Sally James (16 page)

'What shall we do?' she asked slowly.

'Since I'm awake at this unearthly hour I could do with some coffee,' Darcy said resentfully.

Kate suddenly recalled how hungry she was. 'So could I, and I'm ravenous. I'll find my way to the kitchens and try and make some breakfast, while you get dressed. I hope there'll be some food there.'

'Bound to be,' Darcy said carelessly. 'The servants are due back in a couple of days, anyway, and my man comes in each day to see to me. But he's not due yet.'

Kate nodded, and turned away. 'It'll take me some time to light a fire, so you needn't hurry. Half an hour, I expect.'

'Half an hour?' Darcy gulped. 'My dear girl, I never get dressed in less than an hour, more often two. Especially when my man's not here to help.'

'Well, I'm too hungry to wait,' Kate retorted, and left him to go and explore the basement regions of the house.

Having lit a fire and set a kettle to boil, she opened the shutters which covered the windows, letting in a small amount of light even though they were partly below the level of the garden. Then she went to forage in the larders and emerged with a bowl of eggs and the end of a side of bacon. She soon had slices of succulent bacon sizzling in a pan, and broke several of the eggs into the fat. Finding the coffee, she spooned some into a jug and poured the boiling water on it, then scooped the eggs and bacon onto plates and laid them on a corner of the big kitchen table.

Kate had demolished her share and put Darcy's plate back on the hob to keep warm before he appeared. To her eyes he seemed as immaculately dressed as ever, but he spent several minutes complaining about the manner in which he had been forced to rush.

'What does it matter?' she asked impatiently. 'What are we going to do?'

‘How did you escape from that dragon at your ghastly Academy?'

'I told you last night,' Kate reminded him.

'I couldn't make head nor tail of it,' Darcy confessed.

'Were you drunk?' she asked with interest. 'You didn't seem to be swaying about or anything like that, and anyway, it wasn't late. Oh, never mind, it was like this,' Kate began with a sigh.

She repeated her story, and Darcy was soon chuckling over the way in which she had escaped from the Academy, and applauding her determination not to be forced back there.

'Dreadful Gorgon of a woman,' he agreed, shuddering. 'After she caught us and dragged you back in I came to see what was happening and found she had sent a couple of footmen to search the roads nearby. I only just got away from them.'

'That reminds me, a footman was knocking on the door earlier. What do you suppose he wanted?'

'Probably brought an invitation or something,' Darcy said easily. ‘I'll go and see. Shall we go up into the drawing room, or would it be too cold up there?'

'We could light a fire,' Kate said cheerfully, but Darcy looked so aghast at the notion of carrying coals upstairs that she laughed and said she was quite comfortable down in the kitchen.

A few moments later he returned, a sealed letter in his hand. 'For Amelia, but I don't recognize the writing,' he said, picking up a knife and sliding it under the wafer.

'Ought you to open it if it's for her?' Kate protested.

'Can't find out what it is if I don't,' he replied. 'Oh, don't worry, Amelia asked me to read all her notes, and send them on to her if there was anything very important.'

He opened the single sheet of paper and spread it out on the table, then stiffened suddenly. 'It's from Malvern. Damned cheek!'

'Adam?' Kate gasped. 'Oh, does he know I'm here? How can he? Darcy, what does he say?'

'He doesn't know for certain, but he has the nerve to threaten Amelia with all sorts of reprisals if she dares to harbour you, and keep you hidden from him.'

'Then if he suspects he'll come here again. What can I do? Where can I be safe from him?'

'You'll be safe enough here so long as he thinks the house is empty. That gives us a couple of days to think of some plan. Perhaps I should write to Amelia and she'll come back.'

'But that will take days, and anyway if your mother's ill she won't want to leave her. And I daren't involve her now, if Adam is threatening her,' Kate exclaimed.

'William won't allow her to be threatened,' Darcy said stoutly. 'We'll have to stay here.'

Kate sighed. 'I can't stay here with you, alone,' she said slowly. 'Apart from anything else I have no clothes, they're all at the Academy or Grosvenor Square.'

'They'll be worried about where you vanished to last night,' Darcy said slowly. 'Perhaps that dragon will think you went to Malvern House.'

