Lady Allerton's Wager (26 page)

‘I heard him,’ Beth said hurriedly. ‘Unfortunately, I did not feel well enough to receive visitors.’

Charlotte was looking at her thoughtfully. ‘Well, perhaps tomorrow? It may help in the hunt for Kit if we share our information.’

Beth shook her head stubbornly. ‘I do not wish to see Lord Trevithick, Charlotte. I will not be at home.’

A frown furrowed Charlotte’s brow. ‘But, Beth, why—?’

‘Please…’ To her horror, Beth felt the weak tears rise in her throat. ‘I do not wish to speak of Lord Trevithick!’ And once again she hurried from the room before Charlotte could remonstrate with her.

On the next day she was as good as her word. When Marcus called she refused to see him and had the satisfaction if hearing him storm from the house, slamming the door behind him. Beth knew she was being cowardly in avoiding him, and when Charlotte returned from her walk with Justin, she told Beth so in no uncertain terms.

‘As though things were not difficult enough as they
are,’ Charlotte scolded. ‘Really, Beth, have you quarrelled with Trevithick again? Because, if so—’

‘Please!’ Beth said quickly. ‘Charlotte, please do not!’

In desperation she put on her coat, hat and gloves and called the carriage to take her to Gough’s chambers in Holborn. The man of business had nothing new to impart, but at least Beth felt that she was doing something useful and it took her away from Charlotte’s too-perceptive questioning.

It was as she was leaving the building that she saw the Earl of Trevithick across the street, with Eleanor by his side. Beth’s heart began to race. Just seeing him again was dreadful. He looked tired and worn and Beth wanted to rush across the street and fling herself into his arms.

They were taking a farewell of a gentleman whom Beth took to be the Earl’s man of business, Gower. She had forgotten that he and Gough had rooms so close to one another and cursed herself for not thinking of it. Even as she made to turn away, Marcus saw her, exchanged a quick word with Eleanor and then set off across the street towards her. Quick as a flash, Beth jumped into her coach, without even pausing to thank Gough for his help. She was aware of similar looks of astonishment on the faces of both Gough and Marcus, though Marcus’s look was decidedly more threatening. Before she could give the order to drive off, he had swung open the carriage door.

‘Lady Allerton!’

Beth adopted her most haughty tone. It was the only way she could keep her voice from shaking.

‘Lord Trevithick?’

Marcus was looking puzzled and annoyed. It made Beth want to cry.

‘Will you step down and speak with me, ma’am?’

‘No!’ Beth snapped. ‘I do not wish to, my lord!’

She saw Marcus flinch and it gave her a pain inside. He still looked more bewildered than angry, which only made Beth feel worse about the way she was treating him.

‘Is this because of what has happened, ma’am?’ he asked with constraint. ‘Your cousin’s behaviour—’

‘It has nothing to do with that!’ Beth said stonily. She wished that he would not persevere in questioning her, for she was sure that she would burst into tears in a moment.

‘Then it must be the change in our own circumstances,’ Marcus persisted, running a hand through his tumbled dark hair. He looked cross and confused. ‘You have every right to be angry at the changes this has necessitated, Beth, but at the least let us discuss the matter.’

Although it was only what Beth had expected, the confirmation hit her like a blow. She tried to tell herself that it was no surprise, that she had known since Fairhaven that Marcus no longer wished them to marry, but she could not be reasonable about it. She felt herself shake with the shock and misery.

‘I do not believe that we can speak with each other again, Lord Trevithick,’ she said, as firmly as she could. She avoided Marcus’s eye. ‘It would not be appropriate!’

She saw his gaze narrow furiously on her. ‘Inappropriate, ma’am? I never heard such nonsense! Shall I remind you just how inappropriate your behaviour has been with me?’

Beth shrank back. ‘I would be obliged if you would leave me alone, sir! We have nothing more to say to each other!’

For what seemed like an age Marcus’s gaze searched her face, then he stood back abruptly. ‘Very well! You always were very attached to the idea of the feud between our families, were you not? If you are determined to pursue it, then I shall not oppose you! Good day to you, ma’am!’

The door swung closed. Beth leant back against the cushions and closed her eyes, but the tears slid out from beneath her lids. She had burned her boats now and, although she knew there was no alternative, she felt more desolate than she had ever done before.

Beth was down early for breakfast the next day, for she was intending to tell Charlotte of her plan to return to Mostyn Hall. It was the second week of January and seemed an appropriate enough time for a new start, except that it was not always possible to leave the past behind entirely. Beth needed no reminder that she would be taking a substantial keepsake of the past few months with her.

