Читать книгу Regency: Rakes & Reputations - Dorothy Elbury, Gail Ranstrom - Страница 12

Gina was certain there was some trace of that kiss visible to the guests in the ballroom. She was changed somehow, and there would have to be a sign of that. She glanced toward Hortense and Harriett, who were laughing and fanning themselves flirtatiously while engaged in conversation with at least five young men. How could she join them when her heart was still racing so?

She glanced around for a familiar face, someone she could talk to. Where had Miss Race gone? She’d promised to bring Mr. Metcalfe. A quick glance around the ballroom revealed that the girl was not dancing. In fact, she could find no trace of her. Surely she wouldn’t have left without a word?

A flash of green caught her attention and she watched as Miss Race entered the ballroom from a terrace door. She paused to pat her hair into place and sweep a gaze about the room. When she saw Gina, she gave a small smile and a nod as she came toward her.

She was flushed when she took Gina’s hand and led her into the corridor. “I looked for you, Gina, but you disappeared. Stanley was here, but he could not stay.”

She tried to hide her dismay. “I…I have missed him?”

“He said he knew who you were and was willing to help you, but he does not like to stay too long in any place.”

“Has he always been like that, Christina?”

The girl frowned. “Only since…the middle of summer. It is as if he is afraid something will happen if he stays too long.”

Could Mr. Metcalfe be trying to avoid Mr. Henley, too? But Mr. Henley would never attend a ball—too brazen, and too many people knew him. Or did Mr. Metcalfe fear the authorities were after him? What a hopeless muddle.

Gina squeezed Christina’s hands. “Did he say how he could help me? “

“Oh, yes.” She rummaged in her little beaded reticule, pulled a small object out and pressed it into Gina’s hand. “I was to give you this, and tell you that he will find you at a more opportune time. I took the liberty of telling him I have been invited to attend the Morris masquerade three days hence, and that you will be there with Hortense and Harriett. He said we should look for a leper.”

Leper? That would mean a black hooded robe and bell about his neck. He should be easy enough to find. “Three days? Could I not speak to him sooner?”

“I am afraid not. He said he had much to do. Now, you must excuse me. I should return to my party.”

Gina tried to hide her impatience as Christina hurried away to join a group of young people who were preparing to leave. Almost forgotten in her disappointment, she looked down and opened her hand. A key? Pray, what did it open?

Throw down the gauntlet? What a bloody good idea that turned out to be! Instead of basking in triumph with little Miss Eugenia packing for home, Jamie was the one who’d been defeated with a kiss and at the mercy of a sweet-smelling nymph who gave as good as she got. Gave better, actually. And the accusation that the Home Office—he—had failed her ripped through his heart. It was bad enough to fear it himself, but to hear her say it was a confirmation of all his worst fears.

He riffled through the papers on his desk at the Home Office looking for his notes, certain there would be something to either bolster his case or tell him where Henley was hiding. Fast. He had to end this before Henley came after Eugenia. There had to be something he had overlooked. Something so subtle that it had escaped him.

“Good Lord! You take to abandoning me at balls and I find you working into the wee hours! What has happened to you, Jamie? All work and no play is not like you.”

He glanced up to see Charlie leaning against the doorjamb, his arms folded over his chest and looking for all the world as if he’d just slept twelve hours. “Not like you,” Jamie corrected. “What are you are doing here—and do not tell me you were trying to find me.”

Charlie shrugged and came to sit in the chair across the desk from him. “My mind wanders. You know how easily bored I am. And I’m looking for company. I hate to carouse alone.”

Jamie finally pushed his papers aside and gave his brother his attention. “You haven’t been carousing, Charlie. You’re far too fresh for that. Come clean.”

He grinned. “Not precisely carousing. But I’ve certainly been in that part of town. I met Devlin at the Crown and Bear.”

“Lilly will not thank you for leading him astray.”

“Me? Perish the thought. I am merely learning from the master.”

“Master of what? Are you taking up a life of crime?”

His grin faded as he sat forward in his chair. “I am trying to decipher Devlin’s sources, his network of informants. Alas, I lack his reputation to give strength to my requests, but I am gaining ground there.”

