The Countess (Madison Sisters #1)(21)
Author: Lynsay Sands

Approaching the sofa and chairs around the tea tray, he cleared his throat and started. "Ladies, I – "

"Oh, Richard, Suzette was just tel ing us that Daniel has agreed to her proposal.

They are going to Gretna Green." Christiana beamed as she made the announcement.

"Yes." Richard smiled back. "In fact, I thought we might accompany them and – "

his gaze slid to Suzette and Lisa before he continued, " – renew our own vows. It could be a fresh start for us."

"Oh, how romantic," Lisa breathed and grabbed for Christiana’s hands to squeeze them excitedly. "Isn’t that wonderful, Chrissy? That’s so wonderful,"

she hugged her and then pul ed back to ask, "When do we leave?"

"Now. This afternoon, as soon as I have – "

"No." It wasn’t Christiana that said it, but al three sisters together, reacting with the same horror they’d had to his arrival at the bal last night.

"Er . . ." Richard glanced toward Daniel and Langley, but they were both apparently content to stay out of this.

"We cannot possibly pack and prepare for a journey that quickly," Christiana said reasonably, drawing his attention back to the girls. "Why, we shal be lucky to manage it by morning. It wil have to be tomorrow, and then only if we start right away."

Suzette and Lisa nodded agreement and rose, apparently ready to rush off at once. Richard stopped them by raising a hand.

"Now, wait. There is no need to panic. We can manage it today. You needn’t pack much, just one change of clothes, we – "

"One change of clothes?" Christiana echoed with dismay. "Richard, it is at least a two day ride from here to York by carriage and Gretna Green must be another day or day and a half after that. We cannot manage with one change of clothes."

"We can make Gretna Green in two days if we ride straight through only stopping to change horses," he assured her gently. "And since we wil not be stopping either way there is no need to don fresh clothes except when we can actual y stop and bathe at an inn in Gretna Green. Besides, I want to take only the one carriage. There would be no room for wardrobes for the six of us and – "

"The six of us?" Lisa squawked. "What about our maids?"

"Lisa is right. We need our maids. I intend to look nice at my wedding and my maid Georgina is the only one who knows how I like to wear my hair. No, your plans just wil not do," Suzette said firmly.

"Christiana and Lisa could help you with your hair," Richard pointed out desperately.

Christiana clucked her tongue impatiently. "Even if we agreed to forgo taking our maids, you cannot expect us to ride for two straight days and nights there and then two more back, the six of us crammed into one tiny carriage. How do you expect us to sleep jostling about in a tiny, cramped carriage with you three large men? No, we shal have to stop each night to rest."

Lisa and Suzette nodded, and then Lisa added, "We shal need at least two carriages, preferably three if we are taking the maids. And we definitely need more than one change of clothes. Let me see, if we stop each night the journey shal likely take four days and three nights there and the same back

. . . We need at least eight outfits each, and then there are night clothes and shoes and –  Oh, we real y need to get started if we want to get any sleep at al tonight."

"You are right." Christiana stood and headed for the door. "You two go on up and start choosing what you wish to take. I shal find our maids and join you directly."

Richard stared after Christiana and her sisters as they hurried from the room chattering away. He real y had thought she’d be as eager to get to Gretna Green and legalize their marriage as he was. He was sure she’d enjoyed last night as much as he and would be eager to be able to do it again. It seemed, however, that he hadn’t a clue when it came to Christiana. It also looked as if he would be sleeping in the guest bedroom tonight . . . alone.

"I did warn you," Langley said dryly once it was just the three of them. "You should have listened. I have known them al my life, after al ."

"Yes, you have," Richard agreed, turning on him. "And while the women are packing, you can tel us everything you’ve learned about them in that time."

Chapter Twelve

I do not know how you can do that with the carriage bouncing about as it is."

Christiana glanced up from her embroidery at Richard’s words and smiled wryly.

