by Anna Jacobs
‘You can’t tell yourself when to feel attracted. It just happens. Though I never thought it could happen so quickly.’
She stared down at her lap.
‘Perhaps it isn’t like that for you? Perhaps I’m seeing things that aren’t there? If so, I won’t trouble you again and I’ll still help you to escape.’
She looked up. ‘You’re not imagining it. I do feel attracted to you … though I never believed it could come to anything, because we’re from such different backgrounds. Yet tonight, I felt so safe with you, so cosy. So right.’
‘Then, is there a chance you might say yes?’
The frown came back. ‘I don’t know. Could we spend some time together first, just a few days? I know people wouldn’t approve of us doing that, but our whole lives and happiness depend on us getting on with one another, so it’s important not to rush in blindly.’
His heart lifted. ‘So you’re not saying no.’
‘I’m too upset to think straight, Mr Rycroft. I’m saying … perhaps.’
Relief made him feel dizzy for a few seconds, as if the room was whirling round him. ‘Call me Gil. Please.’
‘Gil.’
‘Why don’t you come and visit me at Oakdene? I promise you’ll have your own bedroom. I won’t … pester you for favours. Whether you accept my proposal or not, it’d give you a breathing space. And you can see whether you get on with Beth.’
‘Yes, that’s important too. I like children.’ Silence ticked along for a few slow minutes, then Renie said, ‘All right.’
Could a woman be as straightforward as that? he wondered. None of the women of his class were. In fact, he mostly didn’t have a clue what they were thinking, and he’d watched his mother manipulate his father for years. He didn’t want anyone manipulating him that way, as if he were a naughty child.
‘Gil?’
‘What? Sorry, my attention wandered for a moment.’
‘There’s just one thing. I don’t want to see Judson again. I don’t want anyone investigating what he tried to do, because he’ll only blame me and say I egged him on. That’s what always happens. And they might arrest me for wounding him. I don’t even know how badly I cut his face.’ She shuddered at the memory of slicing at him with the glass.
‘I hope you’ve marked him for life.’
‘I didn’t want to do it.’ She shivered and looked towards the window. ‘It’s nearly morning, soon be light. Could we get away from the hotel before people start work, do you think?’
‘We can try. But you know the place better than I do. Can you think how to get out of the hotel without anyone seeing us? We can get away in the car.’ He explained about Horry.
She gave him a beaming smile out of her poor, battered face and he just had to hug her.
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Because you smiled and you’re so brave.’
‘Oh. I’m not really.’ She blushed.
‘No other woman that I know could have fought him off. Sorry … you were saying?’
‘If you have a car, that makes it much easier to get away. They keep the guests’ cars in the old mews. If your Horry could bring the car to the back of the hotel, I could slip out up a chute from the basement, and hide in the car under a blanket, if you have one.’
‘I’m sure we could do that. I’d better go and wake him.’
There was a knock on the door and he stiffened, then gestured to her to hide. She went to crouch on the other side of the bed.
When he opened the bedroom door, he found a woman there.
‘Get her away from here,’ she said, and ran off down the corridor.
He took a step forward and nearly fell over a suitcase. ‘What the—?’
He carried the case into the room. ‘I think these are your things. A woman just left them. I’ll go and tell Horry. He’s only next door.’
After explaining, he brought Horry in to meet Renie.
‘We’d better not leave too early. We don’t want to look as if we’re doing anything out of the ordinary. Can you bear to stay hidden in the car for a couple of hours, Renie? I don’t think you’ll be disturbed there.’
‘I can pretend to work on the car, sir,’ Horry said. ‘I’ll keep an eye on her, I promise you. Our car’s at the end, so it’ll be quite easy to hide in it.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Let me take her out, sir,’ Horry said. ‘You’ll slow us down.’
‘Damn this leg! Oh, sorry for my language, Renie.’
‘It must be frustrating.’ She turned to look at Horry. ‘What if we meet Judson?’
