Amanda Scott - [Dangerous 04] (37 page)

“About her position? That’s what she said?”

“Aye, and he said ’twas true enough, that he seduced her—Be that the right word, m’lady? Seduced?”

“Yes,” Letty said grimly. “That’s the right word.”

“Well, I did wonder, ’cause he said he would tell everyone she did it to him if she said a word about him out … out of school, I think he said.”

“He threatened to say
she
had seduced
him?”

“Aye.” Liza glanced nervously again at Mrs. Linford, but that lady kept her lips pressed tightly together. “He did say that, miss. Said he would tell her husband as much if she tried to make trouble for him with the queen or anyone, or if she had failed in the task he had set her tonight.”

“Task? What task?”

“I dunno,” Liza said. “What they said then made no sense. She said she wouldn’t give you nothing to give Her Majesty, that for all she knew it might harm her or you. He laughed then, all evil-like, and she got wild. She said she believed it
were
worse than that, that they wasn’t really going to pretend to save Her Majesty like he promised, but to assassinate her for real. What’s ‘assassinate,’ Miss Letty?”

“But that’s mad,” Letty said, ignoring the rider as she fought a chill that threatened to paralyze her. “I don’t believe for one moment that Sir John Conroy intends to murder the queen. She is the key to all the power he craves.”

Mrs. Linford said, “Sir John?”

At the same time, with surprise in her voice, Miss Abby said, “He wore a mask, as usual, when he arrived, but I don’t think it can possibly have been …”

“Wasn’t Sir John,” Liza said, her voice a dim echo of theirs.

“But if not Sir John,” Letty exclaimed, “then who was he, for heaven’s sake?” Even as she said the words, however, she remembered something Liza had said but moments before. “You said he likes you best! Liza, was it—”

“Mr. Morden do like me best,” Liza said, nodding earnestly.

Mrs. Linford said, “Merciful heavens.”

Letty felt dazed. “The time I interrupted them I didn’t see him because he kept his head under the covers the whole time I was in the room, but a number of things made me think Sir John was the one.”

“Oh, my dear,” Miss Abby said, “I quite see how you came to make the error, for Sir John
was
here that horrid day when Liza ran away. And it’s perfectly true that he has been a patron of ours from time to time. As we told you, many gentlemen in high places have made use of our service. But he never saw Catherine here, nor she him, for we are most discreet, you know. Moreover, that particular liaison of his has come to an end, so I do hope you will not ask us who—”

“No, no,” Letty said hastily. “Her identity is of no consequence, but good God, what are we to do? I must go to the palace at once, and—Oh, dear, but if they don’t let me in after all, what would I do? What a horrid coil this is!”

“But you must go if our dear little queen’s life is in danger,” Miss Abby said. “Mr. Morden ran out of here like one possessed. I thought he feared that we would send instantly for the police, but of course we can do no such thing until we decide exactly what we should tell them.”

“Hush, Abigail,” Mrs. Linford said when Letty looked pointedly from Liza to the doctor, who had turned his full attention to his patient. Nodding, Mrs. Linford said, “Liza, my dear, if you have no more to tell us, you should go to bed now.”

“Yes ma’am,” Liza said, her shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry I was wicked.”

“I should not have said you were wicked,” Mrs. Linford said, her face flushing. “You did not know any better, and that is quite my own fault. Go to bed now, child. We will talk more of this in the morning, but you have nothing to fear.”

“I’ll take her,” Jenifry said, slipping an arm around Liza’s shoulders.

Letty glanced at the bed, wondering if Catherine had slipped away without even a farewell, but the doctor still hovered over her. Sending a silent prayer heavenward, she fought a nearly overwhelming and most uncharacteristic urge to burst into tears.

Mrs. Linford said, “There is no time to lose, Letitia. You must go at once to the palace, for you can reach Her Majesty more quickly than anyone else here. Only you have the entrée.”

Drawing a breath to steady herself, Letty said, “I’m afraid I no longer have it, ma’am. I received word only this evening that Her Majesty has dismissed me. The queen never really wanted me there, you know, and now that she has practically fought and won a war with Sir Robert Peel over her Whig ladies, she apparently has decided to get rid of me.”

“Mercy on us,” Miss Abby said, clutching a hand to her breast.

