Sin and the Soldier, page 6
Laurie’s eyebrows flew up, and he stiffened, even as he bowed.
Captain Gorse, however, merely propped his cane against a cabinet of sheet music and thrust out his hand. “Very glad to make your acquaintance.”
Laurie appeared to take the hand before he meant to, for he looked slightly confused.
“It is the captain’s sister-in-law who has suggested I might play for her guests,” Natalie said. “And the captain who is helping protect me from Gerald.”
“Why?” Laurie asked.
The captain’s lips quirked, although he did not seem amused. “A good question for a friend to ask,” he allowed. “But I’m afraid you will have to take my word that I have no malign intent.”
Laurie opened his mouth to say more. Then, perhaps recalling that it was he who had inspired Natalie’s danger by revealing her whereabouts, he pressed his lips together in unhappy silence.
“Is there anything I could do to help?” Laurie asked her.
“Tell me if he comes back,” Natalie suggested. “Not that I think he will, but I would be interested to know what he wants. I suppose he gave you no clue?”
“None, beyond making me believe you were his errant wife.”
“Trying to deprive you of friends,” Gorse said with distaste. “Isolate you. As he did before so that you have nowhere to turn but to him. He will find it a little harder, now. Are you ready to go, Miss Derwent?”
“Yes.” She turned to Laurie and gave him her hand. “You have been my stalwart friend,” she said quietly. “I know this.” And then she turned and preceded Captain Gorse out of the shop, just as two men waited to enter. Strangers, she saw with relief, whom she had no cause to fear.
“Are you happy to walk since it is such a lovely day?” Captain Gorse suggested.
“Yes. In fact, I would rather walk. I feel I have been cooped up all day and need the exercise. How did you find Sergeant Daniels?”
“Unemployed but cheerful. He has a decent house. I can see he would be reluctant to lose it and move to some single room or shared slum.” He drew in his breath. “He was with some men of my own company, who have also fallen on hard times. I have asked them all to come and help us keep watch on the cottage and to deal with any brigands Monck might send.”
“You are going to a deal of trouble, my lord.”
“Since when did I become my lord?” he demanded. “And the trouble is minuscule, as well as providing an excuse to keep the men out of trouble for a few days.”
“And put food on their families’ tables.”
“Too little, too late,” he muttered.
After a short silence, she said, “I hope Laurie did not offend you. He is all the more protective for knowing he erred.”
“And I’m glad to know it. Though I think he’s in love with you, too.”
“Don’t be silly.”
There seemed to be questions trying to burst out of him, but he held his peace, just walked along slightly faster, his stick clicking on the road as went.
“He might be,” she allowed, “though it never struck me before today.”
“He is.”
She looked at him. “You want to know if I reciprocate. Though he is the only true friend I had in England for years, he has never been more and never will be. Does that answer your question?”
“I didn’t ask one.” He cast her a quick, crooked smile and she laughed.
*
Lord and Lady Dominic Gorse lived in a pleasant house in Half Moon Street. Although unimposing by the standards of other Mayfair mansions, it seemed magnificent to Natalie after living in the cottage for so long. The servants, however, seemed a little unconventional. She was sure the butler, if such he was, was an old soldier—a straight-backed man approaching middle age but with an indefinable danger about his person. However, he greeted Lord Richard as “Captain,” and made no effort to usher Natalie to the kitchens.
“Lady Dom about?” Richard asked him casually.
“In the morning room, sir.”
“Don’t look so awed,” Richard murmured as they made their way upstairs. “It’s only rented. And no, I don’t have one just like it. I have rooms off Piccadilly. If you want actual grandeur, I’ll take you to Sedgemoor House.”
“Rented grandeur is fine with me.”
With a breath of laughter, he led her down a short passage to the right and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” said an impatient male voice, and Captain Gorse grinned as he turned the handle without dropping his cane and ushered Natalie inside.