‘If he tries to attack you again,’ Horry said quietly, ‘I’ll make sure he regrets it.’ He led the way, taking the corridors she pointed out in whispers, and they made their way down to the basement.
They met no one and stopped to get a lamp from a cupboard and light it, as she indicated the way to the lowest level.
There, they stopped again as they heard faint footsteps.
Horry came to stand beside her. ‘I’m as strong as he is.’
She shook her head, praying hard for it not to be Judson. It turned out to be one of the men who cleaned out the stables. He walked across where the two corridors met without even looking sideways.
‘That’s not him,’ she whispered. She couldn’t move for a moment or two from sheer relief, then Horry nudged her and she nodded, leading the way again.
As they climbed the narrow brick stairs to the rear yard, she tensed up again. What if …? But there was no one around, so she let Horry walk across first to where the cars were kept. When he beckoned to say it was safe, she ran over to join him as fast as she could.
‘This one.’ He opened the car door, covered her with a rug, then opened the bonnet and stood with his back to the wall, a spanner in his hand.
She managed to watch through a gap in the blanket covering her. He was thumping the spanner against his hand, as if eager to use it as a weapon. He was a big, strong man too. She was safe now, surely?
As sleep tugged at her eyelids, she let them close, just for a minute …
Gil packed his bag and went down for an early breakfast. He ate quickly and went to the desk, where a clerk was just starting the day. ‘As I said yesterday, I wish to leave early. Have you got my bill ready?’
The man fumbled through the contents of a drawer with narrow compartments but found nothing. ‘Did you arrange for an early departure, sir?’
‘Of course I did. Isn’t it ready?’
‘I’m sorry. Your bill must have gone astray. It won’t take me a minute to write out a new one, sir.’
When that was done, Gil asked them to call his chauffeur and send someone to bring down his luggage, before moving to wait outside the front door.
Horry brought the car round and Gil was escorted out to it by the doorman, who opened the front door of the car with a flourish, accepted his tip with a touch of his hat, and helped load the luggage. There was no sign of the manager.
Not until the car had pulled away did Gil glance into the back, expecting to see Renie looking at him.
‘She’s asleep, sir, still lying down under the blanket,’ Horry whispered. ‘She was exhausted, poor thing.’
‘I’m rather tired, myself. I didn’t get much sleep.’
‘If you can doze off sitting upright, you go ahead and do it. I know my way back.’
As he closed his eyes and wriggled in a vain attempt to get more comfortable, Gil wondered if Judson would guess he’d been involved in helping Renie escape. He hoped not. But too bad if he did. Gil intended to make sure no one hurt her again.
The bitch had gone to ground. Someone must be sheltering her, only if they were, it wasn’t immediately obvious which room she’d gone to.
Judson gave up the hunt because his face was hurting and blood was still trickling down his cheek. He pressed his handkerchief over the cut and groaned as he entered his suite.
He went into the bathroom and gasped as he saw what she’d d
one. Not only deep but long, the cut ran from his forehead down his cheek. That eye was closed and puffy, and he could see nothing out of it.
Rage filled him, but he didn’t let it loose, because it was obvious he had to get help for his injuries.
How to explain this? He looked round the room, picked up his shaving mirror and smashed it on the ground. Then he took his handkerchief away from his face and smeared blood on the ground nearby. More blood dripped down as he worked.
He still couldn’t see anything out of that eye. It must be because it was so swollen.
He went to get a clean handkerchief then stumbled out to the lift and rode down to the foyer.
The watchman stood up as he stumbled forward, feeling dizzy now.
‘I’ve had an accident, cut my face. There’s a doctor in number fifteen. Wake him up and ask if he’ll see me. I’ll be in my office.’
The doctor arrived, wearing a dressing gown. He sucked in a breath of shock as he examined the eye. ‘You need specialist help for this. You may have injured your eyeball.’
‘I’m not going to hospital.’
‘But I’m not qualified to treat eyes!’
