The Rake's Rebellious Lady Page 13

Caroline agreed, giving a little shudder as she realised how close they had all been to a terrible death. ‘Why should anyone want to harm you, Tom, or me? I do not understand…’ A soft moan broke from him and she hastened to his side. ‘Is the pain very bad?’

  ‘I should like a drink of water, if you wouldn’t mind,’ Tom said. ‘I think there may be some in that jug over there, on the washstand.’

  Caroline went to investigate, but it was empty. She picked it up and turned to look at him. ‘I am afraid there is none left, Tom. The doctor must have used it to wash his hands. I shall go and fetch some more.’

  Tom seemed not to have heard her. He was lying with his eyes closed, clearly in some pain. She went softly from the room and down the stairs, wondering how best to discover her host, but as she hesitated at the bottom of the stairs he came out of a door to her left and saw her hovering uncertainly.

  ‘Ah, there you are, miss,’ he said. ‘I was about to send the chambermaid up with a jug of fresh water. Is there anything else you would like for the poor gentleman?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Caroline replied. ‘I think a little brandy might not come amiss, sir, if you please.’

  ‘Right you are, miss. You go up to him and I shall send it immediately.’

  Caroline turned and ran up the stairs. As she did so, she heard a burst of laughter and some gentlemen came out into the hall behind her. She paused on the landing at the top of the stairs to glance back for a moment and then hurried down the hall to her brother’s room, unaware that she had been recognised by one of the party.

  Tom was looking for her as she came in, and she explained that the landlord was sending up water and brandy.

  ‘It might help with the pain if it is very bad,’ she told him.

  ‘Yes, it might,’ he agreed with a grimace. ‘But you ought to have rung for the maid, Caroline. It won’t do for you to be seen here alone, love. You know what Aunt Louisa is like and the rest of the tabbies with her—they will put two and two together and make six.’

  ‘I was only a moment,’ Caroline said. ‘Besides, you are my brother. Only a mean spirit could find fault with my being here with you, I believe?’

  ‘Yes, well, most people would understand once they knew,’ Tom said. ‘But whispers can do a lot of harm, and people always think that there must be some truth in these rumours.’

  ‘No smoke without fire?’ Caroline said and smiled at him. ‘I dare say you are right, but I shall not let it weigh too heavily, for truth to tell I do not care if some think ill of me.’ Though in her heart she knew that she cared very much for the opinion of one person in particular.

  * * *

  Caroline sat with her brother for two hours before she heard voices at the door and then her mother came in, looking upset and anxious. Marianne had clearly shed a few tears on the way here and Caroline got up to go to her and embrace her as soon as she entered.

  ‘It is all right, Mama,’ she said. ‘Tom is just sleeping. He was in some pain, but after he drank a little brandy he fell asleep and seems to be resting easily.’

  ‘Is there any fever?’ his anxious mother asked, and laid a gentle hand on his brow. A look of relief came over her face as she realised that he was resting quite peacefully. ‘Thank God! We owe his safety to Sir Frederick, I am sure.’

  ‘I believe it is merely a slight break,’ Caroline reassured her. ‘However, he will be better at home. Have you brought our own coach?’

  ‘Yes, I have,’ Mrs Holbrook said. ‘I was out when Sir Frederick first came for me, but he found me on my way home from the lending library. I hope you appreciate how much he has done for us today, Caroline?’

  ‘Yes, of course, Mama,’ Caroline said, her manner a little reserved—she could not help thinking of Freddie’s coldness to her earlier. ‘It was very kind of him to help us as he did. Did he return with you?’

  ‘No. He asked if he should, but I refused—I am sure he had something on his mind, though he would undoubtedly have come had I needed him. However, I have my coachman and two grooms, and I am sure we can manage well enough without him.’

  A slight moan from the patient brought her head round to him at once, and for the next few minutes all her attention was for her son. She fussed over him, but, receiving a request not to do so, laughed in relief. Clearly Tom was feeling much better and when asked if he felt up to making the journey home was quick to say that he would do so if she could arrange for him to be helped down the stairs.