Natalie had found it less daunting to walk on to a stage before a large and rambunctious audience. But she fixed a stage-smile on her face and walked in, unutterably glad that the captain followed immediately behind.
The room was occupied by only two people—a younger, more boyish version of the captain, who could only be his brother, and an obviously pregnant lady in a simple but elegant gown with her hair carelessly pinned. They both gazed expectantly at the door and then broke into grins.
“Richard, just the man we need,” the lady said as though in relief.
“Well, you might be,” said Richard’s brother. “Suspending judgment while you introduce us to the lady.”
“Miss Natalie Derwent,” Richard said. “The harpist we spoke about, Viola. Miss Derwent, my graceless brother, Lord Dominic Gorse, and his long-suffering wife, Lady Dominic.”
“I am not graceless,” Lord Dominic said firmly. “And my wife copes with me very well, in moderation.”
“Ignore them, Miss Derwent,” the lady advised. “Do sit down here. Have you come for luncheon, Dominic? Ludovic Dunne said you’d invited him here.”
“I did. And I may have forgotten to tell you,” Richard said, handing Natalie into a comfortable chair. “Apologies.”
“You’d be well-served if we’d gone back to the country,” Dominic observed.
“Wouldn’t be the first time I’d resorted to a sandwich on someone’s front steps. Why are you still in town? I thought the doctors were pleased with Viola.”
“They are,” Lord Dominic said, sounding suddenly wrathful. “It’s our glorious parent who has persuaded us to stay, and now we know why. It was nothing to do with Viola.”
“Oh? What’s the old devil up to now?”
Lord Dominic’s gaze flickered to Natalie. “Oh, I shan’t bore you with that just now.”
Natalie sprang to her feet. “I should not stay. Perhaps your ladyship could send me a note if you still wish to see me. Lord Richard will give you my address—”
“Oh, no, please don’t go!” It was Lady Dominic who had spoken although everyone had stood up, too. “Dominic only meant he didn’t want to bore you with our family squabbles, which are legion. Why don’t we leave the gentlemen to assassinate the character of their noble father while I show you our harp?”
Chapter Six
“I heard you play once before,” Lady Dominic said from the window, when Natalie’s fingers had stilled on the beautiful, only slightly out-of-tune harp. “In Maida Gardens.”
Natalie tweaked the most annoying of the strings, plucked it, and tweaked again. “I’m surprised you remember.”
“I thought you were a cut above the other musicians and believed then that you could do very well through the ton’s support. I was surprised to hear you were still at Maida to be honest.”
Natalie plucked the string again and, satisfied, pushed the harp upright. “I had reasons for wishing to remain out of the public eye, while earning a living. But I thank you for the confidence.”
“I am not a great hostess or patroness of the arts. But Dominic’s sister-in-law, who will be present, is. Lord and Lady Wenning are invited, too, as are Mr. and Mrs. Halland.” She smiled quickly. “You see I am dropping names to try and persuade you. If you still have reasons for discretion, I’m sure Richard and Dominic between them will help.”
“Captain Gorse has already been most kind.”
“He is looking better,” Lady Dominic said, as though the realization had just hit her. “Is that your influence?”
From anyone else, it would have been insolent. From this young woman, somehow it sounded merely pleased curiosity. Either way, Natalie had no idea how to answer.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
Lady Dominic moved restlessly toward her. “Dominic says the war damaged him in spirit more than in body. And he has learned to live with the physical injuries more easily.”
Natalie shifted uncomfortably but said nothing. Lady Dominic plucked the string Natalie had just tuned and smiled.
“You won’t talk about him. You are loyal.”
“It is not my business, your ladyship. I am a musician for hire.”
Lady Dominic’s eyes lifted to hers. “Oh, I think you are a great deal more. You speak like a lady, for one thing.”
