The Heart That Lies (7 page)

“Ten!”
Philpott’s voice was like an explosion and Meldon remembered immediately why he was here and what he had to do.

Meldon turned so that he presented the smallest
possible target to Smith. The boy was slower at turning. He faced Meldon squarely, but seemed to be falling even as he raised his pistol. Meldon didn’t remember firing. How had he managed to hit the boy without firing? He started moving towards the boy and heard the small explosion as Smith fired, followed by the much louder one as his own finger jogged the trigger of his weapon. Then Smith was on the ground. Meldon ran across the short distance that separated them.

Philpott caught him and stopped him.

“Damn it, man, you shot him after you’d started towards him.”

Confused,
Meldon shook him off and continued towards Smith.

“You’re hurt,
my lord,” said Perkins, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

“I’ll deal with his lordship,” said Finch
, catching Meldon’s arm before he could get closer to the fallen boy. “You look to Mr Smith.”

“Have I killed him?”
asked Meldon as Finch pulled him round to look at his wound.

“I can’t tell yet,
my lord.”

“Give the man a chance
, Meldon, and keep still. Your face is bleeding and I don’t want it all over my coat.”

“
My lord!” Perkins’ voice was quiet, but insistent.

Meldon
quickly covered the short distance to where the boy lay on the ground. Perkins had undone his shirt and now Meldon could see the boy had some other injury, for his chest was tightly bound with blood-soaked bandages. Then Meldon realised what he was really seeing.

“Damn! I’ve killed a woman,
” he whispered.

“She isn’t dead yet
, my lord,” said Perkins, equally quietly.

“Lord Philpott,” said Finch, lead
ing Meldon away from the woman to where Philpott stood by angrily, “we’ll look after Smith. It might be better if you left now.”

“Finch, you know that’s not how things are done.
I have to stay here to make sure nothing untoward happens. Meldon shot him when he was closer to him than he should have been.”

“
You know he was on his way to help and he fired accidentally. He could just as easily have shot either of us. It was pure chance he hit Smith. I’ve never seen him hit anything he’s aimed at.” Finch took a breath. “Nothing’s going to happen. Meldon’s a man of honour. We’ll make sure that Smith is looked after and gets back to his lodgings.”

Surely Finch knew that he couldn’t promise that; Smith no longer existed. He was about to object, but Finch kicked him, hard, and Meldon remembered some of Finch’s more particular skills. If he said that Smith was going back to his lodgings, then Smith was going back to his lodgings. As far as he knew, Philpott had no idea what they got up to for General Warren, so he would take Finch’s words at face value.

“Mr Finch, I stay as much to protect Meldon’s reputation as to protect Smith. Personally, I believe that Meldon did not cheat, which means that Smith did. And I agree with you that he could just as easily have killed either of us with that shot. Were you always going to shoot wide, Meldon?”

Meldon remained silent; shooting wide was almost as bad as cowardice.

Finch sighed and continued to clean up Meldon’s wound. Meldon felt nothing. He’d killed a woman. He had never thought that he could do something like this. After today he would have to retire to his estate and waste away, or find some other way to kill himself.

“
My lord?” Perkins was insistent enough to break into his reverie.

“Is she dead?”
At least he still had the sense to talk quietly enough that Philpott could not hear him.

“No,
my lord, but we should take her somewhere where she can get into a bed and be kept warm. We should do it now.”

“We’ll take her to Meldon House. Don’t look at me like that, Perkins. We can’t take her anywhere else.”
He raised his voice, “Lord Philpott, Perkins says we must move he... him.”

“Very well, Perkins, we’ll take him to my house.”

“My lord, I’m sorry, but what I need is at Meldon House.”

Philpott’s expression darkened.
“Lord Meldon has just tried to kill him. In all conscience, I can’t allow him to go to Meldon House.”

“My lord,” said Meldon, “I give you my word of honour that no harm will come to him.”

“But, Meldon, if he dies...”

“It will not be because we didn’t do everything we could to save him. I promise you that I will do whatever is necessary to keep him alive.”

