The Rebellious Debutante

by Meg Alexander

  ‘Splendid! What pleasure she will derive from reading private correspondence! No, thank you! You had best make up your mind, Louise. We are to be parted for ever. Rushmore is a heartless brute!’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Louise said quietly. ‘All he asks of me is to do as my father would have wished.’

  Verreker cursed beneath his breath. Rushmore was a clever devil! He had seized upon the one argument which would sway this girl. He decided upon a final throw of the dice.

  He took Louise’s hand in his. ‘He is right, of course,’ he told her with a winning smile. ‘And what would have been your father’s first consideration? That must have been your happiness, my dear. Will you send me away like this? I won’t believe that you have played me false. I believed your love to be as strong as mine. Did we not say that we were two halves of one whole?’

  ‘I haven’t played you false,’ she whispered. ‘But—’

  ‘But you lack the courage to trust me?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘Then listen to me carefully. Rushmore intends to part us, but there is a way to force his hand.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘We must elope, my love. Once we are wed he can do nothing. Even he cannot come between husband and wife.’

  Louise snatched her hands away. She was deeply shocked. ‘You must be mad!’ she cried.

  Verreker threw his arms about her. ‘Of course I’m mad…mad with love for you… Believe me, this is the only way if we are ever to make our dreams come true.’

  ‘I can’t do it…and I won’t!’ Her face was set.

  Matthew Verreker knew when he was beaten, and now he too was shocked. Who would have suspected that this gentle girl had such a streak of stubbornness in her nature? Now disaster loomed before him. His creditors would not wait, and money he must have before the month was out.

  The idea of abduction crossed his mind. One night alone with this stupid creature would still all objections to their marriage. She would be damaged goods, especially if he took care to let the circumstances be known to all her friends and acquaintance.

  He was unaware that his expression had changed, but Louise glanced up at his face and was afraid.

  ‘I must go,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, Matthew, but I could never agree to such a plan. Will you not trust me to wait for you?’

  ‘You must do as you think best,’ he told her coldly. ‘I shall not contact you again. If you change your mind, a letter will find me.’ He looked at her bent head, and knew then that the letter would not come. He bowed and left her.

  Pale with fury, he strode off into the town contemplating the ruin of all his hopes. His careful plans had come to naught, but she’d seemed such an easy target, and finding her alone in the park had been a heaven-sent opportunity. He’d seen at a glance that she was gentry. It had been so easy to offer her his sympathy, and later, when he had made enquiries as to her background, his love.

  Fatherless and vulnerable, she’d fallen into his hands like a ripe plum until the arrival of the Earl of Rushmore. Slow-burning hatred for his enemy consumed him as he walked along. The Earl was a powerful man, but he would learn that he had met his match in Matthew Verreker. There were other ways of gaining possession of the funds he needed.

  Abduction? It might be worth a try, but Louise no longer walked in the park alone. And Rushmore? Matthew did not underestimate his enemy. If he made Louise his wife, it was more than likely that she would soon become a widow. Rushmore had killed in battle. If he was given just cause, it was more than likely that he would kill again.

  But there was another way. In the past he had always made contingency plans in case certain of his schemes fell through. This time he hadn’t thought it necessary, but an idea crossed his fertile mind and he began to chuckle.

  The scheme was not his own. He had heard of it some years ago. It had been tried in this very place. True, it had not met with much success, but the intended victims had been an elderly couple. Now, in the case of a young girl…? As he considered all the possibilities he knew that it could not fail.

  Unaware of the plans being made for her, Louise had sought the company of her friends. Amy was bursting to know the outcome of her interview with Matthew Verreker, but, cautioned by Perdita, she held her tongue until Louise should choose to speak of it.

  ‘I expect you want to know,’ Louise said at once. ‘I have explained to Matthew that we must wait.’

  ‘What did he say to that?’ Perdita asked. She suspected that she knew the answer to the question before her friend could reply.

  ‘He was disappointed,’ Louise told her in a low voice. ‘He thinks the Earl a monster…and…well… I’m afraid we quarrelled about it.’

