Mary Nichols – The Captain's Kidnapped Beauty (страница 9)
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Alex arrived at Long Acre promptly at noon where he found his new carriage had already been harnessed to a splendid pair of matched greys. It was a matter of a moment to transfer his baggage from the handcart he had hired into the boot of the carriage with the aid of the young lad who had pushed it there. He tipped the boy generously and sent him on his way before carefully inspecting the whole equipage, watched by Davy who had been brought along to drive it.
‘It meets with your approval?’ Henry queried after showing him the secret compartment.
‘Most certainly. What say you, Davy?’
‘As fine an outfit as ever you could meet, my … Captain,’ he amended, catching a warning look from his master.
‘Then let us go into the office and complete the transaction,’ Henry said.
Alex followed Henry into the office where Charlotte sat at her desk. She was in the plain gown she had worn the day before, her hair was once more dragged back severely into a knot. Miss Gilpin at work was very different from Miss Gilpin at a concert. One was severely dressed in plainspun cloth with the minimum of padding, the other as elegant as any of the ladies of the
She bade him good morning as if it were the first time they had met that day and he felt obliged to play along with that, asking her how she did and if she had enjoyed the concert the evening before. He was bidden to be seated while she completed the invoice. He watched her as her pen glided over the paper. She seemed composed, the ultimate businesswoman, but he noticed her hand shook a little and realised she was not impervious to him. Why that pleased him he did not know. She was most definitely out of bounds and the episode in Hyde Park was an aberration and he must not continue to dwell on it.
The horses, he discovered, when she handed him the invoice, cost as much as the coach, but he did not doubt they were worth it. Nor did he doubt that Gilpin had made more than a fair profit, but he did not begrudge him that. He was prepared to pay for quality, as so many others were, a fact testified by the man’s success. Altogether his bill came to two hundred and forty pounds ten shillings. He filled in the full amount on the bill of exchange and gave it to Miss Gilpin, receiving a neat receipt.
Henry had been to a cupboard and extracted a bottle and two glasses. ‘Will you join me in a drink to celebrate?’ he said, pouring cognac. The man seemed utterly unaware of the dangerous currents passing between his customer and his daughter.
Alex took a glass of brandy from him and they stood toasting each other, watched by Charlotte, who found herself studying him again. Although he had changed his clothes, he was still wearing dark blue and white, but far from making him look sombre it emphasised his magnificent physique. She felt herself unwittingly remembering how she had stood enveloped in his arms and how warm and comfortable it had been and, afraid her rosy cheeks would betray her, hurriedly looked away.
His glass empty, Alex put it down, bowed to them both and took his leave, having promised to bring the coach back for servicing when it required it.
Davy was already on the box ready to drive off. ‘Right, off to Briarcroft,’ he told him. ‘We will call on my mother first.’
Charlotte watched him go from the window, conscious of a feeling of anticlimax, of wishing she knew more about him. He had an air of aloofness and a cynicism that sat ill with his courtesy and compassion. He had ridden hard to save her from those men, then berated her for riding alone, as if it was any business of his. Just what was his business? She knew he was a seafaring captain and belonged to the Piccadilly Gentlemen, but that was all. He had vouchsafed nothing about his family. For all she knew he was married and had a brood of children. Would a man buying a travelling coach not include a wife in the transaction, if only by mentioning her tastes? He had done nothing like that. And he had arrived at Lady Milgrove’s with Viscount Leinster when she would have expected him to bring his wife if he had one. But perhaps the wife lived in Norfolk and did not like town ways. What, she told herself sternly, had it got to do with her? She turned away from the window to answer a knock at the door. In answer to her ‘Enter’, a man in working garb and clutching a soft felt hat in his hand came in to stand before her.
He bowed his head. ‘Miss Gilpin, I am Martin Grosswaite, here as promised. What would you like me to do?’ He did not, as she expected, ask to see her father who was in the paint shop, where the artist they employed was about to begin putting a coat of arms on a chaise before it was varnished. She surmised her father had told him to speak to her.
