Courting Lord Dorney

by Sally James

  ‘Of course I haven’t!’

  ‘Think back, carefully. Can you recall everything that was said?’

  Bella forced her whirling thoughts into order. ‘They said they’d take her to Bath. They - they said she could sit on their laps, something about being a bit squashed.’

  ‘Then you produced that pistol and threatened them. Or at least threatened a delicate part of their anatomy.’ He grinned, and Bella went hot with embarrassment.

  She was calmer now, thinking back with deep concentration. ‘And they scoffed, said a woman couldn’t shoot straight. Oh, if only they were here now, I’d show them!’

  ‘Then,’ Lord Dorney exclaimed, getting to his feet and striding about the room, ‘then the mail coach moved out of the way, and someone in their chaise called out to leave her. Can you recall the exact words?’

  Bella frowned in concentration. ‘He said she wasn’t worth the trouble. No, that’s not exactly it.’

  ‘He mentioned a name. Wait, I have it. It was Land - Lambert!’

  ‘Lambert?’ Bella beat her fist against her brow. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, quite sure.’

  ‘Then I’ve recently met him. I thought his voice was familiar, though I didn’t recognize his face.’

  Lord Dorney crossed the room and took her shoulders in his hands. ‘Bella, in that case we have something to go on! He’s been in town recently. Tell me all you can. Where did you meet? When? Did he say anything to indicate where he was staying? Anything!’

  She tried to ignore the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her as he held her shoulders. ‘It was at a small musical entertainment. Alexander was there, with Felicity, and he and Mr Ross were vying for her favours. I was more intrigued with watching them, than paying attention to him.’

  ‘What did you both say?’

  Bella concentrated. ‘I asked if we’d met before, said I thought I’d recognized his voice. He made some joke about it not being his face or figure, appearing to be disappointed. But he did not appear to know me.’

  ‘I suspect he did! You are not easy to forget, my dear. Especially in the situation when you worsted him.’

  She leapt to her feet in excitement, forgetting that Lord Dorney still held her. ‘I’ve just remembered. He introduced himself as William, William Lambert.’

  Suddenly she was clasped in his arms as he slid them round her. ‘Wonderful! What’s the address of the house where you met him?’

  Bella, rather breathless, told him. ‘But you know what these occasions are, even the hostesses sometimes don’t know who is there, if people bring friends and relatives who’ve just come to stay. Lady Fulwood took us to all her engagements with her the first day we arrived, and I knew no one.’

  ‘Even so, someone will know him, and where he is staying.’

  ‘It might not be him. It could be one of the others.’

  ‘Don’t be such a wet blanket,’ he said, shaking her slightly. ‘If we find Lambert we can find the others. They were friends of his.’

  ‘Yes, of course. I can’t think straight.’ And that was less because of Mary’s abduction than the fact she was held in Lord Dorney’s arms.

  ‘Bella, I must leave you now, go and find Dan, and we will start asking around, at the clubs and so on.’ He held her away from him. ‘Will you be all right on your own? Is there a woman friend I can ask to sit with you?’

  Bella thought of the people who had snubbed her. Did she have any friends left? Did she count Amelia as a friend? She certainly could not trust her, she decided.

  ‘I’d rather be on my own. Go quickly, try to discover what you can.’

  ‘I’ll come back here to let you know if we’ve had any success. Eat some dinner, try not to worry.’

  With a swift kiss on her cheek he released her and was gone. Bella sank back into the chair and held her hand to her cheek. They would find Mary. She would be released. And Lord Dorney no longer seemed angry with her.

  * * * *

  He started at White’s, but no one there seemed to know Lambert. He wasn’t a member, so Lord Dorney decided to try some of the other clubs. He was leaving when he almost bumped into Alexander.

  ‘Richard! I’ve been looking all over for you.’

  ‘I thought you were going back to Bath?’ Lord Dorney spoke impatiently. He didn’t have time for Alexander’s problems.

  ‘I - well, I thought about what you said, and I intend to forget Felicity. She is not worth my attention if she can behave in such a fashion, and it’s as well I have discovered it before we were married. So there is no need for me to go home and wait for her to find out she is mistaken.’