Her cousin was already at the table, looking fresh and pretty in a yellow and white striped dress, her hair confined in a matching bandeau. Her face was radiant and Beth felt decidedly wan in comparison. She slid into the seat opposite.

‘Charlotte,’ she began, ‘I have decided to go back to Mostyn tomorrow—’ She broke off as Charlotte lifted the lid off one if the serving dishes and placed it carefully on the sideboard behind. Beth stared at the devilled kidneys with fascinated repulsion.

‘It always was Kit’s favourite,’ Charlotte was say
ing despondently, ‘and I had no heart to tell Cook that I could not eat it. I believe that the servants are as upset as we are over Kit’s unaccountable disappearance—’

Feeling an uprush of nausea, Beth pressed a hand over her mouth and got hastily to her feet. ‘Excuse me, Charlotte!’

She only just managed to gain the shelter of her room in time; after she had been sick, she washed her face and peered dispiritedly at her reflection in the mirror. She looked dreadful, her face as pasty as parchment and her hair hanging damp and lifeless about her face. She still felt sick and dizzy, and went over to the bed to lie down.

There was a knock at the door.

‘Beth?’

Beth closed her eyes in despair. She felt too wretched to curse the kind nature that prompted Charlotte to check up on her, but she would have given anything for her cousin not to see her just now. But it was too late. Charlotte had opened the bedroom door and was advancing towards the bed with a determined expression. She sat down next to Beth with a soft hush of silk skirts.

‘Beth, how long have you been sick like this?’

Beth looked at her cousin and swiftly away. There was a knowledge in Charlotte’s eyes that meant that she needed no explanations. With a sinking heart Beth acknowledged that she would never lie to her anyway, not to Charlotte, her dearest friend.

‘Only a few days,’ Beth said weakly. ‘I feel wretched.’ A tear squeezed from the corner of each eye and slid down her cheeks. Charlotte took her hand.

‘You will feel better soon,’ Charlotte said, in a practical voice. ‘After twelve weeks the sickness generally improves—’

‘Charlotte—’

Charlotte shook her head slightly. ‘Oh, Beth, I may not have had any children of my own yet, but I saw many born on campaign! I know about all sorts of things, from how to deliver a baby to the best cures for the morning sickness—’

‘Not just the morning!’ Beth said dolefully.

Charlotte smiled. ‘No, well, it takes some people that way, unfortunately! But there are remedies.’ She leant forward and gave her cousin a gentle hug. ‘Thank you for not trying to pretend that you had travel sickness, or had eaten something disagreeable…’

Beth burst into tears. ‘Oh, Charlotte…’

‘I know.’ Her cousin gentled her.

‘I’m so unhappy and confused! I cry all the time and I hate it!’

Charlotte laughed a little shakily. ‘Yes, it is so unlike you! It was one of the first things that alerted me—that and your persistent refusal to speak of Lord Trevithick! Beth…’ she put her cousin away from her a little ‘…what happened?’

Beth sniffed, reaching for a handkerchief. ‘I would have thought that that was obvious, Charlotte!’

‘Yes, well…I mean…’ Charlotte hesitated. ‘But how…?’

Beth sighed. ‘I am sorry, Charlotte. I did not mean to be flippant! Marcus did not seduce me, if that is what you mean.’ A shade of colour came into her pale face. ‘It just happened. I became his mistress…I
chose to do so, there was no coercion! Quite the reverse…’

Charlotte frowned. ‘But I thought—we all thought—that Lord Trevithick intended marriage! Justin was quite certain of it.’

Beth winced. ‘Well, we are betrothed, or at least we were—’ She stopped and started again. ‘Marcus always intended that we should be married on Fairhaven, but then his cousin the vicar was absent, so it could not be. So then we planned to marry at Mostyn after Christmas—’ she swallowed a sob ‘—but now this business with Kit and Eleanor has ruined our plans and we are not to marry after all and I certainly did not intend—’ She gestured vaguely.

‘Your planning does not seem very good all round!’ Charlotte said drily. ‘And I would venture that you have not even told Trevithick that you are increasing!
That
is why you keep avoiding him.’

Beth clutched at the bedspread. ‘You will not tell him—’

‘No,’ Charlotte said, sounding sterner than Beth had heard her in a long time. ‘You will tell him yourself!’

