Behind the Rake's Wicked Wager(13)

He sent his valet off to make discreet enquiries about Miss Prentess. Peters was a loyal, intelligent employee who had proved his worth over the years in ferreting out secrets others would prefer to keep hidden. But on this occasion he was unsuccessful.

‘No one will say a word against the lady,’ he reported back. ‘The men know nothing, and the women—the maidservants I have spoken with—they have nothing but praise for her.’ The valet shook his head. ‘Odd, very odd, if you asks me, m’lord. There’s usually some juicy gossip to be had.’ He coughed. ‘There was one thing, though.’

‘Yes?’

‘Friday morning, my lord. You asked me to lay out your riding dress because you was going riding with Mr Barnabus, but then you had a message from the young gentleman, sir, saying as how he was indisposed.’

‘Yes, I remember that,’ said Jasper, a touch impatiently. ‘What of it?’

Peters fixed his eyes on some spot on the wall and said woodenly, ‘I saw him walking with Miss Prentess that self-same morning. They was in Henrietta Street. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, and wouldn’t have mentioned it, only you wanted to know about the young lady, and I thought that mighty odd...’

Yes, very odd indeed, thought Jasper, and when he had tackled Gerald, his cousin looked sheepish and laughed it off.

‘Oh, well, you know how it is, cos,’ he said. ‘I thought you’d be a trifle vexed if you knew why I had cried off, but Miss Prentess asked me particularly to come with her.’

Gerald apologised and they left it at that, but Jasper didn’t like to think his cousin was keeping secrets from him, and even less did he like the thought that Susannah was encouraging him to do so.

Jasper had even taken to walking out every morning and keeping a watch for Miss Prentess’s carriage. He had been rewarded just once, on a misty morning when he saw the vehicle bowling along Horse Street. He had quickened his pace and was just in time to see it sweep across the bridge and turn on to the Wells Road. He did not know if Miss Prentess was inside on that occasion, nor did he have any idea of its destination. All he knew was that both Miss Prentess and her aunt were in Bath for the concert the same evening.

He had seen her almost as soon as he entered the Assembly Rooms. Her gown of kingfisher-blue satin was an unusual choice for an unmarried lady, but he had to admit it suited her, contrasting with the gleaming golden curls piled around her head. He tried to approach her at the interval, but she was at the centre of a crowd and not all Jasper’s considerable address could separate Miss Prentess from her friends and admirers. Instead he escorted Mrs Wilby out of the concert room in search of refreshment.

‘We have not seen you since the afternoon at Royal Crescent,’ she remarked, encouraged to speak by his silence.

‘No, I have been rather busy,’ he handed her a glass of wine. ‘I thought I saw Miss Prentess, however. Early this morning, heading out of Bath.’

If he had not been watching closely he would have missed the slight tremor of the widow’s hand as she held the wine to her lips. Her answer, when it came, was composed.

‘You are mistaken, my lord. That was merely our carriage, going off to collect provisions.’

‘You send your servants in your own carriage, ma’am? Is that not rather extravagant? How far do they have to travel?’ He added helpfully, ‘I saw it heading off on the Wells Road.’

The hunted look in the widow’s eyes convinced him he was on to something.

‘N-not far, but the vegetables are so much better, you know, from out of town.’ Her fan fluttered nervously. ‘We should be going back, my lord. The concert will be starting again soon and I do so dislike latecomers...’

He escorted her back to her seat and as soon as he moved away she had her head close to her niece and was talking animatedly. Jasper stood watching, until Susannah looked up and met his eyes. Her face was impassive but he was close enough to read a frown in her clear gaze. He smiled and inclined his head, but she immediately looked away, and when the concert ended she whisked her aunt out of the building before he could approach them.

* * *

‘If mine was a suspicious nature I should say Miss Prentess was avoiding me,’ he murmured, thinking back to that concert as he strode along High Street a few days later. It was Tuesday. Gerald was intent upon going to Royal Crescent that evening and Jasper could offer no good reason why he should not do so. ‘Well, I shall accompany Gerald this evening. She can hardly avoid me in her own drawing room.’

