Page 36 of The Book of Lost Stories

Besieged

Drusilla fixed her eyes on his face.

‘My home is situated in a remote part of the Highlands,’ Sir Lemuel said, ‘and my dearest wife has long felt the want of a companion who can share with her those feminine pleasures of which I know nothing …’

Death or Dishonour by ORLANDO brOWNE

Alys went out on to the landing, where only Mrs Hartwood remained to greet late arrivals, and entered the ballroom. Pausing on the threshold, her head held high but her heart in her little satin slippers, she looked about her for Nell, only to see her being led out by Harry Stavely.

‘My dance, I think, Miss Weston,’ said Lord Rayven’s deep voice in her ear. ‘I have been looking out for you this age.’

She whirled round and glared at him. ‘My grandfather wished to speak with me. And I would rather talk with you, my lord, than dance!’

‘You gratify me extremely, but might we not do both?’ he said, and, taking her hand, drew her into a set that was forming nearby.

Arguing at a ball where the attention of most of the onlookers is already fixed on you with scandalous relish is probably not a good idea. Doing so in a whisper, while constantly and frustratingly being brought together and parted by the dance, is an even worse one.

‘So, you have given away the secret of my authorship, Lord Rayven,’ she began.

‘No, I swear I did not,’ he said steadily.

‘You must have done, for how else should the news have spread so quickly? And what is more, you told my grandfather of it.’

‘You can think that – of me?’ he said, tight-lipped.

‘Why not? I already had no great opinion of you, for I knew you to be a … a libertine and a reader of other people’s private correspondence,’ she hissed, flinging at his head the most hurtful things she could think of.

His hand tightened so painfully on hers that she gasped. ‘Smile, Miss Weston,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘The eyes of the world are upon you.’

She blinked back angry tears. ‘I cannot smile to order: let them think what they will.’

The music stopped and Alys pulled her hand away and went to find Nell, who was seated at the side of the room fanning herself.

Harry Stavely was just walking away and her eyes were fixed on him, so that she did not notice Alys until she plumped herself down on the chair next to her and whispered urgently, ‘Nell, have you heard that the rumour of my being Orlando Browne is being widely circulated?’

‘Why, yes, Alys, for several kind persons have told me so! But Miss Mary Berry was the first and she advised us to laugh it off as though we were astonished to find anyone thought it in any way remarkable, which seems sensible, do you not think?’

‘Yes, and so both Grandfather and I have already decided,’ agreed Alys, but what she really thought at that moment was that her friend was in such a glow of love that she was incapable of being touched by her predicament and might herself, if she was not careful, become the object of even more avid interest to the scandalmongers.

‘Nell, pray be careful not to draw attention—’ she began, before her own was claimed by an entirely unknown, if slightly raffish, young man. He proved to be only the first of many men who had jumped to the erroneous conclusion that a young woman who wrote such notorious novels must be fast .

For the next interminable hour her waist was squeezed, she had to listen to insulting innuendoes and deflect attempts to persuade her to leave the ballroom for some quieter spot – and all under the sardonic gaze of Lord Rayven.

He leaned against the wall watching her, his arms folded across his broad chest and a lock of black hair falling across his brow, looking so romantically dangerous that Lord Byron, who had just entered the ballroom, was quite struck with jealousy and only the circumstance of his being entirely mobbed by several young ladies at once saved him from the necessity of indulging in a prolonged sulk.

Just as Alys had begun to think that outright flight might be more than worth the resultant ignominy, Nat came to her rescue.

She could have wept with relief when he drew her hand into his arm and said, with gentle concern, ‘I have been trying to claim my dance with you, but I think perhaps you would rather go somewhere quiet and sit it out, would you not?’

‘Oh, yes!’ she agreed gratefully. ‘I know from Grandfather that you have heard that I am that infamous author Orlando Browne, but I hope you are not very much shocked.’

