A Season of Romance Page 20

  ‘I am not a complete imbecile.’

  Ezra looked a little startled by her acerbic tone. ‘Stay with your mother. I don’t think you will be in any danger here, but even so, no dancing. I don’t want to feel jealous, as well as having to deal with everything else.’

  Adela shook her head. ‘You are about to get your hands on what you have been searching for, Lord Bairstow,’ she said archly, annoyed because he continued to pretend that he cared. ‘You need have no further concerns regarding my safety.’

  ‘That, my dear, is where you quite mistake the matter.’ He squeezed her fingers. ‘I shall not be gone for long. Try to stay out of trouble until I get back.’

  ‘Just go!’ She made shooing motions with her hands and watched his broad back until he was swallowed up by the crowd and there was nothing more for her to see.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ezra accepted his hat from Lady Harrington’s butler and hurried outside to meet Snelling. He found him leaning against one of the front portico’s supporting pillars. Several other guests loitered, either taking the air or awaiting their carriages in order to move on to other engagements. It wasn’t uncommon for socialites to attend two or three different events in one night. Ezra wondered where they found both the will and the energy.

  He felt uneasy as he approached Snelling, convinced that unseen eyes were watching his every move. He fixed his hat firmly on his head, praying that his attempts to run the traitor to ground would finally be rewarded. He could then retire with his record intact to concentrate upon his other duties. His father was no longer a young man, and increasingly needed more of his only son’s help.

  He greeted Snelling and they strode off together, leaving North Audley Street at a brisk pace. He pushed aside his niggling concerns for Adela’s safety. Provided she remained in that crowded ballroom, nothing untoward could happen to her. Unfortunately, Adela was not the biddable type. Impetuous, disobedient, reckless, headstrong, misguided and entirely adorable—she was all of those things and more. The type to run headfirst in the direction of danger, rather than attempting to avoid it.

  ‘It will save us a few minutes if we cut through George Yard,’ Snelling said, recalling Ezra’s wandering attention.

  Ezra raised no objection and the two men strode into the narrow and dimly-lit passage. Ezra’s feelings of unease increased, and he quickened his pace. The alley was short and would lead them almost immediately into Duke Street, a wide, fashionable thoroughfare which would be busy at this time of night. But the passage was another matter entirely. It housed mostly mews serving some of the larger houses. All was quiet, but for the occasional equine snort, and it felt rather eerie. Ezra told himself that he was seeing shadows where none existed, but he had relied upon his instincts ever since taking up his career as a government spy. He would have been killed several times over if he hadn’t taken heed of what they told him, and right now they were screaming at him to watch his back.

  ‘Something isn’t right,’ he said to Snelling in a sharp undertone. ‘Did you hear something?’

  ‘Nothing to worry about. I always use this passage and…’

  They were attacked before Snelling could complete his reassurance by two large and rough men hastily recruited to pose as thieves, Ezra assumed, because he already knew that this attack was not being carried out by opportunist ne’er-do-wells. The fact that there were only two of them implied that the assault had been hurriedly formulated. Who had sent them? Who had seen him leave the ball in such a tearing hurry, and who had the power to arrange things so quickly?

  Ezra adjured himself to deal with one problem at a time. Snelling was putting up a spirited fight against one of their attackers. The other launched himself at Ezra, who anticipated the roundhouse punch he directed at his face and easily evaded it. The man came at him again, this time wielding a vicious-looking dagger. Ezra could make out its glinting blade even in the darkness of the passageway. The man lashed out with it, slicing through the sleeve of Ezra’s coat and cutting into the flesh of his upper arm. Ezra ignored the pain but pretended to be defeated, clutching at his arm and bending double. He heard his attacker give a guttural laugh and say something about spineless toffs as he casually moved in for the kill.

