The Rake's Rebellious Lady Page 20

‘Yes, of course. Tell Sir Frederick to take care in this mad race of yours, but no doubt he will. I have more faith in his driving than Nicolas’s.’

  Caroline smiled. The thought of the race lifted her spirits, for she liked nothing better than to be behind a bang-up pair of thoroughbreds, and Freddie’s blacks were some of the finest she had ever seen.

  She went out to join her brother in the curricle, for he had sent his phaeton on ahead with his favourite horses, and they were to drive the best part of the way in Tom’s rig. A groom would stay with it when they left the Waverly Inn, and return it to the Bollingbrook estate the next day when the horses were rested.

  Despite the shortcomings of his brother’s pair, of which Nicolas complained bitterly at the start, they made good time and arrived at the Waverly Inn just in time for nuncheon, which had been their intention. Sir Freddie had arrived earlier, and he came out to greet them, having already secured the use of the landlord’s private parlour.

  He helped Caroline down, searching her strained face with a grim look of his own. ‘I see that you know what took place last evening, my love. We shall discuss it at another time, if you please. It would be foolish to let such a thing spoil our pleasure in the day, would it not?’

  ‘Yes, certainly,’ Caroline replied, all heart. She gave him a sparkling smile, for her spirits had lifted at the sight of him. ‘And I do not intend to do so. Tell me, Freddie—shall we put my brother to the blush?’

  ‘Would you wish to do so—if it were possible?’ he asked, a flicker of amusement in his dark eyes.

  ‘I have always wished to beat my brother at some sport,’ Caroline said, her face alight with mischief. ‘I dare say it would do him no harm to lose for once. He was always faster and better at everything than Tom.’

  Freddie laughed softly in his throat. ‘Then we must see what we can do, must we not?’

  The three of them had a pleasant lunch together. Caroline was amused to see that Nicolas drank only water, which was a sign of his respect for Freddie’s driving skills. He knew that he needed all his wits about him to stand a chance of beating him. Freddie had one glass of wine, which he merely tasted as a toast to her and the future. Neither of the gentlemen ate a great deal, though they laughed and talked as if it were merely a normal day and nothing at stake.

  ‘When are we going to start?’ Caroline asked because it seemed that she was the only one impatient to be on their way.

  ‘Patience, my love,’ Freddie said, a flicker of amusement on his lips. He raised his brows at Nicolas. ‘Well, shall we see what our grooms have been up to, Nicolas? It appears that at least one of us is in a hurry to be off.’

  Leaving the inn parlour together, they saw that their grooms had been busy while they were dining, and had both phaetons ready to leave. Caroline looked at Freddie’s blacks, which looked in the peak of condition. Her brother’s greys were pawing the ground, seemingly anxious to be off, and she noticed that they were sweating slightly. Having driven with him behind them on several occasions, she knew them to be spirited creatures and she thought that the teams were well matched. It would be a close-run thing and possibly down to the skill of the drivers.

  Freddie smiled at her as he handed her up. ‘Are you ready, Caroline?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, her eyes bright. She had put all her problems to one side for the moment. ‘I think it will be the greatest of good fun.’

  Seated on the driving box beside Freddie, she glanced across at her brother. She could see that he was on his mettle, anxious to be off, and she waved to him, blowing a kiss with her fingertips.

  ‘Good luck, Nicolas.’

  He grinned at her and saluted as the grooms stood away from the horses’ heads and then they were off. Caroline saw that her brother set off in a hurry, flicking his long driving whip at his horses, clearly intending to reach the turning that led to Bath in the lead.

  Freddie, on the other hand, allowed his horses to begin at their own pace, holding the reins lightly, his whip propped up in the box at his side, apparently unconcerned that Nicolas had taken an early lead.

  Had she been driving, she knew that she would have been pushing her horses hard to catch up, but Freddie kept his hand lightly on the reins. She frowned a little, for she thought that Nicolas would get too far ahead of them, but then she sensed that the blacks were gathering speed little by little. Freddie had done nothing that she could see, and as yet he had not touched his whip. She looked at the horses, the rippling strength of their muscles, the shine of their glossy coats, and knew that so far they were only cruising.

