The Rake's Redemption (23 page)

“Your brother is a dissolute young fellow, Judith. Careless whom he mixes with. I’m not surprised he came to harm. Still that is in the past now, with you come here.” The threat was there, not terribly well hidden, and in case she was too obtuse to recognise it, Sir Theodore made it plain for her. “So long as you please me Judith. I like a light skirt with a smile on her face.”

“So it was you who had John beaten?”

He ignored the question, left it lying on the carpet with the utmost contempt, as if daring Judith to ask it again. Judith had no doubt that in Sir Theodore’s private little world that would constitute failing to please him.

“Are you going to St Petersburg?” Maybe she could throw him off balance if she changed her line of attack.

“I am. Though I have not yet decided whether I shall take you with me.” Arrogance and glorying in arrogance were masculine characteristics that were hard to forgive in the most pleasing of men. In Sir Theodore the effect was sufficiently bad to transcend repulsive. “We shall have to see if you are worth the trouble, Judith. I’m sure the Russians have plenty of lady birds to supply to a man with money. All those princesses and countesses with their grand titles and their illustrious lineages but without a rouble to their name.”

He was goading her of course, trying to make her lose her temper. Clearly the man was a sadist, not content with having a woman submit herself to his lust, but needing to humiliate her too. Judith silently gave thanks for the pistol she carried. If she ever had any doubts about the righteousness of her chosen course they were gone.

“But you will stop having John beaten?” For all that the sensible part of her brain told her not to squabble with the man, she couldn’t help arguing. Even though she knew that she carried the trump card, fully loaded under her skirt, Judith couldn’t let him win their verbal skirmish. Or was she just putting off the moment when she would have to make her stand?

“I don’t usually spend this long talking with a bit of muslin, Judith.” She could tell how much he was enjoying being offensive. “Unless of course I’m at a ball or a rout. The aristocracy put such emphasis on following the correct form don’t they? It doesn’t matter if some fellow’s lending you his wife or sister to settle a debt you still have to spend time talking with them before you chase her upstairs.”

She could see the feverishness in his face and realised that his foul words were to bolster his own courage. The wretched man was talking himself into a frenzy by insulting her. Judith cursed herself for leaving the arrangement with the pistol to chance: Horsley was so overwrought there was no telling what would happen next. Some devil in her though made her repeat her question, however unwise it was to provoke him. “You will leave John alone.”

“That depends on how good you are Judith. On your back.” The words from his mouth were harsh and crude, but entirely unconvincing, betraying a lack of confidence. Judith realised she wasn’t dealing with an experienced roué but a pathetic pretender. Not that made him any less dangerous, and certainly less predictable. So it was still folly to bait him.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Was she baiting him or just putting off that moment? In the end it didn’t matter for her question was enough to cause the fury in his face to explode into pure hatred.

“You will learn who is master between us, Miss Hampton. With your high and mighty condescension. Trust me? I own you, Judith. You, and your snivelling brother, and your so proper father. Does he know his precious daughter is here this morning to whore herself? Or does he prefer not to ask himself that question?”

He was moving as he spoke, towards her with evident intent and Judith couldn’t help herself but to back away. “Wait.” This would never do, she had to do what she had come here for. “Theodore, please wait.”

He hesitated for a second, perhaps surprised by the pleading in her voice but then came on again and she could see the resolution hardening in his face as she backed away from him again. “I’ll show you what your place is madam. You’ll be sorry you tried to bargain with me.”

“I am sorry I’ve angered you, Theodore. I didn’t mean to.” The words stuck in her craw but she had to create some time and space for herself. “Please let me show you.”

His eyes followed as her hand dropped to her skirt and Judith knew she had him then. Roué or pretender all men were the same. As her fingers worked the hooks holding the skirt closed Theodore Horsley ogled her blatantly.

“I had intended to take you upstairs Judith. But right here will add a certain frisson to our coupling. To think I was concerned you might be reluctant. Keep going my dear, I’m going to enjoy watching you disrobe.”

His fat face split into a gruesome smile, till those same fingers finished their fumbling and raised a duelling pistol to point at him, primed and loaded. Sir Theodore lost his gloating, lustful preoccupation then. He started shaking as Judith cocked the weapon with the aplomb of a veteran.

“Please, Judith, I beg of you to be careful.”

It was his turn to back away and Judith moved forward to keep pace with him.

“Did you think I would submit myself to a loathsome slug of a man like you? I will not. Instead I will end your evil.” She couldn’t bring herself to use his name but that didn’t seem to matter. He couldn’t very well doubt whom she meant.

“Judith I beseech you. They will hang you if you murder me. You could not escape this house.” Behind the words she could see his fear and it made her  angrier than ever. How could a man who scrupled so little to hurt others be such a coward for himself?

