Читать книгу Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1 - Louise Allen, Christine Merrill - Страница 39

Katherine shut her mouth, only too aware that Nick was right and she had been about to say she had no idea what he meant.

‘Come on, Kat. How did you convince that magistrate that I was innocent? He would not take your word for it, however charmingly you pleaded.’

Katherine stared back stubbornly. He would be furious if he knew what she had done, she knew him well enough already to guess that. On the other hand, he was not going to give up. If she did not tell him, John or Jenny would.

‘I went to the Lamb and Flag and talked to the barmaid about Black Jack, and he was there.’ Nick’s eyebrows snapped together in an intimidating frown and she hastened on. ‘I put it to him that to temporarily confuse the authorities was one thing, but to leave an innocent man to hang in his stead was not the action of a famous highwayman such as himself. I thought an appeal to his pride would work and it did.’

‘Dear God.’ Nick let his head fall back on the pillow. ‘And he might just as easily have slit your throat.’

‘Well, he did not. I rather liked him,’ Katherine said, unwittingly adding fuel to the fire.

‘Did you, indeed?’

‘Yes, I did. He looked a lot less frightening than you did the first time I saw you.’

Nick merely rolled his eyes. ‘And I suppose he wrote you a little note to take to the magistrate? Or did he turn himself in?’

‘Neither. We went to Mr Highson’s house. I pretended to faint and asked to have the window opened and Black Jack got in. Then we explained.’

‘And instead of having you both arrested, he consented to listen?’ Nick sounded incredulous. Katherine found she was becoming indignant. The more she thought about it, the more proud she was of her audacious plan.

‘I was clinging to the magistrate so he had to listen, and John was guarding the door to stop the servants getting in. Mr Highson recognised Black Jack, who gave him his watch back and repeated something he had said when he stole it. So Mr Highson was convinced and was naturally anxious to have you pardoned as quickly as possible.’

‘Let me be sure I have this right,’ Nick rasped. He sounded absolutely furious. ‘You travel into Hertfordshire, you beard a notorious highwayman in his lair, you assist him breaking and entering a magistrate’s house, you assault the magistrate and, I presume, you help the highwayman escape again. Is that correct?’

‘Yes,’ Katherine said mutinously.

‘And how did you pay for this excursion into crime?’

‘I sold a hideous diamond necklace I had been hiding away for a rainy day, if you must know.’

She waited, a hot knot of misery inside her. She had not wanted him to be grateful, but she had expected him to be pleased, perhaps a little admiring of her enterprise and resolution. Now he seemed to be angry with her.

‘You spent your last resources, you put your life and reputation in danger on the word of a complete stranger who you had every reason to think was a dangerous felon?’ He was looking at her now, his eyes blazing, his hoarse voice no longer angry, but full of admiration. Katherine felt her heart thud. The tight knot of misery melted.

‘I believed you. I had spent the night with you and you treated me honourably. And if you were innocent, then I had no choice but to help you.’

‘Kat, come here.’ He put up a hand to his eyes.

‘Why? What is wrong? Is that bandage chaffing your throat?’ Anxious, Katherine got to her feet and leaned over the bed. The next moment she was caught around the waist, pulled down against Nick’s chest and was being thoroughly kissed.

He had kissed her once before. Once only as the prison clock struck eight with the turnkeys at the door. This was different. A slow slide of his lips across hers, a gentle pressure that tantalised, promised, stirred feelings inside her which burned and ached and made her arch instinctively closer.

Her lips parted and his tongue slid inside her to touch hers. Katherine gripped his shoulders as though she were drowning and tried to hold on to the remnants of rational thought. Those remnants were telling her that this was outrageous, that she should not be doing this, allowing this. Her self-control struggled briefly with the newly discovered wanton instincts that seemed to be rioting through her and finally got the upper hand. She opened her hands and pushed.

Nick released her immediately and she sat back panting on the edge of the bed. ‘No! We should not!’

‘I wanted to thank you, Kat, I just don’t have the words, but perhaps I had better try if you will not let me kiss you.’ His face was serious under the unruly tumble of damp black hair and Katherine caught herself before she could reach out and brush it back from his forehead. ‘You saved my life, you put yourself in danger to do it and you gave up the last remnants of your financial security in the process. I do not deserve that and I can never repay it. I had resigned myself to dying, I felt it was probably a just return for the last six years of my life, for listening to my pride and not my duty and turning my back on my responsibilities.

