Sally James (8 page)

'Let's go back to the supper booth,' Chloe suggested, and taking Kate's arm in hers turned decisively away, leaving the two men to follow, puzzled but accepting.

'I’m sorry,' Kate muttered when her momentary terror had left her. She was feeling angry with herself for reacting so impetuously at the mere sight of Adam. After all, he'd known she'd be here, even though he'd initially frowned at the idea. He'd offered to bring her himself, but seemed to have forgotten his promise. And it was none of his business. And even if he did see her what did it matter?

They turned the corner of the path and Luke came up beside the girls. Their attention was distracted as they caught sight of Mr Shore, his back towards the booth opening. He was bending over Mrs Shore, who was lying back in one of the chairs and being revived with burning feathers plied by a large lady sporting a vividly hued purple silk gown, with a no less striking shawl around her shoulders.

'Mama!' Chloe cried, rushing towards the booth. 'Mama, what's amiss?'

Mr Shore turned round, an anxious look on his face. 'Your mama swooned, my dear. I shall have to take her home.'

'Oh, Mama!' Chloe sank down on her knees to take her mother's limp hand in hers.

Mrs Shore tried to smile. 'I feel better now,' she whispered. 'Thanks to this kind lady. I am sorry, I haven't your name,' she added as she looked towards the stranger.

'That's no matter. But you ought to go home at once, Ma'am, you're in no state for jollifications,' the woman said robustly, in a slight Cockney accent.

'I shall be quite all right now,' Mrs Shore insisted, but was greeted with a chorus of protest from her family.

'You are going home, my love.'

'Mama, you're much worse than you pretended.'

'I'll go and find the carriage, shall I, Father?'

'Yes, Martin, if you'll be so kind, and when your mother is feeling better we'll follow you.'

'No! Chloe was so looking forward to this, and I cannot spoil it for her and Kate,' Mrs Shore protested, but weakly.

Luke, who had remained in the background while her husband and children fussed round Mrs Shore, now spoke.

'Would you entrust the girls to us, Ma'am? Then you could go home quietly with Mr Shore. You could send the carriage back for us and we will escort them home immediately after the firework display.'

Mr Shore looked dubious, but his wife bit her lip and breathed a sigh of relief.

'Of course, Luke. You and Martin will take good care of them, I know.'

It was agreed, and the girls sat in the booth with Luke while Martin helped his father take Mrs Shore to the carriage. After a while the novelty of the scene, and Luke's continued reassurances that Mrs Shore would be better once she was at home, restored their spirits, and they spent the time watching the fashionable people strolling past the booths, trying to guess who they were, and laughing at some of the more extreme examples of fashion.

'Just look at those shirt points!' Chloe giggled. 'He can't turn his head, he has to turn right round to speak to anyone! And isn't that purple and yellow waistcoat dreadful? I wonder who they are?'

'They're taking the booth opposite. And those ladies are with them. Oh!' Kate breathed, her eyes wide with astonishment as one of the females in the group removed her cloak to reveal an indecently low cut gown.

Chloe gasped. 'Do you suppose they are females of the muslin company?' she asked in a whisper. 'Shall I ask Luke?'

'I don't think you should talk about such things to a man,' Kate replied with mock severity. 'I've never seen a gown cut so low,' she added. 'I wonder that it stays up!'

'Some of the ladies in other booths are wearing gowns almost as low,' Chloe said thoughtfully, 'and they can't all be that sort of female.'

'What would people say if one of us wore a gown like it?' Kate said, her eyes beginning to dance.

Chloe turned to stare at her. 'You wouldn't!'

Kate shrugged. 'It might be fun, but only if we were masked, of course!'

Before Chloe could reply Martin came back. He reported that his mother had felt much better by the time they had reached the carriage. She'd said they were not to worry about her, but were to enjoy the rest of the evening.

'So shall we order supper now, or go and dance first?' he concluded.

They all wanted to dance, and although out of politeness Luke once asked Kate to dance with him, Martin partnered her for the rest of the time. She had only had a couple of lessons which Mrs Rhydd had insisted on, but she proved an apt pupil. To her annoyance she found that Martin, unlike Luke, was a relatively unskilled dancer, stumbling his way through the sets.  When they waltzed he preferred to hover on the outskirts of the throng rather than, as Kate would have liked, swirl elegantly in the midst of the dancers.