  ‘He will come round,’ Amy assured her cheerfully. ‘When gentlemen are crossed they fly into the boughs, but they get over it and then forget what they have been quarrelling about.’

  Louise gave her a sad little smile. ‘This was not quite the same as your differences with your cousins, Amy. Matthew says that he will not contact me again. If I change my mind, I am to write to him.’

  ‘Change your mind?’ About what? Perdita was seized with a feeling of dread. ‘Surely he does not expect you to go on meeting him in secret and hiding letters in the park?’

  ‘No, he doesn’t, but he is convinced that his lordship means to part us for ever.’

  Amy took her hand. ‘Are you very unhappy about it?’ she asked. ‘Perhaps if we spoke to the Earl he might agree to you meeting Matthew in company.’

  ‘I said as much, but Matthew will not have it. It is not enough for him…’ She turned her head away and gazed through the window, fighting back her tears.

  Perdita moved to sit beside her. ‘Is there something more?’ she asked. ‘I hate to see you so distressed. You say that Mr Verreker wishes you to change your mind? What has he suggested to you?’

  Louise began to sob. ‘He…he wishes me to agree to an elopement,’ she gasped. ‘I can’t! I can’t!’

  ‘Of course you can’t!’ Perdita’s anger threatened to overwhelm her. ‘What kind of man is he even to suggest such a thing?’

  ‘He must be mad! Doesn’t he realise that the Earl would follow you? I believe that I shall offer to go with him, Louise. You will need a friend when he catches up with Mr Verreker.’ Amy’s eyes were gleaming with excitement.

  ‘Amy, if you can’t be sensible you may leave the room. Louise has no intention of eloping with Mr Verreker.’ Perdita turned to her friend. ‘How have you left things with him?’

  ‘It is as I told you. I must make the decision whether or not to see him again.’

  ‘Let him suffer for a while,’ Amy advised. ‘That is, if you truly wish to see him again.’

  ‘Do you, Louise?’ Perdita cast a searching glance at her friend’s face. ‘I think you cannot have suspected that he would stoop so low.’

  ‘I don’t know! I’m so confused. Matthew seemed different somehow. He’s always been so kind, but today I saw another side to his character.’

  ‘Well, now you have plenty of time to consider how you should go on.’ It was with a feeling of relief that Perdita heard a bustle in the hall which heralded the arrival of all three of her cousins, together with the Earl of Rushmore.

  ‘Girls, I beg you will not speak of this to his lordship,’ Louise begged anxiously. ‘It can only give him a poor opinion of Matthew.’

  Amy and Perdita nodded. A horse-whipping would be the likely outcome and that would serve no purpose except to relieve the Earl’s feelings.

  Rushmore was too circumspect to question Louise directly. Her dead father’s wishes would be uppermost in her mind, he knew. Now he felt he could trust her to follow his own advice.

  Miss Langrishe beamed at him, and made no objection when he suggested that the young people might enjoy a stroll in the park. She had turned down his invitation that she join them.

  ‘Bless you, my dear boy, I can think of nothing more exhausting. W
hy do you think I live here in Laura Place, rather than in the Royal Crescent? I am all for convenience, you know, and here I need struggle only a few yards to the shops.’ She chuckled. ‘My feet do very well as long as I don’t punish them too much.’

  ‘Then you might prefer to drive in a barouche, ma’am?’

  ‘Not this morning, Adam, I thank you. I have much to do, and the Colonel intends to call upon me with tickets for a subscription ball. Now, off you go…the girls will enjoy the outing.’

  Her charges needed no further encouragement. Both Amy and Louise knew that their return to the Academy could not be long delayed, and they intended to enjoy their freedom to the full.

  They hurried ahead with Thomas and his brothers, leaving Perdita and the Earl to follow at a slower pace. Perdita gave her sister a suspicious look. It seemed almost as if Amy was at pains to throw her together with his lordship.

  Then she dismissed the idea. Amy was merely giving her the opportunity to discuss Rushmore’s plans for Louise.

  He did not leave her long in doubt.

  ‘Verreker has been to see Louise?’ he asked.

  ‘He came this morning, my lord.’

