Page 10 of The Wrath of the Wallflower (Revenge of the Wallflowers)

One of Sinjin’s favorite places to spend time at Perriton Grange was the apiary, the field where Old Jack tended the estate’s dozens of beehives. As a boy he’d stand in the middle of the lines and lines of hives, close his eyes, and listen to the hum of the bees at work. The child he was had found that sound comforting. Now, standing in the ruins of his conservatory, he found no comfort at all in the hum of voices and activity around him. All he wanted was for them to go and leave him alone with the broken glass, the trampled plants, the chopped down trees, and the sad refuse of ten years of his care and work.

Seamus’s precipitous interruption of the Duke and Duchess of Chelmsford’s dinner had resulted in a mad scramble to assemble carriages and transport everyone in attendance to the Perriton house on St. James Square. Sinjin had not been able to utter a word nor do much at all save stand amidst the carnage and think that he really should do something. The duchess and Cordelia had gone to the far end of the conservatory where Missus Beatty sat in a chair next to the fish pond. The cook had a battered coal skuttle next to her feet and a large cookpot in her lap.

“They scooped the wee fish out and left them gasping on the floor,” she was saying. “Broke down the sides of the fountain to let out all the water.”

“She saved them, she did,” Betsy the kitchen maid said. “Scooped them up in the cookpot and had me fetch some water. Will they live, Mister Sinjin?” she called to him.

He turned slowly and took a few steps towards the pond. Halfway there he heard and felt a loud crunch beneath his feet. When he bent down, he picked up the remains of his new microscope. The one Cordelia and Daedalus had gifted him. His sister came to him and took the broken instrument from his hands. “We’ll buy you a new one, dearest,” she said softly as she stroked his hair away from his face. “We’ll set this to rights.” He nodded wordlessly, kissed her cheek, and walked the rest of the way to the fountain and pond to kneel down next to Missus Beatty.

“Are you all right, Beatty?”

She reached out and patted his head. “It’ll take more than three milksop lordlings to get the best of me, lad.” Betsy took the pot from Beatty’s shaking hands and showed Sinjin the three large goldfish that had occupied his conservatory pond for the last ten years. They were a bit crowded in the pot but swam about quite vigorously.

“They’ll live, won’t they, sir?” the girl asked. Where was Alice? She would know best how to console Betsy. He knew she was in the conservatory. Was it his body or his soul that sensed her presence? He needed her, but feared his reaction to her trying to apologize for…this.

“I should think so,” he said, his voice hoarse and burning his throat. “You and Missus Beatty have saved their lives.” He met the maid’s eyes and forced himself to smile. “Just make certain she doesn’t cook them up.”

“Oh no, sir. I’ll keep them safe.” She nodded solemnly.

“Perriton?” Carrington-Bowles peered around the broken limbs of a lemon tree back towards Sinjin’s work table. Sinjin stood, patted Missus Beatty’s shoulder and strode to where Carrington-Bowles and a gentleman in the garb of a Bow Street Runner stood. “This is Archer Colwyn, a friend,” Lady Camilla’s nephew said. “We sent for him before we left Berkeley Square.” The Runner extended his hand and Sinjin shook it.

“Do you recognize him?” Mister Colwyn asked as he stepped aside and indicated a prone figure on the mosaic pathway that meandered through the conservatory.

“Weatherly.” Sinjin went hot all over. He reached for the man, but Carrington-Bowles and the Runner held him back. “He attacked a defenseless woman. He destroyed my conservatory.” Now that he had started talking the fog in his mind and the hum of voices disappeared to be replaced by a blind, red fury. “I’ll kill him.” He tried his best to wrest free of their hold.

“And you would be justified,” the Duke of Chelmsford said as he came from behind the tangle of broken wisteria and weeping begonias. “However, as I have asked my wife to limit the number of bodies her men toss into the Thames these days, that would be inadvisable.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “Alice has informed me that in addition to Weatherly here, the other two milksop lordlings involved in this diabolical act are the Earl of Stanton and Lord Octavius Earden.”

