Page 43 of The Trials of Alaric
“She said straight out that she had been forced by your brother?” Lord Claddach asked.
“Ye…” Tarquin trailed off. “No. You must understand that she was distressed, sir. Weeping so hard I could barely make out what she was saying. I asked her if she had been forced—for she was… Well. Never mind that. She admitted it, and when I demanded to know who, she said my brother.”
Alaric, who was staring fixedly at his brother, straightened. “Mybrother? Or just ‘brother’?”
Tarquin frowned and then paled as he leapt to his feet. “That sodding bastard!”
“Bebbington,” Alaric said, rising more slowly. The Viscount Bebbington was Eloise’s stepbrother, and a more controllingconniving person Alaric had never met. He had put one obstacle after another in front of Alaric. Eloise had begged Alaric to run away with her, but in the end, he had managed to persuade Bebbington to approve the betrothal, and they had traveled to Alaric’s father’s estate to see to the agreements.
There had always been something odd about the way Bebbington behaved with Eloise—and the way she had behaved with him.
Tarquin was pacing in the way he always did when agitated. “Gad. She begged me not to leave her there, and I wouldn’t listen. I left her at Bebbington’s estate! I must get back to the Wirral Peninsula. Claddach, I take back everything I said about my brother. It wasn’t him at all! When does the next ferry leave?”
Lord Claddach stood too, and so did Alaric. “Who do you have to guard your back?” Alaric asked. “Bebbington is a piece of work, and he might not want to give Eloise up, even to her husband.”
A shake of Tarquin’s head was answer enough.
“I am coming with you,” Alaric decided. “Lord Claddach, I beg you to hold me excused for long enough to get my sister-in-law away from her brother.”
“Bebbington,” said Lord Claddach. “He asked to be included in this house party. I would not give a dog to that man, let alone my daughter. The next ferry is not until this afternoon, Stavely, and it goes to Liverpool, so you would still need to cross the Mersey. Take my yacht to Birkenhead. She is berthed at Dara, in the north of the island. Redhaven can direct you. I shall also send two footmen with you. I shall send instruction to the stable to prepare a carriage.” He smiled, as if at a private thought. “Redhaven, can you drive a carriage?”
“Yes, my lord,” said Alaric, mystified.
“Make it four footmen,” said Lord Claddach. “You can leave the carriage at Dara. Someone there will make certain it gets back to me. When you have Lady Stavely, sail directly back to Bailecashtel. Stavely, you and your wife must join us for the last of the house party. Your brother may need you. I shall expect the three of you for dinner.”
*
Alaric had notime to do more than throw a couple of items in a bag in case of delays and ask Luke to give a message to Bea. But when he told Luke that he and his brother were going on a rescue mission to bring Lady Stavely to Claddach, Luke insisted on coming too.
“Bebbington cozied up to me my first Season in Town,” he said. “I found I was getting in too deep and had to ask my brother Thornstead to bail me out. Then Thorn explained that Bebbington tried to compromise my sister Barbara during her first Season. Apparently, Father told him that, if he came within a mile of any of my sisters ever again, Father would destroy him. So, he came after me, instead, and I fell for it. Please let me come. It never hurts to have a Versey on your side.”
After that, Alaric went to Miss Bryant, instead. “Please let Bea know I shall be back as soon as I can, and that I wouldn’t leave at all if it wasn’t important,” he said.
The carriage was ready. Alaric took his place up on the driver’s perch, with Tarquin on one side and Luke on the other, while the footmen crowded inside. “It’s a one-hour trip across the island,” Alaric told Tarquin, “and at most, three hours to Birkenhead. From there, we can hire horses to take us to Bebbington’s estate. We shall be there no later than three in the afternoon, perhaps even by two.”
“My carriage is at Birkenhead,” Tarquin said. “We’ll take that to Bebbington’s and back.”
“We’ll reach Claddach by six,” Luke commented, with satisfaction. “In time for dinner. Ellie will barely have time to miss me.”
After that, Alaric concentrated on his driving, and on the route. He was not taking the long way to Dara that he’d traveled on the steeplechase, nor could he go over fields or along paths only wide enough for a horse. He had asked the stable master for the fastest carriage route, and the landmarks by which he would know the turns.
Tarquin and Luke had fallen into conversation. Alaric was leaning forward over the reins, so their words were passing behind him, and when his total focus was not needed for a tricky piece of driving, he heard what they were saying without really listening.
Luke was describing the marriage trials. “So, we are up to eight, with four to go,” he said. “Today, we were meant to be moving bulls, but Alaric and I already did that, at the fête. If Lord Claddach counts that, we have already passed that trial.”
“Then you and my brother are rivals for Lady Beatrice’s hand?” Tarquin asked.
Luke laughed. “Not really, for several reasons. First, the goal is simply to finish the trials without being disqualified by Lord Claddach. Since we do not know what will get a man disqualified and what will allow him to pass, influencing the outcome is out of our hands.”
“How peculiar,” said Tarquin.
“Shrewd, I think,” Luke replied. “He is not just looking for a husband for his daughter but a caretaker lord for Claddach. She will inherit the lot, including the title. She and her husband will be parents of the next earl. Whatever his criteria might be, I think the trials are designed to show us for who we really are.”
Tarquin made a considering noise before making the noncommittal remark, “I see. And your other reasons?”
“Second, Lady Beatrice will make the final decision, from those who are successful in the trials. Or, she may choose none of us—but I can tell you she shows a marked preference for Alaric. And third, I have asked Lady Eleanor Fairweather, another guest at the house party, to be my bride, and she has said yes, subject to her father’s approval. So, while I want to finish the trials because we Verseys don’t give up once we’ve started something, I am not a suitor for Lady Bea’s hand.”
The remark about asking for Ellie caught Alaric’s attention, though it came as no surprise. “Congratulations, Luke. She is a wonderful lady.”
