Silence of Scandal (10 page)

He tore at the maddening curtain in desperation to find out what was making the horrible noise and his face was at last free of the drapery.

His wife stood not three feet from him, her hand stuffed over her mouth as she made a sound like a gaggle of honking geese. He almost put his hands over his ears. She must have noticed his horrified expression at the sound because she quickly gulped back her frivolity.

“Elizabeth? Is there something wrong?” He had never heard a woman laugh quite like it. She sounded as though she were in great distress. He extricated himself from the curtain at last and gaped at her as he stood up.

Elizabeth stared back up at him. She placed her hand to her throat and then opened her mouth. For a long moment nothing happened but then she closed it and gave a visible swallow before a strangely nasal sound came forth.

“eesanda.” She smiled nervously at him, her lips quivering as she attempted to speak and Alexander fought to hold his ground. Was she playing some kind of joke on him?

She dropped her hand from her throat and tried again, the stress as she tried undeniable.

“Asanda. I di’in know yoo wer beyind me. Yoo may me yump so mush an I larfft.” Her smile slipped as her nasal accent made the words almost unrecognizable.

Alexander staggered back from her. Was she mocking him? He grabbed hold of the bared bedpost to steady himself again. For a single moment he wondered if she were possibly a Russian princess but then he remembered listening to one of the King’s mistresses. This was no Russian accent.

He frowned and thought about her words.

“I made you laugh?” he queried incredulously and she nodded enthusiastically, her dark hair bobbing before she turned back to the bedroom. She walked gracefully around the wide bed.

“Tiz so ‘uge. I wi’ become los’ in it.” She waved her arm at the four poster and attempted a frightened smile again but Alexander didn’t have a clue this time. There was a sudden knock at the door behind him and he jumped as an unrecognized maid marched into the room followed by Grady, almost invisible behind armfuls of bags and boxes. Grady rolled his aging eyes at his stunned master.

“Women,” he muttered as he staggered past Alexander, but Alexander wasn’t paying him any attention. He was staring at the two women in front of him. The maid stood right in front of her mistress and had what appeared to be a very one sided conversation.

“Well, what a lovely room! The best of the bunch I would imagine looking at the state of the rest of the place, even if someone has clearly been fighting with the drapery.” She glanced up and down at Alexander’s dishevelled appearance and the swathes of material at his feet before she turned back to his bride. “but don’t worry about that. We will have it fixed in a jiffy. I never saw a place so huge. There must be a hundred bedrooms and did you see the moat…well of course you did, silly me, you have to cross it to come here. ‘Tis a pity it’s not still daylight. I imagine the view is fabulous from this window. Sarah showed me my room. I have a whole bedroom and sitting room to meself. Just as well what with all these corridors to walk. I will be worn to a frazzle by my bedtime and will need to put my feet up. Now, where shall we put all your things?” The woman put her hands on her hips and stared about the room ignoring Alexander completely.

And then Alexander had an even bigger shock. With arms waving like a Banshee, his new wife began shouting strange instructions that had the maid scurrying about the room opening doors and drawers.

“ne warobe is bi nuff for evryning  bu ne resser I perfe for my mentionales. I wuner if I can ‘ave a barf too. Is bin a long day.” The loud nasal tone jarred on Alexander’s ears but the maid didn’t appear to notice anything amiss. She turned swiftly to the door.

“Out gentlemen. We are unpacking before mistress’s bath. Please arrange for a tub and hot water. My Lady needs to rest from the events of the day.” The young woman began shooing them towards the door.

Grady didn’t need asking twice in the face of such madness. He dropped the bags and boxes at his feet and ran as fast as his bowed legs would carry him and an aghast Alexander wasn’t many paces behind.

Chapter Seven

Avoidance Techniques

“Don’t be rid…rid…ridiculous man. Bansh...banshees don’t actually exist.” Giles Denvers eventually managed to get his tongue around the words as he stared blearily at his friend over the top of his brandy glass.

Alexander stared blearily back and tried to form his words carefully.

“Try telling that to the one I have living in Orm…Orm...my castle. It was jus’ as well that I could flee from the west wing entrance.” He gave up trying to name his ancestral home and waved his arm expansively towards the tavern window in the general direction of Ormond. He let out a loud belch and then with an unsteady hand poured more brandy into his empty glass. “She is exactly like the stories of old. As beautiful as a g…god…goddess but as soon as you are near enough she opens her mouth and sucks out your soul with her screech. I wouldn’t be surprised if serpents start forming in her hair next.” He nodded his head wisely as if agreeing with himself.

Giles frowned and blinked slowly while he digested this last bit of information. He had heard the same story several times but it differed slightly with each telling.

“She screeched at you with snakes coming out of her head? She’s a Medusa? But I th…thought you said she said that you made her laugh. Can banshees actually change form while laughing and suck...sucking your soul?” He laughed himself as Alexander nodded violently and threw back his brandy but missed his mouth completely. The stain ran down his already filthy cravat.

Alexander looked surprised at discovering that his glass was once again empty and refilled it as he spoke.

