Maiden Lane Page 5

  Timothy cleared his throat in a particularly lawyer-like fashion. “Yes, good, that should help. But John Kneller will be ready. He’ll have a document and paid witnesses.”

  Richard leaned back in his chair. “Could such a document ever be considered legal, considering I was only fourteen at the time?” Richard wondered.

  Timothy’s lips pursed further, as if he’d sucked on a lemon. “Unfortunately, yes. At worst, it’s a contract of marriage. But it could also be considered a precontract.”

  Richard pulled in a sharp breath. “Thus invalidating any subsequent marriage.”

  A chill spread from my toes to the tips of my fingers, via my spine. “That would make Helen illegitimate.” I couldn’t say the word bastard. Not in regard to my beautiful daughter. “And the baby in my womb.”

  Richard reached for my hand again, but this time I needed comfort. His grip was firm, warm and I wanted him to hold me, but he wouldn’t do that here. He hadn’t progressed that far. “It won’t come to that. I swear.”

  He couldn’t promise me that. I shouldn’t let him, but I felt too weak with a new revelation that had hit me with the power of truth. I would kill John myself before I’d allow him to hurt my children. For myself, I’d survive, but not them. And I was sure that Richard felt the same, except he’d probably add me to his burden of responsibility.

  “You could fight it,” Timothy said, “and you would probably win, but it could be a Pyrrhic victory. A case like that in open court would make you all notorious. You have more to lose than he does. Except in monetary terms.”

  Richard nodded. “I agree. It’s the last resort. The gossip would spread, and we’d be the target of public cynosure. The public, en masse, doesn’t much care who tells the truth. They would choose John’s side, the poor, abandoned waif.”

  I snorted. “The evil, conniving one. How can anyone see him as that?”

  Richard smiled as if I’d made a joke. “He’s a very convincing liar, my love. He knows how to manipulate.”

  “So do you.”

  “I won’t stoop to that. In the long run, it wouldn’t prove good for me or for the family.” Only now, when he had a family of his own, did Richard consider the Kerres worth saving, worth defending. A pang of sadness suffused me, but I shook it off. No time for that now. This was a strategy meeting. Emotions could come later, I told myself stoutly.

  “His prominence in society is his defence,” I said. “He knows what you’re capable of, Richard.”

  Richard gave a harsh laugh. “I know that. Otherwise I’d have dealt with him on his arrival.” He glanced at me and I knew he was holding something back. The ultimate solution, something he’d done before. I hoped his innate sense of natural justice would keep him from taking that path. He didn’t have the same respect for the authorities as I did, but he was a member of the part of society that made the laws. My kind upheld it. The arrogance I often witnessed stemmed from that. The King was merely a figurehead, he rarely cared about British affairs and he was growing older and frailer. His son would be different, the first Hanoverian born and bred in England. Interesting times lay ahead.

  Even more interesting ones were happening now.

  “I will fight him legally, to begin with,” Richard said smoothly. “I have more of society with me, and I will be meticulously polite to the boy in public, however without acknowledging anything. I will smile and nod when people comment on the remarkable resemblance, and say nothing that could lead them to assume he belonged to my family. I don’t know yet if he’s serious in his claim, or if he’ll be happy if I pay him off. However I will not give him a pension as I have his sister Susan. He doesn’t need it, and he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Susan!” I had forgotten. “John will be sure to contact her.”

  “I have thought of it, and Carier is informing her of the situation as we speak. She will make her own decision.”

  “As she always has.” Susan had decided to enter the demimonde, but her protector for the last year was a man from the country, and he was keeping her exclusive. I liked him, but thought him too old for her. However Susan’s admittedly normally chilly heart held warmth lacking in her brother, and she seemed fond of her protector. I wouldn’t like her brother to disturb that. But he would approach her, and he knew where she was.

  “I will support the decision she chooses to make.” I knew he would. So would I. Now Richard appeared all business, his emotion entirely covered by the efficient mask he used with friends, not as complete as the one he used in public, but still there. “I hope I can trust you, Timothy, to act for me should it become necessary.”

