“Never fear,” Aunt Hortense said, hugging Leonora with surprising heartiness. “I will do as you wish. You just make sure that young man of yours is able to escape this serpent’s nest unscathed.”
Since Leonora had told her as little as possible about their true reasons for leaving, she could only imagine that Hortense had supplied her own story to go with the dramatic exit.
Once that was settled, she was free to pack her own bags, and to instruct Freddy’s valet to pack for him as well. At exactly nine o’clock Freddy’s curricle would be waiting for them at the gates to South Haven. And Lady Melisande had promised Leonora that she would see to it that her husband’s perimeter guards were otherwise occupied at that time.
All that was left was for Leonora to get Freddy out of the barn, where Sir Gerard and the others had assembled to watch Freddy pummel some poor soul into dust.
She sent up a silent prayer that they’d be able to escape unscathed.
* * *
When the ladies left the men to their port after dinner that evening, Freddy felt a frisson of excitement in the air. And as soon as the men began walking through the French doors toward the barn, he guessed why.
“Tonight?” he asked his cousin as the other man walked with surprising languor toward the outbuilding. “You might have told me.”
“If I’d given you the exact time, old man,” Sir Gerard said with a knowing grin, “then you would have known when to make your escape.”
“Are you accusing me of reneging on a promise?” Freddy demanded, his temper rising. “I said I would do as you asked, and there’s an end to it.”
“No need to get your back up, cousin,” Sir Gerard said with a chuckle. “You’ll have your chance in the ring soon enough.”
By this time they’d reached the inside of the barn, which was lit up with torches along every wall. It was a large open space, which had not seen a horse or cow in a great many years if Freddy knew anything about it. A ring had been marked off with a rope attached to stakes every few feet. The other members of the club had already begun to gather around the circular enclosure and Freddy found himself being propelled to one side of the ring, while Lord Darleigh was on the other side.
“Strip to the waist,” Sir Gerard said sharply, when he and Freddy got to his designated side. “I hope you’ve recovered enough from your match with Lord Payne to do yourself justice tonight. I should hate to see a relation of mine bested without much of a fight.”
Unwinding his cravat and unbuttoning his waistcoat, Freddy chose not to point out that if his cousin was really worried about the family honor he’d dispense with this nonsense altogether and call the whole thing off. But sensing that Gerard would not find such a tirade amusing, he shrugged out of his coat, and waistcoat, then began untucking the voluminous tails of his shirt from his breeches.
When he was finally naked to the waist, the barn was loud with the sound of men chattering. And if Freddy were not mistaken, there were more men here than guests at his cousin’s house. Perhaps they’d advertised the event at the local pub, he thought, puzzled. Noting the quality of the gathering’s attire, he thought it more likely that his cousin had sent word to London. If that were the case, it would mean that Gerard had been planning this since long before they left London. And a jolt of anger ran through him at the thought of being used like that.
He noticed Lord Colburn, a club member, was surreptitiously moving through the crowd with a large velvet bag, which the audience members were filling with pound notes.
Suddenly, Freddy knew exactly where his cousin’s fortune came from.
“I think you’ll do,” Gerard said from beside him, where to Freddy’s surprise his cousin began to remove his own cravat.
“What are you doing?” he demanded. If he was supposed to fight his cousin then was it to be a fight to the death? Or perhaps there was to be some sort of initiation. Where he would find himself being beaten at the hands of each member of the club.
That supposition seemed more likely when he saw that Lord Darleigh and Lord Payne were also removing their clothing above the waist.
“It’s an initiation of sorts, cousin,” Gerard said with a barely disguised grin. “We do this with gentlemen who show a particular affinity for leadership. And you, being so commanding, cousin, will be the perfect candidate for a role as one of my lieutenants. If, that is, you survive your initiation.”
Glaring at his cousin, Freddy turned to watch as Lord Payne, his body still bearing the bruises from their bout earlier in the week, stretched his arms across the ring. Lord Darleigh, on the other hand, looked nervous. And as he shrugged out of his coat, Freddy saw that the other man was favoring his left arm, as if he’d suffered some injury to it earlier in the week.
Before he could protest again, Gerard walked into the center of the ring, his muscled torso glistening in the torchlight. “Gentlemen,” he said in a loud voice, and immediately the chatter ceased. “Gentlemen, you are here tonight to witness the initiation into the Lords of Anarchy of a new member. A man who has long been known amongst the ton for his legendary prowess in the bedroom, at the reins, and on the dueling field. My cousin Lord Frederick Lisle might hail from one of the most respected families in England, but he has more than enough black-sheep credentials to make him a valuable member of our illustrious company.”
Freddy felt the eyes of the room upon him as his cousin spoke, sick that Gerard’s jealousy of him had grown to such heights that he would publicly denigrate his own family.
“To prove himself worthy of membership in the Lords of Anarchy,” Gerard continued, “my cousin will have to defeat not only Lord Payne, but also myself and Lord Darleigh. Only when he has overcome all three of us at once will my cousin be welcomed into the fold as a Lord of Anarchy.”
