The Reckless Bride (2 page)

It was all very clear in her mind.

Sadly, her theory had yet to translate into reality.

And she was increasingly concerned that Chester might be right. She might have to change her tack.

Even if only to avoid more suitors of the likes of Lord Eggles.

But change in what way? To what? And how?

“I’m sure—”

“Truly, it would be no great trouble. Why—”

“I really feel it wouldn’t be right to—”

Focused on defining her direction, letting the arguments—futile—wash over her, Loretta was the only member of the company to hear the sounds of an arrival in the hall. She glanced at the double doors.

Just as they were flung wide, allowing a lady of striking magnificence to sail through.

She was tall, slender, her startlingly white hair superbly coiffed and finished with fine feathers, her gown the very latest Parisian fashion in ecru silk and lace, her jewelry classic pieces of ivory and jet. She wore long gloves and carried a filigree reticule while a velvet mantle in rich dark brown draped from her shoulders.

All conversation died.

The apparition halted, poised in the space midway between the open doors and the chaises, calmly considered the stunned expressions turned her way, then smiled. Delightedly.

Esme, Lady Congreve, spread her elegant arms and declared, “Darlings, I’ve come to steal Loretta away.”

“You knew, didn’t you?” Finally alone in the private parlor of the Castle Inn at Dover, Loretta sat, her back poker straight, in one of the twin armchairs before the hearth and fixed her gaze on her outrageous relative, elegantly disposed in the other armchair.

Until then, Loretta hadn’t had a chance to ask the questions piling up in her head. From the instant of her declaration in Robert’s library, Esme had taken charge. Like an unstoppable force, she’d rolled over all objections, explained in imperious fashion that she had need of a companion to accompany her on her imminent travels and that she’d determined Loretta would suit.

She’d given Robert and Catherine little time to mount any effective defense. Margaret, Annabelle, Loretta, and Chester had exchanged glances, then sat back to await developments.

Esme—she’d always insisted they call her Esme, rather than “Great-Aunt"—was their late father’s oldest aunt, their late grandmother’s elder sister. She was the last of her generation still alive, and therefore entitled to act as matriarch of the family.

A right she’d unexpectedly decided to exercise to the full.

Her husband, Richard, Lord Congreve, a Scotsman andsenior diplomat, had passed away fourteen months ago; matters pertaining to the settlement of his considerable estate had kept Esme in Scotland until now. In search of a change of scenery, she’d decided on a form of the Grand Tour—one in which she revisited all the European cities in which she and Richard had held court during his extensive career.

An unusually long and entirely literal trip down memory lane.

When Esme had let fall that she’d already sent orders to Loretta’s maid to pack her mistress’s belongings for a few months’ travel, Loretta had not just seen but read the writing on the wall. She’d slipped out of the room to direct Rose, and take care of a number of other matters made suddenly urgent by the prospect of leaving London forthwith.

As she’d closed the library door behind her, she’d had very little doubt who would win the ongoing argument.

Less than half an hour later, she’d been summoned downstairs—and had left Robert’s house in Esme’s train.

In response to Loretta’s question, Esme arched her finely drawn brows. “If you mean had I heard about the looming scandal your rejection of Eggles is about to cause, then yes, of course. Therese Osbaldestone wrote to me. That aside, however, I was heading your way regardless.”

Loretta frowned. “To see Robert and Catherine?”

“No. To kidnap you.”

“Why?”

“Because I promised Elsie that I would take you under my wing and do what she ran out of time to.”

Elsie was Loretta’s late grandmother. Esme and Elsie had been close. “She asked you to … take charge of me?”

“She asked me to ensure that you turned into the young lady you’re supposed to be—a proper Michelmarsh young lady. To make sure you sloughed off this ridiculous reserve you’ve acquired under Robert and Catherine’s tutelage. As well-meaning as they are—and please note I give them due credit for that—they were entirely the wrong people tohave been given charge of you. Sadly, with your sisters and Chester too young and Robert so serious about taking on the responsibility of the head of the house, there wasn’t any alternative at the time.” Esme considered Loretta. “Now, however, matters have changed, as I made clear to Robert and Catherine. This entire near-scandal, and it is indeed that as Lord Eggles and his family are not at all amused at the implied insult of your abrupt rejection, is a direct and entirely predictable outcome of attempting to impose on a Michelmarsh young lady such an alien regimen as a prim and proper reserve.”