‘Damn you, clean up the cut and I’ll cover it with a patch. I’ll be all right.’
The doctor drew himself up. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t reconcile it with my conscience to do that. You need specialist help if you’re to save the sight in that eye.’
Judson stilled. ‘Save the sight? Is it that bad?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘If that bitch has blinded me, I’ll make sure she pays for it.’
The doctor stared at him in shock. ‘A woman did this to you? But you said you’d fallen.’ Then his eyes narrowed. ‘Why would anyone do that?’
‘Never you mind.’
The doctor stepped away from him. ‘I can’t help you. You really do need to go to a hospital.’
Judson watched him go, then yanked the bell pull. He’d better keep his mouth shut about her doing this.
‘Get me a cab. I need to go to hospital.’ The room seemed to be wavering round him. ‘Don’t … disturb guests.’
He didn’t regain consciousness fully till he was lying on a hospital bed.
They told him they’d have to operate, remove the injured eye, which was too badly slashed to save.
His last thought as the anaesthetic took effect was: once he recovered, he’d make sure she paid for it, by hell he would.
Chapter Seventeen
Gil woke before Renie did, not sure where he was for a minute. Oh yes, in the car. Going home. Good.
‘She hasn’t stirred,’ Horry said quietly.
Not until they were almost at Oakdene did sounds from the back seat indicate that Renie was waking up.
‘Is it safe to sit up?’ she asked in a whisper. ‘Are we out of sight of the hotel?’
Gil laughed. ‘We’re nearly at Oakdene. You’ve been asleep for hours. It’s quite safe to sit up.’
He turned to see her staring round, hair tousled, face bruised. Something twisted in his heart at the sight of the bruise, the thought of Judson hurting her. And at that moment he admitted to himself that he loved her.
It surprised him – and yet, didn’t really surprise him. She was very easy to love.
She returned his smile shyly. ‘Sorry for falling asleep.’
‘Why be sorry? It was the best thing you could do.’
‘I haven’t been sleeping well lately.’
‘I’m not surprised. But you’ll be quite safe at Oakdene, I promise you.’
When they arrived, she kept the blanket round her shoulders as she got out of the car, to hide her torn blouse.
But it was her face he was looking at. He touched it gently with one fingertip. ‘Oh, my dear girl, that bruise and swelling must hurt.’
‘It’s not too bad, but it must look awful.’ She gave him a wobbly smile. ‘Judson didn’t get what he wanted. I fought him off and then you saved me. I wonder who packed my case?’
‘An older woman, thin, that’s all I could see.’
‘It must have been Miss Pilkins. But I don’t understand, because it was she who wrote the note that sent me down to the cellars.’
‘She did what?’
Renie explained.
‘I can’t believe any woman would do that to another.’
‘He must have threatened to dismiss her. She’s the sole support of her invalid mother.’
‘Even so. Anyway, let’s forget about her for the moment. Come inside and meet everyone.’
He led the way into the kitchen and introduced her to the servants, saying quite openly, ‘Miss Fuller was attacked last night in London, but she managed to fight off her attacker and escape. I’m sure you’ll all want to help her.’
There were gasps, then Lizzie came and put an arm round Renie, drawing her towards the warmth of the stove. ‘You poor thing! Would you like a bath first? If you’ve been sleeping in those clothes, you must feel all itsy-twitsy.’
Gil smiled. He loved Lizzie’s made-up words.
Renie held out one hand to the warmth. ‘I’d love a bath, if it’s not too much trouble.’
‘She can use the blue bedroom,’ Gil said, making it clear she was a guest, not another servant.
Lizzie nodded. ‘Do you have some clean clothes, Miss Fuller, or would you like to borrow some of mine? Though they’ll drown you, because I’m much taller.’
‘I have some clothes.’
Horry came in just then with her suitcase and Lizzie swept her upstairs.
It wasn’t proper for a man to intervene, so Gil could only watch them go.
Madge Hilton set the stove to burn more quickly and heat the water, then looked across at him. ‘You keep saving people, don’t you?’
