Page 38 of Lady Audacious
Sarah paced up and down the length of her chamber, arms folded tight across her chest, feeling fit to be tied.
‘What do you mean, he spent an age with her alone in her tack room? Whatever did they find to talk about? What was he doing there at all for that matter? He has no business with that trollop.’
‘Doris couldn’t hear very much. Seems he went there looking for his lost puppy and she had it all along. And now he’s given it to her as a gift.’
‘Ha! She probably stole it deliberately, just so that he would go to her.’ Sarah closed her eyes but the red mist still crept beneath the lids, blurring her vision and twisting her mind with a vicelike hold. ‘She’s just the sort of conniving nobody who would be reduced to such low stratagems.’
‘Doris said that she had another visitor. Some man who seemed to think he had claims on her time. They argued but before she could get close enough to hear what it was all about, the earl arrived and sent the man away.’
‘Her knight in shining armour,’ Sarah said, her voice loaded with sarcasm, her head pounding as her brain screamed at her to end Reuben’s association with the jade. ‘Why the devil he wants to involve herself with such an inconsequential doxy defies explanation.’
‘Don’t get yourself in such a taking, pet. You’ll only trigger one of your episodes. It’s the house he wants,’ Nelly replied in a calmly placating tone. ‘Everyone says the young woman is as plain as a pikestaff. She’s nothing compared to you. Well, you would know that, given that you’ve already made her acquaintance.’
Aware that Reuben’s behaviour implied total indifference towards her, Sarah was not mollified by the compliment. Their new neighbour had been here for two days and she was uncomfortably aware that Reuben had spent more time alone with her in that time than he had with Sarah in the last two months. Be that as it may, she had invested too much time in her pursuit of Reuben to have him distracted by the little strumpet.
She was highly suspicious of her sudden appearance and valuable inheritance. There must be something scandalous in her past that would account for her acquisition of Fox’s Reach. Sarah was determined to find out what it was and save Reuben from dishonour by association. If she could demonstrate to him that she had done so only because she had his best interests at heart, she would be bound to win his gratitude.
And the rest would surely follow.
Pleased with a plan that saw the red mist dissipate and the thumping inside her head recede, she came to a decision.
‘Pay Doris more if she can bring me precise information,’ Sarah said. ‘Have her search her mistress’s things for clues when she is outside digging in her garden, or whatever it is that she does with her time. Can Doris read?’
Nelly shook her head. ‘Barely.’
‘Bother. She won’t be much help then. Not that I suppose the doxy keeps anything incriminating in writing. She wouldn’t be that foolish.’ Sarah stopped pacing and snapped her fingers. ‘There are a couple of men working on the roof at Fox’s Reach. I think I recognised the younger one.’
Nelly chuckled. ‘You and every female within a ten-mile radius. He’s a fine figure of a man, that one, and he knows it. Name of Blackburn, father and son. They live on the south side of the village. Why? What help will they be?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Sarah tapped her index finger against her teeth as she applied her mind to the situation. There had to be something inside that house that would help her get to the truth. ‘Are you sure that none of the other servants can be persuaded to help us?’
Nelly shook her head emphatically. ‘Best not risk asking them. They all need their positions too much to take the chance. Besides, I don’t suppose any of them can read either.’
‘Mr Blackburn the younger probably can.’
‘He has no reason to be inside the house though.’
‘But if Doris were to pass anything of interest she finds to him, I dare say he’d be willing to read it for her, for a price.’
‘You’re playing a dangerous game, love,’ Nelly said in a warning tone. ‘The more people you involve, the more likely you are to be betrayed.’
‘Nonsense! Everyone knows that money talks and that it’s often necessary to make a small investment in pursuit of a much larger reward. Talk to Doris and see if she thinks Blackburn would be willing to help her, but make sure that she’s discreet in her approach if she agrees to it. I haven’t come this far to have everything brought down by loose lips.’
Nelly sighed. ‘I think you’re overreaching, but if you’re absolutely sure...’
‘I am. Just do it and we will be rid of the menace on our doorstep once and for all.’
Chapter Eleven
Reuben walked swiftly back to Amberley Hall, deeply disturbed by Miss Aspen’s revelations. There was something decidedly odd about the entire business, and he was convinced that the man who called himself Brigstock was a charlatan. For that reason and others of a more personal nature that he was not yet ready to examine, he felt duty-bound to help the distressed young woman to resolve the situation and save her from unwanted attentions. He told himself that it was his obligation as the local aristocrat and Justice of the Peace to go to the aid of a lady in distress.
He was more than a little concerned by her casual assumption that he and Sarah were engaged to be married. Did all the locals share that view? He wondered if his mother, or Sarah herself, had started the rumours, or whether they were simply the result of idle conjecture on the part of the villagers, who enjoyed speculating about every tiny aspect of life at Amberley Hall.
Reuben would have to do something to dispel the rumours. Perhaps he would take himself off for a protracted visit to his other properties. Sarah would have to return home to her mother at some stage, surely? He would suggest to his own mother that she encourage her to do so, but for the fact that it was a conversation he would much prefer to avoid. The moment he gave her the opportunity to discuss his matrimonial ambitions, or lack thereof, she would bombard him with the names of other suitable candidates and again suggest hosting a summer house party for that reason.
He frowned as an unlikely possibility occurred to him. His mother had become increasingly anxious about his disinclination for matrimony ever since he assumed the earldom. Perhaps she had invited Sarah to stay indefinitely in the hope that Reuben would settle for her. Since he had shown no indication to do so, his mother had become devious. Mothers with influential sons to marry off were often reduced to underhand tactics, he’d been warned by friends who had fallen prey to their machinations. Was his own mama cannier than he had given her credit for being? Had she started the rumours in the hope of galvanising Reuben into action?
Reuben threw back his head and growled with frustration, thinking that he had underestimated her determination and put himself at risk of being married by default as a consequence. Even so he must prioritise, which meant putting his own affairs to one side and giving Miss Aspen’s problems the priority they deserved. The depth of his determination to be of service to her and the pleasure he anticipated at the prospect of spending time alone with her gave him a jolt.
