A Season of Romance Page 22

  ‘Rather than fight for your country’s freedom you ran the blockades and profited from the suffering of others?’

  ‘Rubbish! I supplied horses, nothing more. A vital contribution to the war effort, and not without its risks. We cannot all be heroes.’

  ‘In your case, that is most certainly true.’ Adela paused, noticing that the carriage had turned into a large area of parkland. She had no idea where Jordan lived, but she knew that they had travelled north so she assumed this must be Hampstead Heath. It was fully dark, and the driver was obliged to slow to a walking pace so that his team could pick their path. This could be her chance, but Daniel had not obliged her by falling into a drunken stupor and still seemed relatively alert. ‘What papers did Jordan ask you to take back and forth?’

  She heard a sharp intake of breath. ‘How the hell…’

  ‘Ah-ha! A traitor and a coward.’

  Daniel moved so fast, she had no time to fend off the stinging blow that he delivered to the side of her face. But she could and did grab for his genitals in the way she had sometimes seen soldiers do when fighting with one another. She put all her pent-up anger into the counterattack. Daniel screamed and yanked her hand free, but Adela wasn’t done yet. With Daniel temporarily debilitated, she followed up with her knee, depositing it firmly in the centre of his groin. He howled and doubled over, calling her every foul name that his limited imagination could dream up.

  Adela didn’t know how long it would take him to recover, or what form his revenge would take, and had no intention of hesitating long enough to find out. She lowered the carriage window, leaned out and opened the door, considering whether or not to jump the short distance to the ground. They were travelling slowly but it still seemed too fast to risk it. Besides, why should she? She heard the driver cry out, asking what was wrong. Instead of responding, Adela found enough strength from somewhere to push Daniel, still doubled-over on the floor, firmly in the back.

  ‘What the hell…Stop it at once, Adela. You’ll get me killed.’

  She pushed a little harder. Daniel tried to fight back but Adela had momentum on her side. He attempted to grasp the door frame, then probably realised that he’d be dragged along if he did that. He let go of it again and tried to shuffle backwards. Adela lifted her skirts and placed her foot in the middle of his back, pushing with all her strength. He toppled forward from the carriage, arms flailing, cursing her as he landed with a heavy thud.

  Adela heard the driver curse, too. There was some kind of obstruction ahead and he was too intent upon a possible attack even to notice that Daniel was no longer in the carriage. Adela closed the door again and looked ahead with calm indifference. Her heart galloped at twice its regular rate, she felt dizzy and her hands shook, but dealing with potential robbers would be child’s play after the terror she had just endured.

  ‘Hold up!’

  Someone held up a carriage lantern and Adela’s driver reined in his team. She peered through the window and saw a curricle completely blocking the path ahead.

  ‘What’s the trouble?’ her driver asked.

  But Adela barely registered his question. Instead she studied the figure who had stopped them, his features illuminated by the lantern he held aloft. Handsome features filled with a rage that threatened to show no mercy. Features that she would recognise anywhere.

  ‘Ah, Lord Bairstow,’ she said, calmly opening the door and stepping from the carriage on unsteady legs. ‘If it’s my cousin you hoped to intercept, then I have to tell you that he fell from the carriage a moment or two ago. I suspect that he’s quite badly hurt. So clumsy of him.’

  She watched his expression of rage turn to one of complete astonishment as she set her chin at a determined angle and walked past his outstretched arms towards the curricle. But inside she was rejoicing. He had come for her. Somehow she had always known that he would.

  ‘You impetuous little fool.’ Ezra rushed to her side. ‘Are you harmed?’

  ‘Not as badly as Daniel,’ she replied with considerable satisfaction, as delayed shock set in and she began to tremble, struggling to hold back the tears.

  ‘Did you really push him out of the carriage?’

  ‘I most certainly did.’ Adela snorted. ‘He assumed that I would allow him to take me to Jordan’s house and…well, you know.’ Her trembling grew more noticeable. She turned back towards him from the curricle, lowered her chin and looked him in the eye. Her vision began to blur as the tears finally came. Suddenly it felt as though her legs could no longer support her. Ezra took a pace towards her and she finally allowed herself to collapse into his arms.

