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TESSA HARDLY SLEPT at all that night. She had hoped now her debut was behind her and she was officially out, she'd be accorded more of the freedom she so desperately craved. Instead, by assisting Deirdre to run away tonight, she feared she had further imprisoned herself.
It was almost morning before she finally drifted off to sleep and barely a quarter hour later when she was quite rudely awakened.
"Miss Darby!"
The sound of a deep male voice calling to her penetrated her consciousness. Tessa at once recognized it to be Lord Penwyck. That he sounded inordinately angry sent a sharp pang of fear racing through her.
"Miss Darby!" The insistent summons was punctuated by a loud rapping at her bedchamber door.
Flinging back the coverlet, Tessa drove her toes into her slippers and snatched up her wrapper, which she shrugged into as she scampered across the room.
Opening the door a crack, she aimed a wide-eyed gaze upward.
"W-what is it?" she asked innocently.
"Deirdre's father is belowstairs," Lord Penwyck replied curtly. "He wishes to speak with you."
"Oh." It was more of a squeak really. "I-I'll just be a . . . "
"At once, Miss Darby!" the irate earl commanded.
Tessa attempted to gulp down the huge lump of anxiety in her throat as she flung open the door and fell in beside the outraged earl. Clutching at the loose edges of her cotton wrapper, she nervously fumbled with the ties in an attempt to secure the garment across her nearly naked breasts.
"Montgomery declares his daughter has taken flight," Lord Penwyck informed Tessa as the two hurried to the stairs. "He fears she and her . . . ahem . . . young man have run away to be married. He is convinced you know who the fellow is and something of the couple's whereabouts."
Tessa's breath was coming in fits and starts. From the corner of one eye, she saw Lord Penwyck cast a sidelong look at her half-exposed bosom. The effrontery of the man only added to her upset. No doubt he would now chastise her for appearing abroad in so shameless a state.
"I would have dressed had you accorded me the time!" she snapped, in answer to his imagined rebuke.
A dark brow quirked. "We are all of us in a state of undress, Miss Darby. I doubt anyone will especially remark upon your . . . choice of apparel." The gentleman sniffed piously. "Miss Montgomery's disappearance is quite a serious matter. The girl has succeeded in ruining herself. The scandal will not only follow her the rest of her days, it will also adversely affect her family. She has behaved in quite a foolhardy manner."
Tessa had no time to defend her friend, for the very second Mr. Montgomery and Lady Penwyck heard the earl's deep voice in the corridor, the angry man, with an anxious Lady Penwyck close on his heels, rushed into the foyer to meet them.
Tessa blanched at the sight of Mr. Montgomery's face. He was quite a large man with piercing black eyes. When he spoke, his brusque manner put Tessa in mind of her fearsome stepfather.
"What do you know of my daughter's whereabouts?" Mr. Montgomery demanded furiously.
Tessa flung a helpless look up at Lord Penwyck.
"You will tell the gentleman what you know. Miss Darby," the earl commanded, his tone very nearly as harsh as Mr. Montgomery's.
Lady Penwyck at once cut in, in a far gentler tone. "You and Deirdre are bosom bows, Tessa dear."
Tessa's blue eyes grew frightened as the assembled company waited for her to speak. She truly did not wish to be the one to divulge Deirdre's secret to her father, but it appeared she had no choice.
"I demand you tell me at once where my daughter is!" Mr. Montgomery insisted.
"I-I . . . she . . . I do not know where she is, sir," Tessa replied haltingly.
"I refuse to believe you know nothing, young lady! Tell me at once what you know of Deirdre's disappearance!"
"I do not know where she is, sir. Truly, I do not." It was not a lie. Deirdre had not said where she and Jeffrey were headed. And because, thus far, neither Mr. Montgomery nor Lord Penwyck had inquired with whom Deirdre had taken flight, Tessa felt no obligation to divulge that vital piece of information. If asked, she would, of course, not lie, but she would also say no more than was absolutely necessary.