  And he did intend to kill; that much was obvious from the emotionless expression in his eyes. The man was no respecter of human life and no stranger to violent death. Ezra’s hat had been lost in the melee and his hair fell over his eyes. He peered through it, watched his attacker lumber towards him, and struck out as soon as he was within reach, kicking him with considerable force in the groin. The man howled, fell to one knee and the knife clattered to the ground. Ezra, in no mood to fight fair given that his attacker had come at an unarmed man with a dagger, brought his booted foot up beneath the man’s chin. He heard bone shatter and a sharp cry of pain as the cull’s head snapped backwards. Ezra thought with casual disinterest that he had likely broken his jaw.

  He turned to help Snelling, only to find that he didn’t require any help. His assailant crawled away, grabbed his companion’s arm and dragged him to his feet. Ezra desperately didn’t want to let them go, but they had more pressing concerns. The blood that poured from his arm was making him feel light-headed. Besides, the men were hired thugs and would have no idea who had ordered them to attack Ezra and Snelling.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Ezra asked.

  ‘Just the odd scratch. I’m more concerned about you.’ He glanced at Ezra’s arm. ‘That looks deep. Let’s get to my lodgings and we’ll take a look at it. Can you walk?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Snelling picked up his hat and Ezra’s, too. Ezra placed his on his head, feeling an overwhelming need to be with Adela. If the traitor could arrange a supposedly random attack upon him and Snelling at such short notice, there was no telling what he might do to harm Adela, given that he had known in advance that she would be at Lady Harrington’s ball and had time to lay his plans in advance. Why he would risk it was less certain.

  Of course! Adela’s mother had made quite a fuss over Snelling, the traitor would have put two and two together and might suspect that Gantz had confided in him. The possibility of a pre-planned assault upon Adela lessened, but Ezra’s sense that she was still in danger did not.

  ‘We have to get to Brook Street immediately!’

  Ezra strode out, reaching the comparative safety of Duke Street without further mishap.

  ‘That wasn’t a random attack, was it?’ Snelling asked.

  ‘No, it was not. Someone wants to get their hands on those documents or, at the very least, prevent us from getting to them and discovering their contents.’

  ‘And they are willing to kill us to ensure we do not.’ Ezra sensed Snelling’s confusion. ‘What the devil do they contain?’

  Ezra considered that he had earned the right to know, so he told him.

  ‘Good heavens!’ was Snelling’s only response.

  When they arrived at Brook Street, they were greeted by Snelling’s landlady, who seemed very distressed, and held a handkerchief clutched in one hand. She gave a little shriek when she saw Ezra’s arm.

  ‘I am so very glad you are here, sir,’ she said to Snelling. ‘I didn’t know what to do. Two men came a while ago, looking for you. Asking which rooms were yours.’

  ‘Did you tell them?’ Snelling asked.

  ‘Indeed I did not, but they pushed their way upstairs anyway. I was too frightened to follow them. I thought they were going to kill me.’ She shuddered. ‘They were banging about, but thankfully they’ve gone now. They gave me quite a turn. I don’t know what the world is coming to when a woman is not safe in her own home, indeed I do not.’

  ‘I am sorry you were frightened and inconvenienced, Mrs Tidwell,’ Snelling said calmly. ‘But they will not be back. Go back to your sitting room and I will secure the house for the night.’

  ‘Thank you so much, Mr Snelling. I believe I will do that and perhaps have a small tot of brandy to help me ge
t over the shock.’

  ‘An excellent idea, Mrs Tidwell. It will do you the world of good.’

  As soon as the lady’s sitting room door closed behind her, Ezra nodded towards the stairs and Snelling preceded him up them. A door at the top gaped open, the lock smashed. Without a word, Ezra walked into the rooms, which had been turned upside down.

  With a grim look, Snelling turned to Ezra. ‘Let’s hope they didn’t find what they came for,’ he said.

  Since every piece of furniture had been turned over or torn apart, Ezra didn’t see how they could have failed. Damn it, he had been so close, only to be denied yet again! Snelling pushed the bed to one side and placed a hand on the wood panelling that covered the lower half of the walls. He grinned at Ezra as he pulled a loose panel free and felt inside.

  ‘Voila!’ he said, brandishing the package of documents above his head.