'They will soon discover that isn't so. But I'm beginning to feel it's the only thing to do, unless I could somehow go back home, to Oxfordshire, and beg one of my friends there to shelter me.' She would throw herself on Diana's mercy, she thought. Diana might be glad of her company while she was expecting her baby.

'That would be foolish, and dangerous,' Darcy said quickly. 'If you really do want a chaperone while you stay here, until Amelia comes home, I could ask my man and his sister to come and stay here. She has a small house in Islington where he lives when I'm in Town. It would be much more comfortable to have someone to do the fires and cook, too.'

Kate thankfully agreed, and Darcy suggested he go there straight away to fetch them.

Kate retreated back to her bedroom and having nothing else to occupy her sat beside the window, swathed in a blanket to keep warm, looking out at the people walking and driving along Park Street.

She had taken the precaution of sitting a little way back from the window so that she could draw out of sight quickly if necessary, but that meant she could see only the far side of the street. When there was another bout of hammering on the door she was so surprised she incautiously opened the window and leaned out to see who it was this time.

'You!' she gasped, meeting the sardonic gaze of Adam Rhydd.

'Me,' he agreed amiably, and stepped back from the shallow steps to look up at her unshuttered window.

'How did you know I was here?' she demanded.

'You are rather predictable,' he pointed out. 'Unimaginative, even.'

'Why can't you leave me alone? I don’t want to marry you, and I won't, however much you try to make me.'

'It's rather indecorous to be conducting this conversation in the street, don't you agree?' he said conversationally. 'Are you going to admit me so that we can talk about our coming nuptials in a civilised, and private manner?'

He indicated the small crowd of onlookers, footmen and maids and a couple of grooms, as well as an elderly man on the steps of the house behind him, who was staring haughtily through a quizzing glass at Kate.

Kate, shaking violently, swiftly withdrew her head and retreated to the far side of the room. She stared in fascinated horror at the window almost as though she expected him to climb up the wall of the house and swing through it.

He hammered once more on the door, then after a few moments Kate heard his quick footsteps fading away. It was some time before she dared peep out of the window again, but when she did he had gone, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

'Though he is bound to do something, he will not permit me to remain here in peace, I know he won't,' she protested to Darcy when he returned some time later.

'What can he do?' Darcy asked. 'He can hardly break in to drag you off by force. Roberts and his sister will be here tonight, as extra protection, and I expect Amelia will be back in a few days. This time we shall be prepared and we won't allow him to carry you off by force as he did before.'

'He will, I know he will,' she persisted, and nothing Darcy could say would convince her otherwise.

'Then if you're afraid to stay here, where you would be perfectly safe so long as no one opened the door to him, perhaps I'd better take you to Yorkshire,' Darcy said at last in some exasperation.

'Where? To Amelia?' Kate asked, renewed hope shining in her eyes. 'Would your mother mind?'

'Of course not. Glad to be of help.'

'But she’s ill.'

'She's always saying she's ill, but it’s usually a hum. She's bored, and some excitement like this will buck her up no end.'

'If you're absolutely sure.'

'It's too late to start today, but I'll go out after dinner and hire a chaise for early in the morning,' Darcy said briskly.

Some time later, as Darcy's man had not appeared, Kate cooked dinner, which she and Darcy ate in the kitchen to save having to make a fire in the dining room as well as the one Kate had insisted on in the drawing room, and then Darcy instructed her in the skills of Piquet.

'When will Roberts and his sister be here?' Kate asked, yawning and looking at the clock which showed eight o'clock.

'Is that the time? They should have been here hours ago,' Darcy said with a frown. 'You're tired, Kate. Go up to bed and when I've ordered the chaise I'll wait up to let them in.'

'What if Adam comes?' Kate asked swiftly.

'He won't, and in any case I'm prepared. Roberts is to give a special knock before I open the door. Do go up, Kate, for we want to set off early tomorrow.'

Kate thankfully complied. She lay sleepless for hours, listening for the door to open to signal Darcy's return, but the house was silent and she did not care to go in search of him in the darkness.