With a huff of exasperation, Mr. Montgomery bellowed, "The two of your were seen huddled together at the ball, Miss Darby. I refuse to believe that you know nothing!"
"Charles, our Miss Darby would not tell a falsehood," Lady Penwyck put in patiently.
"Do you deny that you assisted in my daughter's disappearance?" the overset man demanded.
Tessa thrust her chin up. "I deny nothing, sir. I am merely attempting to answer your questions as truthfully as I can."
"So I am to drag it out of you, am I? Well then, I shall begin anew!"
"Charles, you really mustn't . . . " Lady Penwyck began. She was also clothed in her nightrail and wrapper, her graying hair concealed beneath a very pretty lacy nightcap. She turned a sympathetic look on Tessa. "Everyone knows Deirdre has formed a tendre with someone, Tessa darling. You must tell us if you are acquainted with her young man."
"I-I have never met him," Tessa replied, shaking her head. Her long auburn curls dangled loosely about her thinly clad shoulders.
"Randall," suddenly announced Lord Penwyck. Standing with both arms folded across his chest, he tapped his chin thoughtfully with one forefinger. "Caught the pair of them together in his office only last week. Thought then it seemed a trifle odd."
Mr. Montgomery's brows snapped together angrily. "Are you saying Deirdre and my land agent are . . .?"
"Is this true, Tessa?" Lady Penwyck asked calmly. Of Tessa's interrogators, Alice was, by far, the most collected, which was a bit odd, considering the woman was generally always a skitter-wit.
Tessa nervously chewed on her lower lip.
"Well?" bellowed Montgomery. "Has Deirdre gone off with Jeffrey Randall?"
Her blue eyes shuttered, Tessa slowly, very slowly, nodded assent.
"I'll kill the reprobate! I'll kill him!" Fuming, Mr. Montgomery pushed past a frightened Tessa on his way to the front door.
Lord Penwyck fell into step behind him. "Perhaps you should calm yourself a bit first, man. If you'd allow me a moment to dress, I shall be happy to accompany you. They may still be in London. We shall try Randall's flat first and then . . . "
Suddenly, in a firm voice, Tessa announced, "I am also coming along."
Scowling, Lord Penwyck wheeled to face her. "You will do nothing of the sort, Miss Darby."
Tessa's blue eyes snapped fire as she glared at the uppity earl. "You are not my father and you will not tell me what to do! I said I am coming along and that means I am coming along. Deirdre will need a friend to comfort her, and I intend to be there."
In the moment of strained silence that followed Tessa's outburst, she added, "You will please wait for me while I change into more appropriate clothing."
That said, she imperially brushed past a somewhat subdued Lord Penwyck and marched regally up the stairs.
From the foyer, she heard the earl instruct his mother to see that Mr. Montgomery received either a cup of coffee or a brandy; then he, too, ascended the stairs some distance behind Tessa.
Beginning to feel the effects of the sleepless night she'd just endured, Tessa nonetheless hurriedly dressed and scurried back downstairs. Not until she and her gentlemen companions, a tight-lipped Lord Penwyck and a still fuming Mr. Montgomery, stepped outside and headed for the Montgomery coach did she realize a storm of another sort was brewing outdoors.
Although it was close on seven of the clock in the morning, the sky was still quite dark. Large blue-gray clouds hung low over the city. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and when a sudden crack of lightning startled the handsome bays harnessed before the Montgomery coach, Tessa, too, jumped with alarm.
"Appears to be cutting up nasty," Mr. Montgomery muttered irritably "We'd best make haste."
Tessa swallowed her fear and turned to address the man. "I expect we shall find Deirdre safe and sound at Mr. Randall's flat, sir."
"So!" Deirdre's father sputtered angrily. "You do know where she is!"
Tessa thrust her head up and said nothing further.
Wearing a deep scowl, a silent Lord Penwyck handed her into the carriage.
