The Lady and the Rake: A Scandalous Arrangement (The Eardleys of Gostwicke Hall Book 1)

by Penelope Redmont

  "Of course not. They won't see much. I'll snatch her off her horse — she won't make a sound, I promise you. We'll be out of the park and in a carriage in a couple of minutes. Five minutes after that, we'll be in the middle of London traffic — no chance of anyone following." Peter looked bored.

  Hexham looked horrified.

  Valerie nodded. "Tomorrow is Wednesday… Lady Linton's ball is on Saturday evening. You'll rescue Miss Eardley on Thursday… Lady Linton will send out messengers to say that the ball is cancelled."

  She called for more tea. After the maid had left the room, she turned to Hexham. "You will follow your routine — behave as you usually do. I know that you call on Miss Eardley almost daily… I doubt whether the family will admit that the girl has gone. They'll want to keep it quiet."

  "What if Linton persists with the engagement, after I rescue Melly?"

  "If he does, we'll make sure the story gets out. Our version of the story, of course, that Miss Eardley spent a night with a lover." Valerie smiled. "Mrs. Grove uses the scandal sheets for her own purposes. I can do that too."

  Abduction

  In the park on Wednesday morning, three horses were ready for them when Melly and Henry left their carriage.

  "Oh good, the horses are here already." Two of Linton's grooms waited with the two hacks Henry would exercise, and an Eardley room held Daisy.

  "Bunny isn't much of a rider," Henry said. "I'm glad that you're riding with me."

  Melly settled her hat securely on her head, and glanced at her sister. Henry complained that Bunny had forced her to ride sedately.

  "You're lucky that Bunny indulged you," Melly said repressively. "You know what Mother said… You're not to ride in the park alone. If Bunny hadn't indulged you, you wouldn't have been able to ride while we were at Newmarket."

  "Hardly alone," Henry grumbled. "Grooms always accompany me."

  "Grooms aren't enough," Melly snapped, exasperated with her sister. Perhaps Catherine was right. Henry need to leave home and go to school, so that she could be around other girls. "You need a chaperone – now go and ride."

  Henry grinned at her and rode way.

  Melly nodded to the Linton grooms to follow her, and focused on Daisy. She leaned down to pat Daisy's neck and soothe her when Daisy danced, wanting to race after the other horses. "Gently sweetheart… I'll let you stretch out in a gallop before we leave the park, I promise," she murmured.

  She smiled when Daisy, a clever horse, settled immediately, and lengthened her stride into her best walking gait. If she were human, her walk would be a proud strut. "Show off," Melly said and laughed out loud.

  Her smile soon faded.

  Melly couldn't stop thinking about Saturday, and Lady Linton's ball. When the ball was over, her betrothal to Lord Linton would be known everywhere. She had two days to think about what she would do.

  She couldn't cry off. Any reason she might give would sound ridiculous. The woman was a courtesan — she had been Linton's mistress. Everyone knew that. Still, that was hardly a reason to ditch Linton. She reminded herself sternly that she wasn't marrying Lord Linton, and that she would see little of him during their betrothal…

  Far better to pretend to be happy in her betrothal, have her season, and then cry off later.

  To take her mind off her obsessive thinking, she nudged Daisy into a trot, and then into a slow canter.

  At this hour of the morning, there were few other riders in the park.

  In the distance she saw a groom exercising two horses. The horse he was riding bucked and almost unseated him. However, he managed to keep hold of the lead rope of the other horse, and after a scramble to regain his balance, stayed in the saddle.

  She grinned when she heard the groom's loud curses, and took a deep breath. The morning mist had long since burned off and the sun was pleasant.

  After a few minutes, she slowed Daisy into a trot again, then to an extended walk, releasing the reins so that she had no contact with Daisy's mouth and the horse could relax. Daisy was a pleasant hack and obeyed Melly's commands instantly. Daisy knew that before they left the park, Melly would allow her to have a brief gallop. In the meantime, she was happy to amble.

  Suddenly Daisy lifted her head and neighed.