“Damn you Horsley. I will end your foulness.” It was a mistake to make the same threat again for in the instant she said it Judith could see his expression change. Some of the transparent fear dropped away, replaced by a more calculating look.

“But you haven’t, have you, Judith? Ended my life.”

In a minute more she knew he would start that slow threatening advance of his again, confident of his mastery of her. All her courage would ebb away leaving her just another one of his victims. Judith knew right then that she wouldn’t allow it. She knew too that she had to act or lose.

“I will shoot you, Horsley.”

Even to her own ears the threat sounded unconvincing, and Judith recognised how it could only encourage him to think she was wavering in her resolution. What point was there in threatening him with the very act she had come there to commit? So she pulled the trigger.

The duelling pistols had never been used in anger and it was many years since they’d been fired at all. John and Jeremy had taken them one afternoon for target practice and been thoroughly chastised for it by their father. Judith had never herself fired either pistol. So a misfire was a distinct possibility. But the weapon fired as it was built to in a roar of burnt powder and smoke. Designed for accuracy at a range of thirty feet she could hardly miss at only ten. Yet she did.

It would have been difficult to tell which of them was the more surprised. As the smoke eddied away it was Theodore Horsley who recovered more quickly. Judith was still looking down at her shaking hands in disbelief when he stepped forward and tore the pistol from her grasp. “Now you’ve..” She never did hear what he meant to say for the noise of the door opening stopped him.

“Get out!” The footman who’d dared to investigate the highly unusual occurrence of a gunshot in the house backed out of the room far more quickly than he’d come in.

“Well Judith, do you have any other little surprises for me before we settle to our fun?”

The resurgence of his confidence was more odious than before, coming as it did after his craven reaction to being threatened with the pistol. Her contempt must have shown on her face for Theodore Horsley lost any trace of mock joviality.

“Oh yes, Judith I still intend to enjoy myself with you. Your little taste of excitement only sharpens the appetite I find. And it’s not as if I’m dealing with a innocent virgin is it? Though you’d have been quite happy to pretend to that and let me have Stainford’s leavings for a bride if you could have got away with it.”

She was guilty of that all right, in that one matter he had the right of it, but Judith didn’t care. She couldn’t care because she was truly frightened of what Horsley was capable of doing. Beyond the lust in his face he was out of control, deranged by his resentment, and she knew her ordeal was not going to end with rape.

It was going to begin with it though, that was clear from the way he stepped right in front of her and so close. “Not so proud now Miss Hampton?”

She couldn’t think of anything to say and for the first time in her life Judith thought she might be about to faint. Theodore Horsley didn’t even give her time for that, instead he pulled her up and toward him by the lapels of her tightly buttoned riding habit.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, my dear.”

As Judith backed away he wrenched the jacket down and apart, spilling buttons all over the floor and tearing through the cambric of the shirt she wore beneath it.

“Very nice, Judith. Now let’s see the rest of that tight little body of yours.”

Judith couldn’t help herself. She still couldn’t believe her shaking hands had caused her to miss, and her will seemed frozen by the horror of what was happening. She watched as though she were a spectator as Theodore Horsley stretched out his hand to continue stripping her. That changed when the footman came bowling back into the room. Judith snatched her riding habit closed as fast as she could, her shame compounded by the presence of another man in the room. Not that she need have worried, the wretched fellow was in no condition to notice anything that was happening as he went careering through the delicate furniture of the room. As the servant finally subsided to the floor in a heap of matchwood the door that had swung closed after his entrance came splintering back on its hinges.

“Judith.” She could have wept to hear Thomas’ voice with its promise of safety and comfort, but emotional nonsense like that could wait. She needed to think how to resolve this mess. If Thomas had a pistol perhaps she could use that and she wouldn’t miss this time. The only thing was she needed both hands to clutch her riding habit properly shut and she wasn’t too sure her legs would obey a command to move.

“Judith. Are you all right?” He was standing in the doorway looking more frightened than she’d ever seen him. He hadn’t lost his taste for foolish questions though. Of course she wasn’t all right. How could he possibly expect her to be all right? Only pride stopped her biting some sarcastic reply back at him, with Horsley and a servant in the room she couldn’t allow herself free rein to tell Thomas Stainford off. So she had to content herself with glaring at him.

At least Thomas was prevented from renewing his meaningless enquiry by the footman scrambling to his feet. To stand there swaying, cringing abjectly when Thomas turned his eye on him, and pathetically grateful when Wright slipped past his master to shepherd the man out of the room. “You too, Sir Theodore.” This time Wright’s invitation met a very different reaction.

“How dare you, man. This is my library.”

“Leave him, Wright, if you please. Sir Theodore has some issues to settle.”