‘No, indeed. In fact, I am full of admiration,’ he said, leading her to a small antechamber that had been fitted out for repairs to ladies’ flounces and ruffles torn during energetic dancing, and closing the doors behind them.

The sound of the ballroom was suddenly reduced to a vague hum, like a disturbed hive of bees.

He seated her on a small gilt sofa and sat down next to her, taking her hand. ‘But I have a confession to make, for I am afraid that it is all my fault that your secret was revealed.’

‘How is this?’ she said, astonished.

‘You must forgive me, Miss Weston, for George let slip his discovery and I was so indiscreet as to tell my sister, thinking she would be as impressed as I was by your being so well known an author. But I should have known she could not keep it to herself. Indeed, I thought my uncle would quite cast you off when he first heard, he was so angry, but he quickly came to see that there was an easy way to avert any scandal.’

‘So it was you …’ she said slowly, barely taking in the rest of what he said.

‘Yes, but do say you will forgive me, dearest Alys. In fact,’ he added, seizing hold of her other hand and drawing her closer, ‘say you will marry me, and let me give you the protection of my name.’

‘What?’ Her attention drawn back by these words from the contemplation of a dark, angry, scarred face that had watched her with such well-justified contempt, she attempted to release her hands.

‘Oh, no . I thank you, Nat, and I am sure your offer is kindly meant, but I have already told Grandfather that I have no desire to wed you or any other man. I do not need to,’ she added simply.

‘Do not need to?’ He stared at her as if she had run mad.

‘No, for I intend to continue writing my novels. But I will not be an embarrassment to the family, since I am retiring to live in the country somewhere.’

‘You mean … you really mean, that you do not wish to marry?’ It was clearly a concept he found hard to comprehend.

‘No, for I have never seen any good come of it. I can support myself and intend to do so. In any case, I am very sorry, but I am afraid I do not love you, Nat.’

He decided that only a show of lovemaking would overcome her resistance and seized her in his arms. ‘But I love you!’ he exclaimed passionately and, crushing her to him, attempted to kiss her.

‘Nat, let me go!’ she demanded, trying to push him away, but his superior strength made her efforts unavailing. ‘What if someone should come in?’

‘No one will come in. I have told one of the footmen to see to that,’ he said, pushing up her chin with a ruthless hand and pressing his lips to hers. Then he jerked back with a cry, blood welling from his lip.

‘You bit me!’ he said with furious astonishment. ‘You—’

The doors swung open, briefly letting in the sounds from the ballroom, and closed again.

‘Dear me,’ said Lord Rayven, taking in the scene with one swift, comprehensive glance, ‘you appear to have had a slight accident, Mr Hartwood.’

‘I – it is nothing,’ Nat said with an effort. ‘I am afraid we are having a private conversation, Rayven, if you would mind leaving us.’

‘No!’ cried Alys, freeing herself from his loosened grip and quickly putting as much space as possible between them. ‘Our conversation is at an end, Nat, and I would like you to go!’

Nat was dabbing at his lip with his handkerchief, over which he regarded her angrily. Then, without another word, he got up and left the room. Lord Rayven stood aside to let him pass, then quickly moved forward to catch Alys as her legs gave way.

‘You are faint,’ he said, clasping her in his arms.

‘A … momentary dizziness … it is nothing. I am better.’ But her heart was beating faster than it ever had in Nat’s importunate embrace.

‘Has he hurt you? He did not—’

‘He proposed, then tried to kiss me when I refused him, nothing more. I am glad you came in, but I am sure I could have got rid of him quite easily,’ she added, sounding much more like herself.

He smiled. ‘I expect you could. Unless, of course, rage caused him to strangle you first, an emotion with which I could sympathize.’

For a moment, still held in his arms, they stared into each other’s eyes. ‘Or frustrated passion,’ he added slowly, ‘for you look so damned pretty tonight that there might be some excuse for him.’

Alys went pink and struggled free. ‘I believe I owe you an apology, Lord Rayven,’ she said smoothing down her slightly crumpled silk dress.

