One Snowy Night (9 page)

‘Would not
what?’ he enquired. ‘Save your reputation?’

‘My
reputation? What, pray, makes you think it needs saving? No one saw us together
that night save for George Lacy, and he will not say anything. I will certainly
not tell anyone. Will you?’ she challenged him.

‘No, of course
not,’ he said. ‘But the fact remains
—’

‘The fact
remains that you must have taken leave of your senses. Marry you, indeed!’

‘It seems a
bad bargain to you?’ he asked in surprise.

Looking at him
then, with his firm chin and square-cut jaw, his broad shoulders and muscular
physique, she had the startling feeling that it might not be such a bad bargain
after all.

But what was
she thinking? Of course it would be a bad bargain. The whole idea was
ridiculous!

‘I see no
point in continuing with this conversation,’ she said aloofly. Then, turning
away from him, she began to skate back towards Hetty and Charles. But he caught
up with her with a powerful thrust of his firmly-muscled legs and took hold of
her round the waist.

To the crowds
who skated past them they looked to be skating along in perfect amity, but nothing
could be further from the truth.

‘Let go of me,’
she said.

‘No.’

‘I demand that
you unhand me.’

‘We will
return to Hetty and Charles together, as we left them,’ he said with provoking
assurance. ‘And we will inform them of our betrothal.’

‘You cannot
make me marry you,’ she said, her voice just as assured as his. She dug in her
toes, this time deliberately, until she had come to a stop. She had no
intention of returning to Hetty and Charles until this ridiculous nonsense had
been brought to an end. ‘If you choose to be so foolish as to tell Hetty and
Charles that we are betrothed then I will be forced to tell them that we are not.’

Whereupon she
skated off. And this time, though his face was thunderous, he let her go.

‘Where is
Josh?’ asked Hetty, as Rebecca skated up to her.

‘I . . .
wanted to practise a little skating unaided,’ said Rebecca. ‘He is following
me. Ah, here he is now.’

Joshua skated
up.

‘Well, this
has been a most enjoyable afternoon,’ said Charles, as the four of them
returned their skates to the stall. ‘I think, though, if you’re ready, it’s
time for us to leave.’ He looked up at the sky. The light was already fading.
The short winter day was closing in, and before long it would be dark. ‘You’ll
come back with us to
Sloane Street
, I hope, Josh? There are some business matters on which I
would value your advice.’

Rebecca willed
him to refuse. But then she heard him say, ‘I’d be delighted.’

Somehow,
although she may have won the battle, Rebecca had the feeling she had not won
the war. She may have refused him once, but she feared he would not allow the
matter to rest. He had a stubborn streak, as she had already discovered. Well,
if it came to that, so did she.

They left the
frozen
Thames
and Charles tried to hail
a hansom to take them back to
Sloane Street
. Their own carriage had long since returned home, as it was
too cold to keep the horses waiting. But there were few hansoms out and about
that day. The weather made the going treacherous, and not all the cab drivers
wanted to risk their horses in such conditions. The hansoms which were driving
round the streets were therefore in demand, and in the end the party experienced
such difficulty in trying to hail a cab they decided to walk back to
Sloane Street
. Their only proviso was
that they would hail a cab if they saw one on the way.

Rebecca
endeavoured to walk with Hetty and Charles, but Hetty had already claimed Charles’s
arm, and it was not possible for all four of them to walk abreast. There was no
escape. She was forced to walk behind her aunt and uncle with Joshua. However,
she meant to behave with such icy civility that he had no opportunity to raise
the subject of marriage again.

She was
fortunate, however, as Joshua seemed to have no more inclination to talk than
she had. Doubtless it was because she kept such a brisk pace that they were
never out of Hetty’s earshot.

At length
Hetty and Charles crossed the road. A carriage rolled past behind them, and
Rebecca, stopping at the edge of the pavement, glanced to both right and left
after it had gone to make sure that all was clear. Some way up the road to
their right a solitary rider was heading towards them, but his pace was so slow
and his distance from them so great that it seemed safe to cross. Together she
and Joshua stepped into the road.

And then, in a
matter of seconds, everything changed. The horse was suddenly careering towards
them, slipping and sliding on the snow and ice, and bearing down upon them in
the most alarming way. Rebecca looked up, and to her horror she saw that,
instead of trying to slow the animal down, the rider seemed to be urging it on.

Surely he
knows it isn’t safe to push the animal to such speed when the road is so
slippery
?
she thought, shocked, as the horse careered towards them.

The rider
raised his whip.

It is not
the animal’s fault
, she thought angrily, seeing the man was about to control
the horse with cruelty . . . when she had the sudden, alarming feeling, that
the whip was not aimed at the horse, but at Joshua. She turned towards him, but
he was more concerned for her safety than his own and he pushed her
unceremoniously out of the horse’s path.

Which left him
directly in front of it.

The rider
brought down his whip —

‘No!’ cried
Rebecca.

She watched,
horrified, as the man’s whip hand began to descend, but Joshua, stepping out of
the horse’s path, reached up to the rider and caught his wrist. There was a
brief struggle, and then Joshua wrested the whip from the man’s hand.

‘What the
devil do you think you’re doing —?’ he began.

But the rider,
deprived of his whip, wheeled his horse around. It slipped all over the road
before finally managing to find its footing, and the horseman rode away.

‘Now what was
that all about?’ said Joshua under his breath, eyes narrowing; before joining
Rebecca on the far side of the road. Turning to her in concern he said, ‘Are
you all right?’

Rebecca was
trying to gather her wits. She could still hardly believe what had happened.
The rider had seemed to be deliberately riding towards them and then
deliberately aiming the whip at Joshua. But of course that was not possible. He
must have been trying to control his horse and, having to wrestle with the slipping
animal, had misjudged his aim. Even so it had given her quite a fright.

