Confident her words were a sign of capitulation, Peregrine smirked knowingly as he preceded her along the passage, leaving her to shut the front door.
‘I have come up with a much better solution to your problem than the one you put to me when you were last here,’ Nell announced, the moment she reached the kitchen.
He turned from tossing his hat onto one of the chairs, his face creasing with annoyance.
‘What do you mean?’ he barked. ‘There is only one solution to my problem. Carleton must die!’
‘Oh, no, sir! Please could you not spare him? Carleton has changed so very much during the years he spent abroad. He is not interested in reclaiming the title of Viscount Lambourne. He would be quite content to live here with me and Harry. Please,’ she cried, ‘do not compel me to kill him!’
‘I know what this is,’ he retorted. ‘You are afraid of being found out. I don’t believe for one second that Carleton has changed one iota. You just don’t want to hang if anyone were to find out you had done away with him. Well, let me tell you something,’ he snarled, taking a small bottle from an inner pocket and slapping it down on the table. ‘If I do not get word within two days that your husband is dead, I shall be making other arrangements. Do you understand me?’
He placed both hands flat on the floury table, leaning forward, his voice full of menace. ‘Arrangements that will include you and your boy. Which is it to be, madam? Carry out this simple little commission for me, or be added to my list of irritating problems that need to disappear?’
‘You would pay someone to kill me?’ she gasped. ‘And Harry? But he is a child!’
‘A worthless bastard is what he is! Nobody will miss him.’
A commotion erupted outside the window. The back door flew open to reveal three people struggling on her doorstep. Harry, the Vicar, and the Squire.
Harry was tucked under one of the Reverend Byatt’s arms, his limbs flailing like windmills. With his free hand the Vicar was vainly trying to hold Squire Jeffers back, though the spindly cleric had scant chance against a sportsman of the Squire’s calibre.
‘By God, sir!’ thundered the Squire as he surged into the kitchen, dragging the other two in his wake. ‘Mrs Tillotson warned me what you were about, but I did not believe her. Not till I heard you condemn yourself out of your own mouth!’
Chapter Six
Peregrine paled, but made a swift recovery. ‘I do not know what you think you heard,’ he said, drawing himself up to his full height, ‘but I can assure you—’
‘No, I can assure you,’ drawled a coldly forbidding voice from the door to the passage, ‘that if I or Nell or Harry should die in an untimely manner, these two gentlemen will know exactly where to point the finger.’ Carleton stood in the doorway, his fists clenched. ‘You are the one that will hang, not Nell.’
Peregrine rounded furiously on Nell.
‘This is your doing! You want it all, don’t you? The title, the wealth and the position you think you will have as his wife!’ He laughed maniacally. ‘Have you forgotten already what it was like the last time round? He will fill his house with whores and reprobates who will suck him dry. He will make your life a living hell, just as it was before I came to your rescue! My God, I should have let you walk the streets to keep bread in your bastard brat’s mouth—’
He would no doubt have carried on in the same vein indefinitely, had not Carleton flown across the kitchen, punching him so hard in the mouth that he reeled back against the pantry door.
He raised a floury hand to the blood that welled from his split lip, his eyes darting from one hostile face to the other.
‘Harry is my son,’ Carleton panted. ‘My heir. Even if you did away with me, he would still stand before you in line of succession.’
‘Are you quite sure about that?’ Squire Jeffers asked dubiously, as Reverend Byatt lowered Harry to the floor. ‘That boy? Your heir?’
‘Yes, quite sure,’ replied Carleton, going to place an arm round Nell’s shoulder and drawing her to his side.
Harry shot across the kitchen and flung his arms about Carleton’s waist. With a smile, his father reached down to ruffle his hair.
‘Lost your cap again, Harry?’ he chided gently.
‘Never mind the boy’s headgear!’ the Squire snapped. ‘There are far more important issues at stake here.’
‘I quite agree,’ said Nell. ‘Won’t you come in, Reverend, and close the door?’