Loretta eyed Esme with inner disquiet and welling resistance. “I often find a proper reserve very useful.”

“Has it gained you the husband you wish for?”

“No.”

“I rest my case. So now, if you please, you will travel with me and learn to live as a true Michelmarsh. And then …” Esme’s words trailed away. A martial light gleamed in her eyes. “And then we’ll see.”

Loretta wasn’t at all sure she liked the gleam in Esme’s eyes. “You’ve never done this before, have you—acted as chaperone for a young lady?”

Esme, her gaze still dwelling assessingly on Loretta, shook her head. “No. No children, no grandchildren. I have to admit that until now I hadn’t seen the attraction, but I do believe Therese Osbaldestone might be right—this will indeed be very like the
facilitating
one does as a diplomat’s wife.” Esme suddenly smiled. She met Loretta’s eyes. “I do believe I’m going to enjoy transforming you into a fitting testament to your heritage, then parading you temptingly beneath the right gentleman’s nose.”

Loretta frowned.

Undeterred, Esme flicked her fingers at Loretta’s skirts. “Apropos of which, I can only give thanks that our first stop will be Paris.”

October 10, 1822
Caravanseri outside Herat, Afghan Supremacy

Rafe crossed his forearms on the weathered earthen wall and looked out across the desolate landscape eerily lit by the waning moon. Behind him, in the rectangular compound protected by the walls, a large trading caravan lay sleeping, the camels picketed to one side, the wagons staggered across the open gap that provided entry into the caravanseri. Tents and rude shelters lay deeper in the compound, protecting the caravan’s people from the intensifying chill.

Out across the flat plain, nothing moved. Not robber, not cultist.

Standing on the narrow walkway hugging the inner face of the walls, Rafe stared out at the emptiness, at the rockstrewn plain unbroken by trees, with barely a stick of brush to soften the stark lines.

A zephyr whispered past, then faded. Died.

Rafe heard soft footsteps approaching. Hassan. They’d taken positions as guards with the trader who owned the caravan. It was the best camouflage they’d been able to find for crossing this too open, too uninhabited land.

“Still no sign of pursuit,” Rafe murmured as Hassan halted beside him.

“There is no way the cult could trace us in such barren territory.”

“No. So the next time we see them, they’ll be ahead of us, waiting for us to come along. I wonder where?”

Hassan said nothing. A moment later, he walked on, circling the compound in the achingly cold silence.

Rafe drew his long cloak closer, and wondered where his friends, his three brothers-in-arms, slept tonight. Wherever they were, he suspected they’d be warmer than he, but were they safer?

He and Hassan had been lost to the cultists from the moment they’d ridden out of Bombay’s northern gate. He doubted the other couriers had been so lucky.

Nearly a month into his mission, yet it had yet to truly start. Impatience niggled; he was a man of action—of facing enemies he could see, meet, and defeat.

Around him lay nothing. Not even a hint of a threat on the wind.

How long would it be before this hiatus ended and his final battle at last began?

November 3, 1822
Villa in Trieste, Italy

“We need to start for home—for England—now.” Loretta folded her arms, her gaze on Esme’s face. “You said you’d promised we’d be home for Christmas. If we don’t start now, we’ll never make it, and the weather will assuredly turn against us, too.”

Reclining on a daybed before the windows of the drawing room of the villa she’d hired for their extended stay, Esme arched her brows. Consideration seeped into her otherwise relaxed expression, then she wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. I do so hate traveling in slush.”

Relief shot through Loretta; her trial was nearing an end. “So we’ll head back to Venice, then via Marseilles to Paris?”

Frowning, Esme studied her, as she often did, assessingly. “Hmm … I’m not quite finished with you. You’ve learned to be more forthright, and we’ve rectified your wardrobe, thank heavens.”

By “losing” all the demure and decorous clothes she’d brought from London. Loretta didn’t bother glancing down at the periwinkle blue gown she wore, the color matching her eyes, the delicate fabric clinging lovingly to curves she would prefer remained hidden.

