Midnight Bride (53 page)

"Caught a hackney, my lord.
Told him to go to St. James."

"Find me another quickly and there's another of these for you," Charles said, tossing the boy half a crown. The lad's eyes opened wide. "St. James, his club?
Or Hartley's lodgings?"

"Be back in half a minute,
guv
. Stay right there." The boy was as good as his word, Charles was on his way within minutes, and the linkboy had enough to feed his family for several days.

When Charles finally found Dunstan outside the building in which Hartley had taken "rooms, he was wrapped in his cloak, the black blending into the shadows. Had Charles not been looking for him, he would have missed him. Sinking into the shadows himself, though not as effectively as Dunstan, he said, "Elizabeth was worried about you." Dunstan laughed. "She said to tell you she preferred to stay with you in England. And she has no desire to be a widow."

"A widow?
Have you any idea what she was talking about?"

"I believe that she had some idea that you were rushing out to challenge Hartley to a duel."

"An interesting thought, but so unprofitable. In a duel he might win."

"I thought you would be ready to call me out."

Charles
leaned his head against the building wearily. "To think that is what I almost did to you."

"You simply provided the opportunity. But if you are so loose tongued every time you are in your cups, it is lucky you are not in Spain. No matter now, although Elizabeth may not forgive you so easy. No, it is Hartley I plan to have. How, I am not certain." He looked up and down the street, but the only people in sight were two gentlemen walking unsteadily up the stairs to a house down the block. He drew his cloak about him more closely, cold in the damp night air. "Is there an inn nearby?"

"Bound to be.
If not, the club is close at hand."

"Not the club. If Hartley walked in and I saw him, Elizabeth's fears might be realized. No, we need a quiet place where we can talk this out." They walked down the street together, for
all the
world like friends out for an evening of riotous living.

Finding an inn that looked clean, they requested a private parlor and called for a bird and a bottle. "Though I suspect it is the former we need more than the latter," Charles added. He had taken Elizabeth's remarks seriously and had to admit their truth.

"Don't turn Methodist on me, yet, Charles," Dunstan laughed. "The bottle is simply to wash down the bird, which may be tough." To their surprise, the meal was a fine
one,
and the claret as smooth as any Dunstan had in his cellars. "Make a note of the name of this place, Charles. When we need to escape our wives, we will have a snug hideaway."

"First I must have a wife. Westin will never let me marry
Cecile
if this gets out," Charles said, letting his depression sink over him again.

"Nothing will come out," Dunstan said firmly.

"For Elizabeth's sake as well as our own, we must find a way to stop him."

"Oh, he has offered to take the full blame himself. Didn't I tell you?"

"No. What price did you say he wanted?"

"Fifty thousand," Charles told him.

Dunstan
whistled,
his face thoughtful. "He definitely plans to beggar us," he said. "And, more than certain, that is only the first payment. That type is never satisfied."

"I can attest to that," Charles said dryly. "I wish I had investigated before I paid him anything."

"No regrets, Charles. Keep your mind in the proper sequence. Let us plan our revenge."

"How?"

"I am not certain. Give me some time."

"We don't have any. He could be called to testify any day now. And if he is . . ." Charles stared at his brother-in-law wishing that he were able to react as coolly. Dunstan's calm face hid a mind that was at work.

"We will tell Grandfather and Lord
Ramsburg
part of the story. No need for them to know how Elizabeth and I decided to marry."

"No," Charles said forcefully.

"Don't worry. They will forgive you. You may feel the bite of Grandfather's tongue for a while, and that is not pleasant, I can assure you, but eventually you will be back in his good graces, especially if we can defeat Hartley."

"But I do not understand why they must know anything more than they do."

"We need their help. They may be members in the House of Lords, but they both know people in the Commons. They may be able to find out when Hartley is scheduled to testify."

"So we know how much time we have." Charles's face lit up with understanding.

"Exactly."
Dunstan leaned back and smiled wickedly. "Let us find Elizabeth and tell her what we have planned."

