The Rake's Redemption
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Authors: Anne Millar
The Rake’s Redemption
by
Anne Millar
First published in Great Britain 2014
by AcuityPublishing
Copyright © 2014 AcuityPublishing Limited
The moral right of Anne Millar to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, incidents and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Frontpiece : Planning the Grand Tour by Emil Brack
Northamptonshire, England. 1808
The sun sweltered down as it had throughout August, causing the coachman and postillion to curse the thick, durable serge of their livery. By contrast the temperature inside the coach was perilously low. Not by reason of the draughts coming from chinks in the doorframe and the loose window that rattled at every bump. The froideur of the interior was entirely generated by the younger and smaller of the occupants, who slumped silently in her seat, radiating an intense and righteous displeasure.
“The hurt will pass, child.” Jonathon Hampton couldn’t abide to see a scowl on the face of his only daughter. His mistake was to think that well meaning words might ease her anguish. He would have done as well to heap dry tinder on an incendiary blaze. Judith Hampton’s reaction to his placation was to draw herself bolt upright and let fly at him.
“It will not pass. And I am not a child. I’m seventeen, father.”
It took the long suffering patience of a father’s pride in his beautiful and wilful daughter for Lord Hampton to bite back a retort. Somehow he managed it, and leant forward instead to clasp Judith’s clenched hands. “It is the best thing for you, Judith. Even though you may not see it now, my dear. Your mother...” His hesitation before he went on was painful for them both. “Your mother would have agreed with me.”
He was left clutching the air when his daughter tore her hands away. “Mother was allowed to marry whom she wanted, wasn’t she?” The accusation managed to combine undisguised scorn with transparent mystification at her mother’s inexplicable choice of husband.
“I’m not saying you can’t marry Thomas Stainford, Judith.” For the first time that morning his listener showed some receptiveness, but it vanished as soon as he continued. “But my plans are made. We’ll spend the rest of the summer with your Aunt Chloe in Launceston. Then Matilde has offered you a Season next year, and after that we’ll see.” Jonathon Hampton was grateful to both his sisters for their offers of hospitality, but far more thankful for their advice on how best to deal with an enamoured and determined seventeen year old. “Nor has Thomas asked me for your hand yet. You may find that there are other young men who catch your eye quite as much as he.”
“They won’t.” Not content with the bald finality of her pronouncement, Judith moved to the attack. “Thomas will follow me, father. Once John tells him where you’ve taken me. He may even be there before us. He certainly won’t take a slow old coach like this.”
The town coach was indeed slow, with springs that should have renewed years before, and a coachman of like ilk. Their journey was never going to rival the mail coaches for speed, but Lord Hampton preferred his own carriage. Not only did it afford much needed privacy when travelling with his truculent daughter, but there was room to stretch out legs that nowadays seemed to grow stiff far too easily.
“Thomas will be welcome if he follows us down to Cornwall, Judith.” Should by some mischance the young man find his way to Launceston, Jonathon Hampton was comforted by the thought that he would have the support of his strong willed sister in the contretemps that would inevitably follow. He’d heaved a guilty sigh of relief when they were safely away from Oakenhill: their sudden departure might have upset Judith, but it also forestalled any awkward scenes with the young Viscount Alsbury.
“He will come. You’ll see.” Outrage used up, Judith settled back into her seat. Her cheek was too sore to continue rubbing it against the cracked and worn leather of the squab as she had been doing up till now. Her father had seen the livid red skin, she knew he had, but he hadn’t said anything. Still, it showed him just how furious she was with his high handed actions.
She knew Thomas would come racing down to Cornwall. Just as soon as her brother told him where father had taken her. He would be as determined as she to end their separation. And once they were reunited Thomas would offer for her so they could never be parted again. Aunt Chloe would see how devoted they were and persuade father to give them his blessing. Then she could avoid all the silly nonsense of a season next year. Which wouldn’t change anything, despite what father thought.
Aunt Chloe couldn’t help but like Thomas. Everybody did, from the grooms to old Bridges the butler. Apart from father with his warnings about ruined girls. Such stuffy notions didn’t apply, couldn’t apply, to Thomas and her. From her first sight of him when he’d come home with John for the holidays three years ago she’d known. Of course he’d hardly noticed a stumpy fourteen year old, but at Lady Guilmor’s New Year ball he’d been kind and danced with her. That cotillion in his godmother’s overheated ballroom had been the kind of magic that would never leave her. He’d been superb, guiding her effortlessly through the figures and changes, and even when they changed partners she could feel him watching her.
