Lyons Gate

CHAPTER 10

When Hallie appeared thirty minutes later, a single valise clutched in her hand, a lovely dark blue cloak over her shoulders, Willicombe, the Sherbrooke butler, sent his lovesick nephew Remie to inform Jason, who gave Everett and Douglas over to their grandfather for the next waltz. Jason came into the entrance hall where Hallie was giving instructions to Remie, who stood frozen with horror.

“Just a moment, Miss Carrick,” Jason said. “I’ll need to change before we can leave.”

She whipped around. “You think you’re coming with me, Mr. Sherbrooke? You think you’ll stomp this blighter’s liver before I can? No, you stay here and beg and plead with this Mr. Chartley whilst I go fetch our money from Thomas Hoverton. When I return I’ll see to Mr. Chartley. In the meanwhile, don’t you dare let this man fleece you, do you hear me?”

“You’re thinking like an American,” he said, picking a spot of lint off his sleeve, suppressing a smile.

“What do you mean by that snide remark?” He saw her right hand tighten into a lovely fist.

“Oh, I don’t know. How about you’re exhibiting a marked lack of subtlety? Or you’re simply forging ahead without pausing even a moment to think things through? There’s no need to boil over with rage.”

A lovely arched eyebrow went high.

Remie took two quick steps back, hoping to escape.

Jason said, “There’s no reason to go haring off after Thomas Hoverton right now. If you still wish to go after him once I’ve told you some things, why, I’ll be forced to accompany you.”

“You won’t be forced to do anything of the kind. What sorts of things?”

“ London is very different from Baltimore, Miss Carrick, surely you learned that. You’re a bright girl. As you must know, London society doesn’t allow just anyone through its august portals. Money doesn’t matter. For example, Lucinda Frothingale’s now-dead husband wouldn’t have ever been admitted into London society for the simple reason that he owned and operated flour mills. The fact that he would have been richer than many of England ’s vaunted peers wouldn’t have mattered. Flour mills constitute trade, Miss Carrick, and folk in trade, who have no ancient lineage, no powerful family behind them, aren’t allowed into the club. Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course, but I still don’t see what-” Jason saw the instant she realized what he was talking about. He refused to acknowledge she’d caught on more quickly than he had. She said slowly, “I think I’ll go see my uncle’s solicitor. He can find out just exactly who this Mr. Chartley is.”

He realized, of course, that he should have encouraged her to go after Thomas Hoverton, despite the fact that she was a young lady, quite alone. Did she have any money left after paying Thomas Hoverton for Lyon ’s Gate? And if she didn’t have very much money, would she arrive in Calais and realize she couldn’t afford a baguette much less respectable lodging? Jason said, “There’s no need for you to do anything, Miss Carrick. My father has already taken care of it. We will know all about Mr. Benjamin Chartley soon enough.”

“But I-”

“I’m beginning to believe you have more hair than brains. And I’m thinking your hair is probably lovelier than your brains as well.”

To his surprise, she didn’t hurl herself at him. She didn’t move at all. She stared down at her shoes, the oldest pair she had, which were very fine indeed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. My father was always telling me that I should make it a habit to sit in a corner for three minutes and think before I acted. He said whenever I acted too quickly, he had to clean up the most abominable messes.” She looked up at him, a glimmer of a smile lighting her eyes. “I thank you for stopping me before I could make a mess. I should hope that my hair looks better than my brains. That’s a horrifying thought, though I’ve never seen what brains look like. Now that I think about it, I don’t have much money either.”

“I wondered.”

“I don’t think my father’s bankers would stuff more money in my outstretched hands, particularly after they found out how easily I was swindled. They would believe I was naive and incompetent, in short, a woman. But money isn’t what’s important here. I have my pistol, a small riding crop, and a knife, strapped to my ankle. Thomas Hoverton wouldn’t ever imagine that I’d come after him. I’d probably find him in Calais, toasting his good fortune. Then I could carve out his gullet.”

“Or villains would find you first. Maybe you’d shoot one villain, Miss Carrick, but the second and the third lurking in the alley? With those skirts it would be hard to get to the knife fast enough.”

She raised her hand and fisted it.

He laughed.

He realized she was staring up at him, her head cocked to one side.

“What is it?”

“I know you don’t like me, Mr. Sherbrooke. I don’t understand you. You could have simply let me leave. I would be gone and you could do as you please. Now there will be endless complications.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt and that’s very likely what would happen. I have never trusted the French, particularly after the dealings I had with Mademoiselle Benoit in Baltimore who-Well, never mind that.”

“I heard my father say the French believed God didn’t intend the Ten Commandments for them since he hadn’t written them in French, and that’s why the French pox was so prevalent.”

Fascinated, Jason said, “He spoke to you about the French pox?”

“No, I was eavesdropping. When I managed to slip French pox ever so skillfully into a conversation, I thought he would explode, he turned so red in the face. Who is this Mademoiselle Benoit?”

Jason wanted desperately to laugh, but managed to hold it in. He didn’t want her to pull her pistol, her whip, or her knife out of her boot and dispatch him. He cleared his throat. “Mademoiselle Benoit isn’t any of your business. Now, stop fretting. We will work this out.”

“How?” She struck her palm to her forehead. “How stupid I am. There won’t be any complications at all. If your father threatens Mr. Chartley with social ostracism, then he will sell the property to you. I will have no chance at it.”