All three of them? Gerard was mad, Freddy thought as he watched the other men move toward the center of the ring. He flexed his shoulders in an unconscious preparation for the fight, though he could not imagine it would do any good. Still, he’d need to be ready if he was going to survive this madness, he thought.
Moving onto the balls of his feet, he danced around a little. He was moving into the center of the ring toward the others when a cry sounded from the edges of the crowd. “Fire!”
“Fire!” another shouted. And soon the whole barn was filled with the scent of smoke and the bellows of alarm as a rush of men hurried to escape from the enclosure.
Twenty-three
Leonora let Freddy’s groom give her a hand up into the curricle as they waited in the shadows beside the fence of Gerard’s paddock. She could hear the cry of fire rippling through the crowd inside the barn and she strained her eyes to see if Chester, Freddy’s valet, had been able to get to his master yet. Then she saw a flash of gold in the firelight and was relieved to see Hanson followed by a shirtless Freddy running at full speed toward them.
In one swift leap he was in the vehicle and his valet was headed for where the coach and four had been hidden.
They were almost to the gates leading out of the estate when a shout went up behind them and Leonora looked back to see that Sir Gerard had spotted them. But as he was on foot, he was impotent to do anything to stop them. Especially since his stables had been evacuated because of the fire alarm.
“Spring ’em, Smitty,” Freddy barked to his groom as they took off into the night and raced as fast as the curricle would take them.
Leonora dared not speak, but appreciated the warmth of Freddy’s bare arm around her shoulders.
“How did you ever manage this?” he asked when they were finally beyond the periphery of his cousin’s estate. Leonora gave him the cloak she’d brought for him which Freddy took gratefully, before asking again. “How, Leonora?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not even sure how I did it. Lady Melisande told me when the ladies left the gentlemen to their port what her husband was planning tonight. And I knew that there was no way we could remain in that house without further risking our ne
cks. So, I told Aunt Hortense to prepare herself to go to her friend’s house in the next county—that is where your coach and four are headed, by the way. Along with your valet and my maid.”
“All right,” he said with a grin. “I can last a few days without Chester, I think.”
“Then I spoke to Smith about driving the curricle and had him ready it for a long journey. Fortunately your horses were rested from our journey out here so they were ready for another one. The last thing was to put a torch to one of the hay bales. It managed to make enough of a to-do that panic set in among the men in the barn and voilà!”
She felt him staring at her in the darkness, and Leonora found herself in the unusual position of feeling bashful.
“You are an amazing woman, Leonora Craven,” he said finally, kissing the top of her head. “I don’t think we’d have made it out of that house alive if you hadn’t arranged this escape for us.”
“I feel sure you would have come up with something,” she said with a slight shrug. “If you weren’t faced with having to fight for membership in a club you don’t even want to be a member of.”
“Yes,” he said with a laugh. “There’s that. Thank goodness you spared me from that fate.”
“Anytime, sir,” she said with a giggle.
“Leonora?” he asked after a few minutes had passed.
“Yes?” she asked, snuggling up to him beneath the cloak.
“Where are we going?”
“We can’t go to London because if we were seen there in this condition it would cause the scandal of the season,” she said with a sigh. “So, I remembered that your friend the Earl of Mainwaring has a house not far from here.”
“He does,” Freddy responded, sounding surprised. In the darkness she couldn’t see his expression but she thought perhaps he was puzzled.
“It was your valet’s suggestion,” she explained a little defensively. “He said you’d been there before and that he thought the earl wouldn’t mind. I hope that’s all right?”
She heard him laugh softly before he pulled her close. “It’s perfectly fine, my dear. I just hadn’t realized before that your talents extended to large-scale escapes and capers.”
“Just because I am a poet doesn’t mean my mind is always in the ether communing with the muses,” she replied with a laugh. “I am rather a managing sort of female. As you will recall from the last time we were betrothed.”
There was a pause and, for a moment, Leonora could only hear the sounds of the road—the jingle of the horses’ tack, the wheels on the road, and the wind whipping through the trees.
“I should like to speak about that,” Freddy said into the darkness. “Soon. Not tonight. I think I should very much like to be fully dressed for that discussion.”
She could hear the smile in his voice and knew that whatever the discussion entailed, it would not be a difficult one. At least on his side. She had some things to discuss that would perhaps make it difficult for Freddy to forgive her. For now, however, she was just glad they were alive.
“I can wait,” she said softly, leaning up to kiss his cheek.
When he turned his head to kiss her properly, she did not protest.
* * *
They reached Mainwaring’s little manor house a few hours later. By that time the wind had followed them from South Haven and turned into a rainstorm, and when Freddy approached the front entrance it was miserable out.
Fortunately the butler recalled Freddy from a previous visit and welcomed their ragtag party inside with no questions asked.
He gave orders that his curricle was to be hidden in the stables and that in the event someone should call looking for them, they had not been seen.
Only when he was sure the horses and the servants had been seen to and were comfortably situated did Freddy allow himself to relax. He’d learned from his father that servants—both equine and human—were to be treated fairly and with consideration and dignity. And theirs had proved themselves tonight to be the most loyal sorts.