‘Yes—yes, of course. Cannot think how I come to be standing on your step like this.’ He shook his head in a bewildered manner as he shut the door against the wintry air.
‘And we still have to decide what is to be done with him!’ put in the Squire, with an angry gesture towards Peregrine, who was groping in his pocket for a handkerchief.
‘It is a matter for myself and my cousin to determine between ourselves,’ said Carleton firmly. ‘I have no wish to bring scandal to our family name by having him arrested and charged with attempting to incite my wife to murder.’
‘But you cannot mean to let him walk away scot-free!’ blustered the Squire.
‘Relinquishing his position when he welcomes me home to Lambourne Hall will be punishment enough, I should think,’ said Carleton.
‘Welcome you to Lambourne Hall?’ Peregrine protested, his voice slightly muffled by the bloodstained handkerchief he was pressing to his lip. ‘I shall do no such thing!’
‘Oh, I think you will,’ said Carleton coldly. ‘The alternative would be too ghastly to contemplate. I still have friends who will recognise me. Either the Squire or the Vicar will be only too happy to convey me to them. If you force me to seek them out, I shall then have no compunction in relating how you deliberately blackened my wife’s name so that you could wrest the title from my son, my rightful heir. And how spreading such scandal caused my mother to suffer such shame that it probably hastened her demise. By the time I have finished you will not be received anywhere.’
Peregrine’s face was turning an alarmingly unhealthy shade of purple. ‘You would not…pack of damned lies…not the behaviour of a gentleman…’ he spluttered.
Carleton shrugged insouciantly. ‘But then, if you deny me what is rightfully mine, I shall not be a gentleman any more, shall I? I shall be forced to live on my wits.’ His eyes hardened. ‘And I should warn you I have learned a thing or two about survival over the years.’
‘Come, come, gentlemen,’ put in the Vicar nervously. ‘This is supposed to be the season of goodwill.’
‘My goodwill,’ replied Carleton, ‘can only extend as far as not pressing charges against this man for the attempt he would have made on my life.’
‘Yes, that’s it! Let bygones be bygones,’ Reverend Byatt babbled.
‘I suggest,’ put in Squire Jeffers sternly, ‘that you take yourself off to Lambourne Hall right now, and make arrangements for the Viscount’s return. And if I hear a whisper of anything untoward I shall be swearing out a deposition for your arrest!’
‘You leave me no choice,’ growled Peregrine.
‘None, sir!’
With one last venomous glance at Nell, Peregrine scuttled out of the door.
Nell felt Carleton sway. For the past few minutes the weight of his arm across her shoulder had been growing steadily heavier, until she felt as though she was all but holding him upright. Now, at last, he made for one of the kitchen chairs, and with her help sank onto it, his face white as chalk.
‘Do you think he really will give up his claim now?’ said Nell, moving to the window and anxiously peering out at Peregrine’s retreating figure.
‘He had better,’ growled the Squire. ‘He won’t want it getting around that he plotted murder.’
‘Gracious heavens,’ said the Vicar, sinking onto another chair. ‘And Harry really is your son? Heir to the Lambourne estate?’
‘He is that.’ Carleton smiled with pride.
‘My goodness,’ said the Vicar, shaking his head in astonishment.
The
Squire stood looking around the humble kitchen with open contempt. ‘This is no place for you, my lord. Not while you are obviously still so ill. You should come back with me to the Manor.’
Carleton looked straight at Nell.
‘Thank you for your kind offer, sir. It includes my wife, naturally?’
She whirled round, looking so appalled at the prospect of going to stay in Squire Jeffers’s home that he said, ‘Grateful though I am for your concern, I must decline your offer of hospitality. My place is here, with my wife.’
The Squire harrumphed, and shifted uneasily at the warmth of the look the couple then exchanged. But the Vicar clasped his hands, as though in prayer, his eyes misting over as he said, ‘Indeed it is. Oh, indeed. Perhaps what we should do, Squire, is to help them be more comfortable? I am sure our dear Helena could use some provisions?’
