“Lady Charlotte!”
She jumped, then teetered as she turned to see the handsome face standing directly behind her.
“Did you think you could follow me unnoticed?” he said smugly, lunging forward and grabbing her arm through her cape.
“Unhand me or I shall scream,” she exclaimed, her heart suddenly racing.
“Look around you. We are quite a distance from Western Road. People may peer out their windows, but they will not pay you any mind. You’re coming with me.”
“I most certainly am not,” she protested.
“You don’t understand. There’s someone waiting to say hello to you,” he said calmly, “and if you want your rings back, you’ll come with me right now. If you don’t, you’ll never see them again, nor will you have any idea why this is happening to you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you think I’m some random burglar? Do I look like a criminal?”
Her heart was thumping furiously, and she was dizzy from the heat, but she managed to compose herself enough to study the man and his attire. He appeared to be a gentleman, and his accent suggested he was from the upper classes.
“No, you don’t, but that doesn’t mean anything,” she frowned. “I know where you are now, and I’m going to bring the police and my husband here.”
“Oh, Lady Charlotte, you’re not so stupid. You know my friend and I will be long gone by the time you return. You may leave if you wish, but as I said, if you don’t accompany me, you’ll never see your rings again.”
“You are a beast,” she retorted with a woeful expression. “Why are you doing this?”
“Come with me and you’ll have your answer, and you will also have your rings.”
“But you could be lying to me. How do I know you’re speaking the truth?”
“You don’t, but again I must repeat myself. If you don’t come, your rings will never again grace your finger.”
She stood staring, sweating and miserable, then finally nodded her head.
“Very well, but I warn you, I will not hesitate to scream if you try to harm me in any way.”
“You will leave the house safely,” he said as he started back towards the steps.
“Did you plan this, did you plan that I would follow you?”
“Quite frankly I was shocked that you did,” he said as he opened the door. “I didn’t even know you were in the room until I glimpsed you at the top of the stairs. I was just planning to have a poke around. Finding the rings was a bonus. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but I was delighted to have found them. Enough talking, please go inside,” he said with a grand gesture.
Filled with fearful trepidation, Charlotte walked through the front door of the modest house and into a foyer. It was well kept with attractive furnishings, and feeling the relief of being out of the sun, she took a long, deep breath.
“Enter the room to your right.”
Still worried and slightly unsteady, she pushed down the handle and walked inside.
“Hello, Charlotte.”
“Miranda?” she gasped. “What is all this?”
“This,” hissed Miranda, “is revenge. We followed you and Edward down here, and I’m delighted that we were able to lure you to this house so soon, though I’d have happily waited for a week if I’d had to.”
“What? Why?” Charlotte asked, trying to catch her breath. “I don’t understand.”
“You told that monstrous man, Baron Higerfield, that I like to be spanked. It was a nasty, evil trick, and now it’s your turn. Freddie here is going to redden your bottom while I watch. Let’s see how you like it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Charlotte was seriously overheated, and the shock of seeing Miranda Witherspoon was almost enough to make her pass out. Reaching for a nearby cabinet, she gripped the edge and took deep breaths as she tried to gather her wits.
“You can’t possibly hope to get away with this,” she managed. “I’ll tell Edward, and you’ll be in terrible trouble.”
“You will have no proof of anything,” Miranda flippantly replied.
“I will if this villainous man here dares to spank me.”
“Some random act of a man off the street,” Miranda quipped, “and Freddie here is leaving on an extended holiday tomorrow, aren’t you, Freddie?”
“Indeed, I am,” the man nodded, “and I’ll be gone quite some time, and Freddie isn’t my real name, so don’t waste your time trying to track me down. Now be a good girl and take off that heavy cloak. I’m going to put you over my knee and give you a jolly good thrashing.”
“Let me see my rings,” Charlotte demanded.
She was starting to regain some composure, and not only did she want to make sure her rings were safe, she was hoping to buy some time while she figured out how she could escape.
“They’re right here,” Freddie declared, reaching into his jacket pocket and holding them up. “See? All safe and sound.”
“Miranda, did the baron actually spank you?” Charlotte asked.
Though she had shifted her eyes back to Miranda, she was watching Freddie from the corner of her eye, and saw him drop the rings back into his pocket, then slip his jacket off and place it around the back of a chair.
“No, I bit his hand,” Miranda curtly replied. “He released me, totally furious, and when I demanded to know why he’d attempted such a vile thing, he told me the whole stupid idea had come from you.”
“Then no real harm was done,” Charlotte remarked as she sidled closer to Freddie’s jacket. “You’ve scared me, I’ve just had a terrible time following your friend here, so why don’t we just call things even.”
“Because I don’t want things even,” Miranda snapped. “I want to be a point above, and besides, I think it will be fun watching you kicking and yelling while your bottom is being well and truly smacked. I’ve been quite bored of late. This should be immensely entertaining, but a word of warning,” she added, lowering her voice, “if you do tell Edward, and I am confronted about this, I shall totally deny it, and make sure some dreadful rumors are spread about the both of you. Humiliating, disgusting rumors, so you’d better keep your mouth shut. Now do as Freddie said, take off your cloak.”
