The Belligerent Miss Boynton AND The Lurid Lady Lockport (Two Companion Full-Length Regency Novels) (4 page)

Lady Agatha Chezwick, much to her nephew's amusement, made up for this lack throughout the journey back to Jared's town house in Half Moon Street, launching into a litany of questions and complaints even before he could give the coachman the signal to move off.

"Who on earth was that atrocious female, Jared? Sally Jersey was positively
livid
with rage, and was just preparing to demand she retire when the chit finally had the good sense to take herself off. Not that you didn't do your best to hold her there—I saw your hand on her arm, you know. How improper!"

She punctuated her next words by rapping her ivory-stick fan on his forearm. "And Sally was as ready to bounce you, too, young man. She's furious with you for standing up with that horrid girl. Simply
furious
! Whyever did you do such an outrageous thing?" She shook her gray head in dismay. "Never mind answering that. You did it precisely because it
was
outrageous! Why, oh,
why
did I force you to come with me tonight? I should have known you could find mischief anywhere, even Almacks. And don't just sit there smiling, Nephew. I ask you again—who
was
that person?"

Lady Chezwick was famous for her monologues and it seemed this one would be no exception, if her nephew let her get the bit firmly between her teeth, as she had only just begun her tirade. Jared took his cue when she finally had to stop for breath and broke in quietly, "Her name is Amanda Boynton, my dear, beleaguered Aunt. Sir Roger Boynton's daughter, from Fox Chase."

Lady Chezwick sniffed. "Her name does not signify." She drew herself up on the velvet squabs of the coach, her small body rigid with righteous anger. "She offended the entire Social World tonight and you—
you
helped her. I felt ready to sink when you stood up with her. And then to sit and chatter away together like old friends? Why, Honoria thought she must be a relative of ours. Are you dead to all shame, Jared?"

"Curse the woman. Honoria Appleton was always a snoop and a gossip. Pay her no mind, Aunt, I implore you. And don't blame me for conversing with the girl. She amused me."

"Amused you?
Amused
you! How very droll, I'm sure. If you need diversion so badly, Nephew, go to Drury Lane. I hear they are putting on a splendid farce this week. But to make a mockery of Almacks? Oh, how
could
you?"

"It was really quite simple, Aunt. I begged her companion for an introduction, asked the girl to stand up with me in the next set, and
voilá
, the deed was done," Jared supplied cheerfully.

"Do not try my patience, Nephew," his aunt returned hotly, punishing her nephew's arm with one more reprimanding blow, this one sufficiently forceful as to break two sticks of her fan. She looked at the now useless thing, sniffed, and tossed it to the floor of the coach. "What are you going to do now?
Please
tell me you're not going to see that shameless creature again. Or are you under the hatches and need an early inheritance from your loving aunt, who will be sent to an early grave by any such scheme?"

A slow smile lit Jared's face, making his eyes twinkle in the darkness of the coach. "See her, Aggie? Why, I am going to do a great deal more than simply see her. In fact, surprised as I am myself to say it, I actually do believe I may just be forced to marry the brat."

The words were barely out of his mouth when, for the second time in a single evening, Lord Storm found himself in the position of having to administer aid to a fainting female.

It had gone almost four hours past midnight before the only sounds from her stepfather's chamber became the nasal snores of his deep, drink-induced slumber. Amanda had been perched on the edge of her bed for what felt like an eternity, and she was stiff and sore from her self-enforced stillness. She had tried stretching out across the bed, but found the position too comfortable, and had to continually shake herself awake. After all, it would not do to fall asleep.

But now the waiting was over and she could safely leave the house. With stealthy movements, she gathered up her cloak into which she had placed a single change of clothes and then picked up her shoes, tucking them under her arm. On quiet, stockinged feet she tiptoed down the narrow back staircase to the kitchens and let herself out into the mews. She leaned against the closed door for some moments, regaining her breath, for it seemed she had not breathed since leaving her room. Her heart had been pounding so heavily as she crept past Peregrine Denton's door that she was sure her stepfather could hear it, but the worst was almost over.