  Mrs Holbrook rang for the maid and gave instructions. A chair was duly produced and Tom helped into it. Two strong men then carried him from the room and down the stairs. Caroline went ahead to alert the coachman, and her mother followed, urging the men to be careful and not to drop their precious burden. Her fretting possibly made their task that much harder, but it was accomplished without too much pain for the invalid, and within some ten minutes or so Tom was settled in his mother’s carriage as comfortably as could be arranged.

  Mrs Holbrook, inquiring what she owed for the care of her son, was told that Sir Frederick had already paid for everything, including the doctor’s fee, and she was overcome with gratitude, which she continued to pour into her daughter’s ear all the way home.

  ‘He is the perfect gentleman,’ she told Caroline twenty times. ‘Everything that is kind I am sure. He will make some fortunate lady a very satisfactory husband.’

  Although she stopped short of saying that Caroline should make a push to gain his affections, as her aunt had many times, it was clear to her daughter that she thought it a perfect match. Caroline did not protest as she would have to her aunt’s bullying, for there was little that she could say. It was perfectly true that Sir Frederick had done all that could have been asked of him, but his generosity was not a reason for marriage. Caroline liked him very well, had counted him one of her best friends. Indeed, she had wondered if she might like to be married to him, but she was not sure after that morning if he liked her as well as she had thought.

  She was subdued on their return to the house, and followed the servants who carried her brother up to his own room. His arm had begun to hurt again, and Mrs Holbrook shooed her from his room, while retaining the services of the butler to help her settle her son as comfortably as possible. She then went down to the stillroom and made up a tisane to her own prescription, which she allowed Caroline to take up for him.

  ‘It will help him to sleep,’ she said to Caroline. ‘I shall not go out this evening, for I could not bear to leave him in this condition, but you must go with your aunt to the soirée as arranged, dearest.’

  ‘Do you think I could cry off for once?’ Caroline asked. ‘I would much rather not go this evening, for although I was not harmed I was a little shaken by the accident—and I could help you to sit with Tom.’

  ‘Very well, my love,’ Marianne said and looked at her with approval. ‘Yes, it must have been a shock for you when the balloon fell, and I dare say it will not matter in the least if you miss one evening’s pleasure. And it would be a help to me to have you here—just in case he should take a turn for the worse.’

  Caroline did not believe that anything of the kind would happen, but she was pleased that she did not need to go to the musical evening with her aunt. Lady Taunton had not been pleased when they returned to the house, and Caroline could only think that she had done something to annoy her.

  * * *

  The next morning Aunt Louisa was still in a foul mood and her annoyance with both Caroline and her sister was not alleviated when she informed them that she had learned that rumours had begun to circulate concerning her niece.

  ‘But you know the truth of it, Aunt,’ Caroline said when she was subsequently questioned by the older woman. ‘Tom was hurt in the accident, and that was the reason I was at the inn. It is unfortunate that someone saw me there, but you may easily scotch such tales by telling the truth.’

  ‘Which I did, as you would expect,’ Lady Taunton said with a scathing glance. ‘I dare say we shall brus
h through this easily enough, but had you been a little more circumspect in your behaviour, miss, it might never have been thought possible in the first place. I have warned you. If you gain a reputation for being fast, you will lose more than you bargain for!’

  ‘I do not think I have done anything particularly wicked,’ Caroline said, crossing her fingers behind her back. Had anyone seen her dressed as a youth, she might have been in serious trouble. ‘When our friends hear the tale and put their side of the story about, people will soon forget this nonsense.’

  ‘Well, it is to be hoped so,’ her aunt said. ‘But once this kind of thing happens, the tales often linger. You must be particularly careful in future that you do nothing that could cause further gossip.’

  They were in the small back parlour, to which her aunt had summoned her, and neither of them heard the knocker, so it was with some surprise when a visitor was announced. Caroline turned to look at the young man standing in the doorway and ran to him with a cry of delight. ‘Nicolas dearest! It is so good to see you. I had hoped you might get leave while we were here, but I thought it unlikely.’

  ‘Well, here I am, puss,’ Nicolas said and embraced her in a bear hug. Looking up at him, she thought that he had grown since she had seen him, and he looked wonderful in his scarlet uniform. ‘Now tell me, what is this I hear about Tom?’

