First Season / Bride to Be

by Jane Ashford

  “I think that is admirable,” Emily blundered on. “It shows true courage and, er, initiative, don’t you think?”

  “Umm.”

  “He is quite at home in society, too. He knows everyone.”

  “Does he?”

  And someone is plotting to kill him, and I want to find out who, so I agreed to an engagement when my aunt found me sleeping in his arms. No, it didn’t sound good. Emily stole a look at her mother. She wasn’t afraid she would be scandalized. Quite the opposite, actually. She would undoubtedly feel that nothing warranted a forced marriage, and the whole thing should be called off as soon as possible. Despite everything, Emily didn’t want that.

  “But, my dear…”

  “So he is just everything I want in a man.”

  “You make it sound like a recipe,” objected her mother.

  “I’m not like you. I don’t get swept away by great gusts of feeling.” It was true, Emily thought, with a brush of melancholy.

  Her mother frowned. “You have always been such a practical, self-possessed girl,” was the worried response.

  Emily almost smiled. “Some parents would find that reassuring.”

  “We love you very much, Emily. And we want to see you happy—as happy as we have been.”

  “Perhaps that isn’t possible,” she muttered.

  “What?”

  “I’m sure I’ll be very happy,” she declared.

  “But the way you speak of…” They were interrupted by her father’s voice, bellowing Olivia’s name. “Oh dear.”

  Her expression alarmed Emily. “What has Papa been doing?”

  “Talking to Lord Warrington. At least, I hope that is all he has been doing.”

  Emily rose in consternation. But before she could make another move, her father burst into the room looking plaintive. “I can’t make him out,” he complained. “He don’t seem to give a farthing for…”

  “What did you do to him?”

  The intensity in her voice seemed to gratify both of Emily’s parents. They exchanged a glance.

  “I didn’t do anything. You should see him, Olivia. You’re much better at ferreting out…”

  “I will see him.” Emily started for the door. “You stay here.”

  In a flurry of skirts, she was gone.

  “Well, that’s more like it,” said Alasdair.

  * * *

  Emily peered into four empty rooms before she found Richard in the small back parlor. He was standing by a window looking undecided when she burst in and came to a sudden halt just inside the door. “Oh, there you are.” Having achieved her object, Emily could think of nothing else to say.

  “Here I am,” he agreed.

  He always looked so at ease. It was admirable, and rather irritating. “I hope my father did not…” Did not what? Of course he had ranted and accused and done all the other things that had made any young man she encountered think they were all mad.

  “He is a very interesting man,” replied Richard. “I envy him his passion for his work.”

  “You do?”

  He nodded. “It is a gift—to know so clearly what you wish to do, and to concentrate every faculty upon it.”

  This sort of reaction was unprecedented in Emily’s experience. She couldn’t quite believe it. “He didn’t shout at you?”

  Richard shrugged. “Oh, yes, a bit. More last night, you know.”

  She certainly did. “And you… Didn’t you mind?”

  “It seems to be just part of what he is,” was the astonishing response.

  Her mouth was a little open, Emily realized. She closed it.

  “Perhaps it comes of being an artist.”

  Maybe being in London, in her aunt’s house, had muted her father’s usual outrageous behavior. Then she remembered the smashed easel. That wasn’t it.

  “I’m glad you came down. I wanted to speak to you,” Richard added.

  For some reason, Emily’s pulse accelerated.

  “About what you said last night—these rumors you mentioned. I suppose I shall have to look into them.” He grimaced. “Ridiculous as the idea still seems.”

  “You were attacked—”

  “I’ve conceded the point. If you will just tell me where to find these friends of yours.” She started to speak, and he waved her to silence. “And don’t tell me again that you cannot say.”

  “I can’t.” Daniel would be furious. “I’ll find out if they’ve learned anything else and tell you at once.”

  “Unacceptable.”

  “I won’t betray them to you.”

  “Betray? What am I, the Inquisition?” He frowned at her. “Just who are these people? They are beginning to sound rather unsavory.”

  Emily gave a small shrug.

  “What would your father say if he knew you were associating with dubious characters?”

  She couldn’t restrain a laugh.

  Richard raised one dark brow. “Ah. I suppose they are friends of his.” He surveyed her. “Perhaps I should ask him about them, then?”

  Her hand went out in an involuntary gesture. “No!”

  “Ah?”

  “You mustn’t tell him about…any of this.”

  “Because he would prevent you from seeing these ‘friends’?” He watched her. “No, I can see that isn’t it.”

  “If he knows about the attacks, he might find out about other things as well.”

  “What other…?” Richard appeared to understand suddenly. “About the true nature of our engagement, perhaps?”

  She avoided his eyes. Silence lengthened. Finally, when she could stand it no longer, she looked up. He was gazing at her as if she fascinated him.

  “I am beginning to have serious doubts about you.”

  “What?”

  “You do understand that I have no fortune whatsoever. In fact, I can scarcely support a household of my own. It will be a very poor one.”

