Pleasures of the Night by Heather Boyd
Chapter 20
Eugenia hurried out through a rear servants’ entrance at Wharton House, following Mr. Bloom and Aurora, bundled up in a heavy cloak. Mr. Bloom carried an old and tattered bag that no one would miss containing only a few bare essentials to carry with her on her journey to the coast.
It was still night; the sun hadn’t even lit Cavendish Square properly yet or the surrounding streets. The houses were still bathed in deep shadows, and not a soul stirred.
She chose a roundabout way to her destination, determined to avoid her would-be husband who’d taken up haunting Cavendish Square at dawn. She would not be dragged to Albemarle Street, where the imposter intended for them to live as husband and wife.
Never that.
By the time her absence was discovered, Eugenia intended to be long gone from the city of London, and with only three people aware of where she’d gone, Bagshaw should search in vain.
Eugenia would not warn Aurora of her decision that if she could not find Mrs. Bagshaw or her husband’s grave, she was not returning to London. Though it would break her heart completely, she had packed every bit of wealth she possessed and would run away if she must be free. It was only thanks to Thaddeus’ generosity that she had the means and a head start.
No one besides him, Aurora, or Mr. Bloom would ever have to deny they knew her whereabouts, if they even knew to question him.
Eugenia caught Aurora’s hand as they rushed along the empty streets, side by side, trying not to be too obvious about it. She feared she was late and that the promised carriage might not still be there. It was hard enough to believe Thaddeus had offered it without also offering to come with her. But she supposed he felt he couldn’t. She was married in his eyes, after all.
Aurora suddenly grinned at her. “I cannot believe we got out without waking anyone.”
“Neither am I, but I’m glad that we did. Don’t stop now. Sylvia might wake early and seek us out. She’d only argue about my going or try to come with me. The marchioness needs her more.” She glanced over her shoulder, but there was no one behind yet. “Are you sure you don’t mind lying for me?”
“I’ll not stand between you and true love,” Aurora said, smiling as they darted down a side street.
Magnificent mansions rose above them, dormant but for a few servants going about their early morning work. Eugenia kept her chin down and urged Aurora to do the same. “I do not love Bagshaw. It’s absurd to suggest I could feel anything for such a man.”
“I meant Thaddeus Berringer.”
Eugenia stopped to stare at her cousin, causing Mr. Bloom to nearly run into them.
He went ahead at Aurora’s urging.
Aurora grinned. “Why else would I be willing to rise this early? He loves you, I’m sure of it. My heart is breaking that you could be separated.”
“That was always our fate. He’s to become a duke.” Eugenia started walking again but briskly now, trying to run from a thought that had troubled her of late. She might love Thaddeus, but there was no possibility he’d ever marry a woman like her. Not now with this scandal tarnishing her reputation. She wasn’t rich or particularly accomplished. She had none of the important connections a future duke needed. He was kind to help her but that was as far as his interest in her went. She was to rendezvous with his carriage and go on alone—without him.
She looked back over her shoulder to the empty pathway, reassuring herself that no one followed them still.
They crossed a street and hurried down a narrow lane. They broke out onto Vere Street to see a black traveling carriage, four horses, and six men waiting idly ahead.
Thaddeus was not standing nearby to bid her goodbye, but at the sight of Eugenia arriving, the grooms sprang to life and made ready to get underway.
Eugenia turned to hug her cousin again. “I love you. Wish me luck.”
“Luck and love. Always and forever, Eugenia. If the search goes on too long, write to me at Lady Bisley’s address to relieve my mind that you are still well and in pursuit of the truth.”
She hugged her cousin one last time and whispered, “I promise I will.”
Eugenia took her small trunk from Mr. Bloom. He looked worried as he handed it over. “Are you sure you’ll be all right traveling alone, miss? I could come with you.”
“I’ll be safe with these fine fellows guarding me.” She glanced at Aurora one more time. She hated goodbyes and turned back to Nigel before she cried. “Take good care watching over my cousin while I’m gone, sir. See her safe back to Lord Wharton’s home and hold my secret as long as you can.”
“Forever. I’ll always do my best for you, Miss Hillcrest.”
Eugenia nearly wept at the use of what she considered her true name. Mrs. Bagshaw was someone she’d never really been. Her marriage a brief dream—almost entirely forgotten.
She hurried across the cobblestones, keeping her steps light and quiet. A groom wearing no discernible livery held open a door and ushered her into the darkened interior.