“I wonder if I should ask what is required to become credible to that lot of scoundrels.”

“I wouldn’t. Not for the squeamish.” Charlie quirked an eyebrow.

“I should also warn you to be prepared for rumors concerning Miss O’Rourke and me.”

Charlie blinked, then shook his head. “You had me there for a minute. I almost thought you, of all people, had found the ‘one.’ Well, never mind. So you want society to think you’re courting? Is Miss O’Rourke going along with this?”

“She will likely be quite distressed when she learns of it. But my requests that she stay at home and be protected have fallen on deaf ears. She intends to ask her own questions and meddle in Home Office business. Henley will be looking for a way to get at her. She is one of the last who could testify against him—that he drugged and kidnapped her.”

“So you intend to hang on her every word? Discourage any other suitors? Make it impossible for her to locate Henley?”

“Precisely.”

“And if she sends you away?”

“I shall stand fast.”

“You know what society will say about this affair, do you not? That you are beyond smitten, and that the O’Rourke girl has made a jackanapes of you.”

Jamie laughed. “Not to my face, they won’t.”

“Ah,” Charlie said, “and this will work well into your usual scheme, will it not? In seasons to come, it will be whispered that your heart is broken and no marriage-minded chit should set her cap for you. Damn clever.”

“My usual scheme?”

“Your reputation in the ton, Jamie. Nary an ingenue nor a courtesan has held your attention long. ‘Tis just a matter of time before you move along to the next entertainment.”

He forced a grin and a shrug. “You will not give me away? “

“Never! Furthermore, I shall join you in your game. I do not intend to let you go about alone at night again. Whoever wants you dead will not have an easy time of it.”

“Or Henley will get two Hunters for the price of one.”

“I am so pleased that you let the gentlemen go off to their club after church,” Mama announced as they sat down to the table and shook her napkin out to lay it across her lap. “Now it is just me and all my girls. Well, the ones I have left.” She sniffled and touched her handkerchief to the corners of her eyes.

Gina shot a quick glance at her sisters and noted that both Bella and Lilly did the same. By their tense expressions, she realized they all feared that Mama was winding up for a bout of hysteria.

“But enough of that,” Mama continued, laying their fears to rest. “We all miss Cora dreadfully, but we must accept God’s will. I am simply grateful for the opportunity to have my little family all to myself. There are things we must discuss. Plans to form and decisions to be made.”

“There is time for that, Mama,” Bella said as a maid served a platter of cold sliced meat.

“Not much time at all, dear. Less than a fortnight. ‘Twould be sooner if I could arrange it.”

Ten days, by Gina’s reckoning, counting this one. Yes, she was painfully aware of the ticking of the clock. Ten days to find Henley. Ten days to avenge Cora and reclaim her own future.

“And we must look to the future. I will scarce be settled at home when I will have to come back here. March, will it not be, Bella?”

“M-March?” Her sister colored a most interesting shade of fuchsia.

“Oh, do not deny it,” their mother smirked. “I know my daughters. Your husband did not waste much time getting an heir on you. You shall have an early spring babe. And I know a girl wants her mother at such a time. Never fear, Bella. I shall be here for you.”

Bella looked at Gina and Lilly for help, but as Bella did not deny their mother’s conclusion, there was nothing they could say.

“And Lilly, you shall not be far behind, I think. From the look of that strapping husband of yours, I would not be surprised to welcome twins by summer.”

“Mother, we have been married little more than a week!”

“Aye, it does not take long. My girls will be no less fertile than I. And your husband looks no less virile than Bella’s. Boys, I’d warrant. A great pity your father will not be here to see it. He always wanted sons.”

“Then perhaps you should stay rather than go and have to return so soon,” Bella offered. “Andrew has often said you are welcome to stay as long as you please.”

“Aye, but we cannot leave our home in Belfast vacant so long. The servants will be stealing us blind. No, we must return as soon as may be, and Gina will have to stay there when I return in the spring. Someone must watch over the house.”

