Cinderella Sister (43 page)

The air was cold and crisp. A white frost iced the cobblestones and the roof of the inn glittered in the moonlight. An ostler hurried from the stables to see to the horses and the coachman climbed stiffly down from the box. Light spilled out onto the yard as a door opened and the innkeeper staggered sleepily towards them. ‘May I offer you a room for the night, sir? Or some refreshment for the lady and yourself while you wait for a change of horses?’

‘What time is it, landlord?’

‘Two o’clock, sir.’

‘Have you taken in many travellers last evening, landlord?’

‘Just passing trade, sir. Will you be wanting a room?’

Gabriel glanced at Lily. ‘I think we should rest, don’t you?’

She nodded her head. Her heart was thumping against her ribs and her whole body seemed to flame with unaccustomed sensations that brought a blush to her cheeks.

‘Two rooms, please, landlord. One for myself and the other for my sister.’

It was not what she desired, but she realised that Gabriel was acting as his conscience dictated. Ashamed of her own thoughts, Lily knew that she would have gladly shared his bed and that made her little better than the mother whom the family had looked upon with such scorn and derision. She bowed her head, humbled and yet unrepentant.

Next morning, after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, Lily was awakened by a maidservant bringing her a jug of hot water and a cup of hot chocolate. She filled the washbowl, set the cup down on a table within reach of Lily’s bed and proceeded to clean out the grate, chattering nonstop as if eager to pass on a tasty morsel of gossip.

‘We had another young lady pass through here yesterday with a foreign gent. They said they was brother and sister too, but he weren’t English and she was, so that was obviously a piece of nonsense. We see it all here and we can tell them as are pretending to be married and are really doing something they oughtn’t.’

Reaching automatically for the cup of hot chocolate, Lily’s pulse raced. ‘Do you remember what the young lady looked like?’

‘Course I do, ’cos she looked a bit like you.’ The maid sat back on her haunches, glancing over her shoulder at Lily. ‘Same colour hair and eyes but she was more of a flighty piece. She’ll lead the foreign cove a pretty dance I says to Cook. She had him wrapped round her little finger. Brother and sister, all my eye and Betty Martin.’

Lily gulped the hot chocolate, burning her mouth in her haste to swallow. ‘What name did they give?’

‘I dunno, but I heard the froggy-fellah call her Mary – no, perhaps it was Molly. I never paid much attention to it at the time.’ She scooped the ashes into the empty coal scuttle and clambered ungracefully to her feet. ‘I could light the fire for you, but I expect you want to be on your way. The gent is in the dining parlour and he’s ordered breakfast, so I don’t suppose you’ll want to keep him waiting.’

Lily put the drink aside, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. ‘Will you tell him I’ll be down directly? We must be on our way as soon as possible.’

‘Related to you, was she?’ Calmly, as if it were an everyday occurrence to harbour runaways, the maid left the room without waiting for an answer.

Ten minutes later Lily entered the dining parlour to find Gabriel seated at the table drinking coffee. He rose to his feet and his welcoming smile made her dizzy with delight. She had been wondering if their passionate embraces in the carriage had been a figment of her imagination, a delightful dream that would vanish in the morning light, but she knew in that instant that it was real. She was in love and loved in return.

As if their emotions were now joined by an invisible silken cord, Gabriel seemed to sense her agitation and his smile faded into an expression of deep concern. ‘My love, what’s wrong?’

Lily crossed the floor to fling her arms around his neck. ‘They were here last evening. The maid told me.’

He held her close. ‘That’s good news. At least we
are on the right track and with luck we’ll catch up with them before they reach Dover.’ He kissed her briefly on the lips. ‘We’ll leave as soon as you’ve had something to eat. No arguments, Lily darling. I’m taking care of you now.’

She sat down at the table but she was too overwrought to manage more than a few mouthfuls of freshly baked bread and butter. She managed to swallow some coffee, but her throat constricted with emotion every time she looked at Gabriel, and her appetite deserted her. She could hardly believe that a man of his background and brilliance would fall in love with a girl raised on the docks, but every word he uttered and each loving look went some way to convince her that a miracle had happened.