Jason shrugged, as it was the truth, after all.

“It will be done before I can get my uncle here to do the same thing to him.”

“Yes, that’s true enough.”

“So you’ve won, Mr. Sherbrooke.”

“That’s very nice of you to say so, Miss Carrick, but a bit premature. I suggest you hold off on your congratulations until after we find out what Mr. Chartley’s hopes and aspirations are in our fair city.”

“I’ll wager he has an eighteen-year-old daughter he wants to marry off to some bankrupt baron, whose pockets he’ll fill to brimming.”

“One can but hope.”

“I might as well go after Thomas Hoverton, or else my siblings will never let me hear the end of it. I can hear them now. ‘Hallie, you say you bought a property and the owner sold it to someone else first then flew off to another country?’ ‘You knew he was a rotter and you didn’t even take any precautions?’ ‘How big did you say your brain was, Hallie?’ And on and on it will go until I garrote myself.”

Yet again, Jason wanted to laugh, but didn’t. “Let’s just wait and see what happens with Mr. Chartley. Regardless of whether or not I end up with Lyon ’s Gate, I will help you find Thomas.” He couldn’t believe he’d said that. He fell silent, watching her.

“You’re not as angry as you should be with Thomas Hoverton,” she said slowly, eyeing him. “Why is that?”

Jason smiled. “Fact is, he didn’t get my money. Not because I’m such an excellent man of business, mind you. It was the Sherbrooke solicitor, Wily Willy Bibber, who refused to pay the solicitor a single groat until I had taken actual possession of Lyon ’s Gate.”

Hallie felt like a complete and utter fool. She turned on her heel and went back up the wide staircase. Midway up, she paused and turned to see Jason standing in the entrance hall, staring up after her.

She said, her voice emotionless, “I understand now why Lord Renfrew took Mrs. Matcham for a lover not two weeks before we were to be married. He believed I was too stupid and too infatuated with him to find him out. Do you know what? I didn’t find out about Mrs. Matcham until after I had broken our engagement. What I did find out was that his tailor, a Mr. Huff, hadn’t been paid for six months. He came to me, you see, hoping I would pay him. He told me not to be surprised if more tradesmen arrived on my doorstep since all his lordship’s creditors knew now that his lordship had found a lovely plump pigeon who was so green she’d probably start blooming before spring.”

“That’s a goodly dose of humiliation,” Jason said. “Are you talking about William Sloane?”

“No, William Sloane gambled away nearly all the money before he conveniently died, and his brother, Elgin Sloane, became Lord Renfrew.”

“But didn’t your uncle meet him? Make certain he wasn’t marrying you for your money or-”

“Yes, he did. It was William who had the bad reputation, not Elgin. After all, Elgin Sloane had only been on the London scene for seven months before he met me. No one knew the real state of his finances.”

“So only the tradesmen knew the truth about him.”

“Evidently so.”

“At least you found this out before you married.”

“If I’d found out after the wedding, I would have shot him.”

“That’s an American thing to say.” But he laughed. “You would have been hung here. It was then you decided you wanted to own a stud?”

“Yes. I will become independent, and never marry.”

“As I’ve said, Miss Carrick, there are probably many properties for sale as well as many men out there who aren’t rotters like Elgin Sloane.”

She waved away his words. “Or, I suppose, I could become a nun.”

“I can’t imagine any mother superior worth her salt taking you on. I strongly doubt you are docile enough to take orders.”

She shrugged. “Regardless, I will never marry, not unless I lose my wits entirely and pour my money into another bounder’s hands. I believe I’ll hire someone to watch me. If I am in danger of falling into that wretched trap again, that person will simply shove me into the herring barrel.”

“Like I said, not all men are bounders, Miss Carrick.”

She shrugged again, not looking at him.

He felt her pain and hated that he felt it. She turned to go back up the stairs when he called out, “Like you, Miss Carrick, I have also determined that I will never marry. I am fortunate that it isn’t my responsibility to provide an heir for the Sherbrooke line, so it won’t matter.”

She said nothing, but he knew her attention was focused on him. Still, he wasn’t about to say anything more, and was horrified at himself for saying this much. Never would he speak of it, never-“It happened to me nearly five years ago.” He shut his mouth. He was a fool, an idiot. None of this was her business, anyone’s business.

“You were going to marry a girl who wanted you only for your money?”

He laughed, this time a low, vicious laugh from deep inside him, and the words tumbled out. “Oh no, I far exceeded your paltry betrayal, Miss Carrick. I picked a girl who would have killed my father if Corrie hadn’t shot and killed her.” He couldn’t stand himself. He’d poured all that out just to make this outrageous girl feel better. Thank God there was nothing else to burst out of his damned mouth. A pity one couldn’t retrieve hasty words and stuff them back down one’s throat. He turned on his heel and left the town house.

Hallie Carrick stood on the stairs for a very long time. She’d heard all sorts of gossip about why Jason Sherbrooke had abruptly left England and gone to live with the Wyndhams, but nothing close to this. He was right. She was hurt and humiliated because one dishonorable man had tried to get his hands on her money. What had happened to her was common, but what had happened to him-the way he’d been used, it would rot the soul. He had run away to America; he’d tried to run away from himself. She didn’t think he’d succeeded. She turned to go up to her bedchamber. He would never trust another woman. She would wager her substantial dowry on that. She couldn’t blame him.