  ‘Oh, do come up and see him,’ Caroline said, linking her arm through his. ‘It will cheer him up immensely to talk to you. He is very annoyed that Mama has forbidden him to get up again for at least two days.’

  Nicolas inclined his head to his aunt. ‘I hope you are well, ma’am? I shall greet you properly later, but I am eager to see my brother—if you will excuse us?’

  Caroline drew him from the room, hugging his arm. ‘You arrived in the nick of time,’ she confided. ‘Aunt Louisa was giving me a fearful scold! I know it was my fault that Tom was hurt, for he wouldn’t have been in the basket if it hadn’t been for me, but I couldn’t be blamed for being in that inn.’

  ‘I suggest that you start at the beginning, puss,’ Nicolas said, grinning at her. ‘Then I might have a hope of understanding.’

  ‘Oh, you!’ Caroline said, but obliged him with the full story, which took them up to the landing where Tom’s bedchamber was situated. ‘So you see, she was quite unfair!’

  ‘Yes, she was, but you should learn to dissemble, puss. You are defiant and it puts her in the right of it. Bite your tongue and think before you answer. There is no point in antagonising her. After all, she did stump up the blunt for this trip.’

  ‘Yes, I know, and I am behaving very ungratefully,’ Caroline said, feeling a little ashamed. ‘I shouldn’t wrangle with her, for no doubt she means well—but I cannot like her.’

  ‘As to that, she is not my favourite person by any means.’ He grinned at her. ‘But let us see what Tom has to say, shall we?’

  Caroline nodded, following her brother into Tom’s bedchamber. He had been sitting up and reading a book, but he threw it down with a joyful cry as he saw Nicolas.

  ‘Thank goodness you are here,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you can convince Mama that I am not on my deathbed, Nicolas. It is true that I have a little pain still, and my arm feels awkward in this splint, but I shall expire of boredom if I am forced to stay here for two days. I am promised to Bollingbrook next weekend and that only gives me a few days to enjoy myself.’

  ‘Indulge her for one day,’ Nicolas advised. ‘By what I hear, you were lucky to escape so easily and will need to rest for a while, otherwise you may find yourself fainting. And that, dear brother, would cause our much-loved mama to go into a decline herself.’

  ‘No, I do not think so,’ Caroline said, eyes sparkling. Her mood of despondence had been lifted by Nicolas’s arrival. ‘She has seemed much better of late, brighter in herself and happier. I think she has a secret admirer…’

  ‘Mama—an admirer?’ the brothers exclaimed in unison. ‘You are roasting us, Caroline!’

  ‘No, indeed I am not,’ she said. ‘Please say nothing to her yet, for she has not told me anything, but I have met him once or twice now…and she likes him. I think he likes her very much, but I do not know how far they have progressed.’

  ‘I thought it was you who came here to catch a husband,’ Nicolas said and laughed in delight. ‘Well, if I ever heard such a blessed thing! I should be much pleased if she were to take him. I think she and Papa went on tolerably well, but it wasn’t all April and May with them, and she has been down in the dumps since he died. Yes, it would be a good thing for her.’

  ‘That is how I feel,’ Caroline said, ‘but I am not sure there is anything to celebrate yet. It may all fall through.’

  ‘Good for her,’ Tom said. ‘You may not know this, either of you—but Aunt Louisa has been bullying her into making a home with her when I marry or before that if she can persuade her to it.’

  ‘Good grief,’ Nicolas said and looked revolted. ‘Poor Mama would be truly under the cat’s paw. We must save her from that at all costs.’

  ‘I think she would not like it at all,’ Caroline said. ‘She spoke wistfully of living in a cottage so that she might live as she pleased, but I think Mr Milbank is wealthy enough to provide her with a decent home of her own.’

  ‘I can see you have been busy, little puss,’ Nicolas said. ‘Now tell me, how did you come to be in town, Tom—and why do you have to visit Grandfather next weekend?’