“No doubt,” Sinjin said between clenched teeth. Alice. She was here. She’d traveled in the carriage with her aunt and uncle and Lady Camilla whilst he had traveled with Carrington-Bowles, Daedalus, and Cordelia. He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Everything came rushing at him at once. The way she’d avoided his gaze at dinner immediately after Lady Camilla announced what had happened to Miss Rutherford and her friends. Somehow his involvement in Alice’s revenge had gotten back to Earden and his friends by way of this last act, the one Sinjin had advised her against. The one she’d said she would let go.

He didn’t want to blame her for the smashed microscope, the torn down vines, the exotic trees turned to kindling, his roses uprooted from their urns. The searing ache in his chest, the labored effort it took to draw breath, the very thought that Seamus or Missus Beatty or even Betsy might have been seriously hurt or killed. What had she been thinking?

“I can drag him off to Bow Street,” Mister Colwyn said quietly. “Have him brought up on charges and have the other two arrested as well. I understand this is your family’s home and that your elder brother is in charge, but I am certain once he sees all of this he will do as you wish.”

“Are we certain we wish to feed the news sheets and prints artists more fuel for their fires?” Lady Camilla asked as she and the Duchess of Chelmsford joined their little group. Viscount Wheatly stirred once and subsided back onto the floor with a groan. “Not to mention it appears your Missus Beatty gave as good as she got and better.” Lady Camilla gave Wheatly a little nudge with her slippered foot and smiled.

“What do you suggest, milady?” Sinjin asked. He glanced about casually which was a mistake. Not only was Alice nowhere in sight, everywhere he looked revealed new destruction which caused pangs in his body like physical blows.

“Chelmsford, you know Stanton’s father. Wheatly is the Marquess of Fordice’s heir, is he not?” Lady Camilla looked to the duke with a deceptively beatific expression on her elegant face.

“Indeed, and I am acquainted with Fordice as well. El, my love, will you accompany Lady Camilla to visit the Dowager Countess of Stanton? She serves on several charitable committees with you two, does she not?”

Lady Camilla patted the duke’s arm. “You have always been such a clever boy, Perseus Whitcombe. Her Grace and I will pay a call on Lady Stanton and inform her of her son’s activities this night. She still hasn’t forgiven him for moving her out of the family townhouse.”

“She’ll be in a more forgiving mood when I tell her that the earl’s membership at Goodrum’s along with those of his friends have been revoked.” The Duchess of Chelmsford owned the most desirable pleasure club in London. Memberships were exclusive and sought after by the highest-ranking peers in London. Sinjin and Mister Carrington-Bowles exchanged a glance. Mister Colwyn chuckled and shook his head.

“One would do well never to cross our Captain El,” he said, referring to the duchess.

“Colwyn, Carrington-Bowles, and I will fetch Wheatly to his father. Earden’s father will be at White’s this time of an evening. We’ll stop there after we deal with Wheatly.” The duke looked to Sinjin. “Will that satisfy, Mister Perriton? I know your brother, Frederick, is head of the family whilst your father is ill, but I daresay he will defer to you in this.”

Sinjin studied Wheatly for a moment and then gave his conservatory a careful perusal. They were right. With everything that had happened, this was the best course. There was no need for more scandal. Not to mention his taste for revenge had been irrevocably dampened. Suddenly he was very tired. His body ached, and his mind was a maelstrom of thoughts and feelings. Any other time in his life when things became too much, he would seek out Alice in person or in a letter. What was he going to do now?

In his slow perusal of the damage done by Stanton and his miscreant friends he caught sight of the chaise longue where he and Alice had finally given in to their passions. He’d proposed tonight and he meant every word. She’d broken his trust. She’d given him no answer. She might be carrying his child. He’d chosen the wrong time to give up his hermit ways because all he wanted to do now was scream. He knew what he was honor-bound to do no matter how he and Alice now felt about each other.

“You’re right,” he said and extended his hand to the duke. “This is the best course of action for everyone concerned. Thank you…thank you all for everything. I…” He shook his head.

