The Rake's Unveiling of Lady Belle (20 page)

Lady Rattenberry, it had to be.

Her father… She might not have seen him close up for many years but there was no mistaking his choleric countenance and air of dissipation. He hadn't aged well.

Belinda stood like a moth caught in a beam of light, unable to move, as he said something to someone unseen and shook his fist before he turned on his heel and stomped off down the road. Then she began to shake.

No and no. I will not be weak.
He has caused enough damage. I will not let it continue, the…the…cur.

She clenched her hands into fists and took deep calming breaths.
Enough wallowing.
It was time to move forward. Her temper spiked at the thought of all the time she had wasted over the years wondering why she was not what her father wanted in a daughter. Well, no more.

‘How has he found me?' Belinda turned from her wardrobe, as the door opened and Tippen and Mrs Lovett entered. She selected a simple but elegant day gown, and closed the wardrobe. ‘You don't need to tell me. Rosemary I assume?'

Tippen nodded. ‘We imagine so.'

‘What did he say?' Now she'd made her decision not to let his attitude and menace rule her, Belinda felt much more able to cope with anything he threw at her.

‘Now, you're not going to do anything he says,' Mrs Lovett said firmly. ‘He's a bully.'

Belinda couldn't disagree. ‘Yes, but what did he say?' She slipped her gown over her head and buttoned up the bodice. ‘I imagine he was either gloating or shouting.'

‘Both, actually,' Tippen said. ‘He was haranguing Fairley and demanding he saw you.'

‘Lovett gave him a mouthful,' Mrs Lovett said with satisfaction. ‘He fair enjoyed it. Not one person confirmed you were Lady Belinda either, which annoyed him no end, Lovett said. Mind you before he left he was right venomous, I can tell you. If he carries on like that he'll cut his own life short.' She paused. ‘Come to think of it, he may be your father, but I can't say I think that would be a bad thing. There's unpleasant and there's downright nasty. He's both and a bit more added.'

The doorbell rang again, and all three women jumped. No one moved except to look at each other.

‘This is ridiculous. I'm not skulking around up here any longer.' Belinda brushed her curls and pinched her chees a few times to make sure she had the colour she'd regained in her temper. ‘Right, I'm going down.' Belinda moved towards the door. ‘Enough is enough.'

‘Not alone.' Tippen took her place next to Belinda.

Mrs Lovett nodded. ‘And I'm coming as well. I wish I'd thought to pick up a rolling pin.'

Belinda blinked and shook her head in amusement. ‘Like a Valkyrie or one of Boudicca's henchwomen?'

‘Like Madame Belle's champion,' Mrs Lovett said vehemently. She stood with her arms akimbo and glowered. ‘It's amazing some of the things you can do with a rolling pin, other than make pastry.'

‘Then maybe it's as well you don't have one handy,' Belinda said as they made their way down the first flight of stairs. ‘We want you here, not in Newgate.'

‘It'd be worth it to clobber your father,' Mrs Lovett said darkly. ‘Mind, he's so thick-skinned it'd probably bounce off him.'

That much was true, Belinda mused, as they arrived on the landing just above the front door, which was closed. Of Fairley there was nothing to be seen.

She looked at her companions. ‘Is Fairley usually outside?'

‘It depends,' Tippen said, just as the door below them opened and Fairley entered.

‘Fairley is fairly well on his way to committing murder, begging your pardon, Madame.' He shut the door behind him and strode to the bottom of the stairs. ‘That was a particularly unpleasant specimen who seemed to think you were affianced to him, because your father said so.'

‘I…er…' Belinda sat down on the bottom step with a thump. What was her parent up to? ‘He doesn't even know for sure Madame Belle is me, does he? He hasn't to my knowledge seen me, and in all probability is only going by hearsay—or Rosemary-say.'

He knew she'd run from him once, but she was no frightened child any more. He must know she wouldn't countenance any such thing. ‘Who?'

Fairley shook his head. ‘The bounder wouldn't say. He just said to tell you he'd be back. Oh and he gave me this for you from your father.' Fairley handed over a letter.