Because the sun was not yet up and the carriage so dark, she did not immediately realize she wasn’t alone. But when she did, she jumped, and a hand shot out of the dark to steady her.
“I could not let you travel all that way alone, Eugenia,” Thaddeus whispered.
Eugenia threw herself into Thaddeus’ arms and hugged him tightly. “I wanted to ask you to come with me so badly, but I didn’t know how my request would be received.”
“I was always coming with you. I just didn’t want your cousin to know I was.” Thaddeus cupped her face in his warm hands. “You could have asked, but I’m glad of the deception we managed. Now Aurora doesn’t have to lie about my being with you.”
She hugged him again. “Won’t the duke realize you’re gone?”
“I’ve gone to Hastings to inspect a mill, which he mentioned a need to see yesterday. Thankfully it is more or less in the direction you wish to go, too. South out of Town. I’ll give the grooms new directions along the way,” Thaddeus promised her, setting her back on her seat on the opposite side as the carriage got underway. “I hinted I might not return straight away. Exeter won’t be worried unless I’m away longer than a week.”
Eugenia nodded. “I hope that’s enough time.”
Thaddeus stared at her. “We’ll be traveling as if we were brother and married sister. I’ll secure separate chambers each night at the posting inns on our way south.”
She nodded again. “If you feel we must.”
“I definitely do. Until we find the mother, we should go on as if you were indeed a married woman and take pains to protect your reputation. But I also think we should use different surnames rather than our own.”
“Is that really necessary? No one but Aurora and Mr. Bloom knows that I’m headed out of London.”
“I think it is for the best to take all possible precautions. Wharton has a long reach. Even if Aurora holds her tongue, it is likely he’ll send runners to every inn along all major traveling routes within a day’s ride from London in search of you, once he discovers you gone and not with the imposter or friends. Let’s not leave him an easy trail to follow.”
“Oh, dear. Is he really so skilled at finding people who don’t want to be found?” She gulped when Thaddeus nodded. “He hasn’t found one single detail about the man pretending to be my husband yet.”
“The lack of any information to find is telling in itself. There is nothing Wharton won’t do or pay to uncover a secret, and,” Thaddeus winced, “he thinks of you like family.”
Eugenia worried her lip. If Aurora’s plan to distract everyone from her whereabouts failed before nightfall, then they could expect to have Wharton’s men hard on their heels tomorrow. And Wharton would not be happy about Thaddeus spiriting her from London, even if it was for support and her protection. Having them come to blows or worse was something she’d like to avoid. She nodded quickly, agreeing to his precautions. “So, a new name and a very discreet trip to Dover. Who shall I be?”
“Pick any surname you like, and we can practice addressing each other as such along the way. Don’t worry about the grooms being surprised. They’re familiar with my habit of traveling under an assumed name. My cousin taught me to do it all the time to avoid matchmakers.”
“Smith,” she suggested. “There’s dozens of those in every town.”
“And I’ll be traveling as Mr. Fleming. The town drunk where I grew up,” he grinned. “A man with six cousins of fearsome tempers.”
She noticed the rising sun revealed they’d have good weather for the start of their journey.
“Where was it you grew up, Mr. Newton?”
“Mostly to the west, Mrs. Smith.” He sighed, opening up his side of the carriage to look out, too. “My father had only taken up residence in Cornwell during the last years of his life.”
“You don’t sound fond of him,” she murmured, setting her head back upon the squabs to watch the fleeting light dance over Thaddeus Berringer’s handsome face.
“There wasn’t much to be fond of.” He looked down at his hands and clenched his fist. “He lived in expectation of inheriting the ducal title until the day he died. Lorded that fact over everyone.”
“And then you became the duke’s heir after he was gone.”
“I ran away from my father’s creditors banging on our door day and night, and from the title I’d come to loathe as my eventual fate, since the duke had still not married by that time.”
“You don’t feel that way anymore, do you, about the title?”
“No. Sinclair has been a great help to me understanding the burdens and delights that will one day be mine and has shown me more kindness than my own papa ever could.”
“I’m glad. It’s obvious he means a great deal to you.”
Thaddeus shrugged. “He’s impossible at times, but I love him dearly. We became friends very quickly.”
“And now that he’s married?”
“He and his wife are my family, and both are dear to me. Almost the parents I never had growing up and full of wise advice,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t drink or gamble to excess, get enough sleep, and don’t fall into the bed of a married woman because it will only lead to heartbreak.”