  ‘What the devil made you take such extreme precautions?’ Ezra asked. ‘I am very glad you did, but still…’

  ‘As I say, the colonel was not a man to make a needless fuss, so I figured these documents must be important. I would have delivered them as soon as I arrived in town yesterday, but I had appointments that I couldn’t break. Besides, I have had them for quite a while, obviously since before the colonel died, so I figured another day or two would not signify, just so long as I kept them safe.’

  ‘Thank heavens for your quick-thinking.’

  ‘Sit down for a moment. Let me at least bind that wound. It’s still bleeding.’

  Ezra grunted, righted a chair and perched on its edge. Snelling grabbed a clean neckcloth and bound it tightly over Ezra’s torn sleeve—a makeshift field dressing efficiently applied by a seasoned soldier.

  ‘That will do for now. I take it you are anxious to look at these documents and deliver them to your lord and master.’

  ‘I am more concerned about Lady Adela.’

  ‘Why?’ Snelling flexed a brow. ‘She will be perfectly safe at the ball.’

  ‘Think about it, Snelling,’ Ezra said, standing and leaving the room. Snelling closed the door on the chaos. He was unable to lock it, but that hardly seemed important now. ‘The traitor knows that government spies have been trying to expose him for years. Now I have been brought in to track him down and I think he enjoys pitting his wits against mine.’ Ezra flashed a wry smile. ‘Thus far he’s come out on top.’

  The two men left the house and Snelling kept his promise to his landlady by ensuring the street door was securely locked. ‘With you so far,’ he said, pocketing his keys and falling into step with Ezra.

  ‘He must have known that Gantz had documents that would expose him.’ Ezra patted his chest to indicate the documents in question, hidden beneath his coat. ‘Which is why he had to die. It didn’t much matter if the manner of his death looked suspicious. He had only a wife and young daughter to ask questions and he knew that no one would take the concerns of two distraught women seriously. I dare say his possessions were searched, but no documents came to light. I know Gantz’s lawyer’s offices were broken into, presumably to ensure that he did not possess the incriminating documents either. Fortunately, Gantz was too clever for them.’

  ‘The traitor will have been having an uneasy time of it,’ Snelling replied.

  ‘Right.’ Ezra paused, his expression uncompromisingly grim. ‘Two attempts have been made on Lady Adela’s life here in London.’

  ’What!’

  ‘Exactly. I think that your appearance at that ball tonight caused quite a stir. Lady Gantz was delighted to see you. A lot of people noticed, which must have given the traitor a bit of a fright. Presumably your connection to Gantz is no secret.’

  ‘I imagine not. Lady Harrington is a distant relation. I called upon her as a matter of courtesy when I arrived in town and she invited me to the ball.’

  ‘She knows where you reside in London?’

  ‘Well, yes. Ah, I see what you mean. If anyone had made an innocent enquiry in that regard, she would see no harm in telling them. That’s how those braggarts knew where to find me.’

  ‘And I foolishly took you and Lady Adela into a private room to conduct our conversation. The traitor cannot be sure that you didn’t show something to Lady Adela at that point, which is why we had to be attacked, so that the evidence could be retrieved.’

  ‘But if we didn’t have it, Lady Adela might. Or we could have informed her of its contents.’

  ‘Precisely.’ Ezra quickened his pace. ‘I shall not rest easy until I see for myself that she is where she is supposed to be, safe and unharmed. The wretched child is sometimes too impetuous for her own good.’

  *

  Adela’s mother smiled as she joined her. ‘Wasn’t it a delightful surprise to see Captain Snelling again, my dear?’ she said. ‘I was just remarking upon how heavily your dear papa depended upon his loyalty and sound common sense.’

  Without waiting for Adela to respond, her mother turned back to her friends and continued her animated conversation with them. One or two of them sent Adela searching looks, as though wanting to ask about her friendship with Ezra, but Mama didn’t pause for long enough to allow Adela to be drawn into the conversation.