Belinda looked at the letter as if it was a particularly poisonous reptile. Once she would have scrambled to read it, shaking as she did so. No more. ‘Blow him, it can wait.' She dropped the missive onto the hall table. ‘He's insignificant and so are unpleasant specimens who think I dance to my parent's will. Having spent the last however long with a headache from Hades, I'm going out to blow the cobwebs away.' She picked up a bonnet and pelisse from a cupboard set in the wall of the hallway, and looked at Tippen and Mrs Lovett. ‘Is anyone joining me? We'll stick to Green Park, and go there in the carriage.'

‘Let me get my coat.' Mrs Lovett turned on her heel and disappeared down the corridor. ‘Remember your pistol,' she called over her shoulder as Tippen followed Belinda's actions and dressed for the outdoors.

‘My?'

‘Good idea, I'll pop up and get it for you, whilst you decide on a suitable reticule to hide it in.' Tippen took the stairs two at a time.

‘I've ordered the carriage for right away,' Lovett said, as he appeared from the direction Mrs Lovett had vanished. ‘I'm coming as extra coachman, seeing as we think Fairley should stop here.' His tone dared her to contradict him.

Just who is in charge here?
Well they are of course, all of them.
Belinda hummed to herself as she sat on the stairs and waited for the others to rejoin her. As first Tippen and then Mrs L came back. The rumble of wheels over cobbles alerted her to what she presumed was the carriage arriving for them.

Tippen handed Belinda her pistol, and she put it into her reticule, feeling somewhat foolish. Why on earth would she need a gun in Green Park—unless the milkmaids let the cows run amok, which wasn't very likely.

Lovett opened the door and Fairley stood to one side to let them pass. Outside the coach was drawn up tight to the doorway, with Diccon, a long and trusted servant who could turn his hand to anything, at the reins. He'd manoeuvred so it was only a matter of two or three steps for them to climb in.

As they settled themselves for the short ride to the park, Belinda glanced out of the window, and gasped.

‘That man,' she said, as she tried to quell the erratic beat of her heart. ‘The one on the corner.'

‘Where?' Tippen leaned over Belinda and looked towards the corner as the carriage swung around it. ‘There's no one there.' She sat back again. ‘Look.'

‘There was.' Belinda saw for herself that the street was now empty except for an urchin sweeping the cobbles and a dog lifting its leg against a lamppost. ‘And he had white hair.'

‘What?' Mrs Lovett swivelled around and stuck her head and shoulders out of the window with her ample rear blocking the light. Belinda tugged her skirts, until that lady sat down once more.

‘If you get stuck in there we're done for. And he will no doubt be streets away by now. It was but a glimpse. If he heads to the salon Fairley will see him and tell us.'

‘Ah, true enough.' Mrs Lovett sat down again. ‘It's just so darned annoying. I hate not knowing what's amiss.'

Don't we all.

‘Well we'll walk and hopefully get the fidgets out of us, and
then
decide what our next steps should be.' The carriage turned into the less fashionable end of the park, where nursemaids walked their charges, and further on a herd of cows grazed peacefully. In the late morning sunshine it was relatively quiet and the perfect place to perambulate and chat.

The carriage drew to a halt, and Lovett opened the door to help them out.

‘I'm coming with you,' he said firmly. ‘Diccon and the carriage will follow.'

‘Rubbish, Diccon and the carriage can wait here,' Belinda said. ‘We're only walking to that small copse of trees and back.'

Lovett looked doubtful. ‘But what if…'

‘We get hit by a kite?' Belinda pointed to where three small boys flew kites as their nursemaids watched. ‘Or maybe run over by a dog cart and a milk churn?' The subject in question was making its sedate way across the grass in the other direction.

‘You might be accosted,' Lovett said stubbornly. ‘I…I can't let that happen.'

The unspoken words, ‘his lordship would kill me', hovered in the air. Belinda nodded, resigned to being trailed, as well as boxed in by Tippen and Mrs L.

‘Then let's go.' She set off a at brisk pace, and then hearing Mrs Lovett huff and puff slowed her steps to something more friendly.

‘Lord, I thought I was about to meet my maker for a moment. You youngsters might manage to walk that fast, but my old legs won't.'

‘I'm sorry.' Belinda was contrite. ‘I'm a bad-tempered besom.'