“Meldon, if it hadn’t been for that affair with Vincent...”

“I know,” said Meldon, heavily. “Finch, tell Lord Philpott what Mr Smith said when you proposed that I apologise.”

“He said that an apology would not be acceptable.”

Wearily, Meldon looked into Philpott’s eyes, “My lord, he was determined to have his chance to kill me. I bear him no grudge, although I confess that I am bewildered as to his reasons for manufacturing this fight. Nonetheless the shots have been fired and
the duel is over. I will not see him die for want of action on my part.”

Philpott nodded. “I see there is more going on here than meets the eye, Meldon. It was for your protection, as well, that I wished to stay
, for your father’s sake.”

“I understand and appreciate that, my lord.”

“And if he dies?”

Meldon swallowed awkwardly. “If he dies, my own death will follow swiftly after.”

“Meldon! No!” Finch’s hand was on his arm, as if to hold him back from folly.

“Very well.”
Philpott placed a friendly hand on Meldon’s shoulder. “George, your father would be proud of you.”

Meldon bowed his head, knowing that his
thoroughly honourable father would be as confused as he was by this turn of events.

“Thank you, my lord.”

Philpott walked back to his carriage and disappeared into it. Perkins stooped and lifted the woman, whilst Finch hovered uncertainly. Meldon took a step towards his carriage and almost fell as his leg gave way beneath him.

“Finch
, would you mind retrieving my cane. I seem to have mislaid it.”

Anna opened her eyes and became aware of three things simultaneously: she had no idea w
here she was; Lord Meldon was sitting by the bed in which she lay; and there was a burning pain in her shoulder. The last two explained the first. She had been shot in the duel and must now be in Meldon’s house. It was clear that she was not dead, worse, neither was he. And, since he was sitting by the bed, she must not even have wounded him. There would not be another chance, of this she was certain. James’ death would not be avenged. As always where Meldon was concerned, however, her feelings were ambivalent. As well as despair that he still lived, she felt relief.

Closing her eyes as tears threatened, she heard Meldon shift in his chair.

“Perkins said you should drink this when you woke up.” She heard a clink as if someone was stirring something in a teacup. Then Meldon’s arm slipped beneath her shoulders.

“What?”

“You’ll drown in it unless you sit up a bit. Don’t struggle or it will hurt more.”

Anna stopped moving and let him lift her. He was surprisingly gentle, strong
er and more dextrous than she would have expected.

The smell from the cup that he held to her mouth almost made her retch, but she managed to swallow it. When she had finished she could do no more than let her head rest against his shoulder.

Her whole body felt so heavy she wondered she didn’t fall through the bed. Just as she began to be scared by the thought, she slept.

Meldon was still there when she woke again. He was back in his chair and she was resting again on the pillows. She watched him for a while before he became aware that she was awake. His dark hair was unkempt, as if his valet hadn’t been near it for some days. Although the heavy curtains were drawn, there was enough light from the single candle to see that he hadn’t shaved for some days either. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair and then he saw that her eyes were open.

“I trust you feel better, Miss... Mrs...?”

“Smith.” Anna’s resolution to lie in silence vanished when she saw the expression on his face. He seemed genuinely relived that she was alive and awake. Given what she now knew of his character, she thought that this was only to be expected. He was not a man who enjoyed causing harm to others.

“Is there anyone I should send to for you?”

“No one.”

He shook his head. “There must be someone.”

“I’m an orphan, with no b...brothers or sisters.”

“But someone helped you turn
from a woman to a man.”

“No.” Anna had altered James’ clothes to fit her, cut her own hair and visited a barber when she had arrived in London.
There really had been no one else for her to turn to.

Meldon looked troubled. “Then my sister will come and make arrangements for you. Perhaps a nurse...”

“Just put me in a carriage to my lodgings.” The sooner she got away from here, the better.

“And who would look after you there?”

Anna eventually realised that it was not a rhetorical question and the earl was waiting for an answer.

“No one.”

