A Porcelain Viscountess by Hazel Linwood

Chapter 15

Francis hurried through the drawing room door, still feeling flustered. He wasn’t sure if it was Mrs Goodman’s words or the moment he had just shared with Lady Ridlington, but the world felt a little less solid beneath his feet. He hurried into the room, aware that Lady Ridlington followed behind him, as he sought out where Josiah was.

“Josiah?” he said, turning to see his friend hovering by the window. “What has happened?”

“Two things,” Josiah said carefully before bowing his head to Lady Ridlington. “This may be unpleasant to hear, my Lady.”

“Words cannot hurt me anymore,” she said hurriedly, waving her hands in the air. “What has happened?”

Francis felt the growing admiration for her again before he turned his head to Josiah.

“Diana went shopping today in Broad Street. Her carriage journey back was an interesting one,” Josiah said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You do not mean interesting, do you?” Francis said, feeling his hands clench into fists at the side of his body.

“She had an accident.”

“An accident?” Francis repeated in horror, stepping forward as Josiah outstretched his hands and took Francis’ shoulders.

“She is fine, she is uninjured,” Josiah said, his voice firm. “Yet it does not take an expert to see that her carriage was vandalized.”

“You mean that someone did it on purpose, don’t you?” Lady Ridlington asked from where she stood close by, her green eyes darting between them. “You mean that her carriage was sabotaged.”

“It certainly looks that way,” Josiah said tightly, releasing Francis’ shoulders. “The wheels were loosened.”

Lady Ridlington’s hands flew up to her face and she covered her mouth, stumbling back in shock. Francis walked toward her, unable to stay away. He reached for her arm and drew her to sit down in an armchair nearby.

He couldn’t tell her not to be frightened, as much as he wished he could. Diana’s health had been in jeopardy.

“He tried to hurt her?” Lady Ridlington asked. “He followed through on his threat.”

“We can’t know it was the Viscount for sure,” Josiah said, though he stood perfectly still, his face betraying that he suspected it was. “Though I am pretty confident.”

“She is unharmed?” Francis asked as he sat in a stool in front of Lady Ridlington. He had to be doubly certain that his sister was safe.

“She is fine. For now, she is not leaving the house, not until I can guarantee this mess is over.” He sighed before reaching into his jacket. “Then, there is this.”

He proffered an opened letter to Francis to read. He took it, seeing that on the back it was addressed to Lady Ridlington and had been left at Josiah’s house.

The handwriting was untidily scrawled, done in an angry rush.

Phoebe,

How dare you leave in the dead of night like some animal? You are my wife. You are bound to me by law and you will come back to me. Rest assured that the longer you are away, the more painfully you will pay for this when you return.

You have risked my reputation, as well as your father’s. You have brought a stain on all our names by disappearing so. You will come back to me, or you will find your friends will meet more and more accidents.

Your husband,

Graham, Viscount of Ridlington.

Francis nearly crumpled the letter in his hand out of the fury that was pumping through his veins when he looked up. To his horror, he found that Lady Ridlington had read the letter too, peering at it in his grasp.

“My Lady, please, do not be afraid –” He didn’t get out anymore words. She had jumped to her feet so fast that he nearly fell off the stool. She ran to the drawing room door and burst out of it, her footsteps on the staircase followed a few seconds later.

Francis hurried to set himself on the stool, staring after her as a feeling cut through him, strongly.

It wasn’t just that he couldn’t bear the idea of anything happening to her. He couldn’t bear to see her this sad or frightened either. He cared for her. Deeply. Somehow, despite all his assurances to himself that caring for a young lady never ended well, his own heart had betrayed him.

That heart had become entangled with Lady Ridlington despite his say so.

“You can follow her in a minute,” Josiah said, clapping Francis on the shoulder to earn his attention. “Diana truly is fine, and if Lady Ridlington is tempted to back out now, then Diana will never accept it. She and I both know what the Viscount is doing with this. He intends to use scare tactics to frighten Lady Ridlington out of her hiding place.”