  ‘Oh, I wondered…’ He looked ahead to the party of young people strolling happily in the sunshine. ‘She does not seem to be overly distressed…I must hope that she made my wishes known to him.’

  ‘She did.’

  ‘And what was his reaction?’

  Perdita considered her next words carefully. She had promised not to speak of Verreker’s plans for an elopement, but there could be no harm in mentioning his anger.

  ‘He was not best pleased,’ she admitted.

  She heard a suppressed laugh. ‘Perdita, I shall regard those words as a masterpiece of understatement. Confess it now—he was furious?’

  ‘Well, yes, he was, but he could not sway Louise. You may not think it, but she was distressed. They had a serious quarrel, and he went off in a rage, saying that they must part unless she changed her mind.’

  ‘Really! This is good news indeed, except that you are keeping something back from me, I think. What was she to change her mind about?”

  Perdita was silent.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘Sir, I cannot betray a confidence. Louise insisted that she must do as her father might have wished.’

  ‘I see. And it was enough to cause him to withdraw his suit? You surprise me! I had not thought that he would give her up so easily.’

  Perdita felt that she was on dangerous ground. She tried to hurry ahead towards the others, but a large hand closed about her wrist and Rushmore drew her arm through his.

  ‘Don’t run away, my dear!’ he said. ‘I won’t ask you to break your word, but we are speaking of a dangerous man. He is at point non plus and he cannot afford to let Louise escape. As I see it, he has few choices open to him.’

  Perdita averted her face. In seconds her shrewd companion would have the secret out of her, and that might lead to disaster.

  Rushmore strolled on, apparently unaware of any tension.

  ‘Yes,’ he continued, ‘few choices. One, I fancy, might be to suggest an elopement.’

  Perdita gasped and tried to withdraw her arm from his, but he would not release her.

  ‘Louise, I fancy, would not agree to that,’ he mused. He looked down at the lovely girl beside him, and then he smiled. ‘Don’t worry, my dear, I shall neither call him out nor horse-whip him. Perdita, has anyone ever told you that your face is the mirror of your thoughts?’

  She coloured deeply and turned her head away.

  ‘No, I shall not make a martyr of this creature,’ he continued. ‘He is safe enough for the moment. Louise herself must see him for what he is, and she may not have long to wait.’

  ‘Sir, what can you mean?’

  ‘Verreker is facing ruin, I believe. I should not put it past him to have considered abduction—’

  ‘Oh, no!’ Perdita’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘He could not be so wicked.’

  ‘Needs must when the devil drives…’ Rushmore considered for some moments. ‘I have no wish to frighten her, but she must not be left alone.’

  ‘But if you set a guard on her she will think that you don’t trust her.’

  ‘She won’t suspect my guard.’ Rushmore chuckled.

  ‘But who?’

  ‘I was thinking of your sister, Amy. Shall we take her into our confidence?’

  Perdita sighed with relief. ‘Sir, you could have thought of nothing better. Amy will guard Louise and consider it an adventure. Why, she was planning to attend the duel if you had challenged Verreker.’

  ‘She has much to learn,’ he said softly. ‘Verreker is not a gentleman. I could not have challenged him.’

  There was something in his tone which caused Perdita to look up at him. She was startled. This was not the laughing, teasing man she knew. There was murder in his eyes. She shrank away from him.

  Rushmore sensed it at once and when he spoke again it was in a rallying tone. ‘Your sister is a jewel.’ He laughed. ‘She was prepared to rise at dawn to attend us on some blasted heath or other? Where was she to hide?’

  ‘Behind a tree, I think. Her greatest worry was that you would delope, or miss each other in the fray.’

  ‘Good heavens! I see that I am unlikely to be lucky in my ally. Remind me not to offer her a pistol. We shall have bodies everywhere.’

  ‘Pray be serious, sir.’ Perdita returned to the matter in hand. ‘Matthew Verreker would be foolish in the extreme to attempt to abduct Louise. He must surely know that you would follow him?’

  ‘He won’t have forgotten that possibility. He may hope to ruin Louise before we catch him.’