Judith almost opened her mouth to protest Thomas’ assumption of control before she subsided. She couldn’t really pretend things had been going that well before he arrived. So she watched silently as Wright closed the door behind him. Without saying a word Thomas’ man conveyed the impression that there would be no interruptions. That left the three of them to face each other and it was Theodore Horsley who leapt into the void.

“This between my betrothed and I does not concern you Stainford.”

The words were bold enough but it didn’t take much perception to hear the fear behind them. To Judith they were still a provocation she could not thole. “We are not betrothed. You said so yourself.” That was less dignified than the effect she would have wished for, but her pride would not allow Thomas to think for one moment that she wanted to be here.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Thomas had an awful tendency to sound pontifical on matters which were none of his concern but his sentiment still warmed her. “In which case Horsley, you have to explain your insult to Miss Hampton.”

As Thomas’ glance lingered on her torn clothing she saw every trace of levity leave his face. Judith couldn’t help drawing her habit tighter round her though she was already decently covered.

“Nothing you haven’t done yourself, Stainford.”

If that was supposed to establish the two of them as men of the world who need not quarrel over something as trivial as a woman it missed its mark. Judith took a step forward herself in her fury at being reduced to the status of an object but Thomas was far quicker. Judith saw his fist clench as he closed on Horsley and the backhanded swipe he delivered to the man’s head left its victim felled like a tree.

“You are a filthy little man, Horsley and I stand ready to give you satisfaction for that blow. Or the same again if you dare say one more word about Miss Hampton.”

Judith felt truly confused by her reaction. Only a few minutes before she’d been frightened to death, fearful for herself and of what Horsley was about to do her. Now she knew herself excited by Thomas’ vigorous defence of her, excited and yet frightened too, and sorry for the piteous Horsley who was lying bleeding and crying on the floor of his library. The man was clearly incapable of coherence, indeed he looked to be bereft of his wits. Yet he was still the evil man who had schemed and planned to reduce her family to ruin, the man she had come here to kill in order to end his menace.

“Give me your pistol, Thomas. I have to kill him.”

The look of shock that greeted her demand rocked Judith. She’d expected Thomas to draw the weapon and pass it to her without arguing, not to stare as though she’d committed an unpardonable error.

“If he needs to be killed Judith, I will kill him for you. But I promise you you are safe, I will not allow him to hurt you. No one will hurt you.” He was obviously at a loss but determined to go on. “What did he do to you?”

He couldn’t have crystallised all her anger and frustration more effectively if he’d tried to. Would the two of them ever understand each other properly? “Nothing.” That clearly wasn’t true and needed further explanation. “He tore my clothes. That’s all Thomas.” Why was she explaining herself to him like this. It wasn’t her fault and it wasn’t his business. “Will you give me your pistol?”

“No, Judith. As I said if he has to be killed I will kill him, not you. But I want to know why.”

He couldn’t know what his intransigence could cost and she couldn’t begin to explain here what lay behind this: her family’s shame and debts because of her brother’s stupidity; the secret of Charles’ nature and Jane’s betrayal; how Horsley had woven it all together to his own ends. It simply wasn’t capable of speedy clarification. But Thomas Stainford was standing there in his pride expecting her to do just that.

“Why did you follow me here if you weren’t going to help?

“Forgive me Judith, I thought I might have been of service to you.”

Which he patently had been, it was only thanks to him that she was standing here in some kind of control instead of writhing helplessly under Horsley.

“Horsley bought John’s gambling debts.”

To blackmail her with. The piece dropped into place for Thomas with Judith’s admission. That was why she’d agreed to the betrothal, Horsley had manipulated the Hamptons as he’d tried to use Charles to manipulate Thomas. Thomas came close to putting his pistol to Horsley’s head there and then. It would be fitting payment for the malice and poison he’d brought to their lives. Only the wretchedness of the blubbering wreck at their feet stayed his hand.

“There’s more Thomas.” He could hear Judith’s sweet voice waver as she continued. “He knows of Charles’ nature. Jane told him. He threatened to reveal that unless your brother did as he was told. Charles wanted to end his estrangement with you and see you reinstated as heir.”

“You’ve been busy.” He didn’t mean the words as any sort of rebuke but he could see Judith stiffen as he spoke. Before he could explain himself Horsley stirred at their feet.

“I helped John by lending him money and Charles too. I gave his wife money to keep her quiet.”

Horsewhipping was the obvious solution for Horsley, immediate, painful and violent enough to satisfy the anger Thomas felt for the man’s treatment of Judith. It just didn’t go far enough, for unless he killed Horsley the man had the power to wreck the lives of Judith’s family and his own brother. Whatever he said now when he was helpless Horsley was a snake who would never cease to scheme and plot once he felt safe from them. Maybe he had misjudged Judith and her solution of shooting the wretch was the only way.

A single look at her white shaken face told Thomas she didn’t have the resolution left to do it even if he gave her a pistol, It told him too that he could never let her be in such peril again. Horsley had to be dealt with.