Natalie shrugged impatiently, for the past was always just that. “I was born into country gentry, though it no longer matters. The house and land were entailed and passed to a distant cousin on the deaths of my father and brother. My mother and I went abroad to pursue my interest in music. We thought I might earn for us by teaching a higher standard of music than the average governess. I played small concerts that grew out of social events, and then we met a man who turned it into a more commercial venture and… Well, suffice it to say he was not honest, and I returned to England with nothing but a small harp and enough for a deposit on a second-hand pianoforte. I have decided to hide from this man no longer and would welcome the opportunity to play for your guests.”
Lady Dominic blinked. “Good. I hope you will also consent to be one.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Our guest,” came the patient reply. “And play for us after dinner.”
For the first time in years, Natalie felt tempted to accept such an invitation, and not just because she was sure Richard would be present, too. She was in danger of forgetting the station into which she had plunged herself, even before she had encountered Gerald.
She met the other woman’s gaze. “I am a working musician. I play for a fee.”
“I see nothing wrong with being both guest and paid musician, and your skill can most certainly command it. Talk to Richard.”
Natalie opened her mouth to retort that Lord Richard did not make her decisions and would not want to when his actual voice spoke from the doorway. “Please do talk to Richard. Dominic has deserted me in favor of the wine cellar. Have you reached agreement?”
“I have invited Miss Derwent to dine with us on the evening in question. You and she must haggle fees, for until I speak to Grace, I have no idea of such matters. Rich, your father wants Dominic to become one of his tame members of Parliament.”
“So he has just told me. It would certainly give him a platform to promote prison reform.”
“That is what I said, and your father is prepared to tolerate that, but Dom says he won’t vote to please him.”
“Good for Dom,” Richard drawled. He glanced at Natalie. “My father is a shocking old reactionary. Dominic, however, could do a lot of good from the inside.”
Lord Dominic himself appeared in the doorway with a bottle swinging from either hand. “Are we gathering in here? Why not? A glass of sherry, Miss Derwent?”
A manservant followed their host into the room, depositing a tray of glasses.
“Might do you good, Dom,” Richard pointed out. “He’ll fund you, and there’s nothing he can do if you vote against him. Not until the next election at least.”
Dominic presented a glass of sherry to Natalie with an unexpectedly sweet smile and gave another to his wife. “The trouble is, I would make a terrible representative. I wouldn’t be bothered with the concerns of my constituents, which I know I’d see as largely petty and silly. I would pursue prison reform and ignore the rest, and that’s no better than any other member with a vested interest.”
“It sounds less selfish,” Natalie pointed out, and Richard gave a crack of laughter.
Dominic glowered at his brother as he clinked glasses with him. “You do it, then.”
“He doesn’t want me, Dom,” Richard said quietly. “I’m the soldier, and I’ve done my bit. You’re the one he let run riot, and now you’re fit enough to be tamed. It’s your reward for not going to war.”
Dominic threw himself onto the sofa beside his wife. “I’m not steady enough, Rich. And I don’t want to be. I can do more from outside the establishment.”
“Then tell him.”
“I did. When have you ever known that to deter Sedgemoor? Greetings, Dunne,” he added as another tall man with almost white-blond hair strolled into the room. “Not that you’re unwelcome, but why are you lunching with us?”
“Lord Richard told me I was,” came the immediate response. “Lady Dom, how are you? You look blooming.”
“Thank you, kind sir!” Lady Dominic smiled as he bowed over her hand. “Allow me to introduce you to our other guest. Miss Derwent, this is Mr. Dunne, our very good friend and solicitor extraordinaire.”
Lord and Lady Dominic were either casual or thoughtful hosts, because before the sherry was even consumed, they had both wandered off, leaving Mr. Dunne alone with Richard and Natalie.
On closer inspection, despite the whiteness of his hair, Mr. Dunne was younger than she had thought. He could not have been much over thirty. His expression was patient and amiable, although his grey eyes were shrewd as they passed from Richard to her and back again.
Richard said abruptly, “Are you happy for me to tell Mr. Dunne what we discussed?”
