Page 29 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding

T he carriage rumbled on. Flora remained on the floor, Matt’s arm about her shoulders and the beat of his heart against her cheek.

She must have dozed off, because she woke to find the landau had stopped.

Outside was the noise and lights of a busy coaching inn and she quickly scrambled back on to the seat.

‘The King’s Head, I presume,’ said Matt. ‘Put up your hood and stay in the corner of the coach.’

The door opened and Jepps looked in. ‘We are at the inn, miss. Best you stay in the carriage and we’ll look after everything.

We had a talk about it on the way here, me and Amos and your coachman.

If Mr Talacre don’t object, we’ll say I’m his man and that we was attacked and our horses stolen.

Your driver came past and took us up, but we’ll not say where he’s from and if you ain’t seen, then no one will be the wiser. ’

‘Well done, man,’ said Matt. He had struggled to sit up and was holding his injured arm against his body. ‘That is pretty much what I was thinking. ’

Jepps nodded. ‘Now to get you out, sir. Can you walk, if Amos and I help you?’

‘Aye. Step down and I’ll get myself to the door.’

Flora watched Matt climb to his feet and steady himself with a hand against the wall.

‘Thank you, for everything, Flora.’

‘What will you do?’ she asked, trying to put off the inevitable goodbye.

‘As soon as I can ride, I will go back to Bellemonte. A few days at most. Go home now, Flora.’ He bent and brushed his lips against her cheek. ‘Don’t worry, we shall come about.’

Silently she watched him struggle to the steps, where Amos and Jepps were waiting to help him down. Then all she could do was sit in the darkest corner of the carriage while they supported Matt across the busy yard.

* * *

It felt like hours before Amos returned. He opened the carriage door and examined the handle, as if looking for a fault.

‘All sorted, ma’am,’ he muttered, not looking in.

‘The landlord holds footpads responsible for the attack and we told him we was going Banbury way, so no reason for him to think anyone from Whilton is involved. And if we get a move on, we can have you home again by midnight, which won’t raise an eyebrow from the master and mistress now, will it? ’

On these reassuring words, Amos slammed the door and scrambled up on to his seat.

They set off back out into the darkness and Flora settled herself more comfortably against the squabs, but sleep eluded her.

Had the landlord believed the tale they had concocted?

Would he send for a doctor to look after Matt?

Then there was Jepps. He might take the chance to carry out the Viscount’s orders to kill Matt.

Somehow, she did not believe he would do that, but she could not be sure. She had never felt so helpless!

Flora resolutely shut out all the questions, but that left her with the memory of Matt’s words and his parting kiss. A kiss that went all the way to her heart.

* * *

Thankfully, by the time Flora returned to Birchwood House, Mr and Mrs Farnleigh had retired and Betty was too drowsy to do more than help her mistress undress before returning to her own bed, so Flora was saved from any questions about her evening. At least for a while.

* * *

At breakfast, she responded to her aunt’s enquiry by saying the Viscount had invited Mr Talacre to dinner, but that he had left early.

‘Mr Talacre!’ exclaimed her uncle. ‘Now why should he do that?’

‘I believe there was some business they needed to discuss.’

‘Strange, I would have thought, since he had invited you to come alone…’ He trailed off, shrugging a little. ‘But if the fellow did not tarry, then no harm done. I suppose you and Lord Whilton have now settled your, er, differences?’

‘As to that, we shall see,’ replied Flora with a smile that she was far from feeling.

Quentin would know by now that something had gone wrong with his plans and she had no idea what he would do next.

* * *

Matt stirred. His head ached, his mouth was dry and when he moved a searing pain shot through his left arm, making him wince. He opened his eyes to find a stranger bending over him.

No, not a stranger. Jepps. It was all coming back to him now.

‘You are still here,’ he muttered.

‘Aye, sir. I gave you my word!’

The man sounded aggrieved, which would have made Matt smile, if he hadn’t been so parched.

‘I need water,’ he said. ‘And something to eat.’

‘Water I have here.’ Jepps helped him to sit up. ‘If you can manage to hold the glass, sir, I’ll go and tell the landlady to send up your breakfast.’

Matt frowned as he took in the man’s homespun garments. ‘Don’t tell me you passed yourself off as my valet dressed like that!’

‘Why, no, sir.’ Jepps looked at him as if he was a fool. ‘You mentioned gardens, so I said I was your groundsman, come to look at some plants with you.’