Lilly raised her eyebrows and leaned forward as she spoke. “But you cannot leave Gina alone, Mama. A single woman …”

“Faugh! Gina is a spinster now. Both older and younger sisters are married. No one is like to offer for her now. She may as well make herself useful.”

Gina was astonished. It had never occurred to her that her own mother would consider her little better than an unpaid companion.

“And she is scarred, besides,” Mama continued. She turned to look at Gina with a frown. “You were never clumsy before, child. Falling on the stairs and cutting yourself with a broken glass—why, I never heard of such a thing happening before to any of my girls. And now you must cover it whenever you go about in public. I am certain you would much rather not leave the house. Yes, you will be more comfortable at home. In Belfast.”

Gina’s hand went to her throat as it always did at any mention of her scar. The story they’d told their mother about how it had happened was a bit flimsy, but she had believed it, nonetheless.

“Mama!” Lilly protested. “Gina is in her prime, and the physician said the scar will fade with time.”

Bella nodded. “Lady Sarah has said that Gina is a great success in society. Why, a few young men have asked after her. If you must return to Belfast, you should leave Gina here with us.”

She was warmed by her sisters’ defense, though she doubted Bella’s veracity. Who would have asked after her? She’d only danced with a handful of young men.

Mama shrugged. “What? Leave her with you? And no one to guide her? Why, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Farrell are hardly the sort to look after a young girl.”

A young girl? Moments ago she’d been a spinster. Gina sighed as the simple truth dawned on her. Mama did not want to be alone. She did not want the last of her daughters to be out of reach. And Mama was likely to do anything she could to keep Gina by her side and at her beck and call.

“Mama—” Lilly began.

“Gina is coming home with me, and that is an end to it.” Mama waved one hand in dismissal of the subject.

The remainder of lunch was punctuated with sighs and awkward spurts of bland conversation while Gina felt as if she might jump out of her skin. The future her mother had mapped out for her was never one she would have chosen. One, in fact, she found abhorrent and, in its own way, terrifying. But given her circumstances, and if she could not find the answers she sought, it would be the only course open to her.

She wouldn’t give up yet, though. She still had ten days and she would make the most of them. Regardless of Mr. Renquist and the Home Office, she would just have to take matters into her own hands.

Her mother excused herself, declaring that she was quite fatigued and needed a nap. The table fell silent until they heard a door close somewhere above them.

“Gina, did you know what she planned?” Lilly asked.

She shook her head, still a bit stunned.

“We must find some way to divert her,” Bella mumbled.

“It is hopeless, and you know it. When Mama has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Nothing will do but that she have her way.”

“But you have not …”

“Escaped?” Gina smiled and looked down at her plate, largely untouched. “Perhaps I could learn to bear that, but I cannot resign myself to the thought that Mr. Henley will not pay for what he has done. That is the one task I cannot leave undone.”

Bella’s eyes darkened as she sat forward. “I’ve seen that look before. What are you planning, Gina? “

“I hardly know. I have made some headway amongst the ton, but progress is slow. I am to meet with Mr. Renquist tomorrow for his report. And …” she hesitated, reluctant to tell them about the little key “… and there has to be more I can do. Other ways to learn what I need.”

Lilly dropped her napkin on her plate and glanced over her shoulder before lowering her voice to a whisper. “If you are game, Gina, I may have an idea. There were some street urchins—lads, Devlin called them—who helped find the evidence against the Brotherhood. They are quite engaging little pickpockets and, for a few coins, they could discover anything.”

“I vow I am not going to turn any source away.”

Lilly nodded and stood, determination in her voice. “I know just where to find them on a Sunday afternoon. Bella, you stay here and if the men return, tell them Gina and I have gone for a stroll through the park and shall be back presently. Gina, fetch your bonnet and shawl.”

Gina glanced around the square at Covent Garden, almost as busy as Hyde Park on a summer afternoon, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. “How will we ever find them?” she asked Lilly.

“Just dangle your reticule from your wrist and they will come along. Walk slowly and smile as if you have nothing more on your mind than meeting friends. Ned will find us.”