  Millie looked around, but Henry had vanished, and the groom who was exercising the two horses had vanished too. She was alone. Why had Daisy neighed?

  The next events happened quickly. Melly heard hoofbeats, and turned her head to see who it was. She fumbled her attempts to gather up the reins as she did so.

  A large man on a large hunter pounded towards her — no, he was riding right at her — why? She had no time to yell at him before the horse crashed into Daisy.

  Before she had a chance to react, Melly was seized, tugged off her horse, then slammed across the withers of the hunter. A solid hand pinned her in place.

  What was happening? She had no chance to scream. She couldn't get her breath.

  "Be calm ma'am," a deep voice said. "Just a few moments and we'll be in a carriage and you can be comfortable again."

  Melly watched the ground rush past as the horse thundered into a gallop. She knew she would fall… She had to breathe…

  "Take her," the big man said as soon as the horse slowed, then stopped.

  He grabbed Melly's hair and yanked. Before she hit the ground another man caught her and tossed over his shoulder.

  Finally she snatched a breath. The man was running with her. She bounced up and down on his shoulder. Her hat had long gone, and her hair tumbled down towards the ground.

  "In you go."

  Melly squeaked when the man carrying her suddenly stopped, knelt so that she tipped onto the ground, then grabbed her waist, and tossed her into a carriage.

  Henry

  Henry's mount neighed, then tried to rear. "Stop it!" She tapped the horse's rump with her riding crop and nudged him sharply with her heel as soon as he had four hooves on the ground. "What's the matter with you?" She asked in disgust. "You've had a gallop, and your groom will let you nibble the grass when we get back to him — settle!"

  The hack, a young gelding which Linton's stable master was schooling as a town horse, tried to rear again, so Henry turned him in a tight circle while soothing him with her voice.

  Suddenly Henry heard the thunder of hooves. She looked up to see a horse and rider pounding towards her. Her mount had heard the other horse long before she did, and because the oncoming horse was running, his fear told him he was in danger, and that he needed to run too.

  "What…" It took all her strength to keep her mount from bolting. She kept the circle tight, so that he couldn't lift his head.

  Then the horse galloped past her, with his rider bent over something on his horse's withers.

  Henry blinked, and realized what that something was — Melly, slung over the rider's horse. All she could see of her sister was the skirt of her burgundy riding habit, but it was her, she knew it.

  Her body took over. She adjusted the reins and straightened her body until she and her horse were facing in the direction of the fleeing horse and rider… and Melly. "Go!" She urged.

  Obligingly, her hack followed the other horse, plunging into a fast canter, then into a flat gallop.

  After a mile, Henry knew that she was too late. When she reached the park gates, she saw a carriage pulling out of the park, but there was no sign of the galloping rider, nor Melly.

  She was sure that the man had had Melly on his horse.

  The man had turned his head as he flashed past. She didn't know him, but she would know him again.

  Turning back the way she'd come, she pressed the hack into another gallop.

  Maybe she was mistaken. She hadn't seen Melly's face. Perhaps Melly was still in the park?

  Melly's groom's arms were folded with disapproval when she raced her horse at him. "Have you seen my sister?" Henry yelled before he had a chance to remonstrate with her. She kicked her foot from the stirrup and slid off her hors
e. "I think someone's taken her."

  He gaped at her. "What are you saying ma'am? And where are Lord Linton's grooms?"

  "I'm saying that my sister has been abducted — I think. Come on, we'll find the grooms. We need to find Melly — perhaps she's still in the park."

  Henry found Melly's hat. She also found Linton's grooms with the second hack.

  Neither of them had seen her sister, nor Daisy.

  Her own groom was upset."She was riding, ma'am," the Eardley groom said, not meeting her gaze. "When I told Miss Melly I warn't well, she told me to sit in the sun… nothing's ever happened before." He'd blanched, his eyes huge.

  Lord Linton's two grooms glared at him. The older of the two took charge. "Come on now, ma'am — we'll see you to your carriage. You go on home. We'll tell his lordship. He'll know what to do, because I don't."

