The Fugitive Heiress (17 page)

“Well, we must think of something. I simply won’t have time tomorrow or Friday to rescue you from any more scrapes.” He grinned at her but gave his fervent promise that he would try to behave. Shaking her head, Catheryn followed him upstairs. She didn’t doubt his good intentions, but with two full afternoons ahead of him…. She decided, at last, to enlist Dambroke’s aid.

Accordingly, she descended to the breakfast parlor at an early hour next morning, hoping to speak privately with him before Teddy came down to breakfast. She was not disappointed. The earl entered some moments later, attired in riding dress. He laid hat, whip, and gloves on a small table and sat opposite her. Since he looked to be in a pleasant frame of mind, she waited only until breakfast had been served and they were alone before plunging to the heart of the matter.

“I’ve a small favor to ask, sir, concerning Teddy.”

“I thought things had been ominously quiet on that front,” he smiled. “What’s he done now?”

“It’s not that,” she said hastily. “It’s only that his afternoons are free, and he is bored.”

“I’ll speak to Appleby. He can set the lad enough schoolwork to keep him occupied.”

“That’s not at all what I had in mind!” she exclaimed indignantly. “I thought it would be a good time for you to get to know him better. He’s seen very little of London, you know.”

“He is not meant to be on holiday.”

“But it would be educational!” She peeped through her lashes at him. “It’s a very historical city, my lord.”

He sighed. “You are determined upon this course?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied at her most demure.

“Baggage. Very well.”

“Thank you, sir. Today?” Her eyes danced.

He shrugged. “If you insist. It will be educational for both of us, I daresay.” He was as good as his word and, after a morning filled with errands for the countess, Catheryn was on hand to see Teddy climb proudly into the curricle. Her own afternoon was taken up by a steady stream of callers, including Ladies Prudence and Chastity, followed five minutes later by Mr. Caston.

Edmund smiled as he made his bow to the countess, but Catheryn thought the smile was more for Prudence, who stared with great concentration at the slim hands folded neatly in her lap. By the time the visitors rose to take their leave, Catheryn was certain Edmund was in love with Prudence and fairly certain the lady felt a tenderness for him. The discovery came as a bit of a shock, but the more she thought about it, the more she came to believe they might suit each other. Certainly, Aunt Agatha would be exhilarated by the idea of a duke’s daughter joining the family.

Dambroke and Teddy returned a little after five o’clock, both grinning. Catheryn thought privately that his lordship looked a little worn around the edges, but it was evident that they had enjoyed their afternoon.

“We saw the Tower, Cathy! I mean Cousin Cathy,” Teddy corrected with a flashing sidelong grin for Dambroke’s benefit. “And we saw the riders at Astley’s Amphitheater, and Richard took me to Manton’s Shooting Gallery! He even let me shoot a pistol. And I hit the wafer twice!”

“Rather tolerable shooting, I thought,” said the earl, responding to Catheryn’s mocking grin with his guilty smile.

“Certainly, sir. And prodigiously educational.”

The teasing note in her voice caused the boy to look doubtfully from one to the other. “But I learned a lot!”

Dambroke laughed and tweaked one of the brown curls. “To be sure you did, brat. Now, run along and get ready for your dinner. Not that he should be hungry,” he added as they watched the boy run upstairs. “I believe he’s been munching something or other since we left the house.”

“Did you truly enjoy your afternoon, sir?”

His eyes twinkled. “I did. Teddy’s a scamp, but he’s not unintelligent. Knows more than I do about the history of the Tower.”

“Ah, that explains Astley’s Amphitheater and Manton’s.”

He grinned at her air of vast wisdom, acknowledging a hit. “You are impertinent, Miss Westering.”

“Am I, sir?” But he would not be drawn again. He merely smiled and excused himself to change for dinner at Stanthorpe House, leaving her to a dreary meal with the others.

The day of the ball dawned bright and clear. Mary washed Catheryn’s hair and helped to put the finishing touches to her dress, an exquisite confection of sea-green silk fashioned with a flared skirt, tiny puff sleeves, and a square-cut neck. It was trimmed with old lace, a band of which encircled the high waist and fell in a paneled demitrain down the back. For accessories, she would wear white gloves, sea-green slippers, and her grandmother’s emerald necklace.

