His heart was pounding the entire time. If he failed, it wasn’t just his neck on the line. A runaway carriage in London’s busy streets was no laughing matter and it was just as likely that Lilly would be killed along with him and whatever poor, hapless bystanders were in their path. It was that thought which spurred him on, which allowed him to leap from the box and onto the horse’s back.
He had to grab the breast collar, pulling it tight, until the horse finally began to slow. The carriage finally halted near the intersection ahead of them. It was a busy one, and had they not managed to stop in that spot, it was likely that one or all of them would have been injured or killed. His heart was still racing as he climbed down. From the street behind them, he could see the hansom driver limping toward them. Stavers was still in pursuit of the man who’d carried out the abduction attempt. And he could see the back of the Hound’s elegantly tailored coat as he disappeared into the throng of London’s well-to-do shoppers.
When the driver reached them and took over the calming of the horses and there was no threat of the cab once more running away with them, Val opened the door and found Lilly sitting on the banquette, ashen faced, and her long-lost mother laid out on the seat beside her, her head bleeding and completely unconscious.
“What happened?”
Lilly shook her head. “There was a commotion outside and she jumped into the carriage. Then it took off and I heard the driver shouting and then saw him fall. You know better than I did what occurred.”
Val grimaced. “It appears that someone attempted to abduct you and that your mother, forgive me, Miss Hartnett, was attempting to save you or at the very least assist you.”
“Pardon me, guv’nah, but there’s a hackney here for you,” came the call of the hansom driver.
Val turned around and found a large hackney carriage pulling up near them. He eyed the driver suspiciously. The man tipped his hat.
“The Hound sent me to carry you home, m’lord,” the driver offered. “You and the lady.”
“Ladies. And one is injured,” Val said.
The driver nodded. “I’ll be quick and careful in seeing you back to your house, m’lord.”
It was good enough for Val. He helped Lilly down and then lifted Miss Hartnett into his arms, just as Stavers rounded the corner.
“He got away, my lord,” the butler said. “I’ll be sending some fellows I know around to keep watch for you. My employer would be most displeased if anything else were to happen to the ladies.”
Val would happily take all the help he could get. “Are they as inconspicuous as you?”
For the first time in their acquaintance, the butler cracked an actual smile. It revealed enough missing teeth that Val was certain his earlier estimation of Stavers as a pugilist was likely correct.
“More so, my lord. More so,” the man said, still grinning as he walked away.
Gently lifting Miss Hartnett into the carriage, he climbed in after her and settled down on the seat opposite. Lilly was glaring at him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The Hound… The Hound of Whitehall, the very man you warned me against, and yet you are familiar enough with him that he is arranging transportation for us?” she demanded.
He sighed. “Let us get home, get Miss Hartnett settled in and the physician summoned, then we will discuss it.”
“Yes, we most assuredly will,” she agreed, her tone chilling.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lillian had never been more furious in her life. He had lied to her. He’d told her that he would not have any dealings with that man and she would avoid him as well. Now there she was, with the woman claiming to be her mother ensconced in a guest suite down the hall, and everything was spinning out of control. Pacing the small sitting room that connected to their bedchamber, she was trying to control her temper. But it was not a good day. There had been too many upsets, too many unknowns, and too many lies from everyone around her.
A knock on the door prompted her to bark an order for the person to enter. As the door swung inward and she saw the Dowager Duchess of Templeton standing there, her brow arched in the same imperious manner that was so often on her grandson’s face, Lilly felt slightly ashamed of herself. “Forgive me for being short. It’s been a trying day, your grace.”
“So it has,” the dowager duchess said, and let herself into the room. She closed the door behind her with a quiet snick and then moved to the small settee. “I’d have a word with you, if I may, Lillian?”
“Certainly,” she agreed. They both knew that however it had been phrased, it had not been a request.
“Sit, my dear. It makes my neck ache to look up at you,” the older woman said.
Capitulating, Lilly moved to the chair opposite the settee and faced her former employer. “What did you wish to discuss, Madam?”
“Are you well?” the dowager duchess asked. “You have been through quite a bit in the last few days and I imagine that the shock of last night, accompanied by the shock and scare you had this morning is quite trying to you.”
“I am quite well.” It was a lie. She wasn’t well at all. Her insides were roiling and it felt as if the ground were pitching beneath her feet. The whole world was upside down for her in that moment.
“Well, I am certainly happy to hear it. What I have come to say to you is not something I’ve said to anyone else in all of my years. So you must take it for all that it is worth and to me that is a great deal,” the woman said. “I am sorry, Lillian, for the lies I told and the manner in which I meddled in your life. Mind you, I do not apologize for putting you in a position where marrying my grandson seemed a favorable thing to you, only for the way in which I went about it. I didn’t think of how it might hurt you. I was careless with your feelings and, for that, I truly apologize.”
Lilly blinked at her for several seconds, the silence growing between them. The very idea of the Dowager Duchess of Templeton apologizing to anyone was beyond her ken. Yet it had just happened. To say that it would take some getting used to was putting it mildly.