  Henry refused to go home. She insisted that she must speak to Lord Linton herself. Yes, the groom was right, he would know what to do… She dreaded to think what Catherine would say when she reached Eardley House. Catherine didn't approve of her exercising Linton's hacks.

  "No ma'am," the older groom said firmly. "Your family will be concerned. You must go home — we'll find Miss Eardley."

  Everything seemed unreal to her. Was it a prank? Had Melly really been abducted from the park? Who would do such a thing?

  The cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, and her trembling hands, told her that this was no prank.

  12. The hunt

  Linton considered himself a man of reason. His first inclination had been to believe that it was all a mistake. Mel abducted? That wasn't possible. Things like that didn't happen.

  His grooms had found Daisy. The horse was quietly cropping the park's grass, and wasn't injured.

  Had Mel been thrown? Or had Henry witnessed Mel's abduction? Horses were unpredictable. More than one expert rider had been killed in a fall from a horse. All it took was — he forced himself to stop thinking the worst. Mel had fallen from her horse, that was all. By now, someone had come to her aid, and she was on her way home in a carriage.

  She'd be shaken, or at worst she might have broken an arm — again, he stopped his mind wandering down those avenues.

  He went directly to the park, and set his footman and gardeners to searching it thoroughly, all the while hoping for a message from Eardley House to say that Mel was at home.

  After an hour, he told his men to keep searching. He went to Eardley house.

  Catherine was waiting for him. She knew that he hadn't found Melly as soon as she saw his face.

  She led him into the drawing room. "I sent Henry to her rooms. She wanted to go back to the park, but I won't have that. She forgets herself."

  Although she was pale, Catherine was in complete control. "She said that she saw the man who took Mel…" She paused for a moment, and cleared her throat. "I've asked her to draw the man's face… I didn't know what else to do, and it will occupy her."

  "Your mother?"

  "Thank heavens for small mercies… Mother and Anne left early for Kingston House, then they're joining friends on a jaunt to Richmond Park. They'll be gone all day, so we've time to find Melly before Mother knows she's missing."

  Linton assured Catherine that he would find Melly.

  She nodded, believing him. Then he headed back to the park. He'd send a footman to Sir Robert. His friend occasionally rode in the park in the early hours. He'd know the other early riders who frequented the park.

  In his carriage, he forced his mind to clear. There had to be a simple explanation. Had Mel been abducted? If she had, that was a death sentence for her abductors.

  Then he recalled that Mel's attitude to him had changed after Newmarket. After seeing him with Lady Ashby.

  Lady Ashby. If Mel had been kidnapped… She couldn't be involved, could she? He directed his coachman to Half Moon Street.

  When Linton stepped from his carriage, he saw another carriage drawing away from Lady's Ashby's front door. Who was it? To give himself time to find out, he adjusted his cravat and cuffs, and spoke with his footman. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the carriage turn.

  As the carriage rolled past, the man looked up and met his gaze, then looked quickly away.

  Hexham? What did Hexham have to do with Lady Ashby?

  Linton didn't like the thoughts which came to him.

  Valerie didn't keep him waiting long. She tripped into the room a few minutes after he'd arrived. He knew immediately that she was involved. The knowledge hit him like a punch to the stomach.

  "I can forgive a lot my lady, but I won't forgive this. Tell me at once what you've done with Mel."

  Her eyes widened. "Melisande Eardley? What do you mean?" She paused. "Well Randall? I do believe that you're accusing me of something."

  "Mel was abducted from the park this morning. Just a couple of hours ago. I warn you, if she comes to harm, I will hold you personally responsible, and I'll see that you swing at the end of a rope. I'm not joking."

  "Abducted? I'm so sorry, I hope that you find her." Her tone was mendacious in the extreme.

  He forced himself to be calm. "You know who did this and you know where she is," he said softly. He made no attempt to keep the anger from his tone. "I've never laid hands on a woman, and I won't start now — but don't place too much temptation in my way."

  Her smile mocked him. "I used to be very fond of you Randall, but I admit that I'm becoming a less fond of you by the minute. This is a side of you that I've never seen – I never imagined that you, of all people, would become hysterical."

