Читать книгу Dangerous Lord, Seductive Miss - Mary Brendan, Mary Brendan - Страница 9

‘Your anger is understandable in the circumstances, Miss Woodville, but you must understand that there is little I can do.’

Deborah Woodville cast a glinting blue eye on the fellow seated behind the desk. ‘I understand no such thing, sir,’ she responded crisply. ‘You are a local magistrate, are you not, and therefore responsible for upholding the law?’ she reminded him of his office, hoping it might shame him into offering to do something to punish the vicious bullies who had set about one of her servants earlier that afternoon. Frederick Cook drove her carriage and he’d been knocked unconscious by two louts simply for remonstrating with them for using disrespectful language in her vicinity. The worst thing was that she knew it was she whom they meant to hurt. But she was a Lady of Quality and so far had been protected by her gentility in this rural backwater in East Sussex. Today the despicable cowards had vented their spite and frustration on her loyal manservant. But danger was coming closer and Deborah feared it might not be long before the ruffians breached the final barrier and laid their horny hands on her.

‘I am privileged to hold the office of Justice of the Peace.’ Roderick Savidge acknowledged his authority with a stately dip of his auburn head. ‘But you must know how it is—the people hereabouts are close-lipped when questions are asked about their kith and kin. It would be impossible to get witnesses. Did you see it, Miss. Woodville?’

‘I did not; I have said I had gone in to the draper’s shop and came out to find Fred bleeding in the road. When he came to, he told me he’d been attacked by two men who’d spouted abuse about me.’

‘Can he describe his attackers?’

That was a tricky question to answer and her hesitation became more marked as blood seeped in to Deborah’s cheeks. She was quite sure that her driver could describe them. She’d go further and say she believed he knew their names, but he would not identify them. Frederick worked for her and her mother and lodged with them at Woodville Place, situated midway between Rye and Hastings. But his parents and siblings lived in a village close by. Fred wouldn’t want them to suffer the consequences should he stir an investigation into the villains who ruled the roost in this neighbourhood.

Mr Savidge gave a sigh that terminated in a sympathetic smile. ‘I know the difficulties, you see, Miss Woodville, and understand why your servant has chosen to keep quiet,’ he commiserated. ‘Decent people might want to eject these felons from their midst, but they fear reprisals if they speak out.’

‘But I do not fear reprisals, sir, and I shall say that I believe it was one or both of the Luckhurst brothers who beat Frederick. Will you apprehend them for questioning?’

‘If you will forgive me, your attitude towards your safety—and you risk your mother’s, too, of course—is not wise, Miss Woodville.’ Mr Savidge frowned. ‘As for apprehending likely suspects, it would be pointless issuing the warrants, my dear.’ A patronising smile writhed on his fleshy lips. ‘There is little chance of a conviction without a witness or even the victim’s testimony to rely on. You will simply stir more enmity towards yourself and your kin by persevering with this. Fred’s injuries will no doubt mend and perhaps he will in future think before he lets loose his tongue.’

‘The risk of becoming increasingly unpopular does not worry me,’ Deborah snapped, tilting up her shapely little chin in a way that denied the nausea rolling in her stomach. ‘Why should Fred not voice his disgust for such boorish behaviour?’ She knew she was dicing with danger, but she would not, could not, stand by and let bullies dictate her life or shape her character.

Mr Savidge picked up a little bell on his desk as though he would cover her complaints with its clatter. ‘You will take tea, Miss Woodville?’

‘No … thank you,’ Deborah refused immediately. ‘You have said you will not arrest the Luckhursts so I shall be on my way.’ The fellow’s eyes were lingering on her in a way she didn’t like. She found his pale blue regard unsettling and she did not want to tarry a moment longer than necessary in his company. It seemed he had no intention of sending out the dragoons to investigate the assault on Fred and bring the culprits to court, so it was pointless remaining. She stood up and gave a single nod in mute farewell.

‘You have done little to encourage the villagers to show good will towards your family, you know, Miss Woodville.’ Mr Savidge had gained his feet whilst speaking and carefully replaced the little brass bell on the desk.

Deborah turned, her hand still gripping the doorknob. A sparking sapphire gaze was levelled on his worship. ‘And I think you know, sir, why that is. We have endured much trouble and heartache at the hands of some of the locals. It is hard to like people who choose violence and lawlessness as a way of life.’

‘Indeed, it was shocking what happened to your fiancé. But some years have passed now and the fellow responsible got his just deserts.’

Deborah knew that he was referring to an individual who had been nicknamed Snowy on account of his prematurely white shock of hair. It was generally held that he’d been responsible for Edmund’s murder. The authorities had hunted the fellow but, before he could be captured and brought before a court, Snowy had been found dead in the lane. It had been murmured he’d come before another court: that of the smugglers themselves. They’d rid themselves of him rather than have the militia forcing entry to every house in the locality to discover if a neighbour was hiding him. No villager would want the authorities prying in cupboards and cellars for fear of what illicit goods they might find.