He went off and Matt sipped at his water, thinking that the man had surprised him for the second time. He was intrigued by the fellow, but the entrance of a maid with his breakfast tray put to flight everything but the problem of how to eat it with only one good arm.

Despite his injury, Matt enjoyed his meal and left only empty plates to be removed with his coffee cup. When the servant came to take them away he asked her for pen and ink and spent the next hour propped up in his bed with a board across his knees, writing.

* * *

‘Ah, Jepps, I need you to fold these for me,’ he said, when the man came in some time later. He pointed to the first of the sheets. ‘That one is for you to give to Cripps at Bellemonte—I have written the direction on the other side. I take it you can read?’

‘Of course, sir. I ain’t no heathen!’

Matt hid a smile as he handed him a small purse. ‘This should be enough for your journey.’

Jepps took the purse, then picked up the letter and scanned it.

‘This is mighty generous, Mr Talacre. How do you know you can trust me?’

‘If you were intent on robbing me, you have had plenty of time to take the purse from my coat, and find the other one in my saddlebag. The fact the money is still there is encouraging.’ Matt grinned.

‘My leg aches like the devil, but I am not quite bedridden, I checked everything earlier this morning.’

Jepps began to stammer his thanks, but Matt waved a hand to silence him.

‘How you fare at Bellemonte is up to you; if you show promise my man there will soon promote you. Now, this other note is for the landlord of the Red Lion in Whilton. I want you to find a reliable fellow to go and fetch my portmanteau.’ He held out another handful of coins.

‘That’s enough to pay my shot and he can keep what’s left.

The letter doesn’t say where I am and impress upon the messenger that he is not to mention it.

Tell the man I will reward him for his trouble when he returns here with my belongings. ’

‘I’ll get on to that right now, sir.’

‘Very well. The landlord tells me the coach to Banbury isn’t due for another two hours yet, so when you have done, there should be time for you to take a drink with me. I need diverting,’ he explained, seeing the man’s look of surprise. ‘Until I have my portmanteau, I have nothing to read!’

* * *

It was not long before Jepps returned to Matt’s room, carrying two tankards of ale and reporting that he’d sent one of the grooms to Whilton.

‘He’s a bright lad, sir, and the landlord said he’s not one to blab. ’

‘That’s good,’ said Matt. ‘Now pull up a chair and tell me about yourself.’

‘Ain’t nothing much to tell,’ came the wary reply.

‘Come, man, I don’t believe that. An ex-solider, ain’t you? And with a defective leg. We have that much in common.’

‘I doubt it, Mr Talacre. You was an officer, I’ll be bound!’

‘I volunteered at the age of nineteen, but was fortunate to be promoted to the rank of captain before I took a bullet in the leg at Waterloo. Now, what about you?’

Matt gave Jepps the smile that he had always used to put soldiers at their ease and it wasn’t long before they were exchanging tales of their experiences in the Peninsula.

‘And was it the injury that forced you out of the army?’ asked Matt.

‘Aye, sir. A badly set fracture left me with one leg much shorter than the other. I couldn’t walk that far, either, so I was no longer fit for duty. I made my way from Portsmouth to London, looking for work, but couldn’t find anything. No one wants a cripple.’

Matt heard the bitterness in his voice and recognised it. He had felt much the same for many months after he had been wounded.

‘How long have you worked for Lord Whilton?’

‘It must be five years now. He came across me begging on the streets of London,’ Jepps took another drink of his ale. ‘Sent me to Whilton Hall.’

‘That was very generous of him.’

Jepps shrugged. ‘He said he wanted someone to look after his property, to patrol the grounds and keep them free of poachers and the like, but the wood is too small to attract more than children, catching the odd rabbit. And as for the gardens, they were in a sorry state. I’m no gardener, sir, but I do what I can, the others don’t really care, although I think that will change when Miss Warenne becomes mistress. ’

‘She visits the gardens a lot, does she?’ asked Matt, trying to sound casual.

‘Oh, yes, she likes to walk there with that dog of hers. Very friendly she is, sir. A real lady, if you ask me.’

He frowned a little and Matt wondered if Jepps shared his opinion that Flora was too good for the likes of Lord Whilton. Not that he would ask.

He drained his own tankard.

‘Well, let’s hope you don’t have to see the Viscount again, Jepps. You’ll be working in my gardens in future.’