‘Then I’ll go by myself. You’ve told me where it is, luckily.’
Dominic swore involuntarily, and his companion let out an unladylike little snort of laughter. ‘Precisely so, sir,’ she said. ‘If you hadn’t been so shortsighted as to give me the direction of the place, it would have been much harder, of course, but since you have, there can be nothing to prevent me from going there myself and making enquiries.’
‘Every decent feeling revolts against the idea,’ he muttered though gritted teeth.
‘Does it?’ she responded calmly. ‘Perhaps I am devoid of decent feeling, then. My father always used to say so, when I was young and we were always arguing so dreadfully because I would not show him the respect he felt he deserved. He said many times that I was a hoyden, without manners or breeding. And now I am glad if he was right, if manners and breeding would make me so foolish as to refuse to do everything – everything, sir! – that lies in my power to help my sister when she may, for all I know, be in the most terrible trouble! She could be a prisoner in that house, along with poor Jenny – they could have been tricked there by some foul deceit. Have you thought of that?’
He had. Since he had understood with dawning horror how determined and unshakeable she was, many visions, all vivid, all utterly dreadful, had been presenting themselves to him, in a sort of depraved magic lantern show that flickered behind his eyelids. ‘Jenny, for one, isn’t a captive,’ he said shortly. ‘The fellow saw her returning from some nocturnal expedition, so she’s clearly under no constraint. But yes, you are so far correct in that she could have tricked your sister there with some false promises of assistance. Dammit, woman, she could be in league with the people who keep the place, she could havesoldyour sister to them by prearranged plan, for all we know! And if you go there by yourself, she could do the same to you!’ His mind was in such turmoil at his failure to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation that he couldn’t prevent himself from adding crudely, ‘I expect a certain unconscionable sort of villain would pay a substantial premium for a pair of lovely, gently bred twins! It is plain to me, Miss Margaret Nightingale, that you know nothing at all of the world and its iniquity!’
‘Nonsense! And if Maria is indeed in such terrible trouble, there is all the more reason I should not delay, but go to rescue her as soon as possible. But I’m sure you are exaggerating. You really shouldn’t let yourself fall prey to such Gothic imaginings, sir; it isn’t all helpful.’
‘Helpful?’ he said in extreme exasperation. If he’d had a free hand, he’d have been clutching his hair, with no thought for its modish Windswept style or for anyone who might see him in a state of such unaccustomed agitation. ‘Helpful? Have younoconcern for your reputation, madam? Or for your sister’s, if you have no care for your own? Imagine if you – which is to say, she – should be seen entering such a place, or even observed by someone who knows you, out at night, alone, with me! With any man! You would be utterly ruined! And it wouldn’t do me enormous amounts of good, either, though naturally I can’t expect you to give a fig for that, I’m quite aware.’
‘Why should anyone who knows me see me?’ she asked. He couldn’t tell if she was being disingenuous or not. A vision of putting her over his knee and spanking her popped into his head, but he pushed it away asunhelpful.
‘It’s a bloody brothel,’ he said between gritted teeth. ‘A place where women sell themselves. Young men of good family – I’m sorry to break it to you – and older men, for that matter, go to brothels. Half the members of White’s and Brooks’s, half the people you’ve danced with at Almack’s, for all I know, could be trooping in and out of the place on a regular basis. Forming queues in the street. My credit will certainly survive being seen there, if not scandalously accompanied by you; yours, I assure you, would not, whether with me or alone!’
‘I’ve never danced at Almack’s,’ she replied, infuriatingly.
‘No,’ he ground out. ‘I am well aware of that. But youridenticaltwin sisterhas.’
‘You’re right, of course.’ Her composure was unshaken; for him, it was otherwise. ‘It is just as well to think coolly of these matters, and you do well to reprove me. I am most concerned for Maria’s safety, naturally, but it would be idle to pretend that I have no care at all for her reputation. Of course I do! Otherwise I might as well have let you tell my father the truth some days ago, and allow the whole sorry story to become public. Naturally she – and therefore I – must not be seen in such a shocking place.’
He felt almost weak with relief. ‘Thank God you have come to your senses,’ he said faintly.
‘I was never out of my senses, sir, I assure you. But I have thought of a better plan, and one that you cannot possibly object to, for it deals with all these heart-burnings in the most ingenious manner possible. Indeed, I do not know why I did not think of it directly, but I am excessively glad I have now.’
Dominic felt he was learning fast, and so his heart did not leap with joy at the intelligence his companion shared with him so confidingly. He hated to think what her better plan might be. He was tempted to take his eyes off the horses, the carriageway and the scene ahead of him, and look at her maddening little face again, but he did not. He also resisted the instinct to grip the ribbons more tightly, convulsively, with results in the behaviour of the horses that he could all too easily imagine. ‘Tell me…’ he said, his voice a trifle hollow. ‘Tell me what deranged and probably dangerous scheme you have now devised to bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.’