“I worry it might just work, looking at the way she ran out of here,” Francis said as he threw the letter down on the floor. He was tempted to ask the butler to start a fire, despite the heat of the day, just so that he could burn the letter, and burn the Viscount’s words, obliterating them to ash.

“You realize what this is though, don’t you?” Josiah said, picking up the letter from the floor. “This is an admittance that the Viscount knows Lady Ridlington left of her own accord. That this tale of a kidnapping he has told the constables and the magistrate is a complete lie. We need to hold onto it.”

“You are right,” Francis said, nodding his head. “Such a threat in writing could be useful for her separation, especially if it reaches the courts.”

“I will deliver it to the solicitor on my way home,” Josiah said, folding up the letter and pocketing it once again. “Now, one more thing before I go.”

“What is it?” Francis asked, looking up but not turning his eyes to his friend. Instead, he turned his eyes to the doorway through which Lady Ridlington had run through, thinking of the fear in her face.

I care for her. How did that happen? When did that even happen? Somehow a flirtation and an attraction had turned into something else. There was a bond, deep and riveting.

“You’re not listening to me,” Josiah’s words made Francis stand and turn his gaze to his friend.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Keep an eye on her,” Josiah said, pointing out the door. “Although from the way you watch her so much, I guess you’re doing that already.”

“Josiah,” Francis said tiredly, walking past her friend.

“What? Am I not allowed a few teases?” Josiah said with a small laugh. “I rather need the distraction to be honest, a reason to smile after what just happened to my wife.”

“Call it bad timing,” Francis said. “And…ill placed.”

“Ill placed? Ha! You expect me to believe that,” Josiah said, walking toward him. “Francis, it might surprise you to learn that I know you quite well by now.”

“You don’t say?” Francis said with sarcasm.

“Exactly,” Josiah said, pointing at him. “I have never seen you besotted the way you are with Lady Ridlington.”

“I am not besotted!”

“Oh really? Then why aren’t you back on your travels already?” Josiah said, holding his gaze.

“I am helping Lady Ridlington,” Francis said with feeling.

“That you are. Yet you are going to her solicitor’s meetings too, you take her in your arms as though you have known her your whole life.” Josiah pointed to the armchair where Francis had easily taken hold of Lady Ridlington and steered her to sit down.

“I was just trying to comfort her.”

“Were you?” Josiah asked. “You teased me a lot when I started falling for Diana. I’ll certainly be teasing you too.”

“Josiah, please.” Francis held his hands up in the air, calling a pause to their conversation. “Do you not think this situation is a little different? Diana was hardly running from anyone when you started courting.”

“You want to court Lady Ridlington?”

“I didn’t say that!” Francis said quickly. “It is just…whatever you think you can see between Lady Ridlington and myself can never be.”

“Why? Because of her husband, or because you vowed never to marry?” Josiah asked, walking toward the door, signaling the conversation was coming to a close.

“Does it matter which is the reason?” Francis asked, watching as Josiah paused in the doorway and looked back to him.

“It matters a great deal, Francis. Think about it.” He turned and walked away, leaving Francis alone to his thoughts.

* * *

Phoebe hurried through the door of the chamber, looking for Louisa. Her friend looked up from where she had been arranging some flowers on a table on the far side of the room.

“What do you think, my Lady? Dahlias. Aren’t they beautiful?” Louisa said and looked up from her task.

Phoebe felt the tears begin to fall as she ran forward.

“What is it?” Louisa asked, pushing away from the table. Phoebe couldn’t answer her, she just hurried toward her maid and fell into her arms.

Together, the two women embraced for many minutes, clinging to one another, as Phoebe cried on Louisa’s shoulder. It was some time before she felt at liberty to speak. Louisa had towed her toward the window seat where they sat together, and Phoebe tried to dry her tears with the backs of her hands.

“What happened, my Lady? Has he found us?”