  *

  Ezra held Adela as he watched Harker loom into sight, dragging a battered and bloody Ripon along by one arm. The other hung at an odd angle, most likely broken, and the man’s language would be enough to make a sailor blush.

  ‘Be silent.’ Ezra didn’t raise his voice but spoke with enough authority to immediately stop Daniel’s flow of oaths.

  ‘He doesn’t know why Jordan really wanted me in his house, which I assume was to quiz me on the whereabouts of those papers.’ Adela swallowed. ‘Jordan is his father, you know.’

  ‘Ah. I didn’t know that, but I should perhaps have considered the possibility given his mother’s very public affair with Jordan. It explains a lot.’

  ‘It does, including my father’s behaviour. He found out that his brother had acknowledged Daniel as his own son, and that our title and estate would pass into the hands of Jordan’s bastard. That is what they argued about.’

  He softly touched her face. ‘A terrible way for you to find out. I have your father’s papers safely in my possession, but they are hardly needed now that Jordan has revealed his hand. Perhaps the papers will explain what you have already discovered for yourself.’ Ezra sighed. ‘This entire affair will create the most almighty scandal. Gaunt will be keen to cover as much of it up as possible.’

  ‘Surely he will want the world to know what Jordan has done,’ Adela cried indignantly. ‘Otherwise, what’s the point?’

  ‘A lot of people will be embarrassed because they trusted him for so long. He had the ear of some of the most influential people in politics and they obviously revealed things to him that they should not have done.’

  ‘So they will put their own interests first to save their blushes.’ She screwed up her nose in disgust, less than impressed by the ways of politicians. ‘Highly improper if you ask me, which no one did.’

  ‘I shall try very hard to see that justice is publicly done. However, that is for later. First we must return you safely to your mother.’

  ‘Mama will be worried.’

  ‘She thinks Snelling escorted you home because you had a headache.’

  Adela widened her eyes. ‘She believed that?’

  ‘Apparently so.’ He turned Adela in the direction of his curricle. ‘Let’s get you there before she arrives home to check on you.’

  ‘Your friend Barker delivered me to Daniel. I have absolutely no idea why, but I am glad we danced a cotillion. If he had asked me to stand up for a shorter dance, you might not have caught up with us in time.’

  ‘You managed to rescue yourself without our help. Even so, I am glad we were here. They knocked Harker out, but luckily he has a thick head. They didn’t hit him hard enough and he heard where you were being taken.’

  ‘I hope he is…oh, you are hurt, too.’ She looked at Ezra’s arm, where the dried blood was crusting the merino wool of his sleeve.

  ‘It’s nothing. We met a little opposition when we were on our way to retrieve the documents, but we dealt with it. Come along now. Harker will drive you home. Once you have done so, Harker, continue on and contact Gaunt. He needs to be here tonight, before Jordan gets wind that the game is up and attempts to run. You know where to find him. You must excuse me from taking you home myself,’ he added to Adela, ‘but I have to deal with…this.’ He sent the cowering Daniel a scathing glance.

  ‘What about my aunt? She will
return to my house.’

  ‘She is not a danger, and probably won’t realise that her son is missing. Even if she does, she will assume that he has formed some assignation or other. Their morals are similar, after all. I shall call first thing in the morning, once I have dealt with everything.’ He touched her cheek softly. ‘Will you be all right?’

  ‘Of course. Do your duty, Ezra, and I will see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Escort my curricle back to Eaton Square, if you will be so kind, Snelling. We cannot afford to take any more risks with Lady Adela’s welfare.’ He smiled at her. ‘There are only so many grown men that she can tip out of moving carriages in one night.’

  Ezra watched until his curricle disappeared from view, full of admiration for Adela’s courage and quick-thinking. How many ladies placed in a similar situation would keep their wits about them and manage to rescue themselves?

  He hauled a whimpering Ripon into the carriage and slammed the door.

  ‘And I going to have trouble with you?’ he asked the driver.