She spared a moment to look up at the star-bright sky and say a silent thank you for the full moon before moving off again. One step onto the dew-wet stones reminded Amanda of the shoes still under her arm, and she balanced herself on one foot in the darkness to put on the first shoe. Her skirts were cumbersome and her balance precarious, so she was grateful for the steadying hand under her elbow.

Hand?
Amanda whirled around to face her attacker, for what else could it be? One shoe poised above her head as a weapon, she confronted the devilish grin of Jared Delaney.

"You took your bloody sweet time, my dear," he said, placing his hand around her wrist, preventing her from striking out at him. "I had about given you up."

"What are you doing here?" Amanda demanded, her free hand flying to her chest in an attempt to push her heart back down her throat.

Jared released her wrist as she gave a quick, sharp tug against his grip. "
Ssshh.
Softly, my little runaway, softly, or you'll have the whole house down on us."

Amanda cast a frightened look toward the darkened windows and repeated her question in a fierce whisper.

"Isn't that strange?" Jared drawled calmly as she attempted to control her ragged breathing. "I've noticed that phenomenon more than once, but assumed you above it. Why do people always persist in repeating something when you tell them they were too loud in saying it in the first place? No matter. I'll answer your question—all your questions—forthwith. But first I suggest we remove ourselves from the premises. I have two horses waiting beyond the stables, for I assume you ride. Come, brat, before we're found out. I must tell you, I have a decided aversion to the prospect of viewing friend Peregrine in his nightcap."

Without looking to see if she was indeed following him, he turned and made for the stables—a hopping Amanda close behind, still trying to put on her shoes.

In the few short moments it took to reach the horses, Amanda had arrived at the end of her patience. "I repeat, although I am aware it fatigues you past endurance to listen a third time: What are you
doing
here?"

Jared made her an elaborate bow. "Since I heard of your plight and your infantile plans, I felt it my duty to an old friend to offer my services to his daughter. I am here, as you have so repetitively not to mention needlessly pointed out, to escort you to Fox Chase and wherever your final destination demands. Now, admit it, Miss Boynton. Am I not gallant?"

Amanda threw down her bundle in disgust. "If that isn't beyond anything stupid! What right have you to interfere? And don't you dare try to prattle on about my father. You no more care about him than you care about me."

Jared put his hand to his heart as if in mortal pain—and Amanda fervently hoped he was. "Oh! Unkind! How you malign me in my sincerity."

She waved her arms in exasperation, looking much like a windmill attempting flight, she supposed. But, if she hit the man, as she longed to do, the dratted fellow would probably just hit her back. "Oh, very well! I have no time to stand here and bandy words with you. I accept your offer of a mount, but only as far as the nearest stable yard where I can hire a chaise, or carriage—or
donkey!
I really don't care anymore. Now, help me up onto that curst sidesaddle I see on the mare's back."

Jared shook his head in an expression of abject sorrow. "All my life I have been surrounded by ingratitude. It seems you, dear Miss Boynton, are to be no exception. Very well then," he said, and then unceremoniously grabbed her about the waist. "Up you go."

Amanda landed on the mare's back all at once, the ridiculous chip straw hat she had refused to leave behind knocked askew by the force of her landing. "Blackguard," she accused, just as Jared's hand came down on the rump of her mount and she was off through the gate—clinging to the mare's mane while striving vainly to get her hands on the reins. Luckily the horse was a docile creature and settled herself almost at once into a leisurely walk that promised to be her pace throughout the journey to the stable yard.

Jared, astride a mount vastly superior to Amanda's, came abreast of her as the horses' metal shoes first made contact with the cobbled street. "I had considered tying rags around their hooves to muffle the sound of their shoes on the stones, but it seemed too much like something out of some romantic Penny Dreadful novel, don't you agree?"

Amanda turned on him in a fury. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? To you this is just a lark, something with which to regale your low friends at one of those horrid clubs you overgrown schoolboys seem to need in order to survive."

"Well, m'dear, you must admit escorting unattached females in moonlight flight from domineering stepfathers is not an everyday experience. Yes, I'll own up to it, I am enjoying myself. Enormously."