‘I had resigned myself, I thought, until I met you and found there were still some things I wanted.’

Katherine felt herself blush and he smiled wickedly at her. ‘Not just that, although I have to admit that kissing you reminds me of why it is good to be alive.’

‘I am glad,’ she said simply. ‘But we should not … not be alone, I think. After all, as soon as Arthur can arrange it, the marriage will be annulled.’

‘How can it be? Have you forgotten why you married me in the first place? How will the debt be paid?’

Fear rolled back like a cold fog. ‘I had not forgotten precisely,’ she stammered. ‘It just did not seem important under the circumstances. The last few days, all I have thought about was making sure you did not hang.’

‘And by saving my neck you have resurrected the debt. The moneylenders will be interested to hear about this, I have no doubt. We had better leave town as soon as possible.’

‘There is no “we” about it,’ Katherine said robustly, fighting down the waves of panic. ‘It is my debt, not yours.’

Nick grinned. He seemed invigorated by the dreadful mess they found themselves in. ‘How can you smile about it?’ she protested. ‘I only married you because I thought the debt would make no difference to you. Neither of us has any money, for goodness’ sake! You must disentangle yourself from my affairs.’

‘Kat, you saved my life. Do you think I value that at less than a few thousand pounds?’

‘Five thousand,’ she said miserably. ‘You might not be going to hang, but if you remain married to me you will end up in a debtors’ prison.’

‘I will not agree to an annulment, Kat.’

‘Then I will go to the moneylenders and tell them the marriage was not consummated. That will do just as well.’

Nick sat up, the smile vanishing from his face. ‘For one thing they will not believe you, and for another, if I really believed you would do that, I promise you I would make it a lie before you could leave this room.’

Katherine scrambled to her feet and backed off from the bed. ‘No!’ There was a very determined glint in his eyes. ‘If I promise I will not go to them today or tomorrow, will you promise me you will rest now?’ She received a reluctant nod. ‘Would you like something to eat? No? Then I will bring you some lemonade.’

‘Claret.’

‘Lemonade.’ She had reached the door and looked back, her hand on the knob. ‘We have no claret.’

‘Liar,’ he observed amiably.

‘Oh, very well, but it will do you no good whatsoever. In fact, I would not be surprised if you ended up with a brain fever!’

Katherine shut the door with a snap and went downstairs to find Jenny, feeling she had definitely come off worst in that encounter. She should have explained only what she had intended to about her adventures in Hertfordshire, she should have accepted Nick’s thanks with dignity and decorum and she should have convinced him they should seek an annulment at the earliest opportunity.

What happened instead? she berated herself as she walked into the kitchen. He knows every detail, you let yourself be kissed until you almost lost every shred of self-control and modesty and he is refusing to annul the marriage.

‘Are you all right, Miss Katherine?’ Jenny asked anxiously, emerging from the pantry with a bowl of eggs.

‘Perfectly, thank you. Could you ask John to clear the bath from upstairs when he has a moment? And if there is any left of that dozen of claret that Mr Philip thinks I do not know about, please will you take one up to Mr Lydgate?’

Jenny wiped her hands on her apron and went off to do as she was asked, leaving Katherine brooding at the kitchen table. And there is still that debt and not the slightest hope of paying it.

She was still deep in thought when the maid came back. ‘I asked Mr Lydgate if he’d like a nice omelette and some ham and he said he thought he would, so that’s good, isn’t it, Miss Katherine?’

‘He told me he was not hungry.’

‘That’s men for you.’ Jenny reached for an empty bowl and began to crack eggs into it. ‘They need tempting; I told him all about how good my omelettes are, though I say it myself. There’s the front door, that’ll be Mr Brigham and he’ll be hungry too, I make no doubt.’

Need tempting! The last thing that Nicholas Lydgate needed was tempting, he appeared to take what he wanted quite easily without any such encouragement.

‘Oh, hello, Arthur.’ The young lawyer put his head round the kitchen door, saw Katherine and came in, his arms full of a handsome French clock.

‘Here you are, and here are … where did I put them …? Yes, here are the earrings.’

‘Thank you so much,’ Katherine said gratefully, running a hand over the ornate metalwork of the clock. It brought back her grandmother so vividly she smiled as she touched it. ‘What do I owe you?’

