Page 73 of A Lady's Guide to Scandal

‘No, I’m not,’ she said mulishly. ‘I don’t have to do what you tell me.’

‘I am here,’ he said – gathering some last vestiges of his patience from the very bottom of his soul – ‘on your sister’s behalf. Had you thought how this would worry her?’

‘As if she would care!’ Cecy said, standing, her whole body trembling. She was taking to dramatics beautifully. ‘All she cares about is parties and flirting and a-and—’

‘And solving your family’s financial troubles so that you have somewhere to live?’ he suggested.

She deflated, looking suddenly more like the lost child she was.

‘I could not think what else there was to do,’ she said miserably. ‘She can be so hard to talk to sometimes – I did try.’

‘Come,’ he said gently, softening in the face of her distress. ‘I think it best you try speaking to her again. You can return to London in my carriage, with your maid by your side. Montagu will remain here, to attach no whisper of impropriety to your name. No one need ever know.’

Cecily nodded, tremulously. This agreed, Radcliffe left to procure her some hot tea while they waited for the carriage. He walked almost immediately into Montagu, who was hovering by the door and looked to have gathered back some of his gumption.

‘I say!’ he said loudly. ‘You can’t just take her – you might be a kidnapper for all I know! An abductor! I won’t stand for it, you hear!’

‘Keep your voice down,’ Radcliffe said softly, but with a sharp bite. ‘You have already almost caused irreparable harm to that young lady’s reputation; do not make things worse now. Now, listen to me. Listen. You are to stay here tonight – get yourself a room – and you are not to breathe a word of Miss Talbot’s presence here. You will tell people you were on your way to see a family member, when your carriage was damaged. I do not want a whisper of scandal to be attached to her name, do you hear me?’

Montagu swallowed, gulped back a retort, then nodded too. His dramatically tall pomade drooped upon his head.

‘I love her,’ he said, simply. ‘I don’t want anything bad to happen to her, ever.’

‘Then be glad I got here when I did,’ Radcliffe told him. ‘Now off you go.’

Lawrence was less than an hour behind, in the end. He must have been driving like the devil to manage it, but he supervised the changing of the horses with no sign of fatigue. They would have to leave Radcliffe’s horses here, at the inn, to rest, which Radcliffe knew did not sit well with Lawrence – and indeed, his eyes and tongue were equally critical as he lectured the stablehand on the horses’ care.

‘I’ll be back tomorrow,’ Lawrence stressed. ‘Once they’ve had a chance to rest. So don’t be lending ours out – they cost more than your life,’ he threatened.

‘That’s enough, Lawrence,’ Radcliffe said gently. ‘Remember it is they who are doing us a favour.’

‘Hmph,’ was all Lawrence said.

Radcliffe handed Miss Cecily into the carriage, followed by Sally.

‘I’d get in yourself too, my lord,’ Lawrence directed. ‘No point us both getting cold,’ he said cheerfully.

His own bay would also be left to rest with his carriage horses – and the inn did not have another to spare. And truth be told, Radcliffe was quite glad to have the chance to rid the chill from his bones. ‘I owe you a thousand favours,’ he told Lawrence.

‘I’ll accept a raise,’ Lawrence retorted cheerfully.

Inside the carriage, Miss Cecily fell into an uneasy slumber, while Sally looked out of the window into the dark, wide awake.

‘We’re lucky she didn’t get hurt,’ she said into the quiet. ‘I’ll be glad to get her home in one piece.’

‘You’ve gone above and beyond today, Sally,’ Radcliffe said, fighting an urge to yawn. ‘You have my thanks – and I’m sure Miss Talbot’s too.’

Sally nodded.

‘Why did you come to me?’ he asked, curiously. ‘I think you did the right thing, but why was I your first option?’

‘Well, I couldn’t get to Miss Kitty in time – although she would have solved everything in a trice you know,’ she said in a confessional aside. Radcliffe thought with some acerbity that he was not sure how Miss Kitty would have solved it any better than he had, but controlled the impulse to vocalise this.

‘And she trusts you,’ Sally finished. She looked at him narrowly. ‘Reckon she trusts you a lot, in truth.’

As soon as they left the house, as if by prearranged signal, Archie, Hinsley and Kitty began to run. There was no sound of pursuit, but they raced down the path nonetheless, feet flying over rock and stone. They raced through the gate, squeezed themselves three abreast into the curricle, and Hinsley drove the horses off at once. By the time they turned the first corner they were riding at quite ten miles an hour.

‘What was that?’ Hinsley demanded. ‘I told you to stay in the carriage!’