  “Of course.” No hesitation. Loyalty, or Timothy Dixon’s sense of justice? I didn’t know, but it meant a lot to me that honourable people supported my husband. He needed us. We needed him.

  “Thank you.” Richard got to his feet. “I should do the rounds of the coffeehouses, collect the gossip and maybe spread a little of my own. Nothing definite, just an attitude. I don’t care about this young man, he means nothing to me, but I wish him well. If there are rumours that he visited my mother this morning, I will express surprise. Southwood House is large enough for us not to have met and I could have paid the visit on an entirely different matter. Maybe he wishes my father to sponsor him in some enterprise, I shall say. Is he a musician? Then he would be better approaching me, since my wife is known to be interested in it and is an accomplished player herself.” He raised a brow and stood over me, holding out his hand.

  But I shook my head. “I have another matter to discuss with Alicia. You can stay if you wish,” I added, knowing he’d stay if he knew I wanted him gone. “But it’s about the new parlour maid.”

  “You shouldn’t be concerning yourself with such matters,” he said, frowning.

  I snapped my fingers. “Nonsense, of course I should. The girl is with child. I noticed yesterday when she tried to slide past me in the hall. And she is a little ahead of me, I believe. She could make a good wet-nurse for the baby, but we need to make her respectable or your mother will make trouble.”

  He grinned broadly. “What an excellent idea. If the girl is willing, it will give her security for her baby and a way of ensuring she has a healthy pregnancy.” In better spirits now, he bent and kissed my hand. “Make her respectable by all means, my love.” He bowed to Alicia and waited for Timothy, who decided to accompany him.

  Once they left, Alicia poured us another cup of extremely strong tea, and we sat back more comfortably. Alicia grinned. “A pregnant maid? Do you need to find her a husband?”

  I shrugged. “It was the footman from number ten. I can handle the matter. If he refuses the girl, which he might well do because he’d lose his position, then I’ll invent her a husband, a newly dead one, perhaps in the army. I plan to retire to the country once I’ve given birth and rested for a few days, so she can wait for me there where nobody knows her. No, Alicia, it’s quite another matter I want to discuss with you.”

  She leaned forward, cradling her tea dish between her hands. “Richard.”

  “Indeed.” My tension ratcheted even thinking about the possibilities. “You know what he could do.”

  She nodded but said nothing, waiting for me to explain, although I guessed that she knew already. The taut expression on her face told me as much.

  “He’s done it before. I saw him and supported him. He killed, Alicia, to prevent a situation worsening. The man was already condemned, we had evidence enough to hang him, but if he hanged, his family would have lost everything. Tried and convicted, his estate would have been forfeit to the Crown.”

  “I know how much trouble that family has caused,” Alicia said. “If they found out what he’d done, they’d make his life hell.”

  I nodded grimly. “That’s one reason he mustn’t ever be allowed to kill John. The other is that he’s Richard’s son. Is there a name for the murder of a son?”

  Alicia jerked a nod. “Filicide.” Her expression tightened and I realised she w
as concerned as I was, that Richard would take this step. In time the knowledge of what he’d done would eat at him and ultimately destroy him.

  I wouldn’t allow that. I couldn’t. “I don’t want Richard guilty of that. John knows I’m his weak spot, together with Helen. If anything happens to either of us, Richard won’t show mercy, he won’t hesitate. John set his sights on me last year, so I have no doubt he will try again, especially as I’m pregnant. That makes Richard weaker, in John’s eyes. He will begin in a seemingly civilised way, but if things go poorly for him, he’ll resort to violence or more direct methods.”

  Alicia reached for a pile of papers and slid one out from underneath. I had no idea how she knew where it was. She perused it carefully. “You already have two of our best footmen in your service. I suggest you go nowhere without them. Both of them. I’ll provide another for ordinary household use, if you wish.” She glanced up. “Best to tell him you’re taking precautions.”

