clear enough.’

‘The state of my heart is no concern of yours, sir,’ she replied coldly. How dare he ask such a question!

‘It may not be my concern, Miss Amberley, but I have an
excellent
reason for asking. I haven’t been here in Amberley St Mary for very long, and I haven’t met many people, but I’ve been careful to keep my finger on the local pulse. It’s come to my attention that your name is being secretly linked with the son of a Gloucester banker by the name of Mortimer. Is that true?’

She stared at him. ‘Sir Edmund….’

‘Is it true?’ he interrupted.
‘And if it is?’

‘I do not profess to know the young gentleman, but I have had dealings with his rascally father, of whom I formed a deeply unfavorable impression. It would sadden me to think that you were, er, involved in some way with the Mortimers.’

‘You have no business telling me….’

‘I’m making it my business.’

‘By what right?’ she demanded angrily.

‘By the right of being concerned about you, madam,’ he replied in a clipped tone. ‘An alliance between the Amberleys and the Mortimers would be a disaster, for the two families are worlds apart, and you would be the one to suffer most.’

‘Sir, I find your prying most offensive, and would point out that you would be most indignant were Ito presume to advise you against marrying a creature as odious as Lady Hetherington!’ Even as she said it, she knew she’d gone too far. Her lips closed abruptly, and she looked swiftly away. ‘Forgive me, I shouldn’t have said that.’

He was silent for a moment. ‘I suppose you had as much right to express your opinion as I had to express mine,’ he said then.

‘Nevertheless….’

‘For Heaven’s sake don’t apologize again, Miss Amberley. Let us just agree that we were both well and truly out of line, and that if any blame must be attached, then it is to me for commencing the business in the first place.’

‘I think perhaps I should be going, Sir Edmund,’ she said pointedly. He offered her his arm.

After she’d extinguished the candle on the altar, she very reluctantly returned to place her hand over his sleeve.

They left the church, stepping out into the bitter cold of the night. Jake was waiting by the lychgate, having rather sheepishly realized that his presence would by now have been made known to Sir Edmund, who eyed him severely as they reached him.

‘Cutler, I find your conduct tonight very poor indeed.’

‘Poor, Sir Edmund?’ Jake’s eyes widened.

‘It ill became you to leave your mistress alone with me.’

‘But I saw that it was you, sir, and anyway, I came to the porch
to listen a little, to see that all was well.’

‘Did you indeed? The stealth of the poacher, I’ll be bound.’

‘I wouldn’t quite say that, Sir Edmund.’

‘No? Well, I would, and as to knowing that it was me, let me remind you that you don’t know the first thing about me. I may have had dastardly intentions where Miss Amberley was concerned – indeed, I could have been determined to make an assault upon her virtue while you lingered discreetly out here.’

Jake gaped at him. ‘You, Sir Edmund?’

‘Yes, damn it! Me! In future you are to pay more attention to your responsibilities, Cutler, or it will be the worse for you.’

Blanche turned anxiously to Sir Edmund. ‘Please, it was hardly Jake’s fault that I insisted upon going alone into the church.’

‘True, Miss Amberley, but he still should not have permitted me to walk in. As it is, I am indeed a gentleman, and no harm came to you, but it is never wise to presume that someone is a gentleman, simply because he looks like one.’

‘Oh, I couldn’t agree more, sir,’ she replied, thinking of Roderick Neville.

Sir Edmund’s attention returned to Jake. ‘What’s more, Cutler, if any Amberley Court venison, pheasants, salmon, or hares are to be enjoyed at Orchard Cottage, it will be because I choose to send them. Is that clear?’

Jake nodded. ‘Perfectly, Sir Edmund.’

‘Good.’ Sir Edmund turned to assist Blanche into the saddle. She looked down at him. ‘I truly am sorry for what I said in the church.’

‘We both said things we shouldn’t have, so let us both forget it.’ He took her hand suddenly, and drew it to his lips. ‘Good night, Miss Amberley.’

‘Good night, Sir Edmund.’ She turned her horse away, and rode down the lane toward Amberley St Mary, with Jake
following
a few yards behind. She didn’t look back, but she could feel Sir Edmund’s eyes upon her until she passed from sight around a curve in the lane.