  Which was just as well, Adela decided, since there was nothing to tell. Well, nothing that she was at liberty to reveal. She sat a little apart from her mother, partially concealed from view by a pillar, and watched the ebb and flow of the elegantly attired gentry. She caught snippets of conversation that she was probably not supposed to overhear, including incredulous remarks about Ezra’s partiality for her.

  She wondered why she felt so disgruntled by those remarks. Had she really imagined that Ezra’s attentions would survive the discovery of the documents he was so desperate to get his hands on? She hadn’t thought herself that naïve. It was better this way, she decided. The traitor’s identity would be revealed, she would be in no further danger, Ezra could make his token proposal which she would politely decline, and he would be free of any further obligation towards her. It would definitely be for the best, so why did the thought of no longer having daily contact with Ezra cause the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach to endure?

  She would be left with just Daniel’s aspirations to contend with. Once he realised that she really had put her affairs in order and he stood no chance of inheriting in the event of an accident befalling her, he would have to cut his losses and look for a wife elsewhere. There was absolutely nothing he could do to harm her.

  She glanced at the crowded floor. As the bodies parted, she noticed her aunt, still clinging to Lord Jordan, who appeared indifferent towards her. His gaze scanned the room, landing momentarily upon her. He offered her a half-smile that made her skin crawl. There was something about him that made her distinctly uneasy.

  She considered getting up and strolling about, but abandoned the idea just as quickly. It was simply too crowded to move freely. Even more people had squashed themselves into the room since she and Ezra had promenaded. The mingled aroma of hundreds of perfumed bodies made Adela feel queasy. Besides, strolling about alone would make her look desperate for attention, which she most decidedly was not. She would be better advised to remain where she was, where no one could see her that easily and gossip about her spectacular abandonment.

  ‘Ah, there you are. I have been looking all over for you.’ A smiling Charlie Barker bowed in front of her. Adela’s pride was still smarting from Ezra’s abrupt departure, and she was delighted to be accosted by a gentleman who had no ulterior motive for engaging her company. ‘Bairstow appears to have done one of his vanishing acts.’

  ‘Is he known for them?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ Mr Barker rolled his eyes. ‘The man moves in the most mysterious of ways. However, I am not about to complain, since he has left the field clear for me. A cotillion is about to form up. Do partner me, Lady Adela. You did promise me a dance,’ he added when she hesitated, recalling Ezra’s stricture that she not dance at all. But he had no authority over h
er behaviour and she did not take kindly to being told what to do.

  ‘That I did, Mr Barker,’ she replied, returning his smile as she took his outstretched hand and rose to her feet.

  They joined the nearest square and Adela spent the first few minutes concentrating upon the intricate moves, desperate not to get them wrong and display her lack of experience. She had already heard enough people privately laughing about what they described as her pretentiousness, and would prefer not to add fuel to their vindictive fires.

  ‘You dance well,’ Mr Barker said, after they had completed a star-step without mishap.

  ‘I enjoy dancing,’ she replied breathlessly. ‘But I have never been to a ball quite like this one before. There is so little space that if one were to lose one’s balance…’

  ‘You wouldn’t hit the floor. Rest easy on that score. The crowd would keep you upright and everyone would pretend not to notice.’

  She laughed. ‘How comforting.’

  ‘Trust me, my dear, there are no other balls quite like those given by the leading hostesses in London. The competition between them to attract the most influential guests, to provide the best decorations, to serve the best suppers and boast the most proposals made in their orangeries is ruthless.’

  ‘Goodness. Is that the purpose of orangeries?’

  Mr Barker chuckled. ‘Amongst other things.’

  ‘You make society balls sound like a spectator sport.’

  He nodded. ‘That analogy is not far off the mark.’

  Cotillions were long and complicated dances, but Adela soon realised that all the lessons she’d endured had been worthwhile and the moves were so deeply ingrained that she didn’t really have to think about them. Mr Barker was an amusing partner, light-hearted and irreverent, and she began to relax and enjoy herself. When the dance eventually came to an end Adela felt warm and a little breathless as she dipped a curtsey.