Ruined by Moonlight (32 page)

Actually, Alicia agreed about the not so nice Maria Beret, but Ben seemed to have finely honed instincts. “Can you think of anyone else? I am certain Lord Andrews does not share many confidences about his private life, but you must hear the rumors, and you and he are fond of each other as far as I can tell.”

The other woman sent her a sidelong glance. “Lady Heathton, while I appreciate that your uncle wishes to track down whoever did this to his daughter, I don’t think I can help you. Had I a solid suspicion I would have told Randolph. For that matter, he’s an intelligent young man and he knows Mrs. Beret. If he thinks the woman would go to such lengths, then so do I.”

She supposed that was true but it wasn’t very helpful.
There was a bank of scarlet roses and Alicia couldn’t help it; she leaned forward to smell one. “Nothing comes to mind?”

“They are getting married, you know. My nephew and your cousin.”

That sharpened her attention and she straightened abruptly. “Are they?”

“Indeed. As soon as possible. I feel confident that when you return home there will be an invitation waiting for you.”

That
was
hasty, but maybe that was best. She murmured, “Ben and I will be there, of course.”

“It is going to be a small affair.” Janet smiled, pushing back a wisp of black hair that had escaped her tight chignon. “But I think, given all that has happened, that is wise. Lucy is going to be so delighted at her brother’s marriage. Such a satisfactory conclusion to an awkward situation.”

“It is indeed.”

It was, but didn’t change that coercion had been involved. Alicia took her leave, rather chagrined she had nothing to tell Ben except he had better wear his best cravat to the celebration. Her aunt was such a stickler and she could only imagine the dither she was in over both the scandal and her daughter’s hasty wedding.

To the rakish Viscount Andrews, who was, Alicia had to admit, very handsome in a devilish way. She could not help but smile as a footman handed her into her carriage. It should be an interesting marriage, because while Elena looked angelic with her fair hair and delicate features, she knew from a lifetime of acquaintance and not a few childhood escapades that there was an adventurous spirit under that demure exterior.

Lord Andrews might have met just the right woman to reform his wicked ways, and the look on her cousin’s face when he was mentioned had spoken volumes. Colbert had been a good match in a social sense, and seemed a nice enough man, but it was far from a love match, and every woman deserved that. While her own marriage hadn’t begun that way—her naive assumption that Ben would not have proposed if he wasn’t in love with her had been erroneous—she still was quite optimistic it would happen eventually.

I love you
.

She
had told
him
, but in retrospect she’d done it more for herself than for his edification. There was a pleasure in those three simple words, and even more so in loving someone else. She actually wanted him to fall in love with her more for his sake than hers.

What an interesting perspective she had gained on life.

Life was all a matter of one’s point of view.

At times he was guilty of forgetting that very basic fact.

Ben was starting to get the irritable feeling that the reason why he hadn’t discovered easily who was behind the kidnappings was because females were involved, and it was nigh unto impossible to follow their irrational thought processes. So, therefore, logic didn’t work.

So illogic was the order of the day.

“Rather a lovely ceremony, wasn’t it? She seems happy.” As she stood next to him in the garden, Alicia’s observation held a dreamy quality that further convinced him he would never quite understand how women perceived certain situations. If asked, he would have said a hasty marriage in a nearly empty cathedral
would not appeal to the average bride, but the new Lady Andrews was glowing, and her husband remarkably relaxed and attentive for a bridegroom whose bride had been engaged to another man just a few days before. He also had to give Lady Whitbridge credit, for the wedding dinner was excellent considering such short notice.

“They both seem to be content with the arrangement.” He took another sip of champagne, which was not his favorite beverage, but this was a celebration. “She looks pleased enough.”

“She is.” His wife surveyed the small gathering. “I haven’t said hello to Aunt Beatrice yet and Harriet is beginning to look cornered. Do you mind if I desert you for a moment or two, as I assume you do not want to take part in my sister’s rescue?”

Aunt Beatrice, in his experience, was a formidable woman who was not only hard of hearing but also had a habit of not waiting for a person to complete a sentence before interrupting, which made talking to her impossible. “Desert me,” he said fervently. “Please. I get the urge to hide behind a hedge if she even looks my way.”

