The Hopeless Hoyden (31 page)

             
Staring up at Jane's rigid form, Emily felt the other woman's hurt.  “Please do not leave yet.  I am going to Pendleton Grange today," she quickly improvised.  “Come stay with me?"

             
“Thank you, but no," was Miss Taber's firm reply before she excused herself to oversee the packing of her trunks.

             
Freddy stood speechless, his round eyes watching the rigid back of the small retreating figure.

             
Impulsively, Emily reached out and grabbed the baron's sleeve.  “Freddy, do something."

             
“Stay out of this, Em," Gabriel warned, pulling Emily closer to his side.

             
Staring at the empty space where Jane had disappeared up the stairs, Freddy replied, “Don't know what to do."

             
“I say, is something wrong?" asked Ellison.  The others ignored him as Gabriel scooped Emily up in his arms and carried her, protesting, to the library.

             
“Put me down, my lord.  I cannot let Jane leave.  Freddy, Freddy," Emily cried out in desperation.  “Stop her from leaving."

             
Freddy looked at her for a moment and his brow cleared.  “I can, can’t I?" he said.  Then, putting action to words, he bounded up the stairs two at a time.

             
“That's the ticket, Freddy," Emily called after him.

             
“Em, I'm warning you."

             
“Go after her," Emily called over Gabriel's voice. 

             
“I say," Ellison said, addressing Emily as Gabriel advanced toward the library. “Did I miss something?"

             
Emily only had time to give him a quizzical look over Gabriel’s shoulder as he marched in to the library.

*** Chapter 14 ***

             
Emily was on pins and needles for the rest of the day.  Gabriel had deposited her on the sofa in the library and surrounded her with mounds of cushions before tearing off after Tom with Freddy, Ellison and Chesterfield hard on his heels. 

             
Shortly thereafter, a timid knock heralded Jane Taber's entrance.  Wearing a beatific smile, Jane glided over to where Emily was seated on the couch to grab her hands.

             
“Oh, Emily, I am so very happy, and it is all because you are such a dear."

             
Emily assumed from the young's woman's high praise that the baron had come up to scratch.  “Freddy proposed to you!" she cried excitedly, sharing her friend's happiness.

             
“Yes," Jane breathed ecstatically.  “Can you believe he actually cares for me?"

             
Emily laughed at Jane's query.  “It was obvious to all but you and Freddy, Jane.  Does this mean that you will not be leaving tomorrow?"

             
“As to that, I do not precisely know.  You see, Freddy had only the briefest moments to...er, that is, he said we would discuss that later after he returned," Jane stammered, blushing most becomingly.  “He had to leave with the Viscount on a most urgent matter.  Have you any notion of what he meant?"

             
Emily was more than willing to fill Jane in on the morning's events.  Sharing Emily's concern for her brother, Jane reassured Emily that the gentlemen would reach Tom in time to warn him of the danger.  While Jane's optimism went a fair way in relieving Emily's mind, she could not help but be anxious, nonetheless.

             
Lady Spivey arrived soon after Jane left, having decided to keep the invalid company.               

             
“As a viscountess, Emily dear, I hope you know you can take your lead from me and learn to do your Christian duty, visiting the sick and like."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
Sitting beside Emily, Lady Spivey sipped a suspicious looking brew from a tea cup.  “I must tell you that this is one of the oddest house parties I have attended."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
“Can you imagine, Emily dear, that there is not a man about the house?  Oh, there is Pickering, of course, and other male staff members, but the rest, the gentlemen, have all taken off with nary a word.  I must say Lindemann is a peculiar host."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
“Do not misunderstand me, my dear.  He appears quite devoted to you, and I am sure he is very kind."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
“But I suppose he is allowed his oddities.  He is, after all, a viscount."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
“Actually, Emily, I begin to think you will make an excellent viscountess for Lindemann.  Not many women are willing to tolerate such strange goings-on," Lady Spivey said with a meaningful look.  “You, on the other hand, seem to thrive when things are at sixes and sevens."

             
“Yes, Aunt Esmeralda."

             
Fortunately, Jane and Prudence rescued Emily from her aunt's ramblings when they appeared with Pickering who carried a loaded tea try for a luncheon.  After lunch, Mrs. Hopkins, acting the mother hen, insisted Emily rest for the afternoon.  For once, Emily was grateful to the redoubtable housekeeper, who ousted Lady Spivey and the other two girls with a none-too-subtle hint about his lordship's orders that Emily rest.  She had found all her company fatiguing and, comfortably burrowing among the pillows, wanted some solitude to think.

             
Lady Spivey had surprised Emily, saying she'd make the Viscount a good spouse.  More than anything in the world, Emily wanted to believe her aunt.  But she was not a social butterfly and doubted Gabriel would be content to spend most of the year in the country.  As a former officer under Wellington's command, Gabriel had been a leader of men, and his dress and demeanor bespoke of social polish and accomplishments that were much sought after in the
tonnish
salons of London.  If only life weren't so complicated, she mused drowsily.

             
A commotion at the front door awoke her from a fitful sleep, and moments later, the library door was flung open by a disheveled Tom.  Emily tried to rise but her stiff, aching side forced her to lie back on the cushions.  She could not help but notice his exultant expression.

             
“Oh, Tom!  Thank heaven Gabriel found you in time."