Once again she was struck by her recent losses and she almost turned her head away from Meldon so that he would not see her cry. Then she resolved not to cry, no matter what it cost her.

“No, I thought not.
” His quiet voice was gentle and she thought he was grieved that she should have no one to help her. “I would not have shown the door to Mr. Smith in such circumstances, but Miss Smith must stay here until she is recovered. I don’t yet know what to do with you after that.”

“You don’t have to do anything with me after that, just let me leave.”

Ignoring her comment, he scratched absently at the court plaster on his left cheek. Noticing her glance he said, “Despite your trip, you still managed to hit me.”

“But not kill you.”
She could not hide her bitterness at that failure.

“No. You
really must tell me why you want me dead.” He sounded as interested as if he were politely asking a visitor whether it were wet outside.

“You cheated.”

“No, I didn’t.” He was firm and not in the least defensive. They both knew that she was the liar here. “You’re very good, though. I’ve worked out how you did it, of course, and why I noticed nothing.” His tone was still one of polite disinterest.

Now Anna did turn away from him.

“When I am recovered, you will allow Jonas Smith to return to his lodgings.”

She could not put it more plainly than that. She doubted she could bear to live in his house until she was well, but she had always healed quickly and he would soon tire of sitting by her bed.
One day she would just walk down the stairs and out into the street; he would not be able to bear the scandal of keeping her prisoner.

“Jonas Smith
has already returned to his lodgings, paid his bills and returned to Lincolnshire,” said Meldon, not unkindly. “Whatever happens next, you will not leave this house to go and live alone and unprotected.”

“How...?”
she started to ask, but she barely knew what question to ask.

“Finch. It was his idea and
I don’t know how he pulled it off. He came in this afternoon to see you, but you were asleep.”

Anna was barely listening.
In spite of everything she had enjoyed the freedom she had known in the last three months. Men’s lives were even more interesting than she had imagined. Jonas Smith might have been poor, but when he had expressed Anna’s opinions, men had listened to them and not dismissed them as a woman’s fancy. They had discussed Jonas Smith’s opinions politely, rather than tell him he could not have them. She could not let Meldon rob her of that as well.

“I must apologise to you,” said Meldon.

“For what?”

“For injuring you.”

“In the duel? Isn’t the object of a duel to kill your opponent?” That was certainly the spirit with which she had gone into the duel.

“I’ve always
felt the object is to survive.” He smiled slightly, although it was clear he saw no humour in the subject. “I did not expect to survive,” he admitted. “I’m a terrible shot. I’d have preferred swords.”

“Mr Finch said you were the best shot he knows.”

She was uncertain.

“He lied. He was trying to scare you off. You’d have been safer if I had tried to hit you.”
He looked embarrassed.

“What were you trying to do, then?”

“I was going to fire wide, but you tripped and...well, I went to help you, forgetting I had a pistol in my hand. When it went off, it was pointing at you.”

Was he lying or was he such a bad shot that he had killed James accidentally?
No, that had been a fencing duel. It had worried her since she had met Meldon, that a lame man had been able to best such a competent swordsman as James had been. It was impossible, after Meldon’s behaviour at their duel, to believe that he had cheated somehow as she had originally thought. The fight must have been fair.

“Do you think you could eat something?”
he asked.

“No.”

“A drink, then?”

Anna was thirsty, but did not wish Meldon to touch her again.

“No.”

“Perhaps when you wake again.”

Her last thought as she drifted off into sleep again was to wonder how Meldon knew that she would do so.

The bedroom was flooded with bright daylight the next time Anna woke. Although it hurt her eyes at first, the late September sun cheered her a little.

There was a woman sitting by her bed. She was thin, tall and elegantly dressed. Her likeness to Meldon was so striking that Anna knew this must be his sister
, Lady Caroline. Older than her brother, she sat calmly pushing her needle in and out of some embroidery.