She entered his particulars in the register she kept for employees and then conducted him to the upper floor to be introduced to the head carpenter and set to work. Then she went thoughtfully back to her office. Martin Grosswaite had been perfectly polite and had answered her questions in a straightforward manner, but there was something about him that troubled her. It might have been his craggy face, but she was not one to be disturbed by ill looks, or it might have been his pale eyes, which darted about as he spoke and never once looked directly at her. It made her feel uncomfortable.
She shook her foolish thoughts from her; he had been nervous and anxious to please, that was all, and if he did not please it was easy enough to dismiss him. And with that thought she sat down at her desk and pulled the sales ledger towards her.
Chapter Three
‘Alex! I had not expected you.’ Mrs Carstairs greeted her son with a huge smile of pleasure and rushed across the drawing room to reach up and put her arms about his broad shoulders. ‘I thought you had gone to Norfolk.’
‘I shall go tomorrow, Mama. It is only a few miles out of my way to call here first.’ He bent to kiss her cheek. ‘I wondered if you might like to come with me. I have no notion what to expect when I get to Foxlees, a welcome or otherwise, and should be glad of your advice when it comes to household matters.’ Seeing her hesitate, he paused. ‘Are you engaged for the next week or so? If so, it is of no consequence, I can go alone.’
‘Nothing that cannot be put off. Oh, Alex, I should dearly like to see Foxlees. But how shall we travel? My carriage is not up to so long a journey.’
‘I have bought a chaise and a pair of fine horses to pull it. We shall travel very comfortably.’
‘Oh, I shall like that above everything.’ She clapped her gloved hands in delight. She was a tiny woman, a little plump, made more so by the stuffing she wore on her hips and the flounces on her sleeves. She looked frail, but her looks deceived; she had been used to travelling backwards and forwards to India with her late husband and thought nothing of rough seas and sweltering heat. A carriage ride into Norfolk would certainly not put her in a quake. She hurried away to give instructions for her bags to be packed, Alex’s bed to be made up and supper to be served for two.
Over the meal she demanded to know what he had been up to in town.
‘Nothing of any note, Mama. I finalised my inheritance with my uncle’s lawyer, attended a meeting of the Piccadilly Gentleman’s Club and I went to Gilpin’s to buy a carriage. Do you know the business is half-run by Gilpin’s daughter? I was quite taken aback when she insisted on seeing to my needs herself.’
‘I hope you were not gulled.’
‘Gulled by a slip of a girl, Mama, how can you think it? I inspected the vehicle very carefully before agreeing to buy it. It was dear, but I think worth it. Gilpin’s has an excellent reputation for quality.’
‘Did you not go to any dances or routs where you might meet people of the
‘I went to a concert with Leinster in aid of the Foundling Hospital.’
‘Pah! You will not find a bride doing that.’
‘Mama, I am not looking for a bride.’
‘How can you say so? Alex, you are a marquis now, not a roving sea captain, and it behoves you to wed and start a family. I should very much like grandchildren.’
‘There is plenty of time for that.’
‘I do believe you are still pining for that minx, Letitia.’
‘No, Mama, I am not.’ It was said firmly and brooked no argument.
‘There is no point in any case,’ she went on, determined to have the last word. ‘I had heard that the Earl of Falsham is now a widower and looking for a second wife.’
This was news to Alex and he spent a silent moment or two contemplating it and wondering why he felt nothing more than sorrow that a young life should have been lost. ‘I am sorry for that,’ he said. ‘Do you know how the Countess died?’
‘Giving birth to a daughter, so I heard. The Earl was said to be very vexed that the child was not a son. I heard he had gone abroad to escape his creditors.’
‘It is my opinion that there is too much importance put on begetting heirs,’ he said, glad that he would not have to encounter the gentleman. ‘I hope I should not be vexed if my wife produced a daughter and not a son. I should be happy if they were both healthy.’