  ‘Grandfather stumped up the readies to settle most of my debts and allow me a short visit to town,’ Tom said. ‘He has asked me to do something for him in return, and I think I shall, though it means I shall have to go abroad for a while.’

  ‘Shall you like that?’ Caroline asked, recalling how upset Julia had been when he was hurt. ‘Would it not affect plans for—?’ She broke off because she had no idea whether or not her brother returned Miss Fairchild’s affections.

  ‘I have no immediate plans for the future, except to put the estate into good heart,’ Tom said with a slight frown. ‘I could not think of marriage until I could support a wife, if that is what you were wondering, Caroline. Mama has no need to rush into anything, though I would be happy to see her settled if she wished it—but I am not on the catch for a rich wife, or a wife at all for the moment.’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ Caroline said and felt sorry for her friend, because it was obvious that her brother was too proud to ask Julia to be his wife, at least until he had something more than a rundown estate to offer her. ‘Well, you must do as you please, of course.’

  As she finished speaking, their mother came into the room. She was delighted to see all her family together, and immediately charged Nicolas with taking his sister to the ball that evening.

  ‘Tom was to have come with us, you see,’ she said, ‘but I am sure Lady Jersey will be only too happy to accept you in his place. I shall stay here, of course, in case my son needs me, but Louisa will go.’

  ‘Why do you not let me stay with you, Mama?’ Caroline asked. ‘I am sure Nicolas may find his own amusement for one night.’

  ‘No, dearest,’ her mother said. ‘It is a matter of choice, and I shall not be entirely alone. A friend has promised to call, just for a few minutes. We shall have a quiet supper together, and talk…’

  ‘Mama, do tell,’ Caroline said, mischief in her eyes. ‘Is it Mr Milbank?’

  Marianne flushed and then smiled. ‘I can see you have guessed it, Caroline, and since we are all together, I must confess that Herbert has asked me if I will consent to be his wife. I have asked him here this evening to give him his answer—and now, perhaps you will all have your say?’

  ‘You should marry him, Mama,’ Caroline said. ‘He seems a pleasant gentleman and likes you very well.’

  ‘Take the fellow,’ Nicolas said and grinned wickedly. ‘You are too young to wear the weeds for ever, Ma.’

  ‘Marry him if you wish,’ Tom said, ‘but there will always be a home for you with me, Mama, whatever happens.’

&
nbsp; ‘Bless you, dearest,’ Marianne said, looking at Tom. ‘But I must tell you that I feel happier now than I have for a long time. Papa and I did well enough together, and I was fond of him until he died—I would not want any of you to think that I had entirely forgot your father.’

  ‘We should not have thought anything of the sort,’ Caroline said. ‘I hope you will take Mr Milbank, Mama.’

  ‘Well, it is you it will affect most,’ Marianne told her daughter. ‘If you do not form an attachment this time, you will be obliged to live under his roof, which he is very happy for you to do—so you must not think you are forced to accept an offer you cannot like. I think you would be well suited with a certain gentleman if he should offer, but there is no saying he will.’

  ‘What is this?’ Nicolas asked, mischief in his eyes. ‘You did not tell me this, Caroline!’

  ‘Well, there was too much else to say,’ she replied. ‘But if you would like to take me driving this afternoon, I shall tell you all there is to know.’

  Chapter Seven

  ‘George, a moment if you please!’ Freddie hailed his friend as he saw him leaving the premises of a gentleman’s hat shop in Brook Street. He ran across the road, dodging between the traffic to catch him. ‘How is Julia today? I trust she took no harm yesterday?’

  ‘No, no, I do not think it,’ George said with a little frown. ‘She was merely distressed. It was a shocking thing to happen. You do not know any more concerning the incident, I suppose?’

  ‘I have made further inquiries and it is quite certain that the rope had been tampered with, as we suspected. It must have happened under our noses, for Jackson swears that it was sound when he began to set up the balloon and I trust him completely. However, with so many people milling around before the flight, it might have been anyone. I do not imagine we shall discover the culprit, for we have nothing to go on. It was fortunate that things were no worse. Despite her denials, I am sure that Caroline was much shaken, and bruised, and Tom must think himself lucky he is no worse.’