Arthur looked embarrassed, ‘No hurry at all, don’t think of it. Anyway, I thought Lydgate was going to pay. You have other things to consider before that, it’s a mere trifle; I told you I would have lent the money to Philip.’

‘I do not borrow money and I have saddled Mr Lydgate with more than enough debt already,’ Katherine said rather grimly. ‘Please tell me.’

Reluctantly Arthur said, ‘One hundred and twenty pounds.’ ‘Is that all? Honestly, you would think Philip would have the gumption to get a better price than that.’ Katherine felt half-relieved—for at least she could repay Arthur from what remained of the necklace money—half-exasperated at Philip’s foolishness.

She and Arthur ate with Jenny and John around the kitchen table, too tired and drained to worry about changing clothes or using the dining room. When Arthur took himself off home Katherine helped Jenny in the kitchen and sent John to make sure Nicholas had everything he needed. She had no intention of causing her emotions further turmoil by going up herself.

The sanctuary of her bed did not bring the rest she needed. The worry about the debt sat like a brooding vulture on the bedpost, and the presence at the other end of the landing of a mysterious half-stranger who was refusing to do the sensible thing and annul their marriage threatened to completely overset her resolution to do the right thing.

Consequently it was a heavy-eyed and depressed Mrs Lydgate who breakfasted alone and then set herself to establish the true extent of her financial difficulties. She gathered her own careful account books and the small pile of tradesmen’s bills and went along to Philip’s study.

The final demand from the moneylenders was easy enough to find; it took longer to unearth all the other bills, dunning letters and scrawled vowels that littered the study or were jammed into drawers.

She had just drawn a line under a long and staggering list of figures when the door opened behind her and Nick said, ‘There you are.’

Katherine pushed back the chair and stood up, scanning him with anxious eyes. He looked well enough in John’s respectable jacket and breeches and the colour was back in his face. The edges of bandages showed under his cuffs and around his neck he had tied a loose spotted bandana.

He followed her eyes and said apologetically, ‘Not perhaps the clothes to be seen wearing in St James’s, but I can tell you the luxury of clean linen is priceless.’

‘Should you be up?’ Katherine asked. ‘You do look much better, I have to admit, although your eyes are still red. Your voice sounds awful.’

‘I slept like—I almost said the dead—like a log. Which is more, I think, than you did.’ One long stride brought him in front of her and he ran the ball of his thumb gently under her eyes. ‘You look tired.’

‘After yesterday’s excitements I found it hard to sleep.’ Katherine tried not to shiver at the light caress.

‘And what are you doing?’ Nick reached behind her and picked up the paper she had been using to list Philip’s debts. He let out a low whistle. ‘Your brother’s?’

‘Yes.’ Katherine took a deep breath. ‘I have decided I cannot deal with those, he will have to, if and when he returns. I have added up my own housekeeping accounts and I can pay those with what is left from the necklace money. I paid Arthur for the pawnbroker last night. That leaves … let me see … just over thirty pounds. That will feed us and pay the housekeeping for a while, but it is not going to help with the big debt.’

‘We need to leave town.’ Nick turned and went to lean on the mantelshelf, apparently engrossed in the dead embers in the fireplace. ‘If we go away, it will take them a while to find us, that’s all I need, to buy a little time.’

‘Where can we go?’

‘Home,’ he said simply. ‘I will take you home.’ Then he turned and Katherine saw the bitter frustration in his eyes before he dropped his gaze. When he looked at her again he had his expression under control.

‘You do not want to go,’ she stated, feeling miserably guilty.

Nick shrugged. ‘No, but it is time I faced up to my responsibilities, swallowed my pride and made peace, I know that. Coming to London was only a way of delaying the inevitable.’

‘Make peace with whom?’

‘My father, and my brother perhaps, although Robert would forgive me anything, I sometimes think.’

‘And where do they live?’

‘Northumberland.’

Katherine stared at him. Northumberland. Why, that was almost Scotland. ‘What will they say when you come home with a wife who isn’t a wife and a debt of such proportions?’

‘Robert will adore you. My father will be not in the least surprised at whatever I do. He and I have never seen eye to eye.’

‘Is that why you left all that time ago?’

‘Yes,’ he said shortly. She waited, but he did not add anything.