             
“Came upon me just before I was getting ready to put a bullet through the blackguard's heart," her brother announced jubilantly.

             
“You were attacked!" Emily cried out in dismay.

             
“It was the greatest thing, Em," he said, coming to stand over her.  “I had a feeling someone was dogging my heels.  So, I reined in Charger to a dawdle, and sure enough, the bloke popped his barker at me."

             
“Oh, Tom!"

             
“That ain't the half of it, Em."  He was nearly dancing with excitement.  “I swung my horse around, and there he was in the trees, fiddling with his gun, trying to reload it.  I saw my chance, and when he eyed me coming, the coward hightailed it off like a scared rabbit.  His old slug was nothing for Charger, though, and in no time I had him pinned to the ground with my pistol drawn.  Planned to put a period to his miserable existence then and there, but Lindemann and the others rode up and stopped me," he concluded on a note of regret.

             
“Did Gabriel turn him over to the runners?"

             
Tom shook his head as a cagey smile lit his face. “Nothing so paltry as that.  We put our noggins together and came up with hauling his carcass to Portsmouth.  The King’s fleet's always in need of sailors, you know."

             
“You had him impressed?"  Emily had heard stories of young men being snatched from the streets by the impressment gangs, never to be seen or heard from again.  His Majesty's Navy, much like the sea, extracted a costly toll on the lives of those who sailed the oceans.

             
“Bang up notion, huh?"  Her brother's grin broadened.  “Everyone drew straws and Chesterfield won the day.  He's escorting your assailant to the docks in Portsmouth as we speak."

             
“But where are the others?" Emily asked, craning her neck to see who was tromping down the hall.

             
“Oh, almost forgot.  That'll be Freddy and Ellison," Tom said, jerking his thumb toward the corridor.  "Lindemann rode for Town.  Said he'd be back tomorrow.  Told me to tell you to stay on that couch and not to worry, Em.  Said he had everything in hand."

             
Emily began to think the morrow would never come, though it helped that she had company for dinner.  Tom convinced Lady Spivey to have a table set up in the library so they could share their repast of braised venison, glazed ham and a brace of roasted grouse served with new potatoes and other vegetable side dishes with Emily.

             
The talk was lively, centered around the newly engaged couple.

             
“Freddy refuses to let me go to Brighton, insisting that a letter to Lady Raines will do just as well," a glowing Jane reported.

             
“Treated you shabbily, they did," Freddy threw in.

             
“He is gong to take me to his mother."

             
“Mater will like you," beamed Freddy before flushing under Tom and Ellison's combined stares.  “Jolly good chit, Jane is."

             
“No need to tell us that," Ellison said.  “Just surprised, that's all.  Thought you weren't in the petty coat line."

             
“Wasn't" Freddy said.  “Leastwise, not 'til I met Jane."

             
Emily, whose curiosity was still not satisfied, asked the gentlemen a few probing questions and, before the second course, had them recounting the day's events.  Prudence, sitting next to Tom, appeared fascinated, but Lady Spivey saw fit to squash the topic. 

             
“Such talk is an unseemly topic for the supper table," the old lady declared. “Guns and knaves are hardly salubrious for one's digestion."
              But once the covers were removed and the Port wine bottle set out--for the gentlemen were comfortably ensconced and reluctant to adjourn to another room--they revived their tales which soon took on the heraldic overtones of an epic.  While well entertained, Emily still remained ignorant of why Gabriel trekked to London as it appeared no one knew.

             
Other than Gabriel's absence, the only mishap to mar the evening came when Emily retired.  All three gentlemen wished to play the gallant, resulting in a rather heated argument.  Emily, however, perceived her health might suffer if one of the intoxicated bucks were entrusted to carry her up the stairs.  In the end, while Tom, Freddy and Ellison became engrossed in a rubber of whist to determine who the lucky male would be, Emily quietly slipped out of the library and climbed the stairs with the aid of Prudence and Jane.

             
The next day, Emily again made her way downstairs unassisted and bullied the servants into allowing her to partake of her breakfast in the dining room.  While it was the usual practice for Aunt Esmeralda and Prudence to dally in their rooms until mid morning, Emily was still surprised to find the dining room empty.  Then, recalling the imbibing that took place the prior evening, she could well imagine why the gentlemen were slow to rise.

             
Spending the morning on the couch in the library, Emily watched as heavy gray clouds dulled the sun with a promise of rain that indeed commenced after lunch.  Left alone, she fretted over the inclement weather delaying Gabriel's arrival as he'd be forced to put up somewhere on the road.  Thus, when she heard the crunch of gravel on the drive as a vehicle neared the house, she half expected to see one of the neighbors as she gingerly made her way to peer out the mullioned window.

             
At the sight of Gabriel's mud splattered curricle, her heart lurched.  Forgetting his order to stay put on the sofa, Emily made it to the library door, eagerly anticipating his entrance.  Seconds later, she was rewarded when Pickering opened the front, heavy oak door and admitted the Viscount, swathed in a greatcoat that made his large shoulders appear enormous.

             
“Thank you, Pickering," Gabriel said, quickly divesting himself of the soaked garment.  He had started out from London early that morning, and the ride back to the Lindemann Park had seemed impossibly long and wet.  But his sojourn to the city had been fruitful, he thought with a satisfied smile as his hand checked his breast pocket for the tenth time that day.