Natalie gripped her fingers together in her lap and nodded once. Silly to be ashamed when she had done nothing wrong, but she could not help it. She gazed at her hands while Richard succinctly explained what Gerald had done in Europe and how he had behaved since finding her at Maida.
“If we could catch him, we could charge him with housebreaking,” Mr. Dunne offered. “If both you and his accomplice will testify against him. The trouble there, of course, is that your friend will stand trial alongside him, so we might be better to let that go and catch him in the next attempt.”
“My fear is,” Richard said carefully, “that his next attempt will be on Miss Derwent’s person. We need a means of compelling him to leave her alone.” The men exchanged glances. Was it some kind of male code for “seeing him hang”?
“You want me to investigate him here and abroad?” Mr. Dunne asked.
“If you please,” Natalie said suddenly, lifting her gaze. She was damned if she would allow Gerald to destroy her life a second time, especially now that Richard was…here.
“I can make inquiries in England immediately,” Mr. Dunne said. “Abroad will obviously take longer and I will need details from you, Miss Derwent about the places you stayed and the people you met. In fact, if people you met abroad are now back in England, that may save us some time.”
Natalie frowned. “There is Miss Amelia Dart, my old governess who traveled with us. Gerald persuaded my mother to dismiss her. And there was Dr. Swinton, a traveling Scottish physician who treated my mother. I don’t know whether either of them returned home, but I imagine they would have had to, eventually.”
Mr. Dunne took a notebook from inside his pocket, spread it open at a double blank page, and passed it to Natalie. “Write everything down, and everything you know about these people.”
*
Over luncheon with the Gorses, Natalie began to relax at last. The eccentric aristocrats were not so different from people she had been brought up amongst. Though their lineage might have been grander, so was their humor and their acceptance.
Oddly, as she grew more comfortable, Richard became quieter, more thoughtful. However, at least her anxious examination could find no trace of the black, haunted look she had seen so often before. And a man was allowed to think.
In all, it was a surprisingly pleasant meal. Even fun, for she found herself warming to Richard’s brother and sister-in-law, and even to Mr. Dunne who turned out to be remarkably amusing for a solicitor. So it was with some reluctance that she eventually murmured to Richard, “I think I must return to Maida. I should practice for tonight’s concert. But you do not need to—”
He rose at once and began to make their farewells. Although she had been prepared to go back alone, she was glad of his company. But more than that, she could not recall the last time anyone had ever done anything simply because she asked it.
In no time, they were on the landing, with their hosts and Mr. Dunne. The strange butler, whose name was Napper, was leading three more men of fashion upstairs.
“Lord Calton, my lady, with friends.” He didn’t sound entirely approving, though the Gorses all greeted the handsome Lord Calton with amiable banter. Clearly, he was a favorite among them.
“Forgive the rudeness, Lady Dom,” Calton returned with a smile that was probably devastating to most women. Even Natalie was not entirely immune. “These fellows are clinging to me like limpets because they want me to fleece them at the newest gaming club. I said I’d go if Dom was free to join us, which he clearly isn’t. But where are my manners? May I present, Mr. Davenport and Mr. Monck.”
Natalie saw him, like a recurring nightmare, even before Lord Calton spoke the name. Her hand reached out blindly toward Richard before she realized the stupidity. They were in public, and in any case, he needed his hand for his walking stick. But before she could snatch it back, his fingers found hers and squeezed. And he drew her an inch closer to his side.
“Gentlemen, Lord and Lady Dominic Gorse,” Calton was saying with a flourish, and both men bowed to her ladyship. If Gerald had seen her, if he had always known she was here, he gave no sign of it. “Captain Lord Richard Gorse and…” The smile dawned again. “Sadly, I am unacquainted with this lady, a failing which I do hope you mean to rectify, Lady Dom.”
“My friend, Miss Derwent,” her ladyship said graciously though with just a hint of warning, probably aiming to protect her from Calton’s clear intention to flirt. If only she had known that was the least of Natalie’s worries.