"Spring 'em!" Montgomery called to the driver as he, too, clambered inside.
Tessa scooted as far from Lord Penwyck on the carriage bench as she could and pretended an absorbing interest in watching huge droplets of rain begin to slide down the coach window. In truth, she'd never been abroad in London this early before, and she did find the sight arresting. What with the fog swirling about the lampposts and cold rain splattering onto the cobblestones, the sleeping city had an eerie feel about it. She prayed wherever Deirdre and Jeffrey were, they were safe and warm.
As the high-sprung coach rumbled over the slick cobblestones, Tessa noted what appeared to be phantoms, shadows moving in slow motion on one or another street corner. Ignoring the rain, the vendors were busily arranging their daily wares . . . flowers, fruit, cabbages, and potatoes . . . atop rickety carts. Tessa grimaced when she saw numerous ill-clad children huddled together on various rain-soaked stoops as the luxurious carriage wheeled past.
Some minutes later, the shiny black coach turned onto a narrow lane and drew up before a not ill-kept town house squeezed in amongst a row of similar tall red brick structures.
Before the carriage had shuddered to a complete standstill, Mr. Montgomery scrambled to the ground and, in a rush to avoid a drenching and to extricate his daughter as quickly as possible from her abductor's clutches, rushed up the flagway and commenced to pound loudly on the door. Lord Penwyck followed at a somewhat slower pace, one gloved hand holding his black beaver hat in place as rain-laden wind threatened to whip it off.
Her heart in her throat, Tessa anxiously watched the proceedings from the coach window. She barely had time to wonder if Deirdre were, indeed, inside when the door to the flat burst open and Mr. Montgomery and Lord Penwyck rushed inside.
Mere seconds later, a scarlet-faced Montgomery reappeared, one arm protectively encircling the slim shoulders of a sobbing Deirdre.
"Oh!" Tessa sucked in her breath as she watched the threesome . . . Deirdre, her father, and Lord Penwyck . . . brave an angry downpour of rain on their way back to the carriage. As each climbed into the coach, a shower of raindrops also dampened Tessa's pelisse and boots.
"Oh, Tessa!" Deirdre cried. Upon catching sight of her friend, she at once fell onto the bench and buried her head in Tessa's shoulder, her sobs increasing in volume.
Once the two gentlemen had taken their seats and the coach again lurched forward, Montgomery blurted out, "I'm not the least bit sorry I called the reprobate out! The man does not deserve to live!"
"Oh-h-h, Papa!" Deirdre cried.
"There, there." Tessa tightened her arms about her friend's shoulders. "Everything will be all right."
"You will stand as my second, Penwyck," a furious Montgomery commanded, his black eyes mere slits in his face.
After a pause, Penwyck said, "No, sir. In all fairness, I find I cannot take part in . . . "
"What are you saying?" Montgomery demanded. "The blackguard has ruined my daughter and I will not . . . "
"I am not ruined, Papa!" Deirdre cried.
Penwyck added, "Randall swore that he did not touch her, sir." He cast a guarded glance at Tessa. "And I believe him. Jeffrey Randall is a truthful man."
"I will never forgive you if you kill him, Papa! Jeffrey and I love one another. I will marry him. I don't care what you say, I will!"
"I will deal with you later, girl!" Deirdre's father sputtered angrily.
"Papa . . . please; Jeffrey did nothing! I swear it!" Deirdre turned a pleading look on Lord Penwyck. "Help me, sir, please!"
The earl solemnly addressed the overwrought Mr. Montgomery again. "To say truth, sir, Randall seemed quite unruffled. It was almost as if he were relieved to see us."
"He was!" Deirdre cried. "Jeffrey wouldn't listen to me last night. It was I who wished to run away. Jeffrey said he refused to begin our married life by . . . by dishonoring me. I am being truthful. Papa, truly I am!"