They left as soon as Gabriel had paid for their accommodation and he instructed the coachman to stop at every coaching inn on the road to Dover. At the second stop Gabriel returned to the carriage with the news that the eloping couple had spent the night at the inn, claiming as before to be brother and sister. He grinned, taking Lily’s hand in his. ‘They believed the fiction as little as the landlord of the inn where we spent the night. I never want to be mistaken for your brother, Lily. As soon as we get back to London I’m going to speak to Matt and tell him that I intend to marry you as soon as possible.’

Lily struggled with her emotions; she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. ‘Oh, Gabriel.’

He wrapped his arms around her. ‘Is that all you can say? Am I not to know whether the answer will be yes or no?’

This was not the moment to cry all over the man she adored. ‘You haven’t asked me yet,’ she murmured, blinking away tears of happiness.

‘I want to do this properly,’ Gabriel insisted. ‘You must have time to think and I need to know that our marriage won’t tear your family apart. The Faulkners have done enough damage to the Larkins, and I want our life to be free from feuds and bad feeling.’

‘I want that too. More than anything, but …’

He silenced her lips with a tender kiss. ‘Our future happiness will stand the test of time, it’s Molly we must think about now. The landlord at the last inn said they left only an hour or so before we got there. Armand must be confident that they are not being followed. He’s in for a shock.’

Lily nestled against him, resting her head against his shoulder. She did not want the journey to end, although she knew they must face the inevitable scene when Molly realised that she was to be taken home unmarried and with her reputation in tatters. Perhaps Armand would play the gentleman and do the honourable thing, but Lily was not so sure. If he was anything like his father he might already have taken advantage of her sister and yet think himself free to walk away. She hoped against hope that this was not so, although she had reluctantly to agree with Grandpa that it was unlikely that a man of his wealth and position would want a girl like Molly for his wife.

They arrived in Dover a little after midday. A pale primrose sun shone from an azure sky and wispy white
clouds cast shadows on the turquoise calmness of the English Channel. Lily stepped out of the carriage and breathed in the fresh salty air. The waters of the Thames must have mingled with the sea somewhere along the way. Her imagination had taken her to the coast often but this was the first time she had seen the sea, and the furthest she had ever travelled from London. Gabriel slipped his arm around her shoulders. ‘It’s beautiful on a day like this, but the weather can change in a moment.’

‘I wish I could paint it,’ Lily whispered. ‘I can see so many different colours in the waves, and that dark line on the horizon is almost purple.’

He gave her a hug. ‘You are a true artist, my darling, but we’re here on a mission.’

‘And what would that be, mate?’

Lily froze at the sound of that all-too-familiar voice. She did not need to turn her head to know that trouble had followed them to the coast.

‘What in hell’s name are you doing here, Smith?’ Gabriel demanded, turning to glare angrily at the man in a loud check suit with a bowler hat set jauntily over one eye.

‘It’s nice to see you too, guv.’ Christian tipped his hat to Lily. ‘And you too, miss. Down here to take the sea air, are you?’

Lily slipped her hand into the crook of Gabriel’s arm and felt his muscles tense. ‘What do you want, Mr Smith?’ she asked warily. ‘Did you follow us?’

He struck a casual pose as if enjoying their discomfiture. ‘I think that’s my business, miss. I go where my nose for news leads me.’ He paused and grinned. ‘That’s a good ’un – a nose for news. I must tell my editor and maybe he’ll up my wages.’

‘Come to the point, man,’ Gabriel said angrily. ‘Why are you here? I thought we’d settled our business.’

A sly smile spread across Christian’s untidy features and Lily noticed for the first time that his nose deviated slightly to one side, as if it had received a hefty punch at some stage in his life, and one eyelid drooped slightly as if he were permanently winking. He licked his full lips as if enjoying himself hugely. ‘That particular transaction was done, but now I’m off on a new tack.’

‘Come away, Gabriel.’ Lily tugged at his sleeve. ‘He’s just trying to annoy you and we have more important things to do than argue with him.’

‘You won’t be interested in what I have to say then.’ Christian leaned against the sea wall with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

‘We’re here on private business,’ Gabriel said coldly. ‘Go about yours and leave us alone.’

Christian tapped the side of his crooked nose. ‘If I was you I’d be trying to book a passage on the next boat crossing the Channel. The birds have flown, guv. They’ll be well on their way to Calais with a fair wind behind them.’