  ‘Upon me life, m’lord, I have no idea what’s going on. I was simply told to drive Lord Ripon back to my master’s house, along with his guest, when asked to do so by Lord Ripon. I don’t hold with young ladies being taken against their will and you can be sure that I’ll do whatever you ask of me.’

  ‘Right, then drive back to Jordan’s establishment. Does you master expect you to return to the ball and collect him?’

  ‘No, m’lord, he said he’d make other arrangements.’

  ‘Lord Jordan’s other children. Are they in residence?’

  ‘No, sir. His son is in the country and his daughters are married with establishments of their own. It’s just Lord and Lady Jordan, and they will return from the ball together.’

  ‘Right then. You drive and I’ll ride behind.’

  Jordan’s servants seemed surprised when Ezra entered the house with the injured Ripon, but made no protest. It transpired that Ripon’s arm was not broken, but he had dislocated his shoulder and suffered other cuts and bruises. Ezra realigned the shoulder, making no effort to treat him gently. Ripon’s scream was high-pitched and girlish as the arm popped back into place. His face turned as white as a ghost, and Ezra thought his feet would buckle under him as he led him through to Jordan’s drawing room and thrust him into an armchair.

  ‘You really are the most almighty fool,’ Ezra told him.

  ‘I just wanted what’s mine,’ Ripon replied, scowling.

  ‘And now you must face the consequences.’

  Gaunt and his right-hand man arrived a good hour before the Jordans returned. Ezra gave him a brief account of the night’s activities. Ripon, to whom the majority of it appeared to be a total revelation, sat with his mouth agape.

  ‘This fool was one of Jordan’s couriers, although I doubt whether he realised he was behaving traitorously.’

  ‘So what did you think was in those messages you carried?’ Gaunt asked him.

  Ripon shrugged, then winced when his injured shoulder protested. ‘Invoices for the sale of horses, perhaps. I didn’t ask. I just did the man a favour. I wasn’t to know,’ he whined.

  Ezra shook his head, allowing his contempt to show, and removed the documents from inside his coat. He handed the unopened packet to Gaunt, but held back the letter addressed to Adela. Gaunt shuffled through the papers, nodding every so often.

  ‘Gantz worked it all out,’ he said. ‘He kept meticulous notes of comings and goings in connection with skirmishes that went awry because the enemy had been forewarned of our strategy. He deduced that Jordan had to be behind it all, but only because Ripon always seemed to be around and he knew of Ripon’s true relationship to Jordan.’

  ‘A deduction that got him killed,’ Ezra said, shaking his head.

  ‘The sound of voices in the hallway heralded the return of the Jordans. Gaunt’s man remained in the vestibule to ensure that the butler didn’t warn his master that he had uninvited guests.

  ‘Is Ripon here?’ he heard Jordan ask.

  ‘In the drawing room, my lord.’

  ‘What the devil is he doing in there? He’s supposed to be…’ The door was thrust open, Jordan took in the reception committee that awaited him and his words trailed off. ‘Go to bed,’ he said curtly over his shoulder, presumably addressing his wife.

  ‘The game’s up, Jordan,’ Gaunt said, slowly standing. ‘I presume you would prefer to take the gentleman’s way out.’

  Jordan looked white but otherwise composed. He nodded just once and Gaunt handed him a pistol.

  ‘Why?’ Ezra asked.

  Jordan shrugged. ‘It seemed like the right thing to do at the height of the conflict. By the time I realised it was not, I was in too deep.’

  Gaunt motioned to Ezra. It was time to leave.

  ‘What about Ripon?’ Ezra asked.

  ‘Do you want him prosecuted?’ Gaunt asked in a quiet aside. ‘We can’t actually prove that he was complicit. What we do know is that he was desperate for acknowledgment from Jordan and would do anything Jordan asked of him. Jordan took advantage of his stupidity.’

  ‘He abducted Lady Adela this evening and intended to compromise her.’

  ‘But he did not. I suspect that Lady Adela would prefer not to have the details made public. It’s her decision. I will leave Ripon here tonight under guard, to give you time to discuss the matter with her.’

  Ezra nodded. ‘Very well.’