A familiar figure on the other side of the road caught his eye.

‘Charles!’ As the man stopped, Jasper crossed the road to greet him. ‘What the devil are you doing in Bath?’

‘I might ask you the same thing,’ retorted Charles Camerton, taking Jasper’s hand in a friendly grip.

‘Family matters,’ said Jasper vaguely. ‘Are you staying at the York or the Christopher?’

‘Devil a bit, they are too far above my touch,’ replied Charles. ‘I am at the White Hart. I have been visiting my godmother in Radstock. Doing the pretty, you know, in the hopes that she will die soon and leave me her fortune.’

Since Jasper knew Charles to be very fond of his godmother, he grinned at this.

‘Then what are you doing in Bath?’ he asked again.

‘She thinks that a treatment at the hot baths will do her good. I am here to seek out lodgings for her.’ He glanced up at the lowering sky. ‘Although I have persuaded her she should not attempt the journey for another month at least. We are barely out of February and it looks like snow is on the way.’

‘So you are here for a few days?’ Jasper said, an idea growing in his mind. ‘Will you dine with me this evening?’

‘With pleasure,’ returned Charles, promptly. ‘There is little else to do in a watering place populated by the old and the infirm.’

Jasper smiled. ‘Oh, I think I can find you some entertainment. You are fond of cards, I believe...’

* * *

‘Miss Prentess!’

Susannah gave her hand to Gerald and he raised it to his lips.

‘Welcome, sir.’ She looked behind him. ‘You are alone?’

‘Yes. I am sorry I missed your last party.’

She smiled at him as she gently withdrew her fingers from his grasp.

‘I do not expect you to attend us every week.’

‘But I like to come.’ He glanced around the drawing room and lowered his voice. ‘I like to help where I can, Susannah, which is why I was so pleased you allowed me to escort you to see Odesse the other day.’

‘I hope your mama will like the lace you ordered for her.’

‘I am sure she will, and if she tells her friends that may bring in more orders.’

Susannah smiled at him.

‘It may indeed. You see, you have been a great help, Mr Barnabus—’

‘Gerald,’ he corrected her. ‘Are we not friends enough now to dispense with formalities?’

‘Gerald, then.’ She shook off the twinge of guilt at allowing such familiarity. She had made it plain they could only ever be friends, after all. Then, hating herself for succumbing, she asked the question that had been in her mind ever since he arrived. ‘Has Lord Markham left Bath?’

‘No, he is still here and means to look in presently. But enough of this. Are you free? Will you play picquet with me?’

She shook her head.

‘You know you always lose.’

‘Tonight I feel lucky,’ he declared. ‘And I have improved vastly since we last played. Mrs Logan said so.’

She laughed at that.

‘Very well, then, but do not expect me to hold back. I shall show you no mercy!’

* * *

In the event, mercy was not necessary. Susannah had chosen a table where she could watch the door, and such was her distraction that Gerald won the first game. The second was closer, but the entrance of more visitors caused her to lose track of the discards and she was defeated again.

‘I told you I had improved,’ chortled Gerald, sweeping the coins from the table.

‘You are very right,’ agreed Susannah, getting up. ‘But perhaps you will oblige me by taking your winnings to the loo table and giving my aunt a chance to recoup.’

With a smile she excused herself, glancing at the clock. It was gone ten, there would be very few visitors arriving now. Even as she thought this the door opened and Lord Markham walked in. His appearance made her spirits leap most shamefully. Susannah could not deny that she had been looking out for him, as she had done in vain the previous week. He might be suspicious of her, and cause her nerves to flutter alarmingly, but any party where he was not present was an insipid affair. When she had seen him at the concert she had wanted so much to speak to him, but Aunt Maude had warned her that he had asked awkward questions, and she knew it would be folly to linger and risk further interrogation. All such thoughts were bundled into the back of her mind now as she moved forwards to greet him, wondering why it was that he was not charmed by her smile like every other man in the room.