“No,” Phoebe said. “Not yet, but he wrote me a letter. He has vowed punishment for this, and he has vowed to hurt my friends until he finds me. Lady Dodge is in danger! All because of me.” Phoebe took her friend’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “I knew this dream was too good to be true. It cannot last, Louisa. I must go home. I cannot let this go on any longer.”

“I will hear of no such thing.” The voice that entered the room stunned her.

Phoebe whipped her head round to see that in her hurry to find Louisa, she had left the door open. In the doorway, Hayward now stood, his face a perfect picture of anger. Phoebe could feel the power of those blue eyes staring at her.

“Your Grace, this is over,” Phoebe said, standing to her feet, though she still clung onto one of Louisa’s hands. “I cannot risk your sister’s welfare for my own sake.”

“I think if Diana were here right now, she would tell you she is happy to take that risk for starters,” Hayward said as he walked into the room. “That is just the start of this argument though. I could stand here and argue with you for an hour at least and come up with a myriad of other reasons why you should never go back to that man.”

“You read his letter, Your Grace,” Phoebe said, gesturing to him as he closed the distance between them. “You read what he said. Do you think once he discovers where I am he would be any less cruel to you?”

“I’d like to see your husband try to raise a hand toward me, he wouldn’t get far,” Hayward said, crossing his arms together.

“My Lady,” Louisa’s voice prompted Phoebe to turn back to look at her maid. “Please, sit, calm yourself.” Louisa pulled her back down into the window seat, but the tears kept falling. It was as though Phoebe didn’t have control of her own body anymore.

That demon of fear that often used to cling to her shoulders was back, with its talons digging into her, and she couldn’t shake him off.

“Perhaps his Grace is right,” Louisa said with a kindly tone. “You have come so far, and a solicitor is involved now. You can’t give up yet.”

“It’s not giving up, it’s facing reality,” Phoebe said, wiping her cheeks once more.

“Some reality! It’s a horrid existence,” Hayward said so emphatically that Phoebe snapped her gaze back toward him. He dropped down to his knees in front of her then delved in his trouser pocket, beneath where the fencing padding reached his hips. He pulled out a handkerchief, embroidered with his initials in the corner, and proffered it to her. “For your tears.”

“Thank you,” she said and took the handkerchief, mopping her cheeks with them.

“Please, my Lady,” he said gently, inching closer toward her on his knees. “Do not be afraid for Diana. She is perfectly safe. She is unhurt, and I know my brother-in-law very well by now. He was my friend a long time before he married my sister. He will not let any harm come to her. He would sooner die than see that happen.”

Phoebe felt the smallest of smiles flicker through her tears.

“What a kind man he is. That kind of devotion to his wife, I think it a very rare thing to find,” she said, looking down at the handkerchief in her grasp and seeing Hayward’s initials there. She laid a finger over the F symbol, holding onto it.

“I used to think the same,” Hayward said, his voice soft. “I am not so certain anymore.”

She looked up at him from the handkerchief.

“What does that mean?” she asked in a whisper.

“That is a conversation for another time,” he said, holding her gaze. “What matters now is persuading you to put your trust in me a little longer. I will keep you safe in my house, and Josiah will keep Diana safe. Do not leave yet. Do not give up when we could be so close to getting you the freedom you crave. Trust me, my Lady. Trust me and stay.”

Silence followed his plea.

She didn’t know what to say for a minute. She was just thinking of his words, aware of his handkerchief in one of her hands and Louisa’s grasp in her other hand.

“I trust you,” she whispered eventually, needing him to know that. His serious face relaxed into a smile.

“There, then you will stay?”

“I will stay,” she said, warily, “but…there is something else I must ask of you in order to stay.”

“Anything,” he said. “What is it?”

“Continue with your lessons, in helping me to fight,” she pleaded with him.

“Of course.”

“And…teach Louisa too,” she asked, gesturing to her maid at her side.

“As you wish,” Hayward said, his smile making that fluttering begin again in her stomach.