A Gentleman's Wager by Madelynne Ellis

Author:Madelynne Ellis [Ellis, Madelynne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781446494189
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2012-07-31T00:00:00+00:00

9

BY MID-MORNING THE next day the sky had cleared enough to risk the carriage journey into town. They had taken the opportunity of their prospective absence to send the servants back to the Grange for fresh clothes, and had decided also to look for new outfits in Richmond. It was a dreary cobbled street that they found themselves in when they stepped down from Lucerne’s carriage, but nothing could dent Louisa’s exuberant mood, not even the drab little hat-maker’s shop or the uninspiring array of bonnets and caps within. At the milliner’s they fared little better, except for a cream satin sash and five yards of sarcenet.

The White Boar Inn was a white-faced, low-fronted building, with a bowed roof and dusty lattice windows. Bella bullied the room numbers from the landlady over a bottle of mouldy claret, and she and Louisa eventually parted company on the stairs.

‘Annabella!’ Joshua exclaimed when he opened the door to find his sister on the other side. ‘I thought you were safe at Lauwine trying to steal Lucerne’s heart or something. What are you doing here?’

‘Shopping, and paying you a visit.’ She hefted her purchases at him, and smiled at his frown. Good old predictable Joshua, only bothered about how far she stretched his finances. This was just as well, since she preferred not to lie to him.

‘Oh lord! I hope you haven’t spent too much.’

‘Don’t worry. I haven’t.’ She chuckled. ‘I couldn’t find anything I really liked.’

The clouds vanished from his eyes and his expression became more welcoming, though he still eyed her packages suspiciously. ‘Well, I guess you’d better come in.’ He held the door open for her. The room was boxy, with lime-washed walls that were yellowing near the ceiling and around the low-set window. It held a dresser with a cracked washing jug set on top of it, a table, two armchairs and an uncomfortable-looking bed with a patchwork coverlet. Joshua’s greatcoat was hanging from a hook on the back of the door.

‘You’re not on your own, surely, are you? Isn’t Lucerne with you?’

‘No. Louisa.’

‘Then where is she?’

Bella dropped her purse on the chair. There was a spider’s web stretched across one of the window-panes, she noted with amusement as she tugged open the ribbon fastening her cloak. ‘She went to find Captain Wakefield.’

‘Oh!’

Bella turned sharply to face him, fabric flapping about her shoulders. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ she demanded. Surely he wasn’t going to make a fuss over her going in to see him alone. ‘It’s not as if they don’t know each other.’

Joshua closed his hands over his face. ‘It’s not that,’ he said in a low, almost plaintive voice.

‘Then what?’

‘He’s with bloody Millicent Hayes, isn’t he.’

Bella let her cloak drop to the hardwood floor. Oh God, she thought, feeling slightly sick. She met her brother’s hazel eyes. Perhaps there was still time to stop her.

Louisa stood before the door with her heart pounding. Once again she was poised outside Frederick Wakefield’s room, summoning her courage and beating down her self-doubt, but this time Vaughan wasn’t around to frighten her off.

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