"Then why did he not send you home?" her father demanded suspiciously. "You spent the night with hi . . . "
"I am pure, Papa. I am pure!"
A moment of strained silence followed Deirdre's heartfelt confession. Tessa's eyes were quite large and round as she took in the drama unfolding before her.
At length, Lord Penwyck said, "With your permission, sir, I would be happy to deliver a note of apology to Mr. Randall."
Montgomery huffed his exasperation.
"Please do not kill him, Papa! Please!"
Montgomery turned a stern look on his only daughter. "You will never leave the house unchaperoned again; and if you ever lay eyes on that reprobate again, I swear I will run him through!"
Deirdre's bedraggled curls shook. "I will never see him again, Papa; I promise." Her bosom rose and fell as she drew in quick gasps of air, her cold fingers tightening around Tessa's.
"Very well," Montgomery muttered reluctantly. "I will spare his life. This time."
Deirdre's father insisted on taking his daughter home at once. A half hour later, the Montgomery coach rumbled back into London carrying a silent Lord Penwyck and a now rather sleepy Miss Darby back to Portman Square.
Hard sheets of rain slowed the horse’s progress as they slogged through debris-filled rivers of running water on the outskirts of the city.
Inside the noisy coach, Tessa and Lord Penwyck were seated opposite one another on the bench. Despite the storm raging outdoors, which made hearing one another all but impossible, Tessa felt compelled to thank Lord Penwyck for his intervention on Mr. Randall's behalf that morning.
"It was good of you to calm Mr. Montgomery," she began.
Penwyck aimed a distracted gaze out the coach window. "Montgomery was a deal too overset to see Randall was being truthful."
"Deirdre was also being truthful."
Penwyck directed a caustic look at Tessa. "Indeed."
"She loves him very much," Tessa added firmly.
Penwyck turned again to the window. "Loves her father, or Randall?"
"Both, I expect. But she is in love with Jeffrey." She paused. "They are desperate to be married."
Penwyck's gaze remained fixed on the fuzzy blur of images speeding past the coach window. "The girl's head is full of romantical notions. She would do well to forget she ever knew Jeffrey Randall. Despite the Montgomerys' less than exceptional consequence, I expect Deirdre could land a younger son, a baronetcy, perhaps better. She must allow her father to select a proper young man for her to marry."
Which sounded precisely like something Tessa's stepfather would say. Tessa flew into a rage. "You are the most unfeeling man I have ever known!" she cried. "I daresay you have never, ever been in love! I daresay beneath that calculating, aristocratic veneer you have never experienced strong feelings in your life!"
A dark brow cocked as the earl appeared a trifle amused by Tessa's outburst. "You are presuming a great deal on a subject about which you know nothing, Miss Darby."
"Your actions have told me a great deal!" she cried. With a pious sniff, Tessa thrust her chin up and glared at the infuriating man.
How was it possible she had enjoyed dancing with him only a few hours ago at her come-out ball? She had thought he looked quite handsome and dashing then, and he had appeared genuinely kind and solicitous. But today he had once again assumed his cold, aloof persona.
The earl's lips twitched as he gazed lazily at her. "Precisely what have you observed, Miss Darby?" he inquired.
Tessa clamped her lips tightly shut. She should have known better than to attempt a proper conversation with the starched-up earl. Why did she let him rile her so? And why did she feel so compelled to rip away that self-righteous mask and uncover the real man beneath? Of course, she did not truly know how he felt about anything, but the maddening part, the irksome part, was that she wished to know him, and know him well. There was something undeniably attractive about the disagreeable Lord Penwyck. It had succeeded in drawing her in and now it held her quite against her will. Because she did not wish to find the irritating man attractive, she loathed him for making her feel what she did not wish to feel!
"Well?" Lord Penwyck prodded. His taunting gaze locked with hers.
Tessa's blue eyes narrowed and, because she could not help herself, she blurted out, "In the short time I have known you, sir, I have observed enough about you to know I do not like you the least little bit!"