What to do? Travel hundreds of miles to a family she did not know who would have every reason to resent her and the debt she brought with her? They must be happy to know she had helped Nick escape death, but the thought that this might somehow cancel out the debt she had saddled him with or the fact he had married without his father’s blessing or approval was not one that sat comfortably with her. A life was not a commodity to be bought and sold.

‘Very well, on one condition.’ He raised an eyebrow and she added hastily, ‘I know, I should not be making conditions when you are trying to help me, but you must promise me that we will have this marriage annulled as soon as possible.’

The quizzical eyebrow stayed up. ‘Very well, if you still wish for an annulment by the time we have been in Northumberland for one month, then you shall have it.’

‘One month?’ Katherine regarded him, suspicious. ‘Why one month?’

‘To allow the charms of my family to grow upon you, perhaps.’ He smiled and her heart did a little flip. ‘Well?’

‘Yes, I agree. I suppose it will take that long to arrange an annulment anyway, do you not think?’

‘I should imagine so. It is not something I have any experience of.’ His voice was sounding painfully hoarse again and Katherine poured brandy from the decanter that always stood on the end of Philip’s desk.

‘Try sipping this. I wonder if drinking it hot with lemon would be soothing.’

‘This will be fine, thank you. Now, we must plan for the trip …’

‘No, you must stop talking and sit down and rest. I will plan and you can nod or shake your head.’

With a flash of white teeth he sank obediently into an armchair and sat watching her with such an expression of meek obedience that she laughed. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake stop looking so conformable! I know perfectly well that you only do what I ask when it suits you.’

‘I am enjoying being ordered about,’ Nick rasped, his grin broadening. ‘Are you always so managing?’

‘Yes,’ Katherine said, somewhat shortly.

‘Do you enjoy it?’ He was steepling his fingers and regarding her over the joined fingertips. It made it hard to read his expression, but it drew her attention forcibly to how beautiful his hands were. Hastily she dropped her gaze to the desk and turned over the piece of paper she had been using for her sums.

‘Not particularly, but I found I had no choice.’ It sounded abrupt and rude, but she did not want to explain any more about the chaos her life would have been if she had not taken charge of the household.

‘Then you shall manage me, Kat, and I will look after you,’ Nick said amiably. ‘You make your lists for the journey and I will add anything that occurs to me.’

Half an hour later they had a plan. ‘So, tomorrow I pay off all the tradesmen’s debts and Jenny and I will pack. John will check over the carriage and harness and the horses and you will rest.’

‘I will buy some linen,’ Nick interjected. ‘Either that, or John and I between us will run through his stock of shirts within days.’

‘Very well, but you need not purchase neck cloths for Philip has left some. Then we set out on Friday and go by easy stages to rest the horses. How long do you think it will take us?’

‘It depends on the horses, but a week at least. We are going to have to balance the cost of rooms and food against the risk of pushing them too hard.’

‘And John. It is a long way to drive.’

Nick got to his feet and stretched. ‘Aah. It is so good to be able to do that.’ He rolled his shoulders luxuriously. ‘John and I can share the driving.’

‘No, you cannot!’ Katherine got to her feet too and marched over to stand toe to toe with him. ‘Have you no sense? You should be resting, not driving a coach for miles.’

Rather too late she realised just how close it brought her to him. He smiled down wickedly. ‘You do tempt me to show you how perfectly fit I feel, Kat. I have had my neck stretched for me a little, that is all. If I had been suffering from consumption or gaol fever, that would be quite another matter.’

Frustrated, Katherine fell back on another argument. ‘You cannot sit on the box and drive a coach. You are a gentleman.’

‘And I have been a common trooper for two years and a highwayman and felon for some weeks.’ He pinched her chin and turned away to the door before she could retaliate. ‘Now I really must go and lie down and rest or my managing wife will read me a lecture.’

‘Insufferable man!’ Katherine glared at the door as it closed behind him, then reluctantly smiled. Nicholas Lydgate was certainly proving difficult to manage. But it was intriguing to be matching her wits with a strong man and not a weak one.

She shivered. She was growing dangerously fond of him, she could recognise that fact only too well. What effect would being cooped up with him in a carriage for over a week have on her emotions?

It was rather too disturbing to think about. Katherine opened the door and walked briskly down the passage to the kitchen. ‘Jenny! We have a lot to do, and only a day to do it in. We are going to Northumberland.’