“D’ye remember what a wonderful stable Chloe keeps, Judith? You loved that little chestnut you had last time we were down. Wanted to bring him home with us.” Her father was smiling at her in that silly way he had, as though she were still fifteen and capable of foolishness.
“Neptune was a good pony, father. But now I have Sherbery. Or would have if you’d let me bring him.” Sherbery was a sleek and elegant gelding, a fit mount for a young lady, though at a price that had made her father wince. Judith found a little guilt slipping in alongside her grievance. It had been unkind to remind father that they didn’t keep grooms enough to man the coach and bring her horse.
“I’ll just have to borrow one of Aunt Chloe’s beasts, father. Thomas will be sure to bring Swiftsure with him. He may even ride down.” The new charger Thomas had brought to his godmother’s that summer had prompted Sherbery’s purchase. She needed a horse capable of keeping up with Thomas and John. Though it turned out to be only her and Thomas on so many mornings when John preferred to lie late in his bed.
At first she been angry with her brother, not believing that Thomas would still want to ride when it was just her, but he did. Then his man had taken up the groom father insisted escort her when John overslept. And that gave the two of them freedom. For madcap gallops, and lazing in the sunshine. She’d never felt anything but safe when she was with Thomas. Even when he kissed her, and she knew how improper it was, it never occurred to her to stop him. After the first time when she’d been so clumsy she learned how his lips would search out the response from hers, and how happy his kisses made her. She found herself looking forward more and more to their time together when the horses rested. The delicious warmth in her when he ran his fingers over her skin told Judith she could trust Thomas.
“If Thomas doesn’t come down, you can still go riding with your cousins, Judith.”
The words made it clear how little father understood. He sat there, pretending he was tugging on the leather strap of the window blind, but really watching her as he had been ever since they set out. The strain was starting to show in his face, and it made her want to explain to him how perfect Thomas was for her. Once father accepted that she and Thomas would marry, all his suspicion would vanish. Then he could be happy for her and the precious kindness that had always been between them would come back.
“It’s not as if Thomas is a nobody, father. He is heir to the Earl of Penwick. If we were to be married, I should be a countess one day.” She paused, uncomfortable at how boastful that sounded, then decided her father didn’t look sufficiently impressed. “That outranks a baron you know.”
Lord Hampton couldn’t repress the smile her pedantry provoked. “Yes, I do know, Judith. Though I’m still quite proud of our family. Humble as its position in the peerage may be.”
A wiser man would have contented himself with that, but Jonathan Hampton never had been able to abide a frown on his daughter’s face. Especially when he had been the cause of it. “Thomas is a fine young man, Judith, but he is only nineteen, and still a little wild.”
“Thomas is already an officer in the militia, father. And he intends to transfer to the army in the Peninsula, just like Jeremy.” Judith already suffered agonies of worry over her elder brother, a captain in the 43
rd
, and the prospect of Thomas facing the same dangers terrified her. But she wasn’t going to admit that to her father.
Lord Hampton stretched out his hand to stroke his daughter’s arm, then thought better of it and let the hand fall back onto his travelling rug. “Thomas is reckless, Judith. He does not stop to think of consequences.”
“It was John who wrecked the phaeton, father, not Thomas.” Her outrage at what was a blatantly unjust accusation left Judith gasping, and her father seized his opportunity for justification with a speed that spoke of considerable practice.
“It was Thomas who challenged your brother to the race, Judith. John was lucky to break only his wrist.” Jonathon Hampton smiled and tried to mollify her. “There’s nothing wrong with the lad that more days under his belt won’t cure.”
The pause before he continued was as good as a warning that she wouldn’t like what he had to say. “You can have your pick of the eligibles in your season, Judith.” Judith Hampton might lack conventional glacial beauty, but her dance card had never been less than full. A snub nose and neatly determined chin matched curly dark hair to provide the very portrait of feminine mischief. “If you still feel next summer as you do now, that will be the time to discuss marriage.”
Except that next summer would be too late. Thomas was going to join the army in Portugal, and though he hadn’t asked yet she knew he wanted her to go with him. She had to be with him, or her life would be ruined. If this stupid trip hadn’t already spoiled everything. Though it was silly to even think that. Thomas was sealed to her by their love, and he would come after her. Then father would see just how much she meant to him.