After a trying luncheon, during which the countess worried over one last-minute detail after another, Catheryn returned to her bedchamber to relax. Sunlight spilled across the carpet in much the same way it had done the day she arrived, but, as she leaned back against the door, she realized the room was no longer a guest chamber. It was hers. She had come to love it and to feel at home in it as she had never done in the bleak little room allotted to her at Caston Manor. For the first time since leaving Westering, she had a sense of belonging, for she loved the Dambroke family, from the countess to young Teddy.

Then, as she thought of another member, she tried to tell herself that love was certainly too strong a word, that perhaps fondness expressed it adequately, or affection. She straightened purposefully and, taking Mrs. Radcliffe’s novel from the nightstand where Tiffany had left it, curled up in the chair near the window and soon lost herself in Gothic complexities. Sometime later, her stomach gently suggested that it might be time for tea; so, laying the book aside, she splashed cold water on her face, smoothed her hair, and set out in search of sustenance, only to meet Teddy on the stair.

Rapidly taking in the tear-stained face, barely stifled sobs, and the fact that he was rubbing his backside, Catheryn came to the only possible conclusion. “Teddy!” At the sound of her voice, the boy cast aside any thought of his advanced years and dignity and flung himself into her arms.

“He says I’m to leave for the Park in the morning!” he sobbed. “And it wasn’t my fault, Cathy, it wasn’t!”

“There, there, love,” she soothed. “What happened?”

He sniffed, his sobs diminishing. “He gave me the lie!”

“Not Dambroke!”

“No, that prune-faced prig, Elman!” He sniffed again and, recalling his dignity, pulled a little away from her. “He said nobody could culp ten wafers in a row from twenty paces, so I planted him a facer. Drew his cork, too,” he added, not without a touch of pride.

“But you said you only hit two wafers, Teddy.”

“Not me. Richard.”

“Oh.” She digested the implications of this simple statement. “Did you explain it to his lordship?”

“Well, only the bit about being called liar.” There was mute appeal in his eyes, and she realized he had taken the beating rather than confess that Dambroke’s skill with a pistol had been doubted.

“You should have told him, Teddy, but I understand why you didn’t. I’ll speak with him if you like.”

“You mustn’t tell him, Cathy! It wouldn’t make any difference anyway. He said I was not to fight, and I did. But, I don’t want to leave London!”

“I’ll do what I can, but I make no promises. Are you banished to your room without supper again?”

He nodded. “Will you bring me something?” The limpid gaze clearly expressed his confidence that, if she would sympathize with any part of his predicament, it would be with the fact that he might very likely starve before morning.

Catheryn grinned, shaking her head. “Not if he says I mustn’t, scamp. But he may neglect to mention it.” Teddy didn’t look as though he had great hopes of such a lapse occurring, and she watched him go on upstairs, mentally damning the earl for his lack of patience. Just when things had begun to go well between them, he had to spoil everything by losing his temper. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and by the time she reached the library, her own temper had approached its zenith. Ignoring Walter, who stepped hastily forward to open the doors for her, she strode without ceremony into the room. Her precipitate entry brought Dambroke scrambling to his feet.

“Catheryn! What is it? Has something happened?”

“Indeed, my lord!” she snapped. She would have continued, but he cut in smoothly, signing to the wide-eyed footman still on the threshold to remove himself.

“Won’t you sit down, Cousin, so that we may discuss whatever it is in a calm and rational manner?”

“I never sit when I am in a rage, Lord Dambroke, and I do not wish to be calm. Whatever possessed you to order that poor child off to the country?”

He frowned but kept his own voice level. “So that’s it.

I should have known. It is not your concern, Cousin.”

“Not my concern!” She clenched her fists into her skirt. “How can you say so, when you asked me to befriend him! What kind of friend would I be if I did not do my utmost to stop this ridiculous nonsense? I cannot allow Teddy to become a victim of your stupid temper, sir. He did nothing more than smack a boy who wanted smacking. Anyone with an ounce of pride would have done the same thing with similar provocation, but instead of supporting him as you should, you pack him off to the country because he has embarrassed you again.”