Unnoticed, Anna watched for a while, matching the woman’s physical characteristics to those of her brother.
Since their first meeting she had admired Meldon’s hands with their long, thin fingers. Even when he was doing no more than holding his cards his fingers seemed posed. Despite being acutely aware himself of their elegance, he did not seem to notice that others found them equally elegant. His sister moved her own long fingers as deftly as her brother moved his. Her nose was straighter than Meldon’s and Anna realised that the bend that marred his looks so much must result from a break. The woman glanced at her and it was like looking into Meldon’s eyes. They held the same unspoken challenge and the same certainty of self. Her mouth alone was not superior to his. It was only when she smiled that Anna knew that Meldon’s generous lips were the most perfect things about his face. Where Meldon was plain, however, his sister was beautiful. She had heard it said that there had not been enough good looks left for Meldon after his sister’s birth and it seemed that this was true.

“Good morning, Miss Smith. I’m
Lady Caroline Warren, Meldon’s sister.”

“Lady Caroline, I’m sorry that you have been put to the trouble of coming here on my account.”

“Not at all. I hardly ever see my brother when he’s in town.”

“You’re not seeing him now,” Anna pointed out.

“He only left a few minutes ago. We talked for a while. Now, I am commanded to make sure that you eat something.” She walked to the bell pull and rang for a servant.

“George told me very little about you.”

“George?”

“My brother, Meldon.”

“Oh.” Anna wondered what Meldon had told his sister. How had he explained a strange, short-haired woman with a shot wound in his house? “He knows very little about me.”

This was non-committal enough.

“The streets are shockingly dangerous at night. You were fortunate that he found you.”

It was clear that she believed neither of these things.

“Yes.”

Agreeing seemed the most sensible course of action; she was not sure how she would stand up to questions from someone as obviously used to getting her own way as Lady Caroline.
Even had Anna had her full strength, it would have been difficult to deny her whatever she wanted.

The servant entered and saved her from
further questions. Lady Caroline told her what was required and sent her away again.

“He says that your wound was serious, but there is little hope of finding the culprits.”

Anna realised that Meldon was protecting her more than himself. Duelling was illegal, but he had been happy enough to admit to the duel with James. It would cause all kinds of problems if he admitted that he had fought a duel with a woman, even if the woman had been disguised as a man and had instigated the duel. She doubted Lady Caroline would believe her if she told her the truth, which she wasn’t prepared to do.

“No, I don’t believe
the culprit will ever be found,” she confirmed.

“What he could not answer to my satisfaction, however, was what a young gentlewoman was doing alone in that part of London and why there is no one to look after you but him.
You are surely not alone in London. I do not tell you this in the expectation that you will furnish me with the satisfaction of an answer, but to make you aware that I know my brother has lied to me.”

“Thank you for not prying,” said Anna. “Perhaps I shall have the opportunity to enlighten you later.”

Lady Caroline smiled. “George is the curious one in the family, not me. I don’t have to know. He tells me that you need my help. That’s enough.”

Anna saw that this was true. Where her brother was devious and apparently unconcerned by the lies he told, Lady Caroline was utterly straightforward and, it seemed, trusted her brother completely, even though she was aware of his lies.
It was a strange world in which she found herself.

“You’re very kind.”

Lady Caroline smiled.

“I think today we will make sure that you eat and rest and tomorrow we can talk.”

Anna eased herself back into her pillows thinking that she would do very well with Lady Caroline.

Later that evening Meldon came to see her. The servants had removed the remains of the light meal that she had eaten. Her untouched glass of port stood on a table next to the bed and Lady Caroline had resumed her embroidery. As promised, Lady Caroline had spoken little and Anna had drifted in and out of sleep throughout the day.

Meldon knocked at the door and entered when invited to do so by his sister. Anna thought he chafed at the idea of waiting for permission to enter a room in his own house
, for she could think of no other reason to explain his obvious impatience as he entered the room.

“How are you this evening, Miss Smith?”

Once again his voice was very quiet, as if he feared to break her just by talking loudly.

“Sleepy.”

“Good. You have eaten well, I trust.”

“I have eaten as much as I could.”