“Very well,” Charlotte sighed.
With trembling fingers she slowly unfastened the large wooden buttons, then sliding the thick wool cape off her shoulders, she unexpectedly swirled it in the air, letting fly in Freddie’s direction. To her great joy it miraculously landed over his head and fell around his body, and seizing the opportunity she lunged forward, shoving him backwards.
Watching helplessly, Miranda let out a warbling shriek as Freddie hit the floor, continuing to yell as he attempted to fight off the heavy, dark fabric.
“Get up, you stupid man, get up, get up,” Miranda screeched, but all she received in response was a sudden lack of movement and a series of loud groans. Not only was he was completely caught up in Charlotte’s cloak, he had twisted his knee when he’d fallen and was in serious pain.
Wasting no time, Charlotte grabbed the jacket holding her precious rings and bolted from the room, the sound of Miranda’s panicked calls for Freddie to get up and chase after her ringing in her ears. Having no idea that Freddie was injured, she flew through the front door and out into the street, running from the house as fast as she could. Dressed in only her swimming costume, and clutching the jacket for dear life, she was an alarming sight, and when she reached Western Road, while it caused the passersby to stop and gape, no one came to her aid in spite of her frantic pleas.
“Why won’t any of you help me?” she wailed.
Not realizing she looked like a dangerous, out-of-control, crazy woman, she hurried on her way, desperate to make it back to the hotel. Rushing across the busy road, she was entering the square when she heard a man calling her name. Terrified it was Freddie, she didn’t stop running, but she did look back over her shoulder, and it made her to veer slightly off the
path. Her toe caught the edge of a decorative rock, and she fell crashing to the ground.
“Charlotte, good heavens, my dearest, what has happened to you?”
Lifting her eyes, she saw Edward standing over her with outstretched arms.
“Edward, thank the lord,” she cried, staring up at him. “Oh, thank the lord, thank the lord.”
“My dear girl. The police and I have been looking for you everywhere,” he muttered as he helped her to her feet and lifted her off the ground into his arms. “I have a carriage. You’ll be back at the hotel in no time.”
“Is she all right, sir?” a worried constable asked as he hurried forward to help.
“I believe so, just very upset,” Edward replied as he carried her the short distance to the small open coach and sat her inside. “We’ll get you back into the room and order up a nice cup of tea, then you can tell me everything that happened.”
“I was so hot, Edward,” she whimpered, leaning into him. “I thought I was going to faint. It was dreadful.”
“I shall run you a cold saltwater bath,” he promised. “That will do wonders. Don’t try to talk, just catch your breath. You’re safe now, whatever has happened you can tell me later.”
The trip to the hotel was a short few minutes, and he was soon helping her through the front doors, much to surprise of the startled onlookers. The worried manager, seeing the noble couple safely returning, said a silent prayer of thanks as he rushed up to place a blanket around the disheveled Lady Charlotte dressed in her swimming costume.
“Lord Pemberly, what might I do?” he asked urgently.
“Send up tea with cakes and sandwiches,” Edward replied.
“Right away,” the manager replied, “right away.”
“Please take this wretched blanket off me,” she bleated as they reached the lift. “I don’t care how I look, I’m so hot.”
“Don’t you worry, you’ll be feeling better soon,” he promised, hastily pulling the thick rug from her shoulders and letting it simply fall on the floor. “What is this jacket you’re carrying?”
“My rings,” she mumbled as the lift rattled them up to their floor.
“Rings? Heavens. It appears you have quite the story to tell me.”
The policeman who had been stationed outside their room in case Charlotte had reappeared, quickly opened the door, allowing Edward to carry her in and sit her on the sofa.
“You wait right there, I’ll only be a minute,” he said softly. “I just need a quick word with the constable.”
“I’ll be all right,” she mumbled, “but please hurry.”
“Thank you for being here,” Edward said to the young policeman, moving him outside the room. “My wife just needs time to recover, then she’ll be happy to give her story to the officer in charge.”
The inexperienced constable, not sure how to address a lord, bowed his head and said nothing, then marched off down the hallway. Closing and locking the door, Edward hurried back to his distressed bride.
“My dear girl, I shall carry you into the bedroom. Your face is terribly red.”
“I’m still so hot and I feel so dizzy,” she declared, “but I think I can walk.”
“Not if you’re faint,” he said firmly, and lifting her once again, he carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the mattress.
“Can you please get this dreadful costume off me,” she begged. “It’s been itching me terribly.”
“Of course. My goodness, such an ordeal you must have been through,” he muttered as he began to remove the layers of her swimming costume.
“It was,” she bleated, “it was such an ordeal.”
As he peeled off the last of her undergarments, he found her body slick with sweat and covered with red blotches from where she’d been scratching.
“Charlotte, what a state you’re in. My dearest girl, this must never happen to you again!”