Freeing himself from Lily’s restraining hand Gabriel lunged at Christian, grabbing him by the lapels of his tweed jacket. ‘What are you saying? Out with it or I’ll take great pleasure in flooring you.’

‘Go ahead, mate. It’ll look good on the front page of my paper, that together with the scandal of the wealthy Frenchman’s son seducing a poor girl from Shadwell.’ Christian raised his hands to break Gabriel’s hold. ‘And there’s the matter of Sir Cloudesley Forrest’s latest acquisition. I ain’t seen it yet but my source tells me that
Lily in the Flames
is nothing short of a masterpiece. Seems to me you owe me a debt of gratitude for the name at least, and add your imminent rise to fame with the suicide of your father and we’ve got another front page story.’

Lily was about to speak but a look from Gabriel silenced her. She had never seen him so furious. She would not have blamed him if he had punched
Christian, but he seemed to have his temper under control. ‘What exactly do you know, Smith? You could be making the whole thing up as far as I’m concerned.’

‘Nice try, guv, but my source is employed at Boodle’s. We have an arrangement whereby he passes on juicy snippets that might be of interest to my readers, and he just happened to overhear a conversation between Sir Cloudesley and a gent who answered a description similar to your own. My source, a very reliable person indeed, saw the said painting and immediately recognised the lady as being the very same young person who made the front page of my paper.’

Lily shook her head. ‘That wretched article caused me no end of trouble, but even if what you say is true, it doesn’t explain how you came to follow us here.’

Christian puffed out his chest. ‘That’s where brainwork comes into its own. When Sir Cloudesley gave orders for his carriage to be brought to the front entrance and it was the gent who brought the painting that went off in it, my mate knew there was a story there. He sent a message to me and I thinks to meself, now where would young Mr Faulkner be dashing off to at this time of night?’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘There’s always a lady in it somewhere, and I guessed it was you, miss.’

‘But you couldn’t possibly have known where to find me.’ Intrigued and curious, Lily forgot to be angry.

‘I’ve been keeping an eye on both of you. I went first to Cock and Hoop Yard, and I came across a simpleton by the name of Sally. She told me that you’d gone to a place where they kept big birds on the stairs.
I’d been watching the Larkin family so it weren’t difficult to work out that sweet Sal meant Pelican Stairs. You led me a merry dance but I caught up with you in the end, and when you took off again I knew I was on to a big one.’

Gabriel clenched his fists, but Lily was too caught up in Christian’s story to allow him to put an end to the explanation. ‘Go on, then,’ she said eagerly. ‘How did you know we were following my sister?’

‘Greasing a palm or two at the inns was enough to work out what had happened.’ He held his hand out to Gabriel with a suggestive smirk. ‘It always works, as you know full well, guv.’

‘I may not have the funds to bribe you or to sue you for libel, but Sir Cloudesley almost certainly will put an end to your tittle-tattling, gossip-mongering ways.’

‘Who said anything about bribery?’ Christian demanded. ‘I’ll make more out of this story than you could lay your hands on, mate.’

‘If I were you I’d be wary of offending people in high places,’ Gabriel said coldly. He turned to Lily with an attempt at a smile. ‘Come, my love. We’ll leave this vermin to mix with the other sewer rats.’

Christian’s laughter followed them along the quay as they walked away. ‘I take it you’ll be going to France then. Maybe I’ll follow you, after I’ve sent my story to London, that is. I’m off to the telegraph office now.’

‘He won’t, will he?’ Lily asked anxiously. ‘Things are bad enough without Matt reading it in the newspapers.’

‘He may be bluffing.’

‘But you don’t know that for certain.’

‘No, sweetheart, I don’t. But I’ll send a telegram to Sir Cloudesley and hope to God that he uses his influence with Smith’s editor to put a stop to the whole sorry story.’

‘But what about Molly and Armand?’

‘I’ll book a passage on the next packet boat to Calais.’ Gabriel hesitated, turning to her with a thoughtful frown. ‘But first I’ll take you back to the inn where we stopped to change horses. I’ll send the carriage back to London and you can wait there for me.’

‘Can’t I do something useful, Gabriel? I’m not a helpless little female who has to be cosseted like a child.’