  Perdita blushed, but she did not pretend to misunderstand him.

  ‘Of course, it will avail him nothing.’

  Again, she saw the bleak look in his eyes.

  ‘It won’t happen,’ she assured him earnestly. ‘Let us speak to Amy and to Aunt Trixie. Louise must not be left alone. Shall we tell Thomas and the boys?’

  The suggestion brought a reluctant smile from Rushmore. ‘I think not. If Thomas were to learn the facts, Amy might get her duel after all. It could serve no purpose, except to cause a scandal in which Louise might be named, and rouse sympathy for Verreker if he should be wounded.’

  ‘I’d shoot him myself!’ Perdita said fiercely.

  ‘Yes, my love, I know you would, but there are other ways to bring him down. I have set matters in train…enquiries are being made here and in London. The man must have a past. This cannot be his first attempt to secure an easy living for himself.’

  If Perdita was startled by the endearment she gave no sign of it. She walked along sedately with her companion.

  ‘And how do you find Bath?’ he asked with an easy grin. ‘Not quite as boring as you had at first imagined?’

  ‘Not in the least,’ Perdita shuddered. ‘This will teach me not to yearn for excitement. I have had enough to last a lifetime.’

  ‘Oh, I hope not, my dear.’ Rushmore twined her fingers in his own. ‘You have your life ahead of you. I hope…I mean, I am certain that you will find it interesting and fulfilling.’

  Perdita allowed her hand to rest in his. ‘It’s difficult, isn’t it?’ she said frankly. ‘I mean, one does not know what lies ahead.’

  ‘But that is the beauty of it. Imagine if some seer told you! Would you wish to know? There would be no surprises.’

  ‘Most of my surprises have turned out to be unpleasant recently,’ she told him with a rueful smile.

  ‘Ah, yes, but you must not give up hope! All this will change—’ Rushmore caught himself in time. He must not speak of love just yet, or even attempt to attach Perdita to him. Let her grow to know him as a trusted friend. That must be enough for now.

  Chapter Ten

  Amy made an excellent co-conspirator. Once taken into the Earl’s confidence she was even able to face the dismal prospect of returning to the Academy as a boarder wi
th a certain degree of equanimity.

  Her eyes sparkled at the thought of becoming Louise’s bodyguard, though she objected when Rushmore refused to lend her a pistol.

  ‘But suppose we are attacked?’ she cried. ‘We should fight, of course, but we’d be no match for a group of ruffians.’

  ‘An attack is highly unlikely if you stay together,’ Rushmore told her. ‘All I’m asking is that you make quite sure that Louise does not go out alone. You girls are allowed to walk in Bath, I believe?’

  ‘Only in a stupid crocodile! We look like a group of schoolgirls.’

  With commendable restraint the Earl refrained from mentioning that that was exactly what they were.

  ‘But you are able to go into the shops to make small purchases?’

  ‘Only in company with each other.’

  ‘Good! I may be imagining danger where none exists, but it would be foolish to take a risk. Take care that you don’t get separated and, whatever the temptation, don’t stray into alleyways or lonely streets.’

  Amy’s eyes widened. ‘Then you do fear an attempt at an abduction, sir?’

  ‘Only if an opportunity were to present itself. I am certain that Louise will be watched, but once it is seen that she is never left alone such plans would be abandoned.’

  ‘But I thought you said that Verreker was desperate?’

  ‘He is. I don’t underestimate him, but it is difficult to arrange an abduction in a crowded street. He would need help…a closed carriage…and the knowledge that he could spirit Louise away without detection.’

  ‘You are well informed, my lord. Have you ever considered abduction yourself?’ Amy gave him a teasing look.

  ‘I have been tempted, my dear.’ The Earl’s eyes strayed to Perdita. ‘To date I have managed to resist that temptation… Now, let us change the subject. You will attend the subscription ball?’

  Perdita threw him a look of gratitude. Amy, she knew, would be alert for danger. Pray heaven she would not take her new responsibilities to extremes. She was capable of challenging Verreker herself.

  Later she said as much to Rushmore, but he persuaded her to set aside her fears.