  Freddie had not asked anything of them, but they were moving with such ease and grace that their pace was increasing effortlessly. The road ahead was quite narrow for a stretch of more than a mile or so, hardly wide enough to allow for one vehicle to pass another. And, with some sharp bends hiding any oncoming traffic, it would have been impossible to pass Nicolas even if they had caught up with him.

  After they had been driving for some minutes without seeing more than a glimpse of her brother, the road ahead of them began to widen slightly. Freddie took his whip and cracked it over the heads of his team and all at once she felt the surge of speed. She glanced at him, for he seemed so calm, so certain, and it made her wonder at his patience. However, after a few minutes she saw that they were only a short distance behind her brother. Because of the difficult road, he had been unable to put enough distance between them, and now Freddie had him in his sights.

  ‘You knew, didn’t you?’ she said. ‘You knew that there was nothing to be gained by setting out at a cracking pace.’

  ‘Nicolas will have found his horses hard to control on that stretch of the road at such a pace,’ Freddie said, and glanced at her. ‘He may have taken too much out of them at an early stage. We have some way to go yet, Caroline.’

  Nicolas had clearly realised that they were behind. He was urging his horses on faster, and for the next twenty minutes or so he managed to increase his lead, the distance between them lengthening again. Freddie let him go, but then, after some fifteen minutes or so, he gave a little flick of his whip and the blacks responded gallantly. Caroline looked eagerly for some sign of her brother’s vehicle, and then, just as they were approaching a crossroads, she saw it ahead of them.

  ‘Oh, there he is,’ she cried. ‘We shall catch him again in a moment.’

  Freddie smiled as he heard the excitement in her voice. He kept his horses steady as they approached the crossroads, which were clear on both sides, allowing both Nicolas and Freddie to maintain their speed. Ahead of them was a stretch of good clear road, with grassland to either side. Caroline felt the surge of speed as Freddie let his horses have their head, and she sensed that this was what he had been waiting for. Here at last was the space for the phaetons to race to their full potential.

  She was on the edge of her seat with excitement as Freddie’s blacks ate up the distance between the two phaetons; gradually, inexorably, Nicolas was being hauled back. She could see that he was using his whip frequently now, trying to urge that extra bit of speed from his horses, but he had driven them hard for the past four miles and now they had no more to give. The blacks were fresher, having been spared for the better part of the way, and now Freddie cracked his whip over their heads and they responded willingly.

  Caroline hung on tightly as the phaeton seemed to almost bound forwards, holding on to her bonnet with one hand and to the carriage rail with the other. They had caught Nicolas now, and then, with a slight flick of his wrist, Freddie edged his phaeton out slightly to perform one of the neatest overtaking manoeuvres that she had ever witnessed. She held her breath as for a moment the wheels of both vehicles were side by side. A false move now and they could all be overset, but Freddie judged it to a nicety and in another moment they were past. Freddie kept up his speed for long enough to gain the lead into the next stretch of road, which was too narrow to allow for Nicolas to pass them.

  Caroline looked back at her brother. For a f
ew minutes he continued to urge his horses on, but then he seemed to realise that the race was over, for he let his pace slow and dropped behind. They were entering the outskirts of the fashionable spa town now, and the press of traffic would have made it impossible for the race to continue. As they passed the Abbey church, Caroline looked back and her brother saluted her.

  She laughed and turned to Freddie. ‘Nicolas has just saluted you, Freddie. He acknowledges that yours were the better horses.’

  ‘I doubt there was much between them,’ Freddie said. ‘I knew the road well, perhaps better than your brother.’

  ‘Oh, no, I do not think it was only that,’ she said. ‘You have the best hands I have ever seen, Freddie. It was your driving that made the difference.’

  ‘I would not advise you to say as much to your brother,’ Freddie said and grinned at her. ‘I trust you are pleased, Caroline—though I noticed that you wished Nicolas luck, but did not do the same for me.’

  ‘You did not need luck,’ she said and her eyes were mischievous. ‘I had every confidence in your driving, sir.’

  ‘Thank you. I shall take that as a compliment,’ he said. ‘I believe I shall have to take your driving in hand before I allow you to handle my greys.’

  ‘I love to drive,’ Caroline said. ‘I only wish I were able to practise more.’