Though he suspected Leonora might have already fallen asleep, when he’d finished looking in on the horses, he slipped silently into her bedchamber. Quietly, he undressed and climbed into bed beside her.
“Did you see to the servants?” she asked in a sleepy voice as he slipped his arms around her.
He might have known she would guess his task. “Yes,” he said against her hair. “All right and tight. We can sleep here for several hours then set out tomorrow in Mainwaring’s carriage.”
“You’re lucky to have a friend like that,” she said quietly.
“Your brother was that sort of friend, too.”
“I know,” she said, turning so that they were face-to-face. “He told me. If ever he needed help, it didn’t matter the time of day or the circumstance, he could call on one of you. The four horsemen.”
He smiled in the darkness. “That was a silly name,” he admitted, remembering the day they’d come up with it. The young men they’d been.
“Perhaps,” she said, nestling against his chest. “But young men are often foolish. From that silliness however were born lifelong friendships. That cannot be counted as silly,”
“I miss him,” he said, thinking how all this mess with his cousin had begun. “He would have loved the adventure tonight.”
“He would,” she said, and he guessed that she was smiling.
“I think we should be able to bring charges against my cousin now,” he said. “The fact that the curricle was there on his estate should be more than enough to prove that your brother’s death was suspicious.”
“I hope so,” Leonora said, her voice sounding sleepy. “I want this to be over. I am ready to get back to ordinary life.”
He wondered how life with her could ever be anything like ordinary, but said nothing. There would be time enough for them to discuss such things.
With a sigh, he pulled her close against him and they slept.
* * *
The next afternoon, they arrived in London, exhausted. Though he was reluctant to do so, Freddy left Leonora at her father’s house with an admonition for her to rest. Given his own exhaustion, it wasn’t until the next day that he presented himself in her private parlor.
“I missed you,” Freddy said, reaching out to take Leonora’s hand.
“We’ve only been apart a matter of hours,” she responded, squeezing his hand.
“I believe there is still the matter of an engagement to see to,” he said quietly. “A true engagement.”
Looking up, she saw that his handsome face was serious. And deadly earnest.
“I love you, Leonora,” he said, standing and pulling her up to face him. “I want you to be my wife. And I will not stop until that happens.”
“When we parted five years ago,” she said softly, “I thought I would die from the ache of losing you.”
“Then why did you turn me away?” he asked, the pain of that rejection evident in his voice. “We might have been together all these years. We might already have a nursery full of children and another on the way.”
At his wistful tone, Leonora’s heart sank. It had been foolish of her to allow Freddy back into her life when she knew full well that they could never marry. And selfish.
Unable to face the confusion in his eyes, she dropped his hand and turned to compose herself.
Rather than pressing her, Freddy let her go. He’d always been good that way. Allowing her space to breathe. But it was time to tell him the truth, and she greatly feared that when they parted today, it would be forever.
“I regret not telling you the truth five years ago,” she said finally. To her surprise, her voice didn’t break as she spoke. “I thought it best to keep the matter to myself, though I can see now that it was unfair to you. Not to let you know my true reasons for breaking things off. Especially since I had known all along that a marriage could never happen between us. I suppose I was just selfish. I wanted to know what it was I’d be missing, you see. And you were s
o terribly sweet to me.”
“Leonora,” he said, stepping up behind her—so close she could feel the heat from his body. “You are frightening me. What could possibly keep you from marrying me?”
Turning, she saw that he was serious. And suddenly she could keep her secret no longer.
“When I was fifteen,” she said, “I met a young man at our local assembly. He was charming and handsome, and was the first man to show me any sort of attention. Certainly not the sort of attention a man pays a woman. And I was smitten.
“I was already writing verse, and I suspect part of me thought I had to experience romantic love before I could ever begin to truly understand the emotions necessary for fully expressing them in poetry.”
She smiled ruefully at the foolishness of her younger self. “But I truly did believe myself to be in love with him. And he with me.”
“Since you are not now married to the man,” Freddy said tightly, “then I can only suppose something happened that prevented you from forming a lasting attachment.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And by the time he was gone, I’d experienced enough emotion to last me a lifetime of emotional verse.”
“What happened?”
“Anthony was a soldier who had come to town with his regiment for several months. And we made use of every moment we could spend together that summer. Father was often busy with his own work, and my governess had been gone for a year then. So it was possible to spend quite a bit of time to ourselves.”
“You got with child,” he said, his voice carefully neutral. As if any hint of disapproval on his part would send her fleeing.
“It’s such a cliché,” she said, grateful she hadn’t had to say the words out loud. “But we were only together that way a few times. And as soon as I realized about the baby, I told him at once. Foolishly, I thought we could simply move up the date of the wedding we’d talked about all summer. But it is remarkable how quickly a rake’s promises dissolve in the face of true commitment.”
“He refused to marry you?” Freddy asked, his tone a mix of disgust and disbelief. “To give your child his name? After he’d seduced you?”
A Good Rake is Hard to Find Page 24