‘My most pressing need is for fuel,’ she replied, instantly purposeful. ‘And foodstuffs suitable for an invalid, of course.’
‘I’ll see to that,’ said the Squire brusquely. ‘Until your cousin makes the arrangements to have you removed to your proper sphere, I will make sure you lack for nothing, my lord.’
Nell smiled at him sweetly, but could not resist saying, ‘That will make a pleasant change, sir. Thank you.’
They saw their guests through to the front door, lingering on the threshold until they reached the front gate.
The Squire had just turned from fastening the latch when a large, wet snowball struck him square between the shoulderblades.
The Vicar gasped at the language that spewed from the Squire’s mouth as he turned and shook his fist at Harry, who promptly darted back into the safety of the house.
‘Oh, Harry!’ Nell’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘That was so naughty!’
But Carleton burst out laughing. To Nell’s dismay, he then dealt with the scene by calmly flipping the door shut, turning to his son, and declaring proudly, ‘Good shot, my boy!’
Harry stopped dead, whirled round, and offered up a tentative smile.
‘No, Carleton,’ Nell protested. ‘It was quite wrong of him to act in such a defiant and impudent manner. The Squire is a man of standing in the community, who deserves respect…’
‘He deserves horsewhipping,’ argued Carleton. ‘You have endured a great deal of hardship in my absence, and that man, from what I can gather, only managed to make it worse.’
Harry sidled back down the hall and plopped himself on the bottom stair, watching his parents avidly.
‘Well, naturally he was not at all happy about having a woman of my reputation coming to live under his jurisdiction. He feared I would be a bad influence…’
‘But he must have seen after you had been here five minutes that you are a woman of remarkable integrity. If you had been that sort of woman you would not have been living here, so fiercely proud of your independence. You would have traded on your beauty…’he traced the outline of her cheek with his forefinger ‘…to assure your comfort. How he could have continued to believe those false rumours…’ His face puckered in remorse. ‘The rumours which I set about…’
Drawing in a deep breath, he turned to his son. ‘Harry, it can be a very bad thing to act impulsively. Although I admire your aim, and can sympathise with your desire to avenge your mother, we Tillotsons adhere to certain standards of behaviour. From now on you must demonstrate more respect for your elders.’
Harry’s little face crumpled with dismay.
‘Do not worry, Harry. Nobody is angry with you. But we should like to be alone for a while, your mother and I, to have a little talk.’
‘About going to live in Viscount Lambourne’s house, now you are going to throw him out in the snow?’ said Harry, cheering up again.
‘I am not going to throw anyone out in the snow.’ Carleton knelt down on the flagstone floor, bringing his face down to Harry’s level. ‘Can you not remember how unpleasant it was when you were threatened with that fate? Would you want me to make anyone else feel so scared, and angry, and resentful?’
‘Even if he deserves it?’ said Harry dubiously.
‘It will be hard for him to give up a position he has come to regard as his own. That is punishment enough. To do more would only be cruel. I hope you do not believe your father could be capable of deliberate cruelty? That would make me no better than him.’
Harry sighed, looking a little disappointed. Scuffing his toe along the edge of the skirting board, he admitted, ‘I suppose so.’ Then, with a sullen expression on his face, he said, ‘I don’t have to go and live in Lambourne Hall with him, though, do I?’
Carleton reached out and grasped the newel post, his face losing what little colour it had, prompting Nell and Harry to support him to the parlour sofa, fluttering around him until their determined ministrations drew a brittle laugh from his throat.
‘Enough, enough!’ he said, waving his hand to indicate they should take to their own chairs. Nell chose the armchair opposite him, Harry a stool at his feet.
‘Let me make some things clear,’ he began. ‘Harry, you must understand your life will change now. When you grow up you will have substantial estates to govern, and you need to begin learning how to do that. That is why you must spend time at Lambourne Hall.’
When Harry’s face took on a mutinous cast, he added, ‘It is a wonderful place for a boy to live. There is a farm, and some woods, and a lake. You can learn to ride and shoot and fish.’