‘You haven’t got any grey hairs that I can see, surprisingly, and if as I suspect that’s the Bible, I wonder you should think this the time to be indulging in religious quotations.’
‘It’s something truly terrible, isn’t it? I know it is. I insist that you tell me immediately.’
‘It’s not terrible at all. It’s genius. I shall disguise myself as a boy.’
11
It must be considered miraculous that the phaeton didn’t overturn. Sir Dominic said nothing in immediate response, though if his companion had been looking at his face his stormy expression would have spoken volumes, and for a moment he concentrated his attention on his horses, and on making his way back to where he had set down his groom. Had half an hour passed – an hour – a week? He was in no state to tell. But in any case, Fishwick was there, waiting patiently, and Dominic indicated with a few clipped, well-chosen words that the groom should climb up and take the reins and drive home, while he would walk a little with Miss Nightingale, and then escort her safely back to Grosvenor Square. Assuming, he thought but didn’t say, he didn’t instead murder her and throw her body in the lake.
‘Is it quite proper, sir, that we should be seen alone together at this hour?’ she said. He couldn’t tell if she was serious, or if she had instead just commenced on a determined campaign to drive him entirely out of his senses and into Bedlam. ‘There are a great many people about now, and I have observed many ladies and gentlemen nodding to you and otherwise trying to attract your attention, though you have snubbed them all.’
‘Proper?’ he said. ‘Good God, you have the effrontery to speak to me of what is proper, and of your reputation? And if I have really ignored anyone, and you aren’t merely trying to infuriate me further, I am sure that my friends and acquaintances will forgive me, and assume that I am completely and rather charmingly enthralled with my future bride, Christ help me. They don’t know that the woman at my side is not, as she appears to be, a beautiful debutante, but a dangerous escaped lunatic.’
‘You make a great deal of bustle over nothing,’ she said, though a slight flush had crept up into her cheeks, he could not help but observe; he didn’t know, and shouldn’t care, whether it was because he’d called her beautiful or described her as a lunatic. Clearly, both things could be true at once.
They had found their way under a tree once more – Dominic was in no state to be able to recognise whether it was the same one they’d talked under yesterday, or another – and the fresh green leaves provided them with at least a little privacy. There was no doubt that, as she had said, it was not ideal to be seen entirely alone together, even in a public place and surrounded by so many people, but in this moment he was beyond concerning himself over the proprieties.Sheclearly had no true interest in proper behaviour, however much she might pretend she did.
‘You cannot disguise yourself as a boy,’ he said forcefully, turning to her. They were very close, and he might have thought that his height, his looming presence, would have intimidated her, obliged her to give ground and back away from him, but quite clearly it didn’t. She tilted up her golden head and met his gaze boldly. There were sparkling gold flecks in her blue eyes, he saw – they hadn’t been so close before for more than a second or two, and so he’d had no chance to observe them.
‘That’s a patently ridiculous statement,’ she said. ‘Obviously I can, and I will. It is quite providential that my hair is short, not long like Maria’s. I am sure that nothing could be easier or more convenient. I have done so frequently at home – not disguised myself, precisely, for I intended no deception, but put on breeches and ridden, or climbed trees, when I was younger, with… with a friend of mine. I am sure there are a great number of my half-brother’s clothes put away somewhere in the attics, and I shouldn’t wonder if they fit me well enough for a brief outing in the dark; if there isn’t anything suitable, I’ll borrow something from one of the servants. I am sure once you reflect a little you can have no rational objection to my plan.’
He couldn’t make her see that what she was proposing was insanely dangerous, and yet he must. He reached out, scarcely knowing what he was doing, and took her firmly by the shoulders, his gloved hands grasping the green velvet of her pelisse.
Still she did not pull away from him. He’d been intending to try again, now that he was holding her and making her attend to him, to find new and better words to persuade her of the folly of what she was contemplating. But whatever he had been about to say died on his lips.
He’d never kissed her sister, nor touched her in this disturbingly intimate fashion. He’d kissed her cold hand, he supposed – he must have done that in common politeness, when he took his leave of her after she’d accepted his proposal of marriage. But he hadn’t kissed her cheek – hadn’t at all wanted to – and certainly not her lips.
Meg’s lips, though, were slightly parted, and looked soft, warm and infinitely inviting. They were tantalisingly close. It would be no effort at all to bend his head a little and taste them. He’d been so angry with her, but he wasn’t any more. Anger had been overwhelmed by quite another, much more powerful emotion. He’d just now admitted something to his conscious mind that his body must have known for days. Since they’d first met. A shocking thing.