“You will take up your appointment in St Petersburg, Horsley. And you will take John Hampton with you as aide. His debts will be settled, but there will be no further money.”

Judith glared at him in alarm and Thomas could see in her eyes that she did not believe he could fix this thing. Well it would be a pleasure to prove her wrong.

“Horsley will want his money, Judith. And the status that comes with his diplomatic posting. He is the sort of crawling thing you can pay off. Unless you wish to ask me for satisfaction, Horsley. That option is still open to you.”

The hatred in Horsley’s face told that he would have done that if only he dared and Thomas thought to push his point home. “Be assured if one word of scandal over my brother circulates I shall have no hesitation in blaming you and demanding satisfaction. That will end with your death and I shall be glad of it.” Judith was nodding quite savagely and he presumed her agreement. “We both shall be.”

“In case you think you think you might manage to evade the blame let me warn you.” Judith sounded remarkably resolute for someone who had been through such an ordeal and Thomas couldn’t help the swell of pride in her that came upon him. “Charles Stainford is a decent man who does not deserved to be used as a pawn by you. As far as society is concerned you yourself are now a man cast off by your betrothed. If you give me cause I should not hesitate to inform any who express an interest that your own aversion to women was the reason.”

Thomas nearly chuckled out loud. Judith’s bravery was remarkable, not a thought for her own name, just for Charles. He couldn’t let her do it of course but Horsley didn’t need to know that so he kept quiet. Which was as well for she hadn’t finished.

“Is that clear Sir Theodore? You deserve no more than a bullet in the brain for your foul nature and the next time you provoke me I shall not miss. Do you understand that sir?”

Thomas knew he had to take her away then for if she stayed much longer anger would get the better of her and she’d be demanding his pistol again. In any case all the defiance in Theodore Horsley had been quenched, it was as much as he could do to raise his head and nod to confirm his understanding. That was a man who understood how easily he could meet his death at their hands.

Thomas took firm hold of her arm and scooped up the duelling pistol lying on the floor. Its walnut handle and ten inch barrel clearly matched the description given by Mrs Rogers. A thing of beauty that Lord Hampton would be loath to lose. Wright was guarding the door with an insouciance that belied the fact that six or seven servants were facing him and clearly desirous of going to their master’s aid.

These backed away smartly enough at sight of the pistol in Thomas’ hand and there was no problem in gaining egress from Horsley Hall. Only in helping Judith onto Sherbery as she tried to mount while clutching her habit shut to preserve her modesty. In the end he hoisted her into her saddle by main strength. They trotted away down the drive in apparent harmony with Wright trailing them by several paces. Thomas couldn’t rid himself of the feeling that Judith was only biding her time before she exploded into fury again. That would be a pity, this was the closest he was likely to be to her as his departure for Spain loomed.

Judith was simmering. She was grateful to Thomas for his rescue of course. She shuddered as she contemplated what would have happened without him. Yet Theodore Horsley had been left to create trouble anew when he recovered his nerve. She would never get another chance to finish him, he’d never allow her close enough. Which was fine as far as it went since she never wanted to see the man again, but John still had his debts round his neck. Thomas had said Horsley would be paid off but not how it would be done. By selling Oakenhill?

And there was still Jane with all her airs and extravagances. And her needs. Charles was vulnerable until settlement was made with his wife. Thomas couldn’t be expected to think of that, he would be off to Spain with his battalion in pursuit of glory. Again. Leaving her here to cope with everything falling around her ears. No chance of marriage either, no man was going to step in to help her. It was bad enough to be ruined in secret, but the furore over her cancelled betrothal to Horsley would make her notorious throughout county society. Fine words to threaten Horsley were well and good but it was always the woman who ended up smeared by rumour.

Her body was misbehaving too, shaking and cold by fits. Silly when all the danger was left behind and she and Thomas were cantering along, Sherbery eager to show how he could keep up with Swiftsure. With the sun blazing she should be feeling warm not chilled.

“Why didn’t you let me kill him? Or do it yourself if you felt that was your chivalrous duty?”

Thomas didn’t even check his animal, let alone turn to answer her.

“Aren’t you going to answer me? Why did you come after me if you weren’t going to side with me?” She knew she was being unfair, he had taken her side and he was entitled to expect gratitude for his service instead of a rant.

“You seemed quite pleased to see me when I arrived Judith. Or did you have matters under control?” His eyes rested on her torn habit for just a second longer than was comfortable, no doubt to remind her of the predicament from which he had rescued her. That was irritating enough, but even more annoying was the strangest desire she felt to let go with the hand that clutched her jacket shut and let it fly open.

“I am grateful for your arrival. I intended to kill that beast and I missed.” It felt odd discussing her attempt, albeit a failed attempt to commit murder. Odd but secure.