‘You're a worried one. There's a difference.' Mrs Lovett shaded her eyes as a rider approached them from behind the trees. ‘Now, who the devil is that coming this way?'

‘No idea, probably just someone enjoying the park as we are. He'll change directions in a moment.'

However, the rider continued to head in their direction at a gallop.

‘That's too fast with young children around,' Mrs Lovett commented. ‘No wonder they're running back to their nursemaids. Scared they'll be.'

Belinda didn't feel too fearless herself. One of those achy tingles assailed her suddenly and she took her pistol out of her reticule and hid it between two folds of her skirts. Her disquiet must have reached the others because they drew closer to her to form a guard.

The rider pulled up a scant few yards in front of her and jumped down form his horse. Even though he was immaculately dressed he seemed no gentleman. His expression as he devoured her with a look and a leer that made her feel dirty confirmed her impression.

‘Ha, you are here, my dear. Just as well I found you because you have until Monday or your father will be much the worse off. Much.' His podgy lips stretched into a semblance of a smile and his eyes almost protruded from their sockets. ‘Naughty to run away. I'll soon get that temper out of you.'

Belinda gripped the gun tightly. ‘I have no idea who you are, or indeed why you think I have a father who I would worry about.' She inclined her head in a manner reminiscent of the most regal of dowagers. ‘Excuse us, you are in our way.' She moved to brush past him.

‘Not so fast.' He grabbed her arm.

Lovett cleared his throat. Belinda ignored him, and also Tippen and Mrs L who stood watchful and ready, as she concentrated all her attention on the man.

Who on earth is he?

Somehow she knew it would do her no favours to show any weakness.

‘Let go of me, before I make you do so in a most unpleasant manner.' Belinda was proud of how even her voice was.

He ignored her, and his grip tightened. ‘You know full well who I am, what you owe me, and I've come to collect. I was never so pleased as to be told you were here, alone.'

‘However, as you can see, I'm not alone.'

Who
is
he?

‘Servants. They don't count.' He sneered and spat at Mrs Lovett's feet. That lady clenched her fists.

‘Now are you coming with me?' he asked Belinda. ‘Or do I have to drag you later?'

‘I have no idea who you are. I'm not going with you, and if you don't believe me, maybe this will persuade you otherwise.' Belinda lifted her pistol and calmly pointed it at his heart, thankful for the lessons Lady L had made her take.

‘You wouldn't dare use that.' He didn't sound as certain as he had a few moments earlier.

Belinda laughed. ‘You think not? It's easy. I point and squeeze and that is it. Some common felon intent on robbing me is no more.'

‘I'm no felon, I'm Penfold.' His tone was a peculiar mixture of arrogance and bluster.

‘A common felon does not have to be a commoner.' She was shaking but had no intention of letting him see that.

‘Your father has offered me to you, to save himself.'

What? Why am I not surprised?

‘Ah but I'm no longer under my father's care, and he can go hang for all I care. Now, do you move or do I shoot?' Belinda shook Penfold's hand off her and stared at him steadily. ‘You have until the count of three. One…two…'

‘Damn you, you will be mine.
You
have until Monday or it will be the worse for you, not just him.' He climbed back onto his horse and rode off the way he had come.

‘Talk about one of the melodramas at the theatre.' Belinda shook with fear or annoyance—she wasn't sure which. Probably both. ‘It seems we have our own. I…I think we best return so I can read that dratted letter.'

Chapter Ten

‘Are you sure she's really away?' Phillip paced his study—five paces one way before he bumped into Macsporran and seven the other before he hit the desk and bookcases—and glared at Macsporran, his private inquiry agent. ‘Sit down before I knock you down. So, you don't think she is just keeping out of sight for some reason?'

The ex Bow Street Runner shook his head warily. ‘Certain as I can be that she is not, my lord. No one knows, or is prepared to admit to knowing, where she is. All was well until the break-in, which you were told about. Then it seems her father turned up, and then after him an unknown man, who I now believe was Lord Penfold.'

‘That bastard? No wonder she ran.' Penfold's dissolute and murderous reputation went before him. ‘What is it? Three wives or five he has gone through?'

‘Five I think. All under, shall we say, less than natural circumstances. Now, I'm doing my best, but her people are close-mouthed and your men said they didn't know.'