  They shook hands and Gaunt returned to the house, no doubt with damage limitation at the front of his mind. As Ezra strode towards the stables and his horse, he heard a single shot ring out.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Adela slept surprisingly well given her terrifying ordeal. Her mind did not dwell upon her narrow escape—Lord Jordan would not have permitted her to live, despite what he had told Daniel—but upon Ezra coming to her rescue. She recalled the murderous look in his eye when he halted the carriage and sensed his relief when he discovered her unharmed. A fitting end to their brief association.

  Before retiring, she told Bess that she expected her to be gone by first light.

  ‘You have deceived me in the most shocking manner and are dismissed from my employ with immediate effect,’ she told the startled girl.

  ‘I most humbly beg your pardon, my lady. Lady Jordan, my mistress, said I was to take up this position and help Lord Ripon in any way that I could. I didn’t want to do it. That was why I probably seemed a little sullen at times.’

  ‘Excuses, Bess. I am not prepared to hear them. I cannot abide disloyalty and have no desire to see your face ever again. Now get out.’

  She awoke early the following morning, wondering what steps had been taken with regard to Lord Jordan and Daniel. Wondering how soon she could realistically expect Ezra to call and relieve her curiosity. And wondering with detached indifference how badly she had hurt Daniel when she pushed him from the carriage, hoping that his injuries would not prove too trivial.

  A parlour maid attended her that morning, her eyes bulging with curiosity about Bess’s sudden departure. Adela did not enlighten her. The moment she pushed aside a breakfast she had barely touched, she made her way downstairs, drifting through the rooms, anxious for news.

  Ezra did not keep her waiting long. He arrived before ten o’clock.

  ‘How are you?’ he asked, clasping both of her hands as soon as Talbot showed him into the drawing room. ‘I apologise for the early call but I knew you would be worried.’

  ‘I am perfectly well, and glad that it is all over. Tell me what happened?’

  ‘It would be better if I spoke in front of your aunt. I want her out of this house before your mother hears any of this. There will be an opportunity for us to speak alone after that.’

  ‘Very well. I will have her summoned.’

  Adela felt ashamed that he had been the one to consider her mother’s finer feelings. She rang the bell and asked Talbot to send a maid to rouse his aunt.

  ‘Ensure she u
nderstands it is a matter of urgency,’ Adela said. ‘We will excuse her appearance.’ Talbot’s usually implacable features betrayed a hint of satisfaction as he left the room to carry out her instructions. Adela let out a chuckle. ‘If she knows you have asked to see her, she will spend an hour preparing herself otherwise.’

  ‘The effort would be wasted.’

  ‘How is your arm?’

  ‘It’s just a flesh wound. Nothing to worry about.’

  Adela was conscious of the expectant atmosphere that had little to do with the revelations they were about to lay before her aunt. ‘How is Mr Harker?’ She moistened her lips, wishing she could find a reason to lean against his broad shoulder again, as she had already done on two previous occasions. It would be an easy habit to acquire.

  ‘Embarrassed to have let you down twice. You can be sure that I shall never let him forget it.’

  ‘Don’t be unkind.’ She tapped his uninjured arm playfully. ‘He is devoted to your service and would give his life for you.’

  ‘Let’s hope it never comes to that.’ Ezra took her hand. ‘You should know before your aunt arrives that Jordan is dead.’

  ‘Dead?’ Adela frowned. ‘How did it happen?’

  ‘Gaunt offered him the gentlemanly way out.’

  ‘Ah, I see. You said he would want to minimalize the scandal and embarrassment for the government.’ Footsteps outside heralded the arrival of Adela’s aunt. ‘Goodness, that was quick.’ Adela chuckled. ‘She was probably worried that you would take yourself off again if she took too long.’

  ‘Lord Bairstow, to what do I owe the…oh, Adela.’

  Ezra stood, waited for Adela’s aunt to take a seat and then resumed his own beside Adela. He did not return her aunt’s smile.

  ‘Something of a distressing nature has arisen, ma’am, and I thought you should hear it from me. Lord Jordan is dead.’