  ‘Well, no,’ Lord Dorney replied, suppressing the glimmer of amusement at Alexander’s air of noble renunciation.

  ‘Besides, I could not bear to listen to my mother’s complaints and questions. So I will stay here, until she has had time to forget it.’

  Lord Dorney doubted whether his Mrs Yates ever would, but he sympathized with Alexander’s less noble desire to avoid the inevitable inquisition. ‘Wise,’ he commented. ‘Now, Alex, pray excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to.’

  ‘At this time of night? I was hoping we could dine together. I won’t sleep, I need to make a night of it.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Alex. Maybe in a few days, but I don’t know where I’ll be for a while.’

  ‘Oh, are you leaving town?’

  An idea struck him. Alexander could be useful. ‘Do you really mean that? Making a night of it? Would you be prepared to go to Dan’s house and wait for messages? Dan will be coming back there, but I need to be at Bella’s, in case they contact her during the night.’

  ‘Bella Trahearne’s? Whatever for?’

  Lord Dorney drew him to one side, where they could not be overheard, and briefly explained. ‘If Dan comes home, tell him where I am and both of you come round.’

  * * * *

  It was almost midnight when Lord Dorney returned. Jackson, who had been sitting in the hall, let him in. Bella had sent all the other servants to bed, saying they could do nothing at this late stage, but she might need them in the morning. She had seen no point in keeping them ignorant of what was happening. They had known something was wrong when Mary had not returned, and the behaviour of Jackson had alerted them to its being some disaster. Bella had been touched at the concern they showed.

  ‘We all liked Mary,’ the cook had said when she came and tried to persuade Bella to eat some of the dinner she had prepared. ‘She had no side on her, like some of the ladies’ maids we’ve had here. And Jackson’s going demented. Sweet on her, he is.’

  Which explained his frantic demeanour, Bella thought. Lord Dorney would find her, get her safely back, she was sure. And his refusal to go to bed with the others was explained. Poor man, he must be even more worried than she was. She trusted he wouldn’t be impelled to do anything silly which might endanger Mary or hamper Lord Dorney’s efforts to find her.

  ‘Have you found him?’ Bella demanded as Lord Dorney came swiftly into the drawing room. Jackson followed him and hovered beside the door. Bella hadn’t the heart to send him away.

  ‘We know where he had lodgings, Dan found out from a friend of his, but he left there this morning, saying he was going to Brighton. He had hired a coach, which his landlord thought odd in a single gentleman, but he explained he was escorting an elderly lady. Alex is riding down the post road, enquiring at all the inns. We’ll know in the morning if he went that way, but I think it’s unlikely. He’d have said that to put us off the scent, should we suspect him.’

  ‘Alex?’

  ‘I found him at Whites, waiting for me. We’d had a slight disagreement the last time we met, and he’s eager to make it right. When I told him what had happened he wanted to help. As he vowed he would not be able to sleep sending him on a night ride to Brighton seemed the best way of occupying him while we reserve our strength for tomorrow.’

  ‘I won’t sleep!’

  ‘My dear Bella
, there’s nothing you can do tonight. You’ve heard no more, I take it?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘It will take him a while to get to wherever he’s going and then send his demand for money. That is what I anticipate. Tomorrow we will try to discover where he hired the coach, and where it was going.’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ Jackson interrupted. ‘I know most of the stablemen round here.’

  ‘There are a good many, and he might have gone further afield, to the City, for instance, where he was not known.’

  ‘I’ll get a couple of friends to help. They’re London born and bred and will know where best to ask.’

  ‘Good. But try to sleep for a few hours. We’ll do Mary no service if we are all too weary to stay awake.’

  Jackson nodded, but with reluctance, and with a brief bob towards Bella left the room.

  ‘Are you going back to Sir Daniel’s?’ Bella asked. She felt horribly alone.

  ‘If you have a spare room, and are not worried about your reputation, can I stay here? I’d like to be on hand if a message is delivered, to question whoever brings it.’

  ‘You can have the room Miss Perkins used. I had the bed made up in case I ever found anyone else I could trust.’