“Well, say something, girl,” the dowager duchess finally snapped.
Shaking off her stunned stupor, Lilly nodded. “I thank you for your apology and I accept it.”
“But we are not as we once were,” the dowager duchess surmised.
“It is not an easy thing to learn your trust has been violated, your grace. I think, in time, we will be as we once were. But not today, or even tomorrow.”
The dowager duchess nodded. “I see. Will you be taking him away then?”
“Taking who away?”
The old woman sniffed. “My grandson, of course. I did all of this to see him settled with a wife before I pass on from this world. No doubt, you will want to be well rid of me. If you prefer the house here in London, I suppose I can take myself back to the country… where I will die, alone, rattling about in that big old house like some sort of phantom creature.”
Lillian rolled her eyes. “You really don’t know how to stop manipulating people, do you? No, I’m not taking him away. We’re not going to the country, at least not yet, and neither are you. For heaven’s sake, this house is quite large enough for all of us!”
“No, it isn’t,” the dowager duchess answered. “Not if every time you leave it, you come back with another long-lost relative!”
“That wasn’t my doing,” Lilly answered sullenly. “I should not have brought her back here regardless. We could just as easily have obtained some other lodging for her and tried someone to see to her care!”
The dowager duchess fixed her with a piercing stare. “And is that really what you want to do?”
“No,” Lilly replied. “I don’t know what I want to do. I want to not have all this turmoil and danger at every blasted turn!”
“Watch your language, dear. It has been difficult, but that’s no reason to be common,” the dowager duchess said. “Avoiding one’s problems and one’s turmoil does not make them go away. Sometim
es, my dear, there is no way over and no way around. Sometimes the only way is simply to go through. I very much think that is where you are now. You must confront your feelings and you must, when she is well enough, confront your mother. And I think the two of you, and Valentine, when the time is right, should confront the entirety of your family. This clandestine business has to stop and there’s only one way to manage that… drag it all into the open.”
Lilly gaped at her. “The scandal would be disastrous for the family!”
“Pish posh. If the family name has survived all that Valentine has done to it over the years, it can survive this. We will not live in fear and we will not be cowed by traitors. Elsworth will be facing the music, as well. I had thought to send him to Jamaica but I have reconsidered. He must, no matter how it pains me, pay the price for his actions,” the dowager duchess insisted. “It is something we must all do.”
Lilly eyed the old woman speculatively then, noting the tremor in her hand, the slight quivering of her lip. Rising from her chair, she moved to the settee next to her and took her hand. “You love him.”
“He is my grandson, foolish as he may be. Of course, I love him. But that doesn’t mean I can’t also be furious with him and even ashamed of him. He let himself be blinded by envy and greed and, in so doing, turned his back on those who cared for him. Even Valentine, in his own way, cares for Elsworth. They might snipe at one another, but when they were boys they were closer than brothers, I thought.”
Lilly thought back to the story Val had told her of the local girl he’d fancied. “Did Elsworth run with Marchebanks even then? When they were boys together?”
“Yes, he did,” the dowager duchess answered. “I never liked him, you know? Always thought he was a bit too puffed up for someone we knew even then hadn’t a sovereign to his name. And, of course, back then, there was still a possibility that he might not become Marchebanks. You mother’s aunt is actually only a year or two older than her. Born from the father’s second marriage, you see. Then, it was still possible she’d present the old lord with an heir.”
Lillian filed that information away. She wasn’t certain why, but it seemed as if it might be important.
*
“Why do you keep summoning me to this house for injured females?” the physician demanded. “Viscount Seaburn, this borders on unseemly.”
“How is she, Doctor?” Val asked, ignoring the man’s comment.
“She’ll heal. I’d recommend getting some food into her, though. She’s far thinner than she ought to be and I daresay a good, healthy diet will help put her to rights. A few days rest and she’ll be right as rain.”
Val looked at Miss Hartnett—Miss Burkhart—who looked shockingly like Lillian and nodded. “Very well, I’ll see you out.”
“No need. I know the way,” the doctor replied. “Why, I’m beginning to feel at home here.”
Val grinned in spite of himself as the doctor made his way out. His grin faded as Elizabeth Burkhart stirred. She opened her eyes and searched her surroundings. When her gaze settled on him, she let out a sharp gasp.
“Is she hurt? Was Lillian hurt?” she demanded immediately.
Val shook his head and took a seat in the chair by her bed. “She’s fine. Shaken but otherwise unharmed entirely. She’s with my grandmother. Why did you jump in the carriage?”
She settled back against the pillows. “I recognized the man who leapt onto the box and struck the driver. He works for Alfred. I’ve seen him frequently over the last few weeks since I returned to London. I thought, between the two of us, we’d be able to overpower him. Or at the very least, I could help Lillian free herself.”
“What have you seen while observing him?” Val demanded. “Any information at all that will nail his coffin shut, so to speak, will be of assistance.”