His wife’s mouth twitched into a mischievous smile. “It would never do for the exalted Earl of Heathton to be found cowering in the garden, so I will go distract her and give my sister some relief.”

Then she did something quite remarkable. She gracefully rose on her tiptoes, balancing her glass in one hand, the other braced on his chest, and lightly kissed him. Nothing inappropriate, just a gesture of affection, but it did happen there among the thirty-odd guests, in full view of everyone, and as she walked away he found himself somewhat mystified by the experience. Not that she had
done
it, but his reaction to it.

He was inexplicably touched.

The garden was sunlit—nature had smiled benevolently on the nuptials of the viscount and his new viscountess—and people were wandering about, no doubt also avoiding Beatrice as best as possible. When a voice spoke next to him and he turned, he wasn’t all that surprised to see who stood there.

“Miss Raine.” He’d wondered if after Alicia’s visit Andrews’s aunt might not at least comment on his pursuit of the possible culprit in her nephew’s adventure.

“My lord.” She inclined her head elegantly, though as usual she was dressed fairly plainly. “I did not expect to see you again so soon, much less under such circumstances, but, I suppose, as trite as it sounds, here we are.”

“Indeed.” He was fairly sure that Whitbridge had decent whiskey or brandy somewhere nearby, but he took a long-suffering sip from his champagne flute instead.

“Just a day ago I was conversing with your wife in the garden about this whole unfortunate affair. How ironic that my nephew has married her cousin the next day in one of the most romantic weddings I have ever seen. Who would think it would turn out this way?”

“Our kidnapper, for one.”

“I beg your pardon?” She stopped in the act of taking a drink. “I don’t think I understand.”

“It was truly a successful and clever seduction.”

She looked at him, evidently appalled “You aren’t saying my nephew planned any of this.”

“No, not at all. He was the one being seduced.”

She seemed to consider that. “Are you suggesting Lady Elena is culpable?”

“No.”

“Then—”

“Whoever very craftily planned the abduction of Lady Elena and your nephew paid some attention to fine detail that I find hard to believe would be evident in your usual brutish thug. There was no ransom either, which I would think Maria Beret might demand just to recoup the loss of the rental of the manor house and the cost of the staff.” He added offhandedly, “If I were to do it, I would have at least asked for a small sum just to avert suspicion.”

“Well, I somehow doubt that Mrs. Beret is as clever as you are, Lord Heathton.”

“Not to sound too arrogant, but I don’t think so either.”

There were at least ten footmen with trays—about one to every three guests—but under the ruthless scrutiny of Lady Whitbridge they dared not stand still, so yet another went by, offering more champagne.

They both declined.

He glanced down at the woman beside him. “However you, my lady, are
very
intelligent. Tell me, why didn’t you ask for ransom?”

To her credit, she didn’t do more in denial except go very still. His point exactly. Intelligent enough to know that he
knew
. When she finally looked up her smile was slightly defiant but still polite enough for the casual observer to not know anything was wrong. “I was a bit dismayed to find out you were involved in this.”

“How flattering.”

Janet Raine drained her drink and granted an ever-passing footman her smile for another, the young man looking absurdly grateful to be doing something. She took a sip and then said quietly, “It
was
a compliment. How did you guess?”

“I didn’t.”

She regarded him in open speculation and he revised his opinion there and then of Lord Andrews’s spinster aunt.

Ben shrugged. “Maria Beret had the means, the motive, and the vindictiveness, but she wouldn’t have bothered. I checked with her banker and she has not made any sizable withdrawals lately either, and as her likelihood as a suspect dwindled I thought about the whole abduction from a different angle.”

“Such as?” The inquiry was tight-lipped and her hand trembled as she lifted the flute to her mouth again.

“This was matchmaking, my lady, not really an abduction per se. I haven’t the slightest idea how you knew they would suit each other so well when they hadn’t even met”—his gaze wandered to where one of England’s most confirmed bachelors stood next to his beautiful bride, leaning slightly forward to listen to something she said—“but you hit the mark, I’d say.”