To her relief Adam and his mistress were nowhere to be seen. It was only on their way back to the supper booth that she saw them. Adam and a party of other people were eating in one of the larger booths, and he was still bending solicitously over his lovely companion. After one swift glance Kate hurried past with her face averted.

They ate lavishly and Martin pressed them to drink champagne which Kate had never before tasted.

'Why do people make such a fuss about it?' she enquired, holding out her glass for Martin to refill. 'It's pleasant enough when one is thirsty, but why is it regarded as so special?'

'This is not the most superior champagne,' Luke replied. 'I have tasted superb wines in France which never seem to find their way to England.'

'They seem to have drunk a great deal over there,' Chloe remarked, nodding towards the booth opposite. The scantily clad females and their escorts had been joined by several other young men, all talking and laughing noisily.

Kate glanced across and then stared with narrowed eyes.

'Chloe, it's Darcy Limmering, in that yellow waistcoat,' she said slowly. 'Doesn't it make him look a fright? And I wonder what he is doing in such company?'

'So it is. I didn't recognize him at first.'

'Did you say Darcy Limmering?' Martin asked, overhearing these exchanges. 'How do you know him, Kate?'

'He's my cousin's brother-in-law,' Kate replied.

At that moment Chloe and Luke suddenly stood up.

'Come, the fireworks are beginning,' Luke said, and taking Chloe's arm led the way out of the booth.

'I feel dizzy,' Kate said, and then laughed. 'Surely that isn't the effect of the champagne?'

'Of course not. Have some more to keep you warm,' Martin suggested, and Kate, laughing, drained the glass he offered her.

Then they followed the others, but the crush of people heading in the same direction became so great that the two couples were soon separated.

'Never mind, we can find them afterwards,' Martin said slipping an arm protectively round Kate's waist as a crowd of revellers rushed past and almost swept her off her feet. 'Let's go this way, we shall have just as good a view but the crowd is thinner.'

They went along a side path, less brightly lit than the main ones, and found a vantage point from where they could watch the fireworks. Kate was so entranced by the spectacle that she forgot the disturbing fact that she was clasped tightly in Martin's arm, which he had kept about her after they had escaped from the crowd.

The fireworks fizzed and flared, scattered coloured sparks across the sky, and for minutes at a time illuminated the Gardens brightly, dimming the lanterns which were strung out along the walks so that when, at last, the display ended, the outer sections of the Gardens seemed even darker than before.

Either that, or there were fewer lanterns now alight, Kate thought as Martin began to guide her back towards the booth.

'That was magnificent,' she breathed, still in a glow of enchantment. 'I am so pleased I came, this is a sight I shall always remember!'

'We must come here on some really special occasion,' Martin suggested.

‘I would love that, but you are going back to the country, and I have no notion of where I shall be,' Kate said, brought back to reality with an unpleasant jolt. Then she stopped suddenly.

'What is it?'

'Adam Rhydd, he's there, in front of us, coming this way!' Kate gasped, and swung round hastily. 'Where can we go? Martin, I don't want to see him! He would be sure to blame you for my being here in this part of the Gardens.'

'This way,' Martin said calmly, and led Kate along a narrower, dimly illuminated path between dense bushes.

'I'm sure he saw me!' Kate exclaimed. She couldn't explain why she was so reluctant to face Adam. She had, after all, her aunt's full approval for being at Vauxhall, and Adam himself had mentioned it once, though he had not again offered to arrange a visit. For some reason Adam seemed to deplore any social activity. Did he think she ought to be sitting at her grandfather's side every waking minute?

Martin squeezed her waist comfortingly. 'Don't be concerned. We can lose him in the darkness, even if he did recognize you and follow you. And he might not have done as he wasn't in the least expecting to see you.'

'Are you sure?' Kate asked, hurrying along at Martin's side, stumbling occasionally on the unevennesses of the path, and thankful that his grasp kept her upright.

'Of course we can. Many of these paths are quite dark, and we can soon twist about so that he will lose us. Or we can hide in one of the little pavilions until he has given up searching, and then find Chloe and Luke when it is time to go back home.'