“Then you must send for your father,” Mrs. Linford said flatly. “I do not like to do that, as you must guess, but we simply cannot delay when Her Majesty’s life hangs in the balance.”

“But what will people think of us?” Miss Abby wailed. “Everyone is bound to learn
why
Lady Witherspoon was here, Miranda.”

“Forgive me, ma’am,” Letty said, “but we have reached a point where necessity must take precedence over what people may think about any of us. An image, after all, is only that, Miss Abby. It is time for all of us to face reality.”

“Then you must send for your father, I expect,” Miss Abby said with a sigh of resignation.

“No, ma’am, I won’t do that,” Letty said. “I don’t deny that he could help, but in fact, he has already left for the palace, and even if I knew exactly how to get a message to him, it would take much longer than if I can get to the queen myself. Raventhorpe can help me do that if I can reach him before he leaves Sellafield House, and much as it goes against the grain with me to beg his help, I can hardly ignore my own advice at a time like this.”

“Oh dear, Justin will be so angry,” Miss Abby said fretfully.

When Mrs. Linford winced, clearly agreeing, Letty nearly had second thoughts, but she stiffened her resolve. It occurred to her then that she might not find Raventhorpe at Sellafield House, that he might already have gone on to the palace. If that proved to be the case, she decided, she would just have to gain entrance by herself, one way or another.

Leaving the two old ladies and the doctor with strict orders to do nothing until they had heard from her, Letty shouted for Jenifry and hurried to her carriage, knowing well that her chances of finding Raventhorpe still at home were slim. If she missed him, she decided, she would just have to act on her own.

R
AVENTHORPE STOOD IMPATIENTLY BEFORE
the cheval glass in his dressing room, while Leyton twitched the tails of his evening coat into place and brushed away bits of lint that somehow had managed to mar the perfection of the dark blue material.

“My lord, if you will not stand still, I cannot be answerable for the result.”

“Tardiness is not a trait Her Majesty will forgive, damn it. I should have been gone twenty minutes ago.”

Calmly Leyton said, “Although you have frequently credited me with accomplishing miracles, sir, I cannot turn back the hands of time.”

“I know that,” Justin retorted. “If I’m short-tempered, blame the damned weather. What the devil do
you
want?” He addressed the last few words to his brother, who entered the room without ceremony, still in his shirtsleeves.

“I wanted to know if I’ve got this blasted cravat tied properly,” Ned said, looking him in the eye. “You’re always saying that I should effect a more fashionable style, but if you are going to roar at me, I’ll go away again.”

Justin sighed. “Don’t go. I’m in a black mood, that’s all. No cause to take out my temper on you. You’ve tied that very well.”

“I say, that’s decent of you, thank you,” Ned said, peering around him to catch a glimpse of himself in the glass. “Just for that, I shall warn you that Father is looking for you. I told him you might have already left for the palace, but if you don’t leave at once, he is likely to track you down. I daresay he wants to borrow money again,” he added, smoothing a fold of his cravat with a fingertip.

“Thank you,” Justin said dryly. “Are you ready to go now?”

“No, I’m not, as you can see perfectly well, since I have not even got my coat on. Moreover, I don’t mean to go for a while. I ain’t a lord-in-waiting, I’ll remind you, and I don’t want to spend the whole night dancing attendance on Mama or Susan Devon-Poole, although I believe I might try my luck with her since you don’t want her.”

“You won’t succeed,” Justin said. “She is looking for bigger game, my lad. She’ll most likely refuse Puck Quigley, and he’s got more to offer than you have.”

“The devil you say! We’ll just see about—”

“Here
you are,” Sellafield declared from the doorway. “You might have told me he was still here, Ned. Justin, I want a word with you before you go.”

“I’m off,” Ned said instantly, shooting a sympathetic glance at his brother as he slipped past Sellafield.

Resigned to the inevitable, Justin signed to Leyton to leave. When that worthy had disappeared into Justin’s bedchamber and shut the door, he said curtly, “If you have come to ask for more money, sir, I can only tell you that I meant what I said the last time.”

“Thunderation, lad, you can’t mean to leave me in debt to an ass like Conroy. I won’t have it. No right-thinking son would leave his father in such a fix.”

“No right-thinking father would put himself in such a fix,” Justin said unsympathetically, picking up his hat and gloves from the table where Leyton had put them.