The truth was she was poking her fingers more than the cloth and the stitches she had managed would have to be ripped out and done over again anyway, they were such a mess, but it helped pass the time and distracted her from the fact that she was shut up al alone in a carriage with Richard. In the end, the men had agreed to take three carriages for this trip to Gretna Green. Each man had contributed one. The maids rode in Langley’s carriage at the back of their little procession, she and Richard rode in the Radnor carriage at the front and Suzette, Lisa, Langley and Daniel al rode in the Woodrow carriage in the middle. It seemed an unfair distribution of their party to Christiana and she would have preferred at least one more person in the carriage with her and Richard to act as a buffer, but when Daniel had suggested he and Suzette needed a chaperone in their own carriage for the journey, Langley had volunteered and Lisa had insisted on joining them. Apparently, none of them considered that Christiana and Richard were not yet properly wed and should also have a chaperone.

Of course, her sisters stil had no idea Richard was Richard and Dicky had actual y been George and she wasn’t legal y either man’s wife. But the men knew it.

Obviously, they weren’t as concerned for her reputation as she was. But then Christiana supposed she had little reputation to save after the night she had spent with Richard when she’d stil thought him her husband. Despite that, she was determined to behave as she’d been raised to and not make the mistake of sleeping with Richard again until they were legal y wed. The problem was, she real y wanted to. Temptation was an awful thing, she decided.

"It helps me pass the time," she said final y in answer to his comment.

"Hmm." Richard peered out the window at the passing scenery. "It is a long journey."

"Made longer by our insistence on three carriages and stopping at night," she suggested gently. "I am sorry about that."

"No." He smiled wryly. "Now that we are on the road I am grateful you ladies insisted on it. I am already looking forward to getting out and stretching my legs. And sleeping tonight in something that isn’t bouncing up and down wil be nice."

Christiana murmured agreement and struggled on with her efforts at embroidery.

"Have you been to Radnor?" he asked suddenly. "Has George taken you there since you married?"

Christiana lowered her embroidery to her lap and smiled wryly. "We stopped there for a night on the way to London after the wedding, but it was only a brief stop.

We arrived after dark and left at first light so I didn’t get to see much."

"The wedding was at your father’s home?" he asked.

Christiana nodded.

Richard peered at her silently for a moment and then said, "I was surprised neither yourself nor your sisters suggested col ecting your father on the way. I would have thought you’d want him to attend your weddings."

Christiana sighed and stabbed her needle into the cloth, set it down and admitted, "I considered it, but Suzette was so angry at Father for gambling again and forcing her to marry so abruptly that . . ." She shook her head unhappily. "I just thought it better not to even bring up the subject."

"And you? Are you angry too? If not for the first round of gambling you would never have had to marry George."

"I didn’t have to marry him," Christiana said quietly. "Had I seen through him and refused his troth Father would have supported me in my decision. Marrying Dicky was my choice. He wooed me, I believed his lies sincere and made the wrong choice."

"What other choice was there?" he asked.

"What Suzette is doing now, I suppose," she said with a shrug. "Find myself a man in need of money and strike a deal with him."

He frowned slightly and then commented, "Christiana, you have a tendency to take responsibility in every situation . . . even when it is not yours to take."

When she started to protest, he pointed out, "You understand why Suzette is angry, but don’t claim that anger for yourself for being forced to marry Dicky when if the gambling hadn’t happened the first time you never would have been forced to make the decision at al ."

"But – "

"And then while talking to Grace, you tried to take responsibility for our night together when it was whol y my fault."

"I was a party to it," she said blushing and lowering her head with embarrassment. It was the first time they’d spoken of that passionate night. "I am the one who started stripping you and set the whole thing in motion."

"And you thought I was your legal husband while I knew we weren’t legal y wed,"

he pointed out quietly. "That night was my fault. As a gentleman I should have brought a halt to things."

"Yes, wel . . ." She sighed, terribly uncomfortable with the conversation and not sure what to say.

"I bet you have spent a good deal of this last year trying to figure out what was wrong with you or what you had done to make George treat you the way he did,"

Richard murmured.