He swung her round into an even narrower, unlit path, and soon she lost all sense of direction. She was breathless when a small structure loomed up out of the darkness at the end of one of the paths. When Martin guided her to the seat inside it, she sank down with a sigh.

'How did you know this was here?' she asked with a slightly nervous laugh. 'And is it safe?'

'Safe from your Adam,' he replied.

Kate was beginning to distinguish the lighter area where the pavilion's open side was, and several tall trees silhouetted against the faint glow from the lanterns. The noise of the revelry seemed far away, but they could not have come a great distance.

'Chloe and Luke will become anxious,' she murmured after a few moments when the silence between them had lengthened into an uncomfortable pause.

'They'll be happy enough, I doubt if they'll give a thought to us,' Martin replied. He stumbled over his words slightly, his voice seeming hoarse as he spoke. Kate wished she was back in the comparative safety of the booth.

'We'd better go,' she said suddenly. 'Adam will surely not be searching for me, and the Gardens are so big it's unlikely we will meet again by chance. I was foolishly afraid of him. I have my aunt's permission to be here.'

She stood up, forgetting that Martin had not removed his arm, and stumbled against him as he remained seated.

'Kate, don't be in such haste to escape,' he muttered thickly. To her horror she found herself being pulled down onto his knees. His arms were clamped about her, imprisoning hers so that she was unable to regain her balance or struggle free of his grasp.

Chapter Seven

'Martin! Stop it!' she exclaimed breathlessly, but his grip tightened.

'You're such a tempting morsel, little Kate,' he said. 'Come now, be kind to me. Luke has my little sister, and you can be sure they are making the most of this opportunity of being together. Why shouldn't we as well?'

Kate, attempting to wriggle away from his embrace, found herself pulled even closer to him. His mouth, his lips soft and full, landed with a smack on her cheek. She gasped with a mixture of shock, fear and disgust, and redoubled her efforts to free herself.

'Kate, I won't hurt you,' he assured her plaintively, and this time his mouth found hers just as she opened it to scream for help. To her horror and disgust he forced his tongue between her lips so that she feared she would choke as it invaded her mouth.

Desperate, revolted by the slack wetness of his lips and his probing tongue, Kate bit hard. With a gasp of shock and pain Martin thrust her away from him and sprang to his feet.

'Why, you little prude!' he exclaimed. Before Kate, thrown off balance once more by his sudden movement, could regain her feet he seized her roughly and was twisting her arms behind her back.

'Let me go!' she panted, but he was much too strong for her. He soon captured both her hands in one of his, using the other to force her face towards him.

'I'll teach you to be so vicious!' he said hoarsely, pulling her so fiercely against him that the breath was knocked out of her. 'You lead a man on with smiles and tempting looks, then try to pretend you're as innocent as a newborn babe! Or do you prefer to be treated roughly? Is that it?'

His mouth came down on hers so that she could not scream. Writhing to fight off his loathsome embrace, Kate was consumed with fury. It gave her the strength to kick at his ankles, and as he gasped in pain she snatched a deep breath and began to scream for help.

As he tried desperately to cover her mouth with one hand, they heard footsteps running along the path towards the little pavilion. With an oath Martin released her. He pushed her so that she collapsed against the seat, and vanished into the darkness.

'What is it? Are you hurt?'

'Adam! Oh, is it you?' Kate gasped, swallowing the tears of fright and humiliation which for a moment had threatened to overwhelm her, and forgetting that she heartily detested Adam Rhydd.

'Who the devil? Kate? Is it Kate?'

'Yes, of course. Oh, Adam, thank goodness you were there!' Kate exclaimed, and clasped his hands as he stretched out towards her.

'Confound this darkness, I can't see a thing!' Adam complained, and Kate gave a nervous giggle. 'What the blazes were you doing here, and who was it with you? Did he hurt you?' he demanded.

Kate gulped, and managed to steady herself.

'I’m not hurt,' she said, but tremulously, and suddenly became aware that she was clinging to his hands without any restraint. Hastily she tried to draw her hands away but Adam's fingers tightened, and after a brief but silent struggle Kate gave up.