“Now, see here, Justin,” the earl snapped. “I am still your father, and you owe me respect. I won’t have you talking to me that way, by God. We’ll see bailiffs here in Sellafield House if you don’t straightaway set things right with Conroy.”

“Just how much do you owe him, for heaven’s sake?”

“Five thousand pounds now, I think it is.”

Justin stared. “How the devil—? No, don’t try to answer that. I don’t want to know. Very well, sir, I will pay your debt to Conroy, but—”

“I knew you would,” Sellafield said on a note of profound relief. “No son of mine could leave his father in such a pickle. Why, I’d have to blow my brains out, that’s what I’d have to do.”

Controlling his temper with difficulty, Justin said, “I will pay the debt, sir, but only on the condition that, in return, you relinquish authority over all Sellafield properties to me.”

“What? The devil you say! I won’t do it.”

“I am sorry to hear that. I shall endeavor to visit you occasionally in prison.”

“Now, see here, Justin, they ain’t going to throw me into debtor’s prison. I’m still a peer of this realm, damned if I’m not.”

“Then you have nothing to fear.”

“I suppose you think your mother has nothing to fear. Bailiffs in the house, me on the penniless bench, finished and aground. How do you think
she
will feel?”

“Perhaps she will convince you to sign authority over to me,” Justin said, moving to his desk and opening a drawer. “I had the papers drawn up two days ago. You need only sign them, and I will give you a draft on my bank.”

“That’s extortion.”

“I prefer to think of it as sanity. I’d have done it long since if I hadn’t felt guilty about inheriting the money and worried about what people would think.” More gently he added, “I will promise to seek your advice when I need it, sir, but the land will fare better in my hands than it does in yours. You know it will.”

Sellafield glared at him.

“You will have to decide quickly,” Justin said. “I should be at the palace right now, and Mama must be waiting for you to escort her to the ball.”

“Well, she ain’t,” Sellafield growled. “She dined out this evening and means to go with a party of her own.”

Fearing he already knew the answer, Justin said, “With whom did she dine?”

“Now, how the devil would I know that?”

“She ought to have told you,” Justin said. “Most wives tell their husbands where they intend to dine, and with whom.”

“That just shows you don’t know much about wives, lad. In my experience, they don’t do any such thing.”

“Mine will,” Justin said grimly.

“If you ever get one. Oh, don’t look daggers at me. I’ll sign your damned papers. Don’t see that I’ve got much choice, do I? Give them to me.”

Justin spread the papers on the desktop and moved so that Sellafield could sit to sign them. His impatience stirred again when the earl chose to read each one first, but he suppressed it, hoping he was doing the right thing.

A rap at the door heralded the entrance of a footman who looked particularly wooden-faced. “Begging your pardon, my lords,” he said, “but I’ve got a message for Lord Raventhorpe.”

“What is it?” For once Justin did not trouble to hide his impatience from a servant. To his surprise, the man hesitated, glancing at Sellafield. When Justin held out a peremptory hand, he gave him a folded slip of white paper.

Frowning, Justin unfolded it. The frown deepened and fear knotted his stomach when he read,
I must see you at once. It is a matter of life and death! Letitia Deverill.

Glancing at his father, he said, “You must excuse me, sir. I have pressing business, I’m afraid. Keep one set of those papers, and leave the others there.”

“What about that bank draft?” Sellafield demanded.

“I’ll get it to you before breakfast, but I hope you believe me when I say that if you—” He broke off, turning back to tell the footman to await him in the corridor. When the man had gone, and had shut the door, Justin said, “I warn you, sir, if you don’t draw the bustle, much as I shall dislike it, I will let your creditors know that henceforth they must apply to me to settle your debts.”

“You wouldn’t do such a damned unfeeling thing!”

“Oh, yes, I will. Now, will you give me your word that you’ll make a real effort to curtail your extravagance?”

Bitterly Sellafield said, “Would you trust my word?”

“I believe it is as good as my own, sir. Do I have it?” Trying not to think about the note he held, he forced himself to wait for an answer.

“Very well, damn you, you have it.”

“Thank you.” With that, he snatched up his cloak from the chair where Leyton had left it and hurried from the room to find the footman awaiting him. Making sure the door had latched firmly, Justin said urgently, “Where is she?”