“I’ve seen him with a blonde man,” she said. “The same one you’ve been following from time to time.”
“That would be my cousin, Elsworth Somers.” Val offered. “He’s fallen in with Marchebanks more out of stupidity than immorality. But there will likely be a cost regardless. Do you know the identity of the woman they were meeting with the other night?”
“Don’t you know?” she asked, clearly surprised at his ignorance on the matter.
“No. Why would I?” he demanded.
Her shocked stare might have been comical if they weren’t discussing such serious matters. “You truly have no idea what you’re dealing with, my lord. There is no one more evil than the woman you saw. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that she was the guiding hand behind Alfred’s fall.”
“Then tell me who it is, Miss Burkhart, so that I may put this all to rest.”
“You’ll never put it to rest… not in its entirety. You see, it’s none other than my aunt. Margaret Hazleton, the widow of Alfred’s late uncle and the woman who has been his lover for decades,” she answered. “Since long before his uncle died, to be sure!”
And suddenly the tiles all clicked into place, every puzzle piece fitting together. “My meddling grandmother arranging the bequest to prompt Lilly to agree to my suit, and doing so through none other than Margaret Hazleton, literally put a price on my bride’s head.”
Miss Burkhart nodded. “I have no idea what that means. She’s detested me from the moment I entered this world. I could never prove it, but I long suspected that my ruin at the hands of William Satterly had been orchestrated by her. The plot was entirely too sophisticated for Alfred to have come up with on his own. I can assure you that if Margaret had anything to gain either financially or socially by seeing my daughter harmed, she would not stop until the task was complete.”
“Just as she won’t stop until you are dead.”
The voice from the doorway belonged to Lillian. Val rose immediately and turned to face her. She looked calmer and certainly more amenable to a conversation with the injured woman before him than she had earlier in the day.
“Are you well?” he asked.
“Quite,” she replied. “And I’d like a word alone with Miss… with my mother.”
Val rose. “You should both rest. It’s been a long and trying day… well, now may not be the time to mend fences.”
“There is no better time,” Elizabeth Burkhart replied. “We shall be fine.”
Reluctantly, he left the room, feeling as if he’d just tossed a burning match into a powder keg.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lilly looked at her mother and sighed before crossing the expanse of the room and taking the seat that her husband had just vacated. “I wasn’t ready to listen to you before. But I think I am now.”
Elizabeth uttered her own sigh. “I never meant to hurt you. Everything I’ve done has been to protect you. Sending you to your father—”
“Let’s not call him that, shall we? We both know that he isn’t a father. Not in any sense of the word that matters.”
“You’re right, of course. There was a reason I left you there when I did, when I knew that he wouldn’t be able to just ship you to a workhouse and wash his hands of it all. I waited until I saw his mother’s coach approaching. Whatever else can be said of her, she is dedicated to her family. All of them.”
“And you came to Millstead Abbey School to be near me?”
“I did. I kept track of you all along. It was just terrible luck that your fath—that William saw me that day when he brought Wilhelmina Marks to the school. Terrible, terrible luck. I was dismissed, of course. But I didn’t go far. I stayed in the village and would sometimes walk past the school hoping for a glimpse of you. It went on like that for nearly a year and then cholera struck. I was ill myself and barely survived. I went back to the school afterward and begged for word of you… but the headmaster told me you had died. That both you and your half-sister had succumbed.”
Fury swept through her. “He lied, of course. It was right before then when Miss Euphemia Darrow came to visit the school and her friend, a young woman by the name of Gemma Atwood, who t
aught there. When she saw how we were treated—well, she wasn’t pleased. She marched right up to the headmaster and said she was taking us with her. That we would be attending her school from that point forward where other students and staff alike would not be permitted to, much less encouraged to, speak in such a cruel manner to innocent children.”
Elizabeth smiled. “I think I would like this Miss Darrow.”
“Yes, I daresay you would. She was very kind to me, and to Wilhelmina. To everyone, in truth, until they give her a reason not to be. I haven’t suffered terribly in my life. I don’t wish you to think that I have. It’s been rather ordinary, to be perfectly frank. Willa and I were close and we had friends at the Darrow School. As we’ve grown up, Effie shifted from being mentor and master to being a friend instead. But just because it wasn’t terrible doesn’t mean it wasn’t lonely. I have felt, very acutely, the lack of connection. Of family. I think more so since Willa married because it left me wondering about my place in the world.”
“Well, of course, it did. For the longest time, it’s been just the two of you, hasn’t it?”
Lilly smiled sadly at that. “It certainly seemed so at times. I don’t mean to be cruel, but I don’t need a mother anymore. I needed you years ago, when children called me names, when boys teased me and said awful things about what I’d grow up to be.”
“We always need our mothers… but the way we need them changes over time,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t expect to simply act as if we’ve never parted. All I want is a chance to see you safe and happy. And perhaps, if at all possible, to get to know you and for you to come to know me, as well.”
Barefoot in Hyde Park (The Hellion Club Book 2) Page 20