‘Smuggling is entrenched in the communities hereabouts,’ Mr Savidge began. ‘City people don’t always understand the ways and customs of coastal folk. Your late stepfather had a more …’ he hesitated as though seeking the right word and then pounced upon ‘… mellow outlook on free-trading. A lot of the gentry in the vicinity feel the same way. Live and let live is a sensible motto for outsiders who intend to stay a while in these parts and dwell amongst the rascals.’

‘I expect there is the added advantage of a barrel of brandy or a pound of tea as a reward for those prepared to turn a blind eye,’ Deborah remarked sourly.

‘I would advise you to keep such frank opinions to yourself, my dear.’ Mr Savidge’s bland tone did not quite correspond with a sharp glitter in his eyes.

‘Had my fiancé not been murdered by those endearing rascals,’ Deborah said scathingly, ‘perhaps I might heed your good advice. But never will I be moved by the romantic myth of it all. The Luckhursts and their ilk are brutal criminals and should be brought to justice.’

‘It is not at all wise to say so, Miss Woodville,’ Mr Savidge cautioned her. ‘You and your mother are living alone with just a few servants to protect you.’

‘Indeed, we are alone; it seems we cannot rely on the law of the land or its servants to come to our aid,’ Deborah concluded damningly. With an angry frown creasing her ivory brow, she jerked open the door and exited the building.

The most galling thought, she acknowledged as she emerged into the autumn sunlight, was that his worship’s attitude might be anathema to her, but it was undeniably logical. She should turn a blind eye, for she could no more stop the smugglers going about their business than she could control the tides that washed the shores they used for their illicit trade. But how could she forgive or forget when Edmund lay buried in St Andrew’s churchyard, run through simply for carrying out his army duties?

‘Debbie!’

Roiling thoughts rendered Deborah deaf to her friend hailing her. A second summons brought her head up and she spun about. A smile immediately lightened her delicate, fair features as she spied Harriet Davenport hurrying towards her.

Deborah clasped the gloved hands that Harriet had extended in greeting and the two ladies proceeded to walk arm in arm along Hastings Upper Street. The stiff breeze blowing off the seafront made them lower their bonnet peaks to protect their complexions from a briny buffeting.

‘I saw you coming out of the magistrate’s house,’ Harriet began. ‘Is Mr Savidge going to try to find those responsible for beating Fred?’

‘I’m afraid not. He says it would be a pointless exercise.’ Deborah sighed and tucked a wispy honey-coloured curl behind an ear. ‘Mr Savidge regrets he has no assistance to give, other than to issue his opinions.’

‘Which are?’ Harriet asked expectantly.

‘I should keep quiet and mind my own business.’ Deborah pursed her lips ruefully. ‘As I retired to bed last night I could see lights moving in the woods again. The smugglers were about their work.’

As Harriet heard her friend’s comment, her teeth sank into her lower lip. ‘Mr Savidge has a point, you know, Debbie,’ she said carefully. ‘We all know it is not right, but it is best not to cross them.’

‘Indeed,’ Deborah agreed with a grimace. ‘What can be done if even the local magistrate is in cahoots with the felons?’

‘Do you think he is?’ Harriet gasped, her eyes widening.

Deborah shrugged. ‘Actively? I doubt it. But I imagine he would describe his own attitude to those depriving his Majesty’s treasury of funds as mellow.’ She sighed. ‘I know from experience that even people who can afford to pay full price for their luxuries are not averse to buying them cheaply.’

Indeed, she knew that very well; Woodville Place still had a residual amount of contraband stashed in its cellars and larders from her late stepfather’s days.

After her father had died and her mother had married again, to a country squire, she had been loath to quit her fashionable Mayfair life at the age of nineteen and move permanently to a remote country house. She still would prefer to live in London, but over the years she’d grown to appreciate the natural beauty of her new surroundings. She’d become fond of her stepfather. George Woodville had been kind and generous to her and had been an amiable sort of chap. At first it would have been hard to find something in him to which she might object. But eventually she had.

She could clearly recall her first sight of the smugglers at close quarters. It had been on a midsummer night of unbearable humidity when the twilight barely dwindled, but remained till dawn. She had risen from her bed and settled on the windowseat to get some air. For some minutes she’d sat quietly, her chin resting in her cupped palms, listening to a soothing sound of distant surf rushing on shingle. A few bobbing lights had drawn her attention and alerted her to people approaching in the early hours of that pale, misty morning. Then she’d spotted the shape of a donkey cart lumbering up the incline towards their door and in its wake two more beasts laden with a keg slung on each fat flank. She’d watched, agog with curiosity, as fellows unloaded and rolled barrels towards the side of the house where a cellar opened in the earth. She’d caught fragments of a furtive exchange that had taken place between Basham and a burly fellow holding a flare who’d pocketed the cash handed to him by their manservant.