There was no easy confession but instead silence. That was fine. He had patience. Finally she said, “I was once engaged to the wrong man. Look at her…As you said, she’s brilliantly happy. And so is Randolph.”

“Quite a decision to make on someone else’s behalf, isn’t it?”

“It is. I agree completely.” Miss Raine let her shoulders slump, but almost immediately she straightened in a ladylike way. “It wasn’t actually me.”

Ben lifted his brows in unspoken inquiry. He’d already come to that conclusion.

“I guess I should say I didn’t arrange anything, nor did I hit the mark, as you put it. All I did was answer a discreet ad in the
Times
. It promised romantic intervention
if needed. We agreed by post on a sum, and when my nephew suddenly disappeared and Lady Elena as well, I was…
horrified
. I hadn’t intended anything so drastic, and I was certainly concerned about my nephew. When I came to your wife about my uncle’s watch being found, I was in a panic.”

Luckily, no one seemed interested in approaching where they stood by a small tree of some kind with glossy leaves near an alcove that housed a statue of a Greek god that might have been Zeus. If so, the king of the gods was not very well endowed, but perhaps that was poetic license on the part of the sculptor to protect the delicate sensibilities of any ladies who might stroll by. Ben took a moment to digest this new information. Finally he asked the pressing question, “Why?”

Her pale cheeks took on color and she looked away. “You probably would not understand this, but the small fee seemed worth the gamble. Randolph has always been opposed to permanence, and while I know he does not mean to limit my life, his former stance on keeping his bachelorhood was starting to make me wonder if I would ever be free.”

“Of?”

“I’ve never married.…I have my reasons, the old broken engagement one of them. My father’s will naturally left everything to be managed by my closest living male relative, which is Randolph…but with a stipulation than when he married, the portion revert to me, just in case my nephew’s wife did not wish another woman in her household.” Her smile was brief and brittle. “I am not getting any younger, my lord, and I wish to see the world.”

That was a twist he did not see coming. Why were
families so damned complicated anyway? “Pardon me, but from our acquaintance, I do not sense in him venality at all. Could you not skip such inventive measures and just ask him to pass along the inheritance?”

“Lucy needs more than just the staff and his occasional presence. As it stood, he probably would have let me go, as you say, but it wouldn’t have been best for her, so I would have had to stay regardless. Young women her age need someone to talk to of their own gender. Lady Elena will be perfect. She is gracious and lovely and of the right age.”

It was hard to deny that it seemed all had worked out well enough, but there were quite a few loose threads dangling.

Lady Janet put an imploring hand on his sleeve. “Please do not tell my nephew or Lord Whitbridge.”

The quiet request wasn’t hard to grant. If she’d known him better, she would never have even felt the need to ask. Actually, he had no problem in telling Whitbridge he’d failed to ever locate the culprit, and he doubted Andrews was still looking forward to revenge in the way he’d tersely stated in the carriage ride to London. Now he seemed quite content with how it had all worked out.

Ben, however, felt a bit different.

His opponent was wily. Worthy. Complicated, because he was sure it had cost far more to rent the castle, pay off the solicitors for their loyal silence, hire the staff, and so forth, than the modest sum Janet Raine had paid. As soon as he’d begun to suspect her, he’d checked with her banker also, so he knew the exact amount.

“I won’t tell anyone,” he found himself saying even as he pondered his next line of investigation. Then he recalled how he had pledged Alicia could help him, and
God alone knew what she might do if he didn’t tell her the case was essentially solved. Reluctantly he amended, “Except I must tell my wife. You can trust her silence. Remember your trip to the man with the watch? I have to keep her from doing anything as reckless as that again.”

Janet Raine nodded, her throat working. “I remember it was a rather impulsive decision.”

“She is that,” he confirmed drily.

“Thank you for granting me this.”

“You are most welcome.” He stopped in the act of turning away. “Can you possibly gather together any correspondence you had with the person you hired? I’m not certain I will pursue it, but I remain curious. The motivation of the unnamed participant perplexes me. I am sure they didn’t give you the truth, but how did they sign their name?”