“Sorry,” she whispered, wincing.
“According to you, you’re a widow, and we’re on our way to prove that,” he declared.
“I hope we can. It was such a long time ago. She might be dead.”
He leaned across the carriage, caught her hand in his, and squeezed. “Let us hope not, and if she is deceased, we will question her neighbors and try to find out where Robert Bagshaw might be buried.”
Eugenia sighed. “I would like to know where he rests so I can pay my respects. He was a good and honest man.”
“The fellow we left behind stole silverware from Wharton’s table yesterday.” Thaddeus suddenly shifted to sit at her side. “I won’t rest until we find your answers.”
She looked up at him, saw that he was unhappy. She had caused that without meaning to. It would be days at least before she found any resolution to her questions, and he likely knew there might not be good to come of their journey. And even if they found Mrs. Bagshaw, there was still a slim chance Eugenia might be proven wrong about Robbie. If that happened, if her memory of Robbie was in error and she was truly married to that horrible man she’d left behind in London, she’d likely never be alone with Thaddeus like this again.
She didn’t want to waste a moment of their cozy isolation in the carriage. She ought to ask Thaddeus all the questions she could imagine asking in case she might never have the chance again. But first, she had a particular thank you to utter to him. One more scandal to discuss, and only then could she pretend to be his sister. “I wanted to thank you for the time we spent together. I will treasure the memory of our trysts for the rest of my life.”
A wry smile twisted his lips, and he nodded. “As will I.”
She shook her head. She must stop thinking about their past passions now and focus on what was only possible between them in the future. She wanted to be his friend still. To know everything there was to know about him. “Tell me about your earliest memory of a birthday.”
He looked surprised by her question. “My birthday. Why?”
“I’m curious, and it is easier to speak of the past before we met and not the present or the future.”
He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Our cook always baked a custard on my birthday.”
“I like custard.”
He bumped her shoulder. “Now your turn. It’s a long way to our first stop to change the horses. Tell me about your birthdays?”
“My older brother gave me a new dress when I turned seventeen. White muslin with sweet little bows across the bodice.”
“I’ve never seen you in a pale color,” he murmured.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t suit my complexion.”
“It isn’t because you’re a widow?”
“No. I’ve worn darker shades all my adult life. They wear better and don’t show marks of age as easily. I once had a carriage fly past and splatter my pretty white gown with mud that stained. After that, I dyed those pale gowns a darker color and only had new gowns made for me in darker hues.”
He nodded and then smiled. “I never had a brother myself. What did you like most about yours?”
“He was tall. So tall he used to hook his arm about my waist and lift me over muddy puddles so I wouldn’t ruin my shoes. Brothers have many unexpected uses like that.”
“I’ll have to remember that one if it is raining when we stop to change horses, little sister,” he teased as he looked down on her, smiling broadly.
Although he called her little sister, that smile made her want to burrow into his arms. But she couldn’t do that anymore. He’d said he didn’t approve of dalliances with married women. And for now, proven or not, she was one in his eyes. It wasn’t fair that she could not be with the man she loved. Their affair had ended far too soon.
She inched toward the window away from him and looked out at the passing fields.
“Eugenia, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she promised, feeling herself on the verge of tears. Determined not to reveal her upset, she kept her gaze on the view.
He set his hand on her shoulder. “It’s not easy to be strangers again, is it?”
A tear spilled down her cheek, and she wiped it away angrily. If she didn’t find Robbie’s mother, she’d belong to another man forever. The thought was unbearable. She had to win freedom. “No, it is not. I like you. So very much, and I could use a hug for reassurance that everything will be all right.”
“Brother’s hug their sisters when they are upset, don’t they?”
“Mine did.”
He groaned, and she was dragged into Thaddeus’ arms at last, and inhaled his cologne and felt his warmth and strength surround her. “It will be all right. I cannot believe otherwise.”
She clung to his chest. “I couldn’t live with him. I’m going to run away.”
Thaddeus’ lips pressed against her brow. “I won’t lose you.”
She laughed bitterly. “I will go away, somewhere he’d never find me.”
“I’d find you. I wouldn’t rest until you’re safe in my arms again.”
“I’d want you to find me, but never him.” Eugenia burst into tears, ugly ones. Expressing all of the fear of losing her freedom that she’d repressed since the imposter had appeared at her door. She’d accepted she’d lose Thaddeus to a wife, but it wasn’t fair that she might lose him to a husband of her own and a marriage she no longer recognized.