"You tell her. I think I will avoid her until she forgets what I have done."

"That long? You will send us an invitation when you and
Cecile
marry?" Dunstan teased him, ready to relax now that he knew that there was some sort of plan.

"Cecile
and I . . .
Cecile.
I was to escort her and her grandmother to some cursed
musicale
tonight. She will never forgive me." Charles pushed back his chair with such force that it fell over. He hurried to the door, leaving Dunstan to settle their account, and broke into a run, heading for his own lodgings not far away.

"Remember to change first," Dunstan called as he followed him into the street. Then he checked the street for a hackney.

Elizabeth was still in the library when he returned. The earl was with her, had been with her some time. To Dunstan's dismay, she had told him the whole story. His grandfather was sitting in one of the large leather chairs, his head propped up on the back. Since the chair faced the doorway, as Dunstan was certain his grandfather had planned, those blue eyes so like his own were the first things he saw as he walked in the door. Disconcerted for a time because of the angry look his grandfather wore, Dunstan hovered in the doorway until Elizabeth rushed to his side. "I told Grandfather everything," she explained. Dunstan looked over her head at his grandfather. "Did you find Hartley?" she asked anxiously.

"No, dear one.
You can stop packing. There will be no duel."

"In my day that would have been unthinkable," his grandfather said is a voice that was neither angry nor upset.

"In your day, Boney did not have Europe in a stranglehold, Grandfather. And I have no desire to see the New World. Besides, duels are so public." He glanced at Elizabeth when he said it, remembering belatedly her own experience with duels.

"Do you have something else in mind?" the earl asked. This time his voice held a note of curiosity.

"What do you and Charles mean to do?" Elizabeth asked, her brows drawn into a frown. "Why isn't he with you?"

"He was promised to
Cecile
and her grandmother." Dunstan seated his wife on the settee and went to stand behind her. "We will see him tomorrow." Then he turned his attention to his grandfather. "Our plans are still tentative. But you can help us if you will, Grandfather. Can you get a schedule of witnesses for the inquiry in the House of Commons?"

"How far in advance would you want it?"

"Two days or three?"

"I will try for a
week. At the rate those Commoners are going, they will not be finished until Easter. They keep calling that Clarke woman back, listening to those stupid love letters the duke wrote her. How could a grown man be so besotted, so foolish? And the way they lap up what she says. Anyone can tell she is lying.
Anything else, my boy?"

"Do not mention this to Seward. With my history, he will bid me adieu in a moment."

"Think you do yourself a disservice there. He told me this week what a godsend you were." The earl stood up slowly, showing the strain of the evening and his age.

"But you have taken your seat in the House of Lords, Grandfather. What else could he say to one who votes on bills he wants passed?"

The earl was silent for a moment, just looking at him. Then he nodded his head. "I will ask about the schedule in the morning," the earl promised as he walked out of the room.

"You have been remarkably silent for the last few minutes, Elizabeth," Dunstan said, crossing to sit on the arm of a chair opposite her. "Did you wear yourself out talking to my grandfather?"

"Are you very angry with me?" she asked, her eyes on his hands. "I thought he had a right to know. And I was the one who would be ruined if the story got out." She looked up at him under her lashes.

"It was your story. You told it," he said quietly.

"But you wish I had not."

"I did not say that." He stood up and took a turn around the room before coming back and facing her. "Elizabeth, what I would have liked is for you to discuss it with me first. If you wanted him to know, we could have told him together."

"But he does not blame you. He understands that what you did was not deliberate."

"He is not the question. We are." He took his seat beside her on the settee and picked up her hand. "If we are to make a success of our marriage," he began. She looked at him, startled. "That is what you want, isn't it?" She nodded. "Then we must work together." Dunstan kissed the hand he held, and a shiver ran up her spine.

"I am sorry I did not wait for you," she said softly. "But I was so upset—mostly with Charles. The story just came flowing out."

"You have every reason to be disturbed. If the situation was not as bad for him as for us, I would have leveled him myself."