“We didn’t get to the sucking souls part or I wouldn’t be here, would I?” He nodded again and spread his hands as if he spoke the obvious. “She spoke in Arabic too. I thought it was Russian first of all but now I know I was mistaken.” He waggled his finger under Giles’s nose as he tried to focus his gaze on his friend but gave up and his head sank forwards onto his chest.

Giles hiccupped as he thought about this for a few moments.

“Arabic? How odd. I thought Banshees came from Ireland. Surely she would speak Gael… Gael...Irwish?” He struggled with his own words as his tongue contorted strangely in his mouth.

Alexander snorted and waved his arms expansively. The brandy spilled over his cuff.

“Since the war we seem to let any riff raff in the country. She must have told them she was a ref…refugee from France and some fool at Dover believed her.” He belched again.

Giles breathed out slowly and tried to focus on the table. It swam before his eyes and he placed a hand on it to steady the motion.

“Now I know you are in your cups. I thought you said that she spoke Arabic. How would any of the customs men know what she said? Was it the serpent heads speaking in many for...forked tongues perhaps?”

Alexander frowned and then stopped as pain rippled across his forehead. He decided that he needed some air. He tried to stand to go and open the window but his feet didn’t move at the same time as his body. He overbalanced and staggered forwards quickly to keep himself upright but now his feet were further ahead than his body. He grabbed the fireside chair for support. The chair tipped up beside him and he dropped his brandy glass as he fell onto his backside. His whole body slumped to the floor and he lay there staring glassily up at Giles.

“I bet she stole the sailor’s so…souls so that they couldn’t report her,” he mumbled and then he turned onto his side and began to snore.

Giles raised an eyebrow and toed his friend with his boot clad foot.

“So she is a mermaid then.” He scratched his head and kicked Alexander gently. “Wake up man. You have me all confused. Is she a goddess, a banshee, a medusa or a mermaid?” He kicked harder but Alexander continued to snore.

There was a sudden commotion at the door as the landlord of the Bear and Dragon came rushing in at the sound of his best private salon being wrecked by the two supposed gentlemen. He looked down at Alexander’s snoring form and turned towards Giles who though drunk, was at least still upright.

“Now look here young gents, I can’t ‘ave any more of this behaviour. ‘Tis becoming ‘ard to keep your conversations private with you getting so badly in your cups. The whole town is already talking about the Banshee that haunts Ormond. Take the young Duke back to ‘is ‘ome and ‘is new Duchess. ‘e can’t stay here on the floor again.” The landlord gave Alexander a nudge with his foot. Alexander grunted and then went back to his snoring.

Giles sighed wearily. Three days of solid drinking were telling on him. He raised his eyebrow at the landlord and then had to wink several times to get it come back down from his forehead again. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“Have a heart. There will be no moving him tonight. Bring him a blanket, will you. That will suffice for now. I’ll take him home in the morning, banshees, serpents, mermaids or not.”

The landlord threw up his hands in despair. The two gentlemen had appeared within an hour of each other three evenings previously and had spent the intervening period attempting to drink his cellars dry. The innkeeper had heard many lurid stories in the intervening days since Alexander’s wedding ball but he had wisely kept his mouth shut and refused to be drawn on the young grooms where-a-bouts.

Giles had remained marginally more sober throughout the affair though not by much. Now he moved to the other, still upright chair by the fire and slumped down in it. He stared down at his sleeping friend and then looked up briefly as the landlord returned with two blankets. The man passed one to Giles.

“I’ll be bringing you both tea from now on. And I want you both gone in the morning.” He threw the other blanket over Alexander’s prostrate form and retreated from the room, gathering the empty brandy bottles as he went.

Alexander opened his eyes and shut them again quickly. Sunlight streamed in at the window and he covered his face with his forearm as he struggled to open them again. He attempted to sit up but had to give up and lay there for several seconds as the room spun, righted itself, then tipped before it settled itself again. His head pounded and for a moment he wondered if he had been punched but after running his hand over his stubble covered jaw, snippets of memory came back to him.

He couldn’t even think how long he had been there but from the sour smell wafting from his own body and the length of his beard he guessed that it must be several days. He looked around the room and noticed Giles slumped in a chair beside the fire. He was about to speak when the door cracked open and the landlord came in bearing a tray of tea and pastries. He looked down at Alexander who didn’t even try to pretend he was anywhere near sober.

“There’s a bath waiting in your room, Your Grace. I suggest that you drink this and eat a bite, then go and partake of it while I see what we can do with your clothes. Your cravat is going to be impossible I’m afraid but Annie may be able to do something with your shirt and trousers.”

Alexander glanced down at his ruined cravat and attempted to reply but found, rather alarmingly, that his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He nodded and kicked out his boot towards Giles’s foot. His friend grunted, opened his eyes then shot up in the chair and flung his hands up over his face.

“Don’t let her take my soul!” Giles shouted into his palm before realizing that he had been dreaming.

