A Stranger at Castonbury(25)
‘Yes. I—I did it all myself,’ she said. But Jamie saw her eyes flicker, her shoulders tense. The baby frowned and fidgeted.
‘I don’t believe you. Tell me what happened, the truth, and I can help you and your son. But if you don’t there is nothing I can do for you and no place where you can hide from me.’
Alicia turned away to put the child back down on the settee and handed him one of his blocks. Jamie gave her the moment to think, and when she faced him again she nodded.
‘There—there was someone who helped me,’ she said slowly. ‘A friend.’
‘He was not much of a friend if he led you into such a crime,’ Jamie said. ‘And now he appears to have abandoned you here. Unless he is hidden in that cupboard over there.’
‘No. He is gone. I don’t know where he went, and I...’ Alicia broke off on a choked sob. ‘He said he knew what to do, how to make all this come out right.’
‘Who is it?’
Alicia bit her lip as the tears spilled from her eyes. ‘Captain Hugh Webster. You remember him from Spain? He gave me your ring, he told me what to do.’
Webster. Jamie shook his head. He should have known. He remembered playing cards with Webster in Spain. Everyone suspected the man of cheating but no one could prove it. He had always made Jamie feel uneasy in his presence, and now he knew why.
The way the man had stared at Catalina, which had made Jamie want to call the man out, should have been the only clue he needed to tell him the man was untrustworthy.
‘Of course. Webster,’ Jamie said. ‘And now he has fled to leave you to take his punishment.’
Alicia sat down beside her son, sobbing. ‘What will happen to my Crispin now? I know I should not have listened to Webster, I should never have...’
‘I will help you, Alicia, if you will help me,’ Jamie said. Despite himself he was moved by her tears, by the child clinging to her.
‘I would do anything I could to help you, Lord Hatherton, I swear it,’ Alicia answered hoarsely. ‘But what can I do?’
‘You are going to help me find Webster,’ Jamie said. He thought of everything his family had been through, he thought of what the strain had done to his father. He could scarcely believe the difference between the strong and formidable man he had said goodbye to and the frail shadow he had come home to. He thought of Giles, taking on a responsibility he had never wanted, having to contend with this false claim under the burden of the failing family finances. He thought of his sisters and what they must have gone through with all the uncertainty. And he thought of his brother Harry, who had come all the way to Seville to find out the truth, of all the hardships he had encountered on his journey. He knew that he bore some responsibility for that, but this man Webster, he must be made to pay. And Jamie knew just how to do it. He would find Webster, and then he would kill him....
Chapter Seven
‘Do you think there will be handsome young men at this party, Mrs Moreno?’
Catalina wanted to smile at Lydia Westman’s shyly eager words. It was very hard to keep a stern governess demeanour in the face of the girl’s enthusiasm, but sternness had to be maintained. Catalina had learned that after weeks of being practically alone with the girl in the countryside before being summoned to this wedding. Lydia was a romantic young lady with a great fondness for horrid novels about ghosts and crumbling castles and lost loves, and she was rather eager to find out what it was like to fall in love herself. Catalina had not been with her very long at all, only a matter of weeks, but she had grown fond of the girl. And she had seen right away that her first task would be to make sure Lydia employed a bit of sense in who she chose to marry.
Unlike Catalina herself, who had thought nothing of throwing herself headlong into wild wartime romance—and paid the price with her heart, which was now locked safely away.
‘I am sure there will be,’ Catalina said, bracing herself as the carriage jounced over another rut in the road. Lydia didn’t seem to notice, as she had been buried in her latest volume of romantic poetry for several miles, leaving Catalina to her own thoughts. ‘It is a wedding, after all. I’m sure the bridegroom has many young relatives and friends.’
‘And a wedding in a great family!’ Lydia said with a sigh. ‘I can’t believe I have never met them before, even though the duchess was my mother’s cousin. My friend Miss Crompton told me the Montagues are said to be most peculiar. Do you suppose that means there is madness in the family? I have never met a real mad person before. It should be most interesting, don’t you think, Mrs Moreno?’