Outside the street was still busy with revellers leaving neighbouring houses or returning home, but gradually even these sounds ceased, and apart from the watchman and the occasional carriage of a lategoer, all was silent.

Kate must have dozed at last, for she awoke with a start to a sharp knock on the door.

'Kate! Are you awake?'

'Darcy? I didn't hear you come back,' she exclaimed, and the recollection of last night swept over her.

'No, I was delayed. But get up now, as quickly as you can, the chaise is waiting. We'll breakfast on the road, there's no time to light fires.'

She lay there for a minute or so, then rose and dressed, shivering, and consoling herself with the thought that she would be able to have hot water at the inns where they would have to stop on their way to Yorkshire

Darcy was waiting in the hall, dressed in riding breeches and a many-caped coat, with a sword strapped round his waist. There were several valises and trunks scattered round him. He looked pale and his eyes were bloodshot.

'You look so tired,' Kate commented.

'Didn't go to bed, too much to do, and I er - I met some friends and had a drink with them. Then I was afraid I'd oversleep if I went for just an hour,' he explained. 'No matter, I can sleep in the chaise.'

'Why do you have a sword?' she asked curiously.

'Just in case we meet highwaymen.'

'Highwaymen?' Kate exclaimed. 'Do you really expect that we might meet a highwayman?'

'Of course not,' he said airily. 'Don't worry, I doubt if we will, especially travelling by day, but it's as well to be prepared.'

'Have you pistols as well? Does the postillion carry them? Can I have one if we are waylaid?' Kate persisted.

'Do stop fretting, Kate, or we'll never get away from London,' he said peevishly, and she shrugged.

‘What's that?' Kate asked, startled, as a thunderous knocking came on the door, and unconscious of her action Kate stepped closer to Darcy and clutched at him, holding her breath as they listened for a repeat of the noise.

'Let go, you'll ruin the set of my sleeve,' Darcy protested.

'It's Adam! It must be,' Kate whispered, staring in horrified fascination at the front door.

'It could be Roberts, he probably got roaring drunk last night and forgot my instructions,' Darcy said, but made no move to go and open the door.

The knocking came again, and once more, and then there was a long silence. After a while Darcy went to peer through a crack in the shutters of the dining room, and reported that there was no one lying in wait for them.

Darcy opened the door and Kate could see the chaise waiting outside. The postillion grumpily helped strap on Darcy's baggage while she glanced anxiously about. A man loitering at the corner turned swiftly away, and for a moment Kate thought it was Martin Shore, but he seemed to be wearing some sort of livery and she dismissed the idea. It was some chance resemblance, the same broad figure, and she was seeing ghosts where none existed. Then Kate was helped into the carriage and they were away.

'Did Roberts ever come back?' Kate asked after a somewhat uneasy silence.

'No, the rascal. Probably decided that he didn't want to have to carry coals and go marketing,' Darcy complained. 'We go through Islington, and I've a good mind to stop there and send the fellow about his business. He never was very good at starching my cravats anyway, and I've heard of a good young fellow looking for a post.'

'But stopping in Islington will take time,' Kate protested.

'You're right, I'll just let him stew. Good job I hadn't paid him his wages for the year yet.'

Kate wondered briefly how Roberts was to manage if he was owed his wages for a whole year, but she had too many worries of her own to concern her, and assumed Darcy would find a way to send the man the money that was owing. She had no desire to delay their flight by halting in Islington to search for a runaway valet.

Irrationally afraid that Adam would be on their heels, she was reluctant to pause even to eat, but Darcy persuaded her to halt long enough for breakfast while they changed horses at an inn at Whetstone.

Afterwards Darcy slumped in the corner of the chaise and slept for most of the time, while Kate huddled into her cloak for warmth and gazed out of the windows at the changing countryside, bleak and rainswept. She was limp from lack of sleep the previous night, but her mind was full of a tangle of whirling conjecture that refused to permit her to rest.

She was still uncertain she had made the right decision, but she could see no other way out of her dilemma. She would not be dictated to by Adam, either to return meekly to Mrs Johnson's Academy, or to agree to marry him. William would be forced to help her. If he didn't, what could she do? Adam would somehow discover her, of that she was certain.