“Very good,” Lady Camilla said and clapped her hands. “I shall have Lord Daedalus and Lady Cordelia escort me home. Lionel, dear, you go with the duke and Archer to dispose of this.” She kicked Wheatly and he groaned. “Lord Daedalus!” She made her way up the path toward Sinjin’s work table. Carrington-Bowles and Archer Colwyn dragged Wheatly none to gently toward the back doors out of the conservatory.

The duchess took the duke’s arm and Sinjin joined them as they walked in the opposite direction towards the doors that led from the conservatory out to the mews. They walked in silence until they came upon Alice staring at a potting bench and a row of small pots across a shelf over the bench.

“Alice.” Sinjin kept his tone soft and even, for the most part because he suddenly had no idea how he felt.

She turned to face him, tears in her eyes. At the sight of her aunt and uncle she used one gloved hand to wipe her eyes and then smiled. “You saved them,” she said to Sinjin. “The daffodils and crocuses at Hyde Park.” Surprisingly the row of repotted flowers had escaped the notice of those bent on destroying his conservatory.

“Seamus and I went back for them that day. They all survived.” He sensed the duke and duchess behind him, but he only had eyes for Alice.

“Sinjin, I never meant for any of this to happen. I should never have—”

“It doesn’t matter, Alice. What’s done is done. I don’t really want to talk about this any further.” The gravity of everything settled over him like the crush of people at a ton gathering. She’d betrayed his trust. His heart threatened to crack open at the realization. The one person he’d counted on never to lie to him, or use him, or cause him pain had taken his work and this night was the result. He could not think clearly about anything save the one thing he knew he had to do. He turned to the duke.

“Your Grace, I have proposed to Lady Alice, and I ask your permission to make her my wife.”

“Well,” the duchess murmured.

Alice gasped. “Sinjin, what are you doing? We need to talk. I need to explain. There is no reason to—” She took a step towards him. Something in his expression stopped her.

Sinjin glanced back at the chaise longue and then returned his gaze to her. She looked so hurt and confused. Doubts about his plan of action began to creep into the corners of his mind, but he plunged ahead. “There is every reason, Alice.” The silence in their little corner of the conservatory was heavy, as if all air and sound had been sucked from the room. The duke looked from him to Alice and back again.

“I see,” was all the great man said.

“I’ll send my brother to negotiate the settlements. I would prefer we marry sooner rather than later. Alice may remain in Town if she wishes. I will return to Surrey as soon as possible after the wedding.”

“Sinjin, please.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but she squared her shoulders and refused to allow them to fall. He’d seen her do this a thousand times, when someone hurt her. Like he was hurting her now, but he could not make himself stop.

“Good night, Alice. I’ll call on you tomorrow.” He offered her a stiff bow, bowed to the duke and duchess and strode back into his broken conservatory. Stanton, Wheatly, and Earden had destroyed much more than they ever imagined this night. Sinjin would have to figure out a way to repair what he feared he had destroyed himself.

Four days later

Sinjin moved the last monstrous new urn containing his latest hybrid rose into position and dropped onto the chaise longue with a groan. He’d finally managed to repot all of his roses and return them to their original positions thanks to Reggie’s gift of new urns to replace the ones Stanton and his toadies had broken. With luck and care the roses would survive and continue to grow. He’d lost some plants, but surprisingly few thanks to the servants pitching in to clean up the conservatory and Seamus’s diligent attention to repotting all of the plants and trees that were not too unwieldy for him to handle.

There was still a great deal of work to do, but staying busy kept Sinjin from dwelling on the fact that Alice had refused to see him since that horrible night. He’d called at the duke’s residence twice a day every day, including that very morning. The answer was always the same.

Lady Alice is not receiving callers.

It would seem they had both gone to ground as he had not ventured anywhere save to the duke’s house and home. As a last resort Sinjin had sent Frederick to speak with the duke about the marriage settlements. If nothing else, surely his high-handedness would make Alice angry enough to confront him.