Beth shook her head. Her eyes sought Charlotte’s. ‘Oh, Lottie, I cannot. Not because I am afraid—’ she spoke quickly as she saw Charlotte was about to interrupt ‘—but because I know he will insist on marrying me! He is too honourable to do otherwise!’

‘So I should hope—’

‘No, please!’ Beth twitched the material between her fingers. ‘I could not bear to be married to Marcus simply because of the baby! I love him so much and I would always be thinking that he had only proposed to save my reputation!’

Charlotte frowned. ‘Beth, you are not thinking straight! Marcus has already proposed to you—why, you were betrothed on Fairhaven! Of course he wants to marry you! There is no difficulty—’

Beth shook her head. ‘Yes, there is! The matter of Kit’s dishonour—’

‘Oh, fie!’ Charlotte was starting to look really cross now. ‘Are you to martyr yourself because of my foolish brother? I know it is the most monstrous scandal, but it is not your fault!’

Beth turned her face away. ‘You said yourself that someone in Trevithick’s position, with the honour of his family to uphold, could not possibly even speak with us any more, let alone consider a marriage alliance!’

‘I…’ Charlotte hesitated. ‘I know that I said that before, but this puts a different complexion on the matter…’ She fell silent.

Beth turned her head tiredly on the pillow. ‘No, you were correct, Charlotte. Before he left Fairhaven, Marcus told me that the marriage could not go ahead. There is no more to be said!’

Charlotte put her hands on her hips. ‘Have you discussed this properly with him, Beth? I thought that you had not even done the Earl the courtesy of seeing him!’

‘I have told Marcus that I do not want to see him ever again—’ Beth’s voice broke on the words. ‘It is better this way! I cannot see him again, for I would not be able to keep the secret of my condition from him!’

Charlotte looked stubborn, but she did not argue. ‘So what will you do?’ she asked quietly, after a moment.

Beth looked at her defiantly. ‘I shall go back to Devon just as soon as I can manage it. Tomorrow, perhaps, if I am well enough to travel! There is nothing I can do to help find Kit, and should Marcus discover my situation…’

‘Beth, he find out soon enough! You cannot hope to give birth to Marcus Trevithick’s child without the most immense scandal!’

Beth looked mulish. ‘I shall deal with that as and when it happens!’

Charlotte got to her feet. ‘Well, we shall see. For myself, I think you are speaking a deal of nonsense, but we shall not quarrel now! I will go to fetch you some dry toast. It may sound odd, but it will make you feel better!’

Charlotte had been down to the kitchen, fetched the toast and was about to knock on the door of Beth’s room again when she heard a sound from within. She paused. It sounded as though Beth was crying again, and in an intense, heartbreaking way that suggested that to disturb her would be too cruel. With a heavy heart, Charlotte retraced her steps and went to sit in the drawing room whilst she tried to think.

She sat down in an armchair with a heavy sigh. She did not doubt that Beth loved Marcus deeply, for her cousin had never shown any interest in casual love affairs. Charlotte had always thought Beth too impulsive, too unguarded, and had wanted to protect her cousin. Now she could see that Beth had given her heart and herself where she loved, and was set to be dreadfully hurt because she believed that her marriage to Marcus could not go ahead.

Charlotte sighed again. She was utterly convinced
that her cousin would do exactly as she had said, and would run away to Devon without seeing the Earl of Trevithick again. Obstinate, headstrong and in this situation just plain wrong…Charlotte smiled sadly. She loved Beth for all her faults and she was determined not to allow her to make so terrible a mistake. The issue of Kit’s dishonour was a powerful one, but surely not enough to keep Marcus from Beth’s side once he knew the truth.

Charlotte frowned as she thought it over. Beth’s obstinacy was clear, but what was Marcus’s view? Surely if he had become concerned to sever all connections between the Mostyns and Trevithicks, Justin would have told her. Yet not only was Justin as ardent in his attentions as ever, but he had also brought messages from his cousin, the Earl, showing that Marcus was anxious to see Beth as soon as possible. To Charlotte’s mind, that was not the behaviour of a man who wished to break his engagement.

She drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. Beth had said that Marcus had told her the wedding would not take place, but Charlotte wondered if Beth had misunderstood. In the rush and distress of their parting it would have been all too easy to misconstrue his words, and after that they had never discussed the matter properly. And now Beth had told Marcus some cock-and-bull story about not wishing to see him again and his pride had no doubt prevented him from persisting. They were apart and unhappy. Charlotte tutted to herself. Really, they deserved each other! But she could not let them suffer…