  I nodded. That would help to ease Richard’s mind. Thompson’s employed domestics of a very high standard, as well as a box with the names of those prepared to undertake special duties. They included spying and, if necessary, physical assistance in more extreme cases. “Send another. For Richard. What better way to target me than to kill him or put him out of action for a while?”

  Alicia made a note. “Do you think Richard is likely to take matters into his own hands?”

  “His sense of justice has so far stopped him doing that. He prefers to see a criminal brought to justice. John is a criminal, he engaged in smuggling activities in the north and in Devonshire, and he abducted me. That’s enough to bring him to the gallows. But Richard knows that John will damage the family, perhaps tear it apart if he comes to court. Secrets will be exposed, secrets that will damage me. In his eyes, it all comes back to me.” I shrugged. “For my part, I don’t care, as long as Richard is happy. I’d spend the rest of my life in the country apart from society and I could be perfectly happy, but he could not. I want to ensure that Richard doesn’t kill his son. If it comes close, I’ll do it rather than see him suffer.”

  The clock on the wall ticked away and I counted the ticks. Ten until Alicia spoke. “You must not do that. I already have a close watch on John. If he shows any sign of coming near you, I’ll have him diverted.”

  I put down my half-consumed tea dish and stood. “Tell me first. That’s all I ask. I don’t want Richard to act without my knowledge. He’s liable to do something and try to shield me from harm. Especially now. He’s concerned about this pregnancy, and he doesn’t want me to know.”

  “His mother,” she said, her mouth flat with disapproval.

  “Indeed. Feeding him stories of horrendous pregnancies, notably her own. He sees me as immensely fragile right now.” I pirouetted, but had to grab the chair rail afterwards. “Do I look unhealthy to you?”

  A small smile flitted across her features. “You look blooming.”

  I wouldn’t have gone that far.

  She studied me, no smile now. “You seem to be coping very well with this, Rose. Finding out what he did.”

  I gripped the back of the chair. “Not really.”

  She dropped the papers and leaned back in her chair. “I thought so. And you don’t have your sister to confide in.”

  I knew she’d say nothing, not even to Richard or Timothy. I had to tell someone, and she was right. My usual confidante was half a continent away.

  I gathered my thoughts. “Sometimes it’s so hard. I see John, the living embodiment of Richard’s life before he met me. Susan too. It hurts that he had these two before we had Helen, even though he didn’t know about them. How many more children did he sire in his rampage through society? He says none, but can he really know?” Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

  “Men don’t think about future consequences. Especially when they’re young, rich and good-looking.” Alicia had known Richard in those years. I met him just after that time. “He didn’t care for anyone. Anger drove him to revenge himself on the society that drove his brother away and yet still accepted him. You know now that being a twin saved him, made him care.”

  I nodded. Without Gervase, Richard would have had a completely soulless upbringing. He could have ended like others I’d seen, heirs to great estates and responsibilities, with no inner life, nothing of their own save that drive to keep the family fortunes intact, to retain the power they saw as theirs by right. Gervase had tempered that for Richard.

  Alicia continued. “Without Gervase, he lost his humanity for a time. I knew it was there, lurking deep, and so did Carier. Richard didn’t care for the women he used, but in his defence I’d say that most didn’t care for him, either. He didn’t use it with a view to hurting the woman he’d eventually love. He didn’t think that woman existed.”

  That didn’t hurt, because who could foresee the future? I’d imagined a fulfilling if uneventful life with the son of a neighbour, who I loved with a fondness that paled before the passion I felt for Richard. “That’s why I don’t want to talk to him about it. It’s irrational. I shouldn’t care what he did before we met, but I do. Some woman had him before me, he loved another woman first.”

  Alicia surprised me by shaking her head. “No, Rose. He loved no other woman before you. He gave himself to you, and now you bear the responsibility for keeping him safe and happy.”

  I knew that. I’d never forget it.