  He glared. She aimed to bait him, but he gritted his teeth, and refused the invitation. He couldn't manhandle her, no matter how much she wished to shake her until she rattled.

  Her smile contained malicious satisfaction. "Do you know, I thought that you would marry me."

  He was startled. "What?"

  "Precisely," she said drily, and her smile faded. "I once imagined that I loved you. And even that you loved me, in some small way. You had to marry, and I was there – so why not me? We were well-suited, you and I."

  "Suited? Madame, you're insane."

  "Leave my house."

  He hesitated for a long moment. She met his gaze defiantly.

  Finally he turned on his heel and left the small house for fear that his anger would overcome him.

  Hexham. At least he could beat a confession out of him, which was more than he could do to Lady Ashby.

  Hexham wasn't at home, but the butler told Linton that he spent his mornings at White's. On his way there, Linton collected Sir Robert, who was riding in the direction of the park.

  "What on earth has happened?" Sir Robert climbed into Linton's carriage, then leaned out the window and directed his groom to take his horse home.

  He turned to face Linton, who was seated opposite. "A footman said that Miss Eardley has been abducted from the park – that can't be right."

  "I begin to think that it is right," Linton said. Quickly he explained to Sir Robert that Melly was not in the park. If she had fallen from her horse, someone would have found her. "Henrietta believes that she saw Mel slung across the withers of a horse. Catherine instructed her to create a drawing of the man's face. That may help, if we need to get the Runners involved."

  Finally he explained that he had visited Lady Ashby, and that he was certain that she was involved in a plot with Hexham to abduct Melanie.

  Sir Robert shook his head. "I can't believe it. That's not possible."

  Linton was silent. It was possible. He knew that now.

  He been sadly mistaken in Lady Ashby. He'd imagined that she was a silly woman, if he gave her any thought at all, aside from the hours he spent with her. She'd satisfied his baser needs, and he'd been grateful to her for that. He hadn't held back in the amount of money he had spent on her, but he realized that he hadn't given her jewelry and a house for her sake, but for his own pride.

  He was paying for that pride now. "Let's find Hexham.
He's involved with this… I'm convinced of it."

  A confession

  Hexham wasn't at White's. Linton and Sir Robert visited another couple of clubs of which he was a member, but Hexham wasn't there either. Finally Linton decided that they would wait for him at his home.

  Hexham's butler showed them into the drawing room without comment. He asked deferentially whether they would like some refreshment. Sir Robert asked for brandy, and Linton nodded.

  They didn't have long to wait.

  Ten minutes later, Hexham entered the room. "Lord Linton, and Sir Robert," he said. "This is an honor…"

  "Lady Ashby confessed," Linton said blandly. "Take us to Mel."

  Linton watched the blood drain from Hexham's face. If he'd had any doubts that Hexham was involved, they were resolved now. He waited.

  "You know." Hexham stumbled, then righted himself.

  "Where is Mel?"

  Hexham shook his head. Then he seemed to deflate.

  Linton released his breath in relief that Hexham had wilted, and wouldn't give them additional trouble.

  "I'm waiting for Peter Partridge to let me know where to pick her up," Hexham said finally.

  Linton glanced at Sir Robert, whose mouth had dropped open.

  "When do you expect this message?" Linton asked.

  "Not until tomorrow. That was the point of it do you see," Hexham explained hurriedly. "It wasn't my idea. I tried to talk them out of it. In fact, once I discovered that Valerie had gone through with the plan, and that Partridge had abducted Miss Eardley, I made up my mind that I would speak to you. There was nothing else for it… do you see?"

  He couldn't get the words out fast enough. "I thought she was joking. I didn't think she would go through with it at all." He ran his hands through his hair, and wouldn't look at them, pacing around the room in a circle.

  "Sit down," Linton snapped. "Take hold of yourself, man. Calm yourself and tell the truth — Has Mel been harmed?" Linton managed to keep his voice low and his tone steady. They had to recover Mel as soon as possible and this creature knew where she was. Nothing else mattered. He would take his revenge later, when Mel was safe.