He smiled back. ‘I’ve saved this one for myself, I hope.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘She must be special.’
‘Very special. I’ve met her a time or two in London.’ Thus, casually, he’d also ensured Renie a permanent place in the household, if she chose to accept it, and the respect of the other people who lived and worked there.
Now, all he had left to do was make sure Renie accepted his proposal. He thought she might, hoped she would. Not for the convenience of the arrangement, but because she liked him too. He was fairly sure of that.
He realised he was smiling foolishly and Madge was still watching him indulgently.
The words were out before he could stop them. ‘I love her.’
Madge came and plonked an unexpected kiss on his cheek. ‘About time you found someone.’
Renie let Lizzie and a younger maid bring up ewers of water, then they left her to take a bath in front of the fire like a lady, with a screen to hide her from view. She was still tired, but oh, it was wonderful to feel safe and lie in a tub of warm water.
She dipped the facecloth in the water and held it to her bruised face, murmuring at the comfort of that. The other women hadn’t commented on the bruises. She hoped Gil would tell them what had happened. She didn’t want to have to explain it to strangers, even kind ones.
Suddenly she realised she was ravenous, so didn’t linger any longer in the water. When she’d dried herself on the big, soft towel, she wrapped it round her and checked the contents of the case someone had packed for her, looking for the most important thing of all, her savings bank book. Her heart pounded with panic when she didn’t find it at first.
Calm down and check properly! she told herself, and started again.
They must have packed it in a hurry because things had been crammed in anyhow, all her decent clothes and the contents of her bedside drawers, though none of the things from her trunk in the attic. She could manage quite well on these and could buy others if only she had her bank book.
And then there it was, tangled in her nightdress. ‘Oh, thank goodness!’
She finished getting dressed and lingered for a moment or two, staring at her bruised face in the mirror. She felt a bit shy
of going downstairs. The house was so beautiful. How could a gentleman who was the owner of all this want to marry her? Only … the gentleman was Gil and he was like no one else she’d met before, not because of his arm but because of his kindness.
Perhaps he’d changed his mind about marrying her. He probably had, so she wouldn’t say anything more about it until he spoke again.
But she could hope, couldn’t she?
There was a knock on her door, and when she called to come in, Lizzie appeared again.
‘Is there anything else you need, Miss Fuller?’
‘No, thank you. My clothes are a bit crumpled but at least I feel clean and decent again.’
‘Whoever attacked you must have thumped you hard. I hope you hit him back.’
Renie hesitated then decided on the truth. ‘He was much bigger than me. All I had was a piece of broken glass, so I sliced his face for him.’ She shuddered at that memory.
‘Good for you, miss. Serves him right. Now, can I call Beth in? She’s Mr Rycroft’s niece and she’s six, nearly seven. She’s dying to meet you. We don’t get many visitors here.’
‘I’d love to meet her, too. Gil’s told me about her.’
Beth mustn’t have been far away because she was with them in a minute, standing shyly by Lizzie’s side, staring at the visitor. ‘Did you fall over?’
‘A nasty man hit her,’ Lizzie said before Renie could reply. ‘So don’t you ever talk to strangers, as I keep telling you, young lady.’ She smiled at Renie. ‘She’d talk to the moon if it said hello, this one would.’
‘I’m sorry you’re hurt, Miss Fuller,’ Beth said. ‘I hope your face gets better soon.’
Her concern warmed Renie. ‘I’m sure it will.’
‘Let’s go down now and have something to eat,’ Lizzie said briskly. ‘We have high tea here, miss, not dinner.’
Renie looked at the tub of dirty water. ‘I need to clear this up first.’
‘Bless you, we’ll do that. It’s our job, after all. You let Beth take you down to the dining room and I’ll make a start here. Oh! Shall I throw the blouse away? I don’t think it’s worth mending.’
‘I never want to see it again.’
Beth slipped her hand in Renie’s and tugged, so they went downstairs together.