  ‘We may soon put things right when we are married,’ Freddie said. ‘You shall have your own rig, Caroline. Something suitable for a lady, and then you may drive yourself when you wish.’

  ‘I wish that I might,’ Caroline said, suddenly rather sad. ‘I know that I said I would marry you, Freddie, and you mustn’t think that I don’t want to. I do love you with all my heart—only I am not sure I can marry you in the circumstances.’

  Freddie glanced at her. ‘You mean because of what your grandfather said, I suppose. You know that we do not need his permission? Your brothers have already signified their approval, and I dare say Mrs Holbrook will look favourably on my suit.’

  ‘Yes, I am sure Mama will say yes,’ Caroline said, but hesitated. ‘But…Grandfather threatened to change his will again if I disobeyed him. For myself I care nothing for it, but Tom has had such a difficult time since my father died. And then there’s Nicolas. He has only a small trust fund from his maternal grandfather, and must support himself.’

  ‘Bollingbrook threatened to disinherit them if you married me?’

  ‘Yes,’ Caroline said, pleased that he had grasped the situation at once. ‘It kept me awake all night, for I could see no way out of the predicament. I dare say you will not mind if I have no dowry, but how can I deprive my brothers of their fortunes?’

  ‘Do you know the size of this inheritance?’ Freddie had slowed his horse to a walk now. He raised his hat to an acquaintance passing in a similar vehicle.

  ‘I believe Tom said it may be in the region of two hundred thousand pounds—divided between us and the son in Jamaica.’

  Freddie whistled softly. ‘That is indeed a considerable sum of money. I had not realised Bollingbrook was in possession of such a fortune—and that, I imagine, does not include the entail?’

  ‘Oh, no, that is entirely different, and not worth the half of it, I dare say,’ Caroline said. ‘Nicolas wondered if my uncles might have got wind of the change to his will, and if they could possibly have commissioned the attempts to kill Tom—and me.’

  ‘What happens to the money if you or your brothers should die before your grandfather?’

  ‘I believe the money would go to the fourth beneficiary.’

  ‘The Jamaican?’ Freddie nodded thoughtfully. ‘I think that there may be something in it after all. Two hundred thousand pounds is a great deal of money.’

  ‘Yes, that is what Tom has always said,’ Caroline told him, frowning. ‘It might have been better had Grandfather never altered his will.’

  ‘Yes, perhaps,’ Freddie agreed, ‘but we must not jump to conclusions too soon, Caroline.’ He was drawing to a halt in front of one of the fashionable houses in the Royal Crescent. ‘As for this other business—does your grandfather’s blessing mean a great deal to you?’

  ‘I would have been pleased to have it if he had given it freely,’ Caroline admitted. ‘I have always been fond of him—but it is Tom and Nicolas that matter most.’

  ‘Yes, I see,’ Freddie said and smiled as he handed her down. His groom, who had gone on ahead of him with the baggage coach, was waiting for them, and came to take the reins from him. Freddie knocked at the front door and stood with Caroline on the pavement as they waited for an answer. ‘Do not worry too much about this for the moment, Caroline. Bollingbrook may have been bluffing—and when he thinks about it, he may wish to reconsider. I shall call another day to speak with Mrs Holbrook—but for now I shall leave you. There are some matters of business I must attend to.’ As the door was opened by a maid wearing a neat black gown and white apron, he nodded to Caroline and, lifting her hand to his lips, dropped a kiss within the palm. That and the smile which accompanied it sent a little shiver of pleasure down her spine.

  ‘Thank you for the pleasure of your company, Caroline. It was most enjoyable.’

  Caroline felt a thrill of delight. She could only agree with him, returning his smile before entering the house. Her mother came into the hall as she did so, running towards her with outstretched arms.

  ‘Caroline, my love. It is so good to see you! I had your letter about your grandfather and I wondered if you would feel that you must stay with him for a little longer?’

  ‘He would not have it so,’ Caroline said and embraced her. ‘Besides, I fear that he is not pleased with me at the moment. I have a great deal to tell you, Mama.’

  ‘Well, put off your bonnet and then come into the parlour,’ Mrs Holbrook said. ‘I am alone at the moment, though Mr Milbank dines with us this evening. I did not wish to go out on your first evening in Bath—but where is your brother?’