“What will your husband say?”

Lilly laughed. “He would likely ask how much we paid them, and then tell me it was too much.”

“He will not be angry?”

“Not in the least. But I do not intend to tell him.”

“Why?”

“Because I do not know if I can trust him not to tell Andrew or Jamie. Am I correct in thinking you would not want them to know?”

Gina grinned. “Oh, yes. Andrew would take his duty as my closest male relative to heart and forbid me to do more than drink tea and embroider. I thought Devlin might be the same.”

Lilly’s eyes twinkled. “Devlin is far too protective, but he admires women who can think for themselves. Still, he would not want you to endanger yourself. Ah, but how can hiring a few lads endanger you? No, I think we are safe in this.”

Gina was not nearly as worried about what Andrew or Devlin would do as she was about another man. “M-most importantly, I do not want James Hunter to know. He told me last night that, if he had his way, I would return to Belfast at once.”

Lilly’s eyebrows shot up. “No! He would not be so ungentlemanly.”

“He was not in a gentlemanly mood. I am afraid he knows I am looking for Mr. Henley. And I might have suggested that I could hardly do worse than the Home Office.”

“Oh, my!” Lilly did her best to contain her laughter. “I can imagine how he took that. Whatever possessed you to make that charge?”

“I cannot recall. Our conversations tend to deteriorate after a moment or two. It would be best if we simply avoided one another as much as possible, but he has decided to take my safety upon himself. Quite aggravating.”

“I wish you luck, Gina. Knowing the Hunter men, you will need it.”

Gina felt a tug on her arm and turned in time to see a ragged child trying to cut her purse strings. “Here now!”

Lilly peered around her. “Let loose, Ned.”

“Mrs. Lilly! This a friend of yers?”

“My sister.”

The lad released his hold on Gina’s reticule, removed his cap and swept an exaggerated bow. “At yer service, Miss Sister.”

“Miss Eugenia,” Lilly corrected. “And we were looking for you, Ned, and some of your mates.”

“Got a job fer us, Mrs. Lilly?”

“Indeed we have. But I shall let my sister tell you what she needs. Whatever she pays you, Ned, I shall double it if you deliver.”

The boy grinned ear to ear. “You know I will, missus.” He turned to Gina. “What do y’ need, Miss Eugenia?”

“The location of a man named Cyril Henley.”

“Gor! ‘E’s the one we looked fer before, missus.”

“He escaped the net we cast, Ned. But his mates were brought in. He’s the last of them.”

Ned nodded. “I already knowed he got away, missus. I spotted ‘im a couple days ago and told Mr. Farrell. ‘E’s lookin’ for the gent, but I didn’t know anyone else was lookin’ fer him, too.”

Gina held her breath. “Do you know where he is?”

“‘E lost me, Miss Eugenia. Never knowed a gent so slippery. I recognized ‘im from last time, but ‘e got away before I could follow ‘im back to ‘is ‘ole. Can I work fer both of ye?”

“I do not object to Mr. Farrell having the information, Ned, but he must not know I have hired you, too.”

Ned seemed to consider this for a moment. “Well, since ye ain’t askin’ me to keep information from ‘im, I s’pose there’s no ‘arm. Mum’s the word, miss.”

Ignorant of what a pickpocket would charge for such a service, she withdrew a crown from her reticule and pressed it into the grubby hand. “And another when you bring me the information.”

The lad looked down at his palm and grinned. “Aye, miss. An’ where’ll I find ye?”

“You mustn’t come to my home. I shall meet you daily at St. Mary’s.”

Ned glanced at the church on one side of the square and nodded. “Noon too early fer ye?”

“Not in the least.”

He tipped his worn cap and gave an awkward bow. “Don’t ye worry, miss. We know the warrens like nobody else. We’ll ‘ave yer gent soon enough. Oh, an’ did ye know ye was bein’ followed?”

A deep cold invaded her vitals. She scanned the crowd, looking for some sign of someone watching, but nothing appeared amiss. No one betrayed the least interest in her or her sister. Could Ned be wrong?