Alexander snorted with laughter but then stopped as his head felt as though it was about to explode. He tore his tongue from the roof of his mouth and shook himself.

“Good Lord! I feel as though I have been preserved in brandy.”

The landlord began pouring the tea.

“Preserved! You both smell as though you have been pickled in it.” He observed as he passed a cup of dark brew to both of the young men and then offered them a pastry before shaking his head in dismay and walking out of the room.

Alexander sipped the beverage gratefully and chewed the sugared dainty. He drew a sharp breath and clapped his hand to his brow as the sugar rushed to his head.

Giles gulped down his tea and reached over to pour another. He drank the second cup more slowly as he gathered his thoughts.

“This won’t do you know. You have to go back to Ormond and sort this out. There really is no such thing as a banshee or a mermaid. The poor woman clearly has a speech impediment.”

Alexander sighed and put his cup on the table.

“I know that, but it was such a shock what with her maid ordering us about and my bride waving her arms while making that God awful noise. You saw how tiny and beautiful she is. Graceful too. We’d danced so beautifully together and I thought things were going well, all things considered but then there was this horrible loud braying. Absolutely dreadful! It sounded exactly like the knife sharpener’s donkey when he doesn’t want to pull the cart. It was so incongruous coming from such a beauty that I panicked. It’s quite clear now why her father wanted rid of her and bought up all of Phillip’s debts. Expensive way to get rid of her if you ask me. By the looks of her many men would have done it for nothing but I don’t know what she or any of our guests must be thinking of me. I’ve acted like a complete arse!”

Giles laughed and nodded in agreement but then stopped as his head felt as though it might wobble from his neck. He waved his hand dismissively.

“Forget about the guests. Grady saw them all off not long after you had retired for the night. They weren’t expecting too much anyway what with the hurried nature of the wedding and the lateness of the invitations. They didn’t have a clue about you leaving Ormond but I can take a pretty good guess what your wife is thinking about you. She’s going to think that you are a rude, inconsiderate, miserable lout and she wouldn’t be far wrong. Her wedding night Alex? What on earth were you thinking?”

Alexander raised an ironic eyebrow.

“Thanks for spelling that out so graphically. It was my wedding night too you know but you have made me feel so much better about myself,” he said sarcastically as he shoved his booted feet beneath him and staggered upwards. He bent and righted the fallen chair and then massaged his hands into the small of his back. “I had forgotten what sleeping on a hard floor feels like. I’m going up to take advantage of that bath our landlord has graciously supplied and then I’m going home to face the music. I want to sleep in my own bed tonight.”

Giles levered himself out of the chair.

“Want me to come along as back up?” he asked as he picked up the last pastry.

Alexander shook his head and was relieved to find that the hammering had receded slightly.

“No, I’ll have to do this myself or forever be named a coward. I feel bad enough about it as it is. Arabian banshees with serpents coming out of their heads indeed! Thank goodness it was only us two that heard me say it.”

Giles slapped his friend on the back.

“I’m surprised that you recall even that much though you appear to have forgotten that she might be a mermaid too what with the way she swallows sailor’s souls.”

Alexander rolled his eyes.

“Good heavens! I clearly have an excellent imagination when in my cups but really, it’s not one of my better memories I can assure you.” He plucked at his filthy shirt. “You could do me one favour. Send up to Ormond for Grady. Ask him to bring fresh clothes and my shaving gear. I don’t think whatever Annie can do is going to be good enough to sort this lot out.”

Giles raised his eyebrows and grinned at what had been Alexander’s wedding outfit. He looked down at his own sorry appearance and decided he could do with a bath also. He strode through to find the landlord to send a message to Ormond and then he followed Alexander up the stairs to repair his own attire.

Midnight was not happy. He tossed his proud head and pulled against the bit as Alexander held him in check. He wouldn’t have minded letting the big horse have his head but he didn’t think that his still churning stomach could suffer the ride. He kept the horse at a steady pace as they drew up to the castle.

He noted a couple of places where the outer walls had begun to collapse and he made up his mind that those would be the next areas of attention after he had seen his new wife.

He hung his head in shame at the thought of his appalling behaviour. The poor woman had probably suffered all her life. He knew exactly why he had never heard of her before. No father would dare to give her a come out. She’d probably spent the best part of her life behind locked doors.

He’d gathered as much from the heated argument he had with Carter when he had arrived at the inn three days before. The man claimed that he knew nothing of it only that Hardacre had kept her secluded from the world and agreed to the settlement of all bills if the Duke would accept his daughter as his bride.

He raised a hand to Geoffrey who was running across the lawn towards him, apparently in some distress. Alexander immediately brought Midnight to a halt.

Geoffrey didn’t preamble.

“Thank God you’re back! I was about to send word. That bloody rabid dog has been on the prowl again. I had hoped that it might be dead by now but we had another sheep savaged the night before last. Grady swears he saw the thing wandering around the gardens, foaming at the mouth only this morning. I’ve been searching since he told me but no luck so far. I keep feeling as though the damned thing is about to creep up behind me before I get the chance to shoot him.”