It gratified her that the uppity Lord Penwyck seemed taken aback.
Penwyck was taken aback. Not only had no woman ever spoken so candidly to him before, no woman had ever told him straight out she did not like him. Miss Darby's words stung him to the quick.
Suddenly he felt exactly as he had felt as a boy of five when an elder cousin of his, whom he had looked up to, had mean-spiritedly pushed him into the lily pond in the meadow. Penwyck's cousin knew very well he did not know how to swim.
It had further stunned Penwyck when, after tossing him into the water, the older boy had simply turned and run away. Penwyck had learned to swim that day, but he had very nearly drowned in the process.
He felt as if he were drowning now, that if he did not do something to right things between himself and Miss Darby, she would run away . . . and leave him. For good.
"So," he said hesitantly, "you do not like me."
The young lady's auburn head sat at a stubborn tilt. She had on a dark-blue toque bonnet that perfectly matched the deep blue of her eyes. Suddenly, Penwyck was beset by a tantalizing image of her in her nightclothes this morning. She'd looked quite alluring with her long auburn hair flowing about her bare shoulders and her lovely breasts bouncing beneath her thin wrapper as she hurried along beside him. Waiting for her to speak now, Penwyck worked to ignore the effect that vivid image was having on his body. He was glad when she began to speak.
"Perhaps I did not mean I do not like you, sir. What I meant to say was . . . there are qualities about you I do not like."
Penwyck digested that and decided she had given him something to cling to. He felt a whit better.
"I see. Well, then . . . "
He cast about for something further to say. But because nothing further occurred to him at the moment, he simply cleared his throat and turned again to stare from the coach window. Sheets of bitter rain were sliding down it. He became aware of the persistent splat, splat, splat of raindrops pelting the roof of the coach. The angry sounds grew louder and louder.
Suddenly, blurred images began to dance before his eyes. Miss Darby passing out leaflets from the side of a hansom cab in Hyde Park. Penwyck had been appalled at his first glimpse of her . . . and yet he'd been strangely fascinated with the tall beauty. She was so very unlike any other young lady in Town.
Another image formed before his eyes. Miss Darby looking extraordinarily charming the night he drew her into his arms and attempted to teach her to dance. She'd been shy at first, but her confidence grew as the lesson progressed. She'd smiled often, then.
Had she liked him then?
That image dissolved and a picture of her laughing over dinner with old Lord Dickerson took its place. Penwyck squirmed uncomfortably on the coach bench.
He had observed her laughing a good deal last evening with Lord Chesterton and Sir Richard Warwick and Lords Marchmont, Fenwick, Powell, and Kirshfield. Penwyck's eyes narrowed jealously. She'd even laughed with the new Frenchman in town. Monsieur de la whatever-his-name-was.
Penwyck's chest grew tight as his nostrils flared with rage.
Miss Darby had danced and danced and danced and laughed and laughed and laughed. She appeared to like every last one of her many suitors.
But she did not like him.
Which felt bitterly painful, as painful as ice water filling his lungs.
There must be some way to right things!
At length, he turned to face her.
"Perhaps I might speak with Mr. Montgomery again," he began quietly, "on Deirdre's behalf."
One of Miss Darby's finely arched brows lifted as a puzzled look flitted across her pretty face. "Speak with him?"
"If Deirdre truly loves Mr. Randall, I see no reason why they should not be allowed to marry."
Miss Darby's sapphire blue eyes widened with joy. "And you will tell her father that?"
"I will do my best to persuade him, Miss Darby."
"Oh, thank you, sir! I am certain you can persuade him. You are a very persuasive man. I have never known a man as strong and sure as you are, sir. Deirdre will be very happy!" Her pretty mouth softened. "As am I."
Penwyck drew in a long, relieved breath. The sight of Miss Darby's lovely features once again smiling felt like the sun bursting through the clouds and chasing away the rain.
It was turning out to be a glorious day after all.