“You know nothing about it!” Dambroke snapped. “The boy’s nose may be broken, and I’ve received a very impertinent note from Elman regretting that Edward is no longer welcome in his house. I warned him what would happen if he indulged in any more fisticuffs. He leaves tomorrow, and that’s the end of it!”

“So we reach the heart of the matter,” Catheryn said scornfully, “and it’s just as I thought. You are not nearly so angry about the fight between the two boys as you are about the embarrassment of so-called impertinence from a mere baron. A man dares to take umbrage at the fact that your brother flattened his son—a boy, I might remind you, who is both older and larger than Teddy and who should have known better than to taunt him. And do you exert yourself to explain the circumstances to Lord Elman? No, sir! You choose instead to punish a boy who was only defending his honor. And yours as well!”

“What the devil had my honor to do with anything?”

She paused, cursing her unruly tongue. But perhaps it would help him to see the situation more clearly. “The Elman boy said Teddy lied about your skill with a pistol,” she said flatly. “That’s why he hit him.” She thought Dambroke looked a bit taken aback and hoped briefly that he might reconsider.

“That’s very illuminating,” he said finally, “however, the cause of the fight does not signify in the slightest. The only pertinent fact is that the boy disobeyed me.”

“A scold would have been sufficient, my lord. The whipping was unnecessary, and sending him to the country is outrageous. You knew he despised the Elmans before you sent him there, so you are as much to blame as he is. But, for this one indiscretion, you exert the full force of your authority.” Her voice trailed off on the last word, arrested by something in his expression. The silence that followed was uncomfortable, but she was sorry when he ended it, for his voice hardened with a bone-chilling note that she had never heard in it before.

“One indiscretion, Catheryn? Are you certain you mean to say that? Perhaps I have mistaken your integrity. I quite realize that I am not supposed to know of anything else, but do you mean to stand before me and insist, in all honesty, that Edward’s behavior has been above reproach this week?”

She had the grace to blush. “Perhaps not, my lord.”

“Indeed, and while we are on the subject, let me tell you, miss, that I do not approve the example you have set by practicing deceit, conspiracy, and other such underhand tactics. Oh, don’t look so shocked. The terms may be severe, but you are guilty, my girl, and you know it!”

“I only tried to protect Teddy, my lord. I don’t know what specific actions you condemn, so I am unable to defend myself.” She spoke calmly enough, but her heart was poundings and she felt curiously weak. How had he turned the tables so easily to put her in the wrong? His anger before had stimulated her; now it was frightening.

“In plainer language,” he said grimly, “there have been so many incidents that you don’t know what I have discovered. Isn’t that it?” She could only be grateful that he didn’t wait for an answer. “I won’t take advantage of your ignorance. Landon was with me when I received Elman’s note. He made a comment that seemed a bit suspicious, and I soon had a round tale of Tony’s mishap out of him. It took little effort after that to learn about the salt and the dead rat.”

“They were only boyish pranks, my lord!”

“I agree. Nonetheless, Edward must learn to conduct himself in a more proper style, and I won’t have this house turned upside down in the meantime. He goes to the Park. I shall find a tutor for him there, and we’ll join him in a few weeks. But for the present—”

“For the present,” Catheryn interrupted, her anger with him overcoming any other emotion, “the great Earl of Dambroke must not be embarrassed! You could deal with Teddy right here, if you would exert yourself, for he loves you. But you cannot see what is under your nose, so you push him off to the Park to get him out of the way. By heaven, my lord, I believe you have greater patience with your horses!”

“Catheryn!” he exploded. “That will do! He’s going because I promised to send him if he did not behave. That is the long and short of it. We shall discuss it no further!”

She realized he meant what he said and feared he would put her out bodily if she persisted, so, muttering wrathful things to herself, she turned on her heel and left the room. Halfway up the first flight of stairs, however, the echo of her words and his anger came back to her, and she looked over her shoulder almost expecting to find him at her heels. The hall was reassuringly empty. How had she dared to speak to him so, when he could send her away quite as easily as he was sending Teddy? Despite the fact that she had come to feel at home here, she was still no more than a guest in his house. Although, now that she came to think of it, he had not treated her as a guest. He had been amazingly angry himself. To a guest he would have been coldly polite, and he had not been polite at all. She smiled, her good humor oddly restored by the thought.