“Well, brother,” Frederick called as he strode into the conservatory from the French windows that led into the main house. “Congratulations. The lady has given you your congé.” He tossed a sealed note at Sinjin and subsided onto the chaise next to him. “She has refused your proposal.”

The last time Sinjin experienced a similar sensation he’d been thrown from his horse into a lake. He cracked the seal and read the few lines penned in Alice’s neatly elegant script.

Dear Sir,

I release you from our engagement. I wish you every happiness in the future.

Lady Alice Lister

He let the single piece of parchment slip from his fingers to the floor. For a moment or two his mind went blank. She’d never actually said she loved him. She’d never actually said she’d marry him. He’d been a fool to think she would. He’d lost his best friend. The world was suddenly colder and far too big for him. What would he do without Alice in his life?

“Well?” Frederick nudged him with his shoulder.

“It is just as well. She can do much better than me.” Sinjin loved his brother, but he truly wanted him to go and leave him alone. No matter how far apart they were he’d never felt alone so long as Alice was in his world. Now…

“I doubt she will ever receive another proposal.” Frederick leaned back on his hands. “Word has it Stanton and his toadies intend to reveal her as the perpetrator of their humiliations and the humiliations of poor Miss Rutherford and her friends. In public. At Captain Atherton’s exhibition at the Royal Academy today.”

“But she wasn’t responsible, not completely.” Sinjin jumped to his feet and glared down at his brother. “Word has it? Where did you hear this? Let me guess Dickie Jones.”

“At White’s actually from Carrington-Bowles, Lady Camilla’s nephew. He stopped by my table and informed me of the particulars. Asked if you would take care of the situation or if he needed to do so.”

“Carrington-Bowles?”

“The man may prefer the company of other men, but he runs a dispensary in a part of Seven Dials where the Runners won’t venture. He’s personal physician to the Four Horsemen, the worst crime lords in London. I once saw the man break one villain’s nose and another’s arm in the street for stealing a dog.”

“She may not want me to take care of the situation.” She’d made her position perfectly clear. She no longer wanted him in her life.

“I never would have thought you a coward.” Frederick pinned him with his most imperious censuring stare.

“I’m not afraid of them. I’m afraid of her.” He began to pace back and forth amongst his roses. The heavy scent and delicate blooms always made him think of Alice. Even the thorns reminded him of her.

Frederick sighed. “You are the gentleman in the family, Sinjin. I am the arse, Reggie is the scoundrel, and you are the gentleman. You can no more let her take the blame for everything than you can take wing and fly. Not to mention you are madly in love with her and always have been.”

Sinjin stopped mid-step. “How long have you known?”

“We’ve all known forever. You two were the only ones who took all these years to figure it out. Let us hope your children will inherit their intelligence from their Uncle Frederick.”

Children. With Alice. All he’d ever wanted in life. All he’d ever need. What a lummox he was, an addlepated, nodcock lummox.

“Is Reggie still abed? I need his curricle.” Sinjin started towards the doors into the house. Frederick grabbed his arm and dragged him across the conservatory to the doors that led to the mews.

“We’ll take my carriage.”

“We?”

“If you think I am going to miss you dressing down Stanton and his friends and you finally proposing to Alice Lister, you really are the madman they say you are.”

“I already proposed. She turned me down.”

“You obviously bolloxed up the first one. Try to do better this time. For God’s sake put a jacket on. The carriage is waiting in the mews.” Sinjin stumbled along in his brother’s wake. “We’ll do something with your neckcloth on the way. Do you own anything that isn’t covered in dirt? Take my jacket. Mother will have my head if you appear in public in that.”

“What if she says no.”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “You’re her Sir Galahad. Of course, she’ll say yes. A very dirty Sir Galahad but fortunately her standards are quite low. Who the devil is Dickie Jones?”

“You’ll meet him. He is brother to Alice’s best friend, Olivia Jones. Dickie is Lady Camilla’s number one source of information on anything that happens in Mayfair.”

“Olivia Jones the laundress at Goodrum’s?”

“The same.”

Frederick shouted with laughter. “Married to Lady Alice your life is never going to be dull, is it?”