  Chapter Five

  SEEING STEVEN DRURY again didn’t fill me with joy. He and his wife appeared at an intimate gathering, a matter of around fifty people, at Lady Trussell’s Venetian breakfast, a few days after we visited Alicia. This kind of event, a little racier than a formal ball, where music and dancing were less structured and a great deal of gambling went on, suited the Drurys better. I generally enjoyed this kind of gathering, but sometimes they could degenerate into unseemly and consequently boring affairs, and if that happened, I left. So did Richard, although I had more than once teased him that he wouldn’t have done so in the old days, before he met me.

  “I might have led the revels,” he confessed, smiling, “but still grown bored by them.”

  An intelligent man knows when to move on.

  This gathering was enjoyable but within reasonable levels until I saw the Drurys. As usual, Julia wore a gown so deeply cut it was a wonder her nipples didn’t pop out over the top, and not for the first time I wondered if she used glue or painted over them so they didn’t show. It seemed a miracle that they stayed inside her gown, but maybe they didn’t always do that.

  Steven came over as soon as he saw me to bow over my hand. He fancied himself as one of my court, and although I didn’t encourage such a thing, I supposed I had one. Men attracted by women who were safely married or men who had secrets of their own to conceal frequently formed a small court around one woman. Mine consisted for the most part of male friends rather than suitors, but since our shared experience last year, courtesy of John Kneller, Steven had paid more attention to me than previously.

  Richard wanted me to dismiss him, but I saw a new sensibility in the man who’d courted me once, admittedly mainly for my position in Devonshire society and my modest fortune. Now he had a wealthy wife, but one whose behaviour skated nearer and nearer to unacceptable every year. It said something for my husband that he trusted me enough with a known libertine like Steven, but of course he did, just as I’d have trusted him to share a bed with Julia Drury and not touch her. He’d had the opportunity at one time and turned her down.

  Steven bowed his powdered head over my hand, and his lips touched my skin. Most people only came close, and I preferred it that way, but Steven tended to make a point of it. He rose and met my eyes, his own dark and fathomless. Once those eyes had enchanted me, but now I knew they were only eyes. They didn’t draw me at all. But I smiled and acknowledged him.

  “How are you, Rose?” He made the simple query sound tragic.

  “Very well and very happy,�
� I told him. Not that he would believe it. Since our capture last year and his glimpse of what my husband could do with the power of Thompson’s behind him, he’d conceived an idea of me as downtrodden and overshadowed. It amused me, but to disabuse him would have been to give him more power. I was learning, and one of the things I learned was that misdirection could be a powerful weapon. Our private and close-fought battle with the Drurys was far from over.

  “Of course.” He glanced at Richard, who was currently talking with an old friend on the other side of the room, but he stood so that he could keep me in his sights. At the least sign of my discomfort, he’d excuse himself and come to my side. “Is he treating you well?”

  “As well as he always does.”

  I began to stroll around the room, heading for Richard by a meandering route, but Steven kept by my side instead of taking the hint and moving away. At least my walk took me farther away from his wife.

  “You seem well, Steven.” I deployed my fan. The weather was becoming warmer and the heat of the hundred or more candles that filled the room with blazing light didn’t help. When he moved as if to take my fan from me, I shifted slightly, enough to frustrate his attempt. In doing so, I met his gaze once more and I frowned. “You’re tired?” I had noticed the dark shadows under his eyes and put it down to dissipation, but I looked more closely, something I didn’t do as a matter of course. He’d lost weight. His face seemed spare, more lacking in flesh, and his skin too pale. Steven had dark hair and the shadow of his beard showed under his skin clearer than it used to.

  “I’m not sleeping well.” He gave a harsh laugh. “No, Rose, it’s nothing to do with the way I live. I know that you disapprove, prude that you are, but it’s restlessness.” He shrugged. “I think my more unsavoury but pleasurable pursuits actually help me sleep better, but I haven’t increased what I do in that direction.”