  ‘What do you mean? I heard, as I imagine most of the ton did, that you had dispensed with her services, but no one seems to know why.’

  Briefly Bella explained about the theft.

  ‘You poor girl! She’s the culprit, but it’s your reputation that is being made to suffer.’

  ‘My reputation is the last thing I care about!’ Bella said with a grim smile. ‘People cannot think anything worse of me than they already do.’

  * * * *

  Bella tossed and turned and fell into an uneasy sleep just as daylight began to creep into the room. She was horrified to see it was almost ten in the morning when she awoke.

  Hastily she dressed and went downstairs. Lord Dorney was eating breakfast, and he rose to pour her coffee, and filled a plate for her from the dishes on the sideboard.

  ‘Come, eat some of this excellent ham your cook has prepared. And there are eggs too. Or do you prefer the devilled kidneys?’’

  ‘I can’t eat. Is there any news?’

  ‘You won’t help Mary by starving yourself. Be a good girl, Bella.’

  She shook her head, but sat down at the table and sipped the coffee. After a few moments the appetizing smell of the ham made her pick up her fork and take a small mouthful, then another.

  ‘Is there any news?’ she repeated.

  ‘Not yet. Jackson went out early, but it will take time for him and his friends to visit every livery stable.’

  ‘Alex?’

  ‘I’m expecting him back soon. He’s had time to ride all the way to Brighton and back.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking. Amelia, the woman who organized the party to Richmond, mentioned a William.’

  ‘It’s a common enough name.’

  ‘I know, but I’m wondering if I was enticed away deliberately.’ She explained her suspicions about the card party. ‘If Amelia knows Lambert they could have plotted this together. My dress was torn after I’d been to that card party. It could have been done deliberately there. The loose horseshoe could have been to get Jackson out of the way.’

  ‘We’re assuming a great deal.’

  ‘Yes, but it’s possible.’

  An hour later Alexander arrived.

  ‘There’s no sign of them on the Brighton road,’ he reported. ‘Is there any coffee?’ he added, yawning widely.

  Bella rang the bell. ‘Cook has been pressing coffee on us all morning,’ she said. ‘She’ll provide you with some breakfast too.’

  ‘Good. Thank you, Bella. I didn’t stop to eat.’

  ‘So that was an attempt to throw us off the scene. Well done, Alex. Now when you’ve eaten go to Dan’s house, and snatch some sleep,’ Lord Dorney told him.

  ‘I’m not tired. I want to see this through.’

  ‘Even an hour will help. I can’t have anyone delaying us through tiredness, so if you want to come with us do as I say!’

  Alexander protested, but when he yawned again gave in and departed.

  It was two hours after midday before Jackson returned. Bella and Lord Dorney sat in the drawing room, both watching through the window, concealed from the view of anyone watching the house by carefully positioned curtains. They were too worried to make conversation. They both jumped to their feet when Jackson was seen walking rapidly towards the house.

  ‘You have news?’ Lord Dorney asked the moment he entered the room.

  ‘They went east,’ Jackson reported. ‘The coach and driver had been engaged only as far as Romford. He said Lambert said his sister was unwell, and they would stay at the inn there for her to rest. He, Lambert, carried her inside, saying she was unable to walk, but the coachman said she looked as though she’d swooned. Just let me get my hands on that damned devil! Beg pardon, Miss Bella.’

  ‘Damned is right, Jackson! How did he induce her to go with him in the first place?’ Bella asked. ‘Mary’s a sensible girl.’

  ‘Some lying trick, no doubt,’ Lord Dorney suggested. ‘It’s possible he was watching this house, saw you leave, and then Mary go off on her own. He could have followed her. Perhaps he told her you had been involved in an accident and needed her. If she didn’t recognize him, and I doubt she recalls much detail about what happened in the inn at xxx, she’d have been too frightened at the time. She’d have gone in a hackney, and he could have taken her somewhere while he organized the coach.’

  ‘Just let me get my hands on him!’

  ‘You’ll have your chance, Jackson. Was he alone? None of his friends with him?’ Lord Dorney asked.