‘Rebecca? Are
you all right?’ Joshua asked again.

His hands were
on her shoulders. His warm, firm touch was reassuring.

It was strange
that his hands could be reassuring, she thought inconsequentially. She had
never associated Joshua with reassurance. And yet his body was communicating an
unmistakeable sense of confidence.

‘Yes,’ she
told him. ‘Yes. I’m all right. Just a little shaken, that’s all.’

‘Fools like
that shouldn’t be allowed to own a horse,’ said Joshua. ‘Bringing the animal
out in this weather was bad enough, but trying to force it to go at speed was
an act of gross stupidity. It’s no wonder the animal slipped. Fortunately, no
one was hurt. You’re not hurt, are you Rebecca?’ he queried in concern.

‘No.’

‘Good. The
shock will pass,’ he told her gently. ‘Still, the sooner we get to
Sloane Street
the better. You have had
a nasty fright.’

‘It is
nothing, I do assure you.’ Already she had collected herself, and was ready to
brush off the incident.

‘My dear,’
said Hetty, hurrying up anxiously with Charles. The two of them, hearing the
commotion, had looked round, and when they had seen what was happening they had
come rushing back. ‘What a dreadful thing to happen. I am beginning to think we
were wrong to walk in such treacherous weather. We should have waited for a
hansom instead. I thought you were going to be knocked down for sure.’

Rebecca set
about reassuring her aunt. ‘No. I was never in any danger. It was just an
unfortunate accident, that’s all. Don’t worry, Aunt Hetty; there’s no harm
done.’

‘Fool shouldn’t
have been out on the roads if he can’t control his animal,’ said Charles. ‘Poor
horsemanship if ever I saw it. Wouldn’t have happened in my young days. We knew
how to handle our cattle back then.’

Exclaiming
over the incident they continued on their way, arriving in
Sloane Street
without further mishap.
Even so, Rebecca was glad when they were safely inside.

‘You will stay
for dinner, Josh?’ asked Hetty, when he and Charles joined the ladies after
discussing a number of business matters.

He glanced at
Rebecca but then, as if realizing there would be no chance of a private
conversation that evening - realizing, too, that after her fright Rebecca
should not be called upon to discuss anything important - he said, ‘Alas, no. I
have a number of arrangements to put in hand before I leave
London
to return north.’

Hetty was not
to be put off. ‘Tomorrow, then,’ she said decidedly.

Joshua
hesitated.

Rebecca,
suspecting that he had not accepted her refusal, willed him to decline.

But this time
he delighted Hetty by saying, ‘Thank you, yes. I will look forward to it.’

Rebecca
thought,
Which is more than I will do
!

Rebecca was reading in the
drawing-room. It was the following evening, and she was already dressed for
dinner and waiting for Hetty and Charles to come down. Outwardly she was calm.
Inwardly it was a different matter. She was under no illusions about Joshua.
She knew him to be a stubborn and determined man. There had been a look on his
face the day before that had told her he had not accepted her negative answer
to his proposal, but she was determined to stand her ground. Marrying Joshua
because he had compromised her was unthinkable.

Even so, she
fervently hoped that she would not find herself alone with him that evening, so
that no possibility of a disturbing and intimate conversation could arise. And
really, it was hardly likely, she reassured herself. A small family dinner was
exactly the sort of occasion that would offer no chance of anything private.
Although an evening at Lady
Cranston
’s and an afternoon at Frost Fair should not have offered an
opportunity either . . .

She was
rescued from further uncomfortable musings by Hetty bustling into the room.

‘Oh, I do hope
the food will be hot enough,’ said Hetty anxiously. She was every inch the
hostess, and was worried about the meal her cook was going to serve. ‘It is so
difficult to stop it going cold on its journey from the kitchen. In summer it
is easy, of course, but in the winter . . . ah well, it cannot be helped.’

‘I’m sure it
will be perfect,’ Rebecca reassured her.

‘Well, Mrs
Lunn will certainly do her best,’ said Hetty dubiously. ‘But it is Joshua’s
first meal with us in over a year, and I would so like everything to go well.’

Then, drawing
her mind away from the problems attendant on having guests for dinner she
glanced appreciatively at Rebecca, who was looking most becoming. She was
wearing a white satin gown
en saque
with a bodice of midnight blue velvet,
over which she wore an Indian shawl.

‘I am so glad
colours have become fashionable again,’ said Hetty, her eyes going from the
midnight blue of Rebecca’s bodice to her own yellow gown. Made of silk, its
high waist was ornamented with a gold band, and its sleeves were decorated with
gold lace. ‘Unrelieved white is all very well, but it never suited me, and I am
vain enough to be pleased that colours are now the rage.’

At that moment
Charles entered the room, rubbing his hands heartily and remarking that the
dinner smelled good.

‘Oh, do you
think so, Charles? I am so pleased.’

‘It will be
delicious,’ said Charles decidedly.

‘Now all we
need is Joshua,’ said Hetty, glancing out of the small-paned window, across
which the curtains had not yet been drawn. ‘Oh!’ she cried in vexation. ‘It is
snowing again. I do hope he will be able to get through.’

She need not
have worried. The sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard,
followed by Canning’s deferential tones, and there was Joshua, looking immaculate
in a dark tail coat and pair of pantaloons.

He glanced at
Rebecca as he walked into the drawing-room, his eyes warming as he saw her, and
Rebecca felt her heart skip a beat. Really, it was most unfortunate, the effect
he had on her, she thought. Why could he not leave her unmoved, as every other
gentleman of her acquaintance did?