She had gone downstairs early to breakfast alone and her innocent questions had caused the serving girls to blush and giggle and scurry hither and thither with coffee and chocolate pots to avoid answering her. Basham had uncovered the dish of kedgeree for her with a flourish, then a wink and a tap at the side of his nose had warned her to ask no more. At nineteen she’d deemed herself a woman grown, not a child, and she had resented their attitude that it was some sort of secret from which she must be excluded. When she’d insisted on knowing what was going on, Basham had reported that back to the master of the house. Her stepfather had duly made a point of gently chiding her for her inquisitiveness about something that need not concern her. Bit by bit thereafter Deborah had pieced together the puzzle from overheard comments made by the servants and the locals. It became clear to her that not all thought it a shameful trade; a lot of people deemed the outlaws who ran contraband worthy of their pride and loyalty.

Her stepfather might not have held those fellows in high esteem, but he obviously gave tacit permission for their booty to enter his house.

That first introduction to the smugglers had been five years ago. Two and a half years later she’d become engaged to Edmund Green. It was to be a tragically brief betrothal. He had been killed within four months by one of the smugglers in an affray with the dragoons on coast watch.

Her solemn musing was interrupted as she spied Harriet’s brother emerging from a large, elegant house set back from the road. Her expression turned wry as she saw he’d caught his vicar’s robe in the gate and was fighting to free it from the hinge. Having adjusted his dress, the Reverend Gerard Davenport banged shut the gate with discernible irritation.

‘Gerard seems to have finished his meeting with the bishop earlier than expected.’ Harriet had also caught sight of her brother and waved at him. ‘I hope he is going to take me to Rye market.’ She gave her friend a smile. ‘It is always nice when Susanna is from home,’ she said, referring to her sister-in-law with a frown. ‘It is like the old times when Gerard and I would go shopping or visiting without a sour puss sitting between us on the seat.’

Gerard Davenport had married for the first time when he’d just turned forty. His wife, Susanna, was only a few years older than her sister-in-law. Harriet was twenty-eight but she had always got on very well with her older brother, and they had lived in peace and harmony at the vicarage until Gerard had decided it was time to get a wife and family.

He’d found his wife too quickly, Harriet was wont to mutter. She knew very well that Susanna resented her presence in what she classed as her domain, but Gerard maintained his sister was welcome beneath his roof for as long as she wanted to remain there.

‘Why do you not come to Rye, too, and forget all this unpleasantness for a short while?’ Harriet suggested. ‘Perhaps Mrs Woodville might like an invitation. An outing will do you both good.’

‘I’d like to go with you,’ Deborah said wistfully. ‘But … Mama has been suffering with her heads recently. I sent Fred back with the trap.’ She sighed. ‘I told him to bathe his face and rest a while in case he again came over queer. I shall walk home …’ Her soft lips remained parted as though she had more to say, but had been distracted.

Deborah had been intermittently flicking glances about at the street scene whilst conversing with her friend. She’d just noticed a gentleman emerge from the blacksmith’s doorway and she continued to gaze in his direction so steadily that Harriet frowned at her.

‘What is it?’

‘I thought I recognised someone,’ Deborah said with a hollow little laugh. Her heart had ceased beating for those few seconds she’d stared and wondered if it could possibly be him. The man had again gone inside the forge, and she was no longer able to scrutinise him from a distance. Now, as her lurching stomach steadied, she realised just how silly she’d been to imagine that Randolph Chadwicke would be so far from home. His home now, to the best of her knowledge, was in the Indies and had been so for many years. If he were back in England on a visit, she imagined he would either be found in Suffolk, where his family lived, or in Mayfair where he used to lease a town house. Perhaps he still did. She knew nothing of him now, nor did she want to. But once … once she’d been keen to know everything about him. She’d wanted him for her husband.

‘How are you, Deborah?’ Gerard asked solicitously as he joined them and slipped his sister’s hand through the crook of an arm. He gave Harriet’s gloved fingers a fond pat before launching into speech. ‘I saw Fred mopping his face of blood this morning. He told me that some local ruffians had set about him. Would you like me to speak to Savidge about it to find out what can be done, my dear?’

A grateful smile rewarded the vicar for his offer. ‘That’s kind, Gerard,’ Deborah said. ‘But I have already been to see him.’

‘Mr Savidge thinks that nothing should be done,’ Harriet told her brother flatly.

‘It’s a dreadful to do when even the local magistrate is too scared of the villains to act.’ Gerard Davenport sadly shook his head. He looked at Deborah for a response, but again her wide blue eyes were riveted elsewhere.

The tall gentleman had emerged from the smithy and she no longer was presented with his profile. He’d turned her way, causing a small gasp of disbelief to escape her soft lips.

Almost as though he sensed her eyes on him, he looked up. At first there was nothing, just the slightly sardonic, narrow-eyed interest of a gentleman who has caught an attractive young woman watching him. Then she saw the change in him, saw the hand that had been smoothing the sleek flank of the newly shod bay become still. He looked down before slowly raising his head to stare at her, and with such fierce intensity that Deborah felt her face flinch aside as though to evade a blow. A moment later she was aware of him approaching.