‘In what way, Miss Weston?’ He had gone back, she noted, to the Byronic pose, arms folded across his broad chest and that lock of black hair falling across his forehead.

‘For misjudging you. You did not betray my secret. George Rivers told Nat, and Nat told Bella.’

‘Who told everyone? Yes, your cousin Bella seems to have been busy spreading the tale all day. She must be quite exhausted, poor thing.’

‘I do not know what she hoped to gain by doing so.’

‘Oh, I expect she was simply motivated by jealousy. You have quite put her nose out of joint by your sudden appearance on the scene.’

‘Well, I am sorry for it, but I did not intend to do so, and I have told my grandfather that I do not want his money and I am not going to marry Nat or anyone else. In fact, I am starting to think Nat is a whited sepulchre,’ she said darkly.

‘He looks angelic enough, and is always kind and charming, but his true nature, judging from his actions today, is far otherwise.’

‘Indeed, you cannot always judge a book by its cover,’ Rayven agreed gravely.

Their eyes met again, his crinkled up at the corner in laughter, and she smiled suddenly.

‘Very true.’

‘How does my elderly friend Pug go on?’

‘Very well.’

‘I suppose you did not keep the rest of the sweetmeats?’

‘No, I saw them put on to the kitchen fire myself. Sammy – Nell’s page – was very aggrieved, for he has a sweet tooth, but I have promised to buy him some for himself. I suppose it was not the fault of the sender that there was one bad fruit among them.’

‘You don’t know who sent them?’

‘No. I thought—’ She broke off. ‘No, I don’t.’

‘Perhaps you should receive such gifts in future with caution,’ he suggested. ‘Now, would you like to return to the ballroom?’

She shuddered. ‘No, I feel I have had quite enough of being brave, and wish nothing more than to go home. But I do not know if Nell will want to leave so early.’

‘Not if she and Harry are still in each other’s pockets,’ he said bluntly.

Alys sighed. ‘I had hoped their resolution would have held. Can you not persuade your friend of the unwisdom of so openly showing his regard for Mrs Rivers?’

‘No more easily than you can persuade Mrs Rivers of the unwisdom of her course,’ he said. ‘They must make their own decisions, but I will make this one for you: that you are going home, and under my escort.’

The men who served under his command in the Rifle Brigade would have recognized that tone of voice and obeyed, just as Alys found herself doing. She felt much too tired to object.

*

‘What have you done to your lip, Nat?’ Bella asked curiously.

‘Never mind that,’ he snapped, tired of endlessly repeating the same story of a broken wine glass. ‘Listen, the old man is so taken with Alys that even the news that she writes scandalous books was not enough to sink her in his esteem.’

‘How do you know?’

‘He pretty well told me so, and is as eager as ever to match me with her – except that I have just asked her to marry me and she has made it very clear she will not.’

‘Oh!’ Bella said, glanced doubtfully at his face and looked away again.

‘My uncle’s likely to cut me off without a shilling unless I get rid of her.’

‘Get rid of her?’ Her blue eyes dilated. ‘You don’t mean … you can’t mean—’

‘No, no, nothing fatal ! But I have a plan to ruin her, so that she can never come back and ingratiate herself with the old man again. I will probably need your help.’

‘Of course, for there is no saying that if he starts to favour Alys even more, he may cut me out as well. But how do you mean to do it?’

‘Drug her and put her on a ship bound for America. When she wakes, it will be too late for her to return, and by the time she does so, rumours will have been long circulating that she has run off with a lover.’

‘Which lover, Nat? I do not know of anyone she’s been seen much in company with, other than Lord Rayven!’

‘There is no other lover, Bella,’ he said impatiently. ‘But once the rumour goes round, no one will believe that. By the time she returns, her reputation will be in ruins and our uncle will have nothing more to do with her.’

‘Tell me what I must do,’ Bella said eagerly.