Christiana turned to peer unhappily out the window. She had spent the last year trying to work that out and trying to figure a way to fix things and bring back the sweet, complimentary man who had courted her.

"I hope you realize now it wasn’t you," he said gently. "George would have treated you poorly no matter who you were. He treated everyone that way."

"I suppose," she murmured, peering down at her embroidery again.

Richard sighed, a sound that struck her as slightly exasperated, but he let that subject go and instead said, "While I understand why you and Suzette would be angry with your father, I think it may be undeserved."

She raised her eyebrows in question. "Oh?"

"Do you know how the first losses happened?" he asked.

Christiana shook her head. "Al I know is Father went to town to meet with his solicitor about estate business and came back several days late, terribly upset. It took some effort to get him to tel us what was wrong, and then he final y confessed he’d somehow wound up at a gaming hel and gambled us into debt and that the owner of the gaming hel was demanding payment and while he’d managed to pay some of it, he just didn’t have the money to pay the rest. We were al upset and trying to work out a way to get the money when Dicky showed up to save the day."

"How did he know to save the day?"

Christiana blinked at the question. "What?"

"You said Dicky showed up to save the day," Richard pointed out. "How did he know the day needed saving?"

"Oh." She frowned. "Wel , I didn’t mean that he knew about it when he arrived. It was just a grand coincidence, or at least I think it was. I’m not sure about anything now, but at the time it seemed coincidence, and I just assumed that Father told him of his troubles while they talked and Dicky offered to pay his remaining debt to sweeten his offer of marriage."

"Hmm," Richard’s mouth thinned out, and then he said, "Wel , Daniel and I suspect Dicky had something to do with getting your father to the gaming hel in the first place that time too."

"You do?" she asked with surprise. "Why?"

"Because there are rumors in town that the Earl of Radnor has become friendly with a certain owner of a gaming hel where it’s suspected the players are drugged and fleeced. I believe it’s the same gaming hel where your father lost his money. And it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that George had taken your father there both times."

He frowned and added, "I shal ask your father about that on our return. If I’d been thinking clearly I would have done it yesterday."

Christiana stared at Richard blankly, and then blurted, "But why? Why would he do such a thing?"

"Wel , if he did it the first time, it was probably to force an opportunity to marry you and get his hands on your dower," he said apologetical y.

"But no one knows about it."

"Langley does," he pointed out.

"He’s like family. Robert wouldn’t tel anyone," she assured him firmly.

"While I knew him as a child, I don’t know him as a man yet, so I wil trust your judgment on that," he said and then asked, "Who else knows?"

She frowned. "No one. Robert only knows because we were playing in the attic when the lawyers visited and there is a spot where you can hear what is said in Father’s office."

Richard was silent for a moment and then asked, "Who is your father’s lawyer?"

"An older gentleman with a funny moustache . . . I believe his name is Buttersworth," she said after a moment’s thought.

"Ah." Richard, said with understanding and sat back in his seat. "John Buttersworth Junior has been a friend of George’s since school."

"You think his father told him about my grandfather’s wil ?"

"He wouldn’t have to. John Junior works with his father now. The plan is for him to take over his father’s clients when the time comes."

Christiana scowled at this news. "So you think that John Junior told Dicky about our dowers and that he deliberately took Father to the gaming hel both times to be drugged so that he’d gamble when he wouldn’t normal y?"

"Your father isn’t a gambler?" Richard asked.

She shook her head. "He’d never gambled before in his life until that one time last year. And then he didn’t gamble again until now. Father is more a stayat-home type. He works the estate and spends the evenings dining with friends in the area or reading by the fire. Even when he had to travel into the city to see his lawyer or manage other business, he was more likely to stay in than go out, and then it was only to stop at the club for a drink and catch up with to see his lawyer or manage other business, he was more likely to stay in than go out, and then it was only to stop at the club for a drink and catch up with old friends. That’s why it was so shocking and upsetting when we learned he’d gambled and so deeply."