“And you can now laugh, converse, and dance with the best of them—not that I ever doubted you could.” Esme wagged a finger at her. “But your flirting needs work, andyou’ve declined to indulge in even one small fling. Your overall attitude still leaves much to be desired.”

“Nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with my attitude. If I happen to meet a man I find interesting, you may be sure I’ll pay him due attention.”

“Yes, well, therein lies the rub. You need to be interesting first, enough to make him draw near. Gentlemen—certainly those of the sort you’ll find interesting—are like elusive game. They have to be tempted to draw close, so they can fall into the pit.”

“You make it sound like hunting.”

“Good gracious, girl, that’s precisely what it is. You can’t expect them to know what’s best for them—they need to be persuaded to take the bit. But before we start bandying further metaphors, the fact remains that my work with you is not yet done. I have, therefore, decided that we will return to England by a different route. We’ll head to Buda—Richard and I spent a pleasant few months there before the Treaty of Vienna. From there, we can take the rivers back to the Channel—much less chance of our plans being disrupted by the weather.”

The latter consideration stilled any protest Loretta might have made.

Esme sat up and swung her feet to the floor. “Different cities—fresh fields.”

That was what Loretta feared. However…. “If we’re traveling to Buda, now that we’ve lost Phillipe we’ll need to hire outriders as well as a coach ourselves.” The courier-guide Esme had hired in Paris to see to their party’s needs through the journey had fallen victim to a local contessa. The contessa had captured him and whisked him off to her isolated castle; Esme had confirmed that Phillipe would not be traveling on with them. Loretta frowned. “Or should we try to find another courier-guide?”

Esme considered, then shook her head. “If we’re to go by boat from Buda on, we’ll have no need of one.”

“In that case"—Loretta straightened—"I’ll go into town now and make the arrangements.”

And send off another
Window on Europe
vignette to her agent. The readers of the
London Enquirer
had, apparently, become quite addicted to her latest reports.

November 20, 1822
Hillside above Drobeta-turnu-Severin,
    at the southwestern tip of the Transylvanian Alps

Rafe blew on his hands, stamped his feet, then crouched to hold his hands to the tiny blaze of their campfire. “I still can’t believe the Black Cobra stationed men in Constanta.”

He didn’t expect a reply to his grumble; Hassan had heard it before. After seeing not so much as a hair of a cultist all the way through Persia and Turkey, they’d taken a ship from Samsun across the Black Sea to Constanta—and found cultists waiting for them in the first narrow street they’d tramped down.

They’d fought their way out of that ambush, but only just. Both he and Hassan were sporting fresh scars. They’d immediately hired horses and raced out of town, but in this much different landscape, with its mud, slush, and snow, it was impossible to hide their trail, and the cultists were, by and large, excellent trackers.

“They are still following,” Hassan eventually said.

Rafe nodded. Huddling in the thick woollen coat he’d bought in Turkey, he stared into the fire. “Our mission is to avoid being taken at all costs, which sadly means we shouldn’t engage, not if we can avoid it.”

The necessity bit at him. He’d much rather turn and savage their pursuers, but the scroll-holder he carried, the one containing the crucial evidence that had to get to the Duke of Wolverstone in England, put paid to that. He was having second thoughts over how pleased he was to have drawn the critical mission.

But duty was duty, and he knew where his lay. If running and hiding was the price he had to pay to see the Black Cobra hang, he’d pay it.

Anything to avenge James MacFarlane.

Moving slowly, careful not to let the wind, knife-edged with ice, slice through his outer wrappings, he drew out the map he’d bought in Constanta and unfolded it. Hassan shifted to look over his shoulder.

“We’re here.” Rafe pointed. “Just ahead is the pass they call the Iron Gate, where the Danube flows through a gap in the mountains. We’ll reach there tomorrow, and if the snow holds off we should be able to pass through and out into the plain beyond.” He shifted the map the better to examine the area beyond the pass. After long moments of silent considering, he exhaled. “It’s as I thought. Once we get onto the plain, we have to make a decision. Do we keep heading directly east, cutting through the Slavic lands to northern Italy, then into southern France, and from there turn north for Rotterdam, or do we take the other route and head north on the plain, then follow the rivers—the Danube and then the Rhine—east to Rotterdam, and so to Felixstowe?”