  ‘Yes, he was alone until Romford, unless he had plans to meet someone there.’

  ‘Unlikely, I think. It seems to have been a spur of the moment action, he took his chance when it offered, though I imagine he had it all planned and only waited for his opportunity.’

  ‘He’ll have to hire another carriage there, unless he’s close enough to his home to have one sent,’ Bella said. ‘We can find out more there when we follow him.’

  ‘Dan and Alex and I will follow,’ Lord Dorney said. ‘Jackson, you too. I’ll go round to Sir Daniel’s house and tell them to get our horses ready. Take the best horse you have, and I’ll meet you there ‘

  ‘Before you do that, Jackson,’ Bella interrupted, ‘fetch me another pair of your breeches and a jacket of some sort. You’re not much bigger than I am. And find a good horse and a saddle for me. I’m sure the stables will have something suitable.’

  Lord Dorney stared at her. ‘Bella, don’t be stupid! You can’t mean to create another scandal by riding through London in men’s clothes!’

  That ‘another’ hurt, but Bella was insistent. ‘I’ve ridden astride since I was a child, at home.’

  ‘He’ll be sending a message soon. You need to be here to receive it, so that we can know his plans.’

  She was exasperated. ‘And what good would it be if I did receive it? There would be no way I could tell you if you are somewhere in the wilds of Essex! Would you prefer that I am left alone to deal with him? To be abducted as well, no doubt, if I don’t do as he says?’

  Lord Dorney frowned. ‘You need do nothing except stay safely indoors. If he is here he can’t be harming Mary.’

  ‘I doubt he’ll come himself.’

  ‘He still won’t harm her until he hears from you.’

  ‘And if I’m not to be found he’ll have to wait. That gives us more time to find her. Leave Sir Daniel’s groom here in case a message does come. He can ride after us if it does. I’m coming with you. And if you try to stop me I’ll follow.’

  ‘Heaven preserve me from stubborn women!’ He glared at her. ‘But pack a gown. And a long cloak. It may be necessary for you to change into petticoats, so be prepared.’

  Bella chuckled. ‘I won’t delay you, don’t fear. But you�
��re delaying us if you want to argue with me.’

  Chapter 16

  As they rode Lord Dorney told Bella what they had, between them, discovered.

  She had bundled her hair into a net, pulled a cap Jackson had provided over it, and with his breeches and jacket, and a shirt he had also offered her, looked a passable boy.

  ‘Lambert is heavily in debt. He has been gambling on the cards, horses, anything, it seems, where he is likely to lose badly. He inherited a moderate fortune but was soon going to the moneylenders. He has a small estate in Essex, near Colchester xxx.’ (Check distances from London, how long it would take to travel, and distance from Essex marshes)

  ‘Is that where he’s taking Mary?’

  ‘It might be, but he has servants there, and he may not be able to trust them to keep quiet if he tries to keep Mary captive. And I cannot imagine she would agree to stay otherwise.’

  ‘She certainly would not! Mary is no coward, to be constrained by threats.’

  ‘Then he will be keeping her prisoner somewhere else. A cottage, a barn, or even a boat if he’s near the sea. There are lots of creeks along the river where a boat could be hidden. When we are closer to his house we can begin making enquiries, ask about possible hideouts. You and Jackson must stay out of sight. I mean it,’ he added as Bella began to protest. ‘He knows both of you, but I doubt he knows Dan or myself. Or Alex. Even if he has been watching you, none of us have been seen with you recently.’

  Bella, frustrated, had to admit the sense of this. ‘But I won’t be kept out of any confrontation! Mary will need me.’

  Lord Dorney laughed. ‘Perhaps. But don’t you think Jackson will be able to give her better consolation?’

  ‘But if he’s hurt her?’

  ‘Bella, when she’s free, and Lambert captured or fled, you can go to her. I don’t want to risk anyone being hurt.’

  She fumed, but nodded.

  They had ridden about ten miles out of London when dusk began to fall.

  ‘We won’t achieve anything by riding further tonight. We’ll stay the night at Romford, where the coach left them, and we’ll have opportunities there to ask questions,’ Lord Dorney decided.