“Thank goodness that dreadful thing is off me,” she groaned. “My body has been burning and itching like mad.”
“I’m going to start the seawater bath. You lie there and take deep breaths. I’ll only be a moment.”
Moving into the bathroom, Edward turned on the taps over the tub, and had just returned to her side when there was a knock on the door. The tea had arrived.
“Thank goodness again,” Charlotte moaned.
“I agree, and I just realized you’ve not eaten since breakfast. With all you’ve been through, it’s no wonder you’re feeling faint,” Edward remarked as he hurried to answer it.
A splendid array of sandwiches and cakes and a large pot of tea was set out on a trolley, and taking it from the room service waiter, he rolled it through the suite and pushed it into the bedroom.
“Wonderful,” she said gratefully as she sat up, propping pillows behind her back.
“Eat and drink, and when you’re ready you can tell me what happened,” he said, pouring their tea.
“Where’s the jacket?” she asked.
“It’s right there with your swimming costume,” Edward replied, pointing to the heap of clothes on the floor.
“I think that’s the place to begin,” Charlotte said, taking a cup from him. “If you look in the pocket, you’ll find my rings.”
“I’m beginning to think I might need something stronger than a cup of tea for this,” Edward said gravely as he moved to the discarded garments.
“You might,” she mumbled between bites of a sandwich, “and you should probably turn off the taps over the bath. This will take more than five minutes.”
Feeling stronger as she drank her tea and devoured several finger sandwiches and a cake, she relayed the dramatic events, including Miranda’s threat to humiliate them both with fabricated scandalous rumors if she was ever confronted.
Edward listened attentively and without interrupting, wanting Charlotte to tell the story as it came to her. When she finally finished, he rose from the side of the bed, ambled across to the window, and gazed out at the ocean.
“I knew Miranda possessed a spiteful side, but I am truly astonished by this,” he said ruefully. “I have no idea who this Freddie character is. The man you describe doesn’t sound familiar to me, not at all.”
“You do understand why I felt I had to follow him, don’t you, Edward?”
Returning to the bed, he sat down, took her hand, and stared at the rings he’d placed back on her finger.
“I do understand, and it means a great deal to me that these are so precious to you,” he said softly. “They are precious to me as well, but not as precious as you, Charlotte. These can be replaced. You cannot.”
“New ones wouldn’t be the same.”
“No, but I’d rather have new ones, and still have you,” he said, locking onto her eyes.
“I suppose it was rather dangerous,” she admitted.
“It was very dangerous, and you were very naughty to do it,” he softly scolded.
“Are you going to punish me very badly?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. A part of me believes what you went through was your comeuppance, but I see in your face you want me to discipline you. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I, uh, do feel guilty,” she said, dropping her eyes. “Looking at my rings though, I feel that I did the right thing. Well, sort of.”
“There’s the answer,” he said gravely.
“The answer?”
“Yes, Charlotte, I must punish you. What you did was emotional and came from your heart, but it wasn’t the right or clever thing to do. I understand it, but I cannot allow you to put yourself in danger, and I suspect if this situation repeated itself—”
“I would do the same thing again,” she admitted, interrupting him. “I’m so sorry, but I would, to save these precious rings you gave me, I would.”
“You must learn, it is you who must come first. No bauble is worth your life, no matter how important or valuable that bauble is. This Freddie character could have been a lowlife criminal. Anything c
ould have happened to you. Don’t you see that?”
“Yes, Edward, I do.”
“The guilt you feel, that’s because you disobeyed me and caused me so much worry. The only way for me to relieve that guilt is to punish you.”
“I, uh, see that too,” she mumbled.
“I think we should return to Dunworth Abbey. I know we’ve only been here a short time, but—”
“I’m happy to leave, I am,” Charlotte said quickly. “Yesterday was cold, today was hot. The weather is changing. In another week it could be pouring, and we don’t want to travel in the rain, do we. Perhaps we could come back here next season, in the early summer before the crowds set in.”
“That is an excellent suggestion,” Edward smiled. “I wanted you to enjoy the ocean and have the thrill of visiting the Royal Pavilion, and we could stay another day or two, but you are right about the unpredictable weather. To be honest, I’d not thought about that.”
“Is it far to Dunworth Abbey?”
“We will take the train halfway to London, then it’s only about a forty-minute carriage ride from the station.”
“Why don’t we do this,” she began. “In the morning, if the sun is still shining, I could go down to the water. I really do want to do that. After my swim we could go for a stroll to the other end of the promenade to see what’s there, come back here for lunch, then we could set off. We’ll be at your home well before dinnertime.”
“That is a very sound plan,” he smiled, “assuming the train schedule fits in, but you know I’m not going to let you out of my sight until we leave.”
“Yes, Edward, and I don’t want you to.”
“The police will need a statement, and I’m sure they’ll wish to visit that house.”
“Miranda and that man will be long gone by now.”
“I’m sure.”
“What should I do about that? Should I tell the police it was Miranda who arranged the whole thing?”
His Willful Bride (Victorian Brides Book 1) Page 15