Harry considered for a few minutes, then asked, ‘Will I have to respect the Viscount…I mean that man who said he was Viscount Lambourne?’
‘When you have cause to meet him I shall expect you to be polite. But I should not think you will see him all that often.’ Carleton leaned forward, clasping his hands loosely between his knees. ‘My cousin has a property in Northumberland. I hope to persuade him to remove there.’
Harry looked relieved.
‘You can go outside and make the most of the snow now,’ said Carleton gently.
‘Wrap up warm!’ called Nell after him as he dashed from the room.
As soon as she heard the back door slam, she turned to Carleton anxiously. ‘What if you cannot make Peregrine leave Lambourne Hall? What then?’
‘So long as we all spend Christmas there, it really does not matter. It is too late for him now to cancel the traditional celebrations that are held there. We shall meet all the neighbours, and from them the news of my return will spread like wildfire. His options then will be limited.’ He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. ‘And in any event, my estates and investments yield enough to keep us all in considerable comfort.’
‘But if that was your plan all along, why did you threaten him with ruin?’
Carleton’s face hardened. ‘I had to convince Peregrine I was prepared to fight dirty. I had to put the fear of God into him, Nell, don’t you see? To keep you and Harry safe! Nothing else matters.’
Nell twisted her hands together in anguish. She knew what Lambourne Hall meant to her husband. He could not possibly want to give it up.
‘How can you say it does not matter? If you cannot get him out of your home—’
‘Was he right?’ he cut in. ‘Did you only defend me because you want the title, the wealth and the status I denied you the last time round?’ He stared at her, aghast.
‘How can you even think that?’ she cried. ‘I do not care about any of those things! I never have! If you must know,’ she said crossly, getting to her feet and pacing to the fire, where she took up a poker and began to thrust it into the logs, sending showers of sparks up the chimney, ‘I would as soon stay here and keep chickens, and grow my own vegetables, and—’
‘Never have to clap eyes on me again, I dare swear?’ His eyes were pools of bleak despair. ‘Oh, do not attempt to deny it,’ he said when she whirled round, the poker still clutched in her hand. ‘You never wanted to marry me in the first place, did you? How could I ever have been arrogant enough to think that you would go to such lengths to tr
ap me?’
Nell made a great show of placing the poker back on its stand. ‘I…I did not play any part in trapping you,’ she said, keeping her back to him. ‘But I cannot deny I was not at all reluctant to become your wife. I had watched you, from the shadows where I was supposed to stay, and I had admired you. You know how handsome you were!’ she admitted crossly. ‘All the girls wanted you to notice them. I was not surprised when you believed I was the same. You were so used to that sort of pursuit. That girl who pretended to faint at your feet! What was her name?’ She glanced at him over her shoulder.
‘I cannot recollect,’ he said diplomatically.
Nell turned fully round, clasping her rather sooty hands together at her waist. ‘That was why I came to your chamber on our wedding night. I did not want you to think I was like them. I wanted you to know the truth. And I hoped that we could become friends, and find a way to deal with what my aunt had done to us both.’
He groaned. ‘And I made yet another error in selfishly taking what I assumed you had come to offer. Then compounded my sins by attempting to blot out the whole episode with brandy.’
With a stricken look, Nell crossed the space between them and silenced him by laying the tip of her finger against his lips.
‘You were not selfish. You were wonderful. You were so tender with me. Took such care of me and brought me such delight…’ She blushed, then busied herself removing the sooty fingerprints from her husband’s mouth with a corner of her apron. ‘I foolishly thought you had decided to make our marriage real. Only the next morning you left in such a terrible rage…’
‘Only to return with that degenerate rabble…’He shook his head in remorse.
‘I was so pleased to see you that first night,’ she admitted shyly. ‘I thought you were introducing me to your friends, that I was going to act as hostess…’
‘And instead—’he groaned ‘—you were faced with the sight of me with that trollop on my knee…’
One Candlelit Christmas Page 17