  ‘He will be here shortly,’ Caroline said. ‘I came with Sir Frederick and Nicolas…followed us.’

  ‘Sir Frederick brought you?’ Mrs Holbrook was somewhat surprised. ‘There was no mention of that when your baggage arrived earlier.’

  ‘No, Mama. But I wanted to tell you…’ She followed her mother into the small parlour, but just as Mrs Holbrook had finished telling the maid that she was to serve them tea and buttered muffins in twenty minutes, there was a commotion in the hall and Nicolas came striding in.

  ‘Ah, there you are, puss,’ Nicolas hailed her in high good humour. ‘Sir Freddie is not here, I gather? I must seek him out to pay him the twenty guineas I owe him. That was a capital race and the way he passed me was a masterpiece. I declare he is a fine whip, one of the best I’ve met.’

  ‘What is that?’ Mrs Holbrook looked from her son to her daughter. ‘Please tell me that you do not mean… Caroline! You did not take part in a curricle race?’

  ‘Well, Sir Freddie was driving a phaeton, but, yes, I did, Mama.’

  ‘You were with Sir Frederick on the high road—racing your brother?’ Mrs Holbrook made a moaning sound and put a hand to her face. ‘You might have been killed…both of you. Not to mention the scandal…’

  ‘But no one knows,’ Caroline said, her cheeks warm. ‘And we are perfectly safe, Mama. Sir Freddie took no risks, I promise you. He has the best hands of any whip I’ve seen and he has promised to teach me to drive so that—’ She was silenced as she saw her mother’s expression. ‘Honestly, Mama, no one will know that we raced.’

  ‘Depend upon it, someone saw you,’ her mother said and looked at her accusingly. ‘You must know that you were the subject of some gossip in town, Caroline. We brushed through that right and tight thanks to Lady Stroud—but it is enough that you drove here with Sir Frederick alone, for I dare say you did not have a maid or a groom?’ Caroline’s guilty look was enough to confirm her fears. ‘That on its own would cause talk—but if anyone should learn that you actually raced…’ She sank down into one of the comfort
able chairs with an air of despair. ‘I think you have ruined yourself.’

  ‘No such thing, Mama,’ Nicolas said, guiltily aware that in his excitement he had given his sister away. ‘I dare say Caroline may drive with her fiancé, may she not?’

  ‘Her fiancé?’ Mrs Holbrook stared at her, anxiety and hope warring in her breast. ‘Do you tell me you are engaged to him?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Nicolas.

  ‘Well, perhaps…’ said Caroline.

  ‘Which is it?’ Mrs Holbrook asked and fanned her cheeks with the ladies’ magazine she had been reading before her children arrived. ‘You have quite overset me, Caroline. I am not at all sure that I should wish you to marry him. It seems to me that he is hardly a suitable husband for a young lady—where is his notion of propriety?!’

  ‘I wanted to be part of it, Mama,’ Caroline said. ‘I was not frightened and it is not fair that I should be excluded from all the fun just because I am a girl.’

  ‘I am glad that you did not say lady,’ her mother said, ‘for your behaviour has been anything but ladylike. I would send you to your room to reflect on your waywardness—but please explain, are you or are you not engaged to be married?’

  ‘Freddie has asked me and I have said yes,’ Caroline said, ‘but Grandfather has forbidden it. He says he shall not give me a dowry if I disobey him. And…’ she glanced at Nicolas ‘…he says he shall change his will again. You and Tom will get nothing if I marry against his wishes.’

  ‘A fig for that!’ Nicolas said and snapped his fingers. ‘I ain’t saying that it wouldn’t be a fine thing to inherit some money—but I ain’t prepared to be the cause of your unhappiness, puss. Tom would say the same.’

  ‘I am not sure that he would,’ Caroline said. ‘He has had so much trouble to pull the estate together and he would have been the main benefactor, I think.’

  ‘Well, there’s no telling that the old gentleman wouldn’t pull caps with him over something else,’ Nicolas said. ‘We all know what Bollingbrook’s temper is. He may change his will fifty times before he’s done for. Besides, I should not let it worry you, puss. He will regret his harshness to you when he has thought it over. And then he will send to make things up to you, I imagine.’