Amanda decided it was fruitless to argue with a man who refused to be serious. "Where can I hire a chaise? Is it far from here?"

Jared reined in his horse and sat as if pondering her question. While she waited, he made an elaborate business out of tapping his chin in thought and casting his gaze in all directions as if looking for outside guidance, all while murmuring under his breath for several moments—until Amanda's temper was pushed past its limits. With a muttered exclamation, she dug her heel into the mare's flank and started off down the lane.

"Amanda, you addlepated female, wait for me. You can't go haring off alone." Jared called out angrily, and spurred his horse forward. In his haste, Amanda's bundled clothes, which he had deigned to carry, fell to the ground and he was forced to dismount to collect the scattered belongings. By the time he remounted and rode on, Amanda had turned down a narrow street and Jared lost sight of her.

"Mad as Bedlam," he muttered to himself, "that's what she is. And that's what I am for allowing her to lead me along like a tame bear trailing behind her. Damn if I shouldn't just leave her to her fate."

Just then he heard a female scream and turned his horse down the dark alleyway to his left. In the distance he could see Amanda deliberately rearing her horse as if to trample the two rag-covered figures pressing in against the mare's flanks. Brandishing his whip, he sped his horse into the fray, loudly calling, "Help ho! Footpads! Forward, men, we've got them now!"

Two pairs of startled eyes saw the mad horseman bearing down on them and, abruptly letting go of Amanda's horse, quickly scurried off into the darkness.

By the time Jared drew abreast of Amanda she had regained her poise enough to demand: "Where were you, you idiot? I thought I would have to beat them off myself."

Jared, who had been expecting tears and hysterics, threw back his head and laughed uproariously. "That's my girl, nothing missish about you, is there?"

"I am
not
, as you say, your girl. I thank you for your timely rescue, but don't expect me to fall on your neck in gratitude. I wouldn't be on this road if not for your interference. Now, if you don't mind, I should like to proceed to the nearest posting inn."

"Fancy you should mention that, Miss Boynton, for before you rode off I just had decided that it would be better if we proceeded all the way to Fox Chase on horseback."

"Oh, you had, had you? And
I
thought, my lord, that I had already made it most abundantly clear that I do not require your services."

Jared cast his gaze along the dark alley that reeked of garbage and filth. "Do you then know where you are?"

"I can manage."

"As you managed a few moments ago?"

"Oh, do be quiet! I must think."

Jared took one foot from the stirrup and crossed it in front of him on the saddle. "Think, is it? Very well, my dear, but please make haste in your ponderings. I'm satisfied our two friends have long since vanished, but there may be others lurking in the area, and I don't feel any great desire to number them among my acquaintance. May I also remind you that if you hire transport it will be leaving a remarkably clear trail for your stepfather to follow." He flashed her an impudent smile. "Or did you, I sincerely pray not, leave him a note?"

"Naturally I left him a note," she said as Jared groaned. "I don't wish Mrs. Halsey to take the blame for my actions. I told him what occurred at Almacks tonight, making no mention of your name, may I add, and then informed him I had taken passage on a ship crossing the Channel at Dover. That should send him off in entirely the wrong direction."

Jared's snort of amusement impelled her to ask, "
Now
what do you find so hilarious?"

"Nothing. Nothing. But I'm willing to wager a monkey that even Denton won't fall for that clanker. No one, my little scholar, flees to the Continent in the midst of war, not even such a nodcock as you."

"That was a sinister remark, sir. Besides, I strive never to do the expected if it can be helped," Amanda said. Then her sense of humor rose and she laughed with him. "You're right. That is the last thing I would do, even if I had the fare, which I don't. The chaise will take my last penny."

A sound from a nearby doorway reached Jared's ears and he immediately sobered. "Come, brat, it's past time we removed ourselves from this den of thieves. Follow me as best you can—we're off to Fox Chase!" Allowing no time for her to argue, he turned his mount and started back down the alley at a canter.

Amanda hesitated for a moment, and then a dirty face appeared in that same nearby doorway and split in a toothless grin as its owner espied her. Amanda needed no further persuasion. "Wait for me!" she called as she barreled after Jared.