  “I don’t care…” began Emily, then was stopped by the expression on his face.

  “I am not known as a pleasant or a generous man.” His scrutiny intensified.

  She tried to keep her expression blank.

  “Yes, I can see that you’ve heard that.”

  He was watching her as the hawk does a rabbit. She needed to say something sensible, Emily thought, to divert him. But nothing occurred to her.

  “So, we have a man of uncertain temper and no resources. And we have a beautiful young woman who is likely to attract many admirers.”

  She glanced at him, and quickly away. The look in his eyes was making her breathless.

  “Miss Crane, precisely why did you become engaged to me?”

  She looked down. “The…the scandal. My aunt said…”

  “Yes. She alarmed us both with her hysteria over the scandal, didn’t she?”

  Emily risked another look. He seemed exhilarated, like a man on the trail of a promising quarry.

  “Or did she?” He was staring as if he wanted to see right through her. “When you first came to London, you took instruction from the duchess.”

  “She knows all about society,” Emily protested, understanding just how the fox feels.

  Richard was nodding. “She does indeed. And so you followed her advice.” He looked triumphant. “And it was a dead bore, wasn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “No?” He shook his head. “I couldn’t fathom the difference in you—from the decisive young woman I met in the country to a simpering ninnyhammer.”

  “I was not!”

  “Oh, you were.” He smiled mockingly at her. “I assure you, you were.”

  “Young ladies of fashion…”

  “Are simpering ninnyhammers. I will certainly grant you that. And the duchess would be just t
he person to mold one.” Richard looked as if he were having a wonderful time. “So you found it a dead bore. And you fixed on these…incidents.”

  “Attacks,” corrected Emily.

  He made a dismissive gesture. “And you began to think about them, because they were vastly more interesting than a London season.”

  “I enjoy going into society. Having new gowns and meeting new people.”

  “You did for a while.” He smiled at her. “A short while.”

  Emily tossed her head. “You know nothing about it.”

  “Don’t I?” His smile was more like a grin now. “So you asked these mysterious friends for help, and busied yourself in other ways. And then there was the carriage accident.”

  “Attack,” she corrected again. She was beginning to be angry at his teasing.

  He nodded. “And the night in the fields.”

  He looked a little self-conscious then. Emily felt her cheeks warm at the memory.

  Richard cleared his throat. “The duchess reacted predictably. And you accepted my suit.” His gaze sharpened. “Why?”

  “She told me I would be ruined if…”

  “Yes, yes.” He brushed this aside. “I cannot believe that Alasdair Crane’s daughter would give a snap of her fingers for that.”

  “Let him find out about it, and see how wrong you are!”

  He digested this. “Well, yes. But it was extremely unlikely that he would find out. Your aunt would never tell him, and he sees no one in society.”

  “Someone would have told my mother,” she protested. But she knew it sounded weak.

  “Possibly. But from what I have seen of your mother, she would be inclined to listen to your side of the story. And she appears eminently capable of handling your father.”

  There was no denying this.

  “You wanted to stay on the trail of the attacks,” he mused. “And it would have been almost impossible to do so unless…” He watched her with deepening fascination. “Do you have the slightest wish to marry me?”

  “No!” declared Emily, goaded beyond endurance. “And I have no intention of doing so.”

  For the first time in the conversation, he appeared at a loss. “Yet, you did accept me.”

  “I intended to break it off as soon as…”

  “You had solved the mystery. I knew it!”

  “You don’t know anything!”

  “Indeed? Are you claiming that I’m wrong?”

  She would have liked nothing better. The fact that she couldn’t made Emily even angrier. He was so despicably smug.

  “So you weren’t trying to get your hooks into me. It all begins to make sense.”

  “My…?” Rage choked her for a moment. “I hope they do kill you!”

  “Now, now, when you have made such efforts on my behalf?”

  “You don’t deserve them.” She smoldered at his amused expression. “I should have let those men throw you in the pond.”

  “And miss everything that has happened since? You can’t mean it.”

  He was laughing at her. Emily folded her arms and gritted her teeth. “I am declaring the engagement at an end as of this instant.”

  This penetrated his mockery. “Just like that?”

  “Precisely like that.”

  He considered.

  In a moment, he would show his relief at being rid of her. Despite her anger the idea stung.

  “There’s no need to be hasty,” he said.

  “What?”

  “You had a certain plan in mind,” he went on slowly. He seemed to be working something out in his head. When he met her gaze she felt an odd sort of tremor. “You won’t introduce me to these useful friends of yours?”

  “I can’t.”

  He ruminated further. “Why shouldn’t we work together?”

  “Together?”

  “You appear to have some valuable…acquaintances. I am more able to act on their information.”

  She felt a thrill of excitement. She did want to see the thing through to the end—even if he was the most infuriating man on the face of the earth.

  “The engagement is in name only,” he added.

  Emily nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “We will find a way to end it when the game is up.”

  “I will certainly do so.”

  He gave a nod, and after a moment, held out his hand. “We are agreed then?”

  She hesitated. “We will pursue the attackers together?”

  “In our individual spheres.”

  She wasn’t sure she liked this.

  “You appear to have the only information on how to begin,” he added.

  Slowly, she took his hand. It was very large, and warm.

  He eyed her with something like admiration. “You are very like your father after all.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I am nothing like my father.”

  Richard’s answering smile was as irritating as ever.

  Nine

  The following morning, Emily set off right after breakfast to visit the Fitzgibbons. She found only Mary at home. Daniel was holding a dancing class at the mansion of one of his noble patrons.

  “Did Daniel speak to the…Bruiser?” Emily asked her.

  Her hostess nodded placidly. As usual, her hands were busy with knitting needles. “The poor boy’s wits are a bit addled by this time, but he said he would see what he could discover among his friends.”

  “Addled?” This didn’t sound promising.

  “It happens to the best of them, which I’m afraid the Bruiser never was. No one can take that sort of punishment forever.”

  “Punishment?”

  Mary nodded, then noticed Emily’s confusion. “He is a fighter, my dear. Fisticuffs.”

  “Oh.” Emily had heard of the bare-knuckle matches that were so popular with the sporting set.

  “Not a very successful one. That’s why he may be useful.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s men like the Bruiser who would be engaged to do someone harm. They have no other profession, you see, and if they do not win their matches…they are discarded by the Fancy and must turn to other shifts.”

  “It sounds dreadful. Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked you to speak to him.”

  “Oh, we’ve known the Bruiser since he was a lad. He’ll be all right. Some of his friends now”—she made a disapproving sound—“we steer clear of them.”

  Emily nodded. “But if his wits are addled…”

  “He has enough left to ask a few simple questions. He was a right sharp little boy.” She sighed. “We tried to keep him out of the ring, but he was mad for boxing as soon as he saw it.”

  Suppressing her doubts, Emily thanked her for their efforts. “You will tell me as soon as he finds out anything?”

  “Of course, dear.”

  Emily sat with her a few minutes longer, chatting about Daniel’s success in London and some old friends. She was just rising to go when there were sounds of an arrival below. They heard voices outside the room, and then a slight brown-haired girl walked in, grinning when she saw the two of them.

  “Sarah,” exclaimed Emily and Mary at the same moment.

  “I didn’t expect you this morning,” added the latter.

  “Herr doktor isn’t feeling the thing. He’s laid up in bed.”

  “Is it serious?” asked her mother.

  Sarah shook her head. “A feverish cold, though you’d think it was the cholera from the way he carries on. Hullo, Emily.”

  “How are you? I’ve been hoping to see you.”

  Sarah grinned again. “Could have come to one of our ‘evenings.’ My gentleman could call up a spirit for you. Maybe Rex, eh?”

  “He was a dog.” With a nasty temper and yellow fangs. She had
no desire to see him again.

  Sarah made an offhand gesture. “Schelling does dogs, cats, people, whatever you like. We had a pony once, come to think of it. This weepy cove loved it when he was a little lad.”

  “Language, Sarah,” admonished her mother.

  “This ‘melancholy gentleman’ had loved it,” she amended.

  “You are working for this…?”

  “Student of the Adepts of the East,” Sarah supplied. “That I am. I nursemaid the visitors. Talk up his powers and tell them stories of what he’s done for other poor souls. The usual line of patter. And I keep them out of the way of…things they don’t need to see.”

  “Do you like it?” wondered Emily. She remembered Sarah as an enthusiastic child actress and an endlessly inventive playmate.

  “I’ve learned some new dodges. Dad doesn’t like it, I know. Says we’re taking advantage of the bereaved. But some of them find it real comforting.”

  “What sort of people come?”

  “All sorts.” Sarah gave her a sidelong look. “That fiancé of yours has been to see Herr Schelling.”

  “What?” Emily was dumbfounded.

  “Warrington, isn’t it? That’s what the paper said.”

  “Yes, but…”

  “He was escorting his mother. And he seemed right put out about it.”

  “Lady Fielding came to Schelling’s?”

  “Oh, she’s one of our regulars. Herr doktor uses her case as a draw.”

  “Her…?”

  “Her son was lost at sea. Well, you must know all about that. Lady Fielding was broken up about it. Schelling gave her a good show, and then his lordship up and walks in on one of the sessions! Scared the living daylights out of everyone there and made Schelling’s reputation, I can tell you.”

  Richard must have hated that, Emily thought.

  “So you’re actually getting married?”

  For a moment, Emily thought she had somehow divined the reality behind her engagement. Then she realized that it was just the amazement of a childhood friend.

  “I don’t intend to get leg-shackled for a good long while.”

  “Sarah,” exclaimed her mother, who had been calmly knitting through this conversation.

  “Contract